News of Use

Saturday, 2 April 2016

Indian cigarette makers halt production over health warning rules

New Delhi : Indian cigarette makers including ITC Ltd, part-owned by British American Tobacco, suspended production on Friday over what they said was ambiguity in the government's new health warning rules for packs, a leading industry body said.

Rules that mandated 85 percent of a cigarette pack's surface to be covered in health warnings, up from 20 percent, kicked in from Friday after being delayed for a year.

But cigarette makers failed to comply, with packs with smaller warnings still being sold in the capital New Delhi.

The Tobacco Institute of India (TII) said the industry was concerned over potential violation of health warning rules by continuing production, adding that the production halt would cost the industry $53 million a day.

India was last year forced to delay implementation of stringent pack warning rules as a parliamentary panel sought time to assess how the industry would be impacted.

The health ministry later decided to implement the rules from April this year, but the panel last month issued a report saying the size of warnings should be reduced to 50 percent in the interest of the industry and tobacco farmers.

Health activists have criticized the panel for favoring the industry. The World Health Organization has called the debate on reducing the warnings size in India "worrisome".

India's $10 billion cigarette market is dominated by ITC and Godfrey Phillips India Ltd, a partner of U.S.-based Philip Morris International. ITC declined to comment. Godfrey Phillips was not immediately available for comment.

TII, which has called the new rules drastic and impractical, said the industry had written to the health ministry seeking clarification. It did not elaborate on what was ambiguous about the new rules.

A senior health ministry official, who declined to be named, said the government was committed to implementing the rules.

Smoking kills about 1 million people in India each year, BMJ Global Health estimates. The Canadian Cancer Society in 2014 ranked India 136th out of 198 countries that use pack warnings to deter smokers, lagging nations such as Thailand.

"The industry is holding the government to ransom. There is no ambiguity in the rules," said Amit Yadav, director, southeast Asia region at Framework Convention Alliance for Tobacco Control, a group of more than 350 global organizations.

(Editing by Alexander Smith and David Holmes)

PM Shri Narendra Modi meets Canadian, UK PMs on the sidelines of NSS on April 01, 2016

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today (April 01, 2016) met the Prime Minister of Canada, Mr. Justin Trudeau, on the sidelines of the Nuclear Security Summit in Washington DC.

The Prime Minister said new energy and dynamism has been imparted to relations between the two countries, since Mr. Trudeau assumed office. He spoke of immense possibilities for further expanding the relationship in the economic sphere. He recalled his meeting with the heads of Canadian pension funds during his visit to Canada last year, and observed that some of these funds are now Investing in India.

The Canadian Prime Minister congratulated Prime Minister Modi for his intervention during the NSS dinner yesterday, and said Canada and India can be leaders in efforts towards non-proliferation.

Prime Minister Modi also spoke of India's thrust towards renewable energy. He mentioned smart cities, urban infrastructure and skill development as areas where Canada could further deepen its engagement with India. He also mentioned India's progressive policy in the hydrocarbon sector, and sought Canadian cooperation in the areas of coal gasification and underground mining of coal.

Prime Minister Trudeau accepted Prime Minister Modi's invitation to visit India.

Prime Minister Modi met the Prime Minister of United Kingdom, Mr. David Cameron. Both leaders recalled Shri Narendra Modi's visit to the UK last year, and Prime Minister Modi said that ties between the two countries had become richer and deeper. Defence cooperation came up for discussion and Prime Minister Modi mentioned that the UK could be a partner in the Make in India initiative, especially in the defence sector. Visa issues also came up for discussion.

PM Shri Narendra Modi meets PM of Japan on the sidelines of NSS (April 01, 2016)

PM Modi and PM Abe met on the sidelines of NSS 2016. In line with the Special Strategic and Global Partnership with Japan, discussions were held in a very cordial atmosphere. PM Abe thanked PM Modi for the excellent hospitality during his bilateral visit to India in December 2015. He described his visit to Varanasi as unforgettable.

PM Abe acknowledged that under PM Modi's leadership, the Indian economy was now serving as the engine of global growth.

The two leaders reviewed the decisions taken during PM Abe's visit and expressed satisfaction at the strong pace of implementation. PM Abe conveyed that a survey Mission will be coming from Japan in May to take forward the Convention Centre project in Varanasi. They also discussed measures to promote further trade and investment.

PM thanked PM Abe for Japan's strong participation in the International Fleet Review.

The two leaders also discussed the continuing threat of terrorism and the need for the International community to eschew selective approaches. They also reviewed global and regional issues.

