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Hyundai launches CHENNAI, Oct 5: Hyundai Motor India Ltd, the second-largest car maker in the country, today launched a new variant. .....more Afghan
horse traders KHYBER AGENCY, (PAKISTAN), Oct 5: In a country without an infrastructure and without a hint of a modern economy.....more Milk,
fruits lead 12 pc NEW DELHI, Oct 5: A 446 per cent decline in imports of milk and milk products and a 181 per cent dip in fruits and vegetables imports contributed.......more More
economic reforms BRUSSELS, Oct 5: Belgium has said that without hastening liberalisation process, India’s enormous potential in new economy like bio-technology and .....more |
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Myanmar, Argentina BANGALORE, Oct 5: Mynamar and Argentina will soon receive remote-sensing data from Indian satellites, as the eagle vision of the United .....more India’s export to NEW DELHI, Oct 5: India’s exports to the United States and many other countries may decline......more VSP registers NEW DELHI, Oct 5: The Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), a public sector undertaking of the Steel .......more Late buying in MUMBAI, Oct 5: The sensex ended with yet another 23.93 points gain to close at 2812.90 at the....more |
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Afghan horse traders still plying ancient trade KHYBER AGENCY, (PAKISTAN), Oct 5: In a country without an infrastructure and without a hint of a modern economy, Afghan horse trader Sayed Habibullah relies on generation-old instincts to carve out a living. The native of Northern Afghanistan raises and buys horses near the ancient city of Mazar-i-Sharif, not far from the Uzbekistan border, and then several times a year travels hundreds of hazardous miles by foot and horseback to sell them across the border in Pakistan. Jitters over possible US attacks on the country for its harbouring of Osama Bin Laden, suspected mastermind of the suicide plane strikes on New York and Washington, are less of a worry than hassles from the ruling Taliban and roaming robbers. "We stay away from the cities so we do not know what is going on in them," said Habibullah as he rested in the Khyber agency, a tribal area on the edge of Peshawar, where he was getting set to sell his horses He and two others, including his 17-year-old son, had brought 30 horses on a 25-day journey that was mostly done on horseback, but also occasionally on foot. Habibullah’s ankles were swollen and his face sunburnt from the trek. "It is always hard. This time my son was sick and we do not know what is wrong with him. I will try to take him to a hospital," he said. Horses are still a way of life in Afghanistan and in the border areas of Pakistan where they are used to pull work carts and to transport people. But few people have the money to buy large numbers of horses in Afghanistan and it is more profitable to follow traditional trading routes to Pakistan to sell them. "We crossed through many areas and were stopped many times by the Taliban, but we are traders and they let us go. But we did not tell them we were going to come to Pakistan," said Habibullah. "This is how we survive. It is the only thing we know. We have had to cross over war lines many times in the past," he said. Afghanistan has been racked by war for more than 20 years. Afghans are renowned horsemen and the national game is Buzkashi, a reckless variation of polo in which fearless riders fight for possession of a beheaded sheep. The game, which is both a test of the rider’s skill and his horse’s endurance, is believed to have started in Northern Afghanistan and was transplanted by Afghan refugees to Pakistan’s North West Frontier Province. Although Habibullah said the threatened attacks on the Taliban for not handing over Bin Laden had no bearing on his life, he was forced to sneak across the border because Pakistan has closed its official crossing points with Afghanistan during the crisis, fearing an influx of refugees. But his trip along an ancient trade route mirrors the modern problems of Afghanistan. It started in Mazar-i-Sharif in the north, the scene of bitter fighting in the past between the Taliban and the opposition Northern Alliance, and the site of the massacre of thousands of ethnic hazaras when the Taliban recaptured the town in August 1998. His journey trip skirted Kabul, severely damaged by rockets years of internecine Mujahideen fighting before the Talian took over in 1996, and wound down past Jalalabad and over the border through the legendary Khyber Pass. "The journey is very dangerous. There are many thieves, and in some places the local people do not like us. We try to stop every night in a safe place," said Habibullah. He was hoping that his horses, which ranged from some that looked as if they had suffered on the journey to others still in strong shape, would bring a profit over up to 5,000 rupees for the better horses. Traders such as Habibullah also smuggle camels into pakistan, where they are used not only for work but to take part in camel dancing at popular festivals in cholistan in southeastern Punjab province. It is also still common to see horse and camel caravans —some more than 60 or 70 animals long — carrying goods from the pakistan border to the capital Kabul. (REUTERS) |
