Airports In India May Soon Have Biometric Security Checks: Civil Aviation Minister
Fliers may soon be able to use biometric details for security checks at airports as the government works on putting in place such systems after receiving ‘good feedback’ for a pilot project. Giving strong indications, Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said that having biometric systems for passengers at airports appear to be a good idea. The innovative idea, close on the heels of authorities doing away with tagging requirement of hand baggages at select airports, comes at a time when efforts are being made to ensure that aviation security procedures are more efficient and less intrusive. “Biometric access was experimented at Hyderabad (airport). The feedback was good… Biometric system is appearing to be a good system security-wise,” Mr Raju told news agency PTI in an interview. Authorities have carried out a short duration pilot project using biometric system at Hyderabad international airport recently. The exact details on how it is used could not be immediately ascertained. Mark Giordano Jersey
Erumely airport: Study finds two estates as suitable locations
IndoHeritage International Aeropolis Pvt Limited, the promoters of the Erumely airport project, has submitted a feasibility study report on the project proposal in Pathanamthitta to chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The study, conducted in five estates in Pathanamthitta by an US-based agency , AECOM, has observed Cheruvalli and Laha estates as preferred locations for the project. “The report has been submitted before the chief minister for the principal approval of the state government. The state government has reacted positively to the project and the decision has to be taken on the land for the project. Either the government should take over the land and hand over to us or we should purchase the land,” said Rajeev Joseph, managing director of Indo-Heritage International Aeropolis Pvt Limited The feasibility study was conducted in Laha, Cheruvalli, Kumbazha, Kalleli and Kuttikkal estates. The report said that the best suitable location for the airport project was Cheruvalli estate. Since there are some cases related to Cheruvalli estate, the report has observed that the airport project could be executed in Laha estate as well. “In case of any legal issue in taking over the land from these two estates, then the third alternative will be Kumbazha estate.This is the same agency which is currently executing the Kannur airport project,” said Joseph. J.J. Hardy Jersey
By 2022 India will be one of largest installations of renewable energy: Piyush Goyal
Asserting that the present generation has the duty to leave behind a better place to live in for the next generation, Minister of State for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy and Mines Piyush Goyal on Saturday said by 2022, India will be one of largest installations of renewable energy in world. Goyal also said Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed towards ramping up renewable energy. “This government is committed and has created an actionable agenda so that by 2022 India would probably be one of the world’s fasted growing renewable energy in the country, one of the largest installations of renewable energy in the world if not the largest. India will have about 2, 25,000 MW of renewable energy by 2022, which is the world’s largest installation.” Under its plan, Goyal said, the government is also committed to set up solar plant of one lakh megawatt to meet its security needs. “So far in the two and half years, we have expanded the solar install capacity by 200 percent, i.e 9,000 MW and by end of December 2017 I expect it to be 20,000 MW,” he added. Piyush Goyal further said India is also considering to expand its hydro power capacity which currently stands at 25 MW. “Similarly in wind we are aggressively taking it to 20,000 MW, apart from expanding the scope of nuclear and small hydro projects,” he said. Goyal also expressed optimism at world’s commitment under the Paris declaration and the Conference of the Parties (CoP) 21 to fight against climate change. “In the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs), I am delighted to say that India has been an integral part of that entire journey where it was at the forefront of negotiations in the Paris agreement,” he said. Prince Amukamara Womens Jersey
Parliamentary panel junks claims on power sector achievements
Punching holes in the Centre’s claims that it has overachieved the capacity addition target in the power sector for the 12th Plan period by adding around 88,928.2MW as against the target of 88,537MW till October 31, 2016, a high level Parliamentary panel has noted that the overall target is being achieved due to ‘over-achievement’ of targets assigned to the private sector for the entire Plan period. In its report, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Energy, which, incidentally, is led by BJP MP Virendra Kumar, has noted that the share of capacity addition assigned to the state-owned entities was a meagre 26,182MW, out of which it was to able to achieve only 14,692MW, a poor 56 per cent till March 31, 2016. The panel has made its observations on the basis to the capacity addition figures provided to it by the power ministry for the period till March 31, 2016. It presented its report to Parliament on December 15, which was the penultimate day of the Winter Session. The ministry in its year ending review for 2016 has claimed that during the 12th Plan period, the capacity addition of about 88,928.2MW was achieved against the actual target of 88,537MW from conventional sources, till October 31, 2016. The Parliamentary panel has struck down the Centre’s claim that though the Centrally-owned entities may have fallen short of the targets for the 12th Plan period (2012-2017), the overall target of 88,537MW is going to be achieved, by observing that it “is not acceptable”. The Centre made this claim before the