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Finance Bill given NEW DELHI, May 15: The Finance Bill, 2001, approved by Parliament during the last week of April, has received Presidential assent, according to official sources...........more Haryana
Cooperative CHANDIGARH, May 15: Haryana State Cooperative Banks has decided to advance Rs 73.47 cr for farm mechanisation, Rs 39.66 crore for minor ....more US
official warns trade STRASBOURG, FRANCE, May 15: A top US trade official has said it would be like dropping a nuclear bomb on the trade system if the European Union....more Plans
to upgrade NEW DELHI, May 15: Rajasthan Tourism Minister Bina Kak today said the Government was planning to upgrade the Jaipur airport to internationa....more |
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Govt proposes addl NEW DELHI, May 15: Union Law and Justice Ministry today submitted before the Delhi High Court that Government is actively considering to set up.....more 10
India-Malaysian pacts KUALA LUMPUR, May 15: Ten agreements were signed today between India and Malaysia at business and institutional levels including one for joint ......more ER
DCI-T bags THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, May 15: The Electronics Research and Development Centre- Thiruvananthapuram (ER DCI-T) has bagged a ....more Northern
Railway NEW DELHI, May 15: To ensure faster processing of the records of its employees including manpower planning and recruitments.....more |
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Haryana Cooperative Banks to advance Rs 290 crore CHANDIGARH, May 15: Haryana State Cooperative Banks has decided to advance Rs 73.47 cr for farm mechanisation, Rs 39.66 crore for minor irrigation, Rs 19.07 crore for non farm sector, Rs 12.96 crore for horticulture and farm forestry and 2.85 lakh for land development. As much as Rs 22.28 cr had been advanced for purchase of agriculture land, construction of farm houses, cattle sheds, repair of tubewells and purchase of agriculture implements. He said since the inception of the bank in 1966, the bank had advanced loans worth Rs 2310.15 cr to all sectors of the society for improving their living standard. He said the bank was also implementing a new scheme titled "integrated dairy development project" for the districts of Mohindergarh and Bhiwani. Under this scheme a subsidy in the shape of margin money of Rs 7500 per unit is available. Badana said the bank had recently started financing harvesters and straw reapers also with the loan limit upto 85 per cent of the cost of the machine. He said loans upto a maximum of Rs 2 lakh were provided to the eligible loanee for purchase of land whereas Rs 45000 advanced for redemption of agricultural land. He said the bank was also giving liberal loans for promotion of floriculture in the state so that farmers and unemployed youth could initiate these ventures. Under this innovative scheme, Rs 1.18 lakh per acre is advanced for floriculture crops like gradiolus. The repayment period of this loan was six years. (PTI) |
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US official warns trade row with EU could explode STRASBOURG, FRANCE, May 15: A top US trade official has said it would be like dropping a nuclear bomb on the trade system if the European Union carried out a threat to impose 4 billion of sanctions on US goods in a trade row. Robert Zoellick, the new US trade representative, yesterday warned the transatlantic dispute over a US tax break scheme for businesses could explode if handled incorrectly. "I am concerned that a case that involves ... 4 billion worth of trade and a case that goes to the heart of national tax systems could lead to a dispute that gets out of control," Zoellick told the European Parliament’s industry committee. "There’s no doubt that if it starts to go into affecting that much trade, it’s like using a nuclear weapon on the trading system." The WTO ruled last year that the US Foreign Sales Corporation (FSC) programme, which granted around 4 billion a year in tax breaks to major US exporters, was an illegal export subsidy. The United States changed the law, but the EU contends the new version is no better than the old one. Both sides agreed to let the WTO arbitrate and a WTO disputes panel is expected to rule soon on which side is right. If the EU wins again, it has given notice it could seek WTO authorisation to impose up to 4 billion a year of sanctions on US goods. Zoellick warned the FSC dispute could blow up just before the next EU-US summit, scheduled for mid-June in Gothenburg, Sweden. That is just months before a November WTO meeting in Qatar at which both sides say they want to launch a new round of global trade liberalisation talks. "In the run-up to the US-EU summit in June and considering the decisions we will have to try and take to try and launch the WTO round, I think it is particularly important that we work together constructively on the Foreign Sales Corporation WTO case. If it is handled poorly, this dispute could explode right before the summit ...," Zoellick said. The FSC dispute is just one of a series of trade rows that has pitted the EU against the United States. The United States won WTO cases against the EU on Bananas and Hormone-treated beef, while the EU has pursued a series of WTO cases against the United States over FSC, steel and US trade laws. Zoellick complained the EU appeared to be targetting