|
|
India should allow NEW DELHI, July 19: An eminent international rice breeder says transgenic BT cotton holds a great promise for Indian farmers as the traditional crop ...........more Rabri
to inaugurate a PATNA, July 19: Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi will inaugurate a bridge on the Ganga at Bhagalpur on July 23. .........more IRDA floats idea of NEW DELHI, July 19: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Chairman N Rangachary today floated a novel idea of "pension .....more |
 |
50 lakh pilgrims HARDWAR, July 19: A record 50 lakh pilgrims took holy dip in river Ganga during the 15-day long ‘Shravan Kanwaria Mela’ which concluded here today, official sources said. .....more Postal
Deptt to CHENNAI, July 19: In keeping pace with the technological advancements, the Postal Department will soon be launching "speednet", speedpost track .......more New
round of trade negotiations NEW DELHI, July 19: It is in India’s long-term economic interests to declare support for launch of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations at the ......more |
 |
|
|
|
Rabri to inaugurate a bridge on Ganga on July 23 PATNA, July 19: Bihar Chief Minister Rabri Devi will inaugurate a bridge on the Ganga at Bhagalpur on July 23. State Road Construction Minister Abdul Bari Sidiqqui said here today that the bridge had been constructed with the State Governnment’s resources only and no central assistance was sought in this connection. He said the bridge, named Vikramshila, would be the second largest bridge after the Mahatma Gandhi Setu in the state capital. There are bridges over the ganga at Buxar and Mokamah also. The bridge’s total length is 4367.20 metre and Rs.168 crore was spent on its construction, he informed. Mr Sidiqqui said the Bhagalpur bridge would have 9,000 metre and 1,600 metre long north and south approach road respectively and would have pedestrian pathways of 1.50 metre wide on each side. The width of the bridge would be 7.50 metre. He said the foundation stone for the bridge was laid by former Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav on April 5, 2001 and the construction work was completed on June 30, 2001. The bridge would reduce the distance between north and south Bihar besides tourists from north eastern states would have to cover less distances to visit the state. He said farmers producing bananas would also benefit from the opening of the bridge. (UNI) |
|
IRDA floats idea of "pension bonds" at face value of Rs 100 NEW DELHI, July 19: Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) Chairman N Rangachary today floated a novel idea of "pension bonds" worth Rs 100 and higher denominations in a bid to popularise social security schemes among unorganised and self-employed sectors. The bonds which would be at affordable price and having long-term maturity period would be repayed in the form of pension after the person retires, Rangachary told reporters on the sidelines of a function of the insurance ombudsman. The bonds would not bear any interest as offered by other bonds, he said. He said the bonds could be "non-transferable" with face value of Rs 100 or higher denomination of Rs 1,000. The amount has been kept low keeping in mind the unorganised sector. The bonds would also facilitate self-employed persons who might not be able to pay a handsome premium regularly but would like to have a pension stream in the future years. The concept is being floated for comments and if accepted the regulator would decide who would float the bonds —Government or IRDA, who would administer and manage it and the different channels through which the bonds could be sold. Rangachary said banks and post offices could be used to sell the bonds. He also assured that persons investing in these pension bonds would get tax exemptions as is the case with other annuity schemes. The income bracket to which a major population of the unorganised sector belongs would get tax exemptions any way, he said. (PTI) |
|
50 lakh pilgrims visited Hardwar HARDWAR, July 19: A record 50 lakh pilgrims took holy dip in river Ganga during the 15-day long ‘Shravan Kanwaria Mela’ which concluded here today, official sources said. Pilgrims also paid obeisance at the famous Neelkanth temple in the hills of Pouri district, they said. Dressed in saffron robes and holding ‘Kanwars’ (Jar filled with Ganga water), pilgrims trekked back home after performing rituals. "This is a sort of record in terms of pilgrims visiting hardwar during the month of Shravan. We have deployed two companies of Rapid Action Force, six of PAC and 1,000 policemen during the Mela," Uttaranchal Director General of Police (DGP) Ashok Kant Sharan told newsmen. No untoward incident was reported during the Mela, he said adding 300 NCC cadets made "laudable contribution in managing the congregration." Traffic on the Delhi-Hardwar highway remained suspended during the Mela period, the DGP said. However, he said police is taking up the issue of opening an alternative route for pilgrims in future so that people coming to Uttaranchal do not face any inconvenience during the Mela. (PTI) |
