New Delhi, September 29: The government on Monday announced a draft natural gas pipeline policy under which any producer can sell gas within 100 km of well-head or land-fill point to consumers directly and lay pipeline for this purpose. The pipeline beyond 100 km will be governed by the common carrier principle. The gas pipeline policy also envisages setting up a national gas grid for which GAIL has been designated as the nodal agency. The gas grid will consist of a 7,000 km long network built at a cost of around Rs 18,000 crore over the next 5-6 years.

The policy envisages appointment of a regulator under the Petroleum Regulatory Board Bill 2002 for regulating transmission, distribution, supply and storage system for natural gas/LNG and to promote development of the sector. The regulator will ensure access to gas pipelines on non-discriminatory common carrier principle for all users. Naik said the ministry would seek Cabinet approval for setting up of the regulatory authority and the Bill would be put before Parliament for discussion in the winter session. And the tariff for the transmission pipelines and distribution pipelines would be approved by the regulator.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, September 30, 2003

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The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has identified seven new road projects that will link five state capitals to the Golden Quadrilateral road project by 2007." As part of the 10,000 kms of highways to be four-lane as announced in Budget 2003, bids for 622 kms in Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh will be invited this year," Roads and Highways Minister B C Khanduri told reporters on Wednesday.

Another 1,500 km of highways in the North-Eastern states may also be identified and finalised this year, the minister added. "We are examining another 1,500 kms of existing roads in the North East, including Meghalaya and Mizoram," he said. The 10,000 km announced by Finance Minister Jaswant Singh in Budget 2003 are in addition to the 4,846-km Golden Quadrilateral linking four metros and the 7,300-km North-South East-West corridors, part of the National Highways Development Project (NHDP).

The present 622 km stretches, with a estimated project cost of Rs 2,500 crore. The completion target for all stretches under the 10,000-km Budget announcement is December 2007 and states including Arunachal Pradesh, Bihar, Goa, Haryana/Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Pondicherry, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Uttaranchal will be covered under it.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, September 25, 2003

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New Delhi, September 22: In a bid to involve the private sector in a big way in the coal industry, the Union Government plans to introduce legislative changes allowing for private mining while liberalising norms for allotment of captive blocks for trading in coal.

The new Act would also allow competitive bidding for coal blocks, which would be overseen by an independent regulatory authority. The move was expected to boost coal production in the long term as production had to double in the next decade to meet the projected demand of 460 million tonnes at end of Tenth Plan and 620 million tonnes by 2012, the terminal year of the Eleventh Plan. The required investment to meet the projected demand had been estimated to be around Rs. 19,200 crores.

As many as 143 blocks had been identified for allotment with total estimated reserves of 30 billion tonnes. New policy initiatives were also on the anvil for grading and pricing of coal on the basis of gross calorific value as opposed to the concept of useful heat value (UHV) now in vogue in India.

Courtesy: The Hindu, September 23, 2003

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To map galaxies, it will ride Indian GSLV, both to share data

Tel Aviv, September 17: New Delhi and Tel Aviv are joining hands-in space. Crippled by a shoestring budget and wars that bleed the economy, Israel's scientists are banking on India's space programme as they work on a small but spunky mission of their own. The Israel Space Agency has already spent $15 million on its most sophisticated telescope that's meant to map new galaxies. And plans are afoot to send it onboard the Geo Stationary Launch Vehicle satellite that India proposes to launch by the end of 2005. This will mark the beginning of cooperation between the two in space sciences.

While India has agreed to the mission, the Knesset is at present debating the budget implications. ''Since the telescope was made five to six years ago, the entire configuration has to be changed. Huge investments are required.The data, to be shared by both countries, is purely ''scientific'' in nature, its aim to find new galaxies in space. It was originally planned to be sent up with the Russian satellite SRG. But because of economic problems in Russia, the 6.5-tonne satellite never took off.

