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| Afghan Airline may be allowed access to funds KABUL, Jan 5: Afghanistan’s state ariana airline may be allowed access to funds frozen by UN sanctions to use for maintenance, a UN official has said......more Govt issues share NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Government today issued initial draft shareholders ...more Farmers are free to NEW DELHI, Jan 5: The Union Government today told the Supreme Court that farmers in the country are ......more India a trajectory to match China for US investments CHENNAI, Jan 5: US and India could face the future global challenges by proceeding arm in arm. ..more |
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Parliamentary
committee finds fault with FCI functioning NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Slamming the Government for mismanagement of the Food Corporation of......more Haldia Petrochemicals KOLKATA, Jan 5: Despite acute financial crisis, the prestigious Rs 5170 crore Haldia....more UK will seek India’s NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Britain will coordinate positions with India to expedite early launch of the.....more MTNL cell phone by NEW DELHI, Jan 5 : Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) today announced the start of its..........more |
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Afghan Airline may be allowed access to funds KABUL, Jan 5: Afghanistan’s state ariana airline may be allowed access to funds frozen by UN sanctions to use for maintenance, a UN official has said. "There are some positive reactions to ariana to have access to some frozen funds. It is logical that these things should be possible," Erick De Mul, the UN co-ordinator for Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul yesterday. Ariana’s assets were frozen as part of the Security Council sanctions ordered in November 1999 in retaliation for the ruling Taliban’s refusal to hand over Saudi-born terrorism suspect Osama Bin Laden for trial in the United States. The sanctions blocked the Taliban’s bank accounts and barred ariana from international flights. Since then, assets estimated at millions of dollars acquired by ariana from overflight charges have accumulated in a special bank account. "There is an account where money is accumulated for overfly fees that can be accessed," De Mul said. "The fund belongs to ariana and it can be unblocked if it is spent for maintenance." He said he would discuss ways of spending the funds with ariana authorities and also the possibility of overseas overhauling of the company’s dilapidated planes. The UN official said the release of these funds would also be aimed at preparing war-shattered Afghanistan’s airports for global air traffic. De Mul said he could not give any timeframe for when the assests could be released. The Taliban Government, which controls most of Afghanistan, has refused to expel Bin Laden who is accused by the United States of masterminding the 1998 bombing of two of its embassies in East Africa that killed more than 200 people. (REUTERS) |
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Govt issues share purchase agreements to IA, AI bidders NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Government today issued initial draft shareholders and share purchase agreements to qualified bidders. The qualified bidders, who were shortlisted on the basis of the minimum networth criterion, have also been asked to finalise their consortium and provide its details besides those relating to the source of their funds, official sources said. The bidders have been asked to submit their initial technical bids, they said. After the bidders file their initial technical bids, these would be screened and security clearance of the consortia would be carried out before the bidders are allowed entry to the data room of the two airlines to carry out the due diligence exercise. The bidders would be asked to finalise the share purchase agreement and the shareholders agreement after they are provided security clearance, the sources said. The bid packs, which have been issued to the qualified interested parties for Air India and Indian Airlines, include information memorandum, initial draft shareholders agreement, initial draft share purchase agreement and request for proposal, an official release said. Government has decided to off-load 40 per cent of its equity in Air India and 26 per cent in Indian Airlines to separate strategic partners. The eligibility criterion for bidding was kept as a minimum net worth of Rs 1,000 crore or 20 million US dollars. While the draft shareholders agreement suggests that the name, logo and the registered office of the airline could only be changed by agreement of all parties including the Government, the registered office must remain within the territorial limits of India. For corporate governance, it proposes that the Government would be entitled to nominate six of a total of eleven directors on the Air India board as long as it holds 40 per cent equity. (PTI) |
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Farmers are free to grow basmati rice: Govt NEW DELHI, Jan 5: The Union Government today told the Supreme Court that farmers in the country are free to grow the basmati rice and do not face any threat from the trans-national corporations following withdrawal of claim over patenting of the basmati by the US-based Ricetek Inc. As such, a hearing should be closed on a public interest petition filed by the Delhi-based Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology against patenting of basmati by the US company, the Government’s counsel urged the Apex Court. Not accepting the request, a three-judge bench comprising Chief Justice A S Anand, Mr Justice R C Lahoti and Mr Justice Brijesh Kumar adjourned the hearing, asking the Solicitor General to file within ten days a signed statement on further measures by the Centre to protect farmers’ interests in this regard. The court noted that Mr Sanjay Parikh, counsel for the petitioner who had examined the draft statement of the Solicitor General submittted to the court earlier, would like to point out something more requiring the attention of the Government. As such, the court asked Mr Parikh to give a copy of his statement to the Solicitor General who after taking into account the same would file a signed statement within ten days to enable the court to close the matter with suitable directions to the Government. The Government’s counsel told the court that the petitioner had used certain harsh words against the Government. To this, the court said it would not permit anything which might be used against the country. Mr Parikh assured the court he would suitably amend his reply to be filed in the court. (UNI) |
