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| 39m US $ W.B. assistance for watershed projects in J&K Excelsior Correspondent Jammu, Feb 24: The World Bank has approved a financial assistance of US $ 39.8 million equivalent to Rs. 198 crores to treat an area of 60700 hectares......more
Maran
announces special KOLKATA, Feb 24: Union Industries Minister Murasoli Maran today announced creation of a special cell for the promotion of exports to neighbouring countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Addressing a meeting of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Indian Tea Association here, he discounted fear .....more |
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Govt
to restructure NEW DELHI, Feb 24: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said that Government would restructure many Public Sector Undertakings as part of.....more Globalization friends, foes MEXICO CITY, Feb 24: The luxury Mexican Seaside Resort of Cancun sets the next global........more Tunisia offers opportunity CHANDIGARH, Feb 24: The Ambassador of Tunisia in India, Dr. M S Basly today offered......more |
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39m US $ W.B. assistance for watershed projects in J&K Excelsior Correspondent Jammu, Feb 24: The World Bank has approved a financial assistance of US $ 39.8 million equivalent to Rs. 198 crores to treat an area of 60700 hectares under its Integrated Watershed Development Project (IWDP) in the State. The project envisages to restore the productive potential of sub watershed areas of Ramnagar and Akhnoor falling in the sub-tropical belt of Shivaliks in Jammu region and sub watershed areas of Rambiara and Rajwar, Karewas in Kashmir. The Integrated Watershed Development project, started in the year 1990-91 with active assistance from World Bank, was conceived initially for seven years. But impressed by its success, during the past four years especially in the field of crop, milk and wool production the World Bank agreed to extend the life of the project for another five years i.e. uptill 2004 under the nomenclature IWDP Phase II. During this period, the World Bank would finance 70 per cent of the total project cost while the remaining 3 per cent would be borne by the State government and the sharing beneficiaries. The main developmental activities under Phase II would be to restore the productive potential of Shivalik hills in Jammu and Karewas in Kashmir using cost effective watershed treatment technologies and community participation approach. Such like activities would contribute significantly in arresting soil erosion, increasing of water availability and alleviating poverty in contiguous areas. |
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Maran announces special cell to promote exports KOLKATA, Feb 24: Union Industries Minister Murasoli Maran today announced creation of a special cell for the promotion of exports to neighbouring countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan. Addressing a meeting of the Indian Chamber of Commerce and Indian Tea Association here, he discounted fear about competition from China saying, "we can achieve two million dollar exports each year from Myanmar alone." The overall situation would improve considerably, if exporters took special interest for Bangladesh and Bhutan, among other nations, in the region, he added. Mr Maran said Kolkata could become the gateway to the export growth particularly from the south-east Asian countries. He said India could achieve export growth of about 20 per cent during the current year — highest in the decade and was hopeful that this trend would be maintained in the coming years. The minister said they had decided to set up special economic zones in the country. "One such zone was functioning in Tamil Nadu," he said adding another was sanctioned for West Bengal in Kulpi. Mr Maran said the special cell for exports to the countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan, to be created in his ministry, would take responsibilities to reomove bottlenecks for the required push in the export potentialities. He said there were some problems with exports in Nepal and the Government had suggested to the neighbouring country to become a member of the World Trade Organisation. Nepal had started the process to become part of the global trade umbrella. He said the concept of the trade agreements within the SAARC countries did not bear the expected result largely because India was the richest among these countries. The Union Minister said only economic reforms would not do, unless it was backed by administrative reforms and those in the labour laws. He felt that the labour laws had to be "flexible" in tune with the changing scenario prevailing the world over. Besides continuation of rationalisation of various export promotion schemes in the new EXIM policy for 2001-2002, Mr Maran also said the Government would further remove Quantitative Restrictions (QR) on imports. He said a sizeable allocation was expected to be made in the coming budget for granting assistance to the states on the basis of their export performance for development of export related infrastructure. The country has achieved a 20 per cent export growth during the current fiscal so far, he added. Describing the coming EXIM policy as "a policy of new era", he said it would "throw new challenges and offer new opportunities" with the removal of quantitative restrictions. Mr Maran, however, assured that the Government was closely monitoring the trends of imports and was committed to protecting