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Traditional Asian textiles museum in Cambodia SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA, Dec 8: India will join hands with five south east Asian countries to open a museum of traditional Asian textiles in the city of .........more Door-to-door survey in Goa to check service tax evasion PANAJI, Dec 8: In a bid to check service tax evasion, the central excise commissionerate of Goa has undertaken a door-to-door survey and aims to ......more Institute discovers methods to reclaim salt affected soil TIRUCHIRAPALLI, Dec 8: The Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and research institute here has submitted a detailed proposal to the Tamil Nadu Government for reclaiming salt affected soil in the state. .....more Food
convention in MYSORE, Dec 8: The two-day 16th Indian Convention of Food Scientists and Technologists ......more |
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NABARD reviews doubling of credit flow to agriculture by RRBs in State Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 8: A meeting of State Government officials and RRBs was held today at ........more Japan July-Sept real GDP revised to up 0.1 pc TOKYO, Dec 8: Japan’s economy expanded 0.1 percent in the three months to the end of September compared with the preceding quarter in .....more Opposition blasts UPA Govt on rising rural uneployment NEW DELHI, Dec 8: The opposition today strongly criticised the United Progressive ....more IBM selling PC unit for 1.25 bln to China’s Lenovo BEIJING/SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 8: IBM is selling its PC-making business to China’s largest personal computer maker, Lenovo group ltd., for 1.25 ........more |
Traditional Asian textiles museum in Cambodia SIEM REAP, CAMBODIA, Dec 8: India will join hands with five south east Asian countries to open a museum of traditional Asian textiles in the city of the historical Angkor Wat temple here. The proposal for the museum was mooted by India during the visit of the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2002, according to Pradeep Kumar Kapur, India’s Ambassador to Cambodia. The five mekong delta countries joining India in the venture are Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam and Lao, he said. The museum will be set up by the end of 2005, he added. Mr Kapur said the museum would be a partnership venture, mostly among state-owned enterprises. (UNI) |
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Door-to-door survey in Goa to check service tax evasion PANAJI, Dec 8: In a bid to check service tax evasion, the central excise commissionerate of Goa has undertaken a door-to-door survey and aims to widen its assessee base to 10,000, which is at present over 3500. State Commissioner of Customs and Central Excise S K Sawhney said the department has launched two special schemes — extraordinary tax payer friendly scheme’’ for instant registration of service providers and the fast track disposal camp for clearance of service tax cases. Stressing voluntary compliance, he warned that measures will be taken against those who failed to register with the department before the year-end and pay the tax. (UNI) |
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Institute discovers methods to reclaim salt affected soil TIRUCHIRAPALLI, Dec 8: The Anbil Dharmalingam Agricultural College and research institute here has submitted a detailed proposal to the Tamil Nadu Government for reclaiming salt affected soil in the state. Disclosing this to reporters here today, institute dean S Anthoni Raj said salt affected soil was present, in varying degrees, in almost all districts. Stating that it was a common feature that either the soil was affected or the underground water was unfit for irrigation, Dr Raj said the institute had found that salt affected soil could be reclaimed through two technologies—the gypsum technology and the spentwash technology. Several on-farm tests had been conducted in Tiruchirapalli. The proposal, forwarded through the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU), suggested that few places in each district could be selected and reclaimed utilising the technologies, which would improve soil fertility, Dr Raj said. The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, sponsored site specific nutrient management schemes would be implemented in the Manikandam block in Tiruchirapalli with an outlay of Rs 13.8 lakh, he added. Under the scheme, 35 areas in Manikandam block would be selected and soil analysis and water quality tests would be done for raising various rice crop varieties. Dr Raj said a new variety of Guava (try-g), developed by the institute, was being considered for commercial release. Two varieties of rice crops, try-1 and try-2, released by the institute, had come up well in salt affected soils. (UNI) |
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Food convention in Mysore from Dec nine MYSORE, Dec 8: The two-day 16th Indian Convention of Food Scientists and Technologists would begin here on December nine, with the theme ‘food technology - rural outreach - vision 2020’. Announcing this to newspersons here, Central Food Technological Research Institute Director Dr V Prakash said about 600 delegates from all over the country, including researchers in the field of food science and technology, engineer researchers from the Academia and industry, and students, were expected to participate in the convention, to be inaugurated by Union Food Processing Industries Secretary D P Singh. The issues would be discussed through special lectures as well as technical presentations during eight technical sessions at the convention, which assumed significance as India was poised to become a global outsourcing hub for food processing, he said. The convention provided a common platform for food technologists, food scientists and policy makers to ponder over the opportunities available for the food processing industry due to the exponential growth and domestic consumption of processed foods and leverage the opportunities in creating employment and rising agricultural yield and living standard of the population, especially in rural areas. On the occasion, the association of food scientists technologists of india fellowships for 2003 would be conferred on eminent personalities who have contributed to the development of food science and technology in the country. Awards for best research papers and best student would also be presented. (UNI) |
