Moily Sets up Team to Reassess Hydrocarbon Resources

Moving to re-assess the oil and gas potential of the country, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Veerappa Moily on Monday announced setting up of a Multi Organisation Team (MOT) to carry out the re-assessment of hydrocarbon resources in all 26 sedimentary basins.

The Multi-Organisation Team or MOT will reassess the potential of all 26 sedimentary basins in the country in light of the oil and gas discoveries since 2001.
                                     

The assessment is to be completed within 30 months. The Keshav Dev Malviya Institute of Petroleum Engineering (KDMIPE) of the Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will act as MOT leader with the Director (Exploration) of the ONGC being its chairman, and the Director (Exploration & Development) of Oil India Ltd (OIL) as the co-chairman.click here for more information about Moily Sets up Team A National Level Committee headed by the Petroleum Secretary will monitor and review the progress of work periodically, an official statement said.

The last such exercise was carried out in 15 sedimentary basins about two decades ago and is overdue for a full-scale revision in view of the vast amount of data collected since then. There is also an urgent need for the fresh estimation in the remaining 11 sedimentary basins as well, for which no hydrocarbon resources have been estimated so far.

During the course of implementation of pre-NELP (New Exploration Licensing Policy) and NELP rounds and other exploration and production activities, substantial geo-scientific data have been acquired and interpreted. New oil and gas fields have also been discovered by utilising improved geological understanding and new technology. With the increase in exploration spread and quantum jump in availability of geo-scientific data generated under the NELP, it was felt there is a need to revisit the hydrocarbon resource assessment of India.

Cyrus Mistry Wins The 2014 DSC Prize For South Asian

Cyrus Mistry’s Chronicle of a Corpse Bearer, published by Aleph Book Company in 2012, won the 2014 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature, perhaps the most prestigious award given to a full-length work of fiction in English (or in translation into English) featuring a South Asian theme.

The prize, is given to the best work or translations of a work on or about the South Asian region. Last year the award was won by Jeet Thayil for his debut debut novel “Narcopolis”.
                                                       

Mr. Mistry is the second Indian to win the award, which is running into its fourth year. His book was selected from among the six books shortlisted for the coveted prize instituted in 2010 for the best work or translation of a work on the South Asian region.

The award was won last year by Jeet Thayil for his debut novel Narcopolis . For the 2014 prize, the shortlist was announced in November last year after the DSC Prize South Asian Secretariat received about 70 entries from South Asian countries as well as from the U.S., Britain, Canada and Australia.

“I am overwhelmed and feel happy to receive it,” the recluse author told the audience after his name was announced

The author, 45, took home $50,000 in prize money. He is second Indian after Jeet Thayal to win the award, running in its fourth year.

All six books shortlisted for the prize revolved around the themes of conflict, violence and isolation. The other five nominated were: Mohsin Hamid’s “How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia”, Sri Lankan Nayomi Munaweera’s “Island of a Thousand Mirrors”, Nadeem Aslam’s “The Blind Man’s Garden” and two translations – “Book of Destruction” by Anand and Benyamin’s “Goat Days”.

“I have hoped to raise large questions that have universal presence through my work,” Mistry said.

Jet CEO Gary Kenneth Toomey Quits

Barely six months after taking charge as Jet Airways CEO, Gary Kenneth Toomey (pictured),  an Australian national, resigned with immediate effect on Thursday.

A Jet statement said that Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan, CFO, will officiate as acting CEO till the board identifies a replacement for Toomey.
                                                 

Air Seychelles is a strategic partner of Etihad Airways PJSC, the national airline of the UAE that is buying a 24% stake in Jet Airways. Before joining Air Seychelles, Ball was regional general manager for Asia Pacific South and Australasia at Etihad, which holds 40% equity in Air Seychelles.

Jet, in a filing to BSE, said Toomey’s resignation was effective immediately, but didn’t give a reason for his stepping down. Ravishankar Gopalakrishnan, chief financial officer, will be the acting chief executive till the board appoints a new CEO, it said.

On 12 November, the Competition Commission of India cleared Etihad’s Rs.2,058 crore deal with Jet Airways, the first such investment since the government in September 2012 allowed foreign airlines to invest in Indian airlines. Jet received funds from Etihad last month.

“Jet Airways has completed the interviews for the CEO post. Ball is tipped as CEO. An announcement is expected shortly,” one of the two people cited above said. A second person confirmed the development. Both declined to be identified.

A Jet Airways spokeswoman declined to comment on the development.

“This (Toomey’s resignation) was on expected lines,” a third person aware of the developments said, also requesting anonymity. “Toomey was not able to gel with the Jet Airways culture.”

Temple Says ‘no’ to Tuskers, Will More Follow Suit

Kochi: In a departure from tradition, the Dakshina Mookambika Temple in Paravoor near Kochi has decided not to parade elephants during the festival beginning January 25 on the plea of animal welfare activists.

