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The center pushes back on Andhra Pradesh’s renegotiation of contracts; Delhi extends more power subsidies to consumers; Gujarat to turn 23 captive jetties into commercial ports; Uttar Pradesh’s electricity department launches new anti-theft stations; Assam to hear more appeals from those excluded from the NRC; Jammu and Kashmir prepare for elections; and more.

Center – State relations

The electricity tribunal has ruled that state regulators cannot alter tariffs determined through competitive bidding, which would have implications for the Andhra Pradesh government’s efforts to review power purchase agreements signed by the previous regime. Source: Economic Times

Union Minister Jitendra Singh launched an “upgraded” version of a one-stop center for all information about the north-eastern states and issues related to the Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) ministry and the North Eastern Council. The Minister of State for DoNER said work on 205 projects worth $460.3 million have been sanctioned or completed or operationalised with an average of two projects daily. Source: Outlook In detail: Press Release

A forum on IHR Parliamentarians and Legislators committee has been set up and a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on setting up of Water Solutions Centre for the North East Indian states was signed. Source: Morung Express

Andhra Pradesh

Taking a major step towards prohibition of liquor in the state, the Andhra Pradesh government will take over 3,500 wine shops from October 1. The government earlier this month announced that the number of liquor outlets will be reduced from 4,380 to 3,500 and will be eventually phased out. Source: News18

Cracking the whip on pollutants, the Andhra Pradesh government decided to impose a green tax on pollution caused by industrial houses, in addition to banning single-use plastic. Source: India Today

The Andhra Pradesh government, headed by YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, plans to junk blanket incentives and extend them only to sunrise and employment-generating sectors –The new government will unveil a new industrial policy before the next budget.. Source: Economic Times

Bihar

The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar signed an (MOU) with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation for the construction of the first phase of the Patna Metro Rail Project. Source: DMRC

New Delhi

The impact of the Delhi Aam Aadmi Party’s scheme to provide free travel to women in over 5,500 public transport buses will be studied by a team of researchers from Harvard University and the World Bank. This new scheme will go into effect at the end of this month. Source: NDTV

Tata Power-Delhi Distribution Limited and Havells will jointly deploy Electrical Leakage Circuit Breakers (ELCB) devices across areas of Delhi. ELCBs have been mandated by guidelines issued by the Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission. . Source: The Hindu Business Line

Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal extended the benefit of subsidized power connections to tenants in the national capital to 200 units, or kilowatt-hours, of free electricity. Tenants will be issued a pre-paid meter under the scheme. Source: Economic Times

Gujarat

Amid efforts to restrict consumption of single-use plastic in the country, plastic exports from Gujarat surged by 33 percent to $3.6 billion in fiscal 2018-19 from $ 2.7 billion in 2017-18. Exports of plastics from Gujarat have grown at a compound annual growth rate of 15 percent over the last four fiscals and now account for 45 percent of India’s total plastic exports. Source: Times of India

The Gujarat government announced a new port policy that removes restrictions on 32 captive jetties operating in Gujarat, and turns them into commercial ports. The policy allows ports of any size more than 5 million metric tons to be set up as a commercial port. Source: Indian Express

Haryana

Nothing critical to report this week.

Karnataka

Ranking 17th in the Anaemia Mukt Bharat 2019-20 index, Karnataka has been tasked with reducing its anaemia burden by 3 percent every year as part of the country’s goal for 2022. This can be achieved only by providing iron folic acid supplements to vulnerable groups — children, adolescents, and pregnant women — at regular intervals and ensuring project implementation. Source: Times of India In detail: Anaemia Mukt Bharat 2019-20 index

The Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission has issued a draft amendment to its guidelines for the procurement of energy through renewable sources. The amendments will allow the inclusion of distribution licensees to avail accreditation under the renewable energy certificate mechanism and impose a cap on average pooled power purchase cost. Source: Mercom In detail: Draft amendments

Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh will get 40 megwatts (MW) of power from the Northern Grid of the National Thermal Power Corporation for $0.045 per unit tariff, an official said. Source: The Week

Country’s first e-waste clinic is going to be established in Bhopal. An agreement regarding this has been made between the Central Pollution Control Board and the Bhopal Municipal Corporation. Source: DB post

The Madhya Pradesh Cabinet has given sanction for fixed equity share capital for execution of a new rail line project to connect Indore with the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust. The total cost of the project is estimated at $1.26 billion. According to the total cost, the total equity of $57.88 million i.e. 15 percent must be given in 4 years as the capital share of Madhya Pradesh government. Source: DB Post

Maharashtra

Nothing critical to report this week.

