Archives for January 2018

Panaji: Accusing Karnataka of diverting the water of a Mahadayi tributary into the Malaprabha river basin, Goa Assembly’s deputy Speaker Michael Lobo has said a resolution against it is likely during the Budget session. Lobo was speaking to reporters after visiting Kanakumbi in Karnataka with Speaker Pramod Sawant and two other Goa legislators yesterday.

“There is a total diversion of water from Mahadayi tributary at Kanakumbi by Karnataka government by constructing underwater canals. Whatever water is flowing down to Goa from there is just seepage,” the deputy speaker said, adding if the diversion was not stopped, the Mahadayi in Goa will run dry.

“We have to move a resolution in the coming Assembly session, opposing the diversion by Karnataka,” he said, adding he would move the resolution after consulting the ruling BJP. The Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal, which is hearing the dispute between Goa and Karnataka over the sharing of the river water, should be asked to inspect the site at Kanakumbi so that it knows the reality, he said.

The dam at Kanakumbi is one of the projects proposed by Karnataka and opposed by Goa. Lobo said the dispute cannot be resolved through dialogue. “Only the tribunal can provide a solution. Whatever has played out in public is just politics,” he said, referring to Karnataka’s request for bilateral talks.

(PTI)

New Delhi: India will need about 286.13 trillion in the next 25 years for infrastructure development, of which it will be able to garner about 247.98₹ trillion, the Economic Survey said.

“The Global Infrastructure Outlook reflects that rising income levels and economic prosperity is likely to further drive demand for infrastructure investment in India over the next 25 years. Around 286.13 trillion worth of investments are required by India till 2040 to develop infrastructure to improve economic growth and community well being,” the Survey tabled by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley in Parliament today said.

It said the current trend shows that India can meet around 247.98 trillion infrastructure investment out of 286.13 trillion. “The cumulative figure for India’s infrastructure investment gap would be around 33445.71 billion by 2040,” it said … The Global infrastructure outlook shows that the gap between required infrastructure investment and the current trend of investment is expected to be widened over the year,” it said.

The Survey stressed the need to fill the infrastructure investment gap by financing from private investment, institutions dedicated for infrastructure financing like National Infrastructure Investment Bank (NIIB) and also global institutions like Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) and New Development Bank (erstwhile BRICS Bank).

Stating that there was massive underinvestment in the sector, it attributed the causes behind this to “collapse of Public Private Partnership (PPP) especially in power and telecom projects; stressed balance sheet of private companies; issues related to land & forest clearances.”

Terming road transport as a dominant mode of transport in India which contributes significantly to the national economy, the Survey said measures to boost it resulted augmenting of the road length to 57.17 million km from 33.73 million km in 2001 while the vehicles grew by four times to 229 million during the period.

Also, it emphasised that India’s road density at 1.66 km/sq km of area is higher than that of Japan, USA, China, Brazil and Russian Federation while surface road length was 61 percent of the total road lento, much lower than the UK, Korea, Russia and China.

It also highlighted that as on September 2017, out of the 1,263 total ongoing monitored projects across sectors, there are 482 projects in Road Transport and Highways with a cost of Rs 3,17,373.9 crore. Of these, 43 projects face cost overruns and 74 projects time overruns.

About railways sector, the Survey said that it is facing stiff competition from other modes of transportation and the government is initiating various transformative measures to keep railways on track. About metro rail, it said there is 425 km of metro rail systems operating in the cities of Delhi, NOIDA, Gurugram, Kolkata, Mumbai, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Jaipur, Lucknow and Kochi and another about 684 km are under construction in various cities by December 2017.

About civil aviation, it said, “Provision of Rs 4,500 crore for revival of 50 unserved and underserved airports/airstrips has been taken up with budgetary support of government to be completed by December 2018.” On shipping, the Survey said, “In 2017-18, projects with an investment of around Rs 10,000 crore and a capacity addition of about 80 MMTPA are targeted for an award. Of these, 15 projects involving an investment of around Rs 3,159 crore and a capacity addition of 18 MTPA have already been awarded.”

Listing Bharatmala and Sagarmala as important initiatives for highways and shipping sectors respectively, the Survey said under Sagarmala ports master plans have been finalised under which 131 port capacity expansion projects with a project cost of Rs 85,346 crore have been identified for implementation over next 20 years.

The Survey said all-India installed power generation capacity has increased substantially over the years and reached 330860.6 MW as on November 30, 2017. About logistics sector, the Survey highlighted that “the Indian logistics market is expected to reach about 13670.77₹ billion in 2020, growing at a CAGR of 10.5 percent”.

For the telecom sector, it said under phase II of Bharat Net to connect 1.5 lakh gram panchayats with high-speed broadband is likely to be completed by March 2019.

(PTI)

by Gaurav Sharma

Beijing: China on Monday said it is building military infrastructure in Doklam because the region falls under its jurisdiction.

Beijing was reacting to an interview by India’s envoy Gautam Bambawale to Global Times in which he said it was essential for both sides not to alter the status quo at sensitive points along their border.

Bambawale was apparently referring to Doklam where the armies of the two nations were locked in an over two-month dispute last year, triggered after India halted road construction by the Chinese army.

