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Farm
benefits fail to NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Indian agriculture presented a paradox with a bountiful harvest failing to bring ....more Rs 53.19 cr for 7 GUWAHATI, Dec 23: The Centre has allocated Rs 53.19 crore to the seven North Eastern states as Special.....more
Expenditure Reforms NEW DELHI, Dec 23: The Expenditure Reforms Commission, headed by Mr K P Geethakrishnan, submitted....more Indian Oil Board to meet CALCUTTA, Dec 23: The Board of navaratna oil PSU Indian Oil Corporation would meet again to look ....more |
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Fiscal
responsibility NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today asserted that the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, introduced in Parliament earlier this week, would not affect plan expenditure......more Exports bail out dismal NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Export performance has provided the silver lining in the otherwise subdued performance of the economy during the year 2000 and the Government has been using it as a trump card to ward off any attack on its economic performance......more Silver moves up, gold NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Silver advanced further on the bullion market today on sustained buying by local customers while gold surrendered previous day’s gains on lack of demand......more Citizens alliance NEW DELHI, Dec 22: A citizens alliance of environmentalists, trade unionists, social workers and representatives of small scale associations today asked for an immediate stop to closure of SSI units by the Delhi Government until accurate and up-to-date data on actual....more |
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Farm benefits fail to percolate growers NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Indian agriculture presented a paradox with a bountiful harvest failing to bring smile on the face of distressed farmers as well as hardpressed consumers during the year so much so that quite a few cultivators were driven to suicide. Although a record harvest of 206 million tonnes of foodgrains transformed the country from an importing nation to an exporting one, the benefits failed to percolate to the growers as many of them sold their produce for a pittance due to inherent weaknesses in the post-harvest management. It was hunger and poverty in the land of plenty as burgeoning stocks of foodgrains including wheat and rice continued to rot in the open because of acute shortage of storage space in the godowns of the Food Corporation of India (FCI). The much trumpeted National Agriculture Policy (NAP), first ever since independence, was unfolded by the Government to usher in a "rainbow revolution" and make India the largest exporter of agricultural products, but it failed to provide a blue print or detailed strategy aimed at achieving a sustained four per cent growth in agriculture in the next 20 years and an average economic growth of 6.5 per cent, may at best be described as an "intent" of the Government as it does not spell out any plan of action to meet the ambitious goals. Hit by heavy debt and "tardy" procurement, farmers were forced to distress sale of their produce at throw away prices amidst reports of suicide by growers from some states. The year saw a desperate attempt to offload huge foodgrains lying in the open through exports by tapping the international market. Having fixed a target of exporting 40 lakh tonnes of wheat by March, 2001, the Government has already received export orders for about five lakh tonnes and is exploring potential markets in West Asia, Africa and Bangladesh. Despite a bumper harvest, wide inter-state and inter-crop variations continued to dominate the agriculture scene as the rate of growth of food production declined from 3.5 per cent in the eighties to about 1.5 per cent. Though the output of rice at 88.3 million tonnes and wheat at 74.3 million tonnes registered record levels, there was a sharp decline in the production of pulses and coarse cereals in the country. In the non-foodgrains segment, major crops like oilseeds-particularly groundnut- cotton and tea registered decline in output during the year, while production of sugarcane, jute and mesta recorded a rise. Unscientific cropping pattern, largely guided by the farmers’ perception of risk and price expectations, and low level of farm mechanisation remained a cause of concern. One of the major drawbacks of Indian agriculture has been the low level of per hectare yield as compared to other countries due to a number of reasons including fragmentation of land holdings, subsistence farming, lack of irrigation and paucity of funds. (PTI) |
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Rs 53.19 cr for 7 N-E states under BAD programme GUWAHATI, Dec 23: The Centre has allocated Rs 53.19 crore to the seven North Eastern states as Special Central Assistance under the Border Area Development Programme for the annual plan 2000-2001. The statewise allocation are—Assam-Rs 7.20 crore, Arunachal Pradesh-Rs 13 crore, Manipur-Rs four crore, Meghalaya Rs 4.52 crore, Mizoram-Rs eight crore, Nagaland-Rs four crore and Tripura-Rs 12.47 crore, an official report said. Besides, the North Eastern Council has released Rs 41.70 crore to the Border Road Development Board for projects being executed during 2000-2001. The national highways 39, 53 and 54, covering the states of Assam, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram are also under improvement as part of the Prime Minister’s package for the North East, it added. (UNI) |