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NABARD reviews doubling of credit flow to agriculture by RRBs in State Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Dec 8: A meeting of State Government officials and RRBs was held today at regional office of the NABARD, Jammu, to review flow of credit and implementation of credit package regarding doubling of credit as announced by Union Government. The meeting was attended by G N Sofi, senior officials from the Department of Horticulture, Agriculture and Watershed Development. S Mohapatra, general manager and officer-in-charge of NABARD presided over the meeting. During the meeting, a review of flow of credit to agriculture sector by various RRBs in the State was made. During the year 2004-05, all the RRBs in the State have to show an incremental lending of atleast 40 percent over the previous year’s lending. It was observed that the efforts made so far need to be reinvigorated so as to achieve the targeted level of minimum 40 percent growth rate. In the direction of doubling of credit, NABARD has prepared model schemes numbering 70 which can be implemented in the different parts of State of J&K and Mr Mohapatra requested the bankers to circulate the same amongst their branches so that there can be horizontal and vertical expansion of their credit. NABARD had also issued guidelines to the various banks that each of their branches should finance atleast 100 new farmers every year. While taking a review under this head, there was a sense of concern as the achievement so far have not been upto the expected level. Some of the reasons adduced by the bankers were the poor recovery under agriculture sector followed by high level of NPAs together with declining demand from farmers for fresh loans. In one of the recent sub-committee meetings of the SLBC to monitor doubling of credit, it was decided that select banks would mount studies on the reasons for declining demand for credit from farmers as also the reasons for poor/under performance of the project financed by various banks under agriculture sector especially poultry, floriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry including dairy. During the meeting, the ways and means to popularise the agri-clinics and the need for changing the mindsets of the unemployed/agricultural graduates from seeking Government employment rather than starting their own individual and group ventures were also discussed. |
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Japan July-Sept real GDP revised to up 0.1 pc TOKYO, Dec 8: Japan’s economy expanded 0.1 percent in the three months to the end of September compared with the preceding quarter in price-adjusted terms, revised government data showed on Wednesday. The data, compiled using a new method that more accurately reflects price changes, was in line with a preliminary estimate of 0.1 percent growth in gross domestic product under the original calculation method. Economists had expected the new GDP figures to show growth of 0.2 or 0.3 percent, but forecasting had been more difficult than usual because of the changes in the calculation methods —especially in the deflator, which adjusts nominal figures to account for price changes and produce a real rate of growth. On an annualised basis, GDP grew a real 0.2 percent, compared with the initial estimate of 0.3 percent. Capital spending for the quarter rose 1.1 percent from April-June while private-sector consumption, the biggest part of the economy, rose 0.2 percent. The Government revised its calculation methods in response to criticism that the previous deflator overstated price falls, resulting in an exaggerated growth figure for real GDP. (AGENCIES) |
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Opposition blasts UPA Govt on rising rural uneployment NEW DELHI, Dec 8: The opposition today strongly criticised the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) Government for what several members called was a failure to check rising unemployment in rural areas across the country. BJP and Shiv Sena members like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Yashwant Sinha, S S Ahluwalia and Sanjay Nirupam said during question hour in the Rajya Sabha that the Government should explain how it will generate funds to sustain the proposed rural employment guarantee scheme. Replying to their queries, Minister for Rural Development Raghuvansh Prasad Singh said the UPA Government is committed to its Common Minimum Programme which calls for reducing regional disparities by creating new employment opportunities. He said the Government will introduce the national rural employment guarantee bill during the ongoing winter session which will address the issue of funding the scheme. "We will ensure that adequate employment is generated in rural areas so that people don’t rush to cities," Mr Singh said. "The findings of concurrent evaluation on Jawahar Rozgar Yojana (JRY) and Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY) have shown that there has been substantial increase in the number of mandays of employment generated over these years." Some opposition members said several drought-effected areas in Andhra Pradesh have not been included in these Centre-sponsored schemes. (UNI) |