PM Abe said that he was greatly looking forward to PM Modi's bilateral visit to Japan later this year.

India Water Week-2016 to begin from April 4 Israel to be partner country

The Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Sushri Uma Bharti addressing the curtain raiser press conference on India Water Week 2016, in New Delhi on April 02, 2016. The Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Shri Shashi Shekhar and the Director General (M&C), Press Information Bureau, Shri A.P. Frank Noronha are also seen.

New Delhi : The fourth edition of India Water Week will be observed from 04 to 08 April, 2016. Making this announcement in New Delhi today the Union Minister for Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Sushri Uma Bharti said that the theme for this year’s India Water week is “Water for all: Striving together”. The Minister informed that Israel will be associated as the partner country for this mega event.

Sushri Bharti said the Inaugural session of India Water Week will be followed by Plenary session and Water Resources Ministers conclave on first day. About 1500 delegates from India and 20 other countries will be attending the conclave.

The Minister informed that the event has been divided into Seminars (eight nos.), Brainstorming sessions (six nos,), Panel Discussions (seven nos.), Case studies (six nos.) and Side Events (five nos.). These events will take place at ITPO, Pragati Maidan. Apart from this, an Exhibition ‘Water Expo-2016’ showcasing the technologies and solutions in water resources sector is also being organised at Hall No. 9, Pragati Maidan for the benefit of delegates.

Sushri Bharti said it will be a multi-disciplinary conference enriching the theme with dialogue by national and international community alongwith the exhibition. Delegates of the event will be immensely benefitted from Israeli experience in efficient management of water resources as well as other national and international experiences. Many reputed National and International Organizations, Research Institutes, Educational Institutions and NGOs from water resources, agriculture, power sectors etc. are participating in the event to share their knowledge and experience in the sector. Most important stakeholder of water, i.e. farmers from different parts of the country are also going to participate in this important event as a part of INPIM Programme on Participatory Irrigation Management and share their experiences.

The Union Water Resources said that the multi-disciplinary dialogue will be addressing the important initiatives of the Minister and priority programmes like Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna (PMKSY), Jal Kranti Abhiyan, More crop per drop, Interlinking of Rivers, etc. apart from other important topics such as (a) Water and Health – managing water quality (b) Agriculture and Irrigation (c) Water and Power – hydro and thermal (d) Industrial water efficiency (e) Water supply and sanitation for rural and urban areas (f) Environment, climate change and water resources sector. Sushri Bharti recalled that in Jal Manthan-2 Programme held at New Delhi in February, 2016, important issues like bridging gap between irrigation potential created and irrigation potential utilised, fast-tracking of 89 AIBP projects under PMKSY, ground water protection and augmentation, National Hydrology Project, etc were discussed in detail. Such issues are also proposed to find important place in discussion during the present event.

Partner country Israel will exclusively organise two sessions viz. (i) Role of Micro Irrigation in existing command and (ii) Israel makes in India – COE’s and commercial success stories, water management. International Commission for Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) has planned to organize first in the series “India Irrigation Forum-2016” as a part of India Water Week-2016.

Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Government of India has been organising India Water Week since 2012 as an international event to focus on water related issues. Three editions of India Water Week have been organised so far in 2012, 2013 and 2015.

Friday, 1 April 2016

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Saudi visit part of push to "de-hyphenate" India from Pakistan

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Saudi Arabia on Sunday is part of a broader diplomatic offensive to put pressure on arch rival Pakistan by forging ties with some of Islamabad's closest allies, Indian ruling party and government officials said.

Modi is expected to sign trade agreements, including contracts to secure investment for infrastructure projects, and offer security and military cooperation, such as training and joint exercises, they said.

The visit comes just months after he travelled to another Pakistan ally, the United Arab Emirates, and signed a security cooperation agreement that includes regular meetings between top security advisers.

"It's simple. We have to do everything to deal with Pakistan - use economics, strategy and emotional ties to win the hearts of Islamabad's friends," said Ram Madhav, national general secretary of Modi's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan have fought three wars since independence in 1947, two of them over Kashmir. New Delhi has long accused Islamabad of sponsoring a separatist movement and militancy in the Himalayan region. Pakistan denies the charge and accuses India of occupying Kashmir and fomenting trouble in its restive provinces, like Baluchistan.

Stronger relationships with Pakistan’s allies like Saudi Arabia and the UAE can help India get a more sympathetic hearing on global and regional forums and put pressure on Islamabad to rein in militants.

On Thursday, Saudi Arabia and the United States imposed joint sanctions targeting the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militant group blamed for the 2008 attacks in Mumbai.