The first temple under the  Travancore Devaswom  Board to leave jumbos out of a festival, it will instead use use a rath (chariot) at the ezhunnallethu, says G. Narayanan, secretary of the temple’s festival committee. The decision of the committee, taken on Wednesday, will have to be ratified by the tantri and the Devaswom commissioner.                  

                                   
“When the issue of elephants came up for discussion , we thought we should stop the practice and set an example for temples says nearby. The Kollur Mookambika temple uses a rath for its festival, so we thought why shouldn’t we do the same,” he adds.

The practice of parading elephants, which was restricted to a few temples in Kerala till the 1970s, spread to others following an increase in jumbo trafficking to the state from the north east of the country.

Since then parading elephants has become a matter of pride for many temples, which willingly shell out the Rs 1 lakh or more required to do so even for a day. The government, however, recently ordered temples to restrict the number of elephants used in parades to three in view of the rising incidents of the animals going on a rampage on these occasions.

But with the Paravoor temple deciding to go further and give up their use altogether, it has received much praise from animal welfare activists. Secretary of the  Heritage Animal Task Force, V. K. Venkatachalam calls it “ a praiseworthy decision.

Virbhadra Singh Files Defamation Case Against Three BJP Leaders

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh on Thursday filed a defamation case against former Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader (BJP) PK Dhumal, Arun Jaitley and Anurag Thakur.

"I have filed a defamation case against 3 people which includes, K Dhumal, Arun Jaitley and Anurag Thakur," said Singh.
                                               
Prem Kumar Dhumal had accused Virbhadra Singh of re-allotting the hydel project, to the same company despite most of the ministers in the Cabinet being against the decision.
                                                   

"Despite most of the ministers in the Cabinet being against the decision, the project was given to the same company. In the name of FDI he introduced an NRI to execute the project," he said.

"It was rejected within six months of its allotment and three times this issue went to the cabinet for reconsideration," he added.

He said it was all due to the Virbhadra Singh who brought it thrice in the cabinet. Later on, the Supreme Court said that the power project should undergo 'reconsideration' and not're-allotted' but it was re-allotted to the same person.

He further said that the Congress was trying to give an impression that the BJP had re-allotted the project.

The Himachal Pradesh chief minister has been accused by the BJP of indulging in a quid pro quo dealing with a private company. Arun Jaitley had accused Singh of being involved in three cases of corruption, one of which involved the owner of a private company.

He alleged that Virbhadra and his wife Pratibha Singh had received a sum of one crore fifty thousand and two crores respectively from Vanshri Vakamula Chandrashekar, the owner of Venture Energy and Technology Private Limited.

Polio Cases on Rise in Pakistan

LAHORE: In its first global analysis for 2014, the World Health Organisation (WHO) says that Pakistan is the only polio-endemic country which reported more polio cases last year than in 2012.

The analysis cited ‘non-uniform routine immunisation coverage’ with several areas having abysmally low routine immunisation coverage as major challenges which needed focus on fighting the crippling disease.

Opposition from militant groups has hampered efforts to vaccinate children against polio in Pakistan and officials said violence was part of the reason for the increase in cases.
                                                 

       
“Last year there were a total of 58 cases, but 62 fresh victims of polio have already been reported in 2013,” a senior government official, who works with international donors working to eradicate polio, told AFP.

"We have entered a phase that we were all worried about and were afraid might happen," Elias Durry, head of the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) in Pakistan, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"The main reason for the outbreak is militancy in the northwest. Vaccination teams are unable to reach the tribal areas because of risks to their lives," the official said.

Polio cases reached a low of 28 in 2005 but have risen since, reaching a peak of 198 in 2011.

In August health officials warned of a serious polio outbreak in the northwest, saying more than 240,000 children had missed vaccination because of the Taliban ban.

Elsewhere in the country, health workers giving out polio drops have been attacked and killed, including in the largest city Karachi.

On Monday the World Health Organisation linked an outbreak of polio in Syria that has paralysed 13 children to a strain of the virus from Pakistan.

Crack on Rail Track Detected, Train Accident Averted

Thrissur: The timely detection of a crack on the railway track near Mullurkkara on the Shoranur-Ernakulam route just before the Kannur-Alleppey Executive train was to cross the stretch averted an accident on Sunday.

According to officials, a one-inch-long crack was detected by  the gangman during a routine inspection around 9 a.m. and he immediately stopped the approaching train some 40 metres from the spot by waving a red flag.
                                         

Following this, the workers spread the red flag across the track while the movement of trains  was disrupted for nearly an hour.

The railway track detected authorities carried out emergency repairs and  the train was allowed to travel at a slow speed  over  the damaged portion.

Railway officials attributed the crack to seasonal factors and said that fissure in rail joints was a common phenomenon during winter as the heat during  day time would cause expansion of the metal while it would contract  at night.