Kerala gets 72 percent surplus rainfall

Thiruvananthapuram: Ushering in brighter prospects for the power sector, Kerala has received over 72 per cent surplus rainfall since the onset of Southwest monsoon on June 1, after passing through a rain-deficient year that witnessed severe energy crisis and grim drought conditions.

According to India Meteorological Department, till June 19 the state as a whole received 665 mm rainfall against the normal 386 mm for the period.

While all parts of the state received good rains without long pauses, it is all the more significant that Idukki district, where reservoirs of major hydro electric projects are located, got 93 per cent excess rainfall, state power board sources said.

Among the 14 districts, Kannur in north Kerala received the highest amount of rainfall with a surplus of 114 percent.

Last year, the rainfall received by the state was deficient by 24 per cent during the southwest monsoon and 35 per cent during the northeast monsoon periods.

The shortfall pushed the state into one of its worst power crisis, forcing the Government to clamp 90 minutes load-shedding, half of which was during peak hours in the evening, curbs in consumption by non-domestic consumers. rainfall, replenishing reservoirs in that area.

With the prospects brightening, Kerala State Electricity Board last week lifted the one-hour day-time load-shedding and the 30-minute peak-hour cut.

According to KSEB, generation from hydro-electric projects accounts for bulk of the power available in its grid, with supply from thermal plants and small and small and micro projects and non-conventional sources yielding just a minor portion of the demand required.

PTI

SBI to hire 10,000 officers, employees in current fiscal

Mumbai: State Bank of India plans to hire 10,000 officers and employees in the current fiscal to spruce up its operations.

"We will be hiring 10,000 people this year, including 1,500 probationary officers, the process for which started in April. Around 7,500 will be retiring this fiscal," SBI Chairman Pratip Chaudhuri told PTI.

"We have upgraded our branches, all have become air-conditioned. We have adequately staffed our branches. In the last quarter, we recruited 20,000 assistant grade employees at front office," he said.

The bank plans to open about 1,200 branches in the country and another eight branch offices overseas, including China and the UK, in the current fiscal.

Public sector banks hired around 63,000 persons in the last financial year.

The country's largest bank SBI alone recruited 20,000 clerical staff and 1,200 officer level employees.
Besides, other public sector banks hired 22,000 officers and 20,000 clerical staff in the last fiscal.

There were 84,489 vacancies at various levels in the state-owned banks at the end of 2010-11.
Most of the state-owned banks have undertaken recruitment drives in recent years.


The public sector banks had a sanctioned strength of about 8 lakh employees as on March 31, 2012. PTI

Northeast rural areas to have LPG connections

Jorhat: LPG connections will be available in rural and remote areas of the north east region by next year, a senior official of Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) said on Saturday.

With adequate LPG cylinders available for distribution in towns and cities, the

Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has decided to extend the facility to rural and remote villages of the region, IOC Executive Director (Marketing) Pryovat Dey said.

The Rajiv Gandhi Grammin LPG Vitrak Yojana (RGGLVY) scheme will end the cutting and felling of trees, prevent deforestation and save the environment benefitting villages, thereby increasing the people's economic activity.

Initially the people's response would be limited as also investment in LPG distributorship, but would increase over time, Dey said.

Meetings have already been held in the identified remote areas of the region to make people aware of LPG, its benefits and safety measures while using the cylinders, he said.

Under the scheme, small distributors with capacity for 1,000 to 1,200 cylinders and small godowns will be permitted to operate in the rural areas.

The scheme would have to be implemented by 2015 when a minimum 75 per cent of the rural households are expected to be covered and benefited, according to the government mandate.

IOC is the only oil marketing company to cater to all the north eastern states, he said adding it aims to go to the interior areas to supply LPG cylinders to the rural people so that they can enjoy the benefit of using LPG cylinders, Dey added.

PTI

Pension scheme for aged unmarried women launched

MYSORE: State government has decided to launch an ambitious pension project to provide succor to unmarried women who have crossed 40 years and hail from BPL families.

Disclosing this at a first ever pension adalat held at Koodlapur village in Nanajangud taluk, the revenue minister V Srinivasa Prasad said the scheme will be launched after the budget session.

" I am amused to hear from officials that the highest number of unmarried women are from Nanjangud taluk in the district" he said adding that this scheme is intended to instill confidence among the unmarried women and provide social security to them.

Minister said the success of the scheme depends on the people and the officials who are implementing it . "While officials should ensure the selection of beneficiaries and schemes success people should help the officials in identifying the right beneficiaries" he added.

People should develop the habit of questioning the government's intentions and the programmes and their implementation" he said ruing the failure of the pension schemes due to lackadaisical approach of the officials. Many government schemes though are good in their intentions , they have failed to yield results due to officials apathy , he alleged disclosing the governments proposal to hold pension adalat at gram panchayat level positively in the first two weeks of a month . "I am happy that this state level scheme is being launched from my constituency" he said.

Minister said officials should shoulder greater responsibilities and ensure that the beneficiaries , particularly the widows identified for the pension scheme should visit the office only to receive the order and not for any other work related to sanctioning of the pension. " I am firm to ensure that in next six months all the people who are eligible for benefits under various government schemes should receive the facility" he said adding that no one in the state should be deprived of the facility of a social scheme announced by the government. Minister said government will not hesitate to supersede the GPs which fail to hold Grama Sabha's regularly .

