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sought First book on Ksemendra coming up in Kashmiri Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Feb 26: Ksemendra, the 10th century literature may be the beacon-light for.........more Banks cannot employ goondas for taking possession: SC NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Describing the recovery agents employed by the Multinational Banks (MNBs) as thugs, hooligans and .....more BHEL bags Rs 144 cr PowerGrid order in Maharashtra NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has bagged a Rs 144 crore order from Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PowerGrid) for a new 400 KV substation and ......more Rail earnings from upper class passengers below expectation NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Indian Railways has seen lower than expected earnings from ......more |
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India
likely to export nuclear power technology KAIGA, KARNATAKA, Feb 26: India may soon become an exporter of nuclear power technology with at least two south Asian countries having approached the Nuclear Power Corporation .......more Railway Budget passes benefits of growth to common man: FM NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Complimenting Railway Minister Lalu Prasad for announcing a cut in passenger fares, Finance Minister P .....more Dial 139 for Rail info from any part of the country NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Passengers can now dial 139 for Rail information from any part of the country.Under the proposal announced by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad during his budget speech, the train enquiry call centres will ......more Railway Budget promising, shows way to other PSUs: India Inc NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today received a thumbs up from India Inc for his Ministry’s Budget for ........more |
Cultural
Academy’s assistance sought Excelsior Correspondent JAMMU, Feb 26: Ksemendra, the 10th century literature may be the beacon-light for those interested in Sanskrit literature, but hardly anyone knows this great son of Kashmir outside the few intellectuals and historians of Kashmir. That is because the language in which he completed his works was Sanskrit and not his mother-tongue Kashmiri. It is said that Ksemendra (990-1065 AD) had a strong desire to present his works in Kashmiri language so that it could attain some degree and status of popular literature, but King Ananta, the then King of Kashmir didn’t approve this, with the result that he was forced to write in Sanskrit which incidentally was the court language. Ksemendra’s motive behind these works was a wake-up call for people when Kashmiri’s political and religious landscape was rapidly changing. To accomplish the desire of Ksemendra the great son of the soil, a relatively young and budding writer, K K Lidhoo, Programme Executive, All India Radio Kathua, has been working on the translation of Ksemendra’s great work " Samaymatrika" into Kashmiri for the last one year and is ready with the same in " Nastalique" script having official seal of approval as approved script for Kashmiri. However, apart from time and money, this budding writer feels handicapped in fulfillment of latter so that his work comes out in print in the shape of the first book on Ksemendra in Kashmiri language. Mr Lidhoo has sought the help from any quarter who claim to be the patrons of Kashmiri language, especially the J&K Cultural Academy, who is presently doing an exemplary job in promoting young talent under the able guidance of Dr Rafeeq Masoodi. |
Banks cannot employ goondas for taking possession: SC NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Describing the recovery agents employed by the Multinational Banks (MNBs) as thugs, hooligans and gangsters, the Supreme Court today held that this country is governed by the "rule of law" and the banks cannot employ goondas to take possession of property or vehicles by force. A bench comprising Justices A R Laxmanan and Altamas Kabir, while disposing of the petition of 75-year-old widow Prakash Kaur from Kanpur, described these recovery agents as modern day Shylocks who are solely concerned with their pound of flesh without caring for the hardships, humiliation and harassment faced by the people. The apex court directed the Government to appoint an special committee to suggest ways for reducing disparity in working conditions of the employees of these banks and the nationalised banks atleast upto the managerial level. The court also suggested that instead of abolishing the agency system altogether the government should direct registration of recovery agents who can be held responsible for their illegal actions against the loanees. The court also suggested that the government should also take immediate step to implement RBI guidlines dated November 21, 2005 which came into force with effect from November 30, 2005. The court observed that multinational banks score over the nationalised banks as they are technicaly upgraded, efficient and their staff is also paid well and above all the ‘dead wood’ in the staff can be removed any time unlike the Government banks, where staff do not have any accountability and fear of being removed from service and therefore their attitude towards the public is pathetic. The court also directed the ICICI bank to waive of the entire interest amount and directed Prakash Kaur to deposit Rs 50,000 at one go as principal amount and pay the balance amount in instalments. The ICICI bank had come in appeal against Allahabad High Court judgement directing registration of criminal cases against top officials of the bank including the Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD), Chief Manager and the Branch Manager of Civil Lines Allahabad Bank and the recovery agents who forcibly took away her truck in July 2006. Ms Kaur, whose son is also a bank employee had contended that she had defaulted only in the payment of the last instalment and remaining 33 instalments were duely paid in time. The court cited an instance where small school going child was intimidated by the recovery agents for the loan taken by his father. (UNI) |