the domestic industries by providing them the level playing field. "In the EXIM policy I need to do a delicate balancing of safeguarding the interests of domestic industry and providing adequate incentives to our exporters. There has recently been a lot of concern about import of certain items as a consequence of removal of qr on certain items. I assure everyone that we are closely monitoring the trends of these imports," he said. Calling for innovative ideas, new products and competitive pricing for increasing the export growth rate, the minister said the government had set a target of achieving at least one per cent share of the global trade at 66 billion dollars by 2004-05. ‘’our contribution to international trade continues to be abysmally low as it was only 0.709 per cent in 1999-2000 and 0.646 per cent in the year before. We should achieve the new target,’’ he added. Mr Maran also urged the exporters to evolve short-term export strategies to help the country achieve a higher growth. He called upon private entrepreneurs to fill in the gap created following "miserable failure of the state sector" for proper utilisation of the country’s huge market. (UNI) |
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Govt to restructure many
PSUs under NEW DELHI, Feb 24: Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today said that Government would restructure many Public Sector Undertakings as part of its disinvestment programme, assuring workers that their interests would be fully protected. Asserting that protection and promotion of workers’ interests were an "integral part of our reform strategy," Vajpayee while presenting `Shram’ Awards for 1999 said "as part of our disinvestment programme, we will restructure many of our Public Sector Undertakings. Some perennially loss-making units may even have to be shut down." Stating that the Government believed that workers’ welfare went beyond the implementation of legal rights, the Prime Minister said effective steps were being taken to extend the reach of social security through innovative insurance schemes like ‘Janashree Bima Yojana.’ In addition, the two existing organisations — the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation and the Employees’ Provindent Fund Organisation — were being revamped to make them deliver better services, Vajpayee said. The Prime Minister said that the Government would quickly implement all accepted recommendations of the second National Commission on Labour which was expected to submit its report by October. Stating that agricultural labourers today received neither much legal protection nor any social security, he said that the Labour Ministry was working on a comprehensive social-security scheme for this sector. "I would like the details of this scheme to be finalised quickly, in consultation with other ministries and the State Governments," the Prime Minister said. Lauding the role of labour in nation-building, Vajpayee said he was often disappointed that some "votaries" of economic reforms debate issues in development without any reference to workers’ welfare. "And when they do refer to workers, it is by showing them as a liability, rather than as a valuable productive asset", he said adding that the Government’s programme of economic reforms was meant to help workers and not to hurt them. "Our objective is to promote the well-being of all sections of workers, especially those in the unorganised sector, who comprise 90 per cent of our total workforce of 354 million," he said. The Prime Minister said economic reforms in the country were a decade old and the fruits of these reforms were now visible. The growth rate of economy has accelerated to six to seven per cent a year and poverty has fallen by ten percentage points to 26 per cent. "Now, India has to aim higher. We have set a target to double our per capita income in the next ten years, so that we can further reduce poverty by half. For this, our economy needs to grow at nine per cent a year in the next decade," he emphasised. Cautioning that the challenges of globalisation was not going to be an easy or painless task, Vajpayee said that success could be achieved only if the Government, workers and entrepreneurs worked in a spirit of partnership, knowing that "together we can transform the hardships of today into handsome rewards for all tomorrow." "This calls for an urgent change in the mindset of Indian entrepreneurs as well as workers," he said adding that though Government would continue to take protective steps, wherever necessary, it was also important to realise that industries could not forever hoped to function behind high tariff barriers or non-tariff measures. Vajpayee suggested that agriculture, industry and services must begin to benchmark themselves against world standards, improve efficiency and increase the quality of every product and adopt better technologies and work practices. (PTI) |
