by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate Buzz
New Delhi : Delhi power distribution company (discom) BSES on Tuesday announced that it has won a $1 million grant from the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) to develop and deploy the country’s first Behavioural Energy Efficiency (BEE) programme in south and west Delhi.
Over 2 lakh customers in these areas of the capital under the jurisdiction of sister discom BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) will participate in the pilot project to be undertaken by the US software major Oracle America Inc, a BSES release said.
“Under the pioneering initiative, Oracle America Inc will carry out the pilot project covering 2 lakh customers in south and west Delhi using Oracle Utilities’ OPower customer engagement software,” it said.
“Starting from April 1, 2018, the duration of the BRPL BEE pilot will be 18 months but not later than December 31, 2019.”
Recognising BSES efforts in energy conservation, “USTDA has signed a grant of $1,021,896 supporting BSES Rajdhani Power Ltd to develop and deploy India’s first Behavioural Energy Efficiency (BEE) programme,” it added.
“The development of this BEE programme will demonstrate the ability to use software to empower consumers to reduce energy waste, improve energy efficiency, and lower peak-hour consumption in India,” a BSES spokesperson said.
“Widespread adoption of such Demand Side Management technologies can go a long way in reducing the demand-supply gap and reduce the need to buy or generate expensive power,” he added.
Using the proprietary software, Oracle OPower will research and study lifestyle and energy consumption habits in order to generate individual reports for each of the 2 lakh customers in the pilot project on how to create energy efficiency actions with corresponding savings, the statement said.
“Based on results in comparable markets, Home Energy Reports have the potential to save 1-2 per cent in BRPL’s peak power demand once the programme is rolled-out across the discom,” it said.
“Oracle Utilities’ OPower BEE programmes have been successfully deployed at over 100 utilities around the world and have cumulatively saved over seventeen terawatt-hours of energy,” it added.
Commenting on the development, USTDA Regional Director (South and Southeast Asia) Henry Steingass said in a statement: “We are proud to connect BRPL with Oracle Utilities on this first-in-market pilot with the potential for replication throughout India.”
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business Ideas, Entrepreneurship, News, Politics, Startup Basics, Your Business Plan
New Delhi : An innovation centre will be set up in the city soon order to promote entrepreneurial potential in the youth, the Delhi government said on Wednesday.
An official statement said Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had approved the setting up of the centre at the Delhi Emporium on Baba Kharag Singh Marg in central Delhi.
Sisodia said the emporium has sufficient space to accommodate the proposed centre and is ideally located to attract young entrepreneurs easily.
The emporium has a total carpet area of 7,476 square feet.
The idea of setting up an incubation centre was developed during the Innovation Summit at Hyderabad in November last year.
“Delhi being the national capital and centre of economic, social, educational, and technological activities is ideally placed for developing itself as a major centre of innovation and start-up culture,” said Sisodia.
The innovation incubator will work with entrepreneurs and raise the profile of its community of innovators and start-ups, thus creating jobs and help Delhi economy.
It will house at least 50 innovators and start-ups at any point of time.
It would be an independent registered non-profit organisation and become an intersection for the start-up community, government, corporate, academic and research sector.
It will have a hostel-cum-residency facility for the entrepreneurs and researchers.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
(AAP government completes 3 years on Wednesday)
By Nikhil M. Babu,
New Delhi : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, whose government completes three years in office on Wednesday, is now a quieter person vis-a-vis targeting his bitter political rival — Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Kejriwal, with 13 million followers on Twitter, has not tweeted the word “Modi” even once in the past 11 months. His last tweet mentioning Modi was on March 9, 2017. In 2016, he had mentioned “Modi” 124 times in his tweets and 33 times in 2017 — mostly attacking the Prime Minister.
Party leaders and political analysts say the change from tweeting “Modi declares emergency in Delhi”, “dictatorial Modi govt” and “Isn’t Modi govt anti-army” to stopping all mention of Modi’s name follows AAP’s election losses — first in Punjab and Goa and then in Delhi civic polls and a by-election from Rajouri Garden in 2017.
