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Time of India
3 days ago
- Business
- Time of India
In 4 months, bomb exports from Nagpur touch halfway mark of last fiscal
1 2 Nagpur: It's barely four months into the current financial year, and exports of war material like bombs, shells, rockets, grenades and other projectiles from Nagpur units have reached half of what was shipped out last fiscal in terms of value. By August, bombs and shells worth as much as Rs452 crore have been exported from units in Nagpur which recorded exports worth Rs940 crore under this category during the entire last fiscal. This is over and above the exports of prepared explosives, which include high-energy material like TNT, HMX and RDX, which are later filled into shells. This year, more than Rs60 crore of prepared explosives have been exported so far. Last year, over Rs 628 crore of prepared explosives were shipped out from the units in Nagpur, according to the data compiled by the ministry of commerce. It's strong demand from European countries that is fast swelling the order books. Lately, even export licences are coming fast as compared to a long-drawn process earlier. The requirement following Operation Sindoor that exporters must ensure there is no demand for a similar product by the Indian armed forces, has also been done away with now, said sources in the business. Nagpur has two major players in the segment, Yantra India Limited (YIL), a public sector entity formed in 2021, and Solar Group, a private company. Lately, Nagpur has emerged as a major destination for ammunition buyers. The global buyers are procuring both finished ammunition rounds and bombs as well as prepared explosives, said sources. Even Chandrapur, around 150 km away, has recorded major exports. Bombs worth over Rs 228 crore have been exported from Chandrapur district so far this fiscal. This accounts for 27% of the exports in the last financial year. In 2024-25, bombs worth Rs 840 crore were exported from Chandrapur. The Ordnance Factory Chanda located in Chandrapur is a part of Munitions India Limited (MIL), a Pune-based defence PSU. It is engaged in making shells, Pinaka rockets, apart from a whole gamut of mines and related products. The total exports of finished bombs from Vidarbha, which includes the manufacturing centres in Nagpur and Chandrapur, stand at Rs650 crore till August. Last financial year, exports worth Rs1,780 crore took place, according to the ministry of commerce data. Last year, apart from bombs, other cartridges worth Rs 250 crore were exported. Other cartridges include a wider range of ammunition not under the bombs category, said sources. Even Jabalpur in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh recorded bomb exports worth Rs 3.4 crore. Dushyant Deshpande, secretary of Vidarbha Defence Industries Association (VIDA), said strong demand from European countries has helped not only the bigger units but also the ancillary manufacturers. "A year-on-year growth of close to 50% is expected this fiscal," he said. Sandeep Agrawal of Sandeep Metallics, a company engaged in making fuses for artillery shells, said orders are full till 2031. Fuse helps in triggering the blast. "Export permissions are coming within 15 days or so, and the condition that the export order should not overlap with Indian demand is also no longer there," Agrawal said. Stay updated with the latest local news from your city on Times of India (TOI). Check upcoming bank holidays , public holidays , and current gold rates and silver prices in your area.
