11th plan target could not be met due to environmental problems

The Planning Commission and Power Ministry are believed to have reached a consensus over fixing the capacity addition target at 90,000 MW for the next five years. Earlier, Power Ministry had proposed a target of adding 76,000 MW in the current 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), keeping fuel constraints in mind. On the other hand Planning Commission wanted the target to be 1,00,000 MW, as the power demand is very high.

Move A Rejection Of 28/Day Poverty Line Formula
New Delhi: After the public outcry over the controversial Rs 28 a day poverty formulation, the Planning Commission has put the poverty debate in a deep freeze with the government setting up yet another expert group to take a relook at the existing methodology to determine the number of poor in the country.

The Planning Commission today announced the constitution of a new expert panel to be headed by the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council chief C Rangarajan to revisit the methodology for estimation poverty levels. The move comes in the wake of the Plan panel facing strident criticism for having fixed the poverty line at just Rs 28.65 per capita daily consumption in cities and Rs 22.42 in rural areas based on Tendulkar Committee recommendations. The group is expected to submit its report in 9 months.

Recommending scrapping of two controversial hydro-power projects in Karnataka and Kerala that had run into difficulty due to opposition from environmentalists, the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) has suggested setting up of a statutory authority to protect the Ghats.

The report of the panel, headed by Madhav Gadgil, formerly with the Indian Institute of Sciences, Bangalore, has called for cancellation of Karnataka's Gundia and Kerala's Athirapally hydro-projects, and gradual phasing out of mining activities in ecologically highly-sensitive areas of Goa by 2016.

The government on Thursday set up an expert technical group headed by Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C. Rangarajan to review the Tendulkar Committee methodology for estimating poverty and overhaul the norms in keeping with the present-day prices.

The move follows all-round criticism of the Planning Commission's estimates on poverty released in this March and the controversy it generated in and outside Parliament on capping the poverty line at a daily consumption of Rs 28.65 per capita in cities and at Rs 22.42 in rural areas.

Apparently giving preference to political considerations over eligibility norms, the Centre is all set to clear the Kochi Metro Rail project, which will have three coaches in the first phase and will thus be the smallest metro in the country. The matter is likely to come up in the Union Cabinet meeting on Thursday. Sources in the Union Urban Development Ministry said that last month, the Ministry forwarded the Rs 5,200-crore project connecting Alwaye to Pettah in the district to the Union Cabinet for final approval.

Kolkata The Prime Minister’s Office is asking state-run power utilities to follow the West Bengal model in terms of tariff. The said model keeps a margin after realising the real cost of production.

The move may have been prodded by the Planning Commission, which is pushing the Centre to raise the borrowing limits of Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, so these states can take further loans to clear the power sector of debt.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee is UPA's man with the political Midas touch. He needs to lend some of that magic to lift the economy out of its morass. By the Government's own estimate, the economy is expected to grow by a mere 6.9 per cent in 2011-12, a sharp decline from 8.4 per cent in 2010-11. Inflation remains uncomfortably high at over 7 per cent. Investor sentiment has been suffocated in the last one year by policy paralysis and corruption.

State had sought . 2,281 crore for relief measures in 15 drought-hit districts. The union government has approved an assistance of Rs 575 crore to Maharashtra towards drought relief work. “The decision was taken on Friday by a high-level committee comprising finance minister Pranab Mukherjee, home minister P Chidambaram, agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and planning commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia,” said an official who was part of the meeting.

Dismissing the perception of policy paralysis surrounding the Union government, Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia feels the government should raise petroleum prices as part of tough decisions and to attract international investment.