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legal notice, says MSEB has no right to rescind MUMBAI, May 28: Enron’s Dabhol Power Company (DPC) has rejected Maharashtra State Electric........more NCAER projects 6.3-6.8 NEW DELHI, May 28: National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) today projected ....more Sugar factories to be given NEW DELHI, May 28: Consumer Affairs Minister Shanta Kumar today said sugar factories would be .......more |
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TDP calls for
hike in agri subsidies VISAKHAPATNAM, May 28: Favouring an increase in agricultural subsidies and import duties, the ......more Silver prices NEW DELHI, May 28: In thin trading, silver price improved slightly on the bullion market today on......more Haryana supplementary CHANDIGARH, May 28: Haryana Government has submitted a supplementary memorandum to the .......more |
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NCAER
projects 6.3-6.8 pc GDP growth; NEW DELHI, May 28: National Council for Applied Economic Research (NCAER) today projected a 6.3-6.8 per cent growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) while pegging fiscal deficit at nearly five per cent during 2001-02. Real GDP is projected to grow by 6.3 per cent provided agriculture output growth is higher at 3.5 per cent, industrial growth at 7.0 per cent and services sector grows by 7.9 per cent, NCAER said in its ‘review of the economy’. The growth could go upto 6.8 per cent if Government is able to invest Rs 5,000 crore out of the targeted disinvestment proceeds of Rs 12,000 crore and the tax relief worth Rs 3,000 crore obtained by the corporate sector are fully invested, it said. NCAER said fiscal deficit of the Government is estimated to be nearly five per cent of GDP as against the budgeted 4.7 per cent, partly on account of loss in revenue collection resulting from lower tax rates. Considering the exchange rate depreciation, rise in agricultural price and international price scenario, ncaer projected a higher inflation rate of 6.1 per cent during the current fiscal. The economic think-tank said exports growth was estimated to be lower at 14 per cent while growth in imports would be higher at 13 per cent resulting in a higher trade deficit. (PTI) |
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Sugar factories to be given concessional finance NEW DELHI, May 28: Consumer Affairs Minister Shanta Kumar today said sugar factories would be given concessional finance for taking up bagasse-based cogeneration. Addressing the 19th session of the International Sugar Council here, he also pledged to remove the 15 per cent compulsory levy on the mills’ sugar production as part of efforts to effect total decontrol of the sugar sector. Later talking to newspersons, he clarified that the Government would work out a system for buying certain quantity of sugar from the mills for maintaining concessional sugar rationing for the economically-weaker sections. On the cogeneration plan for the sugar mills, Mr Kumar said the Government would soon come out with a funding proposal. There was a potential of generating 5000 mw of electricity from bagasse-based cogeneration. Cogeneration and production of ethanol from molasses were part of the plans to get optimum product realisation from the sugarcane to enhance the economics for the sugar mills, he pointed out. However, Mr Shivaji Rao Patil of the Cooperative Sugar Mills Federation pointed out that any sugar mills going in for even a 4 mw cogeneration would have to chip in at least Rs 15 crores for getting institutional finance for the project. As the mills were holding a lot of unsold stocks for the last couple of years, they were facing severe cash problems, he added. Mr Kumar said the Government had removed all quantitative restrictions on export of sugar. However, due to the low prices in the international market, the actual exports during the current sugar year was only 500,000 tonnes as against the hopes of exporting a million tonnes. Mr Patil told newspersons that the mill’s selling cost of a tonne of sugar was high at Rs 12,500 due to the 15 per cent compulsory levy being collected by the Government. This adds to the non-competitiveness of Indian sugar which is Rs 2500 costlier per tonne in the international market. In these circumstance, the mills would prefer to hold on to their stocks by incurring a carrying cost of Rs 1300 a tonne, he added. Mr Peter Barron, Executive Director of the International Sugar Council, said the world carry over stocks of 54 million tonnes and declining sugar consumption in affluent countries continued to depress the sugar prices. He said the Council was not in sight of any silver lining in the current dim sugar situation. The international sugar council is currently headed by Mr R D Kapur, Sugar Secretary to the Government of India. (UNI) |
