
HC seeks students' performance report in teacher transfer case
The department transferred Singh from GIC, which has 125 commerce students, to a remote Pithoragarh school with no commerce stream. However, Singh expressed willingness to shift only to schools with commerce students. The govt argued that under the Transfer Act, teachers are rotated between accessible (sugam) and inaccessible (durgam) areas, and Singh had mostly served in accessible zones.
The court on Tuesday requested data on the students' board exam results and their ranks under Singh's teaching, but noted that the final posting decision lies with the education department. The single bench of Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari likened the transfer to an Army deployment and urged compliance. The next hearing is scheduled for Monday.
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Business Standard
5 hours ago
- Business Standard
Finance, transmission, storage key to renewable future: Experts at BS Infra
At the Business Standard Infrastructure Summit on Thursday, industry leaders and policy experts stated that while India's renewable energy sector has achieved remarkable growth, its future expansion depends on addressing critical challenges in financing, transmission, and storage. India come long way in RE, but cost of capital remains high Vaishali Nigam Sinha, co-founder of ReNew, said India had created 'a very enabling environment' for renewable growth, with policies that evolved in tandem with sectoral needs. 'We started at a time when renewables did not exist. What has happened since—and what's really good—is that our policy evolution, whether for wind, solar or green hydrogen, has kept pace with the issues businesses faced as they entered the sector,' Sinha stated. However, Sinha cautioned that the weak financial health of distribution companies (Discoms) continues to weigh on investor confidence. 'If we get that in order, there will be a lot more investor reliance and trust in the sector,' she said. Land acquisition and the high cost of capital also remain hurdles. 'The cost of capital in India has been on the higher side, which has been a deterrent for global institutions to bet more on the sector,' she said. Financing and infra gaps could slow momentum of renewables growth From the global perspective, Gauri Singh, deputy director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), warned that India's financing and infrastructure gaps could slow momentum. 'There was a global commitment to triple renewable energy—11,000 GW by 2030. We are at 500 GW right now. Unless large countries like India put their weight behind such commitments, this is thin air,' she said. Singh argued that while India had laid a 'solid foundation' with investments and policy direction, transmission and storage must expand simultaneously with capacity additions. 'If storage solutions at affordable costs are not forthcoming, it will really stymie the kind of push we are seeing from developers,' she said. Bankability and project executions Prashant Choubey, president of Avaada Group, spoke on how far India's ambitions in the renewable energy sector have come. 'In 2014, when PM Modi spoke about 100 gigawatt renewable capacity, everyone was shocked. In 2011, Germany did 10 GW, and the world was amazed. Last year, we did 25 GW in a single year,' he said. Choubey argued that capital was not the binding constraint, but bankability and project execution were. 'One important challenge most developers face is in converting LOIs into PPAs. Almost 35–40 GW of LOIs need to be converted, and that's where a significant issue comes up,' he said. Despite the concerns, speakers agreed that India's progress had been substantial. 'Renewables being at 50 per cent capacity just shows you that we are moving in the right direction, and there is a clear road with markers to make sure we keep on track,' Singh said.


Time of India
5 hours ago
- Time of India
China can pull back 150 km and come back in 2–3 hours: Indian Army officer suggests continued vigil along LAC
Even though there has been some positive movement in the Indo-China relations , Indian military planners are expected to remain on high alert on the ground even if a long-term de-escalation process with China begins in the coming months. 'The way China has built roads, bridges, tunnels and habitats along the entire LAC, from eastern Ladakh to Arunachal, over the last five years, PLA troops can easily afford to pull back 100–150 km and then come back again in 2–3 hours,' a senior Army officer told TOI. The Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) has reportedly built extensive infrastructure along the LAC, enabling rapid redeployment to forward areas if required. PLA retains rapid mobilisation capability While some of the PLA's combined arms brigades (CABs) have pulled back approximately 100 km in recent months, many still remain forward deployed. These brigades are equipped with tanks, armoured vehicles, artillery, and surface-to-air missile systems. Each CAB consists of around 4,500 to 5,000 troops. In contrast, Indian forces do not possess the same mobilisation flexibility, which introduces a significant time gap in force readiness along the LAC. 'There is a huge time differential in mobilisation between the rival forces that will have to be factored in during any de-escalation talks,' the officer told TOI. Live Events Also Read: India tests Agni-5 missile with 5,000 km range: Here's all about the nuclear-capable missile that can cover Turkey to China Trust deficit persists despite stabilisation So far, India and China have only agreed to 'discuss de-escalation, beginning with the principles and modalities thereof.' This understanding was reached during Wang Yi's recent visit. On the ground, although the situation has stabilised since troop disengagement at Depsang and Demchok in October last year, the trust deficit between the two armies remains considerable. Both sides continue to be forward deployed along the 3,488-km-long LAC with heavy military assets. 'There is no disruption in the coordinated patrolling by the rival soldiers there. But we cannot let our guard down since there has been no let-up in the PLA's military preparedness and infrastructure build-up,' another senior Army officer said to TOI. New mechanisms to strengthen border management In order to support stability along the LAC, both countries are expanding their diplomatic and military border management mechanisms. Existing talks between the Indian 14 Corps commander and China's South Xinjiang Military District chief in Ladakh will now be complemented by 'general-level mechanisms' in the eastern (Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh) and middle (Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh) sectors as reported by TOI. From the Indian side, the middle sector is likely to involve the Lt-General commanding the Uttar Bharat Area based in Bareilly, which has been 'combatised.' In the eastern sector, the Dimapur-based 3 Corps or Tezpur-based 4 Corps are expected to be involved in the new structure. Patrolling rights restoration a key objective In eastern Ladakh, a key priority for India remains the restoration of patrolling rights in areas where 'no-patrol buffer zones' were established during previous disengagement rounds up to September 2022. These buffer zones, ranging from 3 km to 10 km, were created at Galwan, the north bank of Pangong Tso, the Kailash Range, and the larger Gogra-Hot Springs area. Initially framed as 'temporary moratoriums,' there has been no progress in lifting these restrictions, despite these areas being considered by India as part of its own territory. India-China to resume border trade These comments follow the recent decision to reopen border trade through three designated trading points: Lipulekh Pass in Uttarakhand, Shipki La Pass in Himachal Pradesh, and Nathu La Pass in Sikkim. This development occurred during Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi's visit to India earlier this week.