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Expenditure Reforms Comm submits its 3rd report NEW DELHI, Dec 23: The Expenditure Reforms Commission, headed by Mr K P Geethakrishnan, submitted its third report, exclusively dealing with the crucial Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) to Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha here today. "We have recommended rationalisation of the structure of the dea," the major department of the Finance Ministry, Commission member B S Jafa told reporters after submitting the report. Refusing to divulge any further details about the third report, he said the other segments of the Finance Ministry would be covered in subsequent reports. Asked how many more reports were expected, he said "many more." The latest report would be put on the Commission’s website in a fortnight’s time, he said. Mr Geethakrishnan, who was also present, expressed inability to speak due to some throat problem. The second report, submitted on September 20, had suggested downsizing of the Government, energy security and ways and means to reduce fertilizer subsidy. Mr Geethakrishnan had then said the report had taken care of the interests of both the farmers and the industry in the matter of rationalisation of fertilizer subsidy. As for information and broadcasting, it had dealt with the areas of operation that could be handed over to the private sector. On coal, the Commission had placed its thrust on energy security. On the problem of downsizing, the Commission had gone into handling of surplus staff to ensure optimisation of Government functioning. The first report, submitted on July ten, dealt with food subsidy. The Commission had welcomed the Government’s decision to allocate 20 kg. Of foodgrins per family per month to the Below Poverty Line (BPL) at half the economic cost. On food security, it suggested that a buffer stock of ten million tonnes - four million tonnes of wheat and six million tonnes of rice, be maintained at all times. The cost of buffer stocks held in excess of ten million tonnes should be treated as producer’s subsidy and action taken to phase it out over the next three years through moderating the increase of minimum support prices. State Governments and the private sector should be encouraged to enter procurement, trade and export of foodgrains through an assurance of continuity of policy over the next 15 years. If the foodgrains output goes down in any year, then the Government could resort to imports for bridging the gap and not tinker with the policy package announced for supporting State Governments and private sector it said. The objective of the procurement policy should be to maintain a food security buffer of ten million tonnes and availability of 21 million tonnes per annum for distribution through the PDS to Above Poverty Level (APL) and BPL population. On this reckoning, the total average stocks to be maintained for distribution and buffer stock should be no more than 17 million tonnes or so compared to a likely level of 24 million tonnes in the current year. Every effort should be taken to minimise FCI’s overhead charges and the methodology for allocation of FCI’s overheads between distribution and buffer stocks needs to be modified to ensure that the consumers, particularly those below poverty line are not made to pay for the cost attributable to excess stocks or FCI’s inefficiencies, the report said. (UNI) |
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Indian Oil Board to meet again on HPL restructuring CALCUTTA, Dec 23: The Board of navaratna oil PSU Indian Oil Corporation would meet again to look into the various financial aspects involved in restructuring Haldia Petrochemicals Limited (HPL). Sources in Indian Oil based in Delhi told PTI today that at yesterday’s board meeting held in Gurgaon, the petrochemicals group of the oil company appraised it about the proposal for participating in HPL and presented an approach paper. The paper was prepared to give information to the Board for holding discussion on the proposed restructuring of HPL, the sources said. As there are so many issues involved, the Indian Oil Board would meet again to take a final view on this matter. The proposal which had been given to the oil psu was related to the naphtha cracker segment, sources said. A large portion of the debt was to be transferred to it and the polymer segment would be the holding company, they said. Participation by Indian Oil was sought by the other three promoters so that the cash flow position of the company improved significantly by fresh infusion of capital. The project, built at a cost of Rs 5170 crore, was primarily financed by debt to the tune of Rs 4000 crore and the annual interest burden was Rs 600 crore. The three other promoters, who had chipped in Rs 1010 crore in the form of equity in the proportion WBIDC (43 per cent), Chatterjee-Soros (43 per cent) and Tatas (14 per cent), sought the participation of a fourth promoter in order to bring down the debt burden. The proposal was then forwarded to Indian Oil as it was supplying Naphtha to HPL by the high-level committee which had been formed to look into the petrochemicals project. The problem was aggravated as the company was not able to access the capital market due to depressed primary market conditions. Initially, it was planned that out of the Rs 1979 crore to be raised in the form of equity, Rs 969 crore was to be mobilised from the public. However, the company had to take recourse to bridge loans to fund the gap from IDBI. The problem was also compounded by rising price of Naphtha in the international market. (PTI) |