|
Postal Deptt to launch speednet CHENNAI, July 19: In keeping pace with the technological advancements, the Postal Department will soon be launching "speednet", speedpost track and trace system—to provide online tracking of delivery and movement of domestic speedpost in the country. The speednet, for the first time in India, was under trial run and would be launched in all the 120 speedpost centres in the country soon, Mr John Samuel, Additional General Manager (Business Development) Department of Posts, told newspersons here yesterday. Displaying the trial run to the media, he said the speednet application package was an in-house product developed by a team of software professionals at the technology centre, Postal Training Centre, Mysore. The package automates the booking, despatch and delivery work at the speedpost centres (post offices) and was integrated with the internet communication. Each speedpost centre, booking office, delivery office, transit mail office, customer care centre and the manager would have an internet account with a local ISP. A centralised database would be linked to the inter-net. Mr Samuel said the booking counters would be using the bar code stickers on each article booked, to facilitate its scanning and put the details into the system. The speed post item would be scanned at all points of it journey and transmitted to the central server to get information through internet. By entering the bar code number, the internet would provide the customer the details of when and who had delivered the article and at what time. The details would be available in internet for a period of one month and later would be stored in archives for a year, he added. (UNI) |
|
New round of trade
negotiations NEW DELHI, July 19: It is in India’s long-term economic interests to declare support for launch of a new round of multilateral trade negotiations at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) focussed on traditional issues of market access with implementation issues rolled in, experts say. The sooner India announces its support for a new round,the greater will be its influence in setting the agenda for the negotiations, the experts said in a statement issued following a meeting here among them to discuss the coming ministerial meeting of the WTO at Doha. The group of economists, financial editors and trade policy experts who met at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations (ICRIER) said India should use the opportunity of the new round to renegotiate lower tariffs in industrial countries on products exported by it in return for binding its own tariffs at lower levels. In this context,they noted that over the past few years, successive Governments in the country have reiterated their intentions to further reduce the prevailing high levels of customs tariffs. The statement was signed by Dr Isher Judge Ahluwalia, Prof T N Srinvasan, Mr B K Zutsi, Prof Anwar Hoda, Mr Jairam Ramesh, Dr Bibek Debroy, Mr T N Ninan and Dr Sanjay Baru. Implementation of the Uruguay round commitments is clearly important, they said. The past few years have also revealed several weaknesses and imbalances in the WTO agreement, especially in regard to anti-dumping measures,counterveiling duties, intellectual property rights, sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures, technical standards and regulations and trade-related investment measures such as local content requirements. We believe these weaknesses and imbalances can be remedied only in the context of a full-fledged new round, they said. The world economy is in the midst of a slowdown which is already fuelling a resurgence of protectionism. In this context, it is important that trade ministers launch a new round of multilateral trade negotiations when they meet in Doha in November this year. Past experience suggests that the commencement of a new round checks the protectionist forces worlwide. A new round of multilateral trade negotiations focussed on market access issues in agriculture, services and industry products is in the best interest of both India and the international community. By denying or delaying support for a new round, India risks reducing her effectiveness in the negotiations bound to commence sooner or later. The economists noted that across the world several large regional and preferential trading arrangements are being formed or are being deepened and widened. They exclude India. Liberalisation of trade on non-discriminatory, multilateral basis through a new round is the best way in which India can hope to minimise the adverse effects of these regional arrangements for its trade in goods and services. It also noted that WTO negotiations on agricultural and services are already going on as part of the commitment under the Uruguay round and the Indian Government is participating in these. We believe that we can gain more if the market access issues under consideration are widened to include industrial tariffs, the experts said. (UNI) |
|
