NEW DELHI: As world leaders gathered here to discuss ways to promote more efficient and feasible methods of harnessing solar energy for power generation visiting French President Emmanuel Macron today pledged over 860 million for solar projects in developing countries and lauded India s efforts in making International Solar Alliance (ISA) a reality. We make Delhi this weekend the world capital of the Sun he said in a tweet in French. Nous faisons de Delhi ce week-end la capitale mondiale du soleil. Par notre présence nous scellons une alliance po https://t.co/F9tDGMoHAu Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) 1520746073000 The French president in 2015 joined hands with Prime Minister Narendra Modi to cobble together a solar alliance of over 120 nations situated between the two tropics. On Sunday the alliance held its first summit in Delhi which was attended by heads of 23 nations and 10 ministerial representatives. Macron applauds India s efforts The French President applauded India s efforts for showing the world the way in scaling up solar power generation capacity. India proves that it is possible. What you are in the process of succeeding in doing is being watched by the entire world he said. Renewable capacity in India has within two years gone up from 39 GW to 63 GW while that of solar energy has soared by 140 percent. You are attracting investment you are supporting them you are training young people and so this is what we shall be doing. This is what 121 countries of the alliance in Asia Africa Latin America shall be doing Macron added. French contribution in the alliance The joint goal is to have 1 TW of solar energy by 2030 for which the world would need 1 000 billion. The French Development Agency will allocate additional 700 million euros ( 860 million) to its commitment to solar energy by 2022 the French President said during the first conference of the summit which was attended by PM Modi. France had already committed over 369 million to the initiative when it co-founded with India a global alliance in 2015 to unlock new cash for solar projects in sunny yet poor nations. To that effect it is not enough to look at what governments are doing. We need a new international deal with the private sector the international public sector and the civil society as well he said. Macron said the countries at the ISA represent three-fourths of the world population. As much as 20-50 percent of the population does not have access to power. Countries with the most solar potential are often the most in need of energy but only a small share of electricity generation. With ISA Summit we bring capabilities closer to needs he said in a tweet. The Delhi Solar Agenda was also launched during the founding summit of the alliance as per which as many as 62 member nations committed that they will increase share of solar power in their energy mix to deal with climate change and provide energy to underprivileged in the society. India on the solar energy map This year India successfully achieved the target of producing 20 GW of solar energy by 2022 four years ahead of its target. A new target for 2022 would require India to produce 175 GW of renewable energy of which 100 GW will be solar power. The country needs some 83 billion between FY2018 and FY2022 to meet its 175 GW target according to industry estimates. Today the Prime Minister emphasized the importance of solar energy for remote areas where electricity supply via conventional means is a challenge. Citing an example of the Atal Jyoti Yojana the PM said that the Solar Study Lamp Scheme has benefitted seven million school going children. We need a solar revolution not only in India but in the world the Prime Minister asserted. He said India had contributed 62 million to the ISA corpus fund and for the establishment of the ISA secretariat in Gurugram. He also announced the creation of 500 training slots per year for ISA member states. PM Modi said 13 solar projects by India across the world worth 143 million have been completed or are in the process of being executed. India he said would give 1.4 billion in aid to 15 other developing nations for 27 more solar projects. At present the country s renewable energy installed capacity is 63 GW. Solar and wind power tariffs have dropped to an all-time low of Rs 2.44 per unit and Rs 3.46 per unit among the lowest in the world. To supplement solar energy generation India has distributed 28 crores LED bulbs in the last three years which have helped save 2 billion and 4 GW of electricity the prime minister said. China is targeting over 360 GW of renewable capacity generation by 2022. The coming together of the solar alliance In 2015 PM Modi had in a speech at London s Wembley Stadium proposed the idea of an inter-governmental organisation comprising of 121 countries which lie either completely or partly between the two tropics with an aim to promote solar energy. ISA was launched by him at the India Africa Summit in New Delhi and the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Paris in October 2015 and November 2015 respectively. ISA headquartered in Gurgaon is now a treaty-based inter-governmental organisation that was established following the Paris Declaration as an alliance dedicated to the promotion of solar energy among its member countries. As of now 121 countries are associated with ISA 61 have joined the alliance and 32 have ratified the Framework Agreement.
