Kejriwal takes charge, promises to change Delhi

NEW DELHI, DEC 28:
Thousands gathered at the historic Ramlila Maidan here on Saturday to witness the swearing-in of Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal, the new Chief Minister of Delhi.

Reiterating that his Government is not taking oath to assume power but to serve the people, Kejriwal urged other parties in the Delhi Assembly to work together with his team and set aside their political opposition.

Manish Sisodia, Girish Soni, Rakhi Birla, Satyendra Jain, Saurabh Bharadwaj and Somnath Bharti also took oath along with him. A meeting of the Cabinet, which was held soon after the swearing-in ceremony, decided the portfolio of the Ministers.

Ministers' portfolio

Kejriwal will take charge of Home, Finance, Vigilance, Power, Planning and Services departments. Power price in the State was a major political issue raised by the AAP during the elections. The party has promised that charges will be reduced by 50 per cent immediately.

His first lieutenant Manish Sisodia will be the new Education Minister. He will also keep the PWD, Urban Development, Local Bodies and Land and Building departments.

An IIT graduate, Somnath Bharti, was given the charge of Administrative Reforms, Law, Tourism and Culture.

Rakhi Birla, the lone woman in the seven-member Cabinet, got Social Welfare and Women and Child Development departments.

Girish Soni, a along-time associate of Kejriwal, will handle Labour and SC, ST departments and Satyendra Jain will have Health and Industries departments.

Primary healthcare facilities

AAP has promised to improve the primary healthcare facilities in the city State. Saurabh Bhardwaj was given the charge of Transport, Food and Civil Supplies and Environment. He will have to soon take a decision on increasing the auto fares in the State as the Centre has hiked the CNG prices recently.

Thunderous applauses

Emotions run high as every word of Kejriwal was welcomed with thunderous applauses by the enthusiastic crowd.

“The whole fight is not to make Arvind Kejriwal a Chief Minister but it is for a change of governance in Delhi,” Kejriwal said in a brief speech.

Action against corrupt public servants

He promised that action will be taken against corrupt public servants. “I don’t claim to have a magic wand or remedies for all the ills but if the 1.5 crore people of Delhi join him, there is no reason why all the problems can’t be solved,” the Chief Minister said.

'No arrogance'

He said that he and his team will show no arrogance and will work for the people with service as the goal.

Kejriwal said that AAP is not born to come to power but to remove the arrogance of other parties. Asking his party men to serve the people, he said people should not have to think of another party to correct AAP in the future.

Vote of confidence

He added that he does not mind about the result of the vote of confidence scheduled for next week. He said even if his party does not manage majority, people will vote it back to power with a thumping majority.

People, who participated in the function, hoped that Kejriwal will work to fulfil their aspirations.

Aam Aadmi Party's ideals

“He has given a clear message. Implementation of AAP’s ideals is now just a matter of time. He has silently worked so far for the benefit of people and we hope that he will continue to do so and bring changes in Delhi,” said Sanjay Kumar, who has come from Dwaraka to attend the function.

Swati, a housewife from Model Town, said she was attracted by the AAP’s ideals after it took an initiative to hold protests on the increasing violence against women. “I hope that public transport will be more secured in Delhi now,” she said.

A Delhi Government servant, who wanted anonymity, said things in Delhi will change on its own now.

“80 per cent of the public servants are good. Now they will be empowered as our Chief Minister is an honest man. We are sure that good officers will get more authority in decision-making. There will be pressure on the 20 per cent corrupt officers to change. At least 15 per cent of them will change on their own now. Five per cent will remain unchanged, but they will be in no position to influence the system,” the senior officer said.

Lok Sabha elections

There were slogans that the next aim of AAP is the Prime Minister's chair and Kejriwal will be able to reach that position in the next Lok Sabha elections.

Earlier, Kejriwal took the Delhi Metro from his house at Kausambi to reach the venue. Kejriwal said that all his party’s promises will be implemented in a time-bound manner.

