Prime Minister launches NAPCC

The National Action Plan on Climate Change, which was released by the Prime Minister, mandates setting up of energy benchmarks for each sector and allows trade in energy-saving certificates. This is expected to kick-start a domestic trade in energy just as the world trades in carbon emission certificates.The action plan seeks to create a market-based mechanism through which industrial units that use more energy than stipulated would be able to compensate by buying energy certificates from other industries consuming less energy.This device for cajoling industries into performing better on the energy front would be part of the drive under the plan to save 10,000MW by the end of the 2012 through energy efficiency measures.

Only CNG for Ahmedabad BRTS: Bhure Lal

The Supreme Court-appointed Environment Pollution (Prevention & Control) Authority — EPCA, known as the Bhure Lal committee — has insisted that theAhmedebad Municipal Corporation AMC roll out only CNG buses for BRTS. The committee has written to the state government that the BRTS plan had shaped up over the last five years as the EPCA required introduction of better public transport run on CNG for the city to reduce the air pollution. After getting reports that AMC is considering operating diesel buses for the BRTS, chairman of EPCA Bhure Lal has written to the state government saying: “EPCA is surprised to note this decision because such a step will negate the efforts being made for abatement of pollution in Ahmedabad through the implementation of an action plan.” Reminding that progress of the plan is also reported to the SC from time to time, Bhure Lal has ‘requested’ ensuring that only CNG buses ply on BRTS. Otherwise, it will be a losing battle against pollution control.
The conflict now is between using a green fuel like CNG or settle for Euro-3 diesel buses and provide a cheap and faster mode of transport for Amdavadis. Especially when cities like Bangalore and Pune already have Euro-3 diesel buses running in their BRTS. Three major issues had surfaced over the last six months between revising tenders and countless pre-bid meetings with the prospective operators. The first being higher CNG costs when compared to other cities, high maintenance costs of CNG buses against diesel buses and higher assembly costs of CNG buses as compared to euro-3 diesel buses.

Top 10 Cities -Income Tax 2007-08

For the Financial Year 2007-2008...Meerut makes a surprise entry into the Top 10.

Pune will soon have Asia’s largest microbial centre

Pune is getting ready to house Asia’s largest repository of microbial culture. A memorandum of association (MOA) to this effect between the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) and the Department of Bio-Technology (DBT) will be signed in the presence of Union minister of science and technology Kapil Sibal in New Delhi on July 14.Microbial culture is a method of multiplying microbial organisms by letting them reproduce in predetermined culture media under controlled laboratory conditions. It is one of the primary diagnostic methods of microbiology and used as a tool to determine the cause of infectious disease.The centre will preserve more than 2 lakh diverse microbes and is expected to boost pharmaceutical activities in the country. A total of Rs 40 crores has been sanctioned for the first phase of five years. NCCS is at present trying to identify land in order to set up the repository and will temporarily work from one of its buildings in Kothrud.Since microbes are producers of various bioactive compounds like antiinfective, anti-diabetic, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer and other industrial enzymes, the repository will serve as an exclusive centre for research to gauge the potential of these microbes.Due to global warming and climactic changes, chances are that some of these microbes could eventually be lost.The preservation of these microbes would help in all kinds of research activities in the long run.The microbes will be collected from marine environments, sediment, water, mangroves, soil, forest and so on.The collected microbials will be screened, identified and preserved for long-term storage.The NCCS already has 30,000 microbial cultures in its possession.The full-fledged set up of this ambitious project will have three prominent compartments: identification and characterisation, storage and training.The international depository authority requires storage of microbes in two forms. But the storage in the proposed repository will be made in three forms. They are minus 70 degrees storage, liquid nitrogen storage and freezed dried storage.

India's Coming Out Party

Gay Pride parades were held for the first time ever in Delhi,Kolkata and Bengaluru.Mumbai was surisingly absent from the list.