committee on the basis of the figures available till March 2016. The panel took into cognisance the figures till March 2016, according to which out of the 88,537MW of capacity addition target of the 12th Plan, 84,990MW had already been achieved, i.e. 96 per cent. However, the private sector had over-achieved its target by adding 49,807MW, whereas its target was 46,825MW, by that time itself. This was an over-achievement of 106 per cent. “The overall target is being achieved due to over-achievement of targets by the private sector,” the committee said in its observations. It has cautioned the Centre at the same time that generation capacity addition should not be left entirely to the private sector, and its endeavour should be to make the state-owned power entities match the performance of their private counterparts. It in fact has expressed surprise that the government “has fixed a small target of 26,182MW (of capacity addition) for the Central sector for the 12th Plan, which incidentally also includes 21,654 MW of slipped projects of the previous 11th Plan”. “Despite this, the Central sector has so far achieved only half of what has been assigned in the 12th Plan. Their financial performance re-garding internal and extra budgetary resources has also been poor so far in this Plan period,” said the panel. The panel has also countered the Centre’s claim that the electricity energy shortage in the country has reduced to 0.7 per cent during the current year 2016-17 (up to October, 2016) from 8.7 per cent during the year 2012-13 (as mentioned in its year ending review for 2016). It has said in its observations that this could largely be attributed to the massive generation capacity addition. (However) the private sector has contributed significantly in this huge capacity addition, it noted. In fact that Parliamentary panel has expressed concern that falling energy deficit is also emanating from low demand, as many power stations are running at far below their optimum plant load factor (PLF). It has noted with distress the fact that the fall in demand by state utilities is due to their inability to purchase electricity at a price being offered by generation companies, which is way beyond their reach, thus highlighting the poor financial health of these state power entities. Alex Rodriguez Authentic Jersey
Cong, AAP will withdraw subsidies and concessions if voted to power: Parkash Singh Badal
Sharpening attack on Congress and AAP, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Saturday said the two parties have shown “stiff resistance” to “pro-people” policies of the Akali government and asserted that if re-elected to power he would review “people-friendly” decisions like regularisation of employees. “By announcing that they (opposition) will review the pro-people decisions taken by the state government like regularisation of employees and others, Amarinder Singh (of Congress) and AAP leaders have proved that if voted to power they will withdraw the subsidies and concessions like free power, Atta-Dal, Shagun and others being given to the people,” he said. The Chief Minister was addressing public gatherings in village Dhaler Kalan, Sandhaur, Sherwani Kot, Ferozepur Kothala and others during Sangat Darshan programme in Malerkotla assembly segment. Congress state unit chief Amarinder Singh had earlier said that he would review all decisions taken by the SAD-BJP state government in the last three months, if his party comes to power. Singh, however, yesterday clarified that his statement was twisted and affirmed that no government appointments would be subjected to any scrutiny. Badal said that in last ten years, the SAD-BJP alliance had given free power to farmers at a cost of Rs 5,000 crore annually. He said now in a historic initiative the state government has decided to regularise the services of 30,000 employees by passing the bill in the state assembly. Badal said the SAD-BJP alliance has ensured the welfare of every strata of society by taking several “path-breaking initiatives” for providing jobs, quality health and education facilities and by starting several pro-poor schemes. The veteran Akali leader said Punjabis can never forgive the Congress party for its “sins” against Punjab. “Congress has irrelevantly meddled in the social, political, economic and even religious affairs of the state,” he said, adding that the Congress governments at the Centre had deliberately denied the state of Punjabi speaking areas, its capital Chandigarh and even its legitimate share in river waters. He said “no true Punjabi” can ever forgive Congress for sins like Operation Blue Star and the killing of innocents in 1984 anti-Sikh carnage. On the sidelines of Sangat Darshan, the Chief Minister said he would contest the election from the seat which would be allocated to him by the party. He said in a democratic set up party was the supreme and he had always obeyed by the decision of his party. Flaying the shameful act of vandalisation of Gurdwara in Calgary (Canada), Badal said this incident has bruised the psyche of every human being in general and Sikhs in particular. He said this incident needs to be condemned in strongest words as it was a crime against the humanity as the Sikh Gurus have shown the way of peace, communal harmony and welfare of all to the entire humanity. He said the government of India must ensure the safety and security of the law abiding members of the Punjabi diaspora abroad, which have been living in across the globe for decades as most civilised and productive members of the local society. Jaleel Johnson Womens Jersey
Gurgaon: 24 hours power supply for T&D losses below 20%
