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Drought may hit rural Indian economy, aggravating poverty

MATHURA, India India’s farm economy could contract this fiscal year for the first time in over a decade because of drought, threatening Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s drive to lift millions in the countryside out of poverty and bolster his party’s support. Roughly half of India’s farmland lacks irrigation and relies on monsoon rain, but this year’s rainfall is officially forecast to be only 88 percent of the long-term average and, for the first time in nearly three decades, farmers face a second straight year of drought or drought-like conditions. That comes on top of a crash in commodity prices, unseasonable rain earlier this year and delayed sowing late last year because of scanty monsoon rain. "Farmers are already reeling under heavy losses … and now they don’t have money to irrigate their fields or use an optimum level of inputs like fertilizer," said Ashok Gulati, an agricultural economist who […]

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Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum to Buy Crude from Iraq

Hindustan Petroleum Corp. said it a statement it has been in touch with Somo, the oil-marketing company of the Iraq government, to seek an allocation of 2 million barrels of crude oil in the coming month. The procurement comes after India’s oil ministry asked Hindustan Petroleum and Indian Oil to purchase 4 million barrels of Basra light crude oil on behalf of Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves, Hindustan Petroleum Corp. said in a filing to stock exchanges Thursday. Indian Oil Corp. separately said it acted as a facilitator for the import of crude from Iraq on behalf of the Indian government. The crude is meant for the strategic reserves, the company said in a filing to stock exchanges. India, the world’s fourth-largest petroleum consumer, is setting up three centers at Vishakhapatnam, Mangalore, and Padur, in the southern part of India, to store crude to meet its needs in times of […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Coal mining must continue, no matter what the human costs

This post was inspired by a recent article about coal mining in India by David Rose in the Guardian about coal mining. In India, people are dying in the streets because of excessive heat caused by global warming, but Rose reports that “ …across a broad range of Delhi politicians and policymakers there is near unanimity. There is, they say, simply no possibility that at this stage in its development India will agree to any form of emissions cap, let alone a cut. ” In other words, coal mining must continue in the name of economic growth, no matter what the human costs.I think it is hard to see a more evident example of the senility of the world’s elites. It is, unfortunately, not something that pertains only to India. Elites all over the world seem to be nearly totally blind to the desperate situation in which we all […]

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Faster than China? India’s road, rail drive could lay doubts to rest

NEW DELHI Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s reformist, but hard-up government has begun a splurge on road and rail building that analysts say could remove doubts over whether economic growth in India really is overtaking China. Having roughly doubled spending allocations for roads and bridges in fiscal 2015/16, and raised the rail budget by a third, Modi is banking on India going faster. "They have acknowledged that infrastructure is the big elephant in the room," said Vinayak Chatterjee, head of infrastructure services company Feedback Infra. "Once these measures are implemented, the elephant would start dancing, and with it the overall economy." Modi’s chief economic advisor, Arvind Subramanian, reckons growth could increase by more than one percentage point this year provided ministries don’t underspend, though the central bank saw it adding just half a point. Data released on Friday showed the economy grew 7.5 percent in the quarter ending in March, […]

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Reliance Petrol Stations Are Back in Business in India

ENLARGE A woman walks past a Reliance petrol and gas station in Navi Mumbai, India, in 2012. Photo: Bloomberg News NEW DELHI— Reliance Industries Ltd. EQRELIANCE -0.73 % plans to fully resume retail sales of fuel—a business it exited in 2008—by next March, as India’s move to end diesel subsidies provides it a level playing field to compete with state-run operators. The Mumbai-based refiner of crude oil had ventured into selling gasoline and diesel in 2006 through its nearly 1,400 petrol stations across the country. But it had to shut operations as it wasn’t getting subsidies extended to state-run operators. The subsidies were to compensate retailers for losses incurred on mandatory fuel sales below market prices, aimed at shielding the poor from inflation. However, the government ended subsidies on gasoline in 2012 and diesel last October , paving the way for private operators’ entry. The move “has presented an […]

