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Deal on Admiral Gorshkov may be signed soon MUMBAI, Nov 22: The deal on acquisition of ex-Soviet aircraft carrier ‘Admiral Gorshkov’ may be inked soon with the Indian Navy officials hoping .......more Asia’s first vegetable-waste power plant to come up in Chennai CHENNAI, Nov 22: Power generation from vegetable waste will become a reality in the country in a little over a year’s time when Asia’s first-of-its-kind bio-methanisation power plant would be commissioned in this metro. ....more Deisel
tempos to be DEHRA DUN, Nov 22: In an effort to protect the fragile Himalayan environment of the State and attract tourists at pollution free buses will be introduced.....more Centre to come out with white paper on Rly safety NEW DELHI, Nov 22: Bowing to the oppositionn demand, the Government today announced in the Rajya Sabha to bring out a white.......more |
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AP Govt says POTA HYDERABAD, Nov 22: An agitated Andhra Pradesh Assembly was today assured that the Government would use even POTA against those ........more Tension
in Haryana CHANDIGARH, Nov 22: Sirsa, Ellenabad and couple of other towns in Sirsa district today observed a total bandh to mourn the death of Mr Ram Chander . ......more Participation
approach COIMBATORE, Nov 22: As part of conservation and protection of wealth in reserved forest areas, Tamil Nadu Forest Department has undertaken a novel .....more 5 year-old inherits property of former Jaipur royals JAIPUR, Nov 22: In a ceremony redolent with memories of India’s royalty, a 5-year-old boy in bright red head-dress and an impish smile was adopted as ......more |
Deal on Admiral Gorshkov may be signed soon MUMBAI, Nov 22: The deal on acquisition of ex-Soviet aircraft carrier ‘Admiral Gorshkov’ may be inked soon with the Indian Navy officials hoping high on the forthcoming visit of Russian President Vladimir Putin. "The Russian President is expected in India next month and we are hopeful that there will be something positive during this visit," a senior Indian Navy official told UNI here. A series of talks between the Indian and Russian Government officials have been held in this regard and the acquisition may take a final shape soon, the official said, adding that with the ‘Admiral Gorshkov’ joining the fleet, the capabilities of the Indian Navy will increase manifold. Admiral Madhvendra Singh, the Chief of Naval Staff, during his visit to this island city, earlier this month, has said that the aircraft carrier was in a good condition and expressed the hope that the Indian Navy will get it. The need for an aircraft carrier for the Indian Navy is felt for quite some time, especially after the decommissioning of INS Vikrant in 1997, which has now been converted into a maritime museum, currently moored off the Gateway of India. The lone aircraft-carrier of the Indian Navy is INS Viraat with the integral British-made sea-harrier aircraft flying from aboard this floating airfield. The keel of the indigenious Air Defence Ship (ADS) — a smaller version of an aircraft carrier — is expected to be laid soon at the Cochin shipyard, Indian Navy sources said. "Ideally the Indian Navy should have three aircraft carriers," a senior Navy official said, adding that while one carrier each can be deployed on the Western and Eastern seaboards another could be taken up for refit. The INS Viraat had undergone a major refit couple of years ago. With INS Viraat at its disposal and the possibility of joining of ‘Admiral Gorshkov’ and the development of ADS — by 2010, the Indian Navy may have three aircraft-carriers. The Russian heavy aircraft-carrying cruiser will have to undergo a major refit programme before she joins the fleet. Interestingly, the Indian Navy is the only Navy in Asia which operates an aircraft-carrier. However, the Indian Navy has now the choice to choose the aircraft that it would operate from on board the ‘Admiral Gorshkov’ and the two shortlisted ones are Russian-made MiG 29k and the French-made Rafales. Indian Navy officials said wishing anonymity that in case the Government goes for the Russian fighter jets, it would not need much of changes to be made on the flight deck of ‘Admiral Gorshkov’ (ex-baku). The displacement of the Russian carrier is around 40,000-tonnes and the deck is 273-metre-long. In New Delhi recently, Defence Minister George Fernandes said the negotiations for the acquisition of aircraft carrier ‘Admiral Gorshkov’ from Russia were going on at a fast pace and he was hopeful that the deal would be finalised soon. He has said it was desirable that the deal be finalised soon. The Defence Minister concurred with the view that the Indian Navy needed two aircraft carriers. Negotiations for the carrier have been going on for several years with Russia. Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Madhvendra Singh, who inspected ‘Admiral Gorshkov’ during his recent trip to Russia had said that its hull was in good shape. (UNI) |