Google expands Chromebook school programme in India

Hyderabad: Google is expanding to India an initiative to popularise the use of its Chromebook laptops in schools, starting with a pilot in four schools in Andhra Pradesh.

The internet search company that makes the world's most popular software for smartphones and tablets will initially make available 25 Chromebooks to each school and train the teachers and instructors in the use of the required software applications.

"The school instructors will teach core subjects using applications and software. We believe with interactive learning, the student will understand better and will take interest in the subjects," Ponnala Lakshmaiah, the state's minister for information technology, said.

Chromebooks require an internet connection to use, and most of the data, such as files that users work on, are stored on Google's storage network connected to the internet. Earlier this month, Samsung released a Chromebook model specifically for the Indian market. Schools are among the most popular market segments for the Chromebooks.

Google is running this programme in some 3,000 schools in the US, Singapore and Malaysia, a Google executive with direct knowledge of the plan to expand it to India told ET. The executive requested not to be named as Google was yet to announce the plan.

"Google aims to increase access to information and knowledge for all students, and encourages tools that support effective teaching and learning in the classroom, but we have nothing to announce at this time," a company spokeswoman said in an emailed statement.

The pilot project, in collaboration with Andhra Pradesh department of information technology, will start next month, a senior government official said. It will be launched in three government schools and one private school in Jangaon in Warangal district.

After the pilot, which benefits students of grades nine and 10, discussions are on to expand the programme statewide, the government official said.

The state's IT department will provide the schools with Wi-Fi internet connectivity with 1 Mbps speed and power backups for unhindered use. Each school will be assigned dedicated mentors who would train the teachers and instructors, the official said.

Training will include using the Google Apps Training Center, an online learning environment that offers six modules including Google Apps Education Edition, Apps Mail, Calendar, Docs, Sites, and other tools

Morgan Stanley to open Bangalore centre to service US parent

Bangalore: Morgan Stanley will open a new Global In-House Centre (GIC) in Bangalore that will provide outsourcing services to the multi-billion dollar company’s parent in the US.

This new centre will be opened in 2014 and will complement Morgan Stanley’s GICs in Mumbai, the company said in a statement.

Commenting on the firm’s plans to grow its GIC capabilities and footprint in India, Bill Strong, Morgan Stanley’s Co-CEO Asia Pacific, said the company had reviewed global options for building a new GIC that can provide a mass of employees to support its global functions and saw value-add in expanding further our on-the-ground teams in India.

While this is a new investment, the company did not quantify the exact amount of investments.

However, it added that this new site in Bangalore is aligned with its continued focus on leveraging India’s skilled and diverse talent pool for the company.

Morgan Stanley has been present in India since 1993 and the back-office provides investment banking, asset management and research, capital markets-related research and sales and trading advisory services to its global clients that include high net worth individuals from 1,200 offices across 43 countries.

The firm will continue to grow its existing Mumbai-based centres, in addition to the new Bangalore centre, officials added.

Establishment of National Cancer Institute (NCI) at Jhajjar campus of AIIMS, New Delhi in Haryana state

New Delhi: The Union Cabinet today approved the proposal for setting up of National Cancer Institute at a cost of Rs.2035 crore. NCI will be set up in the Jhajjar campus of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi located in Badhsa village, Jhajjar, Haryana. The project is estimated to be completed in 45 months.

This is a landmark step in the arena of cancer research in the country and shall lessen the deficit of tertiary cancer care in the Northern region. Cancer is emerging as a major public health concern in India, where every year 11 lakhs new cases are diagnosed, with a mortality rate of 5.5 lakhs per year. There has been a lag of cancer treatment facilities in India, compared to WHO standard; which requires one radiotherapy machine per million population. India at present has 0.41 machines per million population. Hence, setting up of this institute will herald a new chapter in the government initiative against cancer.