Also, the AAP chief has never tagged Modi (@narendramodi) in any of his tweets in 2017 and 2018 so far. In 2016, he tagged the Prime Minister eight times.
Kejriwal even refrained from personally attacking the Prime Minister when tempers between the central government and Delhi government ran high over disqualification of 20 AAP MLAs in January this year. The AAP said its lawmakers were disqualified at the behest of the BJP government at the Centre.
Party leaders and some political analysts IANS spoke with said it was more of a strategy than an accidental quietude.
A senior party leader said the “conscious decision” was taken in a meeting that Kejriwal convened after last year’s debacle in Delhi civic polls in which the AAP emerged a distant second with 48 seats after the BJP swept the polls by winning 181 seats.
It was a big blow for the AAP that swept the Delhi elections in 2015 by winning 67 out of 70 Assembly seats.
“It (attacking Modi) was not taking us anywhere and we decided to rather focus on governance,” the AAP leader said.
Political analyst Neerja Chowdhury agreed that it “was a definite change in (Kejriwal’s) strategy” to stop attacking Modi personally. “It is evident that the AAP has lost the trust of the middle class and they need to win back the trust if they have to keep Delhi.”
Praveen Rai, another political analyst with the Centre for Study of Developing Societies (CSDS), said: “We have been seeing a much, much more sober Kejriwal. He is growing as a leader and is becoming a seasoned politician. But he has a long way to go.”
AAP Chief spokesperson Saurabh Bharadwaj attributed the shift to “a good communication system (that) keeps reinventing itself” and the party follows that idea.
“Initially people wanted to know why works in Delhi were not being done and we had to explain to them in the first two years. Now people understand that LG is not allowing many works and files go through him,” Bharadwaj said.
He said the strategy of attacking Modi and the central government “served its purpose” and there was no need to repeat it.
(Nikhil M. Babu can be contacted at nikhil.b@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Large Enterprise, News, Politics
Steam locomotives (For representational purpose only)
By Arun Kumar Das,
New Delhi : Steam locomotives will be chugging along on all hill railways across the country — besides charting out a new course on the Delhi Ring Railway — as the Railways pushes the idea of reviving the glory of its steam heritage.
With the successful operation of a steam-hauled train on the Palanpur-Jogindernagar section of Kangra Valley Railway, all five hill railways now have steam loco services to attract tourists.
Kangra Valley Railway, which is on the tentative list of Unesco’s World Heritage Sites, witnessed the revived steam loco operation recently after more than 20 years. The regular steam loco operation is expected to boost tourism in Himachal Pradesh.
While Darjeeling Himalayan Railway and Nilgiri Mountain Railway have regular steam locos services, the Kalka-Shimla Railway and Matheran Hill Railway are equipped to conduct chartered services on tourist demand.
But the big thrust will be seen in the capital’s long-neglected — and once-popular — Ring Railway, that has fallen by the wayside as the city expanded rapidly.
“It is a big revival of steam locomotives in Indian Railways, and our aim is to have regular steam loco operations in all hill railways — and also in the long-awaited Delhi Ring Railway route,” said a senior Railway Ministry official involved with rail heritage.
With the advent of diesel and electric locomotives, steam engines were phased out in 1995 by the Railways.
Though there was a move to run a steam locomotive on the Delhi Ring Railway during the Commonwealth Games in 2010, this did not materialise for various reasons.
However, the state-run transporter is now actively working on reviving the service to showcase its heritage, bring back the romance of steam engines and promote tourism. The task has been assigned to Northern Railway.
The existing 34 km-long ring railway, which runs parallel to the Ring Road, passes through several prominent places of Delhi like Chanakyapuri, Safdarjung and Sarojini Nagar and is expected to attract large numbers of tourists and rail enthusiasts interested in steam locos.