The government on Sunday stated that it is making all efforts to provide safe and hospitable environment for foreign diplomats to work in the country amid allegations of harassment to Pakistani diplomats. However it alleged that its diplomats are facing tremendous harassment in Pakistan over the past year. The Pakistan High Commission has brought to MEA s notice some incidents of alleged harassment over the last few days. These will no doubt be investigated. India makes all efforts to provide a safe secure and hospitable environment for diplomats to work in persons familiar with the matter said. Unfortunately this cannot be said of Islamabad one of the persons quoted above said. The Indian High Commission in Pakistan has been facing tremendous harassment for long particularly in the last year. However Indian diplomats chose to tackle this matter with quiet and persistent diplomacy rather than by airing issues in the media pointed out a person familiar with the issue. The High Commissioner of India on Feb 16 met the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan to lodge a strong protest against multiple acts of hooliganism against Indian properties and personnel. India s residential complex in Islamabad was raided by Pakistan agencies who expelled all Pakistani service providers and later disconnected power and water supply. Despite the Foreign Secretary s assurance the power supply was not restored for over two weeks. The Pakistan High Commission faces no such disruptions. Over the last few months several High Commission staff have been severely harassed and intimidated. In one case an official s home was broken into laptop stolen the government here alleged . Harassment is the new normal for Indian High Commission personnel in Islamabad. The High Commissioner s car was recently stopped by Pak agencies in the middle of a busy road to prevent him from attending an event persons here alleged. Aggressive surveillance violation of physical space and tailing of officers in close and dangerous proximity is a perennial issue. Agency personnel keep shooting videos of the officers thrusting phones on their faces. Obscene phone calls and messages are constantly received on phones. In view of such an atmosphere of intimidation most families have returned to India and children have been withdrawn from schools. India has repeatedly requested Pakistan to mutually ensure that High Commissions are allowed to do their job in an atmosphere free of harassment and intimidation that staff be allowed to work that construction projects get completed on time. We would like to continue the fine tradition of allowing diplomats to do their jobs pointed out one of persons quoted above.
NEW DELHI: The Pakistan High Commission here has lodged complaints of harassment with the external affairs ministry which has assured them of an investigation official sources said on Sunday and alleged that several Indian mission staffers in Islamabad have been severely harassed and intimidated . Harassment is the new normal for Indian High Commission personnel in Islamabad. The High Commissioner s car was recently stopped by Pakistani agencies in the middle of a busy road to prevent him from attending an event a source said. Noting that the Pakistan high commission has brought to the MEA s notice some incidents of alleged harassment over the last few days sources said these will no doubt be investigated. India makes all efforts to provide a safe secure and hospitable environment for diplomats to work in. Unfortunately this cannot be said of Islamabad. The Indian High Commission in Pakistan has been facing tremendous harassment for long particularly in the last year the source said. Aggressive surveillance violation of physical space and tailing of officers in close and dangerous proximity is a perennial issue. Agency personnel keep shooting videos of the officers thrusting phones on their faces. Obscene phone calls and messages are constantly received on phones. In view of such an atmosphere of intimidation most families have returned to India and children have been withdrawn from schools the source said. In more trouble over the last few months several Indian High Commission staffers have been severely harassed and intimidated the source said adding that in one case an official s home was broken into and a laptop stolen. However Indian diplomats chose to tackle this matter with quiet and persistent diplomacy rather than by airing issues in the media the source said. The strong reaction came after Pakistani news paper Dawn quoted Pakistani officials of accusing India of harassing its diplomats and their families in the country and threatened to pull out the families if the intimidation did not stop. A demarche was made to the Indian High Commission in Islamabad and the external affairs ministry in Delhi a diplomatic source was quoted as saying by the Dawn. However sources here said India has repeatedly requested Pakistan to mutually ensure that High Commissions are allowed to do their job in an atmosphere free of harassment and intimidation that staff be allowed to work and that construction projects get completed on time. We would like to continue the fine tradition of allowing diplomats to do their jobs the source said. Sources also said that on February 16 the Indian High Commissioner met the Foreign Secretary of Pakistan to lodge a strong protest against multiple acts of hooliganism against Indian properties and personnel. India s residential complex in Islamabad was raided by Pakistan agencies who expelled all Pakistani service providers and later disconnected power and water supply. Despite the Foreign Secretary s assurance the power supply was not restored for over two weeks. The Pakistan High Commission faces no such disruptions the source said.
