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VRS for central staff to NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today indicated that the Centre would consider formulating a voluntary retirement scheme ....more
Second generation reforms by and large in place: FM BANGALORE, Dec 16: The second generation of economic reforms are ‘by and large’ in place in India and it’s being......more |
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LCA passing
BANGALORE, Dec 16: India’s ambitious defence aircraft, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), is being subjected to critical tests ahead of its maiden flight test at the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) here....more Paint industry asked CALCUTTA, Dec 16: Union Minister of State for Chemicals Satyabrata Mukherjee today exhorted the Indian paint industry to give more thrust on research and development for improving the product quality and face the international competition with ‘greater confidence........more NEW DELHI, Dec 16: There was no change in the pattern of trading on the bullion market today as gold continued its upward march on persistent buying while silver recorded another loss on reduced offtake. Marketmen said a slight recovery in gold prices was mainly on reports of a similar trend in other Asian markets where it inched up on firm regional currencies against U.S. dollar......more |
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VRS for central staff to reduce 10 pc jobs: PM NEW DELHI, Dec 16: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today indicated that the Centre would consider formulating a voluntary retirement scheme for reducing Government jobs by 10 per cent by 2004. "Many Government-run companies have adopted an attractive VRS. We need similar one for the Government too’’, Vajpayee said inaugurating the 73rd annual session of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) here. Noting that non-productive expenditure of the Government was linked with the question of downsizing the Government, Vajpayee said "we need to announce a time table and set milestones for each department to reduce the sanctioned strength of their staff at least by 10 per cent by 2004 AD.’’ "While everybody in my Government agrees that the size of the bureaucracy is bigger than it should be and Government is not about giving jobs, very little has been done to actually reduce its size", he said. "We need to actively encourage educated people to look for private sector jobs or to set up their own businesses rather than somehow trying to secure a Government job", Vajpayee said. (PTI) pri gen eco com nat .Newdel del11pm two last(reop del9) ‘’it has often been argued that many of our presentlabour laws and regulations are, in effect, anti-labour,because they inhibit the growth of employment’’, vajpayeesaid, adding "the inflexibility of labour laws hinder newemployment though they may provide protection to the existinglabour force". Calling for strengthening partnership between governmentand industry, the prime minister said ‘’it is the mostimportant pre-condition to accelerate our growth to meet nineper cent annual growth target that i had set in myindependence day speech this year. Only this will allow us todouble our per capita income in ten years and make india aglobal economic power’’. Vajpayee called on the indian companies to adopt highstandards of transparency, disclosure and corporate governanceto sustain investor and shareholders confidence. He expressed concern that except for pharmaceuticals,very few companies had invested four to five per cent of theirrevenue on research and development to create world classproducts and processess’’this too must change’’, he said. (PTI) |
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Second generation reforms by and large in place: FM BANGALORE, Dec 16: The second generation of economic reforms are ‘by and large’ in place in India and it’s being accelerated, Union Finance Minister, Yashwant Sinha, said today. Sinha told reporters here that the Government is accelerating the reforms process. "If you look at the legislations that we have introduced, we are going to introduce and planned legislations which we may not be able to introduce in the session, we are well on our way of accelerating the reforms process," he said. Asked if the GDP growth rate target for the current financial year is achievable, Sinha said "everynone has said it (the growth rate) will not be what was anticipated to be at the beginning of the year." Sinha said the `delay’ in disinvestment in PSUs is largely on account of the `paradigm shift’ in Government’s policy — from disinvesting bits and pieces of shares to strategic sales. Sinha, also president of the All India Tennis Association, earlier dedicated the modernised Kingfisher McDowell Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association stadium here. On the reported criticism of former Disinvestment Commission Chairman, G V Ramakrishna, regarding the Government’s tackling of disinvestment of PSUs, Sinha said he has great respect for the former but noted that ‘we have moved forward from where (Ramakrishna) left’. "We now have a dedicated department in Government of India for disinvestment. We have made a paradigm shift from