As per the plan, the train, comprising four heritage coaches with a steam locomotive, would start from Safdarjung station and travel to Anand Vihar, Old Yamuna Bridge, Old Delhi, New Delhi and Nizamuddin station before returning to Safdarjung.
Tourists will be able to visit the Red Fort, Chandni Chowk, National Rail Museum, the historic Old Yamuna Bridge, Humayun’s tomb and rail buildings such as Old Delhi station, Kashmere Gate and Baroda House by using the service.
“The landscape along the proposed route will be beautified, besides other necessary arrangements to make it operational. The fare structure and timings are yet to be decided,” the official said.
“Two options are being considered: A round trip or a hop-on-hop-off ticket,” the official added.
At present, there are very few steam locos across the world that are still in working condition.
(Arun Kumar Das is a senior Delhi-based freelance journalist. He can be contacted at akdas2005@gmail.com
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Arvind Kejriwal
New Delhi : Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday said that his government will approach the Supreme Court for a stay on the ongoing sealing drive, after a meeting between the ruling AAP and BJP ended in chaos and a political blame game.
The sealing of shops and businesses — even doctors’ clinics — located in residential premises in the city is being carried out by a Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee and implemented by the three BJP-led Municipal Corporations.
The Bharatiya Janata Party alleged that their leaders were attacked by the Aam Aadmi Party volunteers near the Chief Minister’s residence, where they had gone for a meeting. On the other hand, the AAP claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders walked out of the meeting.
BJP MLA and Leader of Opposition in Assembly Vijender Gupta urged Lt Governor Anil Baijal to order a high-level probe into the meeting issue.
“Strongest possible action is essential to ensure such incidents do not recur. Such violence, falsehood, and intolerance on Mahatma Gandhi’s martyrdom day is tragic,” Gupta said.
On the other hand, Kejriwal said the BJP delegation led by its Delhi unit President Manoj Tiwari walked out of the meeting instead of trying to come up with suggestions that could be presented to the Lt Governor for remedial measures.
Kejriwal said: “All our MLAs and councillors had gathered for the meeting with the BJP delegation. But they refused to have a discussion in front of everyone.”
“There is nothing confidential about it. It is nobody’s personal issue. It is a public matter. I begged them to sit down, discuss, and together find a solution to the sealing drive. But they just walked out,” he said.
Tiwari later said that the AAP should end “urban naxalism” and said that a complaint had been filed at the Civil Lines police station.
“The AAP had over 150 supporters at the meeting. We wanted a meeting in a closed room. They misbehaved with our women Mayors and our MLA Vijender Gupta and disrupted the meeting. This is is highly condemnable,” Tiwari told reporters.
After the meeting ended, with both sides blaming each other, Kejriwal visited many markets, including in Hauz Khas, Sadar Bazar, Chandni Chowk, and Hudston Lane to take stock of the sealing drive.
Addressing a gathering in Meherchand Market in South Delhi, the Chief Minister said that the AAP government was “totally against sealing occurring in the city”.
“In the next two to three days, the Delhi government will file a petition in the Supreme Court to get a stay on the sealing drive,” Kejriwal said.
“We will put all your problems in the petition and get a stay from the Supreme Court,” the Chief Minister said.
Kejriwal said that traders were not given notice before the sealing and termed the drive as “hooliganism”.
The Chief Minister said that he had written a letter to the Lt Governor to urge him to implement four steps to put an end to the drive.
Kejriwal said that the Lt Governor and the central government have the powers to implement these steps and they can end the drive in 24 hours if they wish to do so.
AAP leader Dilip Pandey sat on a hunger strike near the Civic Centre in Central Delhi, alleging that the BJP was responsible for the ongoing sealing drive.
Later, AAP MLA Saurabh Bharadwaj tweeted that the three Municipal Corporation Commissioners will appear before an Assembly committee on the issue on Wednesday, wherein Delhi officials concerned too will be present.
—IANS
