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Prithvi Asthana

20 August 2025 at 5:20:30 pm

Desi method saves LPG at RSS camp

Use of biomass wood stove helped in reducing high cooking cost Mumbai: When the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) decided to hold a 21-day training camp in Jalgaon in the first week of May one of the biggest concerns for the organisers was availability of fuel. The organisation needed two LPG cylinders of 19 kg each for making three meals for 255 participants and 50 managers daily. It would have cost them Rs 6,000 daily and the cost for 21 days on meals on would have touched Rs 1,26,000. It...

Desi method saves LPG at RSS camp

Use of biomass wood stove helped in reducing high cooking cost Mumbai: When the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) decided to hold a 21-day training camp in Jalgaon in the first week of May one of the biggest concerns for the organisers was availability of fuel. The organisation needed two LPG cylinders of 19 kg each for making three meals for 255 participants and 50 managers daily. It would have cost them Rs 6,000 daily and the cost for 21 days on meals on would have touched Rs 1,26,000. It was a time when availability of LPG cylinders was a concern and a costly affair. India’s LPG supply was hit because of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The government had hiked the price of commercial LPG cylinder by Rs 993. Then came a desi solution. The RSS decided to use a biomass wood stove that uses renewable energy rather than LPG. The main fuel for this stove was ‘wooden blocks’ prepared from cotton, cow dung or turmeric trees (turkhati). The market rate of the ‘wooden bricks’ is Rs 3 per kg or Rs 150-200 per sack. An RSS swayamsevak from Dhule Rahul Kulkarni has designed this biomass wood stove. He operates an industrial machinery manufacturing company called as ‘Essential Equipments’. The company manufactures renewable energy products like solar thermal systems, bio-gas plant, biomass wood stove, etc. The biomass wood stove proved to be a high success. Its use reduced the daily cooking cost to mere Rs 300 saving around Rs 1,19,700 during the camp period. Not only it helped in reducing cost but also to protect the environment being a source of renewable energy. “We had put a lot of research and development behind this stove, and it was already available. Amid the crisis the stove came in handy to us, and I am happy that we were able to solve this problem. It helped in reducing the cost drastically,” Kulkarni told ‘The Perfect Voice’. Dattatreya Hosable, General Secretary of RSS, who visited the camp for three days, also acknowledged the innovation in cost cutting and saving environment. “I appreciate the efforts taken by the swayamsevaks amid the LPG crisis. Henceforth, RSS will use this method in training camp across the country and I myself will take this solution to all the places,” he said.

Lateral upgrade to ailing annihilation

Updated: Oct 21, 2024

Lateral upgrade to ailing annihilation

Being the first person from the private sector to be appointed as chairperson of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) as part of the government’s lateral initiative, Madhabi Puri Buch also holds the honour of being the first woman to hold the top post as capital market regulator.

But the laurels that the former private sector banker enjoyed in her earlier stint with ICICI Bank, was marred with allegations that she and her husband were having a stake in offshore entities, which were used to artificially inflate shares of Adani group companies.

Terming the allegation as `character assassination, Buch clarified that all disclosures have already been furnished and the fund in question did not invest in any securities involving the Adani group.

When it rains, it pours. This allegation was subsequently followed by Congress Party allegation that Buch had received salary and post-retirement benefits from ICICI Bank after she quit the private sector bank.

In its clarification to the stock exchanges, ICICI Bank asserted that the payments made to Buch were purely retirement benefits after her exit from the bank and they were neither salary nor employee stock options.

Prior to these allegations, Buch tenure at SEBI was all about bringing in quick reforms on operational issues by changing the format of consultation paper to bring in larger responses digitally. Being data savvy, the rationale of her decisions were democratic based on big data analysis derived from the responses received to the consultation papers.

Further she bifurcated the duties of the SEBI staff between operations and enforcement, which were done by the same persons earlier. Having worked for the private sector in the capital market domain space, Buch had a better understanding of the subject compared to officers from the administrative service in the past that reflected even in her orders as a whole-time director at SEBI before becoming the chairperson. As a whole time director at SEBI, her orders on adjudication issues were more directional to the capital market space, according to experts in the compliance space. She was also quick to revamp the old provisions of the 90s at SEBI.

Being tech and data savvy, Buch enhanced regulatory surveillance and detection of market manipulation, insider trading and fraud while also emphasizing on strengthening corporate governance by introducing stricter rules for independent directors and enhancing disclosures for related-party transactions.

To put in perspective, the annual report of the capital market regulator in the just concluded financial year revealed that the number of investigations related to insider trading jumped to 175 in 2023-24 from 85 in the preceding year while probes related to front running jumped over three times to 83 from 24 in the preceding year.

Transparency in mutual funds by implementing measures to protect retail investors along with tightening norms for initial public offers, particularly in the SME platforms were some of her other positive initiatives including confirmation of denial of any market rumours within 24 hours for the top 100 listed companies which will be extended to top 250 companies from December 1. However increased transparency and compliance with tightening regulations led to increased operational costs for the market participants and hence faced resistance from certain quarters. Born in 1966, Buch completed her primary education in Mumbai and graduated with specialization in Mathematics from Delhi and later obtained a management degree from Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In between, she got engaged to Dhawal Buch, a director at a consumer goods multinational at the age of eighteen and got married at the age of 21.

Besides ICICI Bank, Buch also worked as a lecturer at a college in England, worked at Greater Pacific Capital in Singapore and ICICI Securities as its CEO. She also worked as executive director on several private sector companies and as a consultant for New Development Bank (Brics Bank).

What now remains to be seen, is whether Buch, who survived the 26/11 terror attack when she along with her husband, was attending a meeting at Taj, be able to overcome the current ordeal. Keeping fingers crossed for the times to come.

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