Mukesh Ambani unveils Jio Fiber for broadband

13/08/2019

After receiving over 15 million registrations from nearly 1,600 towns for Jio Fiber, the company plans to reach 20 million residences and 15 million business establishments.

HD TV

Under the Jio Fiber welcome offer, the company will offer free high definition (HD) LED TV and a set top box free for customers opting for Jio’s annual plans called as Jio-Forever plans.

“The experience of Jio Fiber and Jio Set Top Box really comes to life when combined with an LED television. So, Jio Fiber customers who opt for our annual plans, will get an HD OR 4K LED television and a 4K Set Top Box absolutely free. We are calling this the Jio Fiber Welcome Offer,” said Mr. Ambani.

The digital set top box will offer ultra high definition entertainment, virtual reality content, multi-party video conferencing, voice enabled virtual assistants, interactive gaming, home security and many smart-home solutions.

Jio Fiber premium customers will also be able to watch movies in their living rooms the same day these movies are released in theatres with the Jio First-Day-First-Show offer starting from the middle of 2020.

OTT applications

“Jio Fiber plans will come bundled with subscriptions to most leading premium OTT applications. Also, for the first time in India, we are introducing a disruptive concept for watching new movies. Premium Jio Fiber customers will be able to watch movies in their living rooms the day these movies are released in theatres,” said Mr. Ambani.

Maharashtra govt. to seek ₹3,000-crore flood package

Flood-hit State will submit memorandum to Centre

13/08/2019, SHARAD VYAS,MUMBAI

Bidding adieu: A woman in Sangli tying a ‘rakhi’ to a soldier at an event to thank them for their relief work.Emmanual YoginiEmmanual Yogini

Following Karnataka’s request for interim flood relief from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Maharashtra government will also submit a memorandum seeking a ₹3,000-crore package this week.

At a meeting on Monday, Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta spoke to senior Relief and Rehabilitation, and Revenue department officials to asses the losses in the flood-ravaged western Maharashtra in which over 150 people have died.

Sources said the Cabinet would review the State’s proposal on Tuesday. Senior officials said the destruction to human life and property was massive and might need Central assistance at the earliest.

Monetary assistance

Karnataka, meanwhile, has sought ₹3,000 crore as monetary assistance from the Centre before the final review of the inter-ministerial committee on disaster management on assessment and quantification of the damage. “We have finalised our assessment of damages and will submit a memorandum to the Centre soon,” said a senior official.

While Karnataka’s assessment of damages is based on losses in 2,694 villages in 86 talukas of 17 districts, Maharashtra’s damages have been reported from 70 talukas of Kolhapur, Sangli, Satara, Thane, Nasik, Palghar, Ratnagiri, Raigad and Sindhudurg districts. The floods left 761 villages marooned, officials said.

The crop destruction alone could be more than ₹125 crore, according to a preliminary assessment.

While the exact worth of damage would be known once the flood waters have fully receded, senior officials said that around 27,468 hectares of agriculture land had been completely destroyed while the numbers could eventually touch one lakh hectares when the panchnama was complete.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said the total length of roads damaged was 484 km, while 2,615 transformers were damaged partially or fully.

Death toll due to Kerala rain rises to 85

Rescue and relief operations stepped up in districts ravaged by landslip; orange alert in six districts
13/08/2019, SPECIAL 

CORRESPONDENT,THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/KALPETTA

Giving solace: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi interacting with a flood victim at the Kaithapoil flood-relief camp in Kozhikode on Monday.PTI

Diminished rainfall on Monday allowed the government agencies to step up rescue and relief operations in the flood and landslip-ravaged districts of Kerala. With more deaths confirmed on Monday, the death toll has climbed to 85.

Six more bodies were recovered from the landslip-hit Kavalappara in Malappuram. Two fishermen lost their lives at Muthalappozhi in Thiruvananthapuram.

An intensified search on Monday at Puthumala, Meppadi, however, failed to trace the eight people still missing in the landslip site in Wayanad district.

With the IMD predicting the possibility of isolated heavy rain, a holiday has been declared on Tuesday for educational institutions, including professional colleges, in all districts except Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam, Idukki, Palakkad, and Kasargod.

The IMD has issued an orange alert for Tuesday in Alappuzha, Ernakulam, Idukki, Malappuram, Wayanad and Kannur districts.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who held a videoconference with District Collectors to review the situation, will visit the landslip-hit Wayanad and Malappuram districts on Tuesday. At a review meeting here, Mr. Vijayan stressed the need to remain vigilant despite rainfall abating in most districts.

