NEW DELHI, 21 MAY: Expressing concern over the scarcity of safe drinking water at stations and trains, the parliamentary standing committee on railways has asked the railways to take effective steps to ensure safe potable water to passengers. The panel headed by Mr T R Baalu (DMK) in its report tabled in Parliament said scarcity of packaged water in long distance trains and unsealed water bottles at railway stations are matters of concern. The committee said it is distressed to note that though the new catering policy was issued in July 2010, it is being implemented at a very slow pace.

New Delhi, 18 MAY: Finding faults with the MGNREGA scheme, a Parliamentary Panel has said that there was confusion over its definition of the term 'households' which was being twisted to suit male heads of families which should be corrected. In its report, the Committee on empowerment of Women in Rural areas said that due to this confusion the scheme was not reaching its targeted beneficiaries.

LONDON, 18 MAY: A few British lawmakers have written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa protesting against the nuclear power plant at Koodankulam in Tamil Nadu. In the letter, they have demanded halting the construction of the plant claiming that it violated the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Safety Guidelines as “the Koodankulam is in a tsunami and earthquake prone region which has also experienced small volcanic eruptions and is affected by water shortages”. pti

NEW DELHI, 16 MAY: Coal India has so far entered into pacts with 14 power plants for the supply of fossil fuel, while some have refused to sign it due to their objections to some of the clauses of the model fuel supply agreement. “Till now 14 power units have entered into fuel supply pact with Coal India (CIL). The last unit with which the PSU has signed FSA is CESC,” a source close to the development said.

NEW DELHI, 16 MAY: Welspun Group today said it has bagged a contract for developing the country's largest solar power project in Madhya Pradesh entailing an investment of about Rs 1,218 crore. “We bid Rs 8.05 per unit to bag the 125 megawatt (MW) out of 200 MW that was auctioned by the Madhya Pradesh government,” Welspun Energy Ltd managing director, Mr Vineet Mittal said here.

NEW DELHI, 8 MAY: Coal India has so far entered into fuel supply pacts with 13 power units, including Reliance Power's Rosa Power project, while some have refused to sign it objecting to the penalty clause. “Till now Coal India (CIL) has entered into agreements with 13 power units including Rosa Power,” a source privy to the development said.

Washington, 8 May: India’s population aged 50 and above is expected to double by 2050 when nearly one-third of its total population would fall in this age group, according to a US census. As per 2010 census, 19,18,53,000 people in India were of 50 years and above, which made about 16.4 per cent of the total population.

The rural development minister. Mr Jairam Ramesh, today tabled the ‘MNREGA 2.0’ ~ the second generation reforms for the rural job scheme ~ in both Houses of Parliament. However, the rural development ministry now seems to be heading for a “cold war” with the finance minister, Mr Pranab Mukherjee, who yesterday mooted distribution of foodgrain to NREGA workers in view of bumper production.

The Supreme Court today permitted Kerala and Tamil Nadu to get copies of the report submitted by the monitoring committee on the Mullaiperiyar Dam row.

A five-judge constitution Bench of the court headed by Justice D K Jain, while permitting the two warring states to get copies of the report in a sealed cover, posted the matter for further hearing to 23 July.

Senior counsel Harish Salve and Rajiv Dhawan, both appearing for Kerala, today told the Bench that the state was willing to evolve a “political consensus” on the vexed dam issued.

The number of suicide by farmers has gone down in the country, the government stated in the Lok Sabha today. Minister of state for finance Namo Narain Meena informed the Lok Sabha during Question Hour that due to several measures taken by the government the number of suicides have gone down.