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Milk, fruits lead 12 pc import dip during Apr-Aug NEW DELHI, Oct 5: A 446 per cent decline in imports of milk and milk products and a 181 per cent dip in fruits and vegetables imports contributed to an overall 12 per cent decline in imports of 300 sensitive items during the first five months of the current fiscal. Imports of these items declined to Rs 4,032 crore during April- August this year as against Rs 4,587 crore in the same period last year. An official statement said, "the overall picture that emerges from these quick estimates is that the imports have responded to the customs duty changes and other import management measures put in effect in the recent months". Going by a comparison of provisional estimates imports have actually increased during August, as imports had posted a negative growth of 17 per cent during the period April-July 2001-02. Imports of milk and milk products during the period declined to Rs 5.6 crore in value terms as against Rs 31 crore during April-August, 2000-01. Similarly, imports of fruits and vegetables declined to Rs 25.12 crore against Rs 70.6 crore in the same period last year. The statement said these figures could undergo some revision after validation of commodity codes because of possibility of some items having been inadvertently misclassfied by the imports. A significant feature of edible oil import is that while imports of soya bean and palm crude oil have gone up, that of refined soya bean and palm oil has gone down leading to better utilisation of the processing capacity in the country. (PTI) |
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More economic reforms needed in India: Belgium BRUSSELS, Oct 5: Belgium has said that without hastening liberalisation process, India’s enormous potential in new economy like bio-technology and information technology would not be realised. "Despite the Indian Government’s commitment to economic reforms, many of the measures announced in the budget this year have so far not been implemented," Belgium’s Deputy Foreign Minister Annemie Neyts said here yesterday. The current global economic slowdown was no doubt putting extra strain on the Indian economy, she said adding neverthless India should pursue economic reform more vigorously in the interest of a "healthy and competitive business climate". Neyts was speaking at a seminar on how to do business with India, which was attended by 150 businessmen. She would be visiting India next month and is scheduled to deliver a keynote address at Indo-EU business summit organised by CII and FICCI on November 22. Majority of the Belgian businessmen operating in India said they were generally satisfied with the business environment but faced some specific problems which put them at some disadvangate vis-a-vis with Indian competitiors. Samsonite President said frequent changes in legislation poor infrastructure and reliability of suppliers and bureaucratic hurdles were some of the problems that discouraged foreign investors. (PTI) |
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Myanmar, Argentina to benefit from Indian satellites BANGALORE, Oct 5: Mynamar and Argentina will soon receive remote-sensing data from Indian satellites, as the eagle vision of the United States is setting up a data reception station to receive signals from the Indian remote sensing satellite IRS-P4. Mr K R Sridharamurthy, the new Executive Director of Antrix Corporation, while disclosing this, said the commercial arm of the Indian Space Research Organisation had at present eight ground stations across the world. These stations — in Norman and Alaska in the United States, Ecuador, Germany, Japan, Korea, the United Arab Emirates and Gabbon — were receiving the data, he told UNI here. Mr Sridharamurthy, who recently tookover his new assignment after being the Scientific Secretary of ISRO, said his vision was to make antrix a globally significant space company by fully utilising the strength of ISRO and other space entities. During 2000-01, the corporation had registered a 40 per cent growth in revenue. Antrix had also entered into an agreement with space imaging of the US to acquire and sell the high resolution data from its ikonos satellite in India through the national remote sensing agency in Hyderabad. The Government of India had recently approved a remote sensing data policy under which NRSA would be the sole distributor for remote sensing data from Indian and foreign satellites to the Indian users. Mr Sridharamurthy said more orders were in the pipeline for taking up network monitoring and Telemetry and Tracking Command (TTC) supports to satellites. Antrix was already handling several contracts such as network monitoring centre for GE-Americom and providing TTC support to satellites such as PAS, Afristar and Eutelsat. It had also helped ISRO provide launch services for the Belgian Proba and German Bird Satellites to be flown along with the technology experiment satellite on board the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle PSLV-C3 later this year. Stating that Antrix had a major role to play to provide sustainability and excellence for ISRO’s programme, he said that its role had become all the more crucial due to the changing international environment and policies favouring the private sector. About his priorities, the official said emphasis would be provided for launch services using ISRO’s polar satellite launch vehicles besides extension of value added information services and joint partnerships to supply total space and ground systems. It would also take up market extension in Satcom Services. (UNI) |
