There seems much movement in the administration of the State in various departments. Only a day back, we got the news that a large number of lecturers in education department were promoted as Principals. Quick on the heels of that good news, we have something more to cheer us. This time a large number of promotions at higher ranks in the police department have been announced. The Departmental Promotion Committee comprising Chief Secretary Madhav Lal, Home Secretary B R Sharma and Director General of Police (DGP) Kuldeep Khoda met after two adjournments during past one and a half month and approved the proposal of Police Headquarters for promotion of entire batch of 1994 IPS officers from DIGs to IGPs and 1998 batch IPS officers from SSPs to DIGs. It approved 11 Deputy Inspectors General of Police (DIGs) and seven Senior Superintendents of Police (SSPs) for promotion and granted Selection Grade (SG) to 11 SSPs making them entitled for promotion as DIGs in future. The reports are that the Director General of Police, Kuldeep Khoda had been keen to see that no time was wasted in granting promotion to deserving officers in the police department, and had worked hard to draft the promotion scheme for the upper cadres. Those who have been selected for promotion had been waiting for quite some time and expected that their rights would be given due recognition.
Promotion of the cadres will automatically open space for junior ranking officers for promotion when their turn comes. The precedent is a healthy one and hopefully it will continue to be institutionalized in due course of time. It has to be remembered that the State Police have been in the forefront of countering two-decade old armed militancy in the State. All credit goes to the police for their dedicated services and sacrifices they had to make in meeting the challenge of the enemy. The police have borne itself with dignity and honour at crucial periods and under the able guidance of the Director General, it has earned the appreciation of the higher authorities as well as the masses of people. The type of restraint police cadres have maintained in face of grave situations has earned the forces appreciation from one and all. The State Police officers and other ranks have won certificates of honour from the President and the Prime Minister and other authorities, and thus have proved that it has the capability and the will of meeting direst of challenges to peace and tranquility. If the Chief Minister is inclined to withdraw AFSPA from five districts and remove the Disturbed Areas Act from them, the essential component of his thinking is that he reposes full trust in the State Police cadres. It is the police that will inherit the burden of ensuring law and order in the State once the armed forces are withdrawn. Promotion of a government employee, especially at the higher rungs, is to be considered government’s appreciation of their services. In other words, it means that the promoted officers will serve the State with better dedication and deeper consideration. That is precisely what the people want and will feel happy about.
It has to be made clear, and the police authorities know that militancy is on its last legs in the State. It will not be long that militancy will be uprooted lock, stock and barrel and normalcy as of yore will prevail in the State. Thus police will have to return to their normal duty of rendering service to civil society in maintaining the rule of law in the State. The Police authorities and particularly the Director General of Police are seized of post-militancy scenario of the civil society meaning what the civil society will be looking for once militancy is swept away. The Police have the vigilance and traffic wings under it and both of these plus the mainstream cadres all have to combine to give shape to what is called good governance. Police have the vital role in delivery of good governance. As ill luck would have it, our society and polity have slipped into defame owing to large scale scams, bribery and crime. This is no small a challenge to the police. We think that this is much bigger and more disastrous a challenge than armed insurgency, militancy or proxy war. Bribery and scams have gone deep into the veins of polity and surprisingly even the top services have seen the most horrendous type of scams. Thus this challenge is looking straight into the eyeballs of the police authorities. Will they be able to face it and overcome it is a much debated question. The civil society will have to provide the police with adequate powers, equipment and wherewithal if it expects them to deliver the goods. Promotions announced by the DG for higher cadres are part of the requisite paraphernalia to motivate the police to prove its efficiency and rare dedication. We should be proud of them and the State is safe in their hands.
Promotions in Police cadres
Toyota to add 2nd shift at Russia plant in Sept
TOKYO, Apr 20: Toyota Motor Corp said on Friday it would add a second shift at its Russian factory in September, hiring 600 new workers.
The factory in St. Petersburg currently produces about 20,000 Camrys a year on a single shift. Its workforce will rise to about 1,750 when two-shift operations begin, Japan’s top automaker said in a statement.
The factory has a production capacity of 50,000 vehicles a year.
Toyota said it would also add stamping and resin-molding processes at the factory in 2014 to promote further localisation in Russia.
(agencies)
Syndicate Bank revises Base Rate & BPLR
MUMBAI, Apr 20: Public sector lender, Syndicate Bank has decided to change interest rates on lendings and deposits.
The Bank has cut the Base Rates by 25 basis points, from 10.75 per cent to 10.50 per cent and Benchmark Prime Lending Rate (BPLR)too reduced by 25 basis points, from 15 per cent to 14.75 per cent with effect from May 1.