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India a trajectory to match China for US investments CHENNAI, Jan 5: US and India could face the future global challenges by proceeding arm in arm and equipped with a common agenda aimed at a much more open economic system, US Ambassador to India Richard F Celeste said today. A fresh perspective in the incoming Bush administration, he hoped, would strive to demonstrate to the Indian public that a much more open system would generate substantial benefit to the Indian economy. Delivering the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Lecture on "building a dynamic Indo US partnership for the 21st century", Celeste said one way to frame this agenda might be "what can india and we (US) do together" to move India onto a trajectory to trade destination for American capital. He said a talent and technology-led revolution was driving the diverse land of India from ‘status quo to the state of the art.’ "This revolution is neither tidy nor comprehensive but its impact is undeniable in the changing aspirations of young indians, numbering about 650 million under the age of 35, and the changing profiles of established and entrepreneurial Indian firms. It is equally evident in the changing nature of the Indo US relationship as we move towards a dynamic partnership for the 21st century" he added. The lecture was organised by the Indo American Chamber of Commerce here. The opportunity to build a dynamic partnership for the 21st century was ripe in the wake of several latest efforts and the ‘extraordinarily successful’ visit of President Clinton to India and ‘well-regarded’ reciprocal gesture by the Indian Prime Minister A B Vajpayee, Celeste said. "The Indian Government has moved beyond doubt and suspicion which left previous Governments ambivalent about identifying common interests and making common cause with us," he said. "The NDA Government has made it clear that it believes a broadbased and robust engagement with US is in India’s national interest," he said. There has been a significant progress in the Indian Government’s willingness to engage with us and move forward on matters as diverse as fighting terrorism and addressing global climate change, as sensitive as enhancing military-to-military relations and jointly developing and testing HIV/AIDS vaccine. This was also true in the case of matters as fundamental as opening markets to US and Indian goods and services. However, he said, ‘it is fair to say that today restraint was much more evident on our (US) side especially in areas like military sales and technology transfer due to our concerns about the still modest progress made in harmonising our respective views on non-proliferation.’ Stating that the path to a truly dynamic Indo-US relationship was not without various obstacles, Celeste said the four issues that would require the two Governments shared attention in the immediate future were trade and economic reform, broad-based development, nuclear non-proliferation and regional security. "Beyond India’s self-imposed moratorium on testing and serious work to strengthen export controls, progress in the matter of nuclear non-proliferation has been grudging," he said, adding the new US adminstration will have to decide early on whether to maintain the current sanctions against India or to adopt a new approach. The US Ambassador said political pressures within the governing Indian coalition and outside had slowed down the Indian reform agenda causing the US investors to tread cautiously when considering India as a destination. "Software and it represent an exception to this rule," he said, adding even with respect to it, the Indian Government has seemed reluctant to support an aggressive "pro-technology stance" within the WTO. Celeste also expressed concern about the tendency on the part of India to replace one kind of trade barrier such as a Quantitative Restriction (QR) with another in the form of higher duties. (PTI) |
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Parliamentary committee finds fault with FCI functioning NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Slamming the Government for mismanagement of the Food Corporation of India (FCI), a parliamentary committee has said huge quantities of foodgrains worth more than Rs 185 crore were placed on "damage" account last year after being allowed to rot in godowns for years. "Not only indigenous but also the stock of imported wheat is lying in godowns for many years thus increasing carrying cost and storage loss", the standing committee on food and public distribution said in its eighth report. Regretting that valuable foodgrains are allowed to decay in godowns for many years, it said that during 1999-2000, a quantity of 205520 mt of foodgrains was placed on damaged account which costs approximately more than Rs 185 crore. While recording its "grave displeasure over the whole issue", the committee strongly recommended that the ministry should devise concrete ways and means to avoid "bureaucratic unfarsightedness" and to curb the prevailing practice in FCI immediately by conducting surprise checks and inspections. "Accountability should