Agriculture
Farmers facing pesticide scarcity
COTTON growers in Andhra Pradesh are a worried lot. Not because of the dreaded American bollworm pest, but strangely due to a fallout of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre (WTC) in New York.

AP rythu bazaars await revamp
RYTHU Bazaars or farmers markets, established in Andhra Pradesh in 1999 for the benefit of both consumers and producers of perishable goods, are stated to be attracting one lakh quintals of vegetables every week.

Airlines
Emirates spurned AI due to `management' issue
THE Dubai-based Emirates Airlines had decided to withdraw from the Air India (AI) disinvestment process due to apprehensions about issues of management in the post- disinvestment period, senior airlines officials have said.

American Periscope
Enron in trouble; Microsoft sees reprieve
ENRON is facing corruption charges, and this time it has nothing to do with Maharashtra! The shock waves began when the company announced in early October that it had a $618 million (Rs 2,966 crore) loss in the third quarter and also disclosed write-offs to the tune of $1.2 billion (Rs 5,760 crore) due to some questionable transactions.

Automobiles
Counselling for transport drivers
THERE is finally some help for the stressed drivers of State transport corporations. The automobile industry, in collaboration with psychologists and their associations, has decided to step in and offer help to bus drivers in several States.

Banking and Finance
SFCs told to help banks in NPA recovery
THE Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has stepped in to assist the banking sector in its NPA recovery efforts by directing all State financial corporations (SFCs) to increase co-ordination with banks specially where the corporations reso rt to seizer of assets or initiate separate recovery proceedings.

Book Review
Democracy and the digital age
The information explosion that began in the early 1990s, mainly through the Internet, has been spreading rapidly and unabated, irreversibly impacting various public and private domains, including business, communication and politics.

He who rides a tiger...
Chains by G.B.Prabhat is a breezy and absorbing book that one can read at one go. Although it is a fictional account, it has the hallmark that many interesting books have you feel that you know the characters and can identify with their experiences.

Green India 2047
Directions, Innovations, and Strategies for Harnessing Action for Sustainable Development

The Attention Economy
In todays economy, the scarcest resource isnt ideas or even talent, but attention itself. This book argues that todays businesses are headed for disaster, unless they can overcome the dangerously high attention deficits that threaten to cripple todays wo rkplace. The authors explain that the problems for business people lie on both sides of the attention equation.

You can win
SHIV Khera's You can win is a step-by-step tool for `top achievers'. The secret is out on the cover page of the book: ``Winners don't do different things. They do things differently.'' Here are more tips from Khera:

Commodities
BCE demands lifting of curbs
IN its effort to strengthen futures trading in agricultural commodities, bring liquidity to the market and reduce costs, the Bombay Commodities Exchange Ltd (BCE) has proposed a series of measures for removing regulatory bottlenecks. These relate to inco me-tax provisions, stamp duty, entry of fund managers and procedure for foreign entities to trade in Indian commodity exchanges.

CII concerned over illegal use of Bt cotton
THE National Task Force of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) headed by Ms Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Managing Director, Biocon India Ltd, has expressed deep concern over the illegal use of Bt cotton in Gujarat.

AP to seize Bt cotton
THE raging controversy over the illegal cultivation of Bt cotton in Gujarat has spilled on to the cotton-growing areas of Andhra Pradesh.

Expert forecasts vegoil price rise
GLOBAL vegetable oil prices, and especially those of palm oil are poised for a major recovery in 2002 following anticipated decline in production of the latter and declining competition from South American bean oil, according to Mr. Dorab Mistry, the Lon don-based director of Godrej International Ltd.

Corporate
Indsec Securities asked to seek NBFC status
INDSEC Securities & Finance Ltd, a stockbroking company, has been directed by the Government to register itself with the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) as a non-banking finance company (NBFC) before going in for an issue of redeemable preference shares.

Hind Lever to phase out coffee brands
HINDUSTAN Lever Ltd (HLL) plans to phase out its three minor coffee brands -- Cafe Gold, Dilkhush and Cafe -- and focus on two volume drivers, Bru and Green Label, the Marketing Manager, Mr Vivek Khanna, said.

Rites bags order from Vietnam Rlys
NEW DELHI: Rites has bagged another contract in Vietnam for supply of 5 meter gauge (MG) YDM4 type diesel electric locos. Besides supply of the locos to Vietnam Railways, the contract also provides for maintenance and training.

Gati ties up with Rlys for express cargo
GATI, an ISO 9001 certified retail cargo service provider, has entered into a tie-up with Indian Railways to run the first express cargo train from Mumbai to Kolkata.

