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| Golden jubilee with Castrol Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Oct 18: Sansar Singh & Sons, local lubricant distributors today celebrated Golden Jubilee with Castrol India Limited here today........more UN
says Afghans VIENNA, Oct 18: Opium production in Afghanistan, once the world’s top producer, has been virtually ......more Growth
target for NEW DELHI, Oct 18: The Planning Commission today announced that it would stick to the target....more Festive
season to NEW DELHI, Oct 18: A feast of three new soap operas will be introduced to television viewers, adding to their fun and frolic...more |
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Web technology curriculam batches launched in NIIT Bari Brahamana Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Oct 18: The DIG of Border Security Force (BSF) Mr A S Jasrotia launched web technology curriculam batches in the NIIT Bari Brahamana Centre..........more FCI
told to explore NEW DELHI, Oct 18: The Government has asked the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to explore the possibility of exporting wheat of Madhya Pradesh origin or Karnal Bunt and Fungus free stocks to Iraq that has earlier rejected wheat shipments from India......more Frame transparent NEW DELHI, Oct 18: Recognising the need to provide adequate working capital finance to all corporates, particularly to SSIs at economic cost and without the hassles of collateral and guarantees, the PHDCCI has urged banks and Financial......more |
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UN says Afghans cut opium output 94 pc this year VIENNA, Oct 18: Opium production in Afghanistan, once the world’s top producer, has been virtually eradicated, falling 94 per cent this year after the ruling Taliban outlawed cultivation, the Vienna-based United Nations Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) said in a survey. The survey showed that opium, the source of heroin, had almost disappeared from farms under Taliban control and that overall income from opium sales had fallen, although the price of the diminished crop had rocketed. Afghanistan, whose ruling Taliban have been the target of US-led air strikes for the past 11 days, produced 185 tonnes of opium in 2001, down 94 percent from 2000 and 96 per cent from the bumper harvest of 4,581 tonnes in 1999, the UNDCP’s annual opium poppy survey said. "Almost all major former poppy-growing provinces had no poppy or relatively small areas under cultivation this year," the survey said. "The reductions are clearly the result of the implementation of the opium poppy ban." The survey said the total area set aside for opium poppy cultivation had shrunk 91 percent to 7,606 hectares, and the southern province of helmand, which had 42,853 hectares of poppy fields last year, grew no plants at all. The largest poppy cultivating area was now in Northern Badakhshan province, under the control of the opposition Northern Alliance, where 6,342 hectares of poppies were grown, 83 per cent of the national total. The survey, which covered over 10,000 villages, said opium prices in the country had surged 900 per cent this year after the Taliban’s spiritual leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, issued an edict declaring the growing of narcotic crops as "un-Islamic". The average price paid to a farmer for a kilogram of freshly harvested opium was some 300 dollars in 2001, compared with 30 dollars last year, the survey said, adding that Afghanistan’s clampdown on production had not been counteracted by rises in other nations. Despite higher prices, the potential gross income for Afghanistan from this year’s sale of the opium crop was 38 percent lower than 2000, around 56 million dollars compared with last year’s estimated income of 91 million dollars. UN officials told Reuters last month that the cutback in opium production in Afghanistan could seriously undermine the world’s supply of opiate derivatives and heroin, sending street prices for the drugs sky-high while driving quality lower. Despite the drastic cut in Afghan output, observers remain concerned about drug traffickers drawing on stockpiles of heroin and opium to sell outside the country. In a statement released after a meeting earlier this week, representatives of UN member nations and countries bordering Afghanistan said heroin trafficking was continuing despite the US-led strikes, and said urgent action was needed to stop the flow. "Participants recognized that the importance of the fight against drugs in Afghanistan had gained increased urgency because of connections between drug trafficking and the financing of terrorism," the group, meeting under the aegis of the UNDCP, said in the statement released in Vienna. "Despite the Taliban’s effective ban on poppy cultivation last year, trafficking in Afghan heroin, drawing on important stockpiles, continued unabated," the group added. US-led strikes on Afghanistan began on October 7 and are aimed at forcing the Taliban to surrender Osama Bin Laden, the prime suspect behind last month’s airliner attacks on the United States. (REUTERS) |
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Growth target for 10th plan to stay: Pant NEW DELHI, Oct 18: The Planning Commission today announced that it would stick to the target of eight per cent economic growth for the tenth five-year plan (2002-07), despite the adverse impact of the current international developments, which it would monitor and suggest corrective steps. "We are sticking to the eight per cent growth target" set in the tenth plan approach paper adopted recently at the National Development Council, Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant told the Economic Editors’ Conference. "We shall of course be watching the situation and the tenth plan document shall certainly reflect our present assessment of what is likely to happen," but the developments would not be allowed to "unduly affect our medium or long-term growth perspectives," Mr Pant said. Admitting that there would be fluctuations in the growth rate, the Deputy Chairman said despite adverse international developments like the East