(FE) The government has said there has been 12% reduction so far this year in incidents of stubble burning in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. It further claimed that the use of ‘happy seeder’ machines has helped bring down the practice. Citing an ICAR study, agriculture minister Narendra Singh Tomar said in a statement that there were 331,402 incidents of crop residue burning until November 4, against 35,717 such cases in the year-ago period. Stubble burning has been in practice in these states for the past few years as farmers prefer to burn the residues after harvesting paddy to clear the…
Author: Aruna Sharma
(LiveMint) Indian Railways’ North East Frontier Railway (NFR) zone has taken steps to improve the lighting in the interior of the railway coaches. As a part of its upgradation process, NFR has initiated a a drive for replacement of existing incandescent lamps and CFL lights inside coaches by LED lights. According to a statement, the step will help Indian Railways to cut on its energy bill and also the inside of the coaches will also get brightly illuminated.A total of 1890 passengers coaches have been retrofitted with LED lights so far and entire stock of coaches will be done within the next one year.The…
(BS) GAIL (India) announced the inauguration of supply of domestic Piped Natural Gas (PNG) and Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) station in Jamshedpur. The work for laying a 125 KM long spur pipeline from Purulia to Jamshedpur was also commenced. This will feed CGD networks of East Singhbhum, West Singhbhum and Seraikela- Kharsawan geographical areas.Several rolling-steel, wire and pipe along with automobile industries would be benefited by the availability of cheaper and continuous fuel. The projects are being implemented by GAIL (India) which is constructing the prestigious Jagdishpur Haldia Bokaro-Dhamra and Barauni Guwahati Natural Gas Pipeline (JHBDPL), popularly known as the Pradhan…
(LiveMint) India on Monday decided against joining the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) trade deal, holding that it did not receive any “credible assurance on market access and non-tariff barriers”. The other 15 members, however, decided to go ahead and sign the trade deal sometime next year, keeping the door open for India to join at a later date. Negotiations for RCEP, which includes 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and six free trade partners—China, India, South Korea, Japan, New Zealand and Australia—began in 2012. Indian industry was, however, apprehensive that the deal would lead to a surge…
(FE) Power generation in the country fell 12.7% year-on-year (y-o-y) in October, recording the third straight month when electricity produced was less than the corresponding year-ago month. According to provisional data from the Central electricity authority, 105.6 billion units (BU) were generated in the month compared with 121 BU in October 2018. Thermal power plants generated 78.3 BU, 19.8% lower than October last year, indicating a further fall in their plant load factors (PLF). Renewable energy sources decreased their generation by 6.4% y-o-y in the same month to 7.3 BU, in spite of a 15% rise in its installed capacity. Since electricity…
(FE) State-run Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) is evaluating the option of throwing its hat in the ring and taking over the entire government stake in fellow oil-refiner-marketer Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPCL), which tops strategic disinvestment list firmed up for the current fiscal. According to an internal note circulated among IOC top brass which FE has accessed, its marketing division discussed “the issue of taking the government stake in BPCL or the ONGC stake in HPCL by IOC”, in the light of the risks to its business from a possible privatisation of BPCL, at a meeting on October 25. The note…
Directorate General of Training (DGT), under the aegis of Ministry of Skill Development & Entrepreneurship (MSDE), today announced the launch of SkillsBuild platform in collaboration with IBM. As part of the programme, a two-year advanced diploma in IT, networking and cloud computing, co-created and designed by IBM, will be offered at the Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) & National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs). The platform will be extended to train ITI & NSTI faculty on building skills in Artificial Intelligence (AI). SkillsBuild offers digital learning content from IBM and partners such as CodeDoor, Coorpacademy and Skillsoft. The digital platform will provide a…
(PTI) Power producers’ total outstanding dues owed by distribution companies rose around 37 per cent to Rs 69,558 crore in September 2019 over the same month last year, reflecting stress in the sector. Distribution companies owed a total of Rs 50,583 crore to power generation companies in September 2018, according to web portal and app namely PRAAPTI (Payment Ratification and Analysis in Power procurement for Bringing Transparency in Invoicing of generators). The portal was launched in May 2018 to bring a transparency in power purchase transactions between generators and discoms (distribution companies). In September this year, total overdue amount, which was…
(AU) प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी ने कहा कि दक्षिण पूर्व एशियाई राष्ट्र संघ (आसियान) के साथ भारत के सहयोग में विस्तार को तैयार है। भारत और आसियान के बीच जमीनी, हवाई और समुद्री संपर्क बढ़ाने से क्षेत्रीय व्यापार और आर्थिक वृद्धि को उल्लेखनीय तौर पर बढ़ाया जा सकता है। समुद्री सुरक्षा और जल आधारित अर्थव्यवस्था के क्षेत्र में भी सहयोग बढ़ाने के काफी अवसर हैं। इसके अलावा भारत व आसियान कृषि, इंजीनियरिंग, डिजिटल प्रौद्योगिकी व वैज्ञानिक अनुसंधान के क्षेत्र में सहयोग का विस्तार कर सकते हैं। भारत-आसियान सम्मेलन में रविवार को अपने संबोधन में पीएम ने क्षेत्रीय संबंधों में विस्तार का ब्लूप्रिंट…
(BS) Saudi Arabia is pulling out all the stops to ensure the success of Aramco’s initial public offering after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman finally decided to offer shares in the world’s largest oil producer. The kingdom cut taxes on the company for a third time, revealed incentives for investors not to sell and is considering boosting dividends further. Yet the Saudi government has already conceded the company probably isn’t worth the $2 trillion valuation Prince Mohammed has long advocated. More than three years after the IPO was first mooted, Aramco published a so-called intention to float on Sunday, the…