ENVIRONMENT
Kerala units to seek legal counsel on ETP deadline extension
INDUSTRIAL units that have received closure notice from the State Pollution Control Board for not complying with the norms for handling and disposal of hazardous waste have decided to seek legal opinion before approaching the Supreme Court to ... More

States call for more powers in eco clearances
EVEN as the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) proposes to streamline the environmental clearance (EC) process to reduce time taken to give the go-ahead to projects, State Governments have sought increased delegation of powers to them. ... More

FERTILISERS
Hike in phosphoric acid prices for subsidy okayed
THE Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) today approved the increase in prices of phosphoric acid for the current financial year for calculating the subsidy payable to complex fertiliser manufacturers, particularly the di-ammonium ... More

HEALTH
Blood collection lags demand by bagfuls
BLOOD transfusion services constitute a crucial part of any healthcare delivery system and judging by the state of affairs obtaining today, India would need to opt for the surgeon's knife to ensure adequate flows. The country requires about ... More

INFRASTRUCTURE
Nellore bypass road ready two months ahead of schedule
NYSE Infrastructure Pvt Ltd, a special purpose vehicle formed by Navayuga Engineering Company Ltd and Soma Enterprises Ltd, announced the completion of the Nellore bypass road, a part of the Chennai-Kolkata section of the Golden Quadrilateral ... More

PETROLEUM
OPEC not to consider India's plea to cut crude prices
THE Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) will not consider India's request to take up the issue of a $1 per barrel reduction in the price paid by the Asian buyers for crude oil purchase from OPEC ... More

PHARMACEUTICALS
FICCI survey sees scope for higher pharma exports to Gulf
A FICCI survey on the potential of pharmaceutical exports to West Asia has revealed that there is considerable scope to increase exports to Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries. With the pharma industry in GCC countries at a nascent stage ... More

PM concerned over sale, production of spurious drugs
EVEN as pharmaceutical companies have expressed their worry over excessive price control by the Government, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, seems concerned over the issue of the unrelenting sale of spurious drugs. Dr Singh had broached ... More

POWER
Discoms can buy surplus power from captive units: MERC
THE Maharashtra State Electricity Regulatory Commission has allowed distribution companies to buy surplus power available with captive generation units. The commission has passed the order, which will help reduce power cuts that have plagued ... More

STEEL
Power sops sought for ferro alloys units
Ferro sector costs have gone up but the concessions promised are still to come. More

TEXTILES
Erode textile producers to ramp up direct exports
THE Erode-based woven textile producers have formed a forum to promote their products and also increase the volume of direct exports. To give shape to their objective, the members of the newly-formed Textiles and Garment Exporters Association ... More

COAL
`Technology in power sector needs to mature to mitigate emissions'
IT is not the first time that coal is being vilified. In the 14th century, a certain section of society in Europe was against coal as a fuel since it were very comfortable using firewood instead, according to Mr Preston ... More

RADIO/TV
Zee may have to share cricket footage
CRICKET live and exclusive on Subhash Chandra owned direct-to-home (DTH) platform, Dish TV, might just be interrupted. The Government is in the process of coming up with a norm on sharing of channels on a non-discriminatory basis by DTH ... More

EDUCATION
Scoring high marks
A girl in Kerala goes through her lessons fully focused, symbolising the World Literacy Day. As per Census 2001 data, expectedly Kerala has high literacy level among different communities — 94.8% for Christians, 90.2% for Hindus and 89.4% ... More

AUTOMOBILE COMPONENTS
Maharashtra Govt panel gives go-ahead for Pune-Pimpri auto cluster
THE long-drawn setting up of the auto cluster in the Pune-Pimpri-Chinchwad area seems to have now become a reality with it being formally approved at the meeting of the apex committee on Industrial Infrastructure Upgradation Scheme (IIUS), ... More

FOODS & FOOD PROCESSING
45 seafood exporters get safe processing certification
THE Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA) has issued Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) compliance certificates to 45 companies in the country. HACCP certification is issued for safe and sanitary processing of ... More

MEDICAL & SURGICAL EQUIPMENTS
Medical diagnosis outsourcing may take off early next year
SIGNIFICANT outsourcing opportunities in medical diagnosis may open up early next year after Indian firms get their laboratories approved by US organisations. Metropolis Health Services, which runs a chain of diagnostic centres, is currently ... More

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS & HOSPITALS
Tata group plans cancer hospital in Bengal
THE Tata group is looking at fresh investments in West Bengal and is also setting up a cancer hospital on the occasion of the birth centenary celebrations of JRD Tata and Naval Tata. This was announced by Mr Ratan Tata, Chairman of the Tata ... More

LEATHER
Indo-Italian leather goods training centre soon
AN Indo-Italian joint venture between the Consortium of Machinery Manufacturers Association, Italy, and the Indian Leather Products Association (ILPA) plans to set up a multi-level leather goods manufacturing training centre in Kolkata. The ... More

NEWSPAPERS & PUBLISHING
Time Out now in Mumbai
Time Out Mumbai, a city-centric fortnightly, will hit the newsstands every alternate Wednesday priced at Rs 25 with an initial print run of 35,000 copies. Published by Paprika Media Pvt Ltd, the magazine is a part of the well-known ... More

SOCIAL WELFARE
Kerala unveils 100-day action plan
Along with the 100-day plan, the Government will also identify projects that can be implemented in the next one year. More

LABOUR REFORMS
Cabinet clears hike in wages Act cap
THE Cabinet on Wednesday approved a proposal to amend the Payment of Wages Act giving the Government the power to periodically increase the wage ceiling on the basis of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) through gazette notifications instead of ... More

TRADE & LABOUR UNIONS

EVENTS
Cidex to hold global tech fairs on food processing in Hyderabad
CIDEX Trade Fairs Pvt Ltd, a joint venture of Messe Dusseldorf and Kolnmesse International, is organising a four-day trade fair for four international technology forums at the HitexGroundshere from Friday. The exhibitions are on food processing, ... More

Two-day pharma meet at Mumbai
REGULATORY issues related to registering medicines in the US and exporting to the same would be the focus of the Pharmaceutical Analysts Convention 2004. The two-day convention organised by the Indian Drug Manufacturers' Association (IDMA) ... More

INCOME TAX
Call for scrapping I-T provision on inventory valuation
A section of the Indian industry is suggesting that the accounting standard on inventory valuation specified under the Income-Tax Law be withdrawn with retrospective effect as it is at variance with the valuation standard laid down by the ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Spices Board hopes to exceed export target by 40 per cent
THE Spices Board is confident of surpassing the export target by 40 per cent both in quantity and value this fiscal, the Spice Board Chairman, Mr. C.J. Jose, has said. He, however, conceded that most value additions were not high end in nature. ... More

TOURISM
Expenses on tourist outflows exceed revenue from inflows
REVENUE from tourism which was, until as recently as 1997, critical for balancing the current account in the country's balance of payments, increased by about 50 per cent over the past 10 years. Year after year, without exception. From $2.2 ... More