However, Revised downward interest Rates on Domestic Term Deposits upto Rs 15 lakh under select maturity buckets with effect from April 23 along with revise downward Interest Rates on NRE Term Deposits, a bank release said.
The bank has taken this pro-active step, keeping in view the recent policy measures announced by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
Base Rate means minimum rate of interest that a bank is allowed to charge from its customers.
BPLR is the interest rate that commercial banks normally charge their most credit-worthy customers.
(UNI)
Nissan to make luxury brand Infiniti cars in China
TOKYO, Apr 20: Nissan Motor Co said on Friday that it would start building cars under its premium Infiniti brand in China from 2014, in a bid to boost sales in the world’s largest car market.
Nissan said it will start building two Infiniti models at plants run by its joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Group.
(agencies)
Hind zinc net down by 25.6 per cent
MUMBAI, Apr 20: Hindustan Zinc today said its net profit was down by 25.6 per cent to Rs 1412 crore for the quarter ended March 31, 2012, comapared to Rs 1771.27 crore for the quarter ended
March 31, 2011.
The company has posted a net profit of Rs 5526.04 crore for the year ended March 31, 2012 as compared to Rs 4900.49 crore for the year ended March 31, 2011.
The total Income has surged from Rs 10905.19 crore for the year
ended March 31, 2011 to Rs 12948.14 crore for the year ended March 31, 2012, the company informed BSE.
(UNI)
DGE&T portal for skill development
NEW DELHI, Apr 19: Directorate General of Employment & Training(DGE&T) today announced that a web portal has been developed for the effective implementation of Skill Development Scheme(SDIS) to promote training of around 6 lakh people annually in India.
The portal has been developed by Hewlett Packard (HP) India.
DGE&T works closely with the State Governments and Vocational Training Providers (VTP) are engaged to provide professional training to unskilled and semi-skilled workforce in the country. The trained candidates are then assessed by empanelled Assessing Bodies (ABs) and certified ready for employment.
The earlier manual process of recording candidate’s information provided DGE&T with a limited visibility in respect of monitoring the training and assessment schedules and the number of candidates certified for employment. With large amounts of information spread across different cities and organisations, there was a need for a single platform to centralise the data.
In order to address this issue, DGE&T chose HP Enterprise Services to develop a web portal, a centralized system to manage the entire operations of SDI Scheme under DGE&T, and bring all the
regional offices, States, VTPs and ABs onto a single platform. As part of the agreement, HP will manage applications for the portal,
along with hardware at the data center in addition to maintenance and support through the entire duration of the project. HP will provide support for three years and has trained over 2000 users across 30 states and UTs of India to administer the SDIS portal.
The SDIS Web Portal would help the DGE&T in registering candidates, VTPs, and ABs. It also tracks the creation of training and assessment batches, publishing test results and dispersal of online certificates.
‘Government institutions like DGE&T need technology solutions that can support large number of users and provide timely information to various stakeholders as necessary, and in a transparent manner,’ said Marshal Correia, Vice-President & General Manager- HP Enterprise Services, HP India. ‘Developed to meet customer needs, HP Application Management services for the portal will help DGE&T to increase the pool of skilled manpower in the country.’
Mr Mallikrjun Kharge, Union Minister of Employment & Training, lauded HP and DGET while dedicating this portal to the nation. (UNI)_
Cairns gets clearance for increase production in Mangla oilfield
JAIPUR, Apr 20: The production in Cairns India’s Mangla oil field in Barmer district of Rajasthan will soon go up by 25,000 barrels per day(BPD), a company spokesperson said.
‘The oil field presently is producing 1,25,000 BPD that would go up to 1,50,000 BPD in next few days’, the spokesperson said yesterday adding that the Government has accorded approval for increasing the production.
Besides Mangla oilfield—the second oil field of the company in the desert state—is also producing 25,000 BPD crude oil and hence the total oil production now would be 1,75,000 BPD in a few days.
(UNI)
Air China trade halted pending share placement plan
HONG KONG, Apr 20: Air China’s shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai were suspended on Friday pending details about a planned private placement of shares, the carrier said.
Shares of Air China in Hong Kong have fallen 10.8 percent so far in 2012.
Air China said in a statement posted on the Shanghai Stock Exchange late on Thursday that it was planning a private share placement and, separately, it would receive 1.05 billion yuan ($166.6 million) from its parent.
The company had said in August that it would receive 1 billion yuan from its parent to fund the previous purchase of Cathay Pacific shares.