disinvesting bits and pieces of shares to strategic sales," he said. The Government, Sinha said, is going for privatisation and that’s the direction the disinvestment has taken. "The delay that you see this year (in disinvestment) is largely on account of this shift in policy that has taken place." "If we were disinvesting small lots of shares, then we would have gone ahead and disinvested much more," he pointed out. "Now, we are going for strategic sales. And there are a number of issues which have to be sorted out before the sale is finalised." Asked if the Rs 10,000 crore target from disinvestment this financial year in achievable, the minister replied, "we are trying our best." Sinha said the ‘feedback’ he received on the opening up of the insurance sector is good, and there has been a lot of interest among Indian corporates and foreign investors, many of whom have been granted licences and some are in the pipeline. The Indian insurance sector would be richer as a result of the entry of private sector, he said. (PTI) |
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LCA passing through critical tests BANGALORE, Dec 16: India’s ambitious defence aircraft, the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA), is being subjected to critical tests ahead of its maiden flight test at the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) here. The LCA, being designed and developed by ADA, had been undergoing a series of tests since a month to set the stage for the flight’s test, ADA sources told PTI here. The parliamentary consultative committee on defence, which visited ADA and other defence establishments in the city during the last week of november, had reviewed the progress on the LCA project, they said. However, the sources declined to specify if any time schedule had been set for the LCA flight test, saying it was expected to take some more time. (PTI) |
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Paint industry asked to give more thrust on R&D CALCUTTA, Dec 16: Union Minister of State for Chemicals Satyabrata Mukherjee today exhorted the Indian paint industry to give more thrust on research and development for improving the product quality and face the international competition with ‘greater confidence. Addressing the 38th annual general meeting of the Indian Paint Association here, the minister, however, regretted that despite having tremendous potential, the industry was not making enough stride to improve the quality of its wide range of products to match the international standard. Primarily as a result of such poor quality, the Indian products were yet to find a huge market globally which in turn had made it almost obligatory for the industry to concentrate more on R&D activities, the minister said. Even after fifty years of independence, India continued to be one of the least users of paint in the world lagging even behind their counterparts like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, Mr Mukherjee said adding that it was very shocking to note that till today only about 200 grams of paint were being used by every Indian citizen on an average annually compared to over 18 kgs used by every Japanese and over 16 kgs by each American during the same period. Referring to the strict measures the Government was undertaking to prevent the dumping of chemical products in India from abroad, Mr Mukherjee also cautioned the paint industry to be more vigilant about its pollution aspects. Since the paint industry was considered to be one of the most polluting industries, enough preventive steps should immediately be taken by the industry to ensure the best and most useful safety norms for the employees in the sector and the people living around the plants. Earlier, welcoming the guests, outgoing IPA President M B Satyanarayana in his speech highlighted the various problems being faced by the industry specially in terms of controlling pollution. Seeking Government cooperation to control the menace, he said following Government’s strictures the small scale industries, which contributed over 40 per cent of the total production, were facing closure. (UNI) |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 16: There was no change in the pattern of trading on the bullion market today as gold continued its upward march on persistent buying while silver recorded another loss on reduced offtake. Marketmen said a slight recovery in gold prices was mainly on reports of a similar trend in other Asian markets where it inched up on firm regional currencies against U.S. dollar. They said traders were more concerned to latest clearing figures issued by the London Bullion Market Association which is less than October level. Silver ready lost another Rs.30 at Rs.7600 per kilo and weekly delivery by Rs.40 at Rs.7620 per kilo. Silver coins held unchanged at Rs.11,000/11,100 per 100 pieces. Standard gold and ornaments were better by Rs.20 each at Rs.4550 and Rs.4400 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign held at the previous level of Rs.3800 per piece of eight gram. Following were today’s quotations: Silver ready 7600 and delivery 7620. Silver coins buyer 11,000 and seller 11,100. Standard gold 4550, ornaments 4400 and sovereign 3800. (PTI) |
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