 |
| Monday,
March 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India   
|
Distillery to be set up in Malout
MTNL awaits saviour privatisation SC to hear Balco case today Cast iron makers’
body criticises pipe company |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Growing ‘crime &
punishment’ Industry is under fear psychosis in various parts of the country like Bihar, N.East, some parts of UP, Mumbai, Coimbatore and Bhopal. Ludhiana is the latest in this list.
Q: I have availed a loan from my father for purchasing a flat @ 10% p.a. What documents I need to maintain to prove same and the interest payment for IT assessment. Also I have not specifically agreed for repayment of loan. Will it have any bearing on assessment.
Aviation journalist gets German award Hospitals cannot escape liability
I consider myself half German: Sinha Millions of Britons live in poverty German beef for North Korea
|
|
Distillery to be set up in Malout Malout, March 11 Mr Badal, who formally commissioned the sugar mill here, set up at a cost of Rs 30 crore in the record period of 11 months by the Markfed in the premises of abandoned spinning mill, said that bagassee of the local sugar mill would be used in the oil crushing plant being run by Markfed. He added that bagassee would also be used for generating 2 MW electricity power per hour in the sugar mill itself. He pointed out that Markfed management had been asked to increase the crushing capacity of sugar mill from existing 1750 MT so that sugarcane growers could not find it difficult to sell off their produce. Mr Badal while warning the farmers against the cultivation of paddy in huge quantity, said that local mill would give opportunity to the farmers to go for diversification in the agriculture. He disclosed that decks had been cleared for Markfed to export wheat to foreign countries. He added that Central Government had approved the proposal of Markfed made in connection with the procurement and export of wheat. About 4 lakh MT of wheat would be exported by the Markfed as per the existing orders in the its hands. Mr Jagdish Walia, Chairman, Markfed, Punjab who was present on the occasion, said that Markfed had also been planning to set up a big plant to manufacture potato flakes and chips so that consumption of the potatos could be increased in Punjab. He said that amount of loss of various mills being run in the cooperative sectors had come down and efforts were being made to bring it down more in future. Mr Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Minister, Cooperation, Punjab, said that interest rates on the loans being advanced to the farmers through Primary Agriculture Development Banks (PADBs) would be reduced shortly. He added that margin of contribution of a farmer in the amount of loan would also be brought down. Mr D.S. Bains, Managing Director, Markfed, said that Punjab Agriculture University’s (PAU) new variety of sugarcane had been provided to the farmers so that they could get better recovery from their produce.
|
|
MTNL awaits saviour privatisation New Delhi, March 11 Shares of MTNL, a provider of fixed-line services in Mumbai and New Delhi, have fallen nearly 26 per cent since the start of February due to concerns over future earnings and the quality of management — and despite recent good results. MTNL’s net profit in the October-December quarter rose 31 per cent from a year earlier to 4.77 billion rupees ($102.5 million). But as things stand, analysts see that sort of income growth as a last hoorah as competitors pile into its newly deregulated prime service market. “I don’t see any earnings potential in the stock,” said Sudhanshu Asthana, telecoms analyst at Birla Sunlife Securities, who has an underperform rating on MTNL. MTNL has several problems, many of which arise from its government ownership. Viewed as stodgy and overstaffed, analysts say the firm is run by a management slow in seizing business opportunities in a fast changing telecoms landscape. Its core business of national and international calls is being threatened by competition and the company is slow in diversifying revenues. Call revenue makes up nearly 62 per cent of total revenue. “It took MTNL a year to launch cellular services despite having a licence. It continues to have legacy systems with circuit switches while competition is laying broadband networks,” said Asthana. MTNL has lost some of its premium clients in Mumbai to private fixed-line service operator Hughes Tele.com. But the big problem could come in the next few months as aggressive private players enter its mainstay fixed-line telephone business, which was thrown open earlier this year with no restrictions on the number of competitors. The government has received over 120 applications for fixed line licences, many of which are for Mumbai and New Delhi. Research firms have begun downgrading the stock. Last month, Salomon Smith Barney downgraded the stock to sell from neutral, saying that cuts in domestic long-distance and international long-distance tariffs and falling market share were likely to depress income from next year onwards. MTNL’s shares on Friday fell 5.38 percent to 144.10 rupees on the Bombay Stock Exchange.