NEW DELHI: The decision by the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to hand over Farooq Takla aide to gangster and terrorism financier Dawood Ibrahim to India signals the Gulf country s emergence as the South Asian nation s strongest counter-terror partner in the region. It came within days of the move by the UAE to deport ISIS suspects to Delhi both extraditions taking place less than a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi s visit to the country. While UAE has worked with India to hand over terrorists and terror masterminds in the past decade the counter-terror partnership gathered steam with the UAE choosing India as a key pillar of its Look East Policy amid growing disenchantment with traditional ally Pakistan. India is now hoping that UAE will deport Lashkar-e-Taiba operatives found guilty of terror activities in the South Asian country who have taken refuge in the Gulf country officials said. Over the past few years Abu Dhabi has voluntarily shared information with Delhi on terror operatives and their networks. UAE has one of the most sophisticated security systems in the region including state-of-the-art cyber capabilities that have helped it to catch terrorists and criminals. During Modi s visit to Abu Dhabi last month the two sides deplored efforts by countries to give religious and sectarian colour to political issues in an oblique reference to Pakistan and pointed out the responsibility of all states to control the activities of the so-called non-state actors and to cut all support to those perpetrating terrorist attacks against others. India and the UAE agreed that resolute and credible steps must be taken to eliminate safe havens and sanctuaries that provide shelter to terrorists and their activities. The two countries agreed that extremism and terrorism cannot be defeated by the use of force alone and acknowledged the need for a holistic approach which includes disrupting the use of the internet and social media for promotion of extremist and violent ideologies; preventing the use of religious centres to radicalise youth and recruit terrorist cadres; and promoting tolerance. In this context the leaders welcomed initiatives such as the UAE-based Sawab and Hedayah centres to counter extremist ideologies and enhancing ongoing international counter-extremism cooperation. Both sides have explicity deplored state-sponsored terror previously. Ties have been on upswing since Modi visited UAE for the first time in 2015 and that was followed by two visits by the Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan. When the Crown Prince visited India in January 2017 as the Republic Day chief guest the two sides upgraded their relations through a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership (CSP) that included wide-ranging defence and energy pacts to further Delhi s interests in the Gulf region. The CSP includes security and defence cooperation which are growing areas of India-UAE ties. During the Crown Prince s 2017 visit the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on defence cooperation and another on cooperation in defence industry. This is linked to defence manufacturing and technology including studies research development innovation and cooperation between public and private sector institutions. The two sides will cooperate in areas of armaments defence industries and transfer of technology. India sees UAE as one its main destinations for arms exports in the future. In fact strengthening the defence partnership was one of the major outcomes of Modi s trip 2015 trip. It was the first by an Indian PM to Abu Dhabi in over three decades. UAE-Pak ties have been hit by the assassination of five UAE diplomats in Afghanistan in early 2017. Afghanistan had alleged that Pakistan s Inter-Services Intelligence and the Haqqani Network were behind the terror attack. This was the first time that UAE diplomats were targeted on foreign soil. Earlier in 2015 the UAE had been upset with Islamabad for its refusal to send troops in the Yemen conflict. The growing India-UAE strategic partnership can be gauged from the fact that Abu Dhabi sent out a clear public statement on September 19 2016 a day after the Uri attacks suggesting that Delhi should take decisive action against the perpetrators. Earlier UAE was among the countries that came out in India s support within hours of the Pathankot attack.
A strong buzz in the market has it that Jet Airways its European carrier combine partners Air France-KLM and its Amercian partner carrier Delta Air Lines are bidding for national carrier Air India which has been put on the block by the government. Three executives at Jet Airways said they couldnt comment. An email sent to Jet didn t elicit any comment before the story went to press. Jet has deep commercial ties with the airlines that gives it access to more than 100 European and US destinations. ET had on Jan 31 cited a CAPA-Centre for Aviation report that said at least half a dozen carriers including Jet Airways will show interest in Air India. The other carriers it named were Vistara SpiceJet and IndiGo which has made its intentions public. A jet executive had said he wouldn t comment on speculations. Tata Sons has expressed its interest too. A spokesperson at Air France-KLM said she couldnt comment. Bidding for Air India would be an ambitious and tough call for Jet which is now aligning its operations with its western partners Air France-KLM. Also Air India comes with a host of problems including a Rs 55 000 crore burden of debt and an inflated workforce. Also neither Jet nor its European partners may have the current financial strength and appetite to digest Air India. Jet s net profit for the December quarter fell to Rs 177.26 crore compared to Rs 297 crore a year earlier making it the worst performing among listed Indian carriers. Air France-KLM posted a net loss of EUR274 million during 2017. Delta Air Lines is the only one among the partners perhaps has the muscle for the deal. The airline posted a net profit of 3.6 billion last year. A more recent CAPA report also said Jet s current partner Etihad Airways would exit the airline by December. Etihad which owns 24% of Jet denied the news.