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For Modi’s year-old government, storm brewing in rural India

KHANNA/KAMARGAON, India Just one year after taking office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is facing a challenge that could come to haunt him – the farm sector that sustains three-fifths of the population is in deep trouble, and he is being blamed for not doing enough. Promising good governance and a stronger economy, Modi romped to power in elections last May by the biggest margin any prime minister has got in three decades. But the rural crisis has dented his popularity and the vanquished opposition is finding new vigor in his discomfort. From the start of the crop season last October through March, India’s farm exports have fallen more than 11 percent to $15 billion, as the impact of the global commodities glut has been sharpened by events like Iran’s nuclear talks and a currency dip in Brazil. The fall in exports has depressed domestic farmgate prices just as unseasonal […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple
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Indian Prime Minister Prods Coal Monopoly

State-run Coal India has failed to keep pace with the country’s demand for electricity. Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to whip the giant mining outfit into shape. Photo: Sanjit Das/Bloomberg News BEJDIH, India—Prime Minister Narendra Modi wants to end decades of crippling electricity shortages and turn this country into a manufacturing dynamo. At the state-run behemoth’s mine here, men still move coal in baskets on their shoulders. At another project, electricity is so unreliable miners descend in a steam-powered elevator. One giant mine that opened last year runs at a fraction of capacity because a rail line to haul its coal is mired in bureaucracy. Committees and economists have long studied how to whip Coal India, the world’s largest producer of the fuel, into shape. Labor unions and their allies oppose ideas such as breaking the company into smaller units or privatizing it. Mr. Modi is taking a gradual […]

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El Nino has emerged, Asia braces for crop damage

SINGAPORE In 2009, the El Nino brought the worst drought in four decades to India. It razed wheat fields in Australia and damaged crops across Asia. Food prices surged. A closely watched forecast by Japan on Tuesday confirmed its return this year. A strong El Nino will roil economies that are heavily dependent on agriculture, particularly India which is already reeling from bad weather. It would also unhinge supply chains of commodities such as rice, corn and palm oil. In fact, the heat is already up in some places in the Asia Pacific. "We’ve already been hit by a three-month dry spell. We could not plant anything since January. All of us here in Taculen are praying for more rains," said Benny Ramos, a rice farmer in North Cotabato in southern Philippines. Prayers for rains in Asia, however, may not be answered as weather forecasts show an intensifying El […]

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World’s Worst Air Spurs Modi’s $25 Billion Utility Clean-Up Push

Barely 16 miles from central Delhi, a 40-year-old coal-fired power plant run by NTPC Ltd. stands testament to the bargain struck by India’s capital city: The world’s dirtiest air for electricity. The state-owned utility is now seeking to cut emissions across its facilities in India, starting with its oldest — the one in Delhi. NTPC plans to spend 12 billion rupees ($189 million) annually on technology upgrades, a company official said, asking not to identified as the person isn’t authorized to speak on the subject. “Their Badarpur plant is running way beyond its life,” said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director general at Centre for Science and Environment , a lobby group based in the city. “The result is its coal consumption is very high and so are the emissions.” NTPC’s clean-up attempt is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s $25 billion spending proposal to revamp aging utilities as he seeks […]

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China’s President Heads to Pakistan With Billions in Infrastructure Aid

Photo President Xi Jinping of China will sign accords for projects worth $46 billion during a visit to Islamabad on Monday. Credit Anjum Naveed/Associated Press BEIJING — China ’s president, Xi Jinping , travels to Pakistan on Monday laden with tens of billions of dollars in infrastructure and energy assistance on a scale the United States has never offered in the past decade of a close relationship, a gesture likely to confirm the decline of American influence in that nation. Mr. Xi, making his first overseas trip this year, and the first by a Chinese leader to Pakistan in nine years, will arrive fortified from the robust reception to the new China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank , and is looking to show that China can make a difference in a friendly, neighboring country troubled by terrorism. Pakistani officials say that Mr. Xi will be signing accords for $46 billion […]

Posted On : Published By : Tom Whipple