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Globalization friends, foes prepare for Mexico face-off MEXICO CITY, Feb 24: The luxury Mexican Seaside Resort of Cancun sets the next global battle stage for friends and foes of globalization as it hosts the World Economic Forum Mexico meeting 2001 starting Monday. The two-day gathering, sponsored by the influential private enterprise group, will focus on the change mexico underwent last year when, for the first time in more than 70 years, a president outside the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) came to power. Organizers chose "managing new expectations and old challenges" as a theme for the meeting, that will broach economic conditions and business opportunities in Mexico. Conservative Mexican president Vicente Fox, who took office last year, will attend and give the closing speech on Tuesday. Economists and Government officials as well as experts from canada and the United States, Mexico’s partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), who advocate free trade and market policies, will lead roundtable discussions expected to be attended by some 500 foreign delegates. Former Costa Rican President Jose Maria Figueres, a forum official, said the primary goal of the Cancun meeting is to encourage greater foreign investment in Mexico and Central America. Most delegates will thus be businessmen, he said. But activists opposed to globalization who believe world economic trends should be more socially oriented have also set their sights on the Caribbean resort next week. As leftist economists and politicians at the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre, Brazil, wrapped up their gathering last month -billed as a shadow event to the World Economic Forum at Davos, Switzerland - they announced the cancun meeting would top a protest-action agenda. Anti-globalization activists or "globaphobes", who oppose international financial organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, accuse "globalization lovers" of policies that lead to greater poverty and environmental destruction, and turn education and culture into privileges reserved for the rich. Globalization advocates claim the best bet for development in latin america is the creation of a free trade area of the Americas to include nations across the hemisphere. However opponents to globalization - or what they call "neo-liberalism" - say free trade has not wrought positive effects in Mexico and want alternative economic policies to be implemented. According to the Mexican network against free trade, made up of alternative economists and unionists, since NAFTA began in 1994, 8 million middle-class Mexicans joined the ranks of the poor. "The globalization of the ‘neo-liberal’ economic model deepens inequalities," said Hector De La Cueva, a "globalphobe" who is planning to take part in protests at Cancun. The presence of both globalization supporters and critics promises a clash of ideas at the gathering, especially since forum members have recently recognized the existence of opponents whose opinions must be addressed. Anti-globalization advocates have also admitted the need for broad discussions. But in this regard the two groups continue to express conflicting viewpoints. Globalization foes say there should be public debate on the issue, whereas advocates want discussions to be held behind closed doors at the cancun meeting. (DPA) |
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Tunisia offers opportunity to entrepreneurs of Haryana CHANDIGARH, Feb 24: The Ambassador of Tunisia in India, Dr. M S Basly today offered an opportunity to the entrepreneurs of Haryana to set up the units of textiles in Tunisia adding that this country had opened its doors to the entire world and has trade free zone with Europe. The Ambassador, who had a meeting with Haryana Chief Secretary I M Goyal here said that both Tunisia and Haryana could establish a strong frame work for cultural and economic activities. The Ambassador said that tourism was another area offering ample opportunities to the entrepreneurs. It was a flourishing business in Tunisia because of a number of monuments of archeological significance. He said that a new policy had now been introduced to attract tourists by creating a special fund enabling the local bodies to provide better conditions in their localities. Tunisia tourism was in the hands of private sector and the hotels were running their full occupancy, he said, adding that the Government was only providing basic facilities like land, roads and water to this sector. The Chief Secretary said that tourist destinations had been created in Haryana and a large number of foreign tourists were visiting the state. He said Haryana had ample potential for development of infrastructure for tourism. The Ambassador said that Tunisia was in agreement with Europe to export textiles and the country had a great demand for plain fabric and would like Indian companies to have their ventures in Tunisia. The Principal Secretary to Chief Minister S Y Quraishi discussed with the Ambassador the possibility of setting up joint ventures in fertilizer sector as Tunisia was among the prominent producers of fertilizer. The Ambassador said that Tunisia was already a trade partner with IFCO in India. While appreciating the gesture of Haryana Government and the people of the state in providing relief supplies to the quake affected people in Gujarat, Mr Basly said that the himself visited Bhuj as Tunisia was among the first few to land at Bhuj to help the rescue and relief operation. While referring to the strong bilateral relations which Tunisia has with India, he said an Indo-Tunisia friendship society was formed about two decades ago and it had its chapters in some cities in India including Chandigarh, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. The Ambassador was accompanied by Consultate General Khalid Dhia and Secretary General of Unity International R N Anil. Haryana Finance Cooperation Commissioner, M K Miglani, Secretary Tourism Secretary, Harbaksh Singh and Secretary Industries Secretary, S C Chaudhery were among others present in the meeting. (UNI) |
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