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37 contracts for building NHs given to Indians NEW DELHI, Mar 12: As many as thirtyseven of the 57 contracts awarded for building national highways have been given to Indians, the Lok Sabha...more
Govt may float separate company for crop insurance NEW DELHI, Mar 12: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today announced in the Lok Sabha that Government was considering floating a separate ...more ‘Action being taken for disinvestment in 31 units’ NEW DELHI, Mar 12: The Government has informed the Rajya Sabha that action is presently being taken for disinvestment in 31 public sector ...more Govt
clears 19 FDI proposals worth NEW DELHI, Mar 12: Norcool India’s Rs 97 crore and Bharti Duraline’s Rs 60 crore proposals were among the 19 Foreig..more |
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Singapore to BANGALORE, Mar 12: Singapore today putforth a four point formula to establish an Asian information technology belt to meet the challenge of the new economy In his keynote address to the 12th Asia Society Corporate Conference here, Singapore Minister of Communications and Information Technology......more Haryana
to cover CHANDIGARH, Mar 12: Haryana plans to cover an area of 50,000 hectares under sunflower crop during the rabi season of the current financial year with a production target of 70,000 tonnes. Special emphasises is being laid to increase the area under horticulture crops. The area under fruit cultivation is likely to increase during the current......more SEBI
guidelines check NEW DELHI, Mar 12: Fresh guidelines announced by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) appeared to have the desired impact on the..more VRS
for port, dock NEW DELHI, Mar 12: The Government has directed all ports and dock labour boards to keep the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for employees and workers open till March 31, 2001, the Rajya Sabha was informed today. .....more |
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37 contracts for building NHs given to Indians NEW DELHI, Mar 12: As many as thirtyseven of the 57 contracts awarded for building national highways have been given to Indians, the Lok Sabha was told today during question hour. Denying the charge that large-scale contracts had been awarded to foreign parties, Road Transport and Highways Minister Bhuvan Chandra Khanduri said fourteen contracts had been given on a joint collaboration basis (with one party being indian) while only six had been given to foreign groups. While six of the seven contracts given to Malaysian parties were in the joint sector, the minister denied award of contract to any Chinese company. The contracts had been awarded to the lowest bid after a due process of certain pre-qualification criteria which included a provision that the company must have 80 per cent of the funds for the project. The minister said a joint advisory committee of ten members had been set up for suggesting any difficulties in connection with implementation of the national highways projects and denied constitution of any joint committee with the World Bank. Major General Khanduri said a high-powered committee headed by him and with Transport Ministers from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal setup to study issues like the motor vehicle tax region, system of one-time payment of road tax, and uniformity in the rate of composite tax for national permit. He said the Government would prefer a uniform rate of road tax and motor vehicle tax in the country but this was a state subject and the decision would therefore depend on the respective states. An amount of about Rs 60,000 crore had been set aside for the northern quadrangle project on national highways. The cost on the national highways may work out to up to Rs three to five crore per kilometre, he said. Meanwhile, he said that Indian companies in joint sector were funding only 40 per cent, which was even lower than the standards laid down by the World Bank. Thus, Indian companies had been given a level-playing field. He said all the relevant prequalification criteria for award of contracts were available on the National Highways Authority of India website www.Nhai.Org. (UNI) |
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Govt may float separate company for crop insurance NEW DELHI, Mar 12: Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha today announced in the Lok Sabha that Government was considering floating a separate insurance company to cover crop insurance and repudiated opposition charge that subsidiaries of General Insurance Company (GIC) were being de-linked to help private sector insurance business. Responding to allegations of CPI-M member Rupchand Pal that four subsidiaries were being de-linked from GIC to boost operations of private insurance firms, Sinha said "it was now proposed to transfer back to the subsidiary companies (vested in GIC) by making necessary amendment in General Insurance Business Act (GIBNA), 1972." Moving the bill to amend GIBNA, he said GIC would undertake re-insurance business since the country was losing