NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Government is taking immediate steps to stop import of sugar from Pakistan, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana told Lok Sabha today. This is being done to protect the interests of domestic sugar cane growing farmers and mills, Khurana said responding to members’. .more

Relief package for SIDCO units

Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 3: A relief package has been formulated for the rehabilitation of industrial units financed by the State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCO) in Jammu and Kashmir State....more

Computer engineers design future cyber fashions

PITTSBURGH, Dec 3: In 2020, the fashionably wired mother of three will make no ordinary trip to the grocery store.

After scanning her cupboards, she will recite a list into a microphone built into her eyeglasses. The items will be translated into text and appear on a computer screen built into the lenses. Inside the store, the woman’s identification ring will broadcast her buying habits to the store computer, which will beam back discount prices to the monitor in her eyeglasses.

Those are some of the visions of the hundreds of computer engineers who came to Pittsburgh recently for the second international symposium on wearable computers. They swapped ideas and showed off gadgets.

This conference is mostly the geeks who are pushing like mad: What can we do?’’’ said Randy Pausch of conference-host Carnegie Mellon University.

But with computer advances doubling every 18 months on average, the day when computers are tiny enough to sew into everyday clothing or build into normal eyeglasses is not far off, he said.

"These guys really can do anything. It just takes time and not much time," he said.

From a distance, the conference resembled a gathering of jewellers. Many people wore plastic headbands holding thick cyborg-like eyepieces that displayed monitor screens. Some had keyboards in the form of clunky fingerless gloves strapped to their palms. The devices were typically connected to laptop-sized processors in a bag or awkwardly hooked to a belt.

" The big heavy bulky stuff is all current technology that nobody actually believes will be used by any normal human being," said Steve Feiner, Associate Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University.

Instead, mass-marketed wearable computers are expected to be much more elegant. Feiner pointed to motorola’s existing watch-pager.

"Things that are gadgety are going to be on our bodies in ways we’re comfortable with," Feiner said.

One big hit at the conference was a pair of ordinary-looking, black-rimmed eyeglasses with a built-in monitor. The translucent display was about the width of a pencil eraser and sat in the middle of one eyeglass lens. Electronic circuits in one of the glasses’ temples beam the images onto the display.

The wearer sees the image of a monitor that appears to be about 3 feet away and a quarter the size of a normal screen. But the monitor is translucent, so it does not block the wearer’s view. (AP)

Escorts to mortgage assets to meet business needs

NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Escorts Limited, which is in the midst of a major industrial unrest, is reportedly planning to mortgage its fixed assets to borrow money for meeting the company’s "business needs".

The Board of Directors of the company has in-principle agreed to go ahead with the mortgage. However, an exact time-table for the same has not been fixed as yet, company sources told here.

It has been decided that if need be, the movable and immovable property of the company would be mortgaged for securing the loan and other financial assistance provided the mortgage so created does not exceed Rs 1,500 crore, the sources added.

The board is presently working out the details and modalities of creating such a mortgage.

However, company officials, despite repeated attempts, refused to comment. Escorts has already received the shareholders nod for going ahead with the mortgage.

The Escorts group is presently witnessing a major industrial unrest at its 18-odd units for the past ten days with the disagreement between management and workers’ union persisting over the issue of wage revision and production incentives.

According to sources, the group is losing around Rs 12 crore a day with production at its units in Faridabad and Noida coming to a standstill.

Company officials have already stated that the management would not go back on its stand. Escorts Limited Chairman Rajan Nanda has also defended the group’s management’s stand on the Workers Unions demand to revise the wage structure claiming that the wage structure in his group is quite well. "Wages should be linked with productivity and that is what we have done." The Rs 1,414 crore Escorts Limited is also planning to invest 29 million dollars to form joint ventures abroad by picking up equity in foreign companies.

Besides, Escorts Limited is also moving towards purchasing equity in its group concern Escorts Finance Limited (EFL), the sources said.

It also intends to invest around Rs 500 crore in shares and other securities and instruments which may be convertible into shares, of other corporate bodies including companies under the same management. Such investments, however, shall not exceed Rs 500 crore, excluding investments in the capital of subsidiary companies.