NCI will operate on the lines of NCI, USA and DKFZ, Germany as a nodal center for indigenous research, promotive, preventive and curative aspects of care and human resource development. This institute is aimed to plan, conduct and coordinate research on cancers which are more specific to India; like tobacco related cancers, cancer of the uterine cervix, gall bladder cancer and liver cancers. The focus will be on understanding, analyzing the cause and genesis of the above cancers. This will further translate the knowledge gained to develop feasible strategies to improve cancer care services by improvement in detection, diagnosis, treatment and quality of life of patients.

The proposed institute will broadly have clinical division, research divisions, and disease management groups (DMGs). These DMGs will go in to the details of all issues pertaining to management of various cancers, site wise, besides other facilities. NCI will have 710 beds for different facilities viz. Surgical Oncology, Radiation Oncology, Medical Oncology, Anesthesia and palliative care, Nuclear Medicine etc. It will have a Tissue Repository which is the first of its kind in India.

HSCC (India) Ltd, a public sector enterprise under the administrative control of the Health & Family Welfare Ministry has been appointed as Project Consultant by AIIMS New Delhi. The Project Consultant is responsible for concept, detailed design & engineering, contracting, project management and medical equipment procurement, installations and commissioning.

CCEA approves road projects worth Rs 2,000 crore in Gujarat and Bihar

The Japan International Cooperation Agency will provide a loan with 100% financing for civil construction and supervision works for the project
New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on Thursday approved two road projects worth Rs 2,000 crore, to be undertaken in Bihar and Gujarat. The project in Bihar is expected to cost Rs 1,408 crore, while the project in Gujarat is expected to cost Rs 503 crore.

“The CCEA has approved the project for the development of four laning of the (approximately) 93 km-Gaya-Hisua-Rajgir-Nalanda-Bihar Sharif section on the National Highway-82 in Bihar. The total project cost is estimated at Rs 1,409 crore, including Rs 1,216 crore as civil construction and supervision works and Rs 193 crore as the cost of land acquisition, rehabilitation and pre-construction activities. The project will be completed within three years of signing of the contract agreement,” a statement from the roads ministry said.

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will provide loan assistance for the project in Bihar. JICA had earlier sanctioned loans worth Rs 1,300 crore for undertaking road projects in Bihar this year.

CCEA’s decision to award more road projects comes at a time when the road ministry has been struggling to award projects during the current financial year. So far, the ministry has awarded projects worth 500 km, while it had set itself a target of 9,000 km at the beginning of the financial year. The inability to fast-track the awarding of road projects during a crucial election year also had the prime minister allowing the road ministry to award more projects under the government-funded mode as against the public private partnership or PPP mode.

The ministry is now looking at awarding 2,000 km of road projects before the end of the financial year through the government-funded mode, after the private sector decided to stay away from undertaking infrastructure projects. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has also been allowed to tap the bond market to raise Rs 3,500 crore through a bond issue, while the government will invest the remaining Rs 12,000 crore to construct 2,000 km of roads during the year.

OTHER DECISIONS
Proposal to amalgamate State Farms Corporation of India with National Seeds Corporation cleared, both wholly owned public sector undertakings
Pension proposal cleared for 43,000 employees of Mahanagar Telephone Nigam who joined the public sector company from the department of telecom, which would the government an estimated Rs 500 crore
Proposal for non-Plan budgetary support of Rs 116.9 crore for liquidation of statutory dues and pay from April 1 to August 31 this year for 11 central PSUs which are financially ailing cleared
Proposals to establish a National Cancer Institute at a cost of Rs 2,035 crore on the Jhajjar (Haryana) campus of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences and a Rs 640-crore welfare scheme for fisherfolk cleared
Proposal for the sale of Air India’s five long-haul Boeing 777 aircraft to Etihad Airways cleared
Industry experts have often slammed the government for the lack of a single window clearance policy for the mess in the road sector after private sector participation hit a record bottom in the past year. In addition, private companies have also been requesting the government to restructure their premium payments, due to NHAI over the next 20 years to relieve their financial burden as the economy goes through a slowdown. A policy allowing private developers to exit projects is also being considered currently.