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Asia’s first vegetable-waste power plant to come up in Chennai CHENNAI, Nov 22: Power generation from vegetable waste will become a reality in the country in a little over a year’s time when Asia’s first-of-its-kind bio-methanisation power plant would be commissioned in this metro. An agreement "in principle" on this between the Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources (MNEC) and the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has already taken shape and is awaiting formal inking of documents, according to a top bureaucrat. The plan is to commence the project at Koyambedu vegetable market by next month so as to commission it by end-2003, CMDA vice chairperson Jayanthi, IAS, said. "The formal approval from MNES would come any time from now," she told UNI, adding that the ministry and CMDA would jointly invest Rs five crore in a 75:25 ratio to generate about 4780 kw power per day, using 30 tonnes of vegetable waste. The novel project assumes significance also considering that each major Indian city produces 600 to 1,000 tonnes of municipal waste every year, with a chunk of it being from vegetables. Its cost of generation has been worked to be about Rs 1.40 per unit as against the TNEB’s cost of power generation and distribution totalling around Rs 3.30. The proposed endeavour would charge less when also compared with the wind energy cost of Rs 2.75 a unit or Rs 1.90 as in the case of coal-based generation. The bio-methanisation plant would be installed in a two-acre plot on the CMDA land adjacent to the wholesale vegetable market in the city. ENTEC, an Austrian firm, which has been selected through competitive bidding for constructing the plant, would also run the plant for the first year to prove its viability, after which the CMDA would take over the administration. ENTEC has set up similar plants in Austria, Italy and Germany. The power plant works on the principle of converting vegetable waste into methane gas, which is then converted into electric energy. The residual sludge coming out from the plant could be used to produce bio-fertiliser, according to Dr S Rajamani, head of the environmental engineering department at the central leather research institute (CLRI). CLRI, which has been appointed the technical agency to execute the project coming under UNDP’s GEF programme, has earlier assisted the commissioning of a 2500-mw power generation plant at a slaughter house in Hyderabad using the bio-methanisation technology. Also, a power plant, using poultry litter, has been set up at Lucknow, with the input coming from Namakkal in Tamil Nadu. CLRI Director T Ramasami, pointing out that the Koyambedu plant would be the first to use vegetable waste to generate power in the country, said "we are sure it is going to set a role-model for replication." As the Supreme Court’s December deadline for technological treating of municipal waste is fast approaching, the State Governments are on the look out for projects of such kind, he noted. Hyderabad is already into commissioning a power plant based on municipal solid-waste. In 1999, it had, with the assistance of Andhra Pradesh technology development and promotion centre, tifac and selco international, set up a plant to produce fuel pellets from municipal waste. APTDC Director Anjan Das said a six-mw selco-promoted power project using fuel pellets was to be commissioned at Vijayawada in March next year. The technology for combustion has been sourced from the German major, Alstom Power. "If that project clicks, it would prove to be a major solution to the problem in metros regarding waste disposal. It would also be an added attraction for private investments into waste recycling and power-generation business," he observed. But Dr Ramasami cautioned that each of these experiments had to take care that the input cost should not exceed that of the output power and revenue earned. Referring to the failure of the Australian technology being used for the municipal waste conversion and power generation project in Chennai earlier, he said the selection of the right technology was always crucial. (UNI) |
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Deisel tempos to be phased out in Uttaranchal DEHRA DUN, Nov 22: In an effort to protect the fragile Himalayan environment of the State and attract tourists at pollution free buses will be introduced in major tourist towns of Uttaranchal. Talking to UNI here, Uttaranchal Transport and Technical Education Minister Hira Singh Bisht said that as soon as the Uttaranchal transport corporation was constituted after clearance from the Centre was received, comfortable and colourful buses, both Government and private, would facilitate tourist and local traffic in the hill State. "We have launched some buses to carry pilgrims and tourists from Rishikesh to Muni-ki-Reti", he said. About the diesel "Vikram" tempos running in the Doon valley which spew a lot of smoke, he said that the State Government was not issuing any permit to new tempos and nor was it extending the licenses of the existing ones. "In case, a new battery -operated model of this tempo is successfully tried out and proves cost-effective, we will not allow these tempos to run for long in the valley", he