The state government will supply 24-hour electricity to feeders where transmission and distribution (T&D) losses have been reduced to below 20%. The incentive is aimed at reducing T&D losses across the state. Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced on Saturday that feeders that have brought T&D losses to less than 20% will be supplied electricity round the clock. Two feeders in Gurgaon have already achieved the feat and are receiving 24-hour power supply. In a meeting with good governance assistants in New Delhi, Khattar commended power discom Dakshin Haryana Bjili Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) for registering profits for the first time since the inception of the corporation in 1999. From losses of more than Rs2,088 crore in 2014, the discom registered a profit of Rs78 crore in the first half of the current financial year. In comparison, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has reported losses of Rs1,233 crore in the first half of financial year 2016-17 against losses of Rs336 crore in the last financial year, an analysis by Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) has reported. The CM said that the DHBVN recorded a profit for the first time due to several measures. He said the power discom replaced old and defective electric meters, placed meters outside buildings, sealed meters, checked power theft, increased number of feeders, improved recovery of pending amounts and controlled transmission and distribution losses through various means. Khattar announced that under the 24-hour supply incentive, several feeders in Panchkula district would get uninterrupted power supply for cutting down their T&D losses. “The Ambala district was also doing a commendable job in improving transmission and distribution and the district will soon be covered under the 24-hour power supply scheme,” said Khattar. He also said that the government is taking action against those who are involved in power theft and interrupting government staff in delivering their duties. He said several FIRs have been filed against violators. Cody Whitehair Womens Jersey
BJP government states Rajasthan and Punjab miss UDAY scheme targets; Bihar improves
Discoms of Rajasthan and Punjab have missed their loss-reduction targets under Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) by wide margins, recent data reveals. On the other hand, Haryana and Bihar have managed to reduce their discoms’ cost-revenue gap or losses more than committed by them under the tripartite UDAY MoU. Also, all five states — with the most debt-burdened discoms — were running behind schedule as on September 30, 2016, in curbing the aggregate technical and commercial (AT&T) losses or pilferage and theft of electricity (see table). A glance at the performance of the five key states that signed on for UDAY reveals a mixed picture. A total of 18 states had decided to participate in UDAY, a scheme to facilitate the financial turnaround and revival of power distribution companies (discoms). The scheme was launched in November last year and the states have committed to reduce their AT&C losses to 15% and eliminate the cost-revenue gap by the end of FY19. Power ministry officials dealing with UDAY told FE that the cost-revenue gap for many states would narrow at the end of the fiscal as many outstanding bills are cleared in third and fourth quarters. The official added that the quarterly disclosure of data was a good tool to keep the discoms on toes but a performance evaluation based on the same would be premature. The emphasis on furnishing timely data seems to have had no impact on Uttar Pradesh. On the Union power ministry’s official UDAY portal, the numbers on cost-revenue gap regarding UP discoms have not yet been updated for the quarter ended September 30. Officials handling the portal told FE that only two out of five UP discoms have furnished the latest data despite several reminders. “We may remove the state’s data from the portal till the final numbers from all the discoms arrive, as incomplete data could show a misleading picture,” an official said. As far as reduction of AT&C losses is concerned, none of the five states managed to achieve their targets, though Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan came closer to their targets. Although the UDAY portal also gives the progress made by the states as per fourteen parameters including feeder metering for both rural and urban areas, smart metering, feeder segregation, access to electricity to unconnected households among others, the improvements in these areas reflect on the broader yardstick of cost-revenue gap and AT&C losses. The Centre launched UDAY as discoms’ accumulated debt ballooned to Rs 4.5 lakh crore by September 2015. The debt has not only put the lenders to discoms at risk but also banks which gave loans to newly commissioned or under-construction projects. States signing up for UDAY issued non-SLR bonds worth Rs 1 lakh crore in fiscal 2016 to take over 50% of discoms’ debt. An additional Rs 67,000 crore of UDAY bonds are expected to be issued in fiscal 2017 to take over another 25% of the debt. Discoms may issue state-guaranteed bonds for the remaining 25% of debt that will remain outstanding with them. Corey Clement Authentic Jersey
Rajasthan suffered Rs 1.2 lakh crore loss in 3 years of Raje govt: Sachin Pilot
Rajasthan Congress chief Sachin Pilot today claimed that the state has suffered a loss of Rs 1.2 lakh crore in the three years of the Vasundhara Raje government. “The BJP government has spent the bare minimum on developing infrastructure, agriculture, education and health. The state has suffered a loss of Rs 1.2 lakh crore in the past three years,” he alleged in a statement. He said that “financial mismanagement” under the BJP dispensation put burden on people of the state. “The Raje government is exploiting people by levying new taxes. It has increased power and water tariff arbitrarily,” Pilot alleged. Also, power distribution companies failed to check loss and theft in the last three years, he claimed. The BJP government had set aside Rs 99,000 crore for the power sector. However, it spent only Rs 38,000 crore for the development of public power sector, the Congress leader said. “The Raje government is exploiting people by levying new taxes. It has increased power and water tariff arbitrarily,” Pilot alleged. Ryan Kalil Authentic Jersey