The roads ministry is looking to award road projects worth Rs 5.8 lakh crore during the 12th Five-Year Plan and the setting up of a road regulator to address issues concerning dispute resolutions. Earlier this year, the NHAI had to scrap projects worth Rs 3,000 crore due to land acquisition troubles in Kerala and Goa.

Govt clears Rs 3-lakh cr investments in public enterprises

Hyderabad: The Government has so far cleared pending projects involving Rs 3 lakh crore of investment by Public Sector Enterprises, according to O.P. Rawat, Secretary, Department of Public Enterprises.

To drive growth
“This has been done in several of rounds of the Cabinet Committee on Investment. The total pending projects of PSEs involve about Rs 30 lakh crore,’’ Rawat told newspersons on the sidelines of Golden Jubilee Celebrations at Institute of Public Enterprise (IPE) here on Thursday.

Pointing out that this was expected to drive growth in public sector, the official said the business figures of the first six months of the current financial year ended September 30, 2013 showed positive growth though the performance of PSEs was not up to the mark during 2012-13.

Going by the present trend, it was expected that public sector enterprises could grow by 15 per cent this year, he added. When asked on the performance of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL), he said it was making losses due to pending projects and building up of huge inventory before receiving actual orders.

AUTONOMY
To improve the performance of public sector enterprises, the Government is considering allowing Maharatna and Navaratna companies to take independent decision involving investments up to Rs 10,000 crore, Rawat said. At present Rs 5,000 crore is the upper cap in this regard.

More funds needs
Earlier, addressing the gathering, P. Rama Rao, President, Board of Governors, IPE, said there was a need for greater investments in education, research and development. “The only group of companies which can show the way forward in this regard are public sector enterprises,’’ he said.

Mytrah Energy adds 150 MW wind power capacity

Hyderabad: Mytrah Energy Ltd has added wind power generation capacity of about 150 MW in the three southern States of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. This has increased its installed wind power generation capacity from 309.9 MW to 459.9 MW.

The wind power generation company, based in Hyderabad and listed on the Alternative Investment Market of (AIM) of the London Stock Exchange, is implementing wind farms with total capacity of 238.2 MW at three locations — Burugula (37.4 MW) in Andhra Pradesh, Savalsang (100.3 MW) in Karnataka and Vagrarai (100.5 MW) in Tamil Nadu.

It has commissioned additional capacity at these sites. All the three projects are being commissioned on a rolling basis with the stabilisation process conducted throughout the first quarter of 2014.

Burugula and Savalsang are Mytrah’s first two self-development projects constructed on the company’s land with Gamesa. This provides the company with diversification when combined with its turnkey agreement with Suzlon.

India Cements gets Centre’s nod for capacity expansion

The company is setting up a 40 MW power plant at one of its facility in Tamil Nadu at a cost of Rs 810 cr
Chennai: An expert appraisal committee under the ministry of environment has given its nod to India Cements to double its capacity and set up a 40-Mw power plant at one of its facilities in Tamil Nadu. The proposed expansion project will come up at Dalavoi in Ariyalur district. According to a senior official of the company, the capacity addition would cater to Tamil Nadu and Kerala markets. "It will be a significant expansion in the two markets, where not much of the capacity additions expected in the future,” said the official.

It is expected to take about two years to complete the work. Current capacity for clinker production in this facility is 1.24 million tonnes per annum and the company plans to add 1.53 million tonnes taking total clinker production capacity to 2.77 million tonnes per annum. Cement (OPC/PPC) production capacity is 2.16 million tonnes and the company plans to add 2.55 million tonnes taking the total cement production capacity to 4.71 million tonnes.