India saw the first splendid coming-out ceremony for gays in a multi-city gay pride march. Thousands marched for gay rights in Kolkata, Delhi and Bangalore — homosexuals, heterosexuals, bisexuals, transgenders, hijras. It was part celebration, part protest, the way gay pride marches have always been around the world. Curiously, India’s most gay-friendly city, Mumbai, was not part of this national gay parade. It wasn’t so much the fear of fascist forces as infighting among gay groups that kept it out.In India, the issues for the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) community are not different. The main issue is that of acceptance — of not being looked upon as a freak or criminal. Last week, in Kerala, two young men, Sivanarayanan and Deepak, killed themselves by setting themselves ablaze, under family pressure critical of their relationship. Weeks earlier, Christy Jayanthi Malar and Rukmani had embraced death by fire in Tamil Nadu. Although married elsewhere, they were in a lesbian relationship. The police found their charred bodies united in a death-defying hug. This week, the Delhi High Court continued its slow rumination on a PIL against Section 377, the ancient British law that clubs homosexuality with bestiality and makes it a criminal offence (“carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal”) punishable by life imprisonment. This not only allows the police and others to blackmail same-sex lovers and extract money and favours from them, it also drives gays underground, muzzles them and poses a huge health hazard, especially that of HIV/AIDS. Getting rid of this archaic law will not be easy. There are too many interest groups — religious, political, social — which are not particularly interested in sexual minorities yet. But the legal battle against Section 377 is of vital importance to change deep-seated social attitudes about ‘normal’ and ‘unnatural’ sex. Sexual preference is not always a matter of choice. It is absurd that in the land of the Kamasutra, where same-sex love is as old as the hills, we still cling to obsolete Western notions of sexuality to deny our citizens their basic right to live and love as responsible adults.

SEZs

Special economic zones (SEZs) in India are expected to draw in Rs 1,00,000 crore worth of investment by the end of financial year 2008-09, according to a senior official in the commerce and industry ministry.At present, India has 467 formally approved and 230 notified special economic zones that are under various stages of development. “These are clearly the next engine of India's economic growth. Special economic zonesare here to contribute to the wealth of the nation,” the official said.
With 71 million people expected to enter the workforce by 2010, special economic zones would turn out to be the only option.The IT-ITeS sector can at best provide jobs to eight million, what about the rest? SEZs would create the required infrastructure for manufacture and service, which the government will not be able to create.
As on March 31, 2008, over 3.5 lakh direct and indirect jobs were generated in the special economic zones, which have been facing widespread protest and criticism, largely over the issue of acquisition of land belonging to farmers by private companies.An special economic zone is a demarcated area to be treated as a foreign territory for trading purposes. It is given various tax incentives to attract investments. Thus, goods entering an special economic zones outside its borders or domestic tariff area (DTA) are to be treated as exports and those coming into the DTA as imports.

Sathyam Cinemas move into F&B

The growth in the organised retail sector has encouraged Sathyam Cinemas to launch its high-end food and beverage outlets in new markets.Sathyam will launch its luxury pastry store Ecstasy at UB City — The Collection mall in Bangalore on July 13.The company also plans to set up a boutique coffee pub called Addiction and a luxury chocolate store Indulge in Bangalore, a few weeks after Ecstasy’s launch.
Sathyam Cinemas is Chennai’s entertainment destination for people from all walks of life, across a wide age group and user profile. At any time of the year, Sathyam Cinemas averages about 70 per cent occupancy at its six screens in the heart of Chennai.Ecstasy is now located within the Sathyam Cinemas complex in Chennai. All Ecstasy chocolates are homemade.The ingredients are sourced from Valrhona, the famous French chocolatier in Tain-l’Hermitage, near Lyon and Rhone river.Valrhona is a small manufacturer with only 150 workers. It is said to be the brand recognised by leading chefs and enthusiasts throughout the world as one of the finest chocolates in the world.
In addition, coffee beans for Addiction will also be imported and Indulge will look more like a luxury jewellery store. Addiction will also come up within Sathyam’s Chennai complex.Sathyam Cinemas was the first to bring the multiplex concept to Chennai.The complex now has six screens with world-class digital exhibition technology including three-dimensional equipment. Sathyam also plans to open a south Indian cuisine eatery within the Chennai complex by the middle of August. A gaming zone will also be set up in the near future.