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TDP calls for hike in agri subsidies VISAKHAPATNAM, May 28: Favouring an increase in agricultural subsidies and import duties, the TDP today urged the Centre to ‘correct the past mistakes’ and renegotiate WTO provisions that are detrimental to farmers’ interests during the next round of ministerial talks. Articulating the party’s views at its annual conference ‘Mahanadu’ here, the TDP supremo and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said a nation-wide debate was needed to prepare the farmers to face the challenges thrown up by the WTO agreement. Pointing out that India was unable to formulate an effective mechanism of subsidies and import restrictions, in sharp contrast to the initiatives of the developed nations, Naidu favoured a further hike in agricultural subsidies to protect the interest of farmers. ‘While the WTO agreement provides for agricultural subsidies up to 10 per cent of the gross agricultural production in developing countries, the subsidies in India hardly account for three per cent,’ the Chief Minister said. Accusing the previous Congress Government of signing the 1994 WTO agreement without taking the State Governments into confidence, he said this ‘unilateral decision’ had led to adverse implications for the farming community which was pushed into the global market without much preparation. ‘It is time we have a national debate on the impact of wto on domestic sector. We (TDP) are prepared to take a lead in this,’ Naidu said. The TDP, meeting here for a three-day conclave, adopted a resolution urging the Centre to effectively put across the interests of domestic industry in the next round of WTO negotiations scheduled to be held in Qatar in November. The resolution, moved by party MP and former Union Minister U Venkarteshwarlu, called for a collective fight against violations of WTO provisions by developed countries and wanted the centre to make ‘intense efforts’ to put an end to the arm-twisting tactics of these nations. Warning of ‘dangerous consequences’ for agriculture if the centre and the State Governments did not ‘work in tandem’ to prepare farmers for future challenges, Naidu said India should first identify the areas of inherent advantages and work towards consolidating them during the forthcoming round of negotiations. Increased productivity, reduction on costs and improvement in quality, research and infrastructure facilities held the key to the success of Indian agriculture sector in the post-WTO scenario, Naidu said. He also suggested a steep hike in import duties to insulate the farmers from any adverse impact of the absence of a level-playing field. Referring to the recently convened meeting of Chief Ministers to discuss the impact of WTO, particularly on agriculture sector, Naidu called for joint efforts by Central and State Governments to protect the interest of farmers by appropriate intervention. (PTI) |
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Silver prices moderately up in thin trade NEW DELHI, May 28: In thin trading, silver price improved slightly on the bullion market today on local buying and closed with moderate gain. However, gold held unchanged in small alternate trading activities. Marketmen said trading activity was limited in the absence of any market moving news and tight money market position. They said a decline in yellow metal’s prices in other Asian markets had no immediate impact on the domestic market. Silver ready gained Rs.5 at Rs.7525 per kilo and weekly delivery by a same margin at Rs.7520 per kilo. Silver coins were unchanged at Rs.11,000/11,200 per 100 pieces. Standard gold and ornaments continued to be asked at previous level of Rs.4530 and Rs.4380 per ten gram respectively. Sovereign also held unchanged at Rs.3825 per piece of eight gram. The following were today’s quotations: Silver ready 7525 and delivery 7520. Silver coins buyer 11,000 and seller 11,200 standard gold 4530, ornaments 4380 and sovereign 3825. (PTI) |
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| Haryana supplementary memorandum to
Centre on losses CHANDIGARH, May 28: Haryana Government has submitted a supplementary memorandum to the Central Government demanding financial assistance of about Rs 315.28 crore to compensate farmers whose crops had been damaged due to natural calamities and also the unemployed farm labour. An official spokesman said that the supplementary memorandum included loss of Rs 352 crore caused to wheat due to untimely rains, loss of Rs 286.70 crore as a result of unsown area of gram and mustard due to drought and a loss of Rs 6.58 crore resulting from withering of wheat crop in Morni tehsil of Panchkula district. He said that this supplementary memorandum also included requirement of Rs 22 crore for augmentation of rural water supply schemes in the districts of Bhiwani, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Mahendragarh and Rewari. The State Government also required Rs 244 crore to provide employment to the agriculture labour living below poverty line, especially in the badly-affected nine districts of the State. Earlier the State Government had submitted a memorandum of Rs 607.73 crore and a team of Central Government had visited some of the affected villages in the districts of Sonepat and Rohtak. (PTI) |
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Industrial thrust necessary
