India joins CERN as an associate member
India becomes Associate Member State of CERN. India and European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) signed an agreement today. This follows CERN Council’s adoption of the resolution to this effect on September 15, 2016. The agreement was signed by Dr. Sekhar Basu, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy and CERN Director General Dr. Fabiola Gianotti in Mumbai today. CERN is the world’s largest nuclear and particle physics laboratory, where scientists and engineers are probing the fundamental structure of the Universe by using the most sophisticated scientific instruments and advanced computing systems. CERN is based in Geneva on the French-Swiss border. Presently CERN has 22 member states, four associate member states, and the observer status is given to four states and three International Organisations. In recent years, Indian scientists have been involved in all pioneering activities at CERN. Reilly Smith Authentic Jersey
Oil, gas majors skip auction of small fields
State-owned ONGC and Oil India as also Reliance Industries and BP plc today skipped the auction of 46 discovered small oil and gas fields, with only 34 areas attracting bids. The state-owned firms had initially indicated that they will bid for the fields, which were said to have been “surrendered” by them as they were commercially unviable under the price control regime. But new liberal fiscal terms had made these viable and the PSUs wanted to get them back. The two however had not offered any bids by the time the round closed for the day and the reason offered was that since they had originally surrendered them, it did not make any sense to bid for these fields. Sources said as many as 42 bids were received for 34 out of the 46 fields on offer, with Cairn India and Hindustan Oil Exploration Co (HOEC) being the major bidders alongside five smaller foreign firms. BP plc, the biggest foreign investor in the oil and gas sector in India, as also Reliance Industries did not bid in the round that was also skipped by global energy giants like Exxon Mobil and Chevron. Magna Energy too, the firm floated by maverick oil explorer Mike Watts who gave India its largest oilfield in Rajasthan, did not bid even though it was betting big on the country. While Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan travelled the globe – from Singapore to Houston – to get investors for the first oil field auction round in over four years, big giants sat out primarily due to small size of acreage being offered and the overheads required to bring them to production. Launching the auction round in May, Pradhan had stated that Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC) and Oil India Ltd (OIL) would be able to bid for the fields on offer. But the two firms were reportedly asked not to bid as private and foreign investors thought they would not be able to compete with the might of state-owned firms with inside knowledge of the fields. As many as 67 idle discoveries, primarily of ONGC, were clubbed to form 46 fields for offer in the so-called Small Discovered Field round, bids for which closed today. Of these, 26 are on-land, 18 shallow water and 2 deepwater fields. The fields hold an in-place reserves of 48 million tonnes of oil and over 38 billion cubic metres of gas reserves, worth Rs 70,000 crore at current prices. Sources said the government took away these discoveries from ONGC as it could not develop them because of small size and unviable price. But in the bidding round, the government is offering complete pricing freedom and liberal fiscal terms. The fields offered included 28 discoveries in Mumbai offshore, 14 are in the prolific Krishna Godavari basin and 10 discoveries in the Assam shelf. Jerick McKinnon Authentic Jersey
Policies will deliver infra, services thrust to aviation: Sinha
The Centre is keen on ensuring that the aviation sector is equipped with adequate physical infrastructure and skilled human resources to face growth challenges over the next 15 years, Union Minister of State or Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said here. The aviation sector is expected to treble in size in the next ten years. Over 140 million people fly annually now and this is more than the estimated 130 million who travel by air-conditioned railway coaches, Sinha said, adding that there was huge headroom for growth. The Centre is putting in place policies to establish multi-tiered infrastructure and quality services, the Union Minister said, addressing the third annual G Ramachandran Memorial Lecture, organised by the Southern India Chamber of Commerce & Industry on Saturday. Infra boost The recently-announced UDAN regional connectivity scheme for short-distance air services to connecting small towns with larger hubs will be in place early next year and is one element of the planned infrastructure. Airlines will now bid for these services, which will potentially bring into use over 17 under-served airports and 400 unused airports. Currently, there are 75 airports with scheduled services. The airlines will bid for viability gap funding, he said. The regional services will help launch commuter and feeder services, link remote locations with each other and enable niche offerings like spiritual tourism, he said. Over the next 10 years, the airport network will also be trebled, with existing airports in major cities being developed as global hub airports, creation of green-field airports, regional hubs and major cargo and manufacturing hub airports. The quality of customer services will also be improved by bringing together service providers and stakeholders to ensure comfortable travel and resolution of complaints. A mobile app will soon be launched for complaint registration and assured response, he said. On demonetisation Sinha said the decision to pull out ?500 and ?1,000 notes from circulation will deliver multiple benefits. As people surrender these notes, bank deposits will grow, tax base will expand and the black or parallel economy will be compressed. Counterfeit currency will also be pushed out. Digital payments will grow, which is a cheaper option than currency-based transactions, he said. Mark McGwire Jersey
