SEI Solar Power Pvt Ltd will raise around $34.3 from the International Finance Corporation (IFC) to support its proposed greenfield solar farm project in Rajasthan.

SEI Solar is a joint venture between Singapore-based SunEdison Energy and Astronergy Solar Korea Co Ltd The fund raising will help the company develop, construct, own and operate a 24 Mw greenfield solar PV power plant at Ugaras village in Jodhpur district.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot discussed the State’s partnership programme with the European Union Ambassador and head of delegation to India Joao Cravinho here on Tuesday. Mr.

With heavy rain continuing to lash several parts of Rajasthan, the death toll across the state went up to 27 on Thursday.

JAIPUR: Underweight newborns are not only common in rural areas but also in big cities of the state. The annual health survey released by the Centre recently said it is common problem of both urban and rural areas.

In Jaipur 31.7% infants have weights less than 2.5kg at birth. Infants born with weight less than 2.5kg were 30% in Jaipur urban area while the figure is 33.9% in Jaipur rural areas.

JAIPUR: The state government has declared drought in Jodhpur, Nagaur, Barmer, Bikaner and Jaisalmer districts on Wednesday. The five districts have been worst-hit by deficit rain and will remain in the status of 'drought-affected' from August 1 to July 31 next year.

As per the emergency relief plans, collectors of all the above districts have been asked to do an early assessment of the total losses. To get maximum aid, chief minister Ashok Gehlot instructed the officials to mention everything in detail in the letters that will be presented to Centre. He also asked them to take the assessment exercise of losses seriously. To gauge the situation in the state, Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar will visit Jaipur on August 3.

BIKANER: Wind power came to the rescue of Jodhpur Discom during the Northern and Eastern power grid failure, whereas the other Discoms had to wait until the power units at Kota, NTPC and power plants at Rana Pratap Sagar and Jawahar Sagar resumed supply.

"The power generated through wind energy put an end to the outage within two hours at the Jodhpur Discom on Tuesday, providing us with around 800-900 MW power. We immediately switched to wind power and resumed power supply at hospitals, PHED water pumps, railways, high court and administrative offices," A K Gupta, MD, Jodhpur DISCOM, said.

JAIPUR: Six new antiretroviral therapy (ART) centres will be opened this year in the state to provide free drugs to people living with HIV, as the National Aids Control Society (NACO) has approved funds for the purpose in its annual action plan 2012-13.

The new centres would come up at Bharatpur, Jhunjhunu, Barmer, Dungarpur, Nagaur and Jalore. The NACO has approved Rs 32 crore for preventing new infections, care support and treatment, institutional strengthening and strategic management information system. Last year too, NACO had approved almost an equal amount for the state.

JAIPUR: Ten investment proposals worth Rs 9,800 crore will be tabled for approval by the state Cabinet committee in a meeting scheduled on Wednesday. If cleared, these companies, ranging form automobiles to automatic teller machines, cements and pharmaceuticals, will open their manufacturing units in the state.

The proposals include Brazilian firm Perto which plans to set up a manufacturing plant for automatic teller machines with an investment of Rs 200 crore. The unit will have a capacity of 1,000 machines per month and will come up in Mahindra Walled City.

Jaipur: The draft report of Rajasthan State Action Plan on Climate Change has brought out some alarming facts about the water situation in the state. According to the report, the state has the highest probability of drought occurrence in the country. It also falls within areas having greatest climate sensitivity, maximum vulnerability and lowest adaptive capacity.

According to the report, “high dependency on groundwater has resulted in its overexploitation, with nearly 80% of groundwater witnessing depletion. The quality of groundwater has also progressively deteriorated. The stage of groundwater exploitation which was 35% in 1984 has reached a level of 138% in 2008

JAIPUR: The medical, health and family welfare department managed to achieve only 85.09% of target set for full immunization of infants against various diseases in the financial year 2011-12.

The latest figures released by the health department shows that nine districts have failed to touch even 80% of the set target.It shows that there are nearly 15% of children left out from fully being vaccinated against various diseases. The vaccination targets were fixed on the basis of birth rate of the district.