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A350 receives authorisation to offer for new planes NEW DELHI, Dec 11: Airbus has received approval from its shareholders EADs and BAE systems to begin making firm commercial offers to ......more One
million children to KOLKARA, Dec 11: The West Bengal Government plans to educate one million children through the ‘Sarva Shiksya Abhiyan’ and also a introduce ......more Kerala Govt may levy tax on extravagant marriage THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 11: With the objective of discouraging excessive spending on marriages, the Kerala Government is considering a .....more Chrysler recalls 600,000 SUVs and pickups DETROIT, Dec 11: Daimlerchrysler’s Chrysler division said it was recalling about 600,000 dodge durango sport utility vehicles and dodge Dakota pickup ......more |
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US approves duties on pigment from China, India WASHINGTON, Dec 11: A US trade panel gave final approval on Friday to steep duties on imports of an industrial color additive from China and India ........more Forex reserves up by record USD 3.7 bn; cross USD 130 bn mark MUMBAI, Dec 11: India’s foreign exchange reserves recorded one of the highest ever inflows of US dollar 3.74 billion to cross 130 billion mark during ....more Jute cultivating states to benefit from industrial boom ALAPPUZHA, Dec 11: With jute requirement increasing by eight to ten per cent every year, jute cultivating states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh ....more US ISPs urge India to reconsider IP VPN licensing fee WASHINGTON, Dec 11: The leading trade association of US telecommunications .......more |
A350 receives authorisation to offer for new planes NEW DELHI, Dec 11: Airbus has received approval from its shareholders EADs and BAE systems to begin making firm commercial offers to launch two new members of its wide-body family. The new sisterships to the a330s called a350 models respond to the market demand foreseen by airbus customers, many of whom have expressed their interest in these new models and contributed to their definition. Due to enter service in the first half of 2010, the a350 models will complement the existing airbus a330 and a340 product line. Offering a maximum of operational commonality with the current a330/a340 line — including common type rating with the a330 — they complement the current a330-200 and 300 line offering extended range in these seating categories. "The long range market is becoming more segmented in terms of size and range," said airbus president and CEO Noel forgeard in a statement. "We are now in the unique position to satisfy all airlines’ demands in the long range sector from the 250 seater to the high capacity a380." The market for aircraft in the 250-300 seat category is estimated at 3,100 new aircraft over the next 20 years of which airbus expects to get at least 50 per cent. (UNI) |
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One million children to go back to school: CM KOLKARA, Dec 11: The West Bengal Government plans to educate one million children through the ‘Sarva Shiksya Abhiyan’ and also a introduce mid-day meal scheme for all primary schools in the state by 2005. West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee announced this while releasing the State of the World’s Children Report (SOWC) here yesterday. The thrust of the report this year is on ‘childhood under threat’. Expressing concern over the report’s observations, the Chief Minister said, "the report shows that more than half of the world’s childern suffer extreme deprivations. When more than half of children in the developing world are severely deprived of basic necessities like food, safe drinking water, shelter and sanitation we realise that there is something skewed in our policies." He also criticised the centre for earmarking 15 per cent of the budget allocation to defence and only two per sent each for health and education. Highlighting his Government’s role in alleviating poverty and hunger in the state, Mr Bhattacharjee said, "the SOWC will spur the state administration to work harder and re-orient some of our approaches to effectively focus our delivery mechanism for the poor and needy children." Minister for Health Affairs and Panchayat Surya Kanta Mishra and UNICEF state representative Rudolf Schwenk were also present on the occasion. (UNI) |
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Kerala Govt may levy tax on extravagant marriage THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, Dec 11: With the objective of discouraging excessive spending on marriages, the Kerala Government is considering a proposal to tax extravagant expenditure on wedding. Finance Minister Vakkom Purushothaman said at a conference here yesterday that parents often land in debt trap due to excessive spending on the marriage of their children. He was putting the proposal before the public and a legislation could be brought in if there was adequate response to it. Asked about how the Government could assess the expenditure on weddings, he said it could be determined from the jewellery given to girls during the wedding. (UNI) |
