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By Nantoo Banerjee Who is this Noam Chomsky? What is his nationality? Why is he trying to protect an extremely shabby existence of a few hundred squatters on a public property, stalling the development of the Kolkata metropolitan region, the country’s most neglected and infrastructurally-handicapped megacity? Did Chomsky ever...
A newly-born child, who has six legs, rests on his grandmother’s lap at his family home in Sukkur in Pakistan’s Sindh province April 14, 2012. A baby born in Pakistan’s Sindh province has six legs, with a doctor assessing that the removal of the parasitic limbs could be a...
NEW DELHI: Persisting with its strategy to pre-emptively contest a likely government move to restrict the cost recovery at the KG-D6 offshore gas field, the Mukesh Ambani-run Reliance Industries (RIL) along with one of its consortium partners on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court, seeking direction to the government to...
NEW DELHI: In order to give more operational flexibility to Maharatna and Navratna companies, that will help them achieve their annual targets, the heavy industries ministry will soon come out with fresh guidelines. Also, it will provide a review and a peak mechanism for Maharatna and Navratna companies for...
NEW DELHI: The initial hype over India’s shale gas potential seems to be making way for a more sober assessment of the unconventional energy that could actually be extracted from rock formations. From an initial assessment of 300 trillion cubic feet (TCF) to 2,100 TCF of producible and non-producible...
The current fiscal will be challenging for the department of disinvestment. Despite the dismal show last year due to adverse market conditions and the failure to reach the target for divestment revenue, the department has lined up a slew of proposals for stake sales in public sector undertakings (PSUs)...
India and Afghanistan failed to agree on transit fee for gas passing through Afghan territory under the USD 7.6-billion Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan- India (TAPI) pipeline project, officials said today. Consequently, Islamabad and New Delhi too could not agree on the transit fee for the segment of the pipeline passing through Pakistan,...
NEW DELHI: The valuation of Gujarat Gas, the BG Group company on the block, depends on the outcome of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board’s decision on granting exclusivity rights for city gas distribution in its operating areas. PNGRB recently awarded authorisation to the BSE-listed company for city...
MUMBAI: Reliance Industries (RIL), the country’s biggest company, has completed 4.4% of its announced buyback programme that began in the first week of February. The company has bought back more than 52.6 lakh shares in the last two months, against an announced buyback of 12 crore shares, which equals...
NEW DELHI/CHENNAI: Reliance Industries woes on declining production in the gas fields of D6 block are expected to cast a long shadow on its high-margin oil and gas business. Gas production from the fields has been declining continuously. Uncertainty about the D6 gas-fields’ output and the strain on the...
NEW DELHI: French power firm GDF Suez SA will take 26 per cent capacity in the 3.5 million tonne a year floating LNG import facility being set up off the Andhra Pradesh coast. Andhra Pradesh Gas Distribution Corp Ltd, a 50:50 joint venture of GAIL Gas Ltd and Andhra...
SINGAPORE: Oil edged higher in Asian trade today but prices were capped ahead of a Spanish government bond auction amid fears anaemic demand could reignite jitters over the euro zone debt crisis. Prices were supported by renewed concerns over West Asia supply owing to the standoff between key producer...
KOLKATA/BHUBANESWAR: The site for the second Ultra Mega Power Project (UMPP) in Odisha, to come up in the western part of the state, is expected to be finalized soon. A team of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) will visit possible sites in Kalahandi and Bolangir districts during April 24-25...
KOLKATA/RAIPUR: The damaged ash dam did not distress the power production in the Korba station of the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) as the fiscal 2011-12 ended with a good note. The station produced 18030.297 million units (MUs) of power in the financial year 2011-12 despite most of its...
NEW DELHI: Three weeks after the prime minister suggested to world leaders at a nuclear summit in Seoul that India should get membership in the world’s four major export control regimes, foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai on Wednesday fleshed out that statement into a detailed case. Addressing a gathering of...
The Coal Ministry is likely to begin this week the process of issuing show-cause notices to 58 captive coal block holders, including PSUs, which have not started the development work of mines in stipulated time. “The coal ministry is likely to issue show-cause notices to 58 coal block holders,...
KOLKATA/BHUBANESWAR: In a setback to the expansion plan of state owned Odisha Power Generation Corporation (OPGC), the Ministry of Coal has ruled out the possibility of offering tapering coal linkage for the 1,320 MW project at Banharpali near Jharsuguda. The expansion project which involved adding two units of 660...
KOLKATA: Coal India’s board remains divided over fuel supply agreements (FSAs) with private power producers for plants being commissioned after December 2011 although its has agreed to abide by the Presidential Directive to sign agreements with older plants, company sources said. In its meeting last week, discussions about plants...