be fixed on erring officials", the committee, chaired by Janata Dal (United) leader Devendra Prasad Yadav, said. The report said no concrete and sincere step had been taken by the ministry in adhering to the principle of First-In-First-Out (FIFO) despite repeated recommendations by the committee in this regard. It said storage and transit loss contributed further increase in carrying cost, and Below Poverty Line (BPL) population faced the consequences of the high price rise of foodgrains under Public Distribution System (PDS). The committee was also of the view that in order to safeguard the interest of both the farmers and consumers, which is the foremost duty in a welfare state, the Government should make all efforts to dispose of the old accumulated stock of foodgrains which had become unfit for human consumption without further loss of time. In case the Government is unable to plan disposal of rotten foodgrains, it may adopt a practical approach to clear the storage space even by throwing the foodgrains into deep sea or otherwise before the onset of the rabi season so that new arrival of crops do not suffer for want of sufficient storage, the report said. The committee recommended that concrete efforts should be made by organising more surprise checks for physical verification of different godowns of FCI throughout the country so that stocked foodgrains should not accumulate for more than a year. (PTI) |
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Haldia Petrochemicals claim
phenomenal KOLKATA, Jan 5: Despite acute financial crisis, the prestigious Rs 5170 crore Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd has claimed to have achieved "phenomenal growth performance" in six months of operation. Haldia Petrochemicals, a joint venture between West Bengal Government, Chatterjee Group and the Tatas, ended the year 2000 on a high note with a record rise in sales volume, the company said in a press release here. "The company has triggered off a phenomenal growth performance since it made its first despatch in June last year," the release said. The sales volume crossed 64,000 tonne in December showing a 49 per cent growth over the previous month’s figures. It said December sales was also equivalent to 91 per cent capacity utilisation while claiming that within six months of start up it has captured a 15 per cent market share. The company also plans to ramp up capacity utilisation as softening up of the naphtha prices has improved margins thus easing the tight liquidity position. Incidentally, the ‘phenomenal growth’ performance came amidst growing financial crisis faced by the massive project recently due to huge debt burden and attempts to rope in public sector Indian Oil Corporation as the fourth partner to ease the situation. Only last week West Bengal Commerce and Industry Minister Bansagopal Chaudhury had conceded "there is indeed some financial crisis in HPL and IOC’s entry as fourth partner in the project will help in removing that hurdle in smooth functioning of the prestigious project". (PTI) |
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UK will seek India’s
support in WTO reforms, NEW DELHI, Jan 5: Britain will coordinate positions with India to expedite early launch of the new round of multilateral trade negotiations including reforms in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Apart from this, high on the agenda of the 6-day visit of UK Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Stephen Byers, is boosting bilateral trade which has grown by 33 per cent and was expected to touch five billion pounds this year. Briefing reporters on byers’ visit beginning tomorrow, British High Commissioner to India Sir Rob Young said that furthering bilateral cooperations in defence, education, visa regime and financial services would figure prominently in the discussions with Indian leaders. Accompanied by a senior business delegation, byers would meet Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha, Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran, Power Minister Suresh Prabhu, Minister for External Affairs Jaswant Singh, Defence Minister George Fernandes, SSI Minister Vasundhara Raje in Delhi and call on Reserve Bank Governor Bimal Jalan in Mumbai on January 11. "WTO will certainly be the main issue of discussion with Commerce Minister," Sir Rob said, adding UK wants to see reforms within the organisation and the launch of the new WTO round of talks as soon as possible. The new Indo-British initiatives would also include setting up an Indo-British trade office in Hyderabad, support for export credit, launch of ‘enterprise initiative: India’ targeting 200 new Indo-UK partnerships in the small and medium scale sector by 2002 and ‘get connected’ programme promoting IT education and training. (PTI) |
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MTNL cell phone by Jan 31;
introduces free NEW DELHI, Jan 5 : Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) today announced the start of its much-awaited mobile services in Delhi on January 31 and in Mumbai on February 28, for which the registration would start from January 15 and February 15 respectively. "The tariffs will be announced after taking approval from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)," Communication Minister Ram Vilas Paswan told reporters here. To begin with, MTNL has created a capacity of upto one lakh subscribers each in Delhi and Mumbai, Paswan said adding the services would be competitively priced. He also announced introduction of answering facility equivalent to voice-mail services to its fixed telephone subscribers both in Delhi and Mumbai without any additional charge. The facility would be provided with effect from republic day this year. Asked about the proposed tariff for MTNL’s cellular services, Paswan said the "tariffs will meet people’s expectations," but refused to indicate any tentative tariffs. (PTI) |
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