the United States for WTO cases. "In recent years it has seemed to US that the EU has focused it efforts ... On the United States as opposed to other countries. We honestly don’t understand this approach. Europe faces relatively few barriers in the US, but does encounter many in the rest of the world. So why not focus on places where you have more to gain?" he asked. The EU and the United States should be more creative in solving trade disputes and suggested talks between the two, rather than cases at the WTO, was the best way to defuse disputes such as the one over FSCs. Zoellick said the agenda for a new WTO round would have to be practical and appeal to all members if the process were to move forward. One reason why the 1999 WTO conference in Seattle failed to launch a trade round was because of the defensive attitude adopted by the major trading powers — the United States, Europe and Japan. "That is not a formula for success ... Part of the reason why I am here in Europe this week is to work with (EU trade) Commissioner (Pascal) Lamy and others to try to start a slightly different approach," Zoellick said. WTO members needed to agree on a general text to get a new round launched. "We don’t have to negotiate everything before we start the negotiations," he said. (REUTERS) |
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Plans to upgrade Jaipur airport to intl norms NEW DELHI, May 15: Rajasthan Tourism Minister Bina Kak today said the Government was planning to upgrade the Jaipur airport to international standards by 2003 for wooing foreign tourists directly into the desert state. A film city was also being set up in the state to boost tourism, the minister said at an interactive session on ‘tourism in Rajasthan’ organised by PHDCCI, adding "the Civil Aviation Ministry has plans to upgrade the Jaipur airport to international standards by 2003." She said the policy draft on state tourism, likely to come out by next month, would propose various incentive schemes and facilities including setting up of a fund for heritage properties in the state, a PHDCCI statement said. The fund, similar to the national culture fund, should be set up by the state for preserving and maintaining the heritage properties, the policy draft, likely to be placed in next cabinet meet, has recommended. The minister said sustainable development and Government-private partnership was imperative to make the desert state as ‘the best tourist spot.’ The Tourism Department also came out with an investors’ guide chalking out investment opportunities for prospective entrepreneurs and investors who were willing to invest in the fast growing tourism sector. Projects worth Rs 500 million have been set aside for the current fiscal for developing tourism infrastructure in rural areas, according to Lalit Panwar, Secretary, Tourism. Corporate contribution has also been allowed for protection of historical heritage with 100 per cent income tax exemption permitted under national culture fund scheme, Panwar said. Stressing the need to identify private investment opportunities for the next 10 years and doubling the national tourism growth to 10 per cent per annum, PHDCCI president Sushil Ansal said major bottlenecks in tourism development in the state were lack of proper infrastrucutre in terms of poor airport facilities, non-availability of internal transport and poor shopping and recreational facilities. (PTI) |
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Govt proposes addl CGIT-cum-labour court in Delhi NEW DELHI, May 15: Union Law and Justice Ministry today submitted before the Delhi High Court that Government is actively considering to set up an additional central industrial tribunal and labour court in the capital. The ministry made the submission in an affidavit filed before a division bench comprising Chief Justice Arijit Passayat and Justice D K Jain. The affidavit was filed in response to a PIL seeking direction to Government to constitute two new Central Government Industrial Tribunals (CGIT) and two labour courts in Delhi in view of a large number of pending cases relating to industrial and labour disputes. The PIL, filed by advocate Ajay Bhatnagar, also sought separation of existing CGIT-cum-labour court into two independent authorities and make it obligatory for them to send a quarterly report to the High Court about disposal of pending cases. To ensure speedy disposal of cases should also be directed to appoint at least five presiding officers to head the CGIT and labour courts, the PIL said. Bhatnagar claimed the vacancy of a Presiding Officer in the CGIT-cum-labour court was filled in 1999 after a gap of nine months and during that period no cases were heared by the tribunal and its staff "enjoyed a paid holiday." While more than 4,500 cases relating to industrial and labour disputes were pending in Delhi, the Presiding Officer’s appointment in 1999 was made only for a period. (PTI) |
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10 India-Malaysian pacts