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Chrysler recalls 600,000 SUVs and pickups DETROIT, Dec 11: Daimlerchrysler’s Chrysler division said it was recalling about 600,000 dodge durango sport utility vehicles and dodge Dakota pickup trucks because of concerns about front wheels separating from the vehicles’ suspension. The automaker, which has claimed major quality gains in recent years, disclosed on Thursday that US federal safety regulators had asked it to recall the vehicles from the 2000 to 2003 model years. Some of the SUVs and trucks have had problems with an important suspension joint that Chrysler has blamed on corrosion in northern states where salt is used to clear roads of ice. Chrysler has sought to play down reports yesterday that right front wheels on the vehicles can suddenly detach and fly off. But it acknowledged that "in extreme cases" the corrosion problem could trigger "separation of the front suspension." It said front suspension upper ball joints on the vehicles would be replaced at no cost to their owners. In addition to the recall, which indstry analysts expect to be a costly one for Chrysler, the company said it would offer an extended 10-year or 100,000 mile warranty on the suspension upper ball joints on 400,000 2000-2003 durangos and dakotas not affected by the safety action. Only four-wheel drive versions of the Durango and Dakota are affected by the recall. Chrysler said there had been no substantiated reports of injuries had been linked to the recall. (AGENCIES) |
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US approves duties on pigment from China, India WASHINGTON, Dec 11: A US trade panel gave final approval on Friday to steep duties on imports of an industrial color additive from China and India that is used in paints, plastics and printing ink. The US international trade commission, by a vote of 6-0, said low-priced imports of various forms of carbazole violet pigment 23 were harming domestic producers. The action clears the way for the commerce department to impose anti-dumping duties ranging from 5.51 to 217.94 percent on imports of the product from China to offset prices it says are below fair market value. It plans to impose anti-dumping and countervailing duties on imports from India to offset unfair pricing and Government subsidies. Those duties will range from 27.23 to 69.23 percent and from 17.33 to 33.61 percent, respectively. The case was brought last year by Sun chemical corp of Cincinnati, and Nation Ford Chemical Co of Fort Mills, south Carolina. Sun is a wholly owned subsidiary of dainippon ink and chemical, which is based in Tokyo. Sun chemical produces more than half of all the violet 23 manufactured in the United States. Nation Ford chemical is the only domestic producer of the crude form of the pigment and supplies all its production to Sun, according to documents filed by the companies. Imports of violet 23 from China more than doubled between 2001 and 2003 to 336,350 kg (741,525 pounds), while prices drooped. Imports from India fell by 43 percent in 2003 from a peak of 27,823 kg (61,339 pounds) in 2002. (AGENCIES) |
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Forex reserves up by record USD 3.7 bn; cross USD 130 bn mark MUMBAI, Dec 11: India’s foreign exchange reserves recorded one of the highest ever inflows of US dollar 3.74 billion to cross 130 billion mark during the week ended December three, 2004 due to heavy flow of investments and revaluation of currencies. The record inflows led to the foreign exchange reserves cross the USD 130 billion mark, according to the Reserve Bank of India’s weekly statistical supplement released here today. The foreign exchange reserves during this period rose by USD 3,794 million for the week under review to USD 1,30,717 million, the RBI said. Foreign currency assets were also up by a record USD 3,553 million to touch USD 1,24,761 million, the RBI said. Revaluation of international currencies, including the US dollar and gold and foreign institutional investments contributed to the spurt in reserves, analysts said. The Central bank intervened in the market and bought dollars to stem the upward pressure on the Indian currency during the reporting week, analysts said. Gold reserves also went up by USD 189 millon to USD 4,540 million while special drawing rights remained static at USD five million, the rbi said. India’s reserve tranche position with international monetary fund grew further by USD 52 million to reach a level of USD 1,411 million, it said. The RBI said loans and advances to the Central Government showed a nil balance while that to State Governments fell by Rs 3,493 crore to Rs 761 crore. During the fortnight ending November 26, aggregate deposits went up by Rs 13,664 crore (0.9 per cent) to Rs 16,10,281 crore. Demand deposits rose by Rs 2,182 crore to Rs 2,27,939 crore while time deposits were up by Rs 11,482 crore to Rs 13,82,342 crore. The bank credit was up by Rs 10,792 crore to Rs 10,06,309 crore. Food credit rose by Rs 1,152 crore to Rs 42,380 crore while non-food credit went up by Rs 9,640 crore to Rs 9,63,929 crore. (PTI) |
