The Hindu Business Line : Monday, August 29, 2005

No monsoon revival soon; South benefits from `break monsoon'
THE prevailing weather conditions in the country bear the unmistakeable signature of break-monsoon with the Himalayan foothills-bound monsoon trough confining rainfall to just the Northeastern States and southeast peninsular India. According ... More

NON-CONVENTIONAL ENERGY

Rlys to focus more on jatropha plantation
IN the backdrop of increasing fuel prices, the Railway Board Chairman, Mr J.P. Batra, said that the Railways plans to increase focus on plantation of `Jatropha Curcas', an environment-friendly oilseed plant. In the Northern Railway, diesel ... More

ECONOMY

AP to showcase development blueprint at Congress plenary
A BLUEPRINT of the development model adopted by the Andhra Pradesh Government will be presented to the Congress chief ministers at the plenary session of the party slated to be held in October. In the wake of All-India Congress Committee ... More

ENVIRONMENT

Vandana Shiva flays Seed Act
DR Vandana Shiva, Founder-Director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, New Delhi, has stressed the need for having only one movement to protect the environment and the rights of people. "The situation demands strong ... More

`Eco activists impeding industrial activity in coastal Karnataka'
THE former Chief Minister of Karnataka, Mr Veerappa Moily, has said that industrialists have not come forward to establish any industry in the coastal districts of Karnataka for the last several years due to resistance by environmentalists. In ... More

HEALTH

In bad health
LAST week, one of Kerala's shining sectors lost a bit of its world-renowned sheen as services in 6,500 medical institutions in the State were affected as doctors went on a 24-hour strike to protest the alleged assault of a doctor by a former ... More

Liver transplant at Hyderabad hospital
HYDERABAD: A six-year boy from Combo, Sri Lanka, received a new lease of life with Global Hospitals transplanting a segment of liver from his mother. The boy has since recovered from end-stage liver disease. According to a statement ... More

PETROLEUM

Oil Ministry proposal for kerosene bonds rejected
THE Petroleum Ministry may be required to do some fresh thinking on the mechanism to tackle the problem arising due to rising crude oil prices so that the burden is shared equitably by all the stakeholders — the Government, the oil ... More

GAIL to begin drilling in Bengal basin in Oct
GAIL (India) Ltd, which plans to invest approximately Rs 600 crore in exploration and production (E&P) activities over the next three years, is all geared up to drill its first offshore well in October, Mr Proshanto Banerjee, Chairman and ... More

Oil Ministry not for price stabilisation fund — `Cess funds can be used to share subsidy burden'
WHILE declining the proposal for the creation of a price stabilisation fund, the Petroleum Ministry has said that it is open to the idea of using the cess collected under the Oil Industry Development Act (OIDA) towards sharing the balance subsidy ... More

ONGC to deliver deepwater gas in April, says Raha
OIL and Natural Gas Corporation will deliver the country's first deepwater gas in April 2006, according to its Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Subir Raha. The gas production from the G-1 and GS-15 blocks of Sagar Samridhi deepwater field in ... More

Drive against LPG misuse at Ernakulam
KOCHI: The Ernakulam district administration has announced that registration of vehicles fitted with unauthorised gas kits would be cancelled with immediate effect. A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting at the ... More

POWER

PSUs outperform pvt utilities in power distribution efficiency
THE private sector may be setting efficiency benchmarks in most sectors. In power distribution, however, the public sector is clearly showing the way forward. State-owned utilities of Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka ... More

`Step up power generation, consumption'
THE President of the Association for Electricity Supply Industry of East Asia and Western Pacific, Mr C.V.J. Varma, has said that India's power sector growth was relatively slow compared to other Asian countries. He said other countries fared ... More

TAXATION

Tonnage tax boosts fleet strength — Outlook positive for shipping cos
INTRODUCTION of the tonnage tax regime from April 2004 and strong freight market sentiments have shored up the strength of India's shipping fleet by an unprecedented 15.4 per cent in 2004-05. The fleet strength jumped ... More

'As mobile base grows, so does service tax kitty'
AN exponential increase in the cellular subscriber base will ring in a whopping Rs 12,650 crore as service tax for the Government by the end of 2007-08. The current level of Rs 4,470 crore from the telecom sector is already the single ... More

`States yet to implement VAT may do so soon'
ALL seven States, which have not yet implemented value added tax (VAT) by replacing their sales tax, may do so soon. This was indicated by the Chairman of the Empowered Committee on VAT and the West Bengal Finance Minister, Dr Asim Dasgupta. ... More

WATER

Kolkata faces severe groundwater depletion
OVERDRAWAL has led to a drop in the groundwater level from five to 16 metres in central Kolkata. The drop is even more drastic in Haldia where the water table has dropped by eight to 10 metres since 1976. According to the Centre for ... More

