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Silk exports witness 11.6 BANGALORE, Nov 2: The global downturn has had its impact on silk exports from the country during the ......more Rakesh
Mohan to stay as NEW DELHI, Nov 2: Finance Minister’s Economic Advisor Rakesh Mohan, who had decided to quit for ......more Govt
asked to legitimise NEW DELHI, Nov 2: Apex industry chambers have told the Government to legitimise the donations given by . ...more ACC
opposes imposition ITANAGAR, Nov 2: The Arunachal Chamber of Commerce (ACC) has opposed the imposition of sales tax on 76 items with effect from November ......more |
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Colombian coffee growers MANIZALES, COLOMBIA, Nov 2: Coffee was Ana Fajardo’s ticket to the good life. She traveled in style to European capitals and sent her two daughters to US universities. She was attended by a cook and several maids at her coffee farm, drove in imported four-wheel-drives and was lavished with presents.....more Selling
Khadi in the JAIPUR, Nov 2: A national conference on Khadi and Village Industries has called for massive investment for the renovation of outlets selling Khadi products and more funds for ...... more ‘Replace
MSP for PATNA, Nov 2: Railway Minister Nitish Kumar today made a plea for replacing the system of purchasing foodgrains for farmers at a minimum support price by Income Generating Scheme (IGS). .....more |
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Rakesh Mohan to stay as Economic Advisor to FM NEW DELHI, Nov 2: Finance Minister’s Economic Advisor Rakesh Mohan, who had decided to quit for "personal reasons", will continue in the post after Yashwant Sinha persuaded him to stay at least till the budget exercise was completed by March next. Official sources said today Finance Ministry which had earlier accepted his resignation, issued an order cancelling it. Rakesh Mohan was to have been relieved on Oct 31 and economist Ashok Lahiri was tipped to take over from November one. Rakesh Mohan had reportedly put in his papers following differences with Finance Secretary Ajit Kumar, who is likely to be shifted from the Finance Ministry in the reshuffle of key secretaries before the start of budget exercise. (PTI) |
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Govt asked to legitimise donations to parties NEW DELHI, Nov 2: Apex industry chambers have told the Government to legitimise the donations given by corporate houses to political parties and went on to demand tax incentives on these remittances. In a meeting with Law Minister Arun Jaitley yesterday, representatives of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), Associated Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ASSOCHAM) and PHDCCI said such a move would eliminate the role of black money in elections to a large extent, ministry sources said. The representatives said not only the corporate funding of political parties should be made transparent by giving tax exemptions but the same should be applicable to individual political donations, they said. The discussions are being organised as the Centre is considering various options including extending income tax relief to corporate houses making donations through cheques to political parties. The other two options before the centre are resorting to the audit and accounting procedure prescribed for political parties in a British enacted law and putting into practice certain recommendations of the Indrajit Gupta committee regarding state funding of elections, the sources said. "The Group of Ministers (GoM) headed by Home Minister L K Advani on political funding has met couple of times and would meet shortly to finalise the minutes of the earlier meeting," they said. On the corporate donations, the sources said at present the companies are giving money to the political parties from their profits and almost all of it go unacquainted, thus, the amount of money that comes to play in election goes undetected. "The GOM is considering whether income tax exemption could be given to those corporate houses who give donations to political parties through cheques," they said. This would encourage the corporate houses to donate to parties in a transparent manner, they added. The GOM is also considering the option of making it mandatory for the political parties to submit to the election commission details of the funding received by them on an yearly basis, the sources said. The GOM in its next meeting would also take into account the recommendations of the Indrajit Gupta committee on electoral reforms, which had advocated state funding of political parties contesting elections. The sources said the Government is considering the recommendations for state funding in kind rather than in cash. The manner and mode of funding of political parties during elections had been a controversial subject and many Governments over the years had not been able to achieve any consensus to enact a law as no political party is willing to give details of the money it received from various sources, they said. (PTI) |
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ACC opposes imposition of sales tax on 76 items ITANAGAR, Nov 2: The Arunachal Chamber of Commerce (ACC) has opposed the imposition of sales tax on 76 items with effect from November one as it was announced without any prior notice to the traders. In a representation to the State Chief Secretary, ACC president Habung Payeng said all traders in Arunachal Pradesh had expressed surprise over the Government’s decision to impose the sales tax in two-day’s time. He said the traders were not given any prior notice about the imposition of sales tax and came to know about it through local newspapers on October 30 and 31. He urged the Government to extend the imposition of the sales tax till the end of March, 2002, so that businessmen could prepare themselves as there were no sales tax in the state earlier. As a result of the imposition of the sales tax, the selling cost of any taxable item in Arunachal Pradesh will be higher than neighbouring Assam as we have to pay either four per cent central sales tax or the local tax imposed in Assam. This may invite public resentment as the tax burden has to be borne by the public, he warned. The items declared for imposition of sales tax are very ambiguous and it is required to mention the taxable items individually instead of either categorizing or grouping goods, Mr Payeng said. It is essential to identify wholesaler and stockist for the collection of sales tax, as they are responsible for payment of the tax on behalf of retailers (small traders), he said. The ACC president stated that when an important decision is taken by the Government where public money and participation is involved, intimation should be given to the model NGO like Chamber of Commerce, which is the link organisation among the companies, traders and consumers directly. As per convention, any company requires the minimum time of three months prior notice to prepare the formalities for the payment of sales tax, he pointed out. He stated that if the Government fails to consider the chamber of commerce’s views the traders might be compelled to seek legal justice. (UNI) |