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India’s export to US may decline NEW DELHI, Oct 5: India’s exports to the United States and many other countries may decline substantially as a result of the existing crisis since America constitutes the major export market for Indian items, several experts warned today. Participating in a panel discussion on the impact of the present US crisis on Indian economy, organised by the PHD Chambers of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), the experts said there could be an indirect impact also as a result of deceleration in exports to South East Asian region which accounts for 10-15 per cent of India’s exports. The worst-affected would be the Indian software industry as 60 per cent of Indian software exports are bound to the US. Since US accounts for 50 per cent of Indioa’s gems and jewels exports, the export loss was estimated at 300 million dollars. The US is the second largest consumer of wool products after Japan and with the US economy in recession, India’s woollen exports would suffer substantially. The US also accounts for 62 per cent of the Rs 28,000 crore of India’s IT exports. India should therefore carefully weigh its options and long-term interests before extending military assistance to the United States in rooting out terrorism from Afghanistan and should forge a strategic alliances with China and Russia, former Finance Secretary A N Ram said while participating in the discussion. (UNI) |
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VSP registers 13 per cent growth in steel production NEW DELHI, Oct 5: The Visakhapatnam Steel Plant (VSP), a public sector undertaking of the Steel Ministry, has produced 320,258 tonnes of hot metal, 261,363 tonnes of liquid steel and 237,726 tonnes of saleable steel during September 2001. The cumulative saleable steel production of the VSP during the first half of the current financial year ending September has been 1303,887 tonnes, a growth of 13 per cent. The hot metal production during this period has also gone up by 15 per cent to 1590,945 tonnes and liquid steel by eight per cent to 1406,103 tonnes. An official release here today said that the production of 320,258 tonnes of hot metal during September, 2001 is the company’s best ever September performance since its inception. It also achieved best ever performance during the month in production of liquid steel (261,363 tonnes), saleable steel (237,726 tonnes), cast blooms (245,090 tonnes), billets (162,187 tonnes) and bars (62,355 tonnes). Its wire rood mill products of 77,011 tonnes and medium merchant and structural mill products of 69,469 tonnes were also all time high for any month since inception. VSP achieved a sales turnover of Rs 1,802 crore during first half of this financial year representing a growth of 20 per cent over the corresponding period last year which is the best performance for any month since inception, the release added. (UNI) |
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Late buying in select pivotals lifts sensex by 23.93 points MUMBAI, Oct 5: The sensex ended with yet another 23.93 points gain to close at 2812.90 at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), the second straight session rally today, backed by late buying in select pivotals that helped overcame early weakness. A fag end demand from Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) in some index-based counters like Infosys Tech, RIL, L&T, SBI, Ranbaxy, MTNL and few others helped change the initial bearish sentiment to positive, dealers said. Reflecting the trend, the BSE-30 share sensitive index opened little changed at 2789.10 from yesterday’s close of 2788.97, dropped to a low of 2765.21 on profit selling by operators in the absence of follow-up support from FIIs and remained in negative terrain for a major part of the day. However, a sudden buying spree in the last session by FII in select blue-chips led the sensex recovery and it touched a high of 2826.16, before closing at 2812.90, a gain of 0.86 per cent. The BSE-100 index also improved further by 4.32 points to 1301.28 from previous close of 1296.96. Under the leadership of Infosys Tech, select software shares continued their upward march following an overnight rally at Nasdaq where the composite index rose by 16.50 points, stretching a three-day string of profits. Tech stocks seemed to have attained some semblance of stability after positive announcements by some US bellwethers regarding their quarterly earnings, a dealer commented. In the specified section, 95 including 22 index-based counters closed with gains while 73 others registered losses. The BSE-200 index and the dollex-200 were quoted modestly up at 286.73 and 99.48 from yesterday’s close of 285.78 and 99.21 respectively. The BSE-500 index edged up by 2.72 points to 844.87 from 842.15. The dollex-30 index rose by 3.79 points to 481.22 from previous close of 477.43. The volume declined at Rs 997.84 from Rs 1110.32 crore yesterday. Infosys tech clocked the highest turnover of Rs 143.10 crore followed by Wipro (Rs 135.62 crore), Ranbaxy (Rs 104.83 crore), HCL Techno (Rs 96.20 crore) and RIL (Rs 77.69 crore). Infosys Tech spurted by 115.15 to 2487.65, RIL by 4.85 to 252.10, Ranbaxy by 32.55 to 680, HCL techno by 2.85 to 142.80, L&T by 4.45 to 163, MTNL by 5.65 to 127.25, SBI by 4.55 to 175.75, ACC by 1.40 to 119.90, Bajaj Auto by 3.60 to 267.20, Castrol by 2.80 to 262.55, Colgate by 2.20 to 159.80, Dr Reddy by 8.95 to 1797.40, GACL by 2.95 to 153.05, Hindalco by 5.20 to 525.65, Nestle by 3.70 to 499.45, NIIT by 3.35 to 103.65, Satyam Computer by 1.90 to 125.80, Telco by 1.55 to 70.10, TISCO by 2.00 to 72.30, Sun Pharma by 42.20 to 556.35 and German Reme by 15.65 to 254.95. However, Wipro dropped by 14.20 to 922.50, BHEL by 2.65 to 122.75, BSES by 3.85 to 172.40, Cipla by 62.90 to 1046.95, Grasim by 3.00 to 253.90, HLL by 1.05 to 212.25, HPCL by 4.10 to 113.55, Zee Tele by 4.35 to 78.65, HDFC by 25.05 to 674.30 and Bharat Electronic by 4.30 to 57.75. (PTI) |
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