More than 50 people are still missing, around 40 of them in Kavalappara alone.

With floodwaters receding, people have begun leaving the relief camps for their homes. The number of camps decreased from 1,639 on Sunday to 1,413 on Monday.

‘Both govts. must help’

Rahul Gandhi, Wayanad MP, said on Monday that the State and the Central governments should pay attention to those affected by rain-related calamities and support them.

He was speaking to presspersons here, after a two-day visit to Wayanad, which has been badly hit. While people in the State had come together to tackle issues related to the disaster, it was the responsibility of the governments to support the flood victims.

Reliance Retail may get global partner

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | SANGEETHA G

Published  Aug 13, 2019, 4:49 am IST

Reliance Retail has crossed Rs 130,000-crore turnover and is four times larger than the second largest retail player.

Mukesh Ambani

Chennai: Amidst reports of Amazon eyeing stake in Reliance Retail, the conglomerate has announ-ced plans to get global partners for its retail business and to list the entity in five years. The New Commerce, or Reliance’s omni-channel, proposes to partner with millions of small merchants and kirana shops.

Addressing shareholders at the 42nd AGM, Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani said the retail arm would be one of the key growth engine of the group. “We have received strong interest from strategic and financial investors in our consumer businesses, Jio and Reliance Retail. We will induct leading global partners in these businesses in the next few quarters, and move towards listing of both these companies within the next five years,” he said.

Reliance Retail has crossed Rs 130,000-crore turnover and is four times larger than the second largest retail player. “Reliance Jio and Reliance Retail collectively contribute nearly 32 per cent to the consolidated Ebitda, up from 2 per cent five years ago. The day is not far when their share would be 50 per cent,” he said. Over the next five years, the aim is to be amongst the world's top 20 retailers.

Further, he finds the omni-channel model as a massive new business opportunity of $700 billion. It will completely transform the unorganised retail market, which accounts for 90 per cent of India's retail industry, comprising three crore merchants and kirana shop owners, he said.

“Reliance Retail plans to tap into a myriad of neighbourhood mom-and-pop stores. Such stores would carry out the last-mile delivery, which would help save on logistics costs,” said Edelweiss Securities.

“We are convinced that India’s retail sector offers an immense opportunity and that organised players have so far barely scratched the surface,” said Edelweiss.

Air India to fly over North Pole from August 15

PTI

Published  Aug 13, 2019, 2:35 am IST

The airline has flights between India and North America over the Atlantic and the Pacific routes.

There would be around 300 passengers on the flight which would be operated by a Boeing 777, the spokesperson said.

Mumbai: Taking a new flight path that will save time as well as fuel, Air India will start flying to San Francisco from the national capital over the Polar region.

With the new route, the flight duration would reduce by around one-and-a-half hours and fuel savings would be in the range of 2,000 to 7,000 kg per flight, according to an Air India spokesperson.

The flight duration will reduce from 14.5 hours to 13 hours. The inaugural flight will be on August 15. Air India operates a daily flight from New Delhi to San Francisco.

The airline has flights between India and North America over the Atlantic and the Pacific routes.

“Polar routes between India and North American destinations are yet to be utilised. Situated on opposite sides of the Northern Hemisphere, India and North America would benefit immensely by using existing North Polar routes for commercial air operations,” the airline said in a release.

The fuel savings are expected be in the region of 2,000 to 7,000 kg on these routes with the resultant decrease in carbon emission of 6,000 to 21,000 kg per flight, it said.

On August 15, the inaugural revenue flight over the Polar region would be piloted by Captain Rajneesh Sharma and Captain Digvijay Singh.

“Passengers will benefit from the reduced flight times, the airline from the reduced fuel consumption and the environment from reduced carbon emissions,” the release added.

There would be around 300 passengers on the flight which would be operated by a Boeing 777, the spokesperson said.

Earlier this month, aviation regulator DGCA came out with the requirements that need to the fulfilled by airlines for Polar operations.

Careful risk analysis has been conducted and crew training, weather monitoring, alternate selection and aircraft serviceability have been enhanced to ensure safe operations on this route, Air India said.

Approvals are in place from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The airline also said a reputed diversion support agency would assist in aircraft and passenger retrieval in case of diversion.

According to the spokesperson, Air India would be the first airline in the world that would have flights over Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean and Polar region.

About the flight over the Polar region, Air India CMD Ashwani Lohani said it is a tremendous unparalleled initiative by the national carrier that would save precious fuel and also reduce travel time for its flights to the US.

