19.7.11
Ahmedabad - Mumbai - Pune bullet train snippets
To get a bullet train zooming on the Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Pune route will cost Rs 56,000 crore for the 634 km distance. The project report submitted to the railway board says that of the Rs 56,000 crore, close to Rs 50,000 crore will be for laying tracks and other infrastructure. The train, which according to reports is capable of running at speeds up to 350 km per hour, aims to reduce travel time between Ahmedabad-Mumbai-Pune to less than three hours. Officials in the western division said that once the detailed project report is cleared, fund sharing will also be worked out between Maharashtra and Gujarat governments. Officials said the pre-feasibility study by a French rail transport company stated that travel time will be around two hours between Ahmedabad-Mumbai without any stops.The same from Mumbai to Pune is estimated to be around 40 minutes. The pre-feasibility study has stated that around 26.6 million passengers would travel by bullet train every year by 2021. Officials said that the railways have already made it clear that the project model would be a public-private-partnership. However, the single bone of contention between the two states will be sharing of funds for the Mumbai-Pune corridor. Gujarat government wanted the bullet between Ahmedabad-Mumbai only, while Maharashtra wants to add Pune to the line. Gujarat did not concur as there were not many travelers between Ahmedabad and Pune.
Semi high speed rail corridor ?
Japan is studying the feasibility of running high speed trains along the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) on the existing tracks to save on costs. The study will look at whether regular trains can hit a maximum speed of 200 kilometres per hour on the existing railway network. The fastest trains today are Shatabdi and Rajdhani whose top speed is 130 km per hour. The study aims at pitching use of the existing network against the bullet train network and focusing on the economics of running them. Officials said setting up a bullet train network was turning out to be a costly affair. A bullet train would cost about Rs 50-65 crore per km, while upgrading the existing network would be at just Rs 5 crore per km. Laying the present type of track costs around Rs 1.5 crore per km. Officials said that the study was dual-purposed. First it would provide faster service to passengers and secondly the same technology could be used for the Dedicated Freight Corridor between the two cities. Senior Divisional commercial manager, Vadodara Udayshanker Jha said that said the main aims of the study was better utilization of the existing network and cutting down travel time. If the project went through, travel time between Mumbai-Delhi would be overnight. Presently, the Rajdhani connecting the two cities takes about 17 hours while other trains taken over 22 hours. He said the intention is that a person starting from Mumbai at 10 pm should reach Delhi early in the morning the next day. He said that the a delegation from the Ministry of Economic Trade and Industry, Japan was in Vadodara to explore the feasibility of semi high-speed rail development. The delegation decided to take up the study on the Surat-Godhra stretch. Officials said that the study was sponsored by the Ministry of Economic Trade and Industry, Japan and will be taken up by Mitsubishi Research Institute, Inc. Officials said that as per the railways this would be a semi-high speed study as the top speed was less than 250 km per hour. Trains with top speeds of 250 kmph are termed high speed trains while those of 200 to 250 kmph are semi-high speed trains. Officials said that once the study was completed it would be taken up along the Mumbai-Delhi route only. He said that three routes have been shortlisted. These routes include Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Palanpur-Ahmedabad-Vadodara-Surat-Mumbai, while the other route was Delhi, Mathura-Kota-Ratlam-Godhra-Vadodara-Surat-Mumbai. The third shortlisted route is Delhi-Jaipur-Kota-Udaipur-Ahmedabad-Vadodara-Surat-Delhi.
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration created
Peace got another chance on Monday in the volatile Darjeeling hills with the signing of a tripartite agreement that attempts to meet the Gorkhas’ century-old quest for self-rule while keeping the geographical unity of Bengal intact. The accord is well-timed for chief minister Mamata Banerjee, who had promised to resolve the Hills crisis within three months of coming to power, and could also help the Centre in creating options for Telangana and other statehood movements. At Pintail Village, the epicentre of the Gorkhas’ campaign for ethnic identity in the Terai, the central and state governments and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) signed an agreement to pave the way for the creation of Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA). The new arrangement will replace the 1988 Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council that was created after a similar accord signed between the Centre, the Left Front government and Subash Ghising’s Gorkha National Liberation Front. The GTA pact was signed in the presence of Union home minister P Chidambaram, Mamata and GJM chief Bimal Gurung.
Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Accord Signed on Aug 22, 1988 between Centre, state & GNLF
Name: Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council
Status : Autonomous council 42 members—28 elected, 14 nominated by state
Area : 3 hill subdivisions: Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong, and 13 village clusters in Siliguri subdivision
Powers : Land allotment etc. No new govt posts or taxes
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Accord, 2011 Signed on July 18 by WB govt, GJM and Centre
Name : Gorkhaland Territorial Administration
Status : Maximum autonomy. 45 councillors to be elected, 5 to be nominated by govt
Area : Existing areas under erstwhile DGHC. Joint panel to examine inclusion of areas in the Terai and Dooars
Powers : Over industry, IT. Can create govt posts and levy fees
Thousands of Gorkhas turned out in their traditional attire to celebrate the creation of a Gorkhaland Territorial Administration on Monday. Contrary to expectations, the GJM chief didn’t sign the accord and GJM state general secretary Roshan Giri did it on his behalf. The two other signatories were Bengal home secretary G D Gautama and Union home joint secretary K K Pathak. Aware of the Left Front’s criticism that the accord would divide Bengal, Mamata told the gathering that Darjeeling would remain an integral part of the state. “Development of the Hills is crucial if the plains are to prosper. The GTA will receive all help from the Centre and the state,” she said. “People have raised questions about the GTA’s name. The draft, which was prepared on August 17, 2010, had the name Gorkhaland Regional Authority. I didn’t change anything apart from the word ‘Regional’. The Hills and plains are like two sisters, who have to develop and prosper together.” The CM added that a committee was set up to determine whether any part of the Dooars and the Terai should be included in the GTA. “Everybody will get what they deserve. What is the confusion in this? Just like Darjeeling, the Dooars and the Terai are very dear to us,” Mamata said. The GTA will comprise the Hills sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. Elections to the posts of 45 members will be held within six months after which it will start functioning. A committee has been set up to look into the GJM’s demand for inclusion of several mouzas (village clusters) from the Terai and Dooars in the GTA. Chidambaram hailed the agreement, but had a word of caution for Gurung and GJM. “You have a stupendous task ahead and will have to build brick by brick. Both the Centre and the state government will be by your side. You will also have to bear in mind that the area under GTA will be a plural society. People living here belong to different communities, religions, cultures and races. The new administration will have to respect this plurality. We shall be watching you carefully as you rebuild Darjeeling,” he said. Chidambaram attributed the signing of the treaty to two “wise” persons — Mamata and Gurung. “I would like to compliment both of them for their wisdom, sagacity, foresight and love and compassion for the people. There will be many hurdles but none that can’t be sorted out through dialogue and determination,” Chidambaram said. Gurung thanked Mamata and called the accord a victory of the people’s struggle. He asked the government to pay attention to the committee that will demarcate parts of the plains that are to be brought under GTA. Subhas Ghising was on Monday a lonely man at his rented house in Jalpaiguri district as the new Gorkha Territorial Administration replaced the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council he headed for over 23 years. Ghising, the founder of the Gorkha National Liberation Front and who had once ruled Darjeeling with an iron hand, did not respond to reporters’ queries about the new hill council. It was Bimal Gurung who took the wind out of the sails of Ghising and drove him out of the Hills in 1998, a year after he floated the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.
Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council Accord Signed on Aug 22, 1988 between Centre, state & GNLF
Name: Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council
Status : Autonomous council 42 members—28 elected, 14 nominated by state
Area : 3 hill subdivisions: Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong, and 13 village clusters in Siliguri subdivision
Powers : Land allotment etc. No new govt posts or taxes
Gorkhaland Territorial Administration Accord, 2011 Signed on July 18 by WB govt, GJM and Centre
Name : Gorkhaland Territorial Administration
Status : Maximum autonomy. 45 councillors to be elected, 5 to be nominated by govt
Area : Existing areas under erstwhile DGHC. Joint panel to examine inclusion of areas in the Terai and Dooars
Powers : Over industry, IT. Can create govt posts and levy fees
Thousands of Gorkhas turned out in their traditional attire to celebrate the creation of a Gorkhaland Territorial Administration on Monday. Contrary to expectations, the GJM chief didn’t sign the accord and GJM state general secretary Roshan Giri did it on his behalf. The two other signatories were Bengal home secretary G D Gautama and Union home joint secretary K K Pathak. Aware of the Left Front’s criticism that the accord would divide Bengal, Mamata told the gathering that Darjeeling would remain an integral part of the state. “Development of the Hills is crucial if the plains are to prosper. The GTA will receive all help from the Centre and the state,” she said. “People have raised questions about the GTA’s name. The draft, which was prepared on August 17, 2010, had the name Gorkhaland Regional Authority. I didn’t change anything apart from the word ‘Regional’. The Hills and plains are like two sisters, who have to develop and prosper together.” The CM added that a committee was set up to determine whether any part of the Dooars and the Terai should be included in the GTA. “Everybody will get what they deserve. What is the confusion in this? Just like Darjeeling, the Dooars and the Terai are very dear to us,” Mamata said. The GTA will comprise the Hills sub-divisions of Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong. Elections to the posts of 45 members will be held within six months after which it will start functioning. A committee has been set up to look into the GJM’s demand for inclusion of several mouzas (village clusters) from the Terai and Dooars in the GTA. Chidambaram hailed the agreement, but had a word of caution for Gurung and GJM. “You have a stupendous task ahead and will have to build brick by brick. Both the Centre and the state government will be by your side. You will also have to bear in mind that the area under GTA will be a plural society. People living here belong to different communities, religions, cultures and races. The new administration will have to respect this plurality. We shall be watching you carefully as you rebuild Darjeeling,” he said. Chidambaram attributed the signing of the treaty to two “wise” persons — Mamata and Gurung. “I would like to compliment both of them for their wisdom, sagacity, foresight and love and compassion for the people. There will be many hurdles but none that can’t be sorted out through dialogue and determination,” Chidambaram said. Gurung thanked Mamata and called the accord a victory of the people’s struggle. He asked the government to pay attention to the committee that will demarcate parts of the plains that are to be brought under GTA. Subhas Ghising was on Monday a lonely man at his rented house in Jalpaiguri district as the new Gorkha Territorial Administration replaced the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council he headed for over 23 years. Ghising, the founder of the Gorkha National Liberation Front and who had once ruled Darjeeling with an iron hand, did not respond to reporters’ queries about the new hill council. It was Bimal Gurung who took the wind out of the sails of Ghising and drove him out of the Hills in 1998, a year after he floated the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha.
Somewhere in Andhra Pradesh....
India’s nuclear power aspirations just got a boost thanks to a lucky find. The Department of Atomic Energy has discovered that the upcoming uranium mine in Andhra Pradesh’s Tumalapalli has close to 49,000 tonnes of uranium, three times the original estimate. In fact, there are indications that the total quantity may go up to 1.5 lakh tonnes, which would make it among the largest uranium mines in the world. The quantity is sufficient to support a nuclear power plant of 8,000mw capacity for 40 years. The production is expected to start in six months. Currently, India has two functioning uranium mines, both in Jharkhand. The total reserves are estimated to be in the range of 1,70,000 tonnes. The discovery of the Tumalapalli deposit has, in one stroke, boosted the availability of uranium, lowering India’s dependence on foreign supplies. India has been procuring uranium on various terms from countries like France and Kazakhstan, but does not have a long-term supply contract. Delhi continues to fancy nuclear energy as a possible solution for its energy needs.
