Month: March 2022

The Ministry of Power said on Saturday it has issued a circular requesting the states to take action against imported coal-based power plants if they fail to maintain adequate coal stocks.

“It has been reported that a number of power plants are taking much longer time than the norm in unloading coal from railway rakes which is affecting the turn-around time. CEA (central electricity authority) has been asked to monitor the unloading time at power plants and it has been decided that lesser number of rakes would be made available to such power plants where there is slackness in prompt unloading of coal from rakes,” the Ministry of Power said.

“This step has been taken with the objective of maximising the utilisation of available railway rakes. Therefore, this aspect may be monitored at the level of State Government and unloading of coal may be ensured within the given norm,” it said.

The ministry said it has been monitoring coal supply situation in the country and has taken steps to ensure adequate coal supply and coal stocks based on the domestic coal received from Coal India Limited (CIL), Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) and Captive coal mines.

As per decision taken in the Ministry of Power in consultation with State Gencos (power generation companies), Independent power producers (IPPs) and Central Gencos, domestic coal supply will be made proportional to the coal received from CIL/SCCL for all the Gencos and it will not be possible to give more coal other than on proportionate basis to make up any shortfall, the Ministry of Power said in a statement.

“It has been observed that non-operation of certain Imported Coal-Based (ICB) plants in States had put more pressure on domestic coal demand leading to low coal stocks for domestic coal-based (DCB) plants,” it said.

The ministry noted that procurers and sellers are legally bound by the PPA in force as signed by both the parties. While the procurers are bound to pay the bills timely as per PPA, the Gencos (sellers) are bound to maintain adequate fuel stocks and offer availability as per PPA.

“Not maintaining adequate fuel stocks or not giving availability on any pretext (such as high price of imported coal etc) is inexcusable. Such a conduct on the part of seller should be immediately responded to by the procurer sternly by using all possible contractual and other available legal interventions at the level of State Government,” it said.

If any gaming is noticed on the part of seller such as not supplying electricity under PPA and selling in market should be brought to notice of the Regulatory Commission without any delay under intimation to the Ministry of Power for immediate intervention, it added. (ANI)

Nepalese Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba will visit Varanasi during his official visit to India from April 1 to 3.

As per the itinerary, he will meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 2.

This will be his first visit to India after becoming Prime Minister of the Himalayan nation in July 2021. He has visited India in each of his four earlier stints as PM. His last visit to India was in 2017.

This visit is a part of the tradition of periodic high-level exchanges between the two countries. It would give an opportunity to both sides to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations including development and economic partnership, trade, cooperation in the health sector, power, connectivity, people to people links and other issues of mutual interest.

This comes after Chinese Foreign Minister and State Councilor Wang Yi’s conclusion of his three-day visit to Nepal.

Wang’s Nepal visit comes in the backdrop of Nepal ratifying the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact, a grant of USD 500 million developmental assistance from the US to Kathmandu, seen as a setback for China.

The Chinese official, associated with China’s diplomatic corps in Kathmandu, said that in the lead up to the compact’s endorsement, there was a lack of coordination among the Chinese agencies handling Nepal. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he also said the communication gap between Beijing and the Chinese Embassy was also growing, according to the Annapurna Express article.

Nepal’s federal parliament did ratify the compact, as the Americans wished, but in the run-up to ratification, Beijing tried hard to stop it.

It sees the USD 500 million development grant to Nepal as a part of America’s strategy to encircle China, the article noted. (ANI)

Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the SP Legislative Party and Leader of Opposition in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly.

In a meeting held at the party’s headquarters on Saturday which was attended by all the newly-elected MLAs and members of the legislative council, the decision was taken.

“Akhilesh Yadav has been unanimously elected as the Leader of the SP Legislative Party. The process of electing the Leader of Opposition will be done in Assembly, the party will write and send and it will be done there,” Naresh Uttam Patel, State President, Samajwadi Party said.

Yadav has already resigned on Tuesday from the Lok Sabha by handing over his resignation to Speaker of the Lower House Om Birla. He was representing Azamgarh in the Lok Sabha.

The SP leader resigned from the Lower House after winning the recently held Uttar Pradesh elections from the Karhal Assembly seat.