The proposed expansion will be carried out in an area of 25.09 hectares. The estimated cost of the project is Rs 810 crore, including Rs 39.6 crore and Rs 5.71 crore earmarked for the capital cost and recurring cost per annum towards the environmental pollution control measures. India Cements, country's one of the largest cement manufacturers, currently has a total capacity of 15.5 million tonnes. It has seven plants in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and one in Rajasthan. The company is also planning to add 2X20 Mw power plant in the facility.

The captive power plant will use coal/pet coke as fuel. The power requirement for the facility would be 41.4 Mw, which will be met from the captive power plant and the Tamil Nadu Electricity Board, according to the company's disclosure to the ministry.

SDF to shift some tractor engine lines from Italy to India

New Delhi: Farm equipment maker Same Deutz Fahr (SDF), which recently unveiled its Lamborghini tractors in India, proposes to shift some engine production lines from Italy to its plant at Ranipet, near Chennai.

The company plans to invest Rs 300 crore over the next one year in expanding the tractor engine production capacity, said Bhanu Sharma, Managing Director and CEO of SDF India Pvt Ltd.

Two new lines
“We are planning to shift production of tractor engines with three and four cylinders, that will have a horse power range of 80-110,” Sharma said. Two new tractor engine production lines will be added at its existing facility in Ranipet.

Shifting of production lines will help the company introduce newer range of tractors with higher horsepower in the Indian market by 2015, where the demand for higher capacity tractors is seen going up, Sharma said.

key factors
The shortage of manpower, rising labour costs and consolidation of land holdings are the key factors that are driving the tractor sales, he added.

Currently, SDF manufactures about 8-9 tractor models in the mid-segment with a horse power range of 40-80 hp, bulk of which are exported to about 54 countries across Asia, Africa, Latin America and Australia.

The company sold about 2,000 Deutz Fahr tractors in the Indian market this year and is planning to double it in 2014.

SDF is eyeing a production to 25,000 tractor engines during 2014, up from the current year’s output of 15,000 engines, Sharma added.

Lamborghini tractors
SDF unveiled its Lamborghini range of tractors in India at an agri-fair in Pune, recently.

The company is in the process of finalising the specifications for the Indian market, based on the customer requirement, and expects to start rolling out Lamborghini tractors in the second half of 2014, he added.

SDF is targeting rich farmers and high profile individuals with farming interests, besides golf courses, cricket stadiums and luxury resorts.

RBI allows foreign retail investments in tax-free rupee bond

Mumbai: The Reserve Bank of India on Tuesday allowed foreign retail investors, including non-resident Indians, to invest in rupee-denominated tax-free non-convertible bonds.

Funds raised through these bonds can be invested in infrastructure projects and in fixed deposits with banks. "It has been decided to permit resident entities, companies in India, authorized by the government of India, to issue taxfree, secured, redeemable, non-convertible bonds in rupees to persons resident outside India to use such borrowed funds for on lending, re-lending to the infrastructure sector and keeping in fixed deposits with banks in India pending utilization by them for permissible end-uses," RBI said in a statement.

It said the move will widen the investor base, help in internationalizing the currency and open another window for foreign investors.

At present, foreign institutional investors are not allowed to invest in tax-free infrastructure bonds issued by companies such as Power Finance Corporation, NAHAI, IIFL and Rural Electrification Corporation. Every year, the government allows some public sector companies to issue tax-free bonds.

Global investors have shown interest in rupee-denominated bonds. Recently, International Finance Corporation, the private finance arm of World Bank, had raised Rs 1,000 crore in the US by issuing rupee-linked bonds to global investors. IFC plans to raise a total of $1 billion. In such currency bond, the foreign investor will get proceeds in rupee.

"This will help in increasing the market base by including small and wide ticket size into Indian debt market," said Ashutosh Khajuria, president (treasury) at Federal Bank. "It is one step towards internationalisation of the currency." Since the bonds are rupee-denominated, volatility in the currency will not have an impact on the issuer. To that extent, external debt will be taken care of.