Sometime in the middle of January, Hiralal Nagar, the energy minister in the newly sworn-in BJP government in Rajasthan, visited Union power minister R.K.Singh's office in New Delhi with a request. He wondered if his state could get additional electricity along with some relaxations in lending norms. Distribution companies, or discoms, in Rajasthan, have a cumulative debt of Rs 79,370 crore, according to the latest filings with the state's regulator. It's a nightmare for the new government, which has to honour electricity subsidies committed by its predecessors. Singh's response to Nagar was a polite "sorry". Nagar is not the only one; many of his counterparts and chief ministers from other states have been approaching the Union minister with similar requests for either more electricity or waiving their discoms' debt or legacy dues owed to generation and transmission companies. Singh has the same answer for all of them. "We cannot put more money behind bad money," he tells INDIA TODAY in an interview. "There is no exemption for anyone...the entire system is automated and rule-based. Even if I want to game it, I can't. There's no politics in this." Instead, the Union minister suggests alternatives and advises his visitors not to deviate from the painful path of reforms. His message is clear the states have to strive for round-the-clock power supply, but without compromising the fiscal health of the discoms, which, for decades, have been described as the weakest link in the power sector.
WHY DISCOMS WENT DOWN
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 04, 2024 من India Today.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة March 04, 2024 من India Today.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
He gave the beat to the world
He would pick up the rhythms of each experience of mobility and weave them into his taals. Thus it was that he reflected joy and laughter in rhythmic cycles...such was the magic of Zakir's fingersText and photographs by Raghu Rai
KERALA TOURISM CAMPAIGN, 1989 - TICKETS TO PARADISE
All it took was a catchy tagline-'God's Own Country'-for the world to discover Kerala's wealth of natural beauty. It remains among the best tourism ad campaigns, earning the state a place among top 10 international destinations
SPIRITUALITY - THE GURUS OF COOL
Among the cult Indian gurus, no one had a bigger hold on western minds than 'Osho' Rajneesh. He's also perhaps the role model for the enterprise-building gurus of today
RETAIL SHOPPING - THE MALL MANIA
Shopping malls, a 1990s innovation in India, changed the way the Indian middle class shops. Their success now lies in being 'shoppertainment' destinations, offering something for everyone
CULINARY RENAISSANCE, 1978 - TANDOORI NIGHTS
ITC's Bukhara and Dum Pukht turned the world to tandoori cuisine and had an enormous impact on the F&B industry. Decades on, they are still a pit-stop for celebrities and heads of state visiting Delhi
INDIAN WRITING IN ENGLISH - REVENGE OF THE NATIVE
Rushdie lit the way but Indian writing in English has taken a life of its own in the past few decades, with translated Indian fiction most recently having its moment in the sun
INDIAN ART - A BRUSH WITH GOLD DUST
The 1990s economic liberalisation came as oxygen, lighting up the Indian art scene. Today, artworks by established masters routinely go for astronomical amounts
FESTIVAL OF INDIA, 1982 - CULTURE CAPITAL
The Festival of India grew into a symbol of our 'soft power', introducing our art and aesthetics to a global audience while also helping rebrand our domestic products
THE INDIPOP TREND - DISCO GOES DESI
For ages, the film song ruled. Nothing else was audible. Then came Nazia, charioteered by Biddu, and Indian ears went into a pleasant madness. Literally, Disco Deewane. A whole genre was born
SHOLAY 1975 - THE BIRTH OF THE FANDEMIC
India had seen hits before. But Sholay seared into its collective psyche like a badland bullet. The effect was on a scale never seen before- one film creating a new mass folk culture. And a trail of monster blockbusters that still continues