BPCL to export light diesel oil in rare move
Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd (BPCL) will export a light diesel oil cargo from Kochi in a rare move, industry sources said on Tuesday. The state-owned refiner sold 35,000 tonnes of the cargo, which has a sulphur content of 1.5 per cent, to Vitol and is expected to load the cargo this week, the sources added. The export will be temporary and will halt once a secondary unit at the refinery is started, one of the sources said. Ronnie Lott Womens Jersey
NHAI will own timber rights on the lands
The Forest Development Corporation of Maharashtra (FDCM) has signed MoU with National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) for undertaking roadside plantations on the lands owned by NHAI under the National Green Highways Mission (NGHM). NHAI will have rights on timber on these lands and FDCM will prepare site specific plans as per National Highways Green Policy 2015. Since the lands on which plantations will be taken up will be NHAI property, in future will not be declared as protected or reserve forests. The MoU now makes it easy for NHAI to fell planted trees as they don’t need other permits and agreement of greening highways in force by NHAI to any party, not executed, the work will be given to o FDCM. “The NHAI may resume the said lands at any time for development and widening with the consent of managing director of FDCM without any compensation or payment other than cost incurred by FDCM for that portion,” states the MoU. FDCM sources said there will be a simple procedure to fell trees on these lands. A joint inspection by NHAI and tree officer will be done before marking trees. Interestingly, any agreement of greening highways in force by NHAI to any party which has not executed the work will be entrusted with FDCM. Tony Jefferson Authentic Jersey
Central government extends support to states to expedite land acquisition for roads
Minister of State for Road, Transport and Highway Mansukh Mandaviya said the central government has taken a string of steps to expedite land acquisition for road and highway constructions. Several steps have been taken to address issues that lead to delay in land acquisition, and various directions have been issued, which are as under: Determination of the amount of compensation in consonance with the relevant provisions contained in the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition in Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013 with effect from 01.01.2015; Providing the necessary technical and organisational support to the revenue authorities in the State Government; Appointment of additional officers as Competent Authority for Land Acquisition and Arbitrator for expediting acquisition; Procurement of land as per respective State Government policies and including the administrative charges and other charges payable by the land acquiring department as per the concerned State Government’s policy in the Land Acquisition estimates for National Highway (NH) Projects; Procurement of land through consent where missing plots are left out from the bulk acquisition and/or additional land is required due to alteration of alignment at implementation stage. Sean Doolittle Womens Jersey
Telangana CM meets Nitin Gadkari, seeking approval for 4 lane National Highway project
Telangana Chief Minister, K Chandrasekar Rao, met Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways and Shipping, Nitin Gadkari in the national capital on Monday to seek approval for the upgradation of additional 500 kilometres of roads as part of the four lane National Highway project in the state. Apart from the Chief Minister, Tummala Nageswara Rao, Roads and Buildings Minister and other Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) parliamentarians were also took present in the meeting. During the discussion, K C Rao led delegation urged Gadkari to expedite the Land Acquisition as per the state procedure and sanction projects amounting to Rs 3572.16 crore with regard to four lane which was handed over to the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on August 10. The Chief Minister also requested the Union Transport Minister to convene a separate committee to look into the issues of sparing Defence lands for the expansion of Paradise junction to Bowenpally section of NH 44 and instead form an alternate route in lieu of roads proposed for the closure in Secunderabad Cantonment. “We have appealed to the government to contribute to the expansion of the land of the roads in Telangana,” Nageswara Rao told the media in New Delhi. The national highways that are proposed by the state government to convert it into four lane are Sangareddy (NH161),Narsapur-Toopran-Gajwel-Jagdevpur- Bhongir-Choutuppal (NH-65); Choutuppal –Ibrahimpatnam-Amangal-Shadnagar-Chevella-Shnkarpally-Kandi(NH 65);Medak-Siddipet-Elkathurthy (NH 563), and Junction at Hyderbad Outer ring road-Valigonda-Thorrur- Nellikuduru-Mahububabad-Yellandu-Kothagudem (NH 30). This came after the state government’s endeavor to convert 4000 kilometres road into National Highways after it disintegrated from Andhra Pradesh. So far, Gadkari has agreed to convert 1300 kilometers in the first phase of the project. Ronnie Lott Jersey
NHAI to raise Rs 55K crore via EPFO, LIC, bonds this fiscal
