Mid year blues

As Q2 comes to an end....the state of the economy

Mahindra launches XUV500

Moving ahead with its aspiration of emerging as a global SUV player, Anand Mahindra-led M&M on Thursday launched the XUV500. The XUV500 is Mahindra’s biggest product initiative after the 2002 launch of the Scorpio, a product that had redfined the company’s standing in the Indian passenger vehicle market and helped it emerge as a mainline brand beyond rural and semi-urban markets. The company has gone in for a very aggressive pricing for the 2.2-liter diesel engine SUV, tagging its entry variant at Rs 10.8 lakh and the top-end at Rs 12.88 lakh (both ex-showroom Delhi). The product — that will be launched in South Africa on Friday

New mining law

The Union Cabinet is set to approve a law that will provide more rights to tribals for the beginning and end of mining activity besides providing Rs 10,000 crore annually to 60 tribal dominated districts. The bill for the new mining law and the repeal of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 is on the agenda for the Cabinet meeting scheduled for Friday. The bill, expected to be introduced in the next session of Parliament, proposes that coal companies set aside 25% of their post-tax profits into a fund. In addition, an amount equal to the royalty for iron ore, bauxite and limestone will also flow into the fund. The corpus is proposed to be spent across 60 tribaldominated districts in Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, MP and Karnataka with each district getting Rs 180 crore on an average every year. Of the 60, around 24 districts are badly hit by Naxal violence, officials said. The proposal in the draft bill going to the Cabinet is, however, a dilution from the original plan which envisaged a 25% levy on all mining activity – and not just coal. But the plan was dropped by a group of ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee after intense lobbying by private companies and backing from the Planning Commission. Apart from the fund, the bill has also proposed that any mining right can only be granted by the government after consulting the local community. Ditto for putting an end to mining activity.

Jodhpur gets a Sukhoi squadron

State-of-the-art premier multirole fighters, SU-30 Squadron of IAF will be stationed at the Jodhpur air base from Sunday. With this induction, strike capability of IAF in Rajasthan has gained far reaching advantage and the air defence of the country has become impregnable. The squadron taking on to the western skies with its lethal strike force, multirole function and weaponry carrying capability will give unassailable advantage to IAF in this sector, defence spokesperson Col S D Goswami said. Sources said IAF Sukhois are getting closer to the Pakistan border for the first time. “For the first time, India’s frontline fighter aircraft, Sukhoi-30-MKI, will be based very close to the Indo-Pak border, only kilometres away, the at the Jodhpur air base. Jodhpur is a strategically important air base in Indo-pak border. The twin-engine Russian-origin Sukhois, which are now produced under licence in India, are one of the leading warplanes of the world,” a retired air force officer said. These fighters are set to become deadlier with the slated fitting of super-sonic cruise missile BrahMos under its belly, he said. A Sukhoi-30-MKI flying at top speed of around two mach, about 2,450 kmph, will be able to reach the western border of India within few minutes of take-off from Jodhpur.

Agni II test fired

India on Friday successfully tested the over 2,000-km Agni-II ballistic missile, in an important step towards bolstering the country’s nuclear deterrence position. The “user trial” of the surface-to-surface missile, which is designed to carry a nuclear payload of 1,000-kg, was conducted by the tri-Service Strategic Forces Command (SFC) from Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast at 9.30am. Coming after three failures of Agni-II missile in 2009 and 2010, the launch was a morale booster for defence scientists and armed forces. The real test will, however, come in December-January when the first-ever launch of India’s most ambitious strategic missile Agni-V is planned. With a proposed range of 5,000-km, Agni-V will have near ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) capabilities and is intended to give India’s “dissuasive deterrence posture’’ against China some much-needed muscle. The only ballistic missiles which can be said to be operational at present are the short-range Prithvi missile (150-350 km), the 700-km-range Agni-I, and the Agni-II to a certain level. As for the test on Friday, the two-stage missile, equipped with a high-accuracy navigation system and guided by “a novel state-of-the-art command and control system, was propelled by a solidrocket propellant system. “The missile reached an apogee or peak altitude of 220-km and hit the target, all along being tracked by radar, telemetry and ectopic systems, as also two ships located near the target point,” said the official.

All Telangana options open

The Congress has put “all options” back on the table on statehood for Telangana after its leadership discussed the issue in the wake of agitation in the volatile region on Friday. The discussion at the core group attended by PM Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi revolved around the report submitted by party general secretary Ghulam Nabi Azad after consultations with party legislators and MPs from Telangana and Andhra regions. The report is inconclusive. Home minister P Chidambaram said Congress will take a stand on statehood on the basis of Azad’s report. He added that four state-level parties had not taken a decision either, of whom MIM and TDP were waiting to see what Congress decided. Referring to Azad’s report, Chidambaram said, “I think one important stage of consultation appears to be over today… I hope that the parties will make up their mind quickly as I appealed in Parliament to enable me to call an all-party meeting.” Chidambaram met political parties on Srikrishna report which gave six options on the Telangana question and decided to hold an all-party meeting.
The Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) on Thursday made it clear that Telangana state without Hyderabad as its capital was unacceptable to it but offered to share the city, saying other proposed states can use it as their capital till they make their own arrangements. TRS chief K Chandrasekhara Rao warned the central government against creating any controversy over the status of Hyderabad city, saying Telangana without Hyderabad would be like a headless body.

Gujarat plans a Metro Grid

The Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar metro rail project is getting bigger. The rail project linking the twin cities is now taking shape of a network covering the entire Gujarat. The Gujarat Metro Grid (GMG), as the Rs 1 lakh crore project has been named, is being designed as a multi-modal transport system, including metro, providing connectivity to passengers as well as freight movement. As per the original plan, the metro route was to link industrial areas like Dholera, where a special investment region is coming up, with Gandhinagar via Ahmedabad. In its new avatar, important destinations across Gujarat will be connected through rail. Chief minister Narendra Modi is finetuning the provisions of GMG, which has a 20-year horizon, and is likely to make an announcement soon. The project consists of metro rail, mono rail, light-weight transportation system, servicing urban and municipal areas, especially major cities of Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Surat and Rajkot. Already, MetroLink Express Gandhinagar and Ahmedabad (MEGA), a special purpose vehicle floated to execute the metro project, plans to build about 1,000 km of urban rail-based transportation system over the next five to seven years. In a first, the developers of the metro project are mulling to integrate inter-city freight movements. “It is traditionally seen as a passenger service only. But, by carrying freight, we will be able to recover substantial costs,” said an official from chief minister’s office. Besides finances, the project will need to clear regulatory hurdles as railways is a Central subject. “The state government is considering a legislation to enable development of tramways which are essentially urban railways transportation services covering the municipal region in the entire state. Tramways is a state subject,” he said. States like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and West Bengal have similar legislation in place. “However, issues of inter-nodal or inter-region connectivity will remain to be tackled by Indian Railways,” he said.