Anil Swarup News

''This was being done in the paramount interest of students,'' said Anil Swarup, Education Secretary, Government of India. 

The HRD Ministry on Friday issued an advisory to states and the CBSE to stop the practice of spiking of marks in class 10 and 12 board exams from next year.

In order to bring down coal imports at a faster rate, public sector units (PSUs) in the power sector will follow "zero imports" policy from the next fiscal onwards, a top official said on Thursday.

The government has estimated that by the year 2020, India will need 1.5 billion tonnes of coal. But an IndiaSpend analysis of a recent report by Brookings India indicates that even by a generous estimate, the country`s need for coal will not exceed 1.2 billion tonnes over the next four years.  

Coal imports during July declined by 11.1 percent to 18.03 million tonnes (MT) on the back of higher domestic availability of the fossil fuel.

State-owned NTPC has achieved savings of approximately 30 paise per unit -- approximately Rs 550 crore per month -- on account of coal rationalisation and reduction in imports of fossil fuel, Parliament was informed on Monday.

The government will allocate 16 coal mines to state-run utilities for commercial mining by September, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said on Tuesday.

Anil Swarup, Coal Secretary India, discusses in detail how the ministry managed to achieve an extraordinary turnaround for Coal India when it was facing a serious production crisis of its lifetime. He also believes that power and coal demand will grow soon, subsequent to implementation of UDAY scheme

Increased output by Coal India has resulted in savings of about Rs 17,000 crore and the state-run miner is set for a record production of 550 million tonnes (MT) this fiscal, a top official said.

Government on Saturday said coal output by state-owned CIL crossed 9 percent over last year's production adding that there is "still a very long way to go" amid the PSU eyeing one billion tonnes production target.

Taking forward steps to bring in transparency in the coal sector, the government Monday announced to bring in a new regime for sampling and testing of the dry-fuel from January 1, to ensure supply of quality coal to consumers.

The government has already mobilised over Rs 3 lakh crore in the first three rounds of coal auction and allotment.

 Government said on Monday that coal imports have declined by 5 percent to 14.52 million tonnes (MT) in October over the year-ago period.

With government's renewed focus in increasing coal production in India, coal imports have fallen 27% year on year.

The government wants state-run CIL to keep coal prices low for cheaper power tariff, a top official said on Thursday.

Coal India is likely to increase its production by over 60 million tonne in the current financial year on account of measures taken by the state-run firm, a senior government official said Tuesday.

Government on Thursday said it will auction 10 coal mines in the third tranche with reserves of 858.19 million tonnes for steel, cement as well as captive power plants and the process will be completed by August end.

Coal India has mined enough coal to be able to meet the needs of power plants for the next 40 days, Coal Secretary Anil Swarup said, a comfortable stocks position for a country used to summer blackouts and large imports of the fuel.

Linkages are assured supply commitments from Coal India to a company that has an end-use plant and needs fuel to run it.

Coal Secretary Anil Swarup estimated imports of 200 million tonnes for 2014/15 and 160 million tonnes for the 2015/16 fiscal year.