NPCIL to reach out to TISS students on Jaitapur issue

NEW DELHI: After Union environment minister Jairam Ramesh faced agitating students at Tata Institute of Social Sciences protesting against the clearance to the Jaitapur nuclear power plant, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India has promised to make a presentation to the faculty and students at the Mumbai campus.

NPCIL has also set up a committee under the head of the Bombay Natural History Society to study the marine ecology and bio-diversity in a 10-kilometre radius of the proposed Jaitapur site. The study will not be used to alter the decision to have the project at the site but will submit a comprehensive marine and bio-diversity management plan in one year.

The move by NPCIL to engage with TISS comes after Ramesh wrote to NPCIL asking it to improve its 'public communication' and at least talk to its next door neighbours – the premier institute in social sciences education.

Ramesh noted in his letter to NPCIL that the students had raised various issues about the project that he heard out for 75 minutes. The students had claimed that their field surveys showed a very large number of locals had not accepted the compensation and a large number of fishermen would be adversely affected besides taking up other issues about the project that has turned into a political battleground for the Prithviraj Chavan government in the state.

NPCIL, which is already reeling from bad press and has been indirectly blamed by Ramesh for not adequately handling protests and demands on ground, has reacted quickly to the minister's suggestion this time and reached out to TISS.

It has suggested that it could give a detailed presentation to the TISS faculty and students in June as well as take them for a site visit to the plant running at Tarapur.

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Now petrol is dearer than jet fuel

MUMBAI: Jet fuel is cheaper than petrol now, but airlines do not appear to be in any mood to cut the fuel surcharge on tickets. With jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF) prices dropping by over 2.9% and petrol prices rising by Rs 5 a litre, it's cheaper now to fuel a jet aircraft than it is to fuel your car. On Monday, the cost per litre of ATF in Delhi was Rs 58.8, while that of petrol was Rs 63.4. In Mumbai the gap between prices of aircraft and car fuel was wider than that of Delhi with ATF costing Rs 59.6 per litre while petrol stood at Rs 68.3 a litre.

The ATF prices went down on Sunday, after international oil rates slumped bringing about the first reduction in ATF costs this year. In Delhi, the ATF price fell by Rs 1,766/kilolitre, while in Mumbai the fall was Rs 1,827. The 3% fall in ATF prices is not going to translate into reduction in fuel surcharge. The reduction in ATF price has come after 14 successive hikes since October, 2010, when international crude oil prices started soaring.

But there is no respite for the passenger. If you are planning a last-minute summer holiday and have not booked your airline tickets yet, then the only good news is that fuel surcharge will not shoot up till the month end. Airfare still be on the higher side with the peak season demand influencing the prices.

"When ATF prices go up in succession, we raise the fuel surcharge after a few hikes,'' said an airline official, requesting anonymity. "Now, it has gone down only by 2.9%, which is too small a drop to effect a change in fuel surcharge,'' he added. Unfortunately, for the passenger there will be no respite. In short, the savings will be pocketed by the airline. "The drop maybe only 2.9%, but considering the quantity of fuel an airline's entire fleet guzzles per month, the savings will not be negligible,'' said an aviation analyst. It's not the first time that jet fuel became cheaper than car fuel. Only two months ago, between March 1 and 15, ATF was Rs 55.5 per litre in Mumbai, while petrol price was Rs 63. In Delhi too, ATF was priced Rs 54.93, while petrol stood at Rs 58.37.

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Monsoon on time, says Met

PUNE: The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted that the southwest monsoon will arrive on time. It is expected to reach the Andaman Sea this week and Kerala by May 31.

"The southwest monsoon usually moves to the Andaman Sea around May 20. It is expected to cover the Andaman Sea in the next few days, which will be close to its normal date of arrival," said P S P Rao, IMD director (weather central).

The Met department has used a forecast model that suggests the monsoon's advance to Kerala on May 31 with an error margin of four days. The southwest monsoon over Kerala marks the beginning of the rainy season from June to September in India. The IMD uses an indigenously developed statistical model for operational forecasts of the monsoon's onset. Last year, the monsoon reached the Andaman Sea on May 17, three days ahead of schedule. It hit the Kerala coast on May 31, a day in advance. Cyclone 'Laila' over the Bay of Bengal had hastened the advance of the monsoon, IMD had said.

This year, IMD has used the forecast model based on Principal Component Regression technique with six predictors. These include minimum temperature over northwest India, pre-monsoon rainfall peak over the southern peninsula, outgoing long-wave radiation over the South China Sea, lower tropospheric zonal wind over southeast Indian Ocean, upper tropospheric zonal wind over the east equatorial Indian Ocean, and outgoing long-wave radiation over the southwest Pacific region.

Outgoing long-wave radiation, that is, radiation of heat from the earth helps better monsoon forecast. Satellites can measure this radiation in a particular area between specific latitudes and longitudes.

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