Corporate diversification, again?
INDIA INC. seems to have been bitten by the diversification bug. Companies are on over-drive diversifying into related and unrelated areas. For instance Hero group's flagship company Hero Cycles proposing to enter the hospitality business. This company, along with the US-based Carlson Hospitality, has bid for four Delhi properties of ITDC Hotels including Kanishka, Lodhi and Yatri Niwas. Does this trend bode well for India Inc?

Focus right and sharp
The ability to concentrate is considered to be one of the most important factors contributing to success in any field of human endeavour. One of the most common complaints encountered by coaches, guides and counsellors is the problem of poor concentratio n affecting performance. But what is this thing called concentration and how does it work?

Tapping potentials
From running a Rs 15-crore company, I have achieved my target of crossing the Rs 100-crore mark. In fact, we are a Rs 140-crore company today. All this has been possible because I have been able to visualise success and my goals and my targets are define d. The LMI programme has helped me become a wholesome person. Today, I am not only a better professional, but also a better family man and a better social person. -- M. Lankalingam, Managing Director, Lanson Toyota.

Withholding tax denial -- Reliance must have been given notice: Attorney-General
THE case of denial of withholding tax benefits to Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) for alleged violation of the External Commercial Borrowings (ECB) guidelines has taken an interesting turn.

Private placements rev up
CORPORATES that had put off raising funds from the market till the Credit Policy have now started tapping the markets through the private placement route.

Economy
Global recession challenge -- Wake up call for central bankers
``The Federal Open Market Committee decided today to lower its target for the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 2 percent. In a related action, the Board of Governors approved a 50 basis point reduction in the discount rate to 1-1/2 per cent.

Knee-kerk reactions
The Finance Ministry has the dubious distinction of repeatedly responding with knee-jerk reactions. For instance, in the matter of the scams perpetrated through some OCBs, the grist the rumour mills have been churning out is that all OCBs are now going t o be axed...in that they may no longer be allowed to function.

Editorial
Pay and use
IF IT WAS power yesterday, it is water today. Kudos to the Andhra Pradesh Government for its initiatives on water sector reforms, particularly its decision to set up an independent water supply regulatory commission. Once in place, the Commission will re view the existing rates and reset them on a cost-effective basis. The details about the scope and functions of the regulator are still awaited, as the announcement, made by the State Home Minister after a Cabinet meeting last week, was brief and did not go beyond saying that it would cover all urban local bodies, stop revenue leakages and maintain the quality of supply. Most significantly, while the regulator would determine the rates, the municipal bodies are free to charge less rates, but with one cav eat: At their own cost.

Education
Writing history on the black board
It may have come 50 years too late in the country, but it seems universal education is an idea whose time has come. This month end, as the cold sets in and the Parliaments Winter Session is underway, a historic meeting will take place in the Capital. For the first time ever, one lakh parents of first generation learners from different parts of the country will converge for a demand perhaps they have never articulated together before quality education for all.

Food & Dairy Products
Some food news
Khana Kapoor is back with a string of new culinary exotica. His fourth khazana of recipes, though, is entirely about simple, low-calorie and vegetarian health food. Diet-struck foodies can now rustle up and even gorge happily on some 80 delectable recipe s that are nutritious too, says celebrated Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor of his Low Calorie Vegetarian Cookbook.

Foreign Trade
China makes WTO entry
FOLLOWING formal approval in the Ministerial plenary yesterday, China today signed the documents of its accession to the World Trade Organisation (WTO). This comes as the culmination of a fifteen-year process of negotiations that was concluded in Septemb er, when the terms of membership were finalised.

TRIPs referred to sub-committee
ON a day when the key issue of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) and access to essential drugs was referred to a nine-member sub-committee, the fourth ministerial meeting of the WTO here remained deadlocked on progress towards a new roun d of negotiations.

Documentary letters of credit
A DOCUMENTARY credit is frequently the agreed method of settlement for international trade. The buyer's bank reimburses the seller against presentation of documents drawn in compliance with conditions stipulated in the documentary credit by the buyer.

Health
Spare the bridge, dont burn it!
Are you on the verge of making a rash decision and burning all your bridges? Dont. Look at yourself first. Are you fatigued, upset, irritable, querulous, feel you have been let down, dont want to face another day at your workplace? Even if the answer is yes to all, there still remains one final question: do you feel you still have something to give to your job, your work?

Information Technology
Do you have a policy?
M. Revathy Sriram talks of the communication, operational and physical security policies for managing information

Insurance
IRDA wants pension funds to go global
ADVOCATING the shift over to a single integrated pension system that would gobble up all existing pension-related schemes, the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), in its report on pensions reforms, has suggested an open, flexible, regi me with strong global linkages including allowing investments by Indian pension funds in foreign capital markets.

