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India and Germany agree to institutionalise security talk NEW DELHI, Feb 26: India and Germany today agreed to institutionalise a regular security dialogue at the Defence Minister’s level to focus on new .....more West
Bengal gets a good NEW DELHI, Feb 26: West Bengal, the home state of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, has got a good package in the 2001-02 railway budget......more ATMs
for issuing NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Issuing of tickets through the Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) at major railway stations.....more Mamata
announces NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee today announced in the railway budget (2001-02).......more Tea
industry to launch NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Keeping in view the stagnant per capita....more |
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SPOTLIGHT From B L Kak NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Special vulnerability of women during war has been recognised by a UN tribunal in the wake of the trial, which was .....more Rail
budget pegs plan NEW DELHI, Feb 26: The Railway Budget for 2001-2002 presented in the Lok Sabha today, pegs the annual plan at Rs 11, 090 crore, marking a 11 ...more
Govt
consulting SC on NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Government is consulting the Supreme Court on the need for setting up the apex court’s bench in the south, Law Minister Arun......more |
India and Germany agree to institutionalise security talk NEW DELHI, Feb 26: India and Germany today agreed to institutionalise a regular security dialogue at the Defence Minister’s level to focus on new emerging threats and risks as Berlin greeted New Delhi’s announcement of extension of ceasefire in Jammu and Kashmir as a "very responsible step". The announcement of the initiation of security dialogue to focus on new emerging threats and risks posed by terrorism, ethnic conflicts and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction into unsafe hands came from the visiting German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping on conclusion of his week long visit here which he described as "intensive". Germany would be the second major power in Europe after france and third globally after United States with which India would now have a regular security oriented dialgoue in what is seen here as a new drive towards broader engagement on global security issues. "We perceive India as an indispensable power in the region, with a lot of chances and also lot of challenges", Scharping told a news conference here and hoped that Pakistan would respond to new regional peace initiatives. The German Defence Minister held three rounds of intensive talks with his Indian counterpart George Fernandes and also met External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and National Security Adviser Brajesh Mishra. He was cautious on resumption of military cooperation between the two countries which was suspended after the 1998 Pokhran blasts. Asked if Berlin was ready to resume weapons sales to New Delhi, specially whether it would bid for the major naval submarine building project and collaboration on the MBT Arjun engines, Scharping said it would be a "step by step decision". Saying that though Germany and India had no common borders, the German Defence Minister described the region between the two countries as a "very unstable region" and commented that unlike Washington his country was alive to threats posed by terrorism and ethnic divide. He said Berlin was interested in development of cooperative structures in the Asian region in line with those of Europe for crises management in this region. Scharping said Berlin was in favour of more representative structure of the UN Security Council and hoped that in the ongoimg re-organisation of the world body, both the nations should find representation in it. The German Defence Minister said his country welcomed New Delhi commitment to freeze nuclear testing and hoped that the decision would pave way for India’s ratifying the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). Scharping said the recent visit of German Foreign Minister, Finance Minister followed by his own was to pave the way for a tour to India by Chancellor Schroder in the second half of this year. (PTI) |
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West Bengal gets a good package in rail budget NEW DELHI, Feb 26: West Bengal, the home state of Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, has got a good package in the 2001-02 railway budget with a significant share in new trains, extension of rail services and a 30-bedded hospital at Kolkatta. Of the 24 new trains proposed to be introduced, seven would connect West Bengal to different destination across the country. They are: Asansol-New Jalpaiguri weekly express, Sealdah-New Jalpaiguri bi-weekly express, Howrah-Yashwantpur (Bangalore) bi-weekly express, Howrah-Trivandrum-Nagercoil weekly express, Haldia-Asansol express, Asansol-Jhajha-Amritsar weekly express and Rampurhat-Howrah intercity express. Two of the seven ‘Matribhumi’ express trains to run during peak season with only second class coaches will ply from Howrah to Delhi and Howrah to Dehradun. Frequency of Sealdah-New Delhi Rajdhani express has been increased from two to four days a week while the Sealdah-Darbhanga Ganga Sagar express will run daily instead of four days. The Howrah-Gorakhpur weekly express via Barauni, Ballia and Indara has been extended to provide a direct service between Ballia and Howrah. A 30-bedded hospital is proposed to be set up at tollygunge outdoor clinic to provide indoor medical facilities to metro railway employees at Kolkatta while a new regional rail museum will be set up at Malda for the eastern region. (PTI) |