The Samajwadi Party had won five Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 general elections. The party’s strength will be reduced to three after the resignations of Yadav and SP’s Azam Khan are accepted by the Speaker.

In the recently held elections of Uttar Pradesh, Samajwadi Party bagged 111 seats, which is a massive increase from 47 seats in 2017. The BJP returned to power in the state with over 250 seats in Uttar Pradesh. (ANI)

After the Calcutta High Court ordered the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the Birbhum violence case, a 15-member team of the Central agency reached the crime scene in Rampurhat on Saturday to investigate the case.

The team is led by deputy inspector general of police (DIG) Akhilesh Singh and also includes Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) experts.

Meanwhile, CBI has named 21 accused under Section 147, 148, 149 and other Sections in FIR on suspected offence of armed rioting.

Director-General of Police (DGP) West Bengal, Manoj Malviya on Friday informed that 11 arrests have been made in the case so far.

A total of eight people were burnt to death in the Rampurhat area of West Bengal’s Birbhum on Tuesday after a mob allegedly set houses on fire following the killing of Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Bhadu Sheikh.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee went to Bagtui village on Thursday to meet the kin of those killed in the violence.

On Friday, the Calcutta HC directed the SIT formed by the West Bengal government to hand over case papers and accused persons arrested by it to the central probe agency.

The Court had also directed the state government to install CCTV cameras for round-the-clock surveillance. Following this direction, CCTV cameras have been installed in the violence-affected area of Rampurhat.

Also, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had sought a detailed report from the West Bengal government over the arson incident. The move came after a nine-member delegation of BJP MPs from West Bengal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and sought his intervention and action against the perpetrators involved in the crime. (ANI)

SS Rajamouli’s latest directorial venture, ‘RRR’, has set the cash registers ringing and how! Starring Jr NTR and Ram Charan in the lead roles, the movie earned Rs 223 crore worldwide on day one of its release. In India, the film minted Rs 156 crore on its opening day.

Indian film critic and trade analyst Taran Adarsh shared the movie’s box office collection on his Instagram account.

The magnum opus, which also stars Ajay Devgn and Alia Bhatt, became India’s biggest-ever opener after overtaking ‘Baahubali 2’, which had made Rs 217 crore worldwide on its opening day.

Set in pre-independence India, ‘RRR’ is a fictional take on the younger days of celebrated freedom fighters, Komaram Bheem and Alluri Seetharama Raju, portrayed by Jr. NTR and Ram Charan.

The movie also features Samuthirakani, Olivia Morris, Alison Doody, and Ray Stevenson. (ANI)

Swedish audio streaming and media services provider Spotify has announced that it will “fully suspend” its service in Russia, apparently indefinitely, amid the country’s continued military operation in Ukraine.

Earlier this month, the company had suspended its paid subscription service in Russia. As per Variety, in a statement, the company has now said, “Spotify has continued to believe that it’s critically important to try to keep our service operational in Russia to provide trusted, independent news and information in the region.”

“Unfortunately, recently enacted legislation further restricting access to information, eliminating free expression, and criminalizing certain types of news puts the safety of Spotify’s employees and possibly even our listeners at risk. After carefully considering our options and the current circumstances, we have come to the difficult decision to fully suspend our service in Russia,” they added.

With this decision, the company has joined dozens of other music companies that have ceased operations in the country including Netflix, Sony Music, Warner Media, among several others.

Though the Russian offices of Spotify had been closed by the company earlier this month, still, it did not initially disable access to its service within Russia.

It had also restricted the discoverability of Russian state-affiliated content on the streaming audio services and removed all content from Kremlin-backed outlets RT and Sputnik from Spotify’s platform.

As per Variety, Spotify had launched its service in Russia and Ukraine in July 2020, along with 10 other European countries. (ANI)

The Delhi Government will provide roads, water pipelines, sewerage network and drainage connectivity in all unauthorised colonies by March next year.

The decision was taken in a review meeting on the ongoing development works in unauthorised colonies at the Delhi Secretariat on Friday chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal with Public Works Department officials.

The Chief Minister was informed by the officers about the present status of all the development works going on in unauthorised colonies.

In the meeting, the concerned officials apprised Kejriwal that the work of developing sewers, roads, water pipelines and drains in all unauthorised colonies would be completed by March 2023.

