Price of power
Being honest can also mean being arrogant at times, and our power and energy minister, seems to find himself in this situation pretty often. Piyush Goyal has been on mission mode since he took charge of two critical ministries — power and coal — and full marks to him also for bringing stability to these sectors.
However, he seems to be rubbing many colleagues from the States the wrong way. He talked tough at a recent conference of power, renewable energy and mines ministers from the States and UTs in Delhi. Commenting on equitable distribution of power to ensure electricity for all, Goyal said, “I was forced to divert power supply from Maharashtra to Karnataka. My Rajya Sabha nomination too came under threat because of this. It is another matter that DK Shivkumar (Karnataka energy minister) assured me that I would be nominated from his State.” That sure created a buzz: power minister or full of power minister was the question.
You must hand it to ICICI Bank for bringing alive a village in a five star hotel. Supervised by Arun Jaitley, a 100 digital villages were being dedicated to the nation. With the lighting arranged to thrown in orange hue on the scene, it seemed to some that it resembled a BJP event. Given that orange is one of the corporate colours of ICICI Bank, someone quipped that orange was getting closer to saffron.
Diplomacy, Erdogan-style
The recent visit to India by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey stirred up quite some controversy. In his address to Indian industry during an event jointly organised by Ficci, CII and Assocham, Erdogan was openly hard-selling his country — remember, he has just sidestepped a military coup to topple him and faces massive protests back home. But that didn’t stop him from inviting honeymooners to Turkey on Turkish Airlines. The boot’s on the same foot!
Everyone’s business
Everyone agrees that the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) is a success, and full credit to Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan and his team. They have surpassed the target for 2016-17 in terms of installing new connections. Over 2.20 crore connections have been given to BPL families in the first year of its launch. This has surpassed the target of 1.5 crore connections for the financial year. PMUY was launched on May 1, 2016. In 2016-17, oil marketing companies have given 3.25 crore new connections across the country. The total number of active LPG consumers today is over 20 crore, a quantum jump from 14 crore in the year 2014.
What’s the secret? An approach that involves beneficiaries, elected representatives, distinguished personalities, local administration and others, coupled with communication strategies to popularise the scheme and educate beneficiaries on safety norms in the regional languages. The district nodal officers from oil marketing companies are the ‘foot soldiers’. PMUY has been a success because everyone is involved, says Pradhan. Right on.
Super cruise
A reputed international media house in the latest issue of its publication, Condé Nast Traveller , has listed the river cruise on Ganga as one of the “six river cruises to take in 2017”, alongside cruises on the Mekong, Yangtze, Amazon, Volga and Irrawaddy rivers. The luxury cruise vessel Ganges Voyager II sails on the Ganga from Kolkata to Varanasi with the support of the Inland Waterways Authority of India in collaboration with private cruise operators. National Waterway NW-1 from Varanasi to Haldia is being developed by the IWAI under the Jal Marg Vikas Project (JMVP).