millions of US dollars as it had not devoted due attention to the re-insurance sector. "The Central Government has decided to entrust re-insurance business to GIC and de-link its four subsidiary companies carrying on geneess," he said, adding that civil aviation insurance currently being handled by GIC would be taken over by new India assurance company. "Discussions are being held for floating a separate insurance company for crop insurance," the Finance Minister said. Strongly contesting the opposition charge that Government had by-passed Parliament by assigning GIC to carry out re-insurance business since November last, Sinha said Government reviving the directions without losing time. The bill proposes to de-link GIC from its subsidiaries by making necessary amendments in the GIBNA, while the underwriting of civil aviation and crop insurance business by GIC would be dealt with administratively, the statement of objects and reasons of the amendment said. The GIBNA provided that the share capital of insurance companies which stood transferred to and vested in the Central Government was immediately transferred to the GIC. The amendment now proposes to transfer back to the centre the share capital of the subsidiary companies. Opposing the introduction of the proposed legislation, Pal said that the de-linking process had been initiated in november and parliament kept in the dark during the winter session. Government’s objective, he alleged, was to help private operators by weakening general insurance and de-linking the four subsidiaries of GIC. (PTI) |
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‘Action being taken for disinvestment in 31 units’ NEW DELHI, Mar 12: The Government has informed the Rajya Sabha that action is presently being taken for disinvestment in 31 public sector enterprises/subsidiaries of the public sector enterprises. The Minister of State for Disinvestment Mr Arun Shourie has said in a written reply that as per the policy decision, the Government’s equity will be brought down to 26 per cent or below in non strategic central sector undertakings. The strategic public sector enterprises are those in the areas of arms and ammunitions and the allied items of defence equipments and atomic energy, except in the areas relating to generation of nuclear power and applications of radiation, radio isotopes to agriculture, medicine in non strategic industries and railway transport. This policy does not classify enterprises by the criterion of whether or not they are earning profits, he said. Term extended : The term of the national commission to review the working of the constitution has been extended upto October 31 this year, the Rajya Sabha was informed during question hour. Judicial Commission : The Minister of State for Law Arun Jaitley has said that a proposal for setting up a National Judicial Commission to recommend judicial appointments in High Courts and the Supreme Court as also to draw up a code of ethics for the judiciary is under the consideration of the Government. Pendency of cases: Mr Jaitley said that there is a steep decline in the pendency of cases in the Supreme Court of India over the years. The pendency of cases which was 1,04,936 as on december 31, 1991, has come down to 19,806 as on October 10, 1998 and then slightly increased to 21,936 as on February 1, 2001. However, in the case of High Courts there is an increase of cases over the years. As per the available information, the pendency of cases, which was about 32.04 lakh cases as on December 31, 1998, has increased to about 33.65 lakh cases by the end of the year 1999. (UNI) |
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Govt clears 19 FDI proposals worth Rs 217 crore NEW DELHI, Mar 12: Norcool India’s Rs 97 crore and Bharti Duraline’s Rs 60 crore proposals were among the 19 Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposals totalling Rs 217 crore cleared by the Government today. While Norcool will invest the amount, which will be brought in by converting loan into equity, to produce refrigeration units; Bharti Duraline will become a 100 per cent foreign-owned company after this approval, to manufacture telecommunication products, as per an official statement issued here. While radiant group was given approval to bring in Rs 23 crore FDI for software development, UCB SA of Belgium will invest Rs 17.29 crore to again increase foreign holding to 100 per cent from the present 50.99 per cent, it said. Also, Analjit Singh-promoted MAA has been granted permission to bring Rs 2.56 crore for manufacturing bulk drugs so that foreign equity holding in the company goes up by 21 per cent to 95 per cent. The Government also cleared telecom major RPG Cellular’s proposal to invest Rs 9.3 crore, which will be invested in group companies and in operating cellular services. In yet another one by the RPG group, Rs 2.1 crore will be brought into India for financing telecom projects via RPG communications holdings. Also, Alfa Laval India will bring Rs 2.47 crore FDI to manufacture flow equipment and thus increase foreign equity holding to 100 per cent. In the infotech sector, two proposals for software development in India were cleared apart from radiant; New Horizons Cybersoft will conduct equity swap issue of two million shares amounting to Rs eight crore, while IT Microsystems India will increase foreign holding fractionally to bring in Rs one lakh worth FDI. (PTI) |
