Envoy says U.S. has so far made only commitments and promises
Calling the India-U.S. nuclear agreement a “breakthrough” is premature, says Russia’s Ambassador to India Alexander Kadakin, who has called the announcements made during U.S. President Barack Obama’s visit “only promises with a dose of euphoria.”
In an exclusive interview to The Hindu , Mr. Kadakin rejected the idea that
Russia felt the competition from the U.S. following the agreement.
Russia felt the competition from the U.S. following the agreement.
“It is too early to speak about ‘breakthroughs’ because of a lack of complete clarity, as not a single nail has been driven in any [American nuclear reactor] construction sites,” he said. “These are so far only commitments and promises, plus a dose of euphoria, which is not the best vehicle either in diplomacy or realpolitik.” Mr. Kadakin’s responses, given in writing, to questions from The Hindu are significant as they indicate an unease in Moscow over closer ties between India and the U.S. In December, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that 12 new reactors will be built by Russia in India. “Our Indian friends are fully satisfied with Russian-designed reactors, which are said to be the best in quality, safety, eco-preservation and, what is more, cost of energy,” Mr. Kadakin said.
Global sea ice diminishing, finds new NASA study
Earth has been shedding sea ice at an average annual rate of 35,000 square kilometres since 1979, a new NASA study has found.
“Even though Antarctic sea ice reached a new record maximum this past September, global sea ice is still decreasing,” said Claire Parkinson, author of the study and climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt.
“That’s because the decreases in Arctic sea ice far exceed the increases in Antarctic sea ice,” said Ms. Parkinson. She used microwave data collected by NASA and Department of Defence satellites for her study published in the Journal of Climate.
She added Arctic and Antarctic sea ice extents month by month from November 1978 to December 2013 to determine the global ice extent for each month. Her analysis shows that over the 35-year period, the trend in ice extents was downward in all months of the year, even those corresponding to the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice maximum extents. - PTI
Pause on decisions on urea, LPG cylinders and kerosene
The Modi government is putting on hold its plans for some key economic reforms Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had announced in his maiden Budget last July.
These include decontrol of urea prices, fewer subsidised cylinders a year and withdrawal of kerosene from the public distribution system (PDS).
Fertilizer Minister Ananth Kumar told The Hinduthat the administered price controls for urea would stay. “We are committed to keeping the policy pro-farmer,” he said.
Fear of a political backlash based on inputs from party leaders — now established by the rout in the Delhi Assembly elections — has forced the hands of the government.
Asked if the government’s unpopular reform proposals were behind the victory of the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi, Mr. Kumar said: “Narendrabhai Modi was and always will be pro-farmers.”
“The Finance Minister has already put on hold an order dated November 24 that directed us to withdraw kerosene as a general PDS item and direct it only to un-electrified households,” said an Oil Ministry official. “PDS kerosene will continue for now.”
The fine print of the July Budget said: “… there is need to cap the [number of] subsidised cylinders at a more realistic level.” The Oil Ministry source said that after the AAP victory in Delhi, the Modi government was likely to keep the number of subsidised cylinders at the existing 12 a connection annually. “The Oil Minister is not in favour of reducing the number.” When contacted, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan’s office said he was not available for comment as he was out of the country.
Protecting and even expanding the PDS and keeping fertilizer prices low were part of the election promises that the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) made in Delhi.
The AAP manifesto says: “The AAP government will end corruption in the PDS with the involvement of mohalla sabhas ... instead of direct cash transfer, we will ensure direct transfer of rations to the families and will include dal and oil in the PDS.”
The AAP supports lower fertilizer prices as it believes high input costs in the face of low procurement prices are pushing the rural economy into distress and thousands of farmers to suicide every year.
The fine print of the July Budget said: “What is now urgently required are certain pricing reforms in the urea sector with an immediate price correction for urea … This is not only essential from the viewpoint of the size of the subsidy bill but also from the viewpoint of balanced use of N, P & K [Nitrogen, Phosphate & Potassium] nutrients.”
Urea is the only fertilizer under statutory price control for which the maximum retail price is fixed by the Centre. The difference between production cost incurred by a manufacturer and the administered concessional price is reimbursed as subsidy. For the purpose of the calculation of the subsidy element, the Fertilizer Ministry, in consultation with manufacturers, determines the production cost for every urea plant separately. As a result, the manufacturers’ lobby is opposed to reform.
The other fertilizers were shifted to a subsidy regime by the Manmohan Singh government under which subsidy is no longer paid to manufacturers on the basis of production cost. Instead, the quantity sold is taken into account.