for drought-proofing JAIPUR, May 27: Rajasthan needs a major industrial thrust to tide over its almost-recurring drought problem which hits a staggering 80 per cent population of the state. Senior officials feel that dependence of the masses on agriculture and animal husbandry, the worst-affected by shortage of water, has to be reduced to provide a long-term solution. "An answer to the drought problem of Rajasthan lies in increasing the pace of industrialisation which has been very, very slow till now," State Relief Secretary Ram Lubhaya told UNI here. He said the labour force needed to be shifted from agriculture-dependence to other sectors like service and industry. The desert state faces a third successive drought this year with almost four crore human and 5.36 cattle population being hit. Figures reveal that around 8.94 million hectares of crop land, valued at a whopping Rs 3511.77 crore, was damaged due to no rains last year which affected 30,583 villages. Mr Lubhaya said a major hurdle in the way of industrialisation was lack of adequate infrastructure. "The infrastructure here is backward as yet with the transport network poor, compared to other states. Coupled to this is the locational disadvantage and shortage of water and power." The state has mostly mining-based industries like zinz, copper, cement and marble. Apart from this, it has also has revenue generation from textile mills and tourism. But these industries are able to generate employment for a very few. However, according to a National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) official in New Delhi, figures collected upto late ninties showed that contribution of the manufacturing sector to the state’s coffers was very low. "It is almost half the national average and if it continues, the vulnerability of the state to calamities like drought is very high," he said. Chittorgarh District Magistrate Ramrakh agreed with the view that industrialisation was a possible solution to people’s woes due to shortage of water. The state has guaranteed money and food against work to only 14 lakh people out of the nearly four crore affected under the ‘food for work’ programme in which Rs 60 and five kg of wheat is paid for a stipulated amount of work per day. Out of this around Rs 23 is deducted as money for the wheat. Ramrakh admitted that this was not enough because while the number of affected people per district was in lakhs, the labour sanctioned was only in a mere thousands. Ajmer District Collector Usha Sharma said to tide over such problems, they had started a novel Self Help Group (SHG) scheme, with the help of NABARD, where the womenfolk were motivated to form small financial cooperatives against which they got loans from banks. Under the scheme, around 10-20 women formed a cooperative and deposited small monthly amounts, even as low as Rs 20, into it. After six months of collection, the accumulated amount is deposited in a bank against which it pays four times the transferred money. "We have around 4500 SHG’s in our district with a membership of around 57,000. Also loans upto Rs 2.5 crore have already been distributed under it," Mrs Sharma said. (UNI) |
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Power T&D losses in some areas in Delhi 70 pc: DVB NEW DELHI, May 27: The Delhi Vidyut Board (DVB) has admitted before the Delhi High Court that Transmission and Distribution (T&D) losses in some areas in the capital was as high as 70 per cent due to power theft. DVB also said that till April this year, theft over Rs 217 crore has been detected. "As per DVB’s energy audit, the losses in different districts vary from as little as 21 per cent to as much as 70 per cent and this variation corroborates strongly with the existence of unauthorised developments," DVB’s Chief Engineer (East and Research and Development) said in an affidavit. Claiming that Board’s efforts had prevented further increase in transmission losses, the affidavit filed before a division bench comprising Justice Anil Dev Singh and Justice O P Dwivedi, said between December 1998 and April this year 34,720 cases of power thefts were detected which amounted to causing DVB a staggering loss of Rs 217.54 crore. The affidavit was filed after the court on March 28 had sought details about the electricity supply position in the city, which faces frequent power cuts, especially during peak summer causing hardships to the citzens. The issue was brought before the court by common cause Director H D Shourie through his counsel Meera Bhatia, seeking direction to DVB and Delhi Government to immediately stop the menance of power theft and improve the supply. The court had also directed Union Power Secretary, DVB Chairman and concerned officials of city Government to hold a meeting to find a solution to the problem. The DVB said that in April alone, 5,651 illegal tappings on its transmission lines were detected and removed. The loss of revenue on this account was assessed at Rs 85.19 crore, the affidavit said. Between October 1999 and April 2001, Board’s Enforcement Department collected over Rs 93.18 crore as penalty for the illegal power connections and meters in unauthorised colonies were being given on the spot in special camps organised for this purpose, it said. The court had also sought minutes of the issues discussed in the meeting so that it could analyse whether any effective steps were being taken by the authorities to improve the power situation in the capital, while the demand during the current summer is likely to be as high as 3,000 mw. DVB said due to rapid expansion of the city the demand of power increases by seven to eight per cent every year in Delhi while Board’s own generation is merely 400 mw. The Board hoped to add 330 mw to its own generation with the completion of gas-based Pragati Power Station by November 2002, the court was informed. The peak demand of 3,000 mw would be met by deriving 1500 mw from Northern Grid, 600 mw from Badarpur station, 100 mw from Himachal Pradesh, 200 mw from Chhattisgarh, 100 mw from central sector stations, 70 mw from Malana project near here apart from DVB’s own generation of 400 mw, the affidavit said. The Board had generated a total revenue of Rs 3080.24 crore on account of power bills during the financial year 2000-2001, it said. (PTI) |
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