In all 1085 pension beneficiaries from Koodlapura gram panchayat and Yemmaragala grampanchayat comprising about 13 villages received pension sanction orders.

Auto driver’s son leaves IT job for army

MUMBAI: Graduating out of a top college and then landing a lucrative job with the Larsen and Toubro seem a dream career graph for many. But Abhay Kadam (21), son of an auto rickshaw driver, felt there was more to life than taking up the offer and climbing up the corporate ladder.

Today, Kadam is among the chosen few selected for commission in the Indian Army, a career path seldom trodden by youngsters from the financial capital. Of the 1.49 lakh candidates who took the Combined Defence Services exam, 239 were picked after a round of an examination and medical test conducted by the UPSC. And Abhay is beside himself with excitement at the opportunity he has got to watch life on the line, to be present there to tell the real cost of a war and the price of peace. "How do I explain the thrill I feel to be able to serve the country, without sounding dramatic or fake ?" he said. It is probably only natural that Abhay made the choice. "My grandfather and great-grandfather were both jawaans in the Maratha infantry," he said.

But taking the final decision was not easy for Abhay, who kept dreaming of a "bright future". Every evening, as his father walked home, after dropping off his rented auto at the owner's place with the day's earnings, Abhay pondered on how to make it big in life, how to free his family from the cycle of the Rs-9,000-a-month income.

"Abhay initially wanted to join the merchant navy, which pays handsomely. But when he joined the NCC and interacted with officers, he was attracted to the uniform," said his trainer, Rtd Lt Col Pradeep Brahmankar. Abhay is a Naval wing NCC cadet and has done his NCC 'C' certificate in 'B' grade. His only possession from those days is a bronze medal he won in the 1,200-m race in college. Abhay is now filled with an overwhelming sense of satisfaction as he looks at his selection letter and remembers his life so far—his schooldays, the time he spent at B N Bandodkar College in Thane, his small tenement with paints peeling off its walls. "A chapter is over. Another one will begin. I am ready for it."

Boy, 13, cracks IIT-JEE

Patna: A Bihar farmer’s 13-yearold son has become India’s youngest student to crack the IIT-JEE for the second consecutive year as he was unhappy with his rank last year.

Satyam Kumar, from Bakhorapur village in Bhojpur district, had secured an all-India rank of 8,137 in 2012 at the age of 12 and cleared the IIT-JEE (Advanced) this year with an all-India rank of 679.

In 2012, Satyam had sat for the IIT entrance tests even before passing his Class XII examinations, in which he had appeared with a special permission from the CBSE. For the IIT entrance, he received coaching in Kota.

“He has shown extraordinary academic skills since his early childhood and always worked hard with a regular timetable,” said his proud father Sidhnath Singh.

With his two successive achievements in the IIT entrance tests, Satyam has broken the record set by Sahal Kaushik of Delhi, who cleared the IIT-JEE at the age of 14 in 2010.

Deeply interested in the wonders and possibilities in information technology, he is keen on setting up a more innovative social networking company like Facebook getting a computer engineering degree from the IIT in Mumbai or Kanpur.

Meanwhile, the underprivileged students of “Super 30” here have yet again made it big at the IIT entrance examination with 28 out of the total 30 students qualifying.

Narendra Modi lands in Uttarakhand, flies out with 15,000 Gujaratis

DEHRADUN: In the two days that NarendraModi has been in Uttarakhand, he has managed to completely rile not just the Congress government of Vijay Bahuguna but also the administrative staff involved in rescue operations at Kedarnath, Badrinath and Uttarkashi. But above all, he has also managed to bring home some 15,000 stranded Gujarati pilgrims.

The Gujarat CM, who flew in on Friday evening, held a meeting till 1am with his crack rescue team of five IAS, one IPS, one IFS and two GAS (Gujarat Administrative Service) officers. Two DSPs and five police inspectors were also part of his delegation. They sat again with the nitty-gritty of evacuation in a huddle that a senior BJP leader said lasted till 1am on Sunday.

Around 80 Toyota Innovas have been requisitioned to ferry Gujaratis to safer places in Dehradun as have four Boeings. On Saturday, 25 luxury buses transported a bunch of grateful people to Delhi. The efforts are being coordinated by two of the senior-most IAS officers of Gujarat, one currently stationed in Delhi and another in Uttarakhand.

As if that was not enough to thumb his nose at a government accused of large-scale mismanagement in handling the crisis, Modi later in the day even offered to "completely rebuild" the temple at Kedarnath using "the latest technology available" in such a way that no natural calamity would ever shake it again. The Uttarakhand CM is believed to have dismissed the statement.

What cannot be dismissed, though, is Modi's now trademark style of micro-management, something his supporters say is the need of the hour for India. "It's amazing what he has done here," said Anil Baluni, a BJP leader. "If someone doesn't like it, what can we do?'

Modi's men have not only para-dropped a complete medical team in Hardwar, they have also set up camps across th flood-hit regions. Prominent BJP workers in villages across the state are dealing directly with members of the rescue committee, telling them where food is to be sent, people given shelter and medicines administered. That seems to have helped. When a car owned by a Gujarati was stuck in a road-block by angry residents demanding aid in Badkot, Uttarkashi, an urgent message was immediately sent out by an IAS officer and the vehicle taken to safety.

Asked about the "new model" of rescue and relief operation by Modi that has helped 15,000 Gujaratis get out of Uttarakhand, an angry Congress legislator said, "See, that's what we mean. His model works only for Gujaratis."