Pak. to release 173 Indian prisoners on Feb. 16
Pakistan will release 173 Indian prisoners out of 526 inmates on February 16, External Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday.
Ministry Spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin said the government had received a written communication from Pakistan on their release which include one civilian.
“Expectation of return soon. We have been informed that 173 Indian prisoners are to be released & repatriated from Pakistan on 16 February,” he also tweeted.
They will come through Wagah and will be received by Indian diplomatic mission staff, he said.
Pradhan seeks expediting of TAPI project at Islamabad meet
Calls for early finalisation of consortium leader to speed up pipeline
Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, who on Wednesday became the first Minister of the Narendra Modi government to visit Pakistan, has called for early finalisation of the consortium leader for expeditious implementation of the 1,800-km Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) natural gas pipeline project in limbo for almost a decade.
Officials of the External Affairs Ministry said Mr. Pradhan’s visit was in his capacity as Minister to the “multilateral” meeting, even so the visit and his one-on-one meeting with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is the first of its kind since India cancelled the Foreign Secretary talks in July 2014.
Mr. Pradhan, who was in Islamabad to attend the 20th steering committee meeting of the TAPI project, also called on Mr. Sharif along with the TAPI Petroleum Ministers.
“The very fact that India has had regular ministerial representation at the TAPI steering committee meeting bears testimony to the importance attached by the government to this project despite the apprehensions about the geo-political situation and security scenario involving the project,” an official statement said.
Mr. Pradhan said a mutually acceptable consortium leader was a vital step towards implementing the project in a time-bound manner.
He reiterated India’s commitment to source natural gas from Turkmenistan through the pipeline. Turkmenistan has the world’s fourth largest proven gas reserves.
The pipeline will allow the landlocked country to export up to 33 billion cubic metres of natural gas a year from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India over 30 years.
He said the TAPI project would contribute to building a national gas grid as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The state gas companies of Turkmenistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan and India have established a company that will build, own and operate the pipeline.
The countries have to select a commercial consortium leader to spearhead its construction and operation. The commercial consortium leader will take a substantial stake in the company. Mr. Pradhan met his Afghanistan counterpart on the sidelines of the steering committee meeting.
INS Viraat to be decommissioned in 2016
The aircraft carrier has served for 56 years
The Navy is learnt to have taken the call to retire the decrepit warhorse INS Viraat, the aircraft carrier that has had a service life of 56 years as on date — first as HMS Hermes in the Royal British Navy and in its present avatar since 1987.
Viraat — which saw action in the Falklands War and remained for well over a decade the sole aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean region following the decommissioning of the first Indian carrier INS Vikrant in 1997 — is slated to have a grand farewell at the International Fleet Review at Visakhapatnam in February 2016.
It is in the process of obtaining Defence Ministry’s clearance to the retirement plan.
Mounting maintenance costs and rapid depletion of its integral fleet of Sea Harrier jump jets are said to have catalysed the decision to decommission Viraat. The Navy shelled out Rs. 70 crore for the last routine refit of the carrier.
The carrier was to have been dry-docked at the shipyard for the next round of periodic refit in December last year, but it was called off in view of the retirement proposal. Viraat is now expected to have its decommissioning refit sometime in the middle of 2015, say sources.
The retirement call was forced, in part, by the dwindling fleet of Sea Harrier fighters operating from the deck of Viraat. While the limited upgrade Sea Harrier (LUSH) programme bestowed the fighters with modern avionics and beyond visual range (BVR) strike capability, the ageing airframe has been a concern. Not more than seven Sea Harriers are available at the moment — some of them cannibalised (used as ‘Christmas Tree’ for spares) to keep the relatively agile ones airworthy.
“Thanks to the Navy’s stringent maintenance regimen, we have been able to operate Viraat without major glitches until now. But the Harrier fleet has dwindled so much that within the Navy, Viraat is often referred to as a ‘One Harrier carrier’. No point flogging it any further,” an official said.
India’s first carrier Vikrant, which was turned into a maritime museum post-retirement in 1997, has now been broken up after its upkeep became ostensibly unviable.
New retail inflation series to be released today
The government, to present a better picture of the price situation in the country, will release on Thursday a new series of Consumer Price Index (CPI) with 2012 as base year for computing the retail inflation rate.
The first series (revised) has been compiled for January, which will be released on February 12.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has recently revised the base year and methodology for computing national account, which provides a picture of the economy
From January 2016 onwards, inflation rates would be compiled using the actual CPI of the revised series, according to an official statement.
No comments:
Post a Comment