Maharashtra has the most city dwellers in India
Maharashtra’s urban population grew by around 97 lakh in the last decade, taking its number of city dwellers to 5.08 crore, the highest for any state in the country, reveal provisional figures of Census 2011, released on Monday. In terms of urbanization however, it ranks third among major states. Of Maharashtra’s 11.23 crore population, 45.23% live in urban areas now, up from 42.43% in 2001, said Ranjit Singh Deol, director, Census operations, Maharashtra. This, though, is behind Tamil Nadu and Kerala, where the share of the urban population is 48.45% and 47.72%, respectively. P Arokiasamy of the International Institute for Population Sciences in Govandi said Maharashtra’s development was not surprising given that it has some of India’s most concentrated urban centres like Mumbai and Thane.Suburbs powering urban growth Mumbai: Most of Maharashtra’s urbanization is driven by Mumbai, Thane, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik. Mumbai’s suburban district alone houses 93.32 lakh people, Thane another 85 lakh and Pune 57 lakh more. These places stand in stark contrast to Gadchiroli, Sindhudurg and Hingoli, which are the least urbanized districts in the state. Within cities like Mumbai, it is the suburban areas that are powering the urban growth. “Mumbai’s growth percentage is nothing in comparison to those of tiertwo cities. Take, for instance, Thane which registered 35.94% urban growth or Pune which clocked 30.34% growth in the last decade,” explained Arokiasamy. He added that Tamil Nadu always leads in terms of urbanization because it has notified many villages as town panchayats. In earlier censuses, Kerala used to have the lowest urban rate because it had classified many small towns as villages. Director of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences S Parasuraman called the increasing sprawl in the state a “natural process of development” where people quit agriculture in search of jobs. Census officials echoed the thought, arguing that urbanization is a welcome demographic transition. They pointed out that “economics growth influences urbanization, which in turn affects the rate of economic growth”. Currently, of Maharashtra’s city dwellers, 2.67 crore are men and 2.4 crore women. This is an increase of 21.99% and 25.58%, respectively, since 2001. Some social experts said the urban growth might be an inevitable development, but for it to be sustainable the state needs to tailor its policies. Prof Parasuraman argued that “we displace people from rural areas, but don’t let them settle in urban areas”, as is seen by the large numbers living in our cities in hopelessness and poverty without proper housing, sanitation or other basic facilities. “Our policies need to be reworked to be able to absorb the urban growth,” he said. According to the Census’ definition, an urban area includes all statutory towns (with a municipality, corporation), Cantonment Board or notified town area committee, etc. as declared by state law. Towns, meanwhile, are places that have a minimum population of 5,000, at least 75% of male working population engaged in nonagricultural sectors and a density of population of at least 400 persons per sq km.
18.7.11
Of mobile telephony
The Indian telecom sector may be heading for tough times with Indian GSM telecom operators adding less than 10 million subscribers for the second month in a row, bringing in just 8.58 million new subscribers in June. According to Cellular Operators' Association (COAI) just 8.58 million new GSM subscribers were added in June, taking the all-India GSM cellular subscriber base to 598.77 million.
In May, GSM operators had added 9.53 million new GSM users, the first time since October 2009, when 10.76 million subscribers were added to the GSM network. The GSM subscriber base stood at 590.19 million at the end of May, as per data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). This seems like a dismal performance if one looks at the additions in November last year, when the GSM operators had added a whopping 17.16 million new users.
Bharti Airtel, the largest GSM player, added 2.12 million users in June, taking its total subscriber base to 169.18 million. It had a 28.26 per cent market share by the end of the month un der review. Rival Vodafone Essar, with a 23.63 per cent market share, notched up 2.09 million new subscribers during the month. Its subscriber base stood at 141.51 million at the end of June.
Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular added 1.35 million users during the month to take its total user base to 95.10 million, while Aircel added 0.91 million customers taking its subscriber base to 57.98 million. State-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL added 0.84 million and 1,597 new users, respectively, raising their subscriber base to 88.46 million and 5.23 million, respectively.
The COAI data excluded Reliance Communications for the reporting month.GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is the most popular standard for mobile telephony systems in the world.
The other technology platform on which Indian telcos offer services is CDMA, where players such as Tata Teleservices (TTSL), Reliance Communications and MTS are the main operators. TTSL and Reliance Communications offer both GSM and CDMA services.
In May, GSM operators had added 9.53 million new GSM users, the first time since October 2009, when 10.76 million subscribers were added to the GSM network. The GSM subscriber base stood at 590.19 million at the end of May, as per data released by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). This seems like a dismal performance if one looks at the additions in November last year, when the GSM operators had added a whopping 17.16 million new users.
Bharti Airtel, the largest GSM player, added 2.12 million users in June, taking its total subscriber base to 169.18 million. It had a 28.26 per cent market share by the end of the month un der review. Rival Vodafone Essar, with a 23.63 per cent market share, notched up 2.09 million new subscribers during the month. Its subscriber base stood at 141.51 million at the end of June.
Aditya Birla group firm Idea Cellular added 1.35 million users during the month to take its total user base to 95.10 million, while Aircel added 0.91 million customers taking its subscriber base to 57.98 million. State-run telecom firms BSNL and MTNL added 0.84 million and 1,597 new users, respectively, raising their subscriber base to 88.46 million and 5.23 million, respectively.
The COAI data excluded Reliance Communications for the reporting month.GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) is the most popular standard for mobile telephony systems in the world.
The other technology platform on which Indian telcos offer services is CDMA, where players such as Tata Teleservices (TTSL), Reliance Communications and MTS are the main operators. TTSL and Reliance Communications offer both GSM and CDMA services.
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