The armies retreated in August from Doklam.

“Indeed, we have noted that the Indian Ambassador talked on the border issues. The Sikkim section of China-India has been demarcated by the historical treaty and it is under the effective jurisdiction of China. And China will uphold its sovereignty along the border area, including Dong Lang,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said here.

Despite the crisis being resolved, some satellite images showed that China has built massive military infrastructure in Doklam.

“You said the images show military buildup by both sides. I should stress that it falls under China’s sovereignty that we conduct the facility building in Dong Lang (Doklam) area. And some media carried out reports, saying about military buildup and infrastructure building in the area. They are very excited about it.

“I should say the two sides should look at our border issue in a calm way, and resolve relevant issues with our existing border related mechanism so that we can create a good and enabling environment to properly solve our differences.”

(IANS)

Bengaluru: A survey conducted by Lokniti-CSDS, an independent research organisation would certainly bring cheer to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, as a whopping 49 per cent people chose Congress over the nearest BJP which drew only 27 percent backing, and the JD (S), 20 per cent support.

To add to this is the approval rating of the CM. As many as 34 per cent of respondents want Siddaramaiah as chief minister after the assembly elections. Surprisingly, the BJP’s CM candidate B S Yeddyurappa stands third with a mere 14 per cent while the JD (S)’ H D Kumaraswamy got 19 per cent votes for the CM post. Curiously, Congress’ leader in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge got a traction among respondents with 10 per cent backing him.

As part of the Mood of the Nation Survey, Lokniti-CSDS conducted an additional exercise to perceive the mood of people of Karnataka which will go to the assembly polls in three-to-four months. This survey focused on four major areas: performance of the incumbent government, who the respondents would prefer as the next chief minister, the important issues to be kept in mind while voting and finally, which party they would vote for in the assembly elections.

In the category of satisfaction, Bengaluru gives a thumbs down to the government with 55 per cent respondents said they were “somewhat dissatisfied”. Overall, only 11 per cent said they were “fully satisfied” and 46 percent said they were “somewhat satisfied”. The Congress party seems to have better image in smaller towns and cities which is the opposite of the trend in Bengaluru. The level of satisfaction was clearly much higher among non-dominant backward castes, scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and high level of satisfaction was shown by the respondents from southern Karnataka, Mumbai and Hyderabad-Karnataka.

The survey was conducted under the overall guidance of national co-ordinator of Lokniti, Dr Sandeep Shastri pro vice-chancellor of Jain, a deemed to be university.

For the question on who would they prefer as the chief minister, no names were suggested, Dr Shastri clarified. Women tended to support Siddaramaiah more than his nearest rivals and he was more popular in smaller towns and cities. Kumaraswamy got more backing in Bengaluru city while Yeddyurappa’s support was uniform across rural and urban areas. He got greater support among Lingayats while Kumaraswamy got more among Vokkaligas. Kharge was mentioned more frequently by respondents from SC and other social groups. Among the issues, nearly a quarter said they would go by the track record of performance of the ruling party and that of the opposition.

Rural respondents gave more weightage on agriculture related issues, that is 11 per cent while those from the urban areas focused on development issues such as unemployment and price rise that is six percent.

Interestingly, in Karnataka nearly 47 per cent voters said they would vote for the Congress if Lok Sabha elections were held today and the BJP got the support of 27 per cent respondents and the Janata Dal (Secular), 20.

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi hit out at the BJP which leads the government in Haryana, where anti-“Padmaavat” protesters on Wednesday attacked a bus carrying school children, alleging that the party’s use of “hatred and violence” is setting the country on fire.

The Congress President also condemned the violence against children by the mobs which have been protesting against the release of the controversial film.

“There will never be a cause big enough to justify violence against children. Violence and hatred are the weapons of the weak. The BJP’s use of hatred and violence is setting our entire country on fire,” Gandhi tweeted.

The opposition party also slammed the BJP government in Haryana over its “failure” to maintain law and order in the state.

Around 20-25 students of a leading Gurgaon school had a narrow escape when a frenzied mob attacked their bus, a day ahead of the controversial film’s scheduled release.

Congress’s communications in-charge Randeep Surjewala took to Twitter to term the attack as “unacceptable” and “reprehensible” that endangered the lives of children.

“Unacceptable, reprehensible and devastating as vandals attack school bus and Haryana Roadways bus in Gurgaon endangering the lives of innocent children and passengers.”

“Terrified children cry inconsolably and anarchy prevails. Khattar Govt fails again miserably in upholding law and order (sic),” he tweeted.

The students were on their way home when a group of around 60 protesters, believed to be members of a fringe group, attacked their bus with bamboo sticks asking the driver to stop the vehicle. The miscreants also pelted the bus with stones.

Violent protestors also torched a bus in Sohna, where they pelted a fire tender with stones and forced it back when it came to douse the fire, local officials said.

Despite prohibitory orders in Gurgaon, hundreds of Shree Rajput Karni Sena supporters protested at the Kherki Daula toll plaza on the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway.

Violence spread to towns and cities in many states including Rajasthan, Haryana, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, a day ahead of the release of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s film, as fringe groups opposing it remained defiant.

(PTI)