New Delhi has been frustrated that often its ties with countries have been coloured by concerns about its relationship with Pakistan. One foreign ministry official said the Saudis tended to bring up Pakistan during discussions with India.

Government officials described Modi’s diplomatic push as an effort to "de-hyphenate" India from Pakistan, especially as New Delhi tries to play a bigger geopolitical role in Asia to counter China's influence.

RIGHT TIMING

Until now, India’s relationship with Saudi Arabia has been driven primarily by trade and the Indian diaspora in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia is India's top energy supplier and home to more than 3.5 million Indian expatriates.

Over the past few years, there has been some cooperation on security between the two countries, with Riyadh deporting four most wanted fugitives to India.

Modi will look to broaden those ties, with one foreign ministry official saying healthcare, education, religious tourism and labour reforms would also be key talking points.

Still, there are limits to what New Delhi can hope to achieve. The relationship between Pakistan and the Saudis goes back decades, based in their shared Sunni Muslim heritage.

Saudi Arabia has long been a source of financial aid for Islamabad. In 2014, the Saudis gave Pakistan $1.5 billion as a "gift" to shore up its foreign reserves.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif spent time in political exile in Saudi Arabia in the 2000s, after he was ousted in a military coup.

But Indian officials said the timing was right for Modi’s visit, as relations between Riyadh and Islamabad enter a rough patch.

Pakistan declined to provide ships, aircraft and troops to the Saudi-led fight to halt Iranian-allied Houthi rebels in Yemen last year. It has also sought to avoid taking sides in the escalating dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

"Pakistan knows that relations with Saudi have come to a low. That doesn't mean that India can fill that gap," said Zahid Hussain, a former newspaper editor in Pakistan. "But certainly this is part of Modi's diplomatic offensive in the region."

(Additional reporting by Doug Busvine in NEW DELHI, Asad Hashim and Mehreen Zahra-Malik in ISLAMABAD; Editing by Paritosh Bansal and Nick Macfie)

India`s PM Shri Narendra Modi at dinner hosted by US President Barack Obama

State actors working with nuclear traffickers and terrorists present the greatest risk

The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, today made an intervention during the dinner hosted by US President Barack Obama, on the theme of nuclear security threat perceptions.

Appreciating the US President for putting the spotlight on nuclear security, the Prime Minister said he had, by doing so, done great service to global security.

Referring to the recent terror attacks in Brussels, the Prime Minister said that Brussels shows us how real and immediate is the threat to nuclear security from terrorism. Shri Narendra Modi called for focus on three contemporary features of terrorism: First, today’s terrorism uses extreme violence as theatre.

Second, we are no longer looking for a man in a cave, but we are hunting for a terrorist in a city with a computer or a smartphone. Third, state actors working with nuclear traffickers and terrorists present the greatest risk.

Noting that terror has evolved and terrorists are using 21st century technology, the Prime Minister observed that our responses are rooted in the past. He said terrorism is globally networked, but we still act only nationally to counter this threat. He added that the reach and supply chains of terrorism are global, but genuine cooperation between nation states is not.

The Prime Minister said that without prevention and prosecution of acts of terrorism, there is no deterrence against nuclear terrorism. He urged everyone to drop the notion that terrorism is someone else’s problem and that “his” terrorist is not “my” terrorist.

The Prime Minister said nuclear security must remain an abiding national priority, and all States must completely abide by their international obligations.

Thursday, 31 March 2016

China-led AIIB eyes first loans to India

New Delhi : India hopes to receive one of the first loans issued by the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) later this year, as it looks to raise $500 million for solar power projects from the newly created lender, Indian officials said.

Funding for clean energy projects would allay fears of environmental lobbyists that the bank's relaxed lending criteria could promote dirty fuels like coal in developing economies, like India, that are in a hurry to ramp up energy output.

The multilateral investment bank, which has authorised capital of $100 billion, plans to join global clean-energy initiatives, and could fund eco-friendly investment projects to avoid allegations of promoting pollution.

India, the bank's second biggest shareholder after China, is looking to borrow from the AIIB, a senior official said, to back Prime Minister Narendra Modi's plan of expanding installed solar capacity to 100 gigawatts by 2022.

"In about six months, funds could start flowing from AIIB," Tarun Kapur, joint secretary at the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, told Reuters.

Interest on the loan is likely to be 2-2.5 percent and would be linked to LIBOR - a floating benchmark based on the rate at which commercial banks lend to each other - for a term of over 15 years.