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Singapore to establish Asian IT belt BANGALORE, Mar 12: Singapore today putforth a four point formula to establish an Asian information technology belt to meet the challenge of the new economy. In his keynote address to the 12th Asia Society Corporate Conference here, Singapore Minister of Communications and Information Technology Yeo Chew Tong said countries and cities of the vast continent should seamlessly network to emerge as the Silicon Valley of the east by tapping on the new business opportunities within the region. The four points he suggested for Asia emerging as a thriving it belt were creation of an Asian cyber-market place, setting up suitable mechanism to tap capital market, scouting and nurturing the e-talent in the region and an Asian emerge as a credible thought leader for various issues in the infocomm sector. Stating that the conference was meeting in a climate of economic uncertainty in view of the economic slowdown in the United States, Mr Tong said the new economy has come to stay and every Asian country should think about moving the industry and its society into the internet age. Later talking to newsmen, Mr Tong said the it belt idea was still in its infancy stage and the nitty gritty of its evolution need to be thrashed out through bilateral and multilateral discussions among the countries of the region. He said already there were certain working relations among the countries of the region in some areas of it and they needed to be broadbased further. As an example he cited the move to have a e-passport between Malaysia and his country to allow free flow of technocrats between the two countries and the tie-up between centres of higher learning in India and his country for student exchange programmes. Singapore has also collaborated with Indian companies to establish infrastructure bases such as the information technology park here and the partnership deal signed recently for a submarine cable link between Singapore, Chennai and Mumbai. He said the winds of change blowing across the continent should be harnessed effectively to help speed up Asia’s development. It had been going through a huge business transformation and many Asian economies which were till recently manufacturing locations for multinationals or manufacturing subcontractors have changed for the better due to the rapid growth of the market. This has become possible due to rising education and skill levels and increasing recognition that countries must open up and plug into the global economy. "There is a wave of hi-tech start ups driven by innovation" he added. Mr Tong said the linkup with the Asian IT community was already beginning to happen in northeast Asia. South Korea was actively discussing with Japan and China to coordinate and standardise future developments in it, mobile telephony and the internet. India and singapore strengthened bilateral ties through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for infocomm collaborations signed last year. Since then there have been a series of trade missions and visits leading to strategic alliances between some of the infocomm companies. He said Asian countries should create a shared e-market place by jointly developing a software infrastructure. This included the building of a common secure Public Key Infrastrucutre (PKI), creation of e-business standards and appropriate regulatory regimes on e-transactions and consumer protection. Japan has already initiated the formation of an Asia wide PKI Forum. He said apart from developing a robust capital market, the critical piece for building the Asian IT belt was the need to grow and retain talent with in Asia. There was need to enable free flow of talent among countries of the continent and countries could explore the possibility of allowing infocomm professionals travel freely within the region without the need for visas. He said increasing pace of economic deregulation in several countries of asia was an encouraging sign as it would lead to enhanced competitiveness and economic growth. Several Asian countries, including India have taken bold steps to open up telecom markets. The continent was moving in the right direction and the process could be accelerated if the countries work closely together even as they compete at the global level. (UNI) |