While this is being touted as a purely ''scientific'' venture, experts are optimistic that this might open doors for cooperation on using space for intelligence gathering and strategic issues. ''As weapons get more and more sophisticated, so does intelligence gathering. And ultimately space will be of great strategic importance,'' said Martin Sherman, a strategic affairs expert based in Tel Aviv.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, September 18, 2003

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New Delhi: Bhutan has agreed to allow Indian forces to neutralise 20 militant camps on its soil, a highly-placed source in the home ministry said here on Tuesday.This was one of the major outcomes of Bhutan King Jigme Singye Wangchuk's talks with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani, the source added.

Asked if Indian forces have gone to Bhutan, the source said, ''We have received the fine details of Bodo influence in the kingdom, including the pattern of funding.'' But he refused to divulge if these camps belonging to three different militant groups have been neutralised. ''I cannot give the details at this stage. All I can say is that it would be a joint operation between the forces of the two countries,'' he said.

Courtesy: The Times of India, September 17, 2003

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India has agreed to extend assistance to Maldives towards strengthening its planning system. The offer was made during talks between the Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K.C. Pant and Maldives Minister of Planning and National Development I.H. Zaki here. The project involves three components including provision for training in specialised areas of planning, supply of books and supply of equipment.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, September 16, 2003

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Indicating that India has reached the take off stage to face global competition, International Monetary Fund (IMF) chief economist designate Raghuram Rajan said the growth of India has put competitive pressures on the west.

The growth of two huge economies (India and China) in the east is a tremendous tension for the West and some protectionist tendency is bound to come, which has to be fought, he said late on Friday. Doctors and other skilled professionals, including those in software sector, from India are capable of working in the west and have made their mark and this could lead to the West turning around, he said. The recent instance being the plan of five US states to ban outsourcing of work, Rajan added.

On India's growth, he said the country is at a stage of take off. There is confidence in the industry, lead by IT and some murmuring heard from the manufacturing sector, that it can compete internationally.

Courtesy: www.hindustantimes.com, September 09, 2003

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The Government's nod to the Army to procure more of the indigenously-developed Prithvi missiles and develop a solid-fuel version of the latter, which are now propelled by liquid fuel, marks yet another step in its efforts to fill up the gaps in India's defence system.

It comes in the wake of its decision to procure Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs) for the Indian Air Force, improve the fire power and counter-insurgency capability of infantry battalions in the forward areas, and enhance the Navy's capacity for electronic warfare. From a comprehensive strategic and defence perspective, the induction of more Prithvi missiles, capable of hitting targets at a range of 150 kilometres with 1,000-kilogramme conventional warheads or nuclear weapons, will serve a useful purpose at a time when Pakistan has refused to make a no-first-use declaration in respect of its missile-based nuclear arsenal. Not only that, the development of the solid-fuel variety, which will make these safer, less toxic and cumbersome to deploy in conflict theatres. Also, their transportation by rail will not pose the kind of difficulty which the liquid-fuel variety does.

Given the fact that India has a second-strike nuclear doctrine, it is essential to implement according to schedule Defence Minister George Fernandes' announcement in the Rajya Sabha in May, that the nuclear capable Agni-I and Agni-II missiles, with ranges of 700 kilometres and 2000 kilometre respectively, would be deployed within this year. Equally important it is to ensure that efforts to test-fire the nuclear capable Agni-III with a range of 3,000 kilometres, to which Mr George Fernandes referred in April this year, are made earnestly. While the Agni-I and Agni-II are enough to meet India's defence requirements in respect of Pakistan, the country's strategic planning must take into account not only existing but potential security threats. The Agni-III was first conceived in terms of striking targets in China with whom this country had fought a limited war in 1962 and which maintained a hostile posture until recently. While the Chinese threat has virtually ceased to exist, a new one has arisen in the form of fundamentalist pan-Islamist terrorism with a widening global spread, and Pakistan as its principal nursery. With the war in Iraq giving it a massive boost, one can hardly rule out the emergence of a union of Islamist States steeped in the jihadi mindset. Unthinkable? Who could anticipate 9/11 as it happened?

Courtesy: The Pioneer, September 08, 2003