“The passengers of the first flight would be given a commemorative certificate,” he said in a separate statement. As per Air India, in 2007, the airline flew a Boeing 777 over the Polar region under the command of Captain Amitabh Singh.

In a 1st, electric MTC buses may ply on Chennai roads from Wednesday
CM Palaniswami will flag off two buses which will be operated on Chennai Central-Thiruvanmiyur and CMBT-Koyambedu-Broadway routes on a trial basis

Published: 13th August 2019 06:35 AM |

The electric buses will be operated by Ashok Leyland on behalf of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation. A file photo of an electric bus | Express

By B Anbuselvan

Express News Service

CHENNAI: For the first time in Chennai, electric buses are likely to be operated for public transport, from Wednesday. According to official sources, two buses will be operated and the routes selected for the trial run are: Chennai Central - Thiruvanmiyur and CMBT, Koyambedu - Broadway.

One bus will ply in each of these two routes and commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland will operate the buses on behalf of the Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC). These two buses will be part of the 501 buses that Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami will flag off on Wednesday, for various public transport corporations. The State government in recent years, took a policy decision to encourage electric buses in public transport to reduce pollution.

Last month, the government gave permission to MTC to accept Ashok Leyland’s proposal to ply the electric buses in Chennai. “As per the agreement, the private company will have to bear the expenses of maintenance. One bus will have battery swap technology and the other, fast-charging technology. The company will set up the facilities for recharging the buses,” said a transport department official.


However, the MTC will bear the electricity bill for recharging the buses and in turn, the Corporation will get the ticket collection. “While the drivers will be designated by the company, the MTC will deploy conductors for the buses,” said the official. The electric buses that will start plying on Chennai roads from Wednesday, is an outcome of the various efforts by the government in the last two years.

In July 2017, a trial test for an electric bus was conducted in Chennai. Followed by this, in June 2018, the State government signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with England-based C-40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, to manufacture electric buses. Its proposal was to introduce 200 buses in Tamil Nadu. But even a year later, this initiative did not move forward.

It is learnt that the Tamil Nadu government had requested the Central government to negotiate the procurement cost of a bus from Rs 2 crore to Rs 1.5 crore. The decision is still pending in this matter.A week ago, the Union government-sanctioned 525 electric buses for Tamil Nadu under Phase-II of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India Scheme (FAME India Scheme). Besides the two electric buses, Chief Minister Palaniswami will, on Wednesday, also flag off low-cost AC buses for Villupuram division of TNSTC and small buses for Salem division.

The number of new buses allocated to various public transport corporations and divisions are: State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) - 118; MTC- 235; Villupuram (TNSTC) - 19; Salem (TNSTC) - 60; Coimbatore (TNSTC) - 16; Kumbakonam (TNSTC) - 25 ; Madurai (TNSTC) - 14 and Tirunelveli (TNSTC) - 14.According to official records, about 3,881 new buses have been added into the fleet of eight transport corporations in the last two years.

Prosecution nod for 80 officials pending

They have been charged under Prevention of Corruption Act, and files are with various departments

13/08/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

Sanction for the prosecution of over 80 public servants, including four IAS officials, under the Prevention of Corruption Act is awaited from various government departments for the past over four months. Two cases are pending since 2013.

According to the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), 47 such requests were pending for more than four months as on June 30. The highest of seven requests were with the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), while five were with the Uttar Pradesh government. In one case, the request for sanction to prosecute the then Secretary of Health, B.L. Agarwal, was made to the DoPT in February 2013.

The same month, another request was moved against the then Joint Director Parmod Singh and two others of the Chhattisgarh government, in connection with a case registered in 2010.

According to the recently released CVC’s annual report, sanction for prosecution in 108 cases was given by the government departments last year. The Commission has superintendence over function of the Central Bureau of Investigation. In 2018, as per its annual report, the CBI had registered 765 cases and 134 preliminary enquiries, compared to 939 cases and 137 enquiries in 2017.

Prone status

Investigation was finalised in 611 cases and 109 inquiries, while 1,541 cases and inquiries were still under probe. In all, 898 cases were pending investigation for more than a year as on December 31, 2018. Courts gave judgment in 850 under-trial cases and in 544 of them, the CBI secured convictions.

“The conviction rate during the year was 68% against 66.9% in 2017. At the end of the year 2018, 9,255 cases were pending in various courts,” said the Commission. As part of its functioning, the Commission tendered advices in 3,162 cases during the period.

It included recommendation for major penalty proceedings in 508 cases and minor penalty proceedings in 151 cases as its first-stage advice. The CVC advised major penalty for 101 cases and minor penalty for 76 cases as second-stage advice.