said. "We will encourage the private sector to run pollution-free buses in Uttaranchal". About introducing CNG buses, he said that it would depend on the availability of CNG. "We would definitely like to run CNG buses in Uttaranchal", he said. Mr Bisht said that even now, Uttar Pradesh was administrating the bus services in Uttaranchal. "However, we are getting the passenger tax". He said that improved buses would soon begin operating between the capital and various district headquarters in Garhwal and Kumaon regions of Uttaranchal. Regarding the industrial training institutes in Uttaranchal, he said that there were 67 such institutes in the State and all of them would be "revived and improved" with the help of technical and industrial experts. "We are making efforts to modernise these institutes which are a major source of training for youth from the hills and help them get employment", said the Technical Education Minister. "In 25 of these ITIs, we are facing shortage of principals and staff but we hope to fill the vacancies within a few months". Buildings, instruments and faculty for rejuvenating these institutes were being arranged for by the Government, he said. "We are also planning to reduce the registration fee in the Government technical training institutes ", he added. (UNI) |
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Participation approach yielding good result, says PCCF COIMBATORE, Nov 22: As part of conservation and protection of wealth in reserved forest areas, Tamil Nadu Forest Department has undertaken a novel approach of people’s participation instead of policing, a senior department official said today. In view of national forest policy of increasing forest cover to 1/3 of land mass, Tamil Nadu had succeeded in regenerating barren hills on its own into forests, with larger participation of villagers, J C Kala, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, told reporters here. The department was following the adage... Forest means water, water means bread and bread means life and village development has become synonym for forest development as far as Tamil Nadu was concerned, Kala said. Stating that forest dependents had been given alternate employment as part of various Government schemes, Kala said the response from the people was very good, particulary in Tirunelveli and Vellore areas. The department was also encouraging water harvesting, Kala said, adding water table in 1100 villages, adjoining forest lands, had gone up by 10 to 12 per cent, despite facing drought, resulting in two crops instead of usual one crop. About tackling sandalwood felling and smuggling in the forest areas, Kala said with the establishment of anti-poaching squads, the department, with a 10,000-strong force, had succeeded in controlling crime. However, with vast expanse to cover, there could be some let up in the operations, he pointed out. To a question about felling of sandalwood grown in private areas, like Government offices and institute premises, he said these areas were not directly linked to forest department. If the matter was brought to the notice, the department would consider taking necessary action, he said. The department was also promoting eco-tourism and demarcated tourism zone in areas like Coimbatore range, which is rich in wildlife, however, with some restrictions, Kala said. (PTI) |
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5 year-old inherits property of former Jaipur royals JAIPUR, Nov 22: In a ceremony redolent with memories of India’s royalty, a 5-year-old boy in bright red head-dress and an impish smile was adopted as crown prince of the erstwhile Jaipur rulers today. Turbaned courtiers — jagirdars, thikanedars and other nobles of the former state — and a battery of representatives from one time princely states were present at the City Palace as prep school student Padamnabh Singh was declared heir to Brigadier Bhawani Singh’s vast properties. Son of the Brigadier’s only daughter Diya, he will inherit the hotels, forts and other immovable and movable properties the royal family still controls, but some of which is subject of court battles. Vedic chants reverberated inside the palace, some part of which has for long been converted into a museum, as more than a dozen priests from the city’s temples recited verses in honour of various deities. The ceremony, which lasted more than an hour, formally ended with Diya’s husband Kunwar Narendra Singh placing Padamnabh on the lap of Brig Bhawani Singh, the eldest son of the late Maharaja Man Singh II. Coconuts and jaggery were distributed to the guests thereafter. The royals then assembled for high tea at the carpeted Pritam Niwas Chowk and posed for photographs. "Sawai Bhawani Singh has always been very fond of Padmanabh," said Narendra, a commoner whose marriage to Diya had sparked protests a few years ago. "I readily agreed when he proposed the adoption". According to Palace officials, this was the second time in about 100 years that such a ceremony was held in the Palace of the Kachhwaha Rajput clan. The last such event at the City Palace was held in 1921 when Maharaja Madho Singh had adopted Man Singh of Isarda Thikana. Inside the massive building, where old habits persist, Padamnabh Singh would now be addressed as "Maharaj Kumar". Among the nearly 500 guests were Jyotiraditya Scindia of Gwalior, Arvind Singh of Mewar and Brijraj Singh of Kishangarh, besides Governor Anshuman Singh, former Chief Minister Shiv Charan Mathur and a host of senior state officials. The ceremony comes barely a week after the 275th anniversary of the foundation of Jaipur state. It was held amid objections from the Rajput Sabha which claimed that adopting one’s grandson was against Kachhwaha Rajput traditions.