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Business Standard
9 hours ago
- Business Standard
PPP must drive India's infrastructure funding: Experts at BS Infra Summit
Public-Private Partnership (PPP) should be the default approach in India's infrastructure development, as government resources alone cannot meet the scale of competing demands, experts said at the Business Standard Infrastructure Summit on Thursday on the theme 'Infra for Viksit Bharat: Planning, funding and building". In a panel discussion moderated by Dhruvaksh Saha, Kuljit Singh, EY India Investment Banking Partner, said that private investment must increasingly fund projects that would otherwise rely on government capital expenditure. 'There is a lot of scope for PPP in India, for the simple reason that India is source-constrained. We don't have enough resources. Somebody has to get clean water for free, somebody has to get housing for free or subsidised. So by default, I think in India, what needs to happen is that if there is a possibility to undertake private investment to fund what would have been otherwise funded by the government on a CapEx basis, you should always go down that path without fail,' he said. Funding challenges and PPP opportunities Singh pointed out that while debt funding is no longer a bottleneck in India, the terms of financing remain a challenge. 'It's rarely difficult to find a project in India now from the debt perspective. 99 per cent of projects now get funded in India; the question is, who funds you? Banks are very happy to fund highway projects. Ports and airports also get funding easily. Where we may struggle to get funding is on what terms we get the debt," he said. He further added that foreign investors are increasingly open to greenfield renewable projects and willing to take construction risk. He also called for replicating successful models from the central government across states. 'You have to see why the central government is successful and state governments falter? Because the central government picks up one sector, does a lot of research, and freezes documents after detailed consultations. NHAI, why is it successful? It replicates the same process for every project,' Singh added. For sectors like waste management and railways, Singh suggested that PPPs should focus on new asset creation rather than legacy projects, as 'it is very difficult to do something with what already exists, but not so difficult to do something new". Cities unprepared for growth Jagan Shah, CEO of Infravision Foundation, underlined the stress on India's cities due to unplanned growth since liberalisation. 'Our cities are reeling under growth. What we are facing is the consequences of not having planned our cities well enough. Most cities have fairly well-planned neighbourhoods which are legacies of the past, but the kind of spurt of growth since 1991, we have been unprepared for that,' Shah said. Calling cities 'systems of systems", Shah said that urban planning must be future-driven and technology-enabled. 'We need an enormous shift in technologies, and we need to do it on the best of home-made innovations. That is why you need a complete ecosystem to support the kind of evolution that we need in our services,' he said. Shah highlighted the importance of procurement and collaborations across industry, academia, and government to provide benchmarks for decision-making. He cited sanitation projects as an example where research outputs could guide officers. On PPP in cities, Shah said local projects remain small and financially dependent on state governments and urban local bodies. 'Across the entire territory, the urban infrastructure projects are small, subservient to how the state and ULB functions financially, and therefore you're not able to attract the kind of PPP that you want,' he added. He, however, praised the Urban Challenge Fund for pushing cities to bring forward their own projects, with PPP expected to contribute up to half of the financing. 'That is a transformative idea,' Shah said. Planning is the core of infrastructure Rahul Mithal, Chairman and Managing Director of RITES, emphasised that planning remains the most critical aspect of infrastructure development. 'Out of the three elements of infrastructure, which is planning, funding, and execution, planning is the core,' he said. Mithal stressed the need for adopting the QCBS (Quality and Cost Based Selection) system in project preparation. 'Detailed Project Report (DPR) needs a concentrated focus, and you should choose DPR entities only by using QCBS. In QCBS, you need to make a decision, which is the most difficult part,' he said, adding that relying only on technical credentials was the easiest but least effective approach. He also underlined the importance of strong field entities to ensure that designs are executed properly and of leveraging technology to assess vulnerabilities in infrastructure systems.