Rajasthan

The state government has sanctioned $85 million for kharif crop loans to over 500,000 farmers. Cooperative minister Udailal Anjana said the loan amount would be deposited in the savings accounts of farmers, who had registered online, by September 30. Source: Times of India

Giving a major boost to medical education in the state, the center approved 10 new medical colleges for Rajasthan. The 10 medical colleges will come up in Jaisalmer, Karauli, Banswara, Alwar, Nagaur, Bundi, Sirohi, Baran, Chittorgarh, and Sriganganagar districts. Source: Times of India

Tamil Nadu

With the aim of providing seamless and efficient services to citizens, the Tamil Nadu government has decided to implement the e-Office framework, developed by the National Informatics Center, with immediate effect in all government Departments/PSUs/Boards/Agencies under its control. The move entails the processing of all files electronically, in lieu of a manual file processing system. Source: The Hindu

The Tamil Nadu government has signed an agreement with German development bank KfW to procure new buses complying to Bharat Stage VI norms and those run on batteries. The signing of the agreement with KfW follows the state budget announcement in which through financial assistance totaling $834.3 million from KfW – 12,000 BSVI compliant and 2,000 electric buses would be purchased. Source: Times Now

Tamil Nadu chief minister K Palaniswami on September 26 launched several initiatives in the industrial sector totaling over $991.5 million, including signing of MOUs for new investments. Source: Money Control

Telangana

The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on state’s accounts for 2017-18 has observed that the Telangana government’s attempt to provide uninterrupted continuous free power supply to the agriculture sector has negatively affected the financial position of the two power distribution companies. Source: The Hindu

Uttar Pradesh

The Uttar Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission has slashed solar power tariffs to a record low of nearly Rs 3 per unit, as it cleared competitive bidding for procurement of 550 MW by state utilities.. Source: Business Standard

Faced with frequent cases of electricity pilferage, Uttar Pradesh electricity department has set up exclusive anti-theft stations in nine districts. According to officials, so far 953 cases have been reported in these stations. Source: Economic Times

West Bengal

Rajiva Sinha will be the new chief secretary of West Bengal, according to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The present incumbent Malay Kumar De is expected to retire on October 7th. Source: India Today

Best of the Rest

Assam

The Assam government has issued a notification setting up 200 more appellate Foreigner Tribunals for hearing of appeals of people excluded from the final National Register of Citizens. Source: News18

Chhattisgarh

To facilitate the growth of renewable energy generation systems in the state, the Chhattisgarh State Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved the regulations for distributed renewable sources. These regulations would apply to Prosumer Distributed Renewable Energy Systems owned by prosumer or third party. Source: Mercom In detail: Regulations

Jammu and Kashmir

The Block Development Council elections across Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh will be held on October 24, Chief Election Commissioner Shailendra Kumar announced. Source: Economic Times

Manipur

The Manipur cabinet has decided that any decision on legalising cultivation of marijuana or cannabis for medical and industrial purpose would be taken after getting feedback from the public. Source: Economic Times

Odisha

Odisha has signed an MOU with IBM to introduce Stem For Girls in 125 higher secondary schools of Khordha, Ganjam, Cuttack, and Sambalpur districts. The program aims to improve education-to-work and career pathways for girls in government schools. Source: Orissa Diary

Punjab

The center has released $3.8 million as the first installment for the Sultanpur Lodhi Smart City project in Kapurthala district of Punjab. Source: The Tribune

Sikkim

The 15th Finance Commission headed by Chairman N.K. Singh along with its members and senior officials met with the representatives of the trade and industry bodies in Sikkim. The commission observed that Sikkim has been able to sustain a relatively higher growth in income mainly due to the hydropower sector and pharmaceutical industries. Source: Business Standard, North East Today In detail: Press Release

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