BHEL bags Rs 144 cr PowerGrid order in Maharashtra NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) has bagged a Rs 144 crore order from Power Grid Corporation of India Limited (PowerGrid) for a new 400 KV substation and expansion work in Maharashtra. The World Bank-funded turnkey contract is for setting up a new 400 KV substation at Wardha and extensions of 400 KV substations at Seoni, Akola, Aurangabad, associated with the Sipat Super Thermal Power Project State-II supplementary transmission system. The project would be commissioned by BHEL in a schedule of 19 months, BHEL said in a statement. The contract envisages BHEL to design, engineer, manufacture, test, supply, erect and commission auto transformers, shunt reactors, circuit breakers, 400 KV and 220 KV instrument transformers, control and relay panels, string insulators and other associated auxiliaries other than complete civil works. BHEL has earlier set up 400 KV substations for PowerGrid at Gazuwaka, Kanpur, Allahabad, Trivandrum and Siliguri besides undertaking extensions of existing 400 KV substations at Jamshedpur, Rourkela, Farakka, Malda, Jeypore, Vijaywada, Madurai and Sriperumbudur. (PTI) |
Rail earnings from upper class passengers below expectation NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Indian Railways has seen lower than expected earnings from upper class passengers while second class passenger earnings exceeded estimates by more than five per cent. Revenue receipts from upper class passengers at Rs 3079.61 crore in 2006-07 was lower than the budget estimation of Rs 3174.80 crore. For 2007-08, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad has pegged the earnings from this segment at Rs 3553.39 crore. In 2005-06, earnings from upper class travellers was Rs 2693.59 crore. In a bid to attract more passengers to AC First and AC 2-Tier, the Railway Minister in his budget for 2007-08 slashed fares by 3-4 per cent during busy season and by up to 8 per cent during lean season. Earnings from second class passengers in 2006-07 was Rs 14,320.39 crore as against budget provision of Rs 13,625.20 crore. Prasad sees a 15 per cent jump in these earnings in 2007-08 to Rs 16,521.61 crore. The segment gave Rs 12,432.40 crore in revenues in 2005-06. Earnings from goods transportation clocked a 5 per cent increase to Rs 42,299 crore in 2006-07 over budget estimate of Rs 40,320 crore. For 2007-08, revenues from this segment, which contributes 64 per cent of the total earnings, has been projected at Rs 46,943 crore.
Total fare and goods tariff earnings in 2007-08 has been put at Rs 71,218 crore as against the Rs 63,120 crore revised estimate for 2006-07 and Rs 54,404.56 crore for 2005-06. (PTI) |
India likely to export nuclear power technology KAIGA, KARNATAKA, Feb 26: India may soon become an exporter of nuclear power technology with at least two south Asian countries having approached the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) to develop plants for them. According to NPCIL Chairman and Managing Director S K Jain two countries have approached them to develop 220 MW plants and to train the personnel necessary to man the plants. Refusing to name the countries, Jain said their delegations had already met him and were shown existing plants, designs, schedules, costing and safety parts - all of which had met with their approval. "However, since we at present do not have sanction to export nuclear technology we will have to wait until it is granted by the international community," Jain said. He was speaking to reporters after unit 3 of Kaiga Atomic Power Station achieved criticality today after its first self-sustained thermo-nuclear reaction. Jain said NPCIL plans to construct eight 700 MW units and ten 1,000 MW units in five years. "Construction of these projects matches the progress made in mining of uranium in the country, whose supply is expected to double. By the time construction of the plants is completed there will be sufficient fuel for them," Jain said. NPCIL has identified nine sites where they could construct the new plants, in addition to maximising the number of plants in their existing stations. The Kaiga power station would be one, with possibility of two 700 MW units being added in the future after government approval, Jain said. With the country’s nuclear power capacity expected to multiply, NPCIL will look to generate 65,000 MW by 2032, Jain said. (PTI) |
Railway Budget passes benefits of growth to common man: FM NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Complimenting Railway Minister Lalu Prasad for announcing a cut in passenger fares, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the Budget is aimed at passing the benefits of growth in Railways to the common man. "I think the Railway Budget has presented a picture of growth-oriented Railway that passes the benefits of growth to the ordinary people," he said. "I compliment the Railway Minister for reducing the passenger fares," he said. (PTI) |
Dial 139 for Rail info from any part of the country NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Passengers can now dial 139 for Rail information from any part of the country. Under the proposal announced by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad during his budget speech, the train enquiry call centres will be functional in all the four regions of the country between June and September this year. "By dialing the telephone number 139, passengers will be able to obtain information about arrival and departure of trains, seat availability etc., at local call rates from any part of the country", Prasad said in his budget speech. The Minister said all the call centres will have international-level facilities such as SMS alert. He said future call centres will provide several services like Railway Ticketing, Taxi Booking and Hotel Booking. Prasad said under the existing Passenger Railway Services (PRS) system, reservation charts are taken out a few hours before the departure of trains. He said it is now proposed to provide hand-held computer terminals to Ticket Travelling Examiners (TTEs) in reserved coaches. The TTE will feed in the current vacancy position coach-wise and berth-wise in these hand-held terminals. These computer terminals will be directly linked to the PRS system to transmit the berth reservation position from running trains to the PRS system, he said. As a pilot project, the hand-held terminals will be made available in three Shatabdi trains and another train. (PTI) |