(UNI)i ‘This year’s drought the worst’ NEW DELHI, Nov 22: Describing this year’s drought as the worst in recent times, Agriculture Minister Ajit Singh today assured the Rajya Sabha that all drought-hit States would be given Central assistance and rejected an opposition charge that the Centre had played politics while deciding on the quantum of relief. "Government is fully aware of the serious situation arising from this year’s drought. Money will not be a hindrance while providing relief. There is no question of any political discrimination," he said replying to a short duration discussion on the drought. Observing July this year was the "driest" month in the last 127 years, Singh said the worst affected state was Rajasthan for which the Centre on November 16 sanctioned rs nine crore as relief for saving cattle and other livestocks. Maintaining that the Central assistance for drought-hit States was till January 31 next, the Minister said the Centre would seriously consider fresh demands for relief provided the States comply with necessary legal provisions for the purpose. Observing that the Centre was actively considering implementation of a mega project to link all major rivers to find a long-term solution to drought, Singh asked the States to utilise the calamity relief fund before approaching the Centre. In his detailed reply, Singh expressed concern over reports of starvation deaths and said ways have to be found to provide succour to the undernourished and malnourished. Government, he said, was also looking into other long-term measures of water harvesting as it considered water to be a national resource. "We have to work on traditional methods of water conservation to tanks and ponds," he said adding macro management schemes have already been devised as the public distribution system had practically collapsed. Referring to the Central assistance of Rs 2000 crore announced by the task force headed by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, the minister said the relief assistance was only till January-end and more money could be sanctioned if required. Maintaining that the rainfall shortage this year was 20 per cent as against 24 per cent in 1987 and 30 per cent in 1972, Singh said the damage caused by the drought was more severe than in previous occasions as crops could not be sown because July was very dry. "The drought has led to changes in the soil situation, lowered the water table and seriously affected children, especially in Rajasthan where farmers are not giving milk to their children and instead selling it for their livelihood," he said. Giving statistics on crop damage, he said 75 per cent of crops had been lost in Rajasthan, 53 per cent in MP, 48 in Haryana, 39 in Orissa and 33 in Uttar Pradesh. (PTI) SC transfers 9 petrol pump cases NEW DELHI, Nov 22: To examine the validity of the order of the Centre cancelling all petroleum product dealerships since January 2000, the Supreme Court today transferred to itself cases pertaining to nine petrol pumps allegedly allotted to prominent political persons or their relatives. A bench comprising Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice H K Sema ordered transfer of these nine cases, from among scores of cases highlighted by media on the ground of political favouritism, after advocate Sanjay Kapur mentioned them. All of them had filed petitions in various high courts challenging the Centre’s order cancelling allotment of petrol pumps since January 2000 in the wake of the controversy. The nine cases of allotment of petrol pumps are: 1. Mukund Swaroop, son of BJP Mp Shyam Behari Mishra at Kanpur 2. Smt Sarala Shivajirao Kamble, wife of Shiv Sena MP Shivaji Rao Kamble at Sholapur 3. Dr Girija Vyas, Congress MP, at Udaipur 4. Rajesh Tandulkar, son of Narayan Tandulkar, rural BJP president, Nagpur, at Nagpur 5. Naranjan Singh, son-in-law of former Akali MP Dhanna Singh Gulshan at Kot Kapura in Punjab 6. Heerendra Singh Chauhan, son of former Congress MLA Mool Singh Chauhan at Maksundangarh, Guna, MP. 7. Ghanshyam Dass, BJP constituency secretary at Julana, Haryana 8. Hemendra Singh, son of BJP Pradhan of Kekri Panchayat Samiti at Sawar, Ajmer 9. Nagendra, son of IG (anti-corruption) Rajasthan Police Ram Jeevan Meena, at Kothawada, Jaipur. (PTI) Opposition walks out of RS over Venkataswami’s appointment NEW DELHI, Nov 22: The opposition today staged a walked out in the Rajya Sabha, taking strong exception to the appointment of Justice K Venkataswami, who is investigating the Tehelka revelations in defence deals, as Chairman