The sources pointed out that keeping in tune with the liberalised policy of Government to encourage Indian multinationals and with a view to be globally competitive, Escorts is exploring the feasibility of establishing manufacturing and trading joint ventures and other business operations overseas.

Of the 29 million dollars earmarked for picking up equity in companies abroad, escorts intends to invest upto nine million dollars to acquire upto 49 per cent of the share capital of long agribusiness LLC of the United States.

Around 15 million dollars would be invested in the share capital of one or more companies abroad while the remaining five million dollars is being invested in the share capital of a company to be promoted in Turkey in a joint venture with Traksan tractor Sanayi Ve Ticaret A.S.

In order to support the expansion, modernisation and diversification programmes of associate companies, promotion of new companies and development of business globally, Escorts is now planning to make substantial investments in other companies from time to time.

"In the current business scenario, trends have emerged for equity or technical joint ventures to be promoted as associate companies and not as subsidiaries," the sources added. (UNI)

Rs.100,000 cr investment needed for oil security

NEW DELHI, Dec 3: India will begin road shows for exploration of 48 offshore, onshore and deep sea oil blocks under the New Exploration Licencing Policy (NELP) from mid January, Petroleum Minister V K Ramamurthy said today.

Discounting reports about differences between the Ministries of Petroleum and Finance over finalisation of tax code for nelp, Ramamurthy said everything has been settled. We will shortly come out with details of tax incentives, royalty rates and concessions in a documented form.

Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the third annual Indian Oil and Gas Conference (IOGC), he said the Oil Development and Regulation Amendement Bill, passed in Lok Sabha yesterday, was expected to be cleared by Raja Sabha next week and this would enable nelp to take off.

On Surface Transport Minister M Thambi Durai’s proposal of a cess on petrol and diesel, Ramamurthy said it is a laudable proposal but it will have to be discussed by the group of ministers before any firm view can be taken.

Earlier, inaugurating the two day conference, organised by TATA Energy Research Institute (TERI), Ramamurthy said that India needed a massive investment of Rs 100,000 crore over the next ten years for attaining oil security and the Government would make environment conducive to attract private and foreign investment.

Ramamurthy indicated that there could be some good news for consumers of diesel in the new year but declined to elaborate saying that diesel prices were being revised every two months in tune with international prices.

Replying to a question he said that production at Bombay high was deliberately being kept down to take advantage of the prevailing subdued oil prices in the international market.

Oil import bill of India, which is dependent on imports for 64 per cent of its crude and petroleum products requirements, is expected to be around 8.5 billion dollars during the current fiscal, he said.

However, he said India’s security would greatly depend on intensified exploration and production activities both within and outside the country.

ONGC is exclusively engaged in acquiring equity oil abroad. Other upstream companies are also gearing up to meet this challenging task, Ramamurthy said.

Mohan Guruswamy, Advisor to Finance Minister, stressed on the need for cutting down massive subsidy of around Rs 22,000 crore and said it should be better targetted to benefit rural households and poorer strata of society.

In this context, he said there was a need to cut down subsidy on cooking gas (LPG) from the prevalent level of over Rs 70 per cylinder which generally benefitted the Dearness Allowance (DA) linked classes only.

Guruswamy also read out a message on behalf of Yashwant Sinha who was supposed to inaugurate the function but was unable to make it. (PTI)

Punjab seeks assistance from NFCR

NEW DELHI, Dec 3: The Punjab Government has sought an assistance of Rs 1043.19 crore from the National Fund for Calamity Relief (NFCR) following damage to the crops due to unseasonal rains, Minister of State for Agriculture Som Pal told the Rajya Sabha during question hour today.

A central team had been constituted to visit Punjab to assess the losses to the crops, he said. (UNI)

CMPF pension scheme introduced for
retd employees of SECL

BILASPUR, Dec 3: A Coal Mines Provident Fund (CMPF) pension scheme has been introduced for the retired employees of the South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) here.

According to a release, the scheme envisages to provide best of services to the retired employees and to arrange for negotiations with banks and post offices for the smooth disbursement of pensions at the place of their settlement.

