People have seen a change in their quality of life, thanks to the solar lighting system. "My son stays up later than all of us, studying through the night," says Guddi Devi, a resident of Dabkan- Kartikeya Singh, Alwar It is a simple device but it has shrunk the nights in Rajasthan's countryside. Over the past decade, thousands of families in the state's remote villages, unconnected with the grid, have installed solar lighting systems at their homes, which harness solar energy to generate electricity.

The City Beautiful will soon get a "milk village' to accommodate more than 27,000 cattle heads. The project will have three phases: in Maloya, Khuda Lahora and Makhanmajra villages.

There are 1,515 villages in the State, which are totally covered under the rural electrification programme. The number villages partially covered under the programme is 6,603. This was stated by Power Minister Pradyut Bardoloi in the State Assembly today in reply to a starred question from Independent member Pranab Kalita. He also said that the State Government had adopted schemes to complete the rural electrification programme covering all the villages by 2009. After the approval of the Rural Electrification Corporation, all the villages will be covered, he said apprising the House that altogether 18, 517 revenue villages were covered earlier through various schemes. But natural calamities have severed connections to 4,061 villages. Again, 12,949 villages are covered partially under the programme, the Minister said. However, to implement the programme, an amount of Rs 2,300 crore will be required and this amount is to be obtained from the Central Government. The Central Government has set norms for making the payment for the purpose. It includes installation of at least one transformer in a village, said the Minister. The Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification Programme has also included the component for providing free electric connection to the BPL families. The programme is being implemented in Golapara, Tinsukia and Cachar districts. Efforts are on to collect the lists of the BPL families from the Deputy Commissioners of these districts for the purpose of providing free electric connection, he said. The Minister also informed the House in reply to a call attention motion moved by Mission Ranjan Das (BJP), that the reports of closure of 22,000 small scale industrial units due to the installation of digital meters were not based on facts. The Assam Small Industries Development Corporation has said in a report that no SSI unit was closed after installation of digital meters. Moreover, the Minister said, only five small-scale industrial units were closed in the State during the past two years due to their inherent problems. Four of these closed units were located in Kamrup district and one in Jorhat district, he said.

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit today said her government would soon provide better sewer facilities to about 200 villages in the Capital. Dikshit, who is also the Chairperson of the Delhi Jal Board (DJB), said the jal board would build 58 underground reservoirs, including 28 in east Delhi, in the Capital by 2009. The Chief Minister, who was laying the foundation stone for a 58 lakh litre capacity underground reservoir at Narela in west Delhi, said the DJB has commissioned a city-wide study, which has created a workable model to commission 109 reservoirs by 2011. "The total cost of construction of the reservoir is about Rs 782 lakh and this work is likely to be completed in 12 months. The reservoirs will improve availability and ensure pressure of water in various parts of Delhi,' Dikshit said. The reservoir would get water from Ranney wells and tube wells at Palla, jal board officials said. After this reservoir is commissioned, about 1.15 lakh people will benefit with augmented water supply at adequate pressure in Singhola, Singhu, Hamidpur, Bankuli and Khampur, the officials said. "At least 25 underground reservoirs need to be built at various locations to rationalise the distribution of water in north, west, north-west, south-west and central Delhi. The DJB has already approved a scheme at an approximate cost of Rs 263 crore to construct 14 underground reservoirs and Booster Pumping Stations (BPS) at various locations in the Capital,' Dikshit said. East Delhi MP Sandeep Dikshit, local MLA Charan Singh Kandera, Councillor Sharad Chauhan, CEO (DJB) Arun Mathur were also present at the foundation stone laying ceremony.

The Planning Commission on Tuesday suggested a slew of measures to reform Punjab's power sector, including charging differential peak and non-peak tariffs for commercial users in the state. At a meeting to finalise the state's Annual Plan for 2008-09 on Tuesday, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal discussed at length the issues concerning the power sector with Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

Chandigarh, February 12 The Haryana Health Department has operationalised 5,086 village health sanitation committees (VHSC) to bridge the gap between demand and supply of quality and timely health care services and strengthen decentralised health planning. Haryana Commissioner and Secretary, Health, Navraj Sandhu said these committees have been operationalised by giving a grant of Rs 10,000 each. The bank account of each such committee is being operated jointly by the sarpanch and accredited social health activist (ASHA) or anganwari worker (AWW), she added.

the Backward Region Grant Fund