The AIIB, which is headquartered in Beijing and was launched in January, did not comment directly on borrowing by India but said it was developing a project pipeline in a number of countries.

"It is expected that the first loan decisions will be taken later this year," it said in written answers to questions submitted by Reuters.

BILLIONS SOUGHT

India is in talks with the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, Germany's KfW and the New Development Bank, set up by big emerging economies that form the BRICS bloc, to raise more than $3 billion in the financial year that starts April 1.

India has requested $500 million in financing from the ADB to support rooftop solar, and a similar sum to expand transmission networks to connect to solar parks. The ADB signed a cooperation agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to back the solar power expansion.

India estimates it needs to invest up to $100 billion in solar power in the next 6-7 years to meet its ambitious target of boosting capacity by roughly 17 times from current levels of 5,800 megawatts.

"Financing is not an issue but we need cheaper funds," said Kapur. After hedging costs of about 6-7 percent, the cost of funding from the AIIB funds works out at just below 10 percent, compared to domestic rates of about 12 percent, he said.

Another official at the finance ministry who has been liaising with the AIIB, said initial talks had taken place on clean energy projects and more proposals could soon be submitted on other priority areas.

The AIIB is expected to lend $10 billion-$15 billion a year for the first five or six years and could start operations in the second quarter of 2016.

AIIB president Jin Liqun said earlier this year that the bank has a good pipeline of co-financing projects and stand-alone projects.

($1 = 66.5910 Indian rupees)

(Additional reporting by Rajesh Kumar Singh in New Delhi and Judy Hua in Beijing; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Simon Cameron-Moore)

Westinghouse expects to sign India reactor deal in June - CEO

WASHINGTON | BY DAVID BRUNNSTROM AND VALERIE VOLCOVIC

The chief executive of Toshiba Corp's (6502.T) Westinghouse Electric said on Wednesday he expects to sign a deal in June to build six nuclear reactors in India after marathon negotiations that began more than a decade ago.

In January, Westinghouse CEO Daniel Roderick told Reuters he hoped to be able to sign the deal in March, in time for a visit to Washington by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend a nuclear security summit that starts Thursday. On Wednesday, Roderick said the target date was now June.

"It may take until, I'm going to say, early June, which is the next time that there's going to be a government-to-government meeting with India," Roderick told Reuters in Washington.

The deal would be the first nuclear commercial power project since the United States and India agreed in 2008 to cooperate in the civil nuclear arena.

"We have submitted everything that we need to India and they have reviewed it and they are in the process now of finalising the paperwork," Roderick said.

He declined to say how much the deal would be worth, or the price per unit of electricity, but said India had judged Westinghouse to be a "competitive energy source provider" and this would allow the contract to go on to the next phase.

Roderick said Westinghouse was still working on details of the nuclear operator liability issue, but that progress had been made.

"We are certainly comfortable enough to go to the next step from where we are right now, and if India continues to deliver on its milestones for the insurance programme, then that should satisfy what Westinghouse needs," he said.

India wants to dramatically increase its nuclear capacity to 63,000 megawatts (MW) by 2032, from 5,780 MW, as part of a broader push to move away from fossil fuels, cut greenhouse gas emissions and avoid the dangerous effects of climate change.

For decades, India was shut out of nuclear trade because of its weapons programme. The 2008 agreement with the United States gave it access to foreign suppliers without giving up arms that are primarily meant as a deterrent against nuclear-armed China.

But hopes that U.S. reactor makers would get billions of dollars of new business evaporated after India adopted a law in 2010 giving the state-run operator Nuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) the right to seek damages from suppliers in the event of an accident.

Indian officials have since sought to assuage suppliers' concerns, including by setting up an insurance pool with a liability cap of 15 billion Indian rupees ($226.16 million).

Roderick said he had been working on the agreement since 2005 and it was the longest negotiation he had ever been involved in.

"Most of our teams have finished and we've got all the paperwork in, so the next thing we will be waiting for is just the government approvals to move to the signature phase," he said.

(Reporting by David Brunnstrom; Editing by David Gregorio)

Britain says state takeover not the answer in steel crisis

LONDON/PORT TALBOT, WALES | BY PAUL SANDLE AND ANDY : Prime Minister David Cameron said there was no guarantee a buyer could be found for Britain's biggest steel producer after Tata Steel announced it was pulling out, and a state takeover was not the answer.

Cameron said he was doing all he could following the Indian company's decision to sell its British operation, a move that has put 15,000 jobs at risk and exposed the government to accusations of failing to protect the industry from cheap Chinese imports.