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Jute cultivating states to benefit from industrial boom ALAPPUZHA, Dec 11: With jute requirement increasing by eight to ten per cent every year, jute cultivating states like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar are set to gain from the boom. The present consumption of jute in the coir industry, mainly centred in Kerala, is at 24 per cent and it is bound to go up steadily in the coming years, according to the jute shippers council. In another fillip to the sector, the Indian Jute Industries Research Association has recently decided to open a regional jute testing laboratory at Cherthala in the district. The jute shippers council has agreed to provide building, plot and other infrastructural facilities for the project and the lab would ensure the quality of the raw material besides initiating researches to increase water and fire resistance of jute, Council Secretary K C Eappan told UNI. Jute has been used as a substitute for coir yarn in the industry since 1954 and its requirement further shot up due to the shortage of coir yarn caused by diseases afflicting coconut palms in Kerala. However, exporters claimed that jute yarn was of less quality compared to coir yarn. According to the records with the council, the export of jute-based products from the district alone in the current year so far stood at 71,335 tonnes, valued at Rs 32.58 crore. It was only 12,812 tonnes last year. In Kerala, there are 42 jute-based units which depended on raw material from West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh and Bihar. Hit by shortage, the manufacturers have also started importing jute from Bangladesh in the recent past. Kolkota-based Jute Manufacturers Development Council, Jute Commissioner’s Office and Indian Jute Mills Association have together launched efforts to improve the quality of Jute Products from India, seeing the growing potential in the world market now. (UNI) |
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US ISPs urge India to reconsider IP VPN licensing fee WASHINGTON, Dec 11: The leading trade association of US telecommunications industry, comptel/ascent, has called on india to reconsider its ‘exorbitant’ licensing fee on Internet Service Providers (ISPs) willing to provide IP virtual private networks (IP VPNs). In a letter to Mr Nripendra Mishra, Secretary of the Department of Telecommunications, the association said it was "concerned that the proposed fee structure represents a major barrier for ISPs from offering IP VPN services utilising the most advanced technology MPLS (Multiprotocol Label Switching). The net effect of such action, it said, "will be to deny companies doing business in India the advanced communications services needed to retain their global competitiveness." Comptel said the licensing regime proposed by DoT was contrary to the best practices established by many Asia-Pacific and European Union countries, which had classified IP VPNs as a service provided on the basis of minimal licensing requirements. Most western hemisphere countries require no license to provide IP VPN service or have minimal licensing requirements, it said. "Open market conditions encourage more business," it added. Comptel said, "easing regulations and allowing global carriers to provide end-to-end delivery of services will improve business prospects in India. Emerging competition will put pressure on pricing, which will better position India competitively with its peer markets". Comptel said it hoped the Indian Government would take its comments into account as it develops its final policy. "Our members and their customers consider India to be a major foreign destination for their offshore business operations," it said. (UNI) |
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NEW DELHI, Dec 11: Information technology companies, consumer durable firms and pharmaceutical companies were judged among the best employers in India by global human resources managemant firm Hewitt associates with Tata consultancy services bagging the top prize. Telecom giant Bharti televentures was adjudged the second best employer of 2004, closely followed by public sector power company, National Thermal Power Corporation and country’s leading FMCG company procter and gamble. The annual survey by Hewitt was conducted across 272 companies of which 25 could make to the list of top employers in India. Glaxo Smithkline was judged as the fifth best employer in the country this year. The awards, for the 25 best employers in India this year, were announced last night. Two Tata group companies Tata motors and Tata steel apart from