Qatars RasGas, the largest LNG exporter to India, today sought inclusion of natural gas in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime to make taxes on the green fuel uniform and spare consumers from cascading multiple levies.
ExxonMobil Gas and Power Marketings VP LNG Richard Guerrant said there would globally be 175 million tonnes of incremental LNG by 2023.."We should ask why is LNG and natural gas not part of GST while competing fuels of LPG, naphtha and fuel oil are," he said.RasGas supplies 8.Also, the pipeline infrastructure in the country is mostly concentrated in western and  northern India, leaving southern and eastern parts untouched. India, the Asias third-largest economy, will become the worlds second-largest spot and long-term LNG buyer this year, Muhannadi said.He said RasGas is seeing preference for short-term LNG contracts from customers in India.The country currently has two fully operational import facilities in Gujarat - Petronet LNG Ltds 15 million tonnes Dahej terminal and Shells 5 million tonnes Hazira terminal, and two partially operating ports - Dabhol in Maharashtra < https://www.autocontrolcable.com/product/auto-control-cables-jeep.html and Kochi in Kerala.While the 5 million tonnes Kochi terminal operates at less than 10 per cent of the capacity in absence of pipelines to carry gas to customers, lack of breakwater facility at Dabhol makes the facility inoperational during raining season.5 million tonnes per annum of LNG to India on long-term contracts and inclusion of natural gas and LNG in GST would make the fuel cheaper by eliminating multiple taxes, thereby making the fuel affordable for consumers.Global LNG oversupply situation will not last long and global natural gas demand is likely to rise by 50 per cent between 2014-24, he said adding India, China and Taiwan will see steady LNG demand rise.
Petroleum products like kerosene, naptha and LPG will be under the ambit of GST, while five items in the basket ? crude oil, natural gas, aviation fuel, diesel and petrol ? have been excluded during the initial years.Commending India for adopting the progressive GST regime which will replace a host of state and central levies including VAT, excise duty and service tax with a single tax, he questioned keeping natural gas LNG out of the new indirect tax regime.Speaking at the Petrotech conference here, RasGas CEO Hamad Mubarak Al Muhannadi said India lacks infrastructure to support a gas-based economy and needs more LNG import terminal to unlock demand.

"This contract gets us started on determining how to modify a 747-8 to become the next Air Force One, and finding opportunities for cost reduction through detailed requirements choices."We are focused on ensuring this program is affordable," said Colonel Amy McCain, the manager of the Presidential Aircraft Recapitalisation program.
Air Force One is equipped with the latest in communications technology, allowing the president to continue working wherever he is, even if the United States is under attack.Spare parts are increasingly hard to source and the hulking aircraft require ever longer times being serviced. Washington: Air force officials and Boeing engineers have started the years-long process of replacing Air Force One, the legendary aircraft that whisks the American president and his entourage around the world.The majestic, light blue-and-white liveried jets have "United States of America" emblasoned along their fuselage and a large US flag stamped on the tail fin. The Air Force in January last year announced it had chosen Boeing to build the new planes, but equipping the wide-bodied double-deckers for the role is a complex undertaking.Air Force One is an instantly recognisable emblem of American power.But the current double-decker 747-200s, first ordered by Ronald Reagan and put into service in 1990, are getting old.The Pentagon last week approved the first of a series of contracts with Boeing, the US aerospace giant chosen to convert a pair of its 747-8 jumbo jets -- there are actually two Air Force Ones -- into state-of-the-art, luxury command centres.The aircraft also boasts an array of defensive technologies, including electronic countermeasures and anti-missile flares. The work should be done by 2024. The kitchens can serve up to 100 people simultaneously.Air Force One costs about USD 180,000 an hour to fly and provides the president with a spacious office, a meeting room and a health centre.The total cost of buying and converting the two planes is unknown, but the Air Force has requested USD 3 billion over five years for the program."
The new planes will doubtless be very different from the current Air Force One incarnation, though the Air Force has yet to say much about its specifications.7 million, is for Boeing to look for cost savings and get a better sense of the scope of the massive task at hand, https://www.autocontrolcable.com/product/auto-gas-springs/ the Air Force said.The planes must also carry the Secret Service agents who protect the president, as well as advisers and journalists that follow him wherever he goes..Air Force One costs about USD 180,000 an hour to fly and provides the president with a spacious office, a meeting room and a health centre that can even be converted into an operating theatre.

