A preliminary inquiry suggests electric firecrackers caused a devastating nightclub fire in Goa, resulting in 25 deaths. The incident has exposed illegalities and lax enforcement of safety rules.
The Union government's six-year initiative to unbundle state electricity boards into separate entities for power generation, transmission, distribution and trading businesses is set to be delayed further, with seven states still to do so, even as the Centre's latest time-limit expired on June 30. After 6 years of pushing, just 14 states have turned these into separate units.
'The power sector accounts for much of the financial burden of state governments in India.'
Yet another FIR has been filed against former Jharkhand chief minister Madhu Koda and 28 others by the Vigilance Bureau, accusing them of forgery and criminal conspiracy while awarding contracts to a Hyderbad-based company for rural electrification.
The protest over electricity crisis by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Hazaribagh, Jharkhand entered the third day even as senior party leader Yashwant Sinha and others did not apply for bail on Wednesday after they were arrested and remanded to judicial custody in connection with alleged assault of an electricity board official.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Yashwant Sinha and 54 others were remanded to judicial custody by a local court on Tuesday after they refused to seek bail in a case of alleged assault of a Jharkhand State Electricity Board official.
High nitrate levels have been found in groundwater of 440 districts across India, with 20 per cent of the samples collected exceeding the permissible nitrate concentration, the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) has said in a report.
Eight states will be knocking at the doors of the power ministry this month to seek more time to unbundle their State Electricity Boards into separate transmission, generation and distribution entities.
A day after veteran Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani met him at Hazaribagh jail, Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday secured bail from a local court having spent a fortnight in prison following his refusal to seek relief after his arrest during a power crisis stir.
Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L K Advani on Tuesday backed party leader Yashwant Sinha saying he is the 'right person' to be chief minister and suggested that he should leave jail after securing bail to lead the 'historic agitation' against power crisis in Jharkhand.
'Party workers sit outside polling booths and they know everything that is happening.' 'Besides, as a voter when you push the EVM button to vote there is a paper slip that comes out showing you who you voted for.'
The Coal Ministry on Monday received a total 69 applications from various PSUs
Many private players have been under pressure due to factors such as macro-economic issues and delay in receivables from state electricity boards with weak financial health.
Rajasthan is reeling under a huge financial burden with the state's debt having gone beyond Rs 5.59 lakh crores. Rajasthan has increased expenditure on education by 203.4 percent, by 105.4 percent on health, by 227.14 percent on housing. Its expenditure on social welfare schemes has increased by almost 2,475 per cent.
Bangladesh has sought revision of a 2017 power purchase agreement with Adani Power Ltd as the price for the coal-generated electricity appeared too expensive, officials said in Dhaka on Thursday. "We have communicated with the Indian company seeking revision of the agreement," an official of the state-run Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDC) told PTI on the condition of anonymity and without elaborating on the matter. Media reports suggested that the "high coal price" to be purchased for the Adani plant at India's Jharkhand emerged as the key factor for the dispute.
The Centre stressed that the next three weeks will be critical for the country reeling from the worst health crisis as it announced a series of measures to shore up medical infrastructure and supplies and scale up vaccination.
India suffers from peak power deficit of three per cent.
'Imagine hanging from a thin steel cable under a helicopter with certain death staring at you below, being pulled up slowly in the din and downwash of the helicopter.' IAF Veteran Air Commodore Nitin Sathe, a helicopter pilot himself, reports on how the air force rescued those trapped in the Deoghar cable cars disaster last fortnight.
The NDMA added that the National Capital Region, and Hisar, Kaithal, Jind, Kurukshetra, Karnal in Haryana is likely to be again hit by the unusual weather on Wednesday.
Goyal's statement comes in the wake of RGPPL board giving its approval last month for the conversion of debt into equity equivalent to interest dues of Rs 405 crore (Rs 4.05 billion).
In an interview with Sanjay Jog, REC chairman and managing director P V Ramesh talks of the growth strategy and the company's plan to ride the transformation wave in the power sector.
Gujarat has topped with a score of 71.14% on ease of doing business list.
West Bengal and Odisha have evacuated lakhs of people from vulnerable areas to safety as severe cyclonic storm 'Yaas' is nearing the coast and is expected to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district early on Wednesday morning.
Acquisitions, slowdown put infra major in a spot, with bankers okaying debt restructuring.
The IMD has also issued a red-coded warning alert to the Odisha and West Bengal coasts.
PSUs will get direct allotment.
Sanjeev Vashishta, chief executive officer at SRL Diagnostics, talks to Deepak Patel about expansion plans and regulations for the sector.
'Defaulters like Mallya can't be offloaded, but activists like me are. And that too for raising questions.' 'Today, what is the meaning of development?' 'Take over land, water and forest from the Adivasis and hand it over to corporates.' 'I am surprised how a minister who is supposed to protect the forests and the environment is happy reaching out to investors for more and more clearances.'
There has been a welcome focus on fundamental reforms, time-bound programmes that fix accountability and the use of technology. The upcoming Budget could build on these initiatives, says Abhas Jha.
The prime minister made the reference about the functioning of the Parliament against the backdrop of the virtual washout of its Monsoon session over various issues.
Dabhol's assets will be demerged into the power plant and the LNG terminal.
'India is so poor that political parties will not be able to wipe out poverty from our country in another 100 years. I am of the opinion that development can come only through corporates.' 'Tomorrow, if Tata or Birla or Reliance takes up another 500 panchayats, it will boost the Indian economy also.' Sabu M Jacob, managing director of the Kitex group whose NGO Twenty20 has just won a panchayat election in Kerala, speaks to Shobha Warrier/Rediff.com
The state is trying hard to improve ease of doing business by several notches.
The National Innovation Foundation India (NIF), Ahmedabad shared the ideas that shined at the IGNITE 2015.
With the launch of the first indigenous aircraft today, India will join a club of nations like the United States, Russia, China, the United Kingdom and France that possess nuclear-powered submarines
'They do not want us to construct roads or to conduct health camps. I see no logic in their demands,' says West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya.
BJP President Amit Shah -- arguably the second most powerful politician in the nation -- granted a rare television interview to the Network 18 group of news channels. Rediff.com's Rajesh Alva checks out what the BJP boss said in this word cloud assessment of the interview.