Pranab justifies decision

The Commerce Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, today justified the decision of liberalising import of second hand capital goods in the amended Export and Import policy saying that it would lead to rapid modernisation of the industry. Mr. Mukherjee denied the contention that India will be flooded with obsolete machinery or it would hurt the domestic capital good industry. He said several South Asian countries, including China, were importing second hand capital goods in large numbers and able to maintain a competitive edge in the export market. The Minister said that the earlier regime caused delays because there were several procedural bottlenecks.

Railway Board to be recast

The Government today announced re-structuring of the Railway Board to reflect the customer-orientation in its new business approach. It was also announced that Group A officers will be now recruited into the Railway Services through a unified service instead of the present eight services. The major decisions are a part of the recommendations made by the Prakash Tandon Committee on restructuring of the Railways to face the challenges in the wake of economic liberalisation.

US lifts Cold War export curbs

The United States said it would scrap most Cold War controls on exports to the former Soviet bloc and China in a move that could mean billions of dollars in extra business for US companies. Exports of virtually all civilian telecommunications equipment and many relatively sophisticated computers to non-military buyers in those countries will be affected by the action, which takes effect on April 4.

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