The Power Ministry plans to impose huge penalties of over Rs 1 lakh per day on industries that fail to achieve energy Efficiency targets under the three-year Perform, Achieve and Trade (PAT) programme starting April 1. PAT, which aims to increase industrial energy Efficiency, is expected to bring down energy consumption by 5 per cent, amounting to an avoided capacity of over 5,600 MW over the three-year period. There would be strict...

Given a positive regulatory environment, banks and other financial intermediaries will certainly be interested in using the smart card opportunity. Dr Arvind Virmani, with a Ph.D. from Harvard and 30 years of professional experience, is one of the most valued economists in the Government. Before he retired as Chief Economic Advisor in 2009, he had served in the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission. A researcher par excellence, his research papers...

Local communities without proper training might affect the outcome of the social audit planned for MGNREGS One criticism against the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) is that the scale of the programme defies its effective monitoring. In a country as diverse and large as India, monitoring huge social sector schemes often leads to the creation of an additional layer of bureaucracy. That may be about to change for...

India's rural innovators have proved that ordinary people are indeed capable of extraordinary inventions. Despite many constraints -- lack of education and severe cash crunch -- most of them have succeeded in using technology cost-effectively to build ingenious products. A washing-cum-exercise machine, hand operated water lifting device, portable smokeless stove, automatic food making machine, solar mosquito killer, shock proof converter, a floating toilet soap are few of the products on display...

An inter-ministerial group set up by the government to keep a watch on inflation and suggest measures has reiterated the need to revise the mandi law that prevents competition among buyers for farm produce. The group headed by chief economic advisor Kaushik Basu said the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act needed to be revised to encourage competition among traders and promote Efficiency in retailing. Kishore Biyani , Chairman, Future Group...