Justice expected in Nirbhaya case !

Multilevel Parking & Business complex in Krishna nagar

with thanks : DELHI AAJTAK  & CCN NEWS

Court forced to do municipal works: HC

The Delhi High Court on Thursday came down heavily on civic agencies for not doing enough to stop water-logging during Monsoon. It said instead of judicial work, the court had been forced to deal with basic municipal issues.

"What has happened to the system? For last two-three days, I am mostly dealing with civic and municipal works. There is no judicial work," a bench headed by Justice NV Ramana, who took oath as chief justice on September 2, said.

The bench, also comprising Justice Pradeep Nandrajog, said the Delhi government and civil bodies - including the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) and the Delhi Jal Board - had failed to come up with "short-term and the long-term" plans to tackle the problem of water-logging.

It reserved its order on a petition, saying: "At some point of time, the court's intervention has to come to an end. Such floating PILs take a lot of judicial time."

Earlier, a bench headed by acting Chief Justice B D Ahmed had asked the heads of all civic agencies and other public bodies to depute officials who would look after and be held accountable if water-logging on streets is reported from their areas during monsoon.

It had pulled up MCD officials for their failure to take measures to stop water-logging in some areas of the city despite its earlier directions and had said, "If you don't take your job seriously, the angry public would beat you up."

The bench had on August 22 asked the officials to carry out a drive for a week to be on the roads to monitor the situation during rains.

It had also asked each commissioner of the trifurcated MCD to make their deputy commissioners responsible to take steps to prevent water-logging in their respective zones.

The court said it would pass certain directions and asked the civic agencies to take action accordingly.

with thanks : Hindustan times : LINK

MUST READ : It's not just the fall of Indian Rupee, India slips to 60th rank on competitiveness

Releasing the annual Global Competitiveness Report 2013-2014, Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF) today said :

Down one position, India now ranks 60th, continuing its downward trend that began in 2009. With a GCI score essentially unchanged since then, India has been overtaken by a number of countries. Once ahead of Brazil and South Africa, it now trails them by several places and is behind China by a margin of 31 positions, while Russia (64th) has almost closed the gap. 

India continues to be penalized for its very disappointing performance in the basic drivers underpinning competitiveness, the very ones that matter the most for India given its stage of development. The country’s supply of transport, ICTs, and energy infrastructure remains largely insufficient and ill-adapted to the needs of the economy (85th), despite the steady improvement that has been made since 2006. 

The Indian business community repeatedly cites infrastructure as the single biggest hindrance to doing business, ahead of corruption and cumbersome bureaucracy. Notwithstanding improvements across the board over the past few years, very poor public health and education levels (102nd) remain a prime cause of India’s low productivity. The quality of higher education is better, but enrollment rates at that level remain very low, even by developing- country standards. 

Turning to the country’s institutions (72nd, down two places), discontent within the business community remains high about the lack of reforms and the perceived inability of the government to push them through. Public trust in politicians has been eroding since 2009 and has now reached an all-time low at 115th, while bribery remains deeply rooted (110th). 

Indeed, India has lost almost 30 ranks on this indicator since 2010. Meanwhile, the situation has deteriorated further on the macroeconomic front, with India now 110th in this pillar. 

The inflation rate and public deficit-to-GDP ratio were dangerously close to double digits in 2012, and the debtto-GDP ratio is the second highest among the BRICS. 

Indeed, a March 2013 survey of sovereign debt analysts reveals an increased risk of sovereign debt default over the previous year. 

Another major concern is the country’s low level of technological readiness (98th). Although businesses adopt new technologies relatively promptly (47th), penetration rates of fixed and mobile Internet and telephony among the population remain among the lowest in developing Asia. 

Furthermore, the situation has worsened in terms of labor market efficiency (99th), where the most salient problem remains the dismally low participation of women in the workforce. With a ratio women-to-men of 0.36 (137th), India has the lowest percentage of working women outside the Arab world.

​Discoms sitting on dues: Firms

NEW DELHI: Delhi government-owned generation companies Pragati Power Corporation Ltd and Indraprastha Generation Company Ltd have raised an alarm over the continuous default in payments by BSES discoms Rajdhani and Yamuna that has made it difficult for them to make full payment to gas supplier GAIL, sources said.

Generation companies warned that if GAIL invokes clauses of the fuel supply agreement and snaps supply, generation in at least three power plants would stop.

According to sources, BSES discoms owe approximately Rs 2,800 crore to PPCL/IPGCL. A senior official from IPGCL and PPCL admitted a crisis. "We are facing some problems with the discoms... We have made payments to GAIL so as of now there is no threat of them snapping gas supply. But this is just a temporary relief," said a senior official.