Tata's biggest plant in Port Talbot, south Wales, is losing around $1.4 million a day as a result of depressed steel prices and high costs.

"We're going to work very hard with the company to do everything we can, but it is a difficult situation, there can be no guarantees of success because of the problems that the steel industry faces worldwide," Cameron said after chairing an emergency meeting on the crisis on Thursday.

"We're not ruling anything out, (but) I don't believe nationalisation is the right answer."

Cameron's government has faced criticism over its response to Tata's decision, with opposition lawmakers saying it was "asleep at the wheel" when the Indian group said it was pulling out after nearly a decade in Britain.

The prime minister and Sajid Javid, the business minister, were out of the country when Tata's board met in Mumbai on Tuesday, leaving a junior colleague to respond.

The opposition Labour party and Britain's media said the handling of the crisis had been "chaotic" after the government rowed back on an initial suggestion from a junior minister that it could nationalise the plants for a period.

"It's absolutely extraordinary that they've been asleep at the wheel for this long," Stephen Kinnock, the local member of parliament in south Wales, told Sky News on Thursday.

"Why is it that the prime minister seems to be reacting to this as if he didn't see it coming. They're in total disarray."

VITAL INDUSTRY

Steelmakers in Britain pay some of the highest energy costs and green taxes in the world, but the government maintains that the fundamental problem facing the industry is the collapse in the price of steel, caused by overcapacity in China.

Britain imported 826,000 tonnes of Chinese steel in 2015, up from 361,000 two years earlier, according to the International Steel Statistic bureau.

Cameron's government, eager to cultivate closer ties with China, has opposed measures in Europe that could increase the tariffs paid on Chinese imports of steel, which are a fraction of the levels imposed by the United States.

Nonetheless, anti-EU campaigners said Brussels was part of the problem because rules on state aid limited the steps Britain could take to save the industry.

Cameron, who does not want to stoke anti-EU sentiment ahead of a referendum on Britain's EU membership in June, said half of the country's steel production went into European markets and the products could face European tariffs and taxes if Britain left.

He said ministers had been working on measures to help the industry, including encouraging major infrastructure projects to use British steel and cutting energy costs. The government's intervention, he said, had helped avert an outright closure of the loss-making operations by Tata.

But steel workers in Port Talbot said politicians had hindered rather than helped the industry.

They pointed to the policies of Cameron's right-leaning Conservative government as well as the European Union, which has been slow to penalise China for dumping steel.

"Do I blame the EU? To a certain extent, they've been very slow to act," said Dave Bowyer, 59, a steelworker for 40 years at Port Talbot and a representative of the Unite union.

"But I think most of the blame has to lie with the UK government. Mr Cameron will long be remembered as the prime minister who sat on his hands as the steel industry rolled into decline."

Business minister Javid said on Wednesday that there were buyers for the assets but government support might be needed, prompting speculation that the government could offer loans to any new buyer.

($1 = 0.6940 pounds)

(Additional reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Kate Holton)

Deployment of Wave Rider Buoy off Seychelles by India for Improved Ocean State Forecasts for the Indian Ocean Islands

As a part of the 'Integrated Ocean Information System' for the Indian Ocean Countries, the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Hyderabad of the Ministry of Earth Sciences, successfully deployed a Wave Rider Buoy off the Frigate Island, Seychelles. Ocean state forecasts are imperative for safe navigation and operations at sea.

The 'Integrated Ocean Information System' is being established by INCOIS under the technical cooperation umbrella of the Regional Integrated Multi-Hazard Early Warning System for Africa and Asia (RIMES). India is serving as the Chair of the RIMES Executive Council represented by the Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences.

This event is a follow up to the inauguration of the Earth System Sciences Organisation (ESSO) -INCOIS Ocean State Forecasting System for Seychelles and Sri Lanka by Dr. Harsh Vardhan, Union Minister for Science and Technology, in July 2015 at the 2^nd RIMES Ministerial Conference in Delhi.

The ocean data collected will be useful not only to validate the Wave and Sea Surface Temperature (SST) forecasts from INCOIS for the oceanic region surrounding Seychelles in real time but will also help in analysing and tracking high swell events originating from the Southern Ocean and arriving at the southwest coast of India. These observations will help in further strengthening and enhancing our capability to predict the occasional High Wave events (Kallakadal) that often attack the Kerala coast causing damages to coastal villages and fishing boats.

To ensure the buoy safety and easy retrieval, a 'Buoy drift alert system' has also been developed and implemented. All concerned officials will receive the alert, in case the buoy drifts more than 200 metres from its position.