Asian crisis and major internal setbacks such as the Gujarat earthquake and Orissa cyclone, the country had a higher growth rate in the 1990s than in the 1980s due to the "basic strength of the economy which we should take note of." However, he intended to establish a mechanism within the planning commission to monitor international developments and suggest corrective steps which can be incorporated in the annual plans and budgets, Mr Pant said. Mr Pant said the war against terrorism would be very different from previous wars in the sense that "one does not know how long the world will remain in a heightened sense of uncertainty. "How things will evolve is difficult to predict. The economic challenges that will arise from such uncertainty will require a standing mechanism to assess the trends and suggest corrective action." Observing that the growth rate in the first quarter of current fiscal was higher than last year’s figure for the same period, Mr Pant noted that credit offtake had shown a spurt recently while the cement industry had shown a five per cent growth in the first half. With the housing sector and the Rs 54,000 crore National Highway Development Programme (NHDP) slated to pick up, it would spur growth further. The Commerce Ministry had expressed "optimism" about exports and there was a possibility that international it companies which were cutting down on staff would look to India for outsourcing, Mr Pant said. Strongly advocating increased public investment, Mr Pant said the recent slowdown has been mainly due to a "severe shortfall" in such investment in the past three years. In the present uncertain situation, private investment, particularly Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), cannot be relied upon "to pull us out." The psychological consequences of September 11 and the afghanistan war on the investor confidence "are bound to persist for some time. Therefore, we believe that the role of public investments, both directly and indirectly through its effect on the private sentiments, have become even more critical." Conditions must be created whereby the private investor regained confidence in the robustness of the economy, he said. The principal role in undertaking public investment lay with the states. The Centre could only be supportive of their efforts. Mr Pant announced that the Planning Commission had also decided to prepare state development reports in order to ensure equitable development of all regions, taking into account the inherent strength and weaknesses of each one of them. (UNI) |
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Festive season to witness 3 new soap operas NEW DELHI, Oct 18: A feast of three new soap operas will be introduced to television viewers, adding to their fun and frolic in the coming festive season. Buoyed by the grand success of its soap operas such as ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’, ‘Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki’ and gameshow ‘Kaun Banega Carorepati’, the star plus is introducing ‘Kundali, ‘Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand’ and ‘Kasautii Zindagii Kay’ later this month. ‘Kundali’ and ‘Kasautii Zindagii Kay’, both of half-an-hour duration, have been produced by Ekta Kapoor’s Balaji telefilms, the makers of ‘Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi’ and ‘Kahaani Ghar Ghar Ki’. The one-hour soap ‘Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand’, replacing KBC on Mondays, is the production of film actress Aruna Irani. ‘Kundali will be on air from October 25 while the other two serial will be launched on October 29, Star Plus chief Tarun Katial told newspersons yesterday. The introduction of the three serials are part of the star’s plan to provide a fresh entertainment package to the viewers in the country. The timings and frequency of a large number of programme have been changed to provide a sparkling offer on the festive season. ‘Ma Shakti’, which is aired at 2000 hrs on every thursdays and is completing its one-year-run, is being replaced by Kundali (which means horoscope), a story of two sisters who get married into same family. KBC is being discontinued on Mondays and the one-hour slot is being filled by ‘Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand’ which revolves around lives and times of Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) settled in London. ‘Kaahin Kissii Roz’, being aired at 2030 hrs from Monday to Thursday, moves to the 2300-2330 hrs slot and is replaced by ‘Kasautii Zindagii Kay’. With ‘Kaahin Kissii Roz’ shifting to 2300 hrs, newsprogramme ‘Aaj Ki Baat’ is shifted to 2330-0000 hrs slot, Mr Katial said. Addressing the press conference jointly with Jeetendra and Aruna Irani, Mr Katial said ‘rendezvous’ with Simi Garewal, which has been taken off the air from the Star Plus, will be telecast on the ‘Star World’ channel in future. About the decision to buy the telecast rights of ‘Kundali’, which was earlier being shown during the golden hours on DD-Metro, he said the Sattelite TV viewers were not tuned to the DD-Metro and hence the introduction of the serial on Star Plus will not have any impact as far as the viewership is concerned. "The serial will attract a whole lot of new viewers." ‘Des Mein Nikla Hoga Chand’, a large part of which has been shot in Britain, is the first one-hour weekly serial in recent times. The main plot weaves together the emotions and sentiments in the family of Pritam Singh, his children and grandchildren who have left their homeland, Punjab, and are settled in London for the past 50 years. The nostalgic and bygone memories of the homeland, its people, soil and life in India, constantly reminds him that his heart and soul are both in India. The story line, however, revolves around Pritam daughter Parminder (Sangeeta Ghosh), her love Dev (Varun Badola) and her fiancee Rohan (Sidharth Dhawan). The serial has been directed by Aruna Irani, who also stars in it, and the dialogue has been written by Anand Vardhan of Swabhimaan fame. ‘Kundali’ is a story of two inseparable sisters Aarti (Nivedita Banerjee) and Vidhi (Prachi Shah) who get married into the same family. Aarti, the older of the two, marries the younger of the aggarwal brothers and Vidhi marries the elder one. The serial thereafter deals with the relationship the two sisters share after marriage. ‘Kasauti Zindagi Kay’ is woven around two large business families — the basus and the sharmas. The serial explores the trials and tribulations faced by both families and the test of time that the children of Prerna Sharma (Shweta Tiwari) and Anurag Basu (Cesanne Khan) goes through amid unfavourable circumstances. It presents a powerful saga of love, revenge and passion. (UNI) |