CAG finds 54 pc funds under MPLAD remain unspent in Goa PANAJI, July 18: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has found that 54 per cent of the total funds available under the Members of Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) scheme had remained unspent in Goa as on March 2000. In its report for the year ended March 2000 tabled in the State Assembly last evening, the CAG said of the available funds of Rs 1114.45 lakh during 1997-98 to 1999-2000, the actual expenditure on works was only Rs 511.65 lakh. Pointing out that an amount of Rs 307.26 lakh was additionally booked as expenditure but not incurred, the report said Rs 139.83 lakh was lying with the nodal agency and Rs 133.71 lakh remained unspent with the implementing agencies. Thus 54 per cent of the available funds did not lead to any execution of works, the report added. Refering to physical achievements under the scheme, the report pointed out that only 158 out of the 190 sanctioned works were taken up during 1997-98 to 1999-2000. Of these 92 works were completed by the end of March 2000 and the remaining 66 works are in progress. Although the Members of Parliament had submitted 506 proposals upto the end of March last year, only 190 proposals were sanctioned by the nodal agency and the remaining 316 did not get sanction for reasons not being covered under guidelines and also the non-availability of clear land for taking up such projects. Observing that no proper monitoring of the scheme was done at the level of District Collectors and the Government, the CAG report stated that as per the guidelines of the scheme, monitoring through inspection of the works was important. The District Collectors were required to inspect atleast ten per cent of the works taken up under the scheme every year, while senior officers of implementing agencies of these works were required to visit regularly and ascertain through such field visits that the works implemented by them are progressing satisfactorily. Besides, they have to ensure that execution of works are in accordance with the prescribed procedure and specifications. The report pointed out that in respect of works executed in north goa district, it was noticed that the Collector mentioned no such inspection could be arranged due to work load. The north goa Collector also did not furnish the monthly progress report to the Ministry of Programme Implementation due to same reasons. However, South Goa District Collector furnished such report every alternate month saying that the monthly reports were not received from the executing agencies, the CAG report stated adding that it was also noticed that no monitoring of the scheme was done at the level of Secretariat Department. The MPLAD scheme, which was announced in Parliament in December 1993 by the then Prime Minister, is aimed to enable the Members of Parliament to recommend works of capital nature to be taken up in their constituencies. The tiny state of Goa is represented in Parliament by three Members of Parliament of whom two belonged to the Lok Sabha and one belonged to the Rajya Sabha. (UNI) |
|
9 power projects will soon be advertised: Dhumal SHIMLA, July 18: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal announced that nine power projects, with total capacity of 450 mw, were being advertised soon for execution by private sector in the state. These are Sainj (100), Malana-two (100), Dhavla Sidh (46), Chirgaon, Majhgaon (46), Podital Lassa (36), Dangu Romai (44), Saiahoti (17), Lambadug (15) and Bargaon (10.5). Talking to newsmen here yesterday he said the Government had received techno-economic clearance from the Central Government for execution of the Dhamwari Sundra (70) project in Shimla by the private sector. The Chief Minister said that after completion of the Malana project (86 mw) in Kullu district in less than three years a new confidence had been instilled among independent power producers and they were evincing keen interest to invest in hydel generation in the state. The myth that hydel power exploitation was time consuming had been removed, he added. Mr Dhumal said that his Government had given top priority to hydel power generation and initiated work on various projects having aggregate capacity of 7155 mw, in the last three years. He said that work on one phase of the 1500-mw Nathpa Jhakri Power Project was likely to be commissioned by December 2002 which would give an income of about Rs 200 crore annually to the state. Thereafter several projects would go on stream one after another. Such as Baspa 300 mw in 2003, 126 mw Larji in 2004, 300 mw Chamera hydel stage 11 in 2004 and so on. He said that after having generated 10,000 mw additional power by 2010 the state would become self sufficient. The Chief Minister said that because of cheap power generation in the state the Government had allowed private power producers to make captive use of the power and allowed them to sell it outside the state. This will attract big business houses to invest in power production in Himachal Pradesh in a big way. (UNI) |
|
|
