In an otherwise ‘electricity surplus’ Gujarat, the International Finance Corporation, a member of the World Bank Group, on Thursday announced a partnership with the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) for providing solar stoves and lanterns to its two lakh rural women members in the State.

For this, IFC will provide a partial credit guarantee for a $5-million (about Rs 250 crore) loan that ICICI Bank is providing to SEWA-sponsored Grassroots Trading Network for Women (GTNW).

AHMEDABAD: International Finance Corporation (IFC), a member of the World Bank Group, is helping Ahmedabad-based Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) provide energy-efficient cook stoves and solar lanters to its members. IFC will provide a partial credit guarantee for a $5 million loan that an Indian private sector bank is providing to SEWA-sponsored Grassroots Trading Network for Women.

Under the initiative, women from various villages in Gujarat will be provided a loan to buy the combination of stove and lantern, at Rs 2,800 and Rs 1,800 respectively.

The Narendra Modi government's bid to generate funds to promote clean energy by introducing a Green Cess on every unit of conventional electricity generated in the state has not gone well with major industrial players of the state, who have now challenged the constitutional validity of the government's move in the Gujarat High Court.

Acting on the individual petitions by the companies the High Court has restrained the state government from initiating any proceedings or recover any amounts by way of cess on generation of electricity from the petitioners till June 15, when the next hearing in the matters was scheduled.

AHMEDABAD: Between January and April last year, there were close to 550 malaria cases in the city. This year during the same period there are more than 1,600 malaria cases - a number that is alarming considering the fact that these cases have surfaced way ahead before the onset of monsoons. The state health department and the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation ( AMC) have now sought help from the National Vector Borne Disease Control Programme (NVBDCP), Delhi and National Institute of Malaria Research in Nadiad to tackle the problem.

AHMEDABAD: Forests and other departments in Gujarat have been very proactive in carrying out biodiversity conservation measures, significant among them being those related to whale shark, sea turtle, restoration of mangroves etc., Dr. A P Singh, member secretary, Gujarat Biodiversity Board, said.

Gujarat Biodiversity Board too has launched several measures for the conservation and development of biological diversity, including marine, he said, adding that Government of India had enacted the Biological Diversity Act, 2002 for the conservation, development and regulation of biodiversity. The main objective of the Act is conservation of biodiversity and sustainable utilization of biological resources.

New Delhi: In a rare compliment from a UPA minister for the Modi government in Gujarat, new and renewable energy minister Farooq Abdullah on Monday said the solar power plant atop a water canal in the state has shown the nation the way and it will be replicated by Damodar Valley Corporation.
“Gujarat has shown the way” with the commissioning of the world’s first 1MW canal-top solar power plant in Mehsana district, he said in RS. The project eliminates the requirement to acquire vast tract of land and limits evaporation of water from 750 meter long canal. TNN

Instead of imposing nuclear power upon unwilling people, India should join the renewables revolution for handsome gains.

Has Wi-Fi, AC Classrooms & Insurance For All
Ahmedabad: Think of an Indian village and what comes to mind are images of mooing cows, open drains and kids playing ants and frog games.

But, Punsari, a motley village in Gujarat’s Himmatnagar, talks about Wi-Fi and optical fiber broadband network, its children spend best of their times in air-conditioned classrooms with CCTV cameras. The village also boasts of its own mini-bus transport system and there are 25-odd CCTVs located on important junctions to spot litterbugs.

The Delhi High Court has upheld the Central Information Commission (CIC) order to make the report of the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) public by publishing it on Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) website. The court on May 17 dismissed an MoEF petition seeking not to disclose the report, saying it could affect economic and scientific interest of the states concerned — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

The report, prepared by a panel chaired by ecology expert Madhav Gadgil, had been submitted to the MoEF in August 2011. Last year, RTI applicant G Krishnan had filed an application with the Public Information Officer (PIO) of the MoEF to obtain a summary of the report,