Bail petition of ex CSE V-P, 6 brokers rejected

KOLKATA, Nov 1: A Kolkata court today rejected bail petition of former vice-president of Calcutta Stock Exchange K K Daga and remanded him to judicial custody till November 15, in connection with last year’s Rs 120 crore payment crisis at the bourse.

Daga, arrested on October 17 was remanded to police custody till October 31 and then again till today for allegedly suppressing information passed by Indusind Bank related to dishonour of margin cheques by exchange brokers.

Metropolitant Magistrate S K Das also rejected bail petitions of six brokers - Harish Chander Biyani, Ramesh Chander Biyani, Raj Kumar Jain, Vijay Singhania, Gopal Singhania and Basudeo Singhania - and remanded them to judicial custody till the same date.

The brokers were in police custody in a case related to alleged cheating of the Stock Holding Corporation of India Limited (SHCIL) of Rs 24.50 crore during the period the crisis at CSE had erupted.

The six were initially arrested on September 23 for their involvement in CSE scam and were serving judicial custody when police, on a August 2001 complaint filed by SHCIL against them had sought police custody on October 18 till date.

In a related development, the Magistrate remanded Vijay Kumar Dalmia, an alleged close associate of one of the prime accused in the scam, Ashok Poddar and Prema Poddar, to police custody till November 12. Dalmiya, an accountant of Poddars, was arrested yesterday. (PTI)

Climate parleys inching towards solution

NEW DELHI, Nov 1: After several rounds of marathon meetings, the 169 participating countries at the UN conference on climate climate are inching towards a solution to the current impasse over Delhi Declaration on Climate Change (DDCC).

On the concluding day today of the 10-day conference, several contentious paragraphs, particularly been agreed upon and the call to ratify the Kyoto Protocol by all may eventually be in the preamble of the declaration, participating delegates told PTI.

"Representatives from the larger groups including G-77 and China, the umbrella group and the EU met here after which iceland’s delegate submitted a revised draft of DDCC," they said.

Tough negotiations are now focussed on the issue of "future processes" on climate change which means starting a debate on the second commitment, once the first ends in 2012.

But the developing countries are opposed to its inclusion in the DDCC, saying before this happens the developed countries should meet their commitments already agreed upon in Kyoto.

As a result G-77 came out with four objections to the draft DDCC circulated by iceland including the one on future processes and mitigation related measures.

The DDCC could also be rechristened to Delhi declaration on climate change and sustainable development for highlighting the link between the two.

Delegates said concerns of oil producing countries have been addressed by diluting the paragraphs relating to energy sector which have been now verbatim lifted from the declaration of the world summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg in August this year.

Saudi Arabia had objected to the term "particularly energy" regarding developing innovative technologies in key sectors, in the second draft DDCC.

Meanwhile the EU is pressing for strengthening the mention of the third assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change which stresses that a lot needs to be done to tackle climate change.

This again implies that debate should begin on future commitments on part of delegate said the "G-77 is unlikely to agree on explicit mention of future commitments in the DDCC". (PTI)

Rangarajan appointed Chairman of 12th
Finance Commissiona

NEW DELHI, Nov 1: Andhra Pradesh Governor and eminent economist C Rangarajan was tonight appointed Chairman of Twelth Finance Commission that will make recommendations on distribution of tax proceeds between the Centre and the states and principles that would govern grants-in-aid of revenues.

Government also named outgoing Cabinet Secretary T R Prasad and Prof D K Srivastava as full-time members and Planning Commission member Som Pal as part-time member.

G C Srivastava, IAS, will be the secretary of the Commission, an official release announcing the Constitution of the Commission said.

The name of the fourth member will be announced shortly it said.

The Commission is required to furnish its report by July 31, 2004, it added.

The recommendations of the constitutional body set up every five years would be valid for the period 2005-10.

Under the terms of reference, it would review the state of finances of the union and the states and suggest ways and means by which Governments may bring about a restructuring of public finances and restoring budgetary balance.

It would also give suggestions on reducing fiscal deficit generating surplus for capital investments, achieving macro-economic stability and debt reduction along with equitable growth.

The Commission would take into account recommendations of the Eleventh Finance Commission, assesment of resources of the centre and states for five years, commencing April 2005 on the basis of level of taxation and non-tax revenues to be reached in 2003-04 and taxation efforts against targets.

The Commission proposes to study issues like fiscal reform facility, debt position of states, the calamity relief fund and national calamity contingency fund.

The release said that under the terms of reference, the Commission would lay emphasis on certain efficiency factors such as adjustment of user charges, relinquishing of non-priority enterprises through privatisation along with resource mobilisation to improve the tax-to-GDP ratio.

Emphasis is also laid on attaining macro-economic stability and debt reduction with equitable growth. (PTI)

BARC develops country’s fastest super computer

MUMBAI, Nov 1: The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) has developed the fastest super computer of the country, its Director B Bhattacharjee said.

The 64-node Anupam P-IV parallel super computer giving, which has a sustained speed of 43 giga-flops (floating point operation per second), is 30 to 40 times faster than any other parallel supercomputer developed in the country, he said at the BARC Foundation Day celebrations this week.