The Chief Minister directed the officials that the quality of all the construction work going on in unauthorised colonies should be of the best quality and all the basic facilities should be provided to the residents living there with no hassle.

The progress of roads and drains being handled by the Irrigation and Flood Control Department was also taken up.

They have completed 459 projects whereas 278 are under construction. 18,340 roads are being built totalling a length of 1,845.73 kilometres by the department, 15,638 roads out of these totalling 1,542.43 kilometres have been constructed. 2,702 roads totalling 303.19 kilometres are under construction.

Works of 30,606 drains were taken up by the department totalling 3,052.41 kilometres, 27,576 drains of these of 2,661.23 kilometres length have been completed and 3,030 drains are under-construction for a total of 391.18- kilometre length.

Apart from this, Chief Minister also reviewed the project of revamping 540 km long roads of Delhi to the level of European countries. In the meeting, PWD informed that 7 roads of length 32.5 km will be completed by August this year as a pilot project, informed Chief Minister’s Office.

The tourism department is also working on the beautification of the roads of Delhi. Under which Delhi Tourism is beautifying the 5.2 km long road as a pilot.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and Health and Water Minister Satyendar Jain, both were present in these review meetings. (ANI)

A day after the Government of India signed an agreement with World Health Organization for establishing the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed the move saying it will contribute towards making a healthier planet and leveraging the country’s rich traditional practices for global good.

“India is honoured to be home to a state-of-the-art WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine. This Centre will contribute towards making a healthier planet and leveraging our rich traditional practices for global good,” the Prime Minister tweeted on Saturday.

The Ministry of Ayush on Friday signed the ‘Host Country Agreement’ with WHO for establishing WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India at Jamnagar, Gujarat, with its interim office at the Institute of Training and Research in Ayurveda in Gujarat.

The Prime Minister said that this centre will enhance wellness in society.

“Traditional medicines and wellness practices from India are very popular globally. This WHO Centre will go a long way in enhancing wellness in our society,” PM Modi said.

The primary objective of WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine, the Ministry of Ayush said, is to harness the potential of traditional medicine from across the world through modern science and technology and improve overall health of the communities’ world over.

This global knowledge centre for traditional medicine, supported by an investment of USD 250 million from the Government of India, aims to harness the potential of traditional medicine from across the world through modern science and technology to improve the health of people and the planet, the WHO said in a statement.

As per data shared by WHO, around 80 per cent of the world’s population is estimated to use traditional medicine. “To date, 170 of the 194 WHO Member States have reported the use of traditional medicine, and their governments have asked for WHO’s support in creating a body of reliable evidence and data on traditional medicine practices and products,” it said.

The term traditional medicine describes the total sum of the knowledge, skills and practices indigenous and different cultures have used over time to maintain health and prevent, diagnose and treat physical and mental illness. Its reach encompasses ancient practices such as acupuncture, ayurvedic medicine and herbal mixtures as well as modern medicines.

The onsite launch of the new WHO global centre for traditional medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat, India will take place on April 21, 2022.(ANI)

Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia on Friday inaugurated an aviation exhibition Wings India 2022.

Calling it the largest civil aviation conference in the whole of Asia, Scindia lauded the Ministry of Civil Aviation and The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

“The Prime Minister’s Gati Shakti is a twin-pronged initiative to give impetus to all kinds of infrastructure,” said Scindia.

He also added that the number of passengers has been ever increasing and therefore numerous initiatives and additions would be done to suffice the demand.

“It is very encouraging to know that we have emerged stronger, India’s airport infrastructure will grow from 140 to 220 airports by 2024,” said Scindia as he pointed out that the Indian aviation sector ready for challenges.

The minister also saw the static display area showing a range of aircraft from wide-body Airbus 350 to small aircraft and helicopters. The airshow had attendees from all over the country.

The young aviation students called the expo the highlight of the Begumpet airport.

“We have aircraft here from all over the country and it’s really inspiring for us. Events like these help us gain confidence ” said Shiva, a student from a nearby aviation academy.

The Exhibition had participants including Aircraft and Helicopter Manufacturers, Aircraft Interiors, Aircraft Machinery and Equipment Companies, Airport Infrastructure Companies, Drones, Skill Development, Space Industry, Airlines, Airline Services and Cargo. (ANI)