New power tariff structure in works, large domestic consumers to be charged more
The burden of subsidising the power bills of agricultural and low-income families is set to move from industrial consumers to large domestic and commercial consumers of electricity. The government plans to introduce a new tariff structure to charge more from large domestic power consumers rather than industrial units that currently share the cross subsidy burden. Most states categorise households consuming more than 800 units of power a month as large domestic consumers. The government is also working on simplifying tariff patterns by classifying consumers in two to three categories and sub-categories to bring transparency in power billing. An expert committee has been set for this. It comprises senior officials from various states and the power ministry to work on the new tariff structure that encourages energy conservation by residential consumers and reduces the power bill of industrial consumers. The committee is also studying the possibility of increasing fixed charges on connected load of domestic consumers to encourage them to surrender unutilised load. Most states continue with electricity tariff structures created since their formation and are often criticised for political interventions and biases against industrial units that, despite being regular payees, are levied cross-subsidy and other charges.Domestic power consumption, on the other hand, is subsidised, though tariffs increase with consumption. Nowhere in the world except India are power consumers charged for regular payments and bulk consumption. These patterns have never been altered though tariffs have changed over the years. In fact, most countries give sops to industrial consumers onhigher power consumption, a top government official said, not wanting to be identified. Encouraging industrial units to increase power usage is the need of the hour since India has moved away from being a power-deficit country to a power-surplus country, said a senior official in the power ministry, who too did want to be named.Industrial units can absorb the excess generation capacity of power plants operating at about 60% of capacity due to lack of demand from distribution utilities and an ongoing economic slowdown. The utilisation of thermal power plants may fall to 48% by 2022 as the government plans to add 175 GW of renewable energy capacity and 50 GW of new power projects in the pipeline. The Electricity Act, 2003, enabled industrial consumers to choose their sources of power through open access. States initially implemented the reform with enthusiasm but later started imposing financial and nonfinancial barriers on industries to discourage them from purchasing electricity from sources other than their distribution utilities. The Economic Survey 2015-16 highlighted the need for progressive tariff schedules for domestic consumers through which charges for the poor could be reduced and burden on industrial units eased. It said high-cost and low-quality power supply is rendering the units uncompetitive affecting the government’s aim to make India a global manufacturing hub. The report said compared to other developing countries, India’s domestic power tariff schedules have greater scope for progressivity. Increase in tariffs for rich households can be achieved while maintaining or reducing tariffs for the poor. It said regulators should undertake broad welfare analysis while deciding on tariff schedules and cross subsidisation rate for different categories. Artturi Lehkonen Authentic Jersey
Price hikes give oil companies’ investors reason to expect a better third quarter
The stocks of state-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) are likely to end their sideways movement following expectations of good third-quarter results. OMCs have been able to increase fuel prices in higher steps in tandem with rising global crude oil prices during the quarter. This reassures investors that OMCs have sustained pricing power. The international price of crude oil rose by $6 per barrel in the period considered for a price hike on November 29, which necessitated a steep rise in petrol and diesel prices in India. Market trackers were closely watching whether OMCs were in a position to implement such a high increase in prices. The fact that such a steep rise was passed on to consumers shows the pricing power of OMCs and their ability to protect marketing margins. After the re cent price increase, marketing margins in December 2016 quarter averaged at Rs 2.1 per li tre on diesel compared with Rs 1.9 per litre in the previous quarter. For petrol, the margin was more or less stable at Rs 1.8 per litre. Every Rs 1 change in petrol margin expands projected EPS by 6-15% for OMCs, while every 5% growth in petrol volume expands EPS by as much as 2%. In addition, India’s fuel consumption growth remained robust at 7% and 12% in the first two months of the December quarter.This augurs well for OMCs. On the refining side, OMCs are likely to benefit from inventory gains due to rising oil prices during the December quarter and $1.8 per barrel improvement in the Singapore gross refining margin (GRM). Crude oil has surged nearly $8barrel in the December quarter so far. In the June quarter, when crude had inched up $10barrel, Indian Oil had reported $6.4barrel of inventory gain, while HPCL and BPCL recorded $2barrel gain each. IOC is likely to be the key beneficiary since it has higher inventory days due to more number of inland refineries compared with other OMCs which have refineries closer to coastal areas. OMCs trade between 9.3x and 9.5x the FY18E earnings -less than 10% premium to their long-term average multiple. The expansion of valuations hinges on their ability to control prices. Also, the extent of earnings upgrades will depend on who will bear the burden of 0.75% cash discount offered by the government on digital payments at petrol pumps. Marcell Dareus Womens Jersey