signed to boost KUALA LUMPUR, May 15: Ten agreements were signed today between India and Malaysia at business and institutional levels including one for joint operation and management of satellite systems by a subsidiary of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and a Malaysian enterprise. The agreements were signed on the third day of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s four-day visit to the Southeast Asian nation. The joint venture agreement between Antrix Corporation Ltd, a subsidiary of ISRO, and Binariang Satellitesystems SDN, BHD, Malaysia, will enable the two to create a joint platform which will provide C-band and KU-band capacity. The agreement also covers sales and marketing of the transponder capacity on the joint venture platform, creation of products and services for Direct-to-Home (DTH), data broadcast and multimedia infrastructure, and consolidation and optimisation of the orbital slots. The joint operation and management of the satellite systems would be in relation to mutual provision of transponder back-up, development of ground system for satellite monitoring and uplink chains or other satellite infrastructure. Antrix Corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Astronautic Technology (M) SDN. BHD, a company incorporated in Malaysia under the Finance Ministry, for cooperation in regard to use of launch services. Indian launch vehicles such as PSLV or GSLV developed by the Department of Space, India, will provide services for the launch of ATSB’s Small Payload Orbit Transfer (SPORT) module, or other satellites, in one of its missions as a co-passenger subject to mission compatibility. It also provides for training of ATSB’s engineers in satellite technology and applications in the facilities of Antrix and the Department of Space, India. HMT (International), which manufactures and exports machine tools, watches and tractors, signed an MoU with Orion Jaya Industries SDN. BHD. for provision of technical know-how for the Malaysian company to set up a watch Assembly project to assemble 0.25 million quartz and mechanical watches every year in the next five years. Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) signed two agreements —one with Asian strategy and leadership incorporated sdn bhd for promoting bilateral trade and advising the Governments of both countries and another with federation of malay manufacturers for promotion of trade fairs, exhibitions and business missions in both the countries. (UNI) |
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ER DCI-T bags project for developing India’s first IP THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, May 15: The Electronics Research and Development Centre-Thiruvananthapuram (ER DCI-T) has bagged a project for developing India’s first indigenous Internet Protocol (IP) telephone. The public sector ITI Ltd will be industry partner in the IP phone project to be implemented under a project of Union Ministry information technology. The total project outlay is Rs 1.20 crore. In the first phase, an IP telephone for corporate use will be developed by ER DCI-T. The major advantage is that IP phone can eliminate the EPABX requirements and can be directly connected to RJ45 ethernet port over a wide area or local area network. The aim of the project is to build a cost effective IP telephone suitable to Indian conditions. "Development of indigenous technology in IP telephony is essential as the product has to work in Indian telephone line, bandwidth availability and climatic conditions," according to Mr V K Neelakandan, Executive Director of ER DCI-T. Once the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) is legalised in the country, there would be a huge demand for IP telephones. VOIP enables users to make long distance telephone calls at local call rates. Imported phones available are expensive and not quite suited to work under Indian conditions. An Indian IP telephone manufacturer will be able to provide the instrument at a reasonable cost, maintenance support and prevent multinationals from dumping obsolete versions of the technology in the country. The project cost for developing IP telephone will be shared by IT Ministry and ITI Ltd. The proposed phone will support existing protocols that minimise the problems created by VOIP. This includes RTP, RTTP and RAS protocols. The product will be later enhanced to provide video conferencing facilities. ER DC has decided to take up the corporate IP telephone project in the first phase because there is no legal restriction in using VOIP over a lan or wan. In the next phase, IP phone suitable for home use will also be developed. Similarly, ER DC is developing embedded technology for digital mobile radio based on Tetra standards apart from ADSL Modem, Cable modems, blue tooth products and digital video broadcast receivers, according to Mr Neelakandan. ER DCI-T is an autonomous society under the Ministry of Information Technology and has developed and transferred many technologies to Indian industry. (UNI) |
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Northern Railway headquarters computerised NEW DELHI, May 15: To ensure faster processing of the records of its employees including manpower planning and recruitments, Northern Railway today set up a comprehensive computer network at its headquarters in Baroda house here. The computer software includes modules on recruitment, service records, maintenance, pay fixation, training, manpower planning and legal cases relating to railway personnel, an official release said. The computerisation of these activities would facilitate faster processing of the functions of the organistion, it said adding the programme would be extended to all the divisions of Northern Railway in next two years. (PTI) |
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