Miscellaneous
Memory bank
THE best scientific brains are yet to unravel, and, indeed, even to understand, the mysteries of memory. As is known, it is not unique to human beings. Almost every species on earth seems to be blessed with this faculty although with varying degrees of intensity and with carrying capacities to draw upon it. Without it, learning is impossible, and evolution itself will be a far cry. Personality development and progress on all fronts are predicated upon the existence and exercise of memory. What we call instinct or spontaneous reflex action is nothing but a compressed concentrate of memories of trials and errors over millions of years.

Regain past glory
The DBS Office Business Centre in Mumbai has won the Award of Merit in the UNESCO Asia Pacific Heritage Awards for culture heritage conservation competition 2000-2001.

Naval band performance at India Gate
Members of the Naval band performing at India Gate in the Capital on Sunday.

Sixty seconds chief
THE Managing Director of Sundaram Finance Ltd, Mr G. K. Raman, responds to four questions:

Mutual Funds
Malegam Committee report on UTI -- Strategic partner, no solution
THE much-awaited report of the Malegam Committee on UTI has been placed before the public. The Committee has taken note of the special circumstances in which the UTI finds itself at present. The core of its suggested solution consists of restructuring U TI on the basis of a new enactment, which would break the link between the Government and UTI by the introduction of a strategic partner, not excluding a foreign player. This is mainly with a view to de-risking the Government from its implicit responsibi lities to meet the commitments, particularly based on the UTI's schemes on which return is assured.

Pharmaceuticals
Eli Lilly expects a tough road ahead after losing Prozac
MERCK was touted as the company of the 80s and Pfizer the company of the 90s, according to pharma industry watchers. But the 126-year-old Eli Lilly has been singled out as the company to watch out for.

US ruling may hurt pharma cos
THE recent ruling by a US appeals court over the approval for marketing the generic form of Bristol-Myers Squib's cancer drug could have major ramifications on the Indian pharmaceutical companies that are trying to enter the US generic markets, say indus try sources.

Doctors threaten to boycott drugs from US, UK cos
A GROUP of physicians have threatened to boycott drugs and medical products made by American and British companies.

Plantations
Coffee planters' meet in Bangalore today
THE two-day annual conference of the Karnataka Planters Association (KPA) being held at Bangalore from Monday will focus on the financial crisis faced by the coffee industry due to the plummeting of prices which have touched 30-year lows.

Policy
Of divestment, open offers, and conspiracy theories
OVER a month ago, just prior to the Government approving the single price bid for disinvesting 51 per cent of its shares in CMC Ltd, the Ministry of Disinvestment (MoD) was engaged for a brief while in an operation to nail some corporates and market play ers, suspected of ramping up the company's share price.

Power
Myth and reality of the `powerful' farmer
The farming community is often pilloried for being the main stumbling block behind power sector reforms. The agriculture sector today officially accounts for a third of total electricity consumption in the country -- it used to be around a quarter till t he late 1980s -- and over 70 per cent of the annual gross subsidy of Rs 36,000 crore borne by State power utilities.

Brahmaputra river system earns top ranking
THE Brahmaputra River System has received the highest marks in the preliminary ranking study conducted on the hydro sites potential for all river basins in the country.

Power reforms
That the State Electricity Boards all over the country are functioning on huge losses is no secret. The losses are attributable to transmission losses, provision of free power to the agricultural sector, theft, and may be a few other reasons such as the per unit cost of generation, transmission and distribution.

Radio/TV
Sony dons a new garb
Sony Entertainment Television has been in the news lately, with its programming head Rekha Nigam having quit just as the channel seemed to be moving on to newer things. The grapevine, which tends to grow wild, has been ripe with gossip about former progr amming head Ravina Raj Kohli returning. (Not true, says Kunal Dasgupta, why would she want to come back to something she has done before?).

Who will bell this cat?
The biggest scourge Bollywood faces today is piracy. All other menaces, including mob pressure which appears to control the flow of money through the largely unregulated film industry, and the casting of dubious starlets even in A-grade movies, pale in c omparison.

States
``We may stay, but we'll never be Indians''
THE alienation felt by the people in Kashmir Valley is well-known. However, when an angry and anguished 24-year-old postgraduate student at Kashmir University is prepared to die for ``the cause'', it strikes a chord. `Business Line' recently interviewed one such student in Srinagar, who shalL remain anonymous.

`Mumbai port levies will be eased'
THE Maharashtra Minister for Finance, Mr Jayant Patil, has assured users of Mumbai port, particularly importers of liquid bulk products, that measures would be taken to rationalise fiscal levies and bring down operational cost.

Rains brighten summer cotton prospects in TN
THE active North-East monsoon in Tamil Nadu has brightened the summer cotton prospects for 2001-2002 season.

