Gujarat roadways

Even as announcing that it would initiate road projects worth Rs 5,900 crore in the next financial year, Gujarat government gave special emphasis on the high-profile Ahmedabad-Bhavnagar state expressway. To cost coffers Rs 2,500 crore, starting with the coming financial year, 2012-13, the new expressway will pass through the Dholera Special Investment Region (SIR), and among the main spots it will touch is the proposed Dholera airport, in the south of Ahmedabad. State roads and buildings minister Anandiben Patel told the state assembly that “preliminary work for the project like measurement, road alignment, land acquisition and utility shifting will begin in the coming financial year”. A senior government official added, “Measurement work is already over. Now, the process of land acquisition will start for 120 km land road. A 150 metre wide corridor will be acquired all through. Along the state expressway, the proposal is to have a tube railway line.” The minister also announced in the House that the World Bank-supported project for building 1,577 km long roads at the cost of Rs 2,000 crore would be started in the coming financial year. “Based on a techno-feasibility report, the World Bank proposes to the rank roads and choose from those that the report has identified”, the official added. Among the roads that are being considered include for the World Bank project include Himatnagar-Mehsana-Radhanpur road, Sevalia-Umreth-Vasad road, Junagadh-Dhoraji road, Jamnagar-Khambhaliya-Dwarka road, Dabhoi-Bodeli-Alirajpur road, and Vansda-Dharampur-Vapi road. “The World Bank team has made four visits to Gujarat for the project, and we expect it to provide funding starting with October”, the official said, adding, “While the first three roads are proposed to be turned into four lanes, the other three will be widened to 10 metres.” A third project the state government proposes to take up is resurfacing of 5,800 km long roads which, the state minister admitted, were not resurfaced for the last seven years. “The work is proposed to be completed in three years, and would cost Rs 1,400 crore”, the minister said.

PM getting squashed

Facing stiff opposition from allies over various measures, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said difficult decisions were getting “more difficult“ because of coalition compulsions and pressed for eschewing narrow partisan approaches in the interest of the country. Singh made a strong pitch for the NCTC (National Centre for Counter Terrorism), saying it was an important step to fight terrorism but made it clear that no further action would be taken on it without consultations with states.
Replying to debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's Address, he spoke about the opposition to the NCTC and responded to the demands by Tamil parties for supporting UN resolution against Sri Lanka by saying that India was “inclined“ to do so if it meets its “objectives“ with regard to the future for ethnic Tamils “based on equality, dignity, justice and self respect.“
He also talked about the difficult situation in the economic field and expressed commitment to reforms to push growth. “I am sure members re alise that difficult decisions we have to take are made more difficult by the fact that we are a coalition government...We need to have consensus,“ he said.
PM noted that the issue of NCTC has been discussed at various fora and Multi-Agency Centre was set up in 2001 as a precursor. “A number of chief ministers have expressed concern after the order (on setting up of NCTC) was issued (in January),“ Singh said, adding he had responded to these. “A meeting of chief ministers took place on March 12, another meeting will take place on April 16.“
He also spoke on the issue of a resolution against Sri Lanka at UNHRC, which ally DMK along with other Tamil parties want India to support.DMK, with 18 members in Lok Sabha, has even threatened to consider pulling out of the government.
Emphasising the need for faster, sustainable and more inclusive growth, the PM said credible steps in this regard would be unveiled in 12th Five Year Plan to be presented to the National Development Council this year.“I wish to remind the honourable members that our path is not easy. I am sure that the members also realise that the difficult decisions that we have to take are made more difficult by the fact that we are a coalition government and have to evolve policy while maintain a consensus,“ he said.

Poverty

That Bihar under Nitish Kumar grew at over 10% between 2004-05 and 2009-10 is now wellknown. But data released on Monday shows that in the same period, the number of poor in the state actually grew. During this five-year period, Bihar added 50 lakh people to the number of its poor, by far the largest number of any Indian state in this period. A look at Planning Commission numbers for 2009-10 and 2004-05 shows that poverty has declined at a negligible rate in Bihar, so much so that the absolute number of people living in poverty has actually increased. In 2009-10, 54.4% of Bihar was under the poverty line as compared to 53.5% in 2004-5. This period coincides almost precisely with Nitish Kumar’s first term as chief minister, raising a big question mark over the real impact of his administration and the high growth the state has seen on the lives of the common Bihari. “Reduction of poverty is brought about by agricultural transformation, but Bihar’s growth was construction-centric,” says Shaibal Gupta, social scientist and founder-member secretary of the Patna-based think-tank, the Asian Development Research Institute. “Construction-based growth does not address the problems of poverty in a constructive manner,” he added. However, Gupta, who has worked closely with the Nitish administration, is positive. “The government is in the process of chalking out a techno-managerial strategy to bring about a new green revolution,” the social scientist said. Bihar is one of three states — Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh being the other two — in which poverty has declined, but so slowly that the absolute number of people living in poverty has actually increased in the five years. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh have between them 128 million poor people, over a third of all of India’s poor, and roughly a tenth of the world’s poor. In five other states, the proportion of poor as well as the absolute number has risen. These are Delhi, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram and Nagaland, with Nagaland’s performance being by far the worst; the proportion of people living below the poverty line has more than doubled over five years in this tiny state, going from 8.8% in 2004-5 to 20.9% in 2009-10.