The Super Computer was developed by P S Dhekne, officer-in-charge of the Computer Division of BARC, a winner of the Indian Nuclear Society Awards presented by Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee on Thursday.

Many leading institutions in India such as the aeronautical development agency, Indian Institute of Technology as well as the Department of Atomic Energy are finding the use of this super computer in solving various problems, he said.

The BARC, which is the premier nuclear research organisation of the country has also assisted other institutions, Mr Bhatacharjee said.

Nickel-titanium-iron shape memory alloy components developed at the BARC have passed all the stipulated air worthiness tests and have been successfully used in the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) flights.

The ADA has accepted the supply of these components for several aircraft. Software verification tools for verifying critical software for LCA has also been developed, Mr Bhattacharjee stated.

NTPC to expand power production

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Nov 1: The National Thermal Power Corporation will expand power generation capacity to meet the growing demands from the states, Union Power Minister Anand Geete said today.

The NTPC would add 1900 mw to its capacity so as to provide additional power to states like Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which were facing power crisis, he told reporters here.

He said there was a proposal to set up a port for bringing fuel to the Kayamkulam Thermal Power Plant.

The State Government had lost Rs 60 crore worth assistance from the Centre due to its failure to comply with various stipulations. The Centre would provide financial assistance to the states only if they went ahead with the implementation of reforms in the power sector.

He said the Centre was taking a series of measures to minimise the transmission loss as it accounted for a heavy financial burden for the State Electricity Boards. (UNI)

Udyog Minar inaugurated in Haryana

GURGAON, Nov 1: The Haryana Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala today inaugurated a ‘Udyog Minar’ at Gurgaon constructed by Haryana State Industrial Development Corporaltion at a cost of Rs 10.44 crore with a view to provide all basic infrastructural facilities to the entrepreneurs.

This Udyog Minar is the highest building constructed in the Vanijya Nikunj spread over an area of 72000 sq mts in Udyog Vihar at Gurgaon. The purpose of constructing such a minar, is to give fresh thrush to the industrial development already taking place at a rapid pace in the state.

Later, the Chief Minister, inaugurated the Ch Devi Lal Memorial Park in Sector-22 of Gurgaon, which has been developed by Haryana Urban Development Authority over an area of 30 acres at a cost of Rs 2.27 crore. A leisure valley is soon going to be developed in this part alongwith series of fountains, water falls, rose garden and playing facilities of children.

Chautala also unveiled a statue of Jan Nayak Ch Devi Lal and planted a sapling of the Ashoka tree in the premises of the park.

The Chief Minister visited to the house of martyr Major Vinod Kumar Rana, who had made the supreme sacrifice while fighting with ultras in Jammu and Kashmir. He said that the state was proud of its valient and brave soldiers who took pride in laying down their lives for guarding the frontiers of the nation. (PTI)

ICRA ups LMC racting, assigns A" to SCDL

NEW DELHI, Nov 1: Investment Information and Credit Rating Agency (ICRA) has upgraded the rating assigned to Rs 17.84 crore bonds programme of Municipal Corporation of Ludhiana (LMC) from LA-(SO) to LA(SO) (L A structured obligation).

The revised rating also indicates adequate safety. However, the relative degree of safety regarding timely servicing of interest and principal as per the terms has improved marginally since the earlier rating was assigned. The rating watch placed on the rating, following the decision of the Government of Punjab to abolish octroi, has also been withdrawn.

Meanwhile, ICRA has assigned a rating of ‘A1"’ (a one plus), indicating highest safety in the short-term, to the Rs ten crore commercial paper/short-term debenture programme of Shasun Chemicals and Drugs Limited (SCDL). The prospect of timely payment of debt/obligation is the best.

The rating takes into account the established track record of the company in supplying bulk drugs to major pharma companies in both regulated and un-regulated markets, favourable prospects for its contract manufacturing business model, steps taken to diversify the revenue streams and comfortable liquidity.

The rating also considers the pricing pressure in its bulk drugs business and moderate gearing levels of the company. (UNI)

TRAI approves BSNL’s new internet connectivity charges

NEW DELHI, Nov 1: Bharat Sanchar Nigam has received the Telecom Regulatory Authority’s (TRAI) approval for slashing night time dial-up access charges for internet connectivity.

BSNL has got the regulator’s nod and is now in the process of finalising a date for bringing the new rates into effect, sources said.

The subscribers currently pay about Rs 25 per hour and the move by BSNL and MTNL proposed to reduce the night-time charges by 50 per cent to Rs 12.50 per hour.

Communication and IT Minister Pramod Mahajan had last month announced that state-owned BSNL and MTNL would soon seek TRAI’s approval for slashing night time dial-up charges for net connectivity by 50 per cent.

The night-time tariffs would be applicable for 10:30 pm-6:30 am time slab. After opening up internet telephony, the actual progress on this is not taking place, as people are concerned about the access charges on telephone usage for internet connectivity, he had pointed out. Stating that he wanted the reduction to be on a 24-hour basis, Mahajan had said this would have increased the pressure on traffic and hence the proposed reduction would initially be on the night-time slab. (UNI)

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