EDUCATION

Meet on algorithms at IIITM-K
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: About 150 participants from various colleges in Kerala and Tamil Nadu attended a workshop on `Analysis and Design of Algorithms' organised by the Education Grid Resource Centre of the Indian Institute of Information ... More

Goa Govt keen to help set up pvt pharmacy college
THE Goa Government is ready to support the setting up of a private pharmacy college in the State to cater to the growing demand of manpower for the pharmaceutical industries. The Education Minister, Mr Luizinho Faleiro, announced this in the ... More

ICFAI placement scheme at Vizag
VISAKHAPATNAM: The ICFAI University has announced a special placement scheme for students of its distance learning programmes. Mr Rao V.S, senior area manager (Andhra Pradesh), said at a press meet here on Saturday that the university ... More

FOODS & FOOD PROCESSING

CII moots changes in Food Safety Bill
EVEN as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) welcomed the introduction of the Food Safety and Standards Bill 2005 in the Lok Sabha, it has expressed concern over laws relating to food standards. The chamber has asked the Government to ... More

HANDLOOM

AP announces interest waiver relief for weavers
HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Government on Sunday announced waiver of interest dues from Weavers' Cooperative Societies, estimated at about Rs 36.99 crore, piled up from 1995. This decision is expected to benefit about 600 out of 1150 ... More

PRINTING

Vertex printing facility to be inaugurated in Thiruvananthapuram
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Dr M.K. Muneer, Minister for Public Works, will formally inaugurate a VUTEk UltraVU II 3360 wide and super wide format digital printing system here on Tuesday. Vertex Sign and Display is setting up the system which, ... More

PACKAGING

US bars wood packaging
Starting September 16, no solid wood packaging material will be allowed in the US unless it has either been treated or fumigated with methyl bromide, according to the US Animal and Plant Health Inspection Services. Our ... More

FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT

To combat choked grounds under open skies — `Aviation sector needs to attract more FDI'
INDIA should attract more foreign direct investment in the aviation sector for its future projects, Mr Peter Hill, CEO of SriLankan Airlines, has suggested. The Government needed to show more proactive, investor-friendly policies as there ... More

SOCIAL WELFARE

Lending a hand
The Union Finance Minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, distributing welfare aid at a function held in Sivaganga on Sunday. Also seen are (from right) Mr T.S. Narayanasami, CMD, Indian Overseas Bank, and Mr N . Balasubramanian, CMD, SIDBI. ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme — Last straw on the camel's back?
While it is all right for the political parties to bask in the praise for bringing in the NREGS, it is important to communicate to those who matter that there can be no free lunch in the economy. There can be no employment guarantee without a guarant ee of higher taxes and price rises of petroleum products in the not too distant future. It is not by mortgaging the fiscal integrity of India can the country's poor be assured jobs, says S. Venkitaramanan. More

EVENTS

Agenda for the week

EXPORTS & IMPORTS

Decks cleared for sugar exports to Pak — Islamabad may allow delivery at Attari border
DECKS have been cleared for the Union Food Ministry to issue a notification on release of sugar for exports to Pakistan. On the other hand, Pakistan is likely to relax its sugar import tender norms allowing delivery of consignments at Attari ... More

NATURAL CALAMITIES

Tourism in Maldives, Indonesia yet to recover from tsunami setback
EIGHT months since the December 26 tsunami devastated parts of Asia, some tourist destinations in the region are still to recover, indicates a new report. Published jointly by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and Visa International, ... More

TOURISM

IATO proposes steps to boost tourism industry
THE 21st annual convention of Indian Association of Tour Operators (IATO) has made several recommendations to the Union and State Governments to improve tourist infrastructure in the country. Considering the surge in tourist arrivals, the IATO ... More

55 villages selected to promote rural tourism
THE Union Government is focussing on rural tourism to provide a new experience to foreign as well as domestic tourists, Mr Amitabh Kant, Joint Secretary, Union Ministry of Tourism, has said. As part of this initiative, India Tourism is ... More

ECONOMIC OFFENCES

Ominous blips on the accounting horizon
SAGE wisdom counsels us to count the blessings. But accountants, who are supposed to be in the counting job all the time, often end up in problems, as in the recent case of an accounting major. "KPMG LLP will appear in a New York courtroom ... More

`Smuggling nexus in Customs must be curbed'
THE Commissioner of Customs (Port) in Kolkata, Mr Abhijit Bhattacharyya, has called for steps to curb the `unholy nexus' between a section of customs department officials, customs house agents and importers & exporters who were "ruthlessly ... More