of a Financial Commission. "The Government has violated all norms of appointments to high offices," leader of the opposition Manmohan Singh said, as he led the opposition walkout. Leader of the House and Finance Minister Jaswant Singh’s explanation over the appointment of Justice Venkataswami as Chairman of the advanced ruling commission for CBDT and CBEC did not cut much ice with the opposition, which alleged that the Government was trying to influence the investigations into the defence deals. Raising the matter during the zero hour, Mr Kapil Sibal (Cong) wondered how a person heading a commission could faithfully investigate the corruption charges against the Government. "The very authority investigating the Government is sought to be offered a job by the same Government," he said, amid cries of "shame shame" from the opposition benches. The Finance Minister told the House that it was a fact that Justice Venkataswami had been appointed Chairman of the Commission in the Finance Ministry in May this year. He said the Government had written to the then Chief Justice of India in September 2001, asking him to nominate a retired Supreme Court Judge to head the Commission. The Chief Justice granted permission to Justice Venkataswamy to head the commission in April. Subsequently, his appointment was cleared by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC) in May. "The Finance Ministry acted entirely in accordance with the recommendation of the Chief Justice of India , Mr Jaswant Singh said. He said he had taken charge of the Finance Ministry sometime back and could provide more details to the members only after examining the whole issue. However, the opposition members, including Mr Sibal, Mr Suresh Pachouri, Mr Suresh Kalmadi and Mr Moolchand Meena (all Cong), Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav and Mr Prem Chand Gupta (both RJD) and Mr Nilotpal Basu (CPI-M), were not satisfied with the Finance Minister’s explanation. Shouting at the top of his voice, Mr Laloo Prasad Yadav said the Government was trying to protect the Defence Minister by offering bribe to the head of a commission investigating shady defence deals. (UNI) Sabri’s ‘Shaam-e-Qawwali’ takes Doonites by storm DEHRA DUN, Nov 22: It was a magical evening at the ‘Shaam-e-Qawwali’ as the resounding voice of Haji Aslam Sabri wove a spell around the audience at the picturesque campus of the Defence Services Officers’ institute in the Doon Valley. Sabri and his team, with their "Sufi Kalaam" won over every heart in the audience which consisted of principals of public schols from all over India, army officers from Doon’s sub-area, RIMC Staff, cadets of the RIMC and some special invitees for the occasion. Yesterday’s "Shaam-e-Qawwali" was part of the programme organised by the Rashtriya Indian Military College (RIMC) during the annual conference of public schools being held at the RIMC. Sabri, the renowned Qawwali singer originally from Saharanpur who has won wide acclaim in India and abroad, held the listeners spellbound with his singing, rendition of Urdu couplets and his special collection of jokes. He began with Amir Khusro’s famous Qawwali "Chhaap Tilak Sab Chheen Li Re Mose Naina Milay Ke", composed in honour of his "Pir" Nizamuddin Auliya. This was followed by another famous composition ‘Bewafa Yun Tera Muskuraana..", sung in thousands of weddings all over the country everyday. As Sabri said "a Ghazal can never be too old, just like your Doon basmati rice...The older the better...Just like wine". This commonly heard Ghazal, sung by singers on the roadside, received a unique colour when Sabri and his team used their versatility to make it sound almost like a "Sufi" rendering. Mirza Ghalib, Sahir Ludhianavi and Faiz Ahmed Faiz were the Urdu poets quoted most frequently by Sabri last evening. Uttaranchal Tourism Minister Lt Gen (Retd) TPS Rawat, who was the chief guest, was the focus of attention often for Sabri and the poet-Qawwal made many remarks on the grace and intelligence of the General. Talking about the Doon Valley, Sabri said the place was extremely dear to him. "This is where my late Ustaad, Hakim Quraish Ahmed resided for four decades in the Dhamawala area and where I learnt from him for years .. The land of the Doon Valley is fit to be kissed," he poetically praised the exquisite beauty of the winter evening of Doon. At the end of the evening, he sang his own composition "Mera Chistiya Gharana, Main Hoon Sabri Diwaana" in a fast-paced manner. Sabri belongs to Chistiya Gharana of "Piran Kaliyar" near Roorkee. An aura of romance, nostalgia, love for the motherland and parents and a philosophical outlook towards life was the blend created last evening by the great singer who began his career at the age of seven in 1953 when he sang two Ghazals at the Akashvani Lucknow studio. The "Qawwali package" of Sabri and his team was much more than just a music session. It consisted of several lessons on life, moral values, philosophy, humour, friendly advice and a lot more. All this, picked up by the poet-qawwal in his journey of life and music. (UNI) |
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