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IBM selling PC unit for 1.25 bln to China’s Lenovo BEIJING/SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 8: IBM is selling its PC-making business to China’s largest personal computer maker, Lenovo group ltd., for 1.25 billion, marking the US giant’s retreat from an industry it helped pioneer in 1981. The deal, which forms the world’s third-largest PC business, brings Lenovo onto the world stage and frees IBM to focus on higher-margin businesses such as computer services and software. "On paper, this goes a way to achieving what Lenovo and IBM are hoping to achieve. Now it’s up to execution," said Gartner analyst Martin Gilliland. "IBM is fairly safe because their goal was to get out of the PC business because they don’t make any money out of it. Now Lenovo has to make it a success." The deal, which took 13 months to negotiate, calls for Lenovo to pay IBM 650 million in cash and 600 million in stock. It will also assume 500 million in ibm debt. IBM will hold an 18.9 percent stake in Lenovo, which will relocate its PC business from beijing to New York and possibly list shares on Nasdaq or the New York Stock Exchange. Stephen ward, IBM senior vice president, will become Lenovo’s chief executive officer. "The price tag was a little bit lower than I would have expected," said Marty Shagrin, an analyst at victory capital management in Cleveland, Ohio, which holds IBM shares in its 40 billion portfolio. "But obsessing about the price misses the point that IBM for a long time has wanted to become more of a services and software company," he said. Lenovo will jump from eighth place among PC makers to number three, combining its 2.2 percent share with the 5.5 percent held by IBM, according to Gartner. The combined businesses had sales of 12 billion last year. Dell inc. Leads the market with a 16.7 percent share, followed by Hewlett-Packard at 15 percent. The sale of IBM’s PC desktop and notebook computer lines allows the company to concentrate on more profitable operations including powerful server computers, storage and computer chips, analysts have said. For Lenovo, which is battling intense competition in its home market, the deal with the world’s largest computer company marks a breakthrough in its efforts to build its business overseas. It gives it a brand ranked the world’s third-most valuable by businessweek/interbrand. Lenovo will be under pressure to boost the profitability of the business it is buying, analysts have said. "In terms of survival, this is a good deal. I think Lenovo’s share price will remain stable when they resume trading," said Tat Au Yang, managing director of Apex capital management in Hong Kong. The deal makes the company part of a small but growing group of Chinese manufacturers buying overseas brands. "Our unwavering goal has been to create a truly international enterprise," said Chuanzhi Liu, chairman of Lenovo. Lenovo will take ownership of IBM’s "think" trademark family, including its thinkpad notebook brand and its thinkcenter desktop line. It will also buy out IBM’s interest in its joint venture with Lenovo rival great wall technology, China’s number two PC maker. Lenovo will hire 10,000 IBM PC employees, including about 2,300 in the United States — mostly product designers, marketers and sales specialists. The remaining 7,700 are mostly in China. Lenovo and IBM said they will form a broad-based alliance under which IBM’s global services unit will be the preferred supplier of technical services and customer financing to Lenovo’s PC business. Lenovo will be the preferred supplier of PCs to IBM, allowing IBM to continue offering its corporate customers a full range of computers. The PCs will be co-branded under a five-year brand licensing deal. The Chinese firm will issue shares to IBM at hk 2.675 each, which was their closing price on Friday. Lenovo’s stock, down 20 percent this year, has been suspended since Monday morning. "Today’s announcement further strengthens IBM’s focus on the enterprise, while creating a new global business that is better positioned to capture the opportunities in the PC industry going forward," IBM chairman and CEO Samuel Palmisano said in a statement. Yuanqing Yyang, currently vice chairman, president and chief executive officer of Lenovo, will be Lenovo’s chairman after the deal closes, which is expected to happen in the second quarter of 2005. (AGENCIES) |
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Exports of coir products rise to Rs 407.50 crore NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Ever since the restriction of Minimum Export Price (MEP) for coir and coir products was withdrawn in 2002, the Government has taken several steps to boost their exports, minister of small scale industries and agro and rural industries Mahabir Prasad today informed the Lok Sabha. As a result, the export of these products had gone from Rs 320.58 crore in 2001-02 to Rs 407.50 crore in 2003-04. Quantity wise also, export had also gone up from 71,334 tonnes to 102,556 tonnes. The minister said a scheme titled "external market development assistance" has been introduced in 200-01 and coir board also participates in trade fairs/exhibitions in order to export of products, which do not otherwise get displayed by individual exporters. (UNI) |