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Fiscal responsibility not to affect plan:FM NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today asserted that the Fiscal Responsibility Bill, introduced in Parliament earlier this week, would not affect plan expenditure. "What the Government will consider is a way to reduce the revenue expenditure," Mr Sinha told reporters after a meeting with Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant in connection with the preparation of the tenth five-year plan (2002-07) setting a stiff nine per cent growth target. The bill would in no way affect the productive plan expenditure, he said. Besides, there was a likelihood that the Gross Budgetary Support (GBS) to plans would be raised in the coming budget. Asked about the ways and means for achieving the nine per cent growth target during the tenth plan as directed by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Mr Sinha said his ministry would work closely with the Planning Commission on the issue. On second generation economic reforms, he said the issue of pension funds and several other issues were on the reform agenda. He, however, would not elaborate. A section of the media has reported recently that Finance Secretary Ajit Kumar had prepared a report at the instance of the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on possible measures to expedite the second phase of reforms. According to the reports, pension funds are to be allowed for investments in the stocks. (UNI) |
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Exports bail out dismal performance of economy NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Export performance has provided the silver lining in the otherwise subdued performance of the economy during the year 2000 and the Government has been using it as a trump card to ward off any attack on its economic performance. Exports have shown a good performance for the first time in the last three to four years, boasted Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha while confronting questions on the performance of the economy from a strident opposition in Parliament. There can be no denying the fact that the export growth of 20.5 per cent during April-October 2000, amounting to over 20 billion dollars in value terms, compared to 10 per cent growth during the corresponding period of the previous year, has been commendable and can be attributed to aggressive policies on this front. During the year, the Government took major initiatives to give boosts to bilateral trade with United States (to enhance it to 20 billion dollars annually) Japan, France, Russia and China among other countries. To remove the export imbalances, the Commerce Ministry finalised a five-pronged strategy to realise the trade potential between India and African nations. The strategy would entail more joint ventures with African countries in areas like commercial farming and would help in resolving the problem of blocked funds. There have also been allegations of substandard supply of goods to African nations by some exporters and the Government has promised action against this. According to a study, India’s exports to the Least Developed Nations (LDCs) increased from 12.26 per cent to 26.19 per cent in 1998. One of the major successes of reforms in the Indian economy has been the growth of its foreign trade as its ratio of trade to the Gross National Product (GNP) rose from 13.94 per cent to 18.79 per cent between 1984-85 and 1997-98. Needless to say that Indo-US bilateral trade received a major boost by the visit of President Bill Clinton. India and US agreed to develop a detailed plan of action for a commercial dialogue aimed at boosting bilateral trade and investment relations. This included establishment of sub-committees by the two sides to deal with sectoral problems and Government to Government and Government-private sector consultations. About 20 per cent of India’s exports are undertaken to the United States. (PTI) |
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Silver moves up, gold surrender previous gains NEW DELHI, Dec 23: Silver advanced further on the bullion market today on sustained buying by local customers while gold surrendered previous day’s gains on lack of demand. Marketmen said trading activity was limited which influenced the market sentiment and both the precious metals settled with either-side small adjustments. Traders said market was lacking buying interest as most of the funds were moving towards the capital markets. Silver ready was further higher by Rs.10 at Rs.7610 per kilo and weekly delivery by a same margin at Rs.7630 as speculators extended support. Silver coins held up at last levels of Rs.10,900/11,000 per 100 pieces in limited deals. Standard gold and ornaments surrendered previous day’s Rs.5 gain and settled at Rs.4560 and Rs.4410 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign held unchanged at Rs.3825 per piece of eight gram. The following were today’s quotations: Silver ready 7610 and delivery Rs.7630. Silver coins buyer 10,900 seller 11,000 standard gold 4560, ornaments 4410 and sovereign 3825. (PTI) |
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Citizens alliance asks Govt to stop closure of SSI units NEW DELHI, Dec 22: A citizens alliance of environmentalists, trade unionists, social workers and representatives of small scale associations today asked for an immediate stop to closure of SSI units by the Delhi Government until accurate and up-to-date data on actual polluting units was prepared. "The Government is closing down even the non-polluting units under the garb of shutting down polluting SSI units," environmentalist Vandana Shiva said here. She said the main motive of the Government appeared to be to provide a market to the multi-national companies at the cost of closure of SSI units. Citing instances of wrongful closure she said plastic moulding units in Srinagar had been shut down even though they did not manufactures plastic. "We urge the Government to initiate a participatory process for designing a new master plan, she said, adding that the Supreme Court should immediately halt the closure of non-polluting units and identify and stop the real polluters. Speaking on the occasion, president of the Laghu Udyog, Bharati Sudarshan Sareen said that the Delhi Government had gone back on its earlier assurance that a personal hearing would be given to every unit found guilty of causing pollution. He said the members of the association will tomorrow court arrest against the wrongful decision of the Government. (PTI) |
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