"The discoms have been complaining about a financial crisis and regulatory assets for years now. This has to be addressed. Last week they made Rs 100 crore payment to the gencos. We are talking to DERC and discoms to look for a solution and have told discoms to come up with ways to generate revenue," power secretary R K Verma said.

with thanks : Times of India : LINK

Underpaid gencos to regulate power

Gencos have not been paid by BRPL and BYPL for power and the total outstanding amount has gone up to Rs. 2,839.33 crore

Unable to purchase gas for running their plants, power generation companies Indraprastha Power Generation Corporation Limited (IPGCL) and Pragati Power Corporation Limited (PPCL) have told the Delhi Government that they will have to regulate power supply to the city. The gencos have not been paid by the discoms BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) and BSES Yamuna Power Limited (BYPL) for power and the total outstanding amount has gone up to Rs. 2,839.33 crore.

On Monday, the gencos reiterated their financial constraints and made it explicit that unless the money comes in the next few days, the companies will have no option but to suspend supply.

“The gencos have not been able to pay for the gas that they need to run the plants. The gas bills for the power generation between August 1 and 15 are overdue, we have made part payment to the Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL), but there still are huge sums of money to be paid. Despite several reminders to the discoms, they have not paid the money that they owe us. We have no option but to seek regulation of supply,” said a senior official of a genco.

The gencos will send a representation to the Delhi Government in the next few days to issue a notice to the discoms to either pay up or face action. “On account of acute financial crisis, IPGCL and PPCL have not been able to make full payment of gas supplied by GAIL for the past fortnight.

GAIL has already been asked not to revoke the clauses of fuel supply agreement to stop gas supply. But if there is no payment from the discoms, then generation of power at Pragati Power I and III and Gas Turbine Station will have to be suspended,” the official said.

The five power generation companies BPTS, Raj Ghat, Bawana, Gas Turbine and Pragati Power that together contribute under 2,000 MW to the Delhi power pool have been pushed towards closure on account of severe financial crises brought on by non-payment of dues by BYPL and BRPL.

with thanks : The Hindu : LINK

Peak-hour power metering likely

We strongly oppose the step of Time of Day metering / Peak hour metering by DERC. It will just increase the burden on the already crushed residents of Delhi. 

East Delhi RWAs Joint Front

Peak-hour power metering likely

NEW DELHI: The capital may soon introduceTime-of-Day (TOD) metering in which power consumers in the domestic sector will be charged according to the power usage during peak and non-peak hours. The new system is expected to discourage users from consuming more power during peak hours so that loadshedding is minimized in residential areas. Power distribution companies often have to procure additional power from the market at a very high cost to meet the demand during peak hours. Last year TOD was introduced for commercial consumers. 

RK Verma, power secretary, confirmed that he had communicated to Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) about implementing TOD for the domestic sector. "We have sent a directive to DERC to introduce TOD for the domestic sector. DERC has to look into the matter. This can help reduce power bills of consumers as well," he said. DERC officials, however, said they haven't received the missive and it is likely to reach them on Monday. 

Consumers are concerned about this move. "TOD is not advisable for the domestic sector under any condition. This system is basically going to fix when one can use the geyser or the air conditioner. There are many kinds of consumers like office-goers, businessmen and school children who will have to use electricity during certain hours. How can they change their schedule?" said Atul Goyal of United Residents' Joint Action (URJA). 

Commercial users pay a peak-hour surcharge of 15% in summer and 10% in winter. Sources said the peak-hour tariff for domestic users might increase to Rs 6.40 per unit during 6.30pm-10.30pm.

with thanks : Times of India : LINK

Fuel Prices hiked again !

Delhi Human Development Report 2013

Is it just a fall of Indian Rupee ?

It's not just a fall in the value of Indian Rupee. It's the rise in the value of whatever we buy from overseas. It's a rise in the price of Petrol, Diesel & every second thing of our use that we import. And it has a direct impact on the cost of living in our own country. Just view the downward journey of our own Indian rupee since 1947 :

And today, our Rupee touched a record low of 68.75. In a reply to Yahoo news, Uday Bhatt, a forex dealer with UCO bank said, " It is just impossible to put any realistic value to the rupee any more". 

Herald Van Der Linde, Head of Equity Strategy, Asia - Pacific, HSBC feels that India was over - owned by foreign institutional investors as the situation is changing. In an interview to CNBC - TV18, he warned that over - ownership will remain an overhang on India. 

"The rupee slumped to a record low below 68 per dollar and shares tumbled on wednesday on growing worries that foreign investors will continue to sell out of a country facing stiff economic challenges and volatile global markets," said a news by REUTERS.

"The Food Security Bill is the Key Reason for the rupee's fall on Tuesday. It would open floodgates for ( credit ) ratings downgrades, if the fiscal deficit is not reined in," said Ashtosh Rana, head of foreign exchange trading at HDFC Bank. TOI

The Reserve Bank of India had earlier cautioned against increased public spending stemming from the food bill. It further warned that this could deepen India’s financial deficit and strengthen the already elevated inflation in the economy.The government has budgeted an additional 230 billion rupees annually for the programme. According to a government statement, this act takes the total food subsidy bill in 2013-14 to 1.25 trillion rupees. But India's Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram, insisted Tuesday that the government could afford a vast new food programme for the poor designed to eliminate malnutrition. DAWN

Let's see what is the next brave & bold step of our Prime Minister & the Finance Minister to control the fall in Indian Rupee. 

with thanks quotes from various sources.