Modi leaves for SCO Summit in China
New Delhi, June 9 : Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday left for Qingdao, China, to take part in the 2018 Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit where on the sidelines he will hold a bilateral summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
This will be the first time India will be participating in the SCO Summit after being granted full membership of the bloc, along with Pakistan, in June 2017.
The SCO is an Eurasian inter-governmental organisation, the creation of which was announced in 2001 in Shanghai by Kazakhstan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. It was preceded by the Shanghai Five mechanism.
"SCO focusses on political, economic, security and cultural cooperation and enables India to engage with Central Asian countries," External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted as Modi departed.
After his arrival on Saturday afternoon in Qingdao, Modi is scheduled to hold the bilateral meeting with Xi.
It comes over a month after their informal summit on April 27-28 in Wuhan on a Chinese invitation, when they pledged to keep the India-China border quiet and personally guide their respective armies to avert a Doklam-like military stand-off in future.
Modi is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with leaders of other SCO member states on the sidelines of the Summit.
On Friday, Modi said that the SCO meeting will herald a new beginning for India's engagement with the Eurasian bloc.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