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Haryana to cover 50,000 hectares under sunflower crop CHANDIGARH, Mar 12: Haryana plans to cover an area of 50,000 hectares under sunflower crop during the rabi season of the current financial year with a production target of 70,000 tonnes. Special emphasises is being laid to increase the area under horticulture crops. The area under fruit cultivation is likely to increase during the current year from 28,629 hectares to 30,629 hectares, an official spokesman said here yesterday. He said the area under fruit production had increased consi-derably from 12,40 hectares with 99,800 tonnes of fruit during 1990-91 to 28,629 hectares and 2,12,000 tonnes by the end of 1999-2000, respectively. It was likely to increase to 30,629 hectares and 2.30 lakh tonnes by the end of this financial year. He said this year production of mushrooms would touch the mark of 41,000 tonnes as against the 3200 tonnes during 1999-2000. "This year area coverage and production of vegetables was likely to touch 1.30 lakh hectares with a production of 20,00 lakh tonnes." The spokesman said shortage of water was a major problem in the state and it was extremly necessary to conserve water resources to make optimum use by adopting new technologies like drip and other micro irrigation systems as these technologies are gaining popularity among the farming community. "By the end of 1999-2000, 2302 hectares area had been covered under drip and micro irrigation systems and another 300 hectares is expected to be covered during the current fiscal." He said that green house technology was highly effective in producing off-season vegetables and flowers. "The department had successed in popularising this technology among the farmers and by the end of 1999-2000, 145 green houses had been set up". He said that with a view to encourage judicious use of water, sprinkler irrigation system continues to gain popularity and priority. During the current financial year as many as 5,000 sprinkler sets were being installed raising the number to 79,660 in the state the spokesman added. (UNI) |
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SEBI guidelines check free fall in shares NEW DELHI, Mar 12: Fresh guidelines announced by Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) appeared to have the desired impact on the stock market today with the free fall of share prices at bourses contained. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), which opened lower at 3862.63 from previous close of 3881.96 soon recovered to cross 3900-level during the first 30 minutes of trading. SEBI yesterday increased the additional margin "end of the day" net outstanding sale position of all scrips in carry forward segment to 25 per cent from the 10 per cent introduced temporarily on March five. SEBI chief D R Mehta also met the Union Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and other senior officials to discuss and further curb the volatility in the stock markets. At the Delhi Stock Exchange, in thin trading after the new norms issued by SEBI, share prices moved in a narrow range before settling down with small-either-side adjustments. "The SEBI norms have given a positive impact and gripped the bears from any further hammering," said a DSE broker. The share prices of new economy stocks like Infosys, NIIT, Aptech, Wipro, Digital and DSQ Software, Global Telesystem and HFCL were quoted lower from their previous closings. However, the fall was not as sharp as in the last few trading sessions. (PTI) |
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VRS for port, dock workers open till March 31 NEW DELHI, Mar 12: The Government has directed all ports and dock labour boards to keep the Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS) for employees and workers open till March 31, 2001, the Rajya Sabha was informed today. Under the scheme, an employee who has completed ten years of service or completed 40 years of age may seek voluntary retirement by a written request, Minister of State for Shipping Hukumdeo Narayan Yadav said in a written reply. The terminal payments available to employees opting for VRS are the balance in their provident fund account payable as per GPF/CPF regulations, cash equivalent of accumulated earned leave as per rules of the port trust/dock labour board, gratuity as per gratuity act, one month’s/three months’ notice pay and pension, Mr Yadav informed. The port trusts and dock labour boards will have the right not to grant voluntary retirement for reasons to be recorded in writing, he added. To another query, the minister said during the 9th plan (1997-2002) a total of 157 mt capacity is expected to be added in major ports. This is against the planned capacity addition of 159 mt through various spill over schemes of the 8th plan and new schemes of the 9th plan, he said. Marriage registration: Compulsory registration of Hindu marriages is a matter that can be considered by the State Governments as per the local situation prevailing in those states, Law Minister Arun Jaitley told the Upper House. Registration of marriages solemnised or contracted under the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936 and the Special Marriage Act, 1954 is compulsory. Section 8 of the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955 provides that if the State Government is of the opinion that it is necessary or expedient to do so, it may provide that the entering of the particulars of Hindu marriages in the Hindu marriage register shall be compulsory, Mr Jaitley said in a written response. (UNI) |
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