Edmonton Journal
01-08-2025
- Business
- Edmonton Journal
Southwestern expansion: rise of suburbs tracks with in-migration
Edmonton's booming southwest is punching above its weight. It's also showing how Edmonton is changing. Article content Heritage Valley, home to neighbourhoods that include Blackmud Creek, Cavanagh, Chappelle Gardens, Desrochers Villages and Paisley, among others, is now home to an estimated 62,981 residents, which is nearly equivalent to the entire population of Grande Prairie. Neighbouring Windermere, adjacent and just west of Heritage Valley, and housing communities such as Ambleside, Glenridding Ravine and a number of neighbourhoods falling under various Keswick designations, among others, meanwhile, is expected to reach a total of 74,000 residents or a population larger than the City of Medicine Hat. Article content Article content Article content Further, these Edmonton suburbs are showing that suburban settings, which were once thought as homogenous and lacking in vitality are far from that. Additionally, they're the landing place for many new Canadians. Article content Article content That data and more comes from a recently released BILD Edmonton Metro case study on urban growth. The 48-page document, released in mid-July from the organization that bills itself as voice of the real estate development industry, focuses on Heritage Valley and Windermere. It states that urban growth in Edmonton is not only necessary to accommodate new arrivals — especially in light of longer-term growth that foresees the provincial capital's population rising from 1.2 million people to a level of two million or more — and that it's a powerful economic driver for the city. Article content The study also shows that the private sector has invested more than $3.2 billion in Heritage Valley and Windermere, and that when operating and maintenance costs are extrapolated, an estimated $60 million surplus (annually) could be provided to the city-wide budget for other investments. Article content 'Having led community development across Alberta, I can say with confidence, Edmonton is leading the way,' said Mike Kohl, senior vice-president, Alberta communities for Brookfield Residential, which has brought Heritage Valley neighbourhoods like Chappelle and Paisley to fruition. 'Now's not the time to introduce roadblocks or undo meaningful progress that we've achieved together.' Article content Toggle full screen modePrevious Gallery Image Next Gallery ImageToggle gallery captions View All 3 Photos 1 of 3 Article content A growing share of immigrants — more than 40 per cent — are now settling outside gateway cities like Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, according to Dr. Sandeep Agrawal, founding director of the School of Urban and Regional Planning and associate dean at the University of Alberta, who was part of the case study. Article content 'Almost all newcomers are settling in new suburbs in the southeast, southwest and west sides of Edmonton,' said Agrawal, who has spent years mapping Edmonton's ethnic enclaves. 'This pattern mirrors what we're seeing across Canada: the suburbanization of new immigrants.' Article content As to why, he points to affordability, community networks and culturally attuned services. Article content As to where they are settling here, Agrawal, notes that German newcomers have shifted toward southwest and south-central Edmonton as opposed to earlier choices like Kenilworth and Terrace Heights on the east side of the city. Chinese arrivals are expanding their choices from inner-city neighbourhoods to more suburban zones, while South Asians and Filipino communities grow into newer southeast and west segments of the city.
Global News
24-07-2025
- Climate
- Global News
From tree cover to green roofs, how are cities fighting extreme heat?
As a heat wave grips parts of Ontario amid a scorching summer, some Canadian cities have been trying new techniques to try to tackle extreme heat, which can quickly turn deadly. A Statistics Canada study last year showed there were roughly 670 deaths between 2000 and 2020 attributable to extreme heat events in 12 Canadian cities. In 2021, a heat dome in British Columbia killed an estimated 619 people in one week. And this week, temperatures in parts of Ontario are set to feel like the mid-40s C — and cities can feel the heat keenly due to how they're built, experts say. 'The surfaces in the cities are such that they absorb more heat and that causes the entire environment to become hotter and the temperature rises as well,' said Sandeep Agrawal, a professor at the University of Alberta's School of Urban and Regional Planning. Story continues below advertisement It's due to the 'urban heat island effect,' which can make a city one to three degrees hotter than the surrounding area during the day and warmer at night, according to decades of urban studies. Among the reasons are glassy or concrete skyscrapers that absorb a lot of heat during the day and take longer to cool down at night. James Voogt, a Western University professor of geography and environment, said heat is a top 'weather hazard.' 