Railway unions back Trivedi's fare hikes

In a desperate bid to save the bleeding railways, employees’ unions are planning to hold rallies in the capital and across the country if the new railway minister rolls back the increase in passenger fares. Though the federations lauded the “bold” step taken by Dinesh Trivedi, they are comfortable with any politician in Rail Bhavan and possible rollback if the government provides a matching grant to the railways from the general exchequer. “We just want to save railways which is facing a huge financial crisis,” said Shiv Gopal Mishra, general secretary of All India Railwaymen’s Federation, the biggest association of railway employees. Though Mishra denied any proposal to go on strike, he hinted that they could launch protests if their demand was not met. After making two public appeals to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh since the fare hike was announced in the rail budget, the unions have sought time from him on Tuesday to press their demand. The associations, which are meeting on Tuesday to chart out their future strategy, are worried about the looming financial crisis. They claimed that many allowances to employees like travel allowance and medical reimbursement were delayed and overtime payments were restricted due to poor finances. The federations are also roping in customers’ associations like MST Association and freight operators’ bodies, arguing that revenue earned from the fare hike will help the ailing transporter provide efficient service with safety and security.

TN to use Israeli technology

The sight of farmers in Tamil Nadu watching anxiously for the arrival of monsoon may soon be a thing of the past. Israel is in talks with Tamil Nadu for improving water supply for agriculture by recycling sewage water. “We have planned for three such recycling projects in Tamil Nadu. While two are meant for better growing methods for cut-flowers and vegetables, one is aimed at re-using waste water for agriculture. The investment for this will come from the state government,” said Orna Sagiv, consul general of Israel during an Israeli Agriculture seminar. According to Sagiv, Israel ranks highest among all countries for re-use of waste water. “Over 80% of the water that we use is recycled for agriculture,” she said. “Israel being a desert state with few water resources, recycling has become extremely crucial to agriculture. We plan the same recycling here, but the plan is still in its initial stage and will be a government-to-government dealing rather than a business dealing.” Israel also plans to set up several agro excellence centres for transfer of knowledge in Tamil Nadu. “We had earlier signed an agreement with the National Horticulture Mission to set up such centres and fine-tune agriculture, pre and post harvest in Maharashtra and Haryana. After seeing the impact, now other states too have approached us,” added Sagiv who also met the chief minister on Monday to invite her to AgriTech Israel 2012. Although maintaining that all these projects are still in their infancy and details still needed to be worked out, Uri Rubinstein, counsellor, International Cooperation for Science and Agriculture, added that these will likely be started in May. “We shall first be targeting fruit orchards, primarily mangoes,” he said. “While the exact area for implementation has not been decided yet, we shall look for mango orchards close to existing sewage treatment plants here. The government here, has so far, subjected sewage and waste water to two levels of treatment. This does not completely remove impurities,” he added. According to Rubinstein, water in Israel is subjected to three levels of treatment, making it good enough to drink, but is used in agriculture. “We are planning something along those lines here, to begin with,” he said. “In the next three years, 28 projects involving cut flowers, mangoes, dates, oranges and olives shall be carried out in eight states.” Elad Gafni, trade attaché to the embassy of Israel in Mumbai who was also present at the seminar added that Tamil Nadu offers much business opportunities for Israel by way of agriculture and irrigation solutions. “We intend to harness upon that soon,” he said.

Jayalalithaa's U turn on Kudankulam

The long stand-off between the Centre and Tamil Nadu government over the Kudankulam nuclear power project ended on Monday with the state cabinet giving approval for early commissioning of the plant. The decision was followed by a crackdown on anti-nuclear protesters who had held up the plant’s commissioning for over six months. “Immediate steps will be taken to facilitate commissioning of the plant,” said chief minister J Jayalalithaa in a statement, which added that the report submitted by an expert panel led by former chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, M R Srinivasan, had given the plant a clean chit. Srinivasan told reporters that he had explained the difference between the Kudankulam and the Fukushima reactors in Japan to the CM, and she was satisfied that the one in Tamil Nadu was safe from tsunamis. The Centre was pushing Tamil Nadu for early completion of the 2,000-MW project on which Rs 14,000 crore has been spent. Russia, which is providing technical assistance, had last month threatened to withdraw its scientists if the impasse continued. With the state facing a power deficit of more than 4,000MW, public opinion too was building up in its favour. Russian officials in India said that Moscow stood vindicated by Jayalalithaa’s decision. “We welcome the decision by the CM. If local authorities guarantee security, a team of Russian scientists will be sent to the plant on Tuesday itself to start the commissioning work,” Russian embassy senior counselor Sergey Karmalito said. The two pressurized water reactors at the plant are almost complete. “Despite not being allowed to access the site, more than 80 scientists have stayed put in India,” he added. About 195 agitators, including leaders of the group heading the protest, ‘people’s movement against nuclear energy’, were arrested, the police said. Although over 180 cases have been registered against the agitators in the last seven months, no arrest had been made until Monday. Following Tamil Nadu government’s approval for the Kudankulam atomic power plant, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) is confident of making the first reactor operational within four to six months. NPCIL director S A Bharadwaj said, “We are confident of producing 1,000MW from the first reactor by mid-August or end of August. We will have to speed up work on reactor 1, which was 99.4% ready when the protests stopped work in October last year. The second reactor will take at least six to eight months more.” Clearance will be sought from the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board for initiating fuel loading operations and mobilizing the work force, the Atomic Energy Commsion chairman Srikumar Banerjee said on Monday. He expressed hope that the plant will start operating before August. Chairman of AERB, S S Bajaj, said on Monday some inspections have to be carried out prior to the fuel loading operations. “All systems at Kudankulam were in a preservation board and the plant should be in an okay condition,” he said.

Shivaji statue controversy continues

Chhatrapati Shivaji’s statue will come up in the Arabian sea only, said Maharashtra's chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, putting an end to the controversy sparked off by his deputy Ajit Pawar. On the eve of the budget session, Pawar had told the media that an alternative site was finalized as CRZ norms would not allow a statue in the sea. Chavan told the state legislative council on Monday the state government would obtain all the necessary clearances from the Centre within a year and over the next five years it would strive to complete the project.