TCS figured in the list of 25. Among the public sector companies, oil giants IoC and HPCL were voted as among the best employers in the country. Leading pharma companies like Biocon Ltd, Dr Reddy laboratories and Glaxo smithklime featured in the prestigious list. Practically, all leading it companies like Wipro spectramind, Oracle India, Agilent technologies, Mindtree consulting, St Microelectronics, Intel technologies and Satyam computers figured in the list of 25 best employers in India in 2004, reflecting the growing importance these new-age companies give to human resource. The other companies which were rated as the best employers included E I Dupont, Gillette, Birla Sun life, Eureka Forbes, Phillips India and Jonson Jonson. The annual Hewitt-TV 18 is aimed at understanding the link between people practices and business performance in any organization. An expert panel comprising industry leaders, academicians and professional practioners judge the winners. A comprehensive study is conducted to decide on winners based on employee opinions, the organizations employment and people practices and also the perspective of the organizations senior leadership. This year the research was widened by monitoring developments not only among white-collar but also among blue-collar employees. Three new categories, best managed workforce, best people ceo and the most admired HR department were also instituted from this year. Godrej consumer product, IFFCO, parry confectionaries, jubiliant organasys and the Lila palace Kempski were the five companies who have the best-managed workforce and according to Hewitt, Procter and gamble had the best hr department among all the participating companies. Bharti televentures Sunil Mittal was judged as the people CEO for his excellent teamwork and spirit behind in making Bharti a globally recognized telecom giant. More than 272 companies across the country participated in the annual awards. (UNI) |
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MADURAI, Dec 11: Madurai Doordarshan Kendra is awaiting clearance for appointment of 30 staff for becoming fully operational. S Ramaswamy, Chief Engineer(south zone) for both Air and Doordarshan, told newsmen here yesterday that the scope for Madurai DD station was immense as it was the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu. The construction of Coimbatore Kendra is expected tobe completed in two months. It is proposed to install Rs 6-crore 10kw hp transmitters at Tirunelveli and Dharmapuri before 2005. He said the Madurai FM would begin its service in March 2005. The work on the 10 kw transmitter for Madurai is underway. In the meanwhile the 1kw transmitter would start giving FM service from March 2005. The work on full fleged FM service covering the entire southern districts would be completed by the end of next year. An FM station would also be coming up at Tirunelveli at a cost of Rs 2.7 crore.The FM station at Dharmapuri is under construction.The site selection for an FM station at Kancheepuram is udner way. The Chennai-FM gold and FM rainbow-would be upgraded into 20 kw transmitters. About 400 FM stations would be opened across the country. (PTI) |
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HP to set up ‘destination Himachal fund’ to boost tourism SHIMLA, Dec 11: The Himachal Pradesh Government will set up a fund to promote the state as an ideal tourist destination and provide single window clearance to bollywood for shooting films at famous locations. With a focus on boosting its image through the electronic media, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh yesterday announced that "destination Himachal fund" would be set up jointly by the Tourism Development Board and the Hospitality Industry. Inaugurating the Himachal tourism conclave here, he said Shimla, Kullu, Manali and Dalhousie were some of the famous tourism spots of the state, also promoted by Bollywood through films shot at these locations. Directions were being given to the departments concerned to remove bottlenecks in granting permits for shooting films. Facility for single window clearance would also be put in place with the tourism department as the nodal agency, he said. The Chief Minister said the Union Finance Ministry has given a special industrial package for the state, which expected a new wave of investment in new Otel projects as well as ropeways, mountain resorts, film cities, adventure tourism and tourism infrastructure on public-private partnership. He said that State Government had requested the ministry to increase the allocation under the Buddhist circuit from the present Rs 7.23 crore to include more amenities for the tourists. Mr Singh assured delegates all possible cooperation and assistance from the Government for setting up their ventures and expressed hope that conclave would go a long way in achieving the objective of tourism promotion as well as industrial development. (UNI) |
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