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Colombian coffee growers predict demise of coffee MANIZALES, COLOMBIA, Nov 2: Coffee was Ana Fajardo’s ticket to the good life. She traveled in style to European capitals and sent her two daughters to US universities. She was attended by a cook and several maids at her coffee farm, drove in imported four-wheel-drives and was lavished with presents from local bankers at Christmas. Today, Fajardo has laid off her domestic help, her foreman and her farm administrator, sends her daughters to a local university and has sold her city apartment. She says banks now refuse to give her loans. "Coffee allowed us to live very well in the old days. Now coffee is loss-making," said Fajardo, 40, a third-generation grower. Thousands of Colombian Coffee Growers are predicting farm closures, bankruptcies and social unrest as international prices wallow at all-time lows. Toiling under mounting debt, many growers in the andean nation’s once-affluent coffee regions are abandoning their crops. Small numbers are even uprooting coffee trees to grow coca — the raw material for cocaine. For 100 years, coffee has been at the heart of Colombia’s economy and culture. It created a prosperous rural middle class and spurred the industry and banking sectors. It also paid for schools, roads and electricity in rural areas, creating islands of peace in a country ravaged by a 37-year war. But now, growers say, a global coffee glut that has forced prices down for four years is bringing the heyday of colombian coffee to a bitter end. "The age is coffee is over," Fajardo said. Blessed with three andean ranges and volcanic soil, Colombia offers perfect conditions for coffee, which was introduced here by Spanish jesuits in 1723. Its high-quality washed Arabica beans — individually hand-picked by farmers — are coveted by coffee connoisseurs around the world for their rich flavor and acidity. Coffee brought wealth to a country struggling with enormous gaps between the rich and poor, setting up a welfare state in Colombia’s central coffee belt. But under the weight of a world glut, coffee prices on the New York’s coffee, sugar and Cocoa exchange have slipped from a high of 3.05 a pound in May 1997 to historic lows of just 43.65 cents a pound on Monday. The country’s 500,000 farmers say prices are ruinous. Production costs in Colombia — where small plots and high altitudes make technification difficult — are hovering around 94 cents per pound. Deep in the coffee belt, the bounty created by coffee is still apparent, although beginning to fade. World War II-era jeeps piled high with coffee bags hum along well-paved roads outside manizales, the tidy capital of Caldas, the country’s No. 2 coffee region. Most farms have electricity and running water, and growers send their children to schools and health centers paid for by coffee. Juan Valdez, the smiling fictional spokesman for Colombian coffee for more than 40 years, smiles down from roadside billboards that draw attention to public works projects, such as bridges and aqueducts, which have been funded by coffee. But little by little, job opportunities in the coffee industry, from tasters to technicians, are growing scarcer as coffee plantations have been forced to shrink or close. The coffee-laden jeeps and the pickers who can be seen beating among the vast hillsides of glossy green coffee trees with their bags of scarlet beans may be, industry officials say, part of a dying way of life. (REUTERS) |
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Reduction in purchase tax may not bring succour to growers KOCHI, Nov 1: Reduction in purchase tax on rubber from 11 per cent to six per cent announced by State Government might not bring succour to growers, N Radhakrishnan, president, Cochin Rubber Merchants Association, said. In 1997, Government had announced tax reduction from September to November, 1997 at the rate of four per cent and the prices fell from Rs 40 per kg to Rs 32.50 in the period, he said in a release here today. The tax reduction now announced by Government will benefit the industry to the extent of Rs 18 crores, he said, adding tyre and non-tyre sector industries "are in financial difficulties due to set back in sales." The carry forward stock was expected to increase to 2,20,0000 tonnes by the end of January next, he said, adding unless substantial quantity of rubber was removed from country through exports, growers will continue to suffer. Government should have asked the state procuring agencies to purchase 50,000 m tonnes rubber from the market immediately and export the same in two to three months. The procuring agencies could borrow required amount from banks for the purpose, he added. (PTI) |
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‘Replace MSP for farmers with income generating scheme’ PATNA, Nov 2: Railway Minister Nitish Kumar today made a plea for replacing the system of purchasing foodgrains for farmers at a minimum support price by Income Generating Scheme (IGS). Talking to UNI here, Mr Kumar, who also a former Agriculture Minister, noted that launching of IGS would ensure benefits to farmers accrued through a minimum support price. Following self sufficiency in foodgrain production by almost all the states, time had come now to offer remunerative prices for proagricultural producers, he argued. The minister suggested that market price should be the grinding factor in paying the minimum support price to farmers and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) should be entrusted with the job. Introdution of IGS would reduce the pressure on the FCI for increasing its storage capacity as the exiting stock of five crore tonnes of wheat and rice would cross the eight crore mark in the coming financial year, he said. Mr Kumar noted that lifting foodgrains under the public distribution system had not been encouraging since states like Assam and Bihar, which earlier depended on supply from other states, were now producing foodgrains in surplus. States like Punjab, Haryana and Andhra Pradesh had decided to devote to production of fruits and vegetables to reach better profits from the investments than that in traditional crops, he said adding it was time for other states to follow suit. He reiterated the Government’s concern for paying the farmers renumerative prices for their produces and said that minimum support price had since been announced in respect of 26 varieties of foodgrains. The total expenditure incurred from public exchequer in the form of food subsidy stood at about 2500 crores every year, he added. (UNI) |
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