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Railway Budget promising, shows way to other PSUs: India Inc NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Railway Minister Lalu Prasad today received a thumbs up from India Inc for his Ministry’s Budget for 2007-08, which they termed as positive and one that would serve as an example for other public sector units. "This is a good news for India and we wish that other public service areas like education and health would also follow the Railway example," FICCI President Habil Khorakiwala said on Prasad’s decision to cut passenger fares, while leaving freight rates largely unchanged. He said the Railway Minister has put his bet on a buoyant economy and the decision not to tinker with freight rates largely, while cutting passenger fares suggested railways was now working like a well-run private sector corporation. "The Minister’s thrust on modernisation, technical innovation and better resource utilisation should lead to higher market share in both goods and passenger segments for the Railways," Khorakiwala added. Leading chamber CII also welcomed measures like increased containers and freight services stating they would not only help the industry but also benefit general public. The freight rate cut on petrol, diesel and iron ore would have an overall positive impact on the economy, CII Chairman Railways Equipment Division J P Choudhary said. "The minister is taking innovative measures and if this tempo continues, the Railways will be one of the pillars of our growth in the coming years," he added. ASSOCHAM said the Budget had linked old economy with the new, while taking full advantage of modern technology, including ATMs, SMS, e-ticketing and smart cards. (PTI) |
Auto majors form consortium to set up rs 4000 cr facility CHENNAI, Feb 26: Three world renowned auto majors-Renault of France, Nissan of Japan and Mahindra and Mahindra of India-today formed a consortium to set up a Rs.4,000 crore automobile manufacturing facility at suburban Oragadam. The first automobiles from the facility would roll out in the second half of 2009, Kashub Mahindra, Chairman of the Mahindra group, told reporters after signing a MOU with the Tamil Nadu government for the project. Patrick Pelata,Executive Vice President, Renault, said it would be a launching pad for his company for its operations in the country, while Carlos Tavares of Nissan said his company would manufacture ‘compact cars’ from the facility. Tamil Nadu government would provide land and incentives for the project,which would produce four lakh automobiles. The common facility would be used by the three auto majors for production of their automobiles but Nissan would market its cars on its own dealership network. Renault, which already had a tie-up with Mahindra, would be marketing its cars through Mahindra-Renault Marketing, Pawan Goenka, President, Mahindra’s automotive sector,who had also been named as the new company’s chairman, said. The company’s name was yet to be decided, Pawan said. (PTI) |
Reduction in freight rate too little to warrant fuel price cut NEW DELHI, Feb 26: Petrol and diesel prices are unlikely to be lowered despite a five per cent cut in rail freight charges for the two motor fuels announced by Railway Minister Lalu Prasad in the Railway Budget for 2007-08. About 35-40 per cent of the 54 million tonnes petrol and diesel consumed annually is moved by rail and the cut in freight charges would result in savings of between Rs 75 to 80 crore to the oil industry, said an official of Indian Oil Corp (IOC). But it is unlikely to have any impact on prices of petrol and diesel, as freight assumed to calculate the retail selling price of the two auto fuels was substantially lower than the new freight rates. "The price build-up of petrol and diesel factors in a notional 50 per cent of the prevailing rail freight. The five per cent cut in rail freight will therefore not have an impact on the price build as the new freight charge would continue to be higher than what is accounted for in the price build-up," the official said. The move would, however, save IOC Rs 40 crore annually on moving petrol and diesel from refineries to inland consumption centres by rail. More than 40 per cent of the fuel is moved to consumption centres through pipelines, which are cheaper than railways, he said. (PTI) Additional 8000 Unreserved Ticketing System terminals: Lalu NEW DELHI, Feb 26: The number of computerised Unreserved Ticketing System (UTS) terminals will be raised to 8000 in the next two years from the current 2200 terminals, Railway Minister Lalu Prasad said here today. Presenting the Rail Budget for 2007-08, Prasad said it is also proposed to instal an additional 6000 automatic ticket vending machines in major cities that will be connected with the UTS terminals over the next two years. "Tickets would be made available at a press of a button by using smart cards or currency coins", he said adding the coupon ticketing system introduced for suburban pasengers in Mumbai is also proposed to be extended to Chennai and Kolkata. He said in the next year, Central Railways will undertake a pilot project of issuing tickets through multi-purpose smart cards. Under this scheme, customers will have the facility to obtain Monthly Season Ticket (MST) as well as daily ticket on the same smart card. Stating that this card could be bought and recharged from different places in the city, Prasad said the cards would be readable on touch by the hand-held terminals of TTEs. The scheme will be expanded after the success of the pilot projects, the Minister said adding these measures undertaken over the next two years would alleviate to a large extent the problem of long queues at ticket counters. (PTI) |
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