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To maintain import price parity, LPG price needs massive hike NEW DELHI, Dec 8: The Government today told the Rajya Sabha that the price of cooking gas would need to be hiked by Rs 210.40 per cylinder and kerosene by Rs 11.05 per litre to maintain import price parity. Public secor oil companies have incurred Rs 7,800 crore loss due to under-recovery on these products, Petroleum Minister Mani Shankar Aiyar said making a statement to a calling attention on the exorbitant rise in prices of petro products. He said oil PSUs have also estimated under-recoveries of an additional Rs 3,300 crore during April-November 2004 due to non-revision in the prices of petrol and diesel in line with international prices. He said taking into account the current level of duties, taxes and Government subsidy, the retail selling price of PDS kerosene in Delhi would need to be increased from Rs 9.01 to Rs 20.06 and domestic LPG from Rs 281.60 to Rs 492.00 based on November 2004 international prices. Oil PSUs have been sharing the burden on kerosene and cooking gas by not passing the full increase in international prices in the domestic consumer prices of these products, Aiyar said. Despite the steep increase in global prices, the selling price of PDS kerosene has not increased even after an announcement by the previous Government of the dismantling of the administered price mechanism effective from April one, 2004, he said. The retail selling price of domestic LPG has been increased twice by only Rs 20 a cylinder each time in mid-June and early November, he said. Aware of the need to protect the consumer from the unprecedented hike in global oil prices, Aiyar said appropriate measures have been taken to the extent possible so as not to pass on the increase fully. Considering high international prices and huge under-recoveries of oil PSUs, increase effected in prices on November five was to the full extent of the rise in import price parity in case of petrol and half the difference between the domestic RSP and the import parity price in case of diesel, he said. When the import parity price declined on November 16, domestic prices of petrol were accordingly reduced, he added. (PTI) |
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Red hat to release linux in 13 languages by Feb 2006 NEW DELHI, Dec 8: Open source leader red hat will release commercial versions of the linux operating system in 13 major Indian languages by February 2006 and increase India headcount for this localisation initiative to 100. Red hat India has already localised open source software in Hindi, Punjabi, Bangla, Tamil and Gujarati. "In the next 15 months, the other 8 languages will be fully supported on linux and open source," red hat India managing director Javed Tapia told reporters on the sidelines of a conference organised by Mait here. The beta release for the five languages has been made, to be followed by commercial launch in Ffebruary 2005. Linux-os will be available in Marathi, Telegu, Kannada, Assamese, Oriya, Malayalam and Urdu and others by February 2006, he said. Currently, the company’s development centre in Pune is working in collaboration with the red hat centre in Australia on the localisation initiative. "We have about 12 people working on it in Pune. We will have close to 100 people over the next 15 months for localisation," he added. "Localisation will help PC penetration and accelerate local language computing in India," Mr Tapia said. Red hat currently is working with around 35 isvs in India. Its major oem (original equipment manufacturer) partners are HCL infosystems, Acer, IBM, Wipro and PCs. Mr Tapia said the company was "more than bullish on India" as it was the fastest growing market for red hat in Asia Pacific outside Japan. "We have been pioneers in persuading enterprises to adopt linux and our success has helped establish the viability of the open source business model," he said. US-based parent company red hat holds 60 per cent stake in red hat India, while the balance is held by clover technologies of the US. Microsoft, which is working in collaboration with the Government under project Bhasha, has released windows and office interfaces only in Hindi and Kannada till now. (UNI) World Bank sees 6-6.3 pc growth in south Asia in next two yrs NEW DELHI, Dec 8: India, along with other south Asian regions, is expected to sustain a growth of 6-6.3 per cent in the next two years, although global economic growth is slated to decline to 3.2 per cent, the World Bank said today. "World economy accelerated sharply in 2004, expanding by an estimated 4 per cent. Even stronger growth was experienced by a number of large developing countries, notably China (8.8 per cent), Russia (8 per cent) and India (6 per cent)," World Bank said in a report. The robust growth in these three nations pushed up the overall growth of developing nations to 6.1 per cent in 2004, the report titled ‘global economic prospects 2005’ said. Strong global economic growth was also attributed to an impressive 4 per cent growth in both US and Japan this year. The south Asian region posted 7.5 per cent growth in 2003 powered by a robust 8.2 per cent growth in India during April-March, 2003-04. India, which contributes 80 per cent to south Asia’s output, is slated to grow by 6-6.5 per cent this fiscal. Considering India’s growth prospects, World Bank expects the region to log 6.3 per cent growth in 2005 but it is slated to come down marginally to 6 per cent in 2006. "In south Asia, growth is expected to accelerate in 2005, reflecting the enduring impacts of structural reforms, market opening, and stronger domestic demand as the dampening impact of last year’s poor crop fades," the World Bank said. "As agricultural production and related incomes return to trend growth rates in 2006, GDP growth is projected to moderate somewhat (to 6 per cent)," it added. (PTI) |
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