MUMBAI: With less than a month to go for the 11th edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) officials at Star India are seeking to sign on as many advertisers as possible to help meet the daunting Rs 2 000-crore revenue target for the biggest global event in cricket. Star officials are making confident claims of exceeding the target and of strong response from advertisers. However there are no concrete financial details yet to ascertain how close the broadcaster is to touching the revenue target. We have a total of 34 clients signed on out of which there are some high-value deals with Vivo Coca Cola Asian Paints Ceat Tyres and MakeMyTrip Anil Jayaraj EVP and head of ad sales for Star Sports told ET. Some of the new advertisers include Reliance Jio Domino s Ford Haier Voltas Luminous Ceat Tyres AMFI Asian Paints Berger Paints Blue Star Crompton Dollar Pidilite Sleep Well Vanessa and Vimal Pan Masala. Earlier Star had announced Amul Colgate Coca-Cola Dream 11 Elica Make My Trip Parle Agro Parle Products Vu TV Kent and Polycab as advertisers for the cricket league. India has over the past two decades emerged as the nerve-centre of modern cricket and the tournament modelled after the English Premier League is the primary vehicle for an expanding list of brands reaching out to an increasingly affluent set of customers. However soaring advertisement rates have the potential to dim the IPL s appeal as a credible and sustainable brand-building property with broadcasters charging higher for their inventory to recoup initial investments in the telecast-rights auctions. ET had reported on February 20 that advertisers are finding the ad rates too high and many usual names are missing from the list so far. Star s asking price for advertisements is about Rs 10 lakh (per 10 seconds) a slot. Despite confident claims by Star India officials sources from within Star India and the media buying fraternity have confirmed that so far only about Rs 800 crore worth of advertising inventory has been sold or booked. It (ad sales) has not gone the way we had hoped said a highly placed source in Star India. Now the task is Herculean as adding another Rs. 1 100-1 200 crore means a run rate exceeding Rs 40 crore per day. Media buyers say that advertisers are not willing to pay unreasonable premium. IPL is one of the strongest platforms and everyone wants to advertise on IPL but I don t think in today s market any client is ready to pay a significant premium over last year s rates. I believe it will be a 10-15% increase over the last season said Ashish Bhasin chairman and CEO South Asia at Dentsu Aegis Network. Some of the usual names missing from the list include Vodafone Amazon Maruti Suzuki Airtel and PepsiCo. On its part Star is not yet disclosing the names of co-presenting or associate sponsors. It is also not disclosing which advertisers have taken spots on TV or on the digital medium alone. The sale is going pretty well and I think we will exceed our targets Jayaraj said. What we are offering to the advertisers is a significantly higher value that IPL will deliver for their brands. Star India had put a bid of Rs 16 437.5 crore to buy the global media rights of IPL for 5 years starting the 2018 edition. To recoup its investments Star has come out with an exhaustive telecast plan encompassing 6 languages 12 channels and live steaming on digital platform Hotstar.
WASHINGTON: Indian economy now seems to be on its way to recovering from disruptions caused by demonetisation and roll-out of GST the IMF said on Sunday. At the same time the IMF has underscored the significance of reforms in other key sectors like education health and improving the efficiency of the banking and financial systems. India s economy has expanded strongly in recent years thanks to macroeconomic policies that emphasise stability and efforts to tackle supply-side bottlenecks and structural reforms. Disruptions from demonetisation and the rollout of the goods and services tax (GST) did slow growth Tao Zhang deputy managing director of IMF told PTI in an interview. However with the economy expanding by 7.2% in the latest quarter India has regained the title of the fastest-growing major economy. Calling this development a welcome change Zhang said the growth prospects remain positive. That said the Indian economy would benefit from further reforms such as enhancing health and education encouraging private and public investment and improving the efficiency of the banking and financial system. This would support durable and inclusive growth and enable India to https://kkdigital.wufoo.com/forms/zzfskyh0su4cy9/ move toward the income levels of wealthier countries the top IMF official said ahead of his visit to India. Given the dominance of cash in everyday transactions in the Indian economy it was inevitable that demonetisation would temporarily affect economic activity said Zhang who is travelling to India and Bhutan from March 12 until March 20. The rollout of the GST was a landmark accomplishment that can be expected to enhance efficiency of intra-Indian movement of goods and services create a common national market enhance tax buoyancy and boost GDP growth and job creation he said. Yet the complexities and glitches in GST implementation also resulted in short-term disruptions. As I mentioned earlier the economy now seems to be on its way to recovering from those disruptions Zhang said in response to a question. When asked about the latest Indian budget which many critics say is protectionist Zhang said IMF research indicates that tariffs are broadly contractionary reducing output investment and employment.
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