Silence over
privatisation
Analysts said the government’s silence on its privatisation plans for the firm were also hurting MTNL. India has announced a list of firms that will be privatised as part of a major push to exit state-run firms, but the list excluded MTNL. Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha in his Budget speech of February 28 listed Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd, carmaker Maruti Udyog Ltd and long haul carrier Air India as the main sell-off candidates in the next fiscal year starting in April. The government has already started the process of selling a 25 per cent stake in New York Stock Exchange-listed VSNL to a strategic investor. The government currently owns nearly 53 per cent of VSNL, the monopoly provider in India of international telecommunication services. But it’s silent on what it plans to do with its 56 per cent holding in MTNL. Under government control, MTNL’s troubles are only growing. With nearly 63,000 employees, salaries are a severe drag on costs. And it can do little in tackling these while remaining under government control. Meanwhile, MTNL’s senior executives are being hired away by higher paying private competitors. Its new businesses, mainly its Internet access business, has been a laggard notching up just 40,000 customers in two years. The firm has plans to enter domestic long distance and international long distance telephony, but analysts are wary about taking these claims seriously. State control has rendered the firm, a blue-chip company, incapable of taking fast decisions. Its plans to list on the New York Stock Exchange have dragged on for well over a year, with no firm date still in sight. “MTNL’s public sector baggage slows decision making. What it needs is a good strategic partner to speed up decision making. Once a privatisation is announced, I see the stock rallying to 300 rupees,” said an analyst with a European brokerage.
Reuters
|
|
SC to hear Balco case today New Delhi, March 11 The court would also continue the proceedings on another petition filed by Centre last week in which the Supreme Court had restrained the Chhattisgarh Government from disrupting supply of water, electricity and food to Balco plant at Korba. A three-Judge Bench headed by Justice
B. N. Kirpal will hear both the transfer petition as well the interim application tomorrow. The Chief Secretary and the Director General of Police were directed to ensure full protection to the workers, their families and the new management of the corporation. The Bench
comprising Justice B.N. Kirpal and Justice V. N. Khare had said on an urgent application moved by the Centre on March 8 in the wake of State Chief Minister Ajit Jogi declaring moral support to the striking workers.
PTI
|
|
Cast iron makers’
body criticises pipe company Chandigarh, March 11 The association Chairman, Mr N. Bansal said in a press release that the company used unfair means to obtain the certificate. It had obtained the certificate without a reasonable level of competence in production of pipes. The association claimed that the company could not have gone into production of ductile iron pipes in July 2000 when they had the ISO-9002. The association has demanded the certificate authorities to look into the entire matter and in the meanwhile direct the company not to use ISO-9002 certificate. |
|
Growing ‘crime &
punishment’ Industry is under fear psychosis in various parts of the country like Bihar, N.East, some parts of UP, Mumbai, Coimbatore and Bhopal. Ludhiana is the latest in this list. Gangsters of various hues are operating in Ludhiana. Due to large-scale sickness in industry, the environ is very conducive to such activities. People of criminal nature undertake to extract any amount of money from some body who has dispute with some one on account of business transactions. Some political functionaries at the lower level work as nodal agencies for such activities. Only a few days ago situation became ugly at the Dhandari Railway Station. Police had to intervene to help industry and trade lift its material safely. This generated a wave of fear and anger. Somehow or the other this particular situation came under control. But activists have perforce to find new target. Most surprising aspect is the engaging of criminals by a foreign bank operating in Ludhiana. The bank has created its own mafia to intimidate customers who run in some business difficulty. Such banks and NBFC are in fact responsible for causing business setback to Ludhiana’s industry. They have made finance very easy for Luxury goods like cars etc. Money is lent on the basis of outward appearance without in depth bank like appraisal. When money goes into default then criminals are activated. This reminds about ‘‘Pathan culture’’ of money lending. In connection with the foreign bank operating in Ludhiana there is a chain of action. The USA has overseas Advisory Council (OSAC) under the US department of state. It has its chapter in India. When MNCs engage persons of known criminal nature on fat wages, Ludhiana is bound to go the way some other parts have gone. Premium on such activities will produce more criminals with obvious end result. The government should take a very serious view of such developments as Punjab is already very sensitive. CII conducted survey on this issue in 15 states and came out with a suggestion that law and order should be made a part of the essential infrastructure. It recommended posting of senior police officers in industrial centres and use of information technology to keep track of
felons. |
rc
A. N. Shanbhag Q: I have availed a loan from my father for purchasing a flat @ 10% p.a. What documents I need to maintain to prove same and the interest payment for IT assessment. Also I have not specifically agreed for repayment of loan. Will it have any bearing on assessment. — A.