On Thursday, the airline added it would receive an additional 50 million yuan from its parent. (AGENCIES)
Shanghai rebar steady after fall, worst week in 2 months
SINGAPORE, Apr 20: Shanghai steel futures steadied after hitting two-week lows on Friday, but still posted their worst week in two months, as slow Chinese demand kept the pressure on prices and restrained buyers’ appetite for raw material iron ore.
The most active October rebar contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange hit a session low of 4,298 yuan ($680) a tonne, a level not seen since April 5, before closing little changed at 4,313 yuan.
For the week, construction-used rebar fell 1.6 percent, its steepest drop since mid-February.
‘Steel demand is not particularly poor, it’s just not stellar. Relative to what China’s done in previous years, there isn’t quite the same impetus and confidence in the wider economy to bolster sentiment in the steel market,’ said Rory MacDonald, iron ore broker at Freight Investor Services.
A slowing economy in China, the world’s biggest steel producer and consumer, is raising doubts about whether a seasonal uptick in demand in the second quarter, when construction recovers after winter, would be as strong as many had thought.
That could curb China’s steel production, which hit a record daily pace above 2 million tonnes in early April, and consequently demand for iron ore.
‘I don’t see anything radical ahead in the next two or three months. Unless the government makes a clear move on the macro side, I don’t see the Chinese steel market fundamentals altering all that much,’ said MacDonald.
Steel demand was similarly slack elsewhere, with South Korean steelmaker POSCO reporting a 54 percent fall in first-quarter operating profit to 422 billion Korean won ($371 million) on weaker demand and higher raw material cost.
Prices at spot sale tenders by iron ore miners this week either dropped o hardly moved compared to previous tenders, suggesting there is no urgency among buyers to stock up.
Top iron ore miner sold 117,500 tonnes of 62.5-percent grade sinter feed late on Thursday at 147.18 a tonne, cost and freight, down from $148 at a prior tender in March, a Shanghai-based trader said.
Rio Tinto sold 61-percent grade Pilbara iron ore fines at $149.10 per tonne, about the same price at which it sold a similar cargo last week at $149.18, the trader said.
That followed Wednesday’s tender by BHP Billiton which sold Newman and Yandi iron ore fines at levels near a previous tender.
‘A lot of the steel mills are looking at a correction in steel prices because of the high production and slow demand. So they are slowing down on purchasing seaborne iron ore cargo,’ said the Shanghai trader.
Prices of spot steel have dropped, with steel billet in China’s key Tangshan area in Hebei province falling to 3,780 yuan a tonne on Friday from 3,820 yuan last week, traders said.
Benchmark iron ore with 62 percent iron content <.IO62-CNI=SI> was unchanged at $148.50 a tonne on Thursday, according to Steel Index.
The index-based price hit a six-month peak of $149.40 last week, but has dropped since.
‘We seem to be in touching distance of the ceiling for iron ore prices,’ said MacDonald at Freight Investor Services, who is looking at $150 as a resistance level.
A similar iron ore price gauge by Platts
(AGENCIES)
Seoul shares fall as US data, euro zone worries bite By Joonhee Yu
SEOUL, Apr 20: Seoul shares fell to a one-week low on Friday on renewed worries over the euro zone debt crisis and on doubts about the strength of U.S. economic recovery after lackluster jobs data.
The Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) was down 1.34 percent at 1,972.98 points as of 0310 GMT.
Worries about the health of Spanish banks and the country’s fiscal situation escalated this week and jitters were aggravated by rumours, later denied, of a possible French rating downgrade.
‘Rumors buzzing around France and disappointing U.S. jobs data were the main drag on the index today, but resistance at the recent low near 1,970 points may be a springboard for recovery, especially with Japan and China showing steps towards monetary easing,’ said Um Tae-woong, an analyst at Bookook Securities.
Spain sold 2.5 billion euros in 2- and 10-year bonds, at the top end of the targeted amount, but yields on the key 10-year bond were higher, reflecting fears that it may miss budget deficit targets.
The number of Americans claiming unemployment benefits for the first time fell only slightly last week, suggesting a slowdown in job growth while other data showed factory activity in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region declined steeply and U.S. Home sales fell for a second consecutive month.
Selling by offshore investors may extend for a fifth straight day, having sold a net 186.7 billion won ($164 million) of shares on Friday morning, making it the longest such streak in four months.
A slump in large-cap technology blue-chips weighed on the market, as LG Electronics tumbled 4 percent while Samsung Electronics fell 2 percent.
LG Chem shares plunged 8.1 percent after seeing its first-quarter profits slashed 45 percent compared to a year before, sandwiched between slowing demand in China and rising oil prices.
Shares in Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) rose 3.7 percent after its major shareholders announced plans to pick advisors in April to manage a 40 percent stake sale worth $1.06 billion.
(AGENCIES)