To finance its various projects, National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) plans to raise Rs 55,000 crore in the current fiscal, government said today. It will raise Rs 20,000 crore through EPFO, Rs 8,500 crore through LIC, Rs 5,000 crore each through Masala and 54-EC bonds and Rs 16,500 crore from the market, Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways Mansukh L Mandavia told Rajya Sabha today in a written reply. “The coupon rate for the fund raised/to be raised from EPFO is based on 10 days moving average of 25 years G-Sec plus 24 bps,” Mandaviya said. LIC has conveyed in-principle approval for subscribing to NHAI Bonds of Rs 25,000 crore to be drawn in three financial years till March 2019, subject to maximum of Rs 8,500 crore in one fiscal, he said. LIC has offered coupon rate of 30 years maturity at G-sec rate plus 50 bps per annum and the reference G-sec rate shall be 15 working days average annualised G-sec rate. The minister said NHAI has a common bank account in which all the funds raised/received are kept and the expenses are incurred from this account towards development, maintenance and management of National Highways entrusted to it by government. Ethan Westbrooks Womens Jersey
J&K fails to meet deadline for achieving 1st milestone under UDAY scheme
Jammu and Kashmir Government has failed to meet the deadline for achieving the first milestone fixed by the Union Power Ministry under its Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) Scheme as feeder metering has yet not been completed particularly in rural parts of the State. Moreover, the Power Development Department has not ensured compliance to the directives of State Electricity Regulatory Commission (SERC) on furnishing action plan for implementation/achievement of operational milestones agreed to by it in a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed with the Government of India. The J&K Government had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Union Ministry of Power on March 15, 2016 under UDAY Scheme for operational and financial turnaround of the State’s Power Development Department, official sources told EXCELSIOR, adding under the scheme the PDD has committed to achieve 11 operational milestones within the timelines fixed by the Ministry of Power. The foremost milestone was pertaining to 100% feeder metering in urban and rural areas of the State so as to ensure effective power supply maintenance and focused reduction of Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses and for completion of this vital exercise the timeline agreed to by the Power Development Department was June 30, 2016. However, the State has failed to meet the deadline for 100% feeder metering and even four months beyond the fixed timeline this vital exercise has not been completed in many rural parts of Jammu and Kashmir. “This has raised many doubts about Power Development Department’s efficiency in meeting timelines for other operational milestones”, sources said. It is pertinent to mention here that the main aim of signing this MoU is to restructure high interest rate of the total DISCOM debt thereby improving financial condition of PDD. The MoU under UDAY would enable Jammu and Kashmir to raise funds at cheaper rate to clear the outstanding dues of around Rs 3538 crore of CPSUs, which would entail an annual saving of Rs 1200 crore (over 4 years) towards interest cost to the State. As per the MoU, J&K is required to ensure 100% Distribution Transformer Metering by June 30, 2017; energy audit up to 10 KV levels in rural areas and feeder improvement programme by March 31, 2017; physical feeder segregation by March 2018; smart meters for consumers consuming above 500 units per month by December 2017; smart meters for consumers consuming above 200 units per month by December 31, 2019; implementation of ERP systems by March 2017 and providing 80 lakh LED bulbs for domestic and other categories under DELP during the financial year 2017-18. What to talk of meeting the timeline fixed by Union Power Ministry, the Power Development Department has also failed to ensure compliance to the directives of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission on furnishing detailed action plan for implementation/ achievement of operational milestones agreed to by the department under UDAY Scheme. For this, the SERC vide its order dated October 7, 2016 had given one month time to the PDD but like so many other directives of the Commission this one has also met the uncertain fate because of the non-serious approach of the concerned authorities, sources said while disclosing that detailed action plan is imperative so that SERC is also able to monitor the performance of the PDD in implementation/achievement of operational milestones fixed under UDAY Scheme. Meanwhile, metering of all the installations across the State will be completed during the Financial Year 2018-19 as per the plan submitted by the PDD to SERC. The PDD has conveyed to the Commission that it will install 344709 meters during 2017-18 financial year and 348103 during 2018-19 financial year. For 100% metering the PDD requires a total of 1,147,723 meters. Jon Halapio Authentic Jersey
National Energy Policy aims to meet sustainable growth
The four key objectives of the new energy policy are access at affordable prices, improved energy security and independence, greater sustainability and economic growth. Power and coal minister Piyush Goyal informed Rajya Sabha in a written reply. Thi policy is being discussed by NITI Aayog with different stake holders. The minister further stated in the reply that NEP builds on the achievements of the earlier omnibus energy policy – the Integrated Energy Policy (IEP), and sets the new agenda consistent with the redefined role of emerging developments in the energy world. In view of the fact, that energy is handled by different ministries that have the primary responsibility of setting their own sectoral agenda, an omnibus policy is required to achieve the goal of energy security through coordination between these sources. This is also expected to mainstream emerging energy technologies, and provide consumer energy choices, Goyal added. Replying to a question on the difference between the old and new policies, the minister informed that the new policy differs from the previous policy while including the issue related to sharp decline of crude oil prices, change in solar energy technology, heightened concern of climate change issues, ambitious target of Renewable energy and rural electrification agenda adopted by the Government. Roosevelt Nix Authentic Jersey