'Our ability to physiologically respond to those is relatively slow,' he said. From increasing tree cover to installing 'green' roofs, here's how some Canadian cities have been trying new techniques to try to tackle extreme heat. What's been done to cool cities down so far? A study by the European Commission in 2023 found that increasing tree coverage to 30 per cent in European cities could lower temperatures by an average 0.4 C, with a maximum effect of 5.9 C in some areas, avoiding 2,644 premature deaths. Story continues below advertisement Planting more trees is one approach some Canadian cities are using. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy Toronto plans to increase the number of trees covering streets to 40 per cent canopy cover by 2050 by planting about 120,000 trees a year. 'So you want to make use of strategic planting of trees to try to take advantage of the fact that a tree cools by shading a surface and a tree cools by evapo-transpiring water,' Voogt said. 'So if you strategically locate your tree well, you can get maximum benefit.' In May, Vancouver approved an update to its urban forest strategy with a goal of covering 30 per cent of the city with tree canopy by 2050. 1:55 'Wet-bulb' temperatures: What are they and why can they be so deadly? Trees take time to grow, but they can still benefit cities in the long term, said Sara Barron, program director for the Master of Urban Forestry Leadership Program at the University of British Columbia. Story continues below advertisement 'That immediate impact, it's not going to help maybe with next year's heat wave, but we know climate change is a shift that's going to be happening for years,' she said. Voogt cautioned that it may be difficult to just dig up areas of downtown Toronto to plant trees, but green roofs are an alternative. The Urban Land Institute said green roofs replace dark surfaces with soil and vegetation, noting that the 'greening' of five per cent of Toronto's area lowered citywide temperatures by an estimated 1.5 to two degrees. Toronto implemented a green roof bylaw in 2009, requiring new commercial and industrial developments of more than 2,000 square metres to incorporate them. Other cities have also taken steps, including Saskatoon, which offers a stormwater credit for commercial buildings with green roofs, and Port Coquitlam, B.C., which fast-tracks development applications that incorporate green roofs. There are also other techniques cities are using outside of Canada. The Spanish city of Murcia implemented 61 measures to adapt to extreme heat, including resurfacing dark asphalt roads with lighter-coloured materials to reflect sunlight, with Dallas doing something similar by installing reflective pavement. The Texas city has also required new buildings to use materials that reflect solar heat on at least 75 per cent of the surface or have 50 per cent of the roof covered by vegetation. Story continues below advertisement Still more to do, experts say While some cities have taken steps, Agrawal said 'better design' is needed. 'So incorporating more vegetation, vegetation cover and tree canopies, (and) permeable material within the built environment I think would lead to a more sort of sustainable and cooler environment than the current way of doing it, where it's sort of a patchwork of things being done,' Agrawal said. Barron noted changes like using lighter material for roads to lower heat absorption and adding water where you can, such as water fountains, can make a difference. 1:59 'Extremes you never want to be at': As temperatures spike, so do health hazards Using misting systems can also help with cooling, which she said has been used in places like Australia. The systems are set up to spray a mist of water around an area, or to let people walk through them to cool down. Story continues below advertisement Voogt said city planning can also improve how it handles heat, though he said that is a longer-term solution. 'So changing the form of the city, the way it's laid out, how the buildings are spaced, that's longer term, right, because you don't change the buildings that often,' he said. 'What we have to do is start thinking about cities that are a little bit more optimized in terms of the climate they're embedded in.'
TechCrunch
16-06-2025
- Business
- TechCrunch
Building Richer and More Scalable GenAI Applications for Startups and Developers
We extend our thanks to our partner Oracle MySQL for their support and active participation in TechCrunch Sessions: AI, held on June 5, 2025, at UC Berkeley. 'Building Richer and More Scalable GenAI Applications for Startups and Developers' took place from 2:25 p.m. to 3:10 p.m. PT in the Pauley East Breakout Room, where Heather Vancura and Sandeep Agrawal explored how MySQL HeatWave empowers startups and developers to build powerful, scalable generative AI applications. They demonstrated how its built-in vector store, in-database LLMs, and machine learning capabilities streamline complex RAG workflows — eliminating the need for additional databases or ETL processes. The session highlighted how MySQL HeatWave accelerates development, enables real-time data access, and frees up time for greater innovation. SPEAKERS Heather Vancura, Vice President, Community Engagement, Oracle MySQL Sandeep Agrawal, Consulting Principal Member of Technical Staff, Oracle MySQL