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ATMs for issuing tickets: Mamata NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Issuing of tickets through the Automatic Teller Machines (ATMs) at major railway stations will be a reality soon, according to the railway budget proposals for 2001-02. Presenting her second budget, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee said among various measures for modernising the railways, it is proposed to instal ATMs at important stations that will later be used for issue of tickets also. For providing quicker information to public, on-line train running position will be available through cable TV/ internet and on cellular phones by connecting national train enquiry system to these systems. To reduce congestion on ticket counters, proposal to use internet kiosks for ticket retailing is also under consideration, Banerjee said. The minister said ticket refunds would be fully computerised on all zonal railways. Top priority would be accorded for providing drinking water, platform shelters, increasing the length of the platform to accommodate longest trains, raising the platform heights, and ensuring adequate seating arrangements, Banerjee said. "In our customer care institute, various training programmes have been initiated to train the front-line staff for better customer service", she said. Computerised information on reservation availability status and train movement status, Banerjee said would be available on all "a class stations". To improve sanitation at stations, a large number of "pay and use" toilets will be provided along with facilities for mechanised cleaning, she said. Banerjee said 74 stations more stations would be upgraded as model stations in addition to existing 210 such stations. Similarly, 71 additional passenger reservation system locations would be set up over and above 670 such locations. She said amenities on the lines given to Rajdhani express trains are to be introduce on 30 trains. (PTI) |
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Govt consulting SC on bench in South: Jaitely NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Government is consulting the Supreme Court on the need for setting up the apex court’s bench in the south, Law Minister Arun Jaitley informed the Rajya Sabha today. "We are in the process of consulting the Supreme Court on the need for setting up its benches in the south and I agree that setting up of such benches will in no way affect the dignity of the apex court," he said responding to supplementaries during question hour. Jaitley said non-filling up of vacancies of judges, inadequate judge strength, increased institution of cases on account of awareness of the rights on the part of the citizens and enactment of numerous laws were some of the reasons behind pendency of cases in different courts. He said two posts of Supreme Court judges, 106 posts of High Court judges and 1400 posts of judges in subordinate courts were lying vacant. The minister said 21,936 cases were pending in the supreme court, 34,33,385 cases in the High Courts, 2,01,86,913 cases in lower courts and over 10,000 cases in industrial tribunal cum labour courts. Besides, 1.8 lakh undertrial prisoners were facing trial in the country on whom Government was spending Rs.361 crore annualy, he said. To a suggestion made by noted legal luminary Fali S Nariman (nominated) that retired judges of High Courts be appointed on adhoc basis, Jaitley favoured appointment of judges on a regular basis and in time. He, however, said no time frame could be fixed for posting of judges and for disposal of cases. Jaitley said Government has appointed a committee of experts to suggest substantial amendment in the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and hoped that use of information technology would speed up disposal of cases. "We will give central grants for computerisation of subordinate courts in the four metros, to begin with," he said. Jaitely also said Government is committed to setting up a National Judicial Commission as promised in the national agenda of governance. "At present discussion is on about the composition of the authority," he said. Senior Congress member Pranab Mukherjee pointed out that a parliamentary standing committee had suggested setting up of a Supreme Court bench in far away south to ameliorate the trouble of litigants in distant places. Earlier, in his written reply, Jaitley said frequent adjournment of cases, rise in population and lawyers’ strike were other reasons behind pendency of cases in courts. He said appointment of judges to the Supreme Court and High Courts were made in accordance with provisions of the constitution and in consultation with constitutional authorities. (PTI) |
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Tea industry to launch advertising blitz to gear consumption NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Keeping in view the stagnant per capita consumption of tea in the country, the industry has decided to launch a promotional campaign from March emphasising on the health aspects of the beverage. "As part of our strategy to promote domestic consumption of tea, the industry will be launching a publicity campaign to propagate the health aspects of tea," Consultative Committee on Plantation Associations Chairman, R S Jhawar, told PTI. He said the idea behind the campaign is to preserve and consolidate the strong domestic support base of over 650 mn kg which had kept the industry in good stead over the years. The campaign would concentrate on propagating the health aspects of tea which had not been portrayed adequately so far leading to many consumers feeling discouraged to take tea. Further, the younger generation was opting for soft drinks and alcohol which had also affected the tea market, he said, adding the campaign includes advertisements in the print and electronic media, addressed to the masses. The major theme of the advertising blitz was on how tea strengthened the defence mechanism in the body by reducing the impact of oxidants. Elaborating on it he said tea was the best source of anti-oxidants and should not be avoided on health grounds, on the contrary its intake should be enhanced. Jhawar said even as the blitz gets underway in early march, the industry will concentrate in producing tea of higher grades which would not only help rope in more customers but also fetch better prices. Jhawar said the industry had so far been comfortably placed as the consumption was growing at a higher rate than the increase in population, indicating that both absolute and per capita consumption of tea were increasing. But the market reports suggested that the rate of growth in tea consumption had halved in recent years and was just about or below that of the population suggesting a halt or a marginal decline in Per Capita Consumption (PCC). Domestic consumption which was pegged at 633 mn kg in 1999 was estimated to be 653 mn kg in 2000. Jhawar hoped that the campaign would improve the image profile of the beverage whose annual Per Capita Consumption (PCC) at around 630 grams was even below pakistan’s one kg per person per annum. The fear in the market is that the country or even globally, the industry could enter a surplus situation leading to a fall in the prices. Medium-term projections by the food and agricultural organisation recently indicated that by 2005, export surpluses available with the producing-countries would surpass the import requirements. Though the projection is disputed by industry sources, it becomes all the more imperative for the industry to expand the domestic market. Jhawar said the domestic campaign was part of the dual strategy to increase both the domestic and export volumes for Indian tea. (PTI) |
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