Panel may ask Karnataka to rethink KIOCL afidavit
THE Parliamentary Consultative Committee of the Union Ministry of Steel has decided to ask the Karnataka Government to reconsider its affidavit filed before the Supreme Court regarding the extension of mining lease for Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd (KIO CL).

Bengal Govt to sign MoU with Malaysia for expressways
DETAILING the action plan drawn up to speed up development of basic infrastructure facilities in the State, the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, said that the Government of Malaysia had recently proposed to take up construction of the Kolkata-Haldia and Kolkata-Kulpi expressways on a turn-key basis through their special purpose vehicle called Construction Industries Development Board (CIDB) of Malaysia.

Unicem launches waterproof cement in N-E
UNICEM Paints (India) Pvt Ltd, the leading cement paint manufacturer in the North-East region, with its first unit at Export Promotion Industrial Park at Amingaon, has launched Unicem-Shakti Waterproof Cement Paint here.

APEDA surveys export potential of North-East
THE Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA), under the Union Ministry of Commerce, recently had a survey conducted by the Tata Consultancy Service (TCS) and North Eastern Industrial and Technical Consultancy Organisa tion (Neitco) on the export potential in horticultural and floricultural products in the North-East. The survey suggested various qualitative and quantitative improvements in the horticulture sector of the region and also possible market avenues for the products.

Stocks
Will the bull phase fizzle out?
WILL this Diwali bring cheers to the stock traders and brokers? To be more clear, is the current wave of bullish sentiment likely to run longer or will it prove to be just another small bullish ripple in a major bearish wave?

Time for value buys
``ALTHOUGH the macro-economic picture continues to be weak and a mood of maximum pessimism prevails in the market, we feel these are good times to build investments in equity.'' Stretch this summation, picked up from Birla Mutual Fund's latest quarterly equity analysis, and you will have a simple homily: Stay put till the worst gets over.

Circuit filters on 53 stocks may be removed
THE Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is likely to remove the ``temporary'' circuit filters imposed on select 53 individual stocks in the aftermath of terrorist attacks in the US on September 11.

All about futures
I WOULD like to know what futures, options and swap ratio are all about in the context of shares. -- Prasad GTSL, Vijayawada

Tea
Dust teas in demand at Kochi sale
A MIXED trend persisted for almost all varieties of tea at the Kochi tea auction. Though the dust sale witnessed a good general demand, it was comparatively low for the leaf varieties.

Technical Analysis
NY cotton prices may move up
New York cotton futures closed very positively on the New York Board of Trade on Friday with most-active December ending the week up 63 points at 32.78, despite a bearish USDA report. Futures gained despite a monthly USDA report that predicted a record-s etting 20.18 million-bale US crop, 17 per cent larger than a year ago. USDA reduced its carryout estimate to 100,000 bales from its previous forecast of 8.7 million.

Strong resistance in Palm oil futures
Malaysian palm oil futures closed sharply higher on continued covering by speculators caught with short positions when the January contract went past a key technical resistance level. Technical charts are looking increasingly friendly with the recent ral ly in prices. Despite profit taking at various levels, prices managed to close above the key technical level of 1,100 ringgits. Good performance in October exports is expected to continue in November too. Strong demand was noticed with Egyptian buyers sa id to have contracted good volumes. Malaysian palm oil exports in October rose to 865,000 tonnes from 649,000 tonnes in September but stock levels continued to go up amid rising production private forecaster Palmis estimated.

Telecommunications
Operational curbs on telecom PSUs may go
THE Government is reconsidering its decision to disallow public sector telecom majors Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL) and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) from competing with each other in basic and national long-dis tance services.

Terrorism
Anti-India stance
It is sad to note that Pakistan is harassing the staff members of the Indian embassy in Islamabad, instead of giving due respect and protection.

Textiles
Textiles may deadlock talks at Doha meet
WITH the US and Canada placing on record significant difficulties in accepting the provisions of the draft declaration on textiles and clothing, the ongoing WTO ministerial conference appears to have lost a vital element of flexibility.

Most textile mills sign bonus pact
WITH the textile workers unions joint call for launching the strike from Monday on the bonus issue remaining still valid, most of the major textile mills in Coimbatore and adjoining districts have concluded agreement on bonus.

Travel & Places
Serenity, thy name is Phuket
The size of Singapore, it nestles against the Indian Ocean 900 km south of Bangkok, a world in itself.

Feeding off earth's bounty
Slurp! Slurp! In Myanmar, the sound of a meal is as important as its taste. Sitting at low wooden tables, the five of us look forward to enjoying a hot village meal after a morning of travelling by boat and foot, and hours of debate about development wor k in the remote villages of Myanmar.

Source:Business Line