The Hindu Business Line : Saturday, September 25, 2004

RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
DRDO open to working with industry
The domestic private sector should work with the DRDO laboratories to leverage the technology strengths that have been built over the last half-a-century. More

CLIMATE & WEATHER
Monsoon receding from N-W region — Wet spell for peninsula
"The live systems over the Arabian Sea and the Bay of Bengal would not affect the withdrawal... It looks like the rain activity will now be confined within the peninsula." More

CULTIVATION
Dindigul jatropha plans
MADURAI: The Dindigul administration has taken up efforts to popularise jatropha cultivation among the farmers in the district. According to the District Collector, Mr S. Murugaia, the effort is to convert large tracts of wasteland into ... More

PENSION PLANS
Pension scheme for NIMS staff
HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has directed the officials to introduce a new contributory pension scheme for all the new recruits in the Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS) from September ... More

ECONOMY
OECD lifts Europe, Japan growth forecast
THE Paris-based OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) comprising the world's 30 wealthiest countries is "bullish" about the latest US Federal Reserve's decision to lift its primary interest rate by a quarter percentage ... More

Committed to taking reform process forward: PM
THE Prime Minister of India, Dr Manmohan Singh, has assured Indian American CEOs in a meeting and prominent members of the Indian American community at a reception that the Government of India is "fully committed" to the pursuit of policies that ... More

Political, bureaucratic set-up must work together, says Rajasekhara Reddy
THE Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, has said that bureaucracy should act in accordance to the directions and priorities of the political set-up besides being responsive and accountable to the people of the State. ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Malaysia keen on boosting trade ties with India
A HIGH-LEVEL trade and investment mission from Malaysia led by Mr Halim Mohammad, Chairman of Malaysia's External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), sought to explore avenues for promoting two-way trade and investment with India. Mr Halim ... More

`Kerala must include organic farming in export policy'
KERALA is possibly the first Indian State to draw up a draft export policy, but the State must ensure that the measures suggested in the policy are implemented, said Mr K.T. Chacko, Director-General of Foreign Trade. Speaking at a discussion ... More

HEALTH
Use new tech to improve health standards, Kalam tells scientists
IT was a meeting of scientific minds, when the President, Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, met the 400-odd scientists at the Wockhardt Biotech Park in Aurangabad. And while the interactive, though brief, session saw the President take queries from the ... More

PETROLEUM
Review of VAT rate on diesel on cards
THE proposed Value Added Tax (VAT) rate of 20 per cent for diesel is in for a review. The Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, has given an assurance to the State Finance Ministers on Thursday that the issue of VAT rate on diesel would be looked ... More

PHARMACEUTICALS
Pharma industry against drug price control
THE Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers' plans of controlling drug prices to ensure cheaper medicine has not found favour with the pharmaceutical industry. The pharma industry comprising both Indian and multinational companies felt that prices ... More

Pharma stocks outperform others
AFTER being ignored by stock market for some time, pharmaceuticals companies' shares have attracted market attention with the sector outperforming other sectors in the last one month. The interest in pharmaceutical stocks is due to various ... More

POWER
NTPC likely to list on Nov 8 or 9
NATIONAL Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) is expected to list on the stock exchanges on November 8 or 9. "We are planning to list around Diwali. As per the tentative schedule, the listing may take place on November 8 or 9," the NTPC Director ... More

21 States fail to lure IPPs: Assocham
OUT of 35 States and Union Territories in India, 21 have drawn a blank in wooing Independent Power Producers (IPPs) to add a single unit of power to their total installed capacities till August 31, ever since power generation was opened for the ... More

TEXTILES
Pak keen to forge closer ties in textiles
PAKISTAN's business community is keen to forge closer ties with India in the field of textiles, especially in the context of the phase-out of textile quotas under the multi-fibre arrangement (MFA) with effect from January 1. This was conveyed ... More

MANAGEMENT
`Beat competition with Six Sigma'
TAKE care of customers, business will take care of itself, Dr Noshir Khory, Executive Director (Technology, Planning and Development), Motorola, US, said. Customers will pay more for service quality and value, and they always look at innovative ... More

EDUCATION
`India must improve education system'
INDIA must pay special attention to improving its educational system to compete with China, said Mr James (Jim) Spiers, President, Institute of Quality Assurance, UK and Director General, National Inspection Council for Electrical Installation ... More

Kerala Govt set up task force on Edusat
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government has set up a task force for eliciting recommendations on how best to make use of the just-launched Edusat, the Indian satellite with an `exclusively educational payload'. The decision was taken at ... More

A study in contrast
Members of the All India Democratic Students Organisation demonstrating in the Capital on Friday against commercialisation of education.

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
CIDC plans dispute resolution centre for construction firms
IN a bid to help Indian construction companies unlock the money tied up in disputes, the Singapore International Arbitration Centre and the Construction Industry Development Council in India (CIDC) would sign a memorandum of understanding on ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Regional Research Lab team wins CSIR award
THE Regional Research Laboratory - Thiruvananthapuram (RRL-T) has won the coveted Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) Shield for Process technology for the year 2004. The RRL-T team of scientists comprising Dr C. ... More

MINERALS
Talks soon with States to ease mica exporters' woes: Elangovan
RESPONDING to pleas by leading mica exporters of eastern India for immediate Central intervention for getting the mines located in Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan fully productive, Mr E.V.K.S. Elangovan, Union Minister of State for ... More

GENDER
No icing on the cake
Female workers are an underpaid and exploited lot in Kerala. A woman baker is paid only half of that earned by her male counterpart.

SOCIAL WELFARE
Examination on Gandhi for prisoners
ABOUT 350 prisoners are set to appear for an examination on the life and works of Mahatma Gandhi. The examination for prisoners, lodged in various prisons at Sabarmati, Yerwada, Wardha, Yavatmal and Nagpur, is being conducted by the Gujarat ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT
`SHGs gaining importance, popularity'
FINANCING of self-help groups (SHGs) is gaining importance and popularity, according to the Chairman and Managing Director of Vijaya Bank, Mr M.S. Kapur. Reading out the speech of Mr Kapur at the annual general meeting of the Vijaya Rural ... More

EVENTS
`Indian BPO firms must get aggressive to beat competition'
INDIAN BPO firms need to polish their knowledge training and retention skills if they are to tackle the slew of low-cost hubs such as Mexico, the Philippines, East European countries and even China. If India has to retain its competitive edge ... More

Blood donation week
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The All Kerala Blood Donors Society (KEBS) and Terumo Penpol are teaming up to observe a `Voluntary Blood Donation Week' from Saturday onwards. A series of programs to promote voluntary blood donation have been ... More

Seminar on transfer pricing in Hyderabad
HYDERBAD: The Sub-Chapter of the Indian branch of Rotterdam (Netherlands)-based International Fiscal Association (IFA) is organising a daylong seminar on `Transfer Pricing' here on October 1. Announcing this here, the Sub-Chapter ... More

INCOME TAX
Salaried are not the favourites
T. C. A. Ramanujam on the new dispensation in salary assessments More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Lower production may hit groundnut meal exports
WHILE fiscal 2003-04 has seen a four-to-five-fold increase in export of groundnut extractions to 1.3 lakh tonnes valued at Rs 100 crore (up from 28,665 tonnes worth Rs 19 crore in 2002-03), prospects for exports are not bright in the current year ... More

TOURISM
Health tourism to be promoted in Kerala
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Health Minister, Mr K.K. Ramachandran Master, has said that the State Government would strive to promote Kerala as an international destination for Ayurveda. The Minister said this while receiving the project ... More