Rajendran The only proof that is required is a transfer from your father’s account to your account and the payment of interest at the agreed rate from your account to his account. A formal loan agreement between the two of you will help. Q: I am a US citizen of Indian origin living in India continuously (permanently) since 1996. My Indian visa will expire in April 2001 and I plan to request for extension of visa. When I returned to India in 1996 I did not inform the bank here because I was not aware of the rules and regulations etc. On the third year of my stay in India during money transactioin (of one of my NRNR rupee account) I was asked since when I was living in India on the visa? At this time I was told that since I did not disclose about my living in India on return, all my dollar (FCNR, NRE & NRO) accounts had been converted into domestic account as a penalty. What I would like to know is, since I am a US citizen still, am I entitled to have an NRE account for conversion of any dollar cheques? —
R. Joseph The FCNR and NRE accounts are strictly meant for Residents Outside India. On your return to India, you should have informed the banks about your intention to stay permanently in India. Upon receiving this information, the banks would have redesignated your NRE, NRNR and NRO accounts into resident accounts straightaway. The FCNR would have been converted at its maturity. This is exactly what your bank has done now. I do not think it is a penalty. Better late than never. You had the option of converting the money into RFC account if you desired to retain the forex character of your money. Q: 1. The company where I am working is 25 km away from home. The company has provided transport facility and for that every month Rs 200 (subsidised) is being deducted from the salary. In the Income Tax calculation under conveyance, I’m getting the exemption only for Rs 200 and not for Rs 800 p.m. When I discussed this matter with the employer they say that under Income Tax act there is a rule, if the company has provided the transport facility and the deduction has been made from the employees’ salary then in that case an employee will get the benefit only for the amount which is being deducted from the salary. On the other hand, if the employee doesn’t avail the company’s transport facility and comes factory by his own conveyance then he will get the benefit of Rs 800. How far is it correct? 2. My father has purchased a house 3 years back in his name. He expired 3 months back. But he has not made any will and has only sale deed from the builder. Now the ownership has to be transferred in the name of my mother. In our family we have total 3 members, myself (28 yrs), my elder sister (married and our mother. Since the will has not been made, how would the ownership be transferred in my mother’s name and for that what all are the legal formalities to be completed? — Dinesh
N 1. Your employer is right. 2. If you and your sister do not wish to have any claim in the property, you can give a declaration to your mother indicating that you are releasing the right in her favour. However, in case there is a dispute between you, you will have to apply for a succession certificate or a probate from a court of law. Q: I had invested in NBFCs which have now defaulted. The NBFC firms are: Enrai Finance Ltd, Pannar Pattersons Ltd, Asia Pacific Investment Ltd, Forward Securities Ltd, Anubhav Plantation Ltd and Suman Motels Ltd. Some of these
NBFCs have now gone into liquidation. I filed applications under 45Q before CLB whose orders to pay my deposit is flouted by the firms. I would appreciate your guidance as to where to get latest correct
information about these firms, liquidation status etc. How to use internet to get in touch with accociations based in Madras, Hyderabad Bombay etc. or other authorities. I am based at Nagpur. — Surinder
Mohan 1. I am sorry, besides sympathising with your plight, I am not in a position to do anything else. There are quite a number of operators who specialise in duping persons of small means like you, taking undue advantage of the weakness of our judiciary. You appear to be specialising in being a victim of such characters. 1. I assure you that the situation would not have been much different even if all these companies were in Nagpur. Our regulators have not been given enough teeth to bite. This is the woe of SEBI and CLB. |
ty
K. R. Wadhwaney Aviation journalist gets German award As air traffic to Gulf and back is growing enormously and there is a very heavy demand for seats, Air India (AI) has started additional flights. Many Indians settled in Gulf have appreciated national carrier’s move to operate seven additional flights a week. The demand from Kochi is much more than the demand from other centres. In view of this, Air India has started operating six flights a week from there. They are two each to Dubai and Muscat and one each to Abu Dhabi and Bahrain-Doha. The seventh flight is from Mumbai to Dubai. Two Airbus 310-300 aircraft, obtained on dry lease, are being deployed on this lucrative route which, according to analysts, should help provide sufficient revenue to the national carrier. The increase in capacity (seats) is about 1400 a week in each direction. This is a considerable increase in capacity and there should now be no off-loading or difficulty in obtaining seats. Passengers travelling by Air India from New York and London have been provided an opportunity to travel direct to Kochi. There will, however, be change of aircraft at Mumbai but customs and immigration formalities will be completed at Kochi. “This is what passengers had been demanding for a long time”, said an airport official. Kochi’s Cochin International Airport in which Air India has an equity besides exclusive passenger handling contract is, according to passengers, an ideal hub for Keralities. This is equally suitable for the NRI’s (Non-Resident Indians). As two more 310-300s on dry lease are inducted in the fleet in May this year, Air India will step up operations.
First Indian Inder Raj Ahluwalia was the first Indian to have been given prestigious award by Germany’s Heideiberg Convention and Visitors Bureau. The award known as ‘Mark Twain Travel Journalism’ was presented to Ahluwalia, an aviation journalist, at the ITB Fair (Berlin) on March 5. He received the award from Walter Doring, Minister for Economic Affairs of the State of Baden-Wurttenberg. An aviation and tourism writer for about two decades, Ahluwalia has already received some other awards on travel writing.
Computerisation Cargo is as much cash earning avenue for airline as passenger-traffic. Awarde of ever increasing importance in this vital area, the Indian Airlines (IA) has computerised its cargo handling activities at the Delhi Airport. Some cargo handling agencies have also been provided facility to provide much-needed thrust to the cargo movement. Mr Anil Goel, Managing Director of Alliance Air and Director (Cargo) of IA, said that the movement of the cargo cosignment would not only be fast but the exercise would be error-free. “There will hardly be any manual work to be done”, he said, adding: “the sophisticated, ultra-modern machine will do all the work, including weighment and other details”. The computerisation will help Indian Airlines increase its revenue. According to V.P. Arora