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Web technology curriculam
batches launched Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Oct 18: The DIG of Border Security Force (BSF) Mr A S Jasrotia launched web technology curriculam batches in the NIIT Bari Brahamana Centre. Addressing the students, Mr Jasrotia wished them the best for their endeavour while laying stress on the need for computer education and reminded them that with the opening of the software technology park in Bari Brahamana their chances of employment in this sector increase many folds. He advised the students to lay stress on hard work, sincerity in studies, team management and dedication. Congratulating NIIT on being evaluated as Asia’s No.1 traning institute, he said it was heartening to see a company of Indian origin getting world wide recognition. He applauded the centre in showing good results on the students performance in the exams and the centre’s growth. Mr Prem Singh, Director NIIT Bari Brahamana also laid stress on software education in today’s scenario and committed to continue providing the best of facilities. He stated that Centre has shown a growth of 62 percent in revenue as compared to last year and has attained nearly 100 percent occupancy |
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FCI told to explore possibility of wheat export to Iraq NEW DELHI, Oct 18: The Government has asked the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to explore the possibility of exporting wheat of Madhya Pradesh origin or Karnal Bunt and Fungus free stocks to Iraq that has earlier rejected wheat shipments from India. According to FCI officials, who inquired into the causes of rejection of Indian wheat by Iraq a few months ago, the consignment was rejected as it was containing non-permissible inorganic material like stones and pieces of iron nails. They said the Iraq Grains Board, which was to import two million tonnes of Indian wheat, had agreed to accept the presence of organic material even beyond an accepted limit but the mixing of inorganic foreign matters made them jittery. The Government also decided to extend the existing export policy upto December 31 and was also considering its extension upto March 2002. The current export policy expires on October 31. Earlier, Mr A K Mahapatra, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Consumer Affairs and Public Distribution, told a delegation of ASSOCHAM that the ministry was considering a long-term export policy of wheat to facilitate exporters and would soon finalise long-term targets with the buyers projecting India as one of exporters of food. The delegation sought that the FCI should refund Rs 190 per tonne charged over the normal export sale price of wheat meant for Iraq since these shipments had been rejected by that country. (UNI) |
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Frame transparent norms for financing: PHDCCI tells FIS NEW DELHI, Oct 18: Recognising the need to provide adequate working capital finance to all corporates, particularly to SSIs at economic cost and without the hassles of collateral and guarantees, the PHDCCI has urged banks and Financial Institutions (FIs) to frame transparent norms and adopt a flexible approach for financial assistance. In order to ensure that the assessment of working capital requirement does not become a mere arithmetical exercise, rather than a practical assessment of genuine needs for business, PHDCCI has suggested that the calculations be based on ‘estimated working capital requirement’ and not of maximum permissible bank finance . In case of working capital requirement for exports, the present practice of covering guarantee by full security should be reviewed. For a guarantee to a Government department, 25 per cent of margin by way of fixed deposits should be enough and the banks should not insist on 100 per cent margin. In the interest of export promotion, interest rates on export finance should be reduced to seven per cent, the Chamber has suggested. Further, ECGC premium on pre-shipment finance should be borne by banks as it works out to about one per cent thereby making the lending rate for exports higher, it added. Lending rates, spreads and levy of service changes need review for demand generation. Since the RBI has reduced bank rate and CRR and high interest has been allowed to banks on their CRR balances, banks should accordingly soften their lending rates and provide working capital finance to SSIs at PLR, the PHDCCI has said. Banks and FIs should ensure that finance limits to SSIs are sanctioned in full, while ensuring themselves about the economic viability of the project. Banks may, for safety purposes, closely monitor the performance of the unit and guide the entrepreneurs on effective utilisation and management of capital. It would also be desirable for FIs to work out a comprehensive mechanism for determining total banks borrowing of each company and track down the end use and utilization of funds for betterment of both corporates and FIs. A single window for clearing credit proposals of SSIs may be established, PHDCCI said. The PHDCCI has suggested that in order to make the system of consortium lending by banks and financial institutions to SSIs really meaningful, the appraisal exercise be undertaken only by the lead bank along with the second largest member bank in the consortium. The same should be acceptable to all the member banks of the consortium and no individual exercise, which consumes the time of bank officials and borrowers need be borrowers done, the Chamber added.(UNI) |
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