The intention is to substantially increase value addition and capacity building within the country. It entails creation of a PMP valid for five years till 2024 to support setting up of a few large-scale, export-competitive integrated batteries and cell manufacturing Giga plants in India.
The basic import duty on lithium ion cells used in manufacturing of lithium ion accumulator for EVs will be doubled to 10 per cent from April 2021.Currently, the basic import duty on completely knock-down kits used in electric buses, passenger EVs, electric two-wheelers, three-wheelers and electric trucks is 10 per cent, which will be raised to 15 per cent from April 2020..The Union Cabinet last week approved setting up of National Mission https://www.autocontrolcable.com/ on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage to drive clean, connected, shared and sustainable mobility initiatives in the country.The government has been pushing for popularisation of electric and hybrid vehicles in the country and has already notified the Rs 10,000-crore FAME II scheme to be implemented from April 1 for three years.The phased manufacturing programme is part of a road map wherein through graded duty structure indigenous manufacturing of electric vehicles, its assemblies and parts or inputs of the sub-assemblies shall be promoted over a period of time.The notification is part of the road map under the phased manufacturing programme (PMP), and also entails doubling the basic customs duty on completely built units of electric buses and trucks to 50 per cent from April 2020.
The government has notified phased increase in basic customs duty on parts of electric passenger vehicles to be assembled in India to 15 per cent from April 2020 and 10 per cent on imported lithium-ion cells by April 2021 to promote domestic manufacturing of EVs.Basic customs duty on parts used in manufacturing electric vehicles (EVs) like AC or DC charger, motor and motor controller; power control unit, among others, will also be increased to 15 per cent from nil at present starting from April 2021, as the Centre eyes to promote mass adoption of EVs through schemes like FAME II to be rolled out from April.The basic import duty on battery packs used in manufacturing electric vehicles will also be increased to 15 per cent from the current 5 per cent from April 2021."The PMP shall enable the manufacturers in the sector to plan their investments for establishment of a robust indigenous electric vehicles and related sub-assembly/ components manufacturing base in India," the heavy industries ministry said in the notification.

With a decline in farming as a vocation, Kerala boat race has taken a hit. It’s the ultimate show of strength, stamina and skills by men in the Kuttanad region, where farming is undertaken https://www.autocontrolcable.com/ on land below sea level, and country boats and rowing are a way of life. "They are better trained than us in dragon boat races, kayaking and canoeing..Water in the Punnamada lake in Alappuzha catches fire on the "most scintillating second Saturday on the earth" when about 20 snake boats race in every August to win the Nehru Trophy Boat Race and lift the trophy, signed and sent by the first prime minister of the country 65 years ago. To top it, the club owners pay the rowers handsomely in kind. The same race was renamed as NTBR after Nehru sent a signed plaque of a snake boat in silver to the district administration in 1953 suggesting the idea of an annual boat race to showcase the region’s unique culture. "Kuttanad is facing dearth of trained hands, thanks to our laziness.
And boat racing was this charming land’s USP for long. Most of them are trained by the Sports Authority of India and the Indian Army. Apart from food and accommodation, they would be paid handsomely. Enthralled by the beauty of the lake and chants of rowers, he had jumped into a snake boat owned by Nadubhagom village which had won the debut Prime Minister’s Trophy Boat Race held there.But the scene has changed, and at a speed that overtakes the fastest of the snake boat. They are from Manipur, West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and even Jammu and Kashmir. The pay begins at `1,000 a day. However, oarsmen being imported from other parts of the country are giving the tradition a fresh lease of life."Last year’s race even kicked up a controversy when as many as 60 of the 110 oarsmen in the winning team were non-locals."We put a 25 per cent cap on migrant rowers this year," says Veena N. Now, you would find oarsmen from many parts of India rowing at the annual race."The guest oarsmen arrive at least a month before the race and join the training camp."They are loyal and workaholics," he said. As time passed, the reputation has taken a hit; it became bereft of skilled rowers."The criteria in recruiting outsiders are nothing but stamina and discipline," says Rocha Chacko, a young oarsman from Kainakari who rows for New Aleppey Boat Club, maintaining that he has no qualms about leading a bunch of Kashmiri rowers."Kerala is full of friendly people," said Mohammed Rafique who rowed for Town Boat Club Kumarakom this year. And winners of Nehru Trophy were treated as icons in region. Each training camp budget is around `40-50 lakh. "We are from Srinagar. It was the love of the sport that has brought us to Alappuzha to participate in the competition. The rowers are provided nutritious diet of milk, eggs and meat daily."The trend of outsiders appearing in the Nehru Trophy Boat Race started after super-rich non-playing NRI businessmen with roots in villages took over the cash-strapped local boat clubs," says Joseph Elamkulam, a boat race commentator.
As in many parts of the country, farming ceased to be a vocation that helped people live a decent life, forcing the youngsters to migrate to greener pastures leaving the boats and the race to their fate. Madhavan, Alappuzha district collector, who is also the chairperson of Nehru Trophy Boat Race Society, the organising body of the annual event. In the early ’70s and the ’80s Kuttanad witnessed great races when prosperous families from Christian and Nair communities in the region began funding races, but later those families tuned paupermaking boat racing great.Kuttanad, sprawled over a 500-km-long coastline accommodating the biggest wetlands in the country, once boasted of land of envious oarsmen."It started six years ago," said Jameskutty Jacob, who last year lifted the coveted trophy leading Karichal’s serpentine 153-foot race boat."Mr Jacob would also vouch for the oarsmen who helped him lift the trophy last year.It was 64 years ago the seed of annual NTBR was sowed after Jawaharlal Nehru’s debut visit to Alappuzha. We would love to return next year as well. But the spirit of race refused to die down, and local clubs found an alternative — They started bringing in oarsmen from other parts of the country.Thrilled by the idea, villagers who lived along the banks and tributaries of Vembanad Lake parted themselves into constituencies with identity of villagers contributed funds to buy snake boats and train local rowers.