The pension scheme, besides providing monetary benefit to the retired employees, also imparts relief to the spouse or dependent in the event of death of the pensioner. At the same time, it also takes care of orphan children of the deceased employees.

Out of the eight lakh coal mine workers in the country, 7.5 lakh come under the CMPF scheme, the release said.

On an average 10,000 employees retire every year from the coal industry while in SECL alone about 800 to 1,000 employees would benefit from the scheme every year, the release added. (UNI)

Govt will stop import of sugar from Pak: Khurana

NEW DELHI, Dec 3: Government is taking immediate steps to stop import of sugar from Pakistan, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Madan Lal Khurana told Lok Sabha today.

This is being done to protect the interests of domestic sugar cane growing farmers and mills, Khurana said responding to members’ concern during the zero hour.

He said Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee had indicated that sugar import from Pakistan must be halted. Government is considering the issue and some steps will be taken in a day or two, he said.

Raising the matter, K Yerran Naidu (TDP) said the continued import of sugar would badly hurt farmers.

Leader of the opposition Sharad Pawar said the country was already having 65 lakh tonnes of carry over stock of sugar and this year’s production was expected to be 60 lakh tonnes. Nine lakh tonnes of sugar have already been imported from Pakistan and it is high time that appropriate steps are taken, he said.

His party colleague Balram Jakhar drew the Government attention to shortage of fertilizer in the country. (PTI)

Relief package for SIDCO units
Excelsior Correspondent

JAMMU, Dec 3: A relief package has been formulated for the rehabilitation of industrial units financed by the State Industrial Development Corporation (SIDCO) in Jammu and Kashmir State.

Giving broad features of the package evolved by the IDBI and SIDBI at a meeting here today, the Chief Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah said the Centre has constituted an Inter-Ministerial Committee at the request of the State Government for rehabilitation of the sick industrial units and tourism related ventures which have suffered due to militancy. The Committee is deliberating on the issue, he said adding that the revival of viable sick units is imperative as their contribution in generating employment and promoting overall economic development cannot be undermined.

The relief package covering the borrowers of SIDCO will go a long way in rehabilitating potentially viable and unviable units, the Chief Minister said and hoped that other financial institutions and commercial banks including the Jammu and Kashmir Bank would also consider similar concessions for their borrowers.

Dr Abdullah said that the incentives will help coming up of industrial units which have been shattered by the militancy unleashed by the enemy from across the border. He hoped that the unit holders would take full advantage of the package and lauded the efforts of Industries Department in working out the modalities of package with IDBI and SIDBI.

The Minister for Industries and Commerce, Mr Bodh Raj Bali, Chief Secretary, Mr Ashok Jaitly, Additional Chief Secretary, Industries, Mr Mohammad Shafi Pandit, Managing Director SIDCO, Mr Mohammad Saleem Beig and Director Industries, Dr R K Kotru were present in the meeting.

The package for potentially viable units financed by SIDCO envisages waiver of unadjusted penal and compound interest, re-schedulement of term loan liabilities and accumulated interest so as to bring them to the status of performing assets and waiver of part interest liability to be granted on the merits of each case. Full interest waiver alongwith reschedulement of the term loans not exceeding two years in selected cases wherever larger reliefs are considered necessary keeping in view the period of closure, occupation of the premises by armed/para military forces, erosion in networth, extent of default, capacity utilization etc provided the borrowers enters into One Times Settlement with SIDCO.

As per the package, remaining interest liability to be converted into a term loan without interest or at interest not exceeding 10 per cent, on the merits of each case, taking into account financial viability. In respect of SSI sector, additional loans at concessional rate of interest shall be provided to the borrowers for modernisation and installation of additional machinery. This would help the borrowers to restore the damaged assets and take care of technology obsolescence.

In respect of the borrowers under the category of unviable units, those who would like to settle their accounts as a One Time Settlement, it has been decided to waive off all interest liabilities subject to the condition that they repay outstanding principal amount in quarterly instalments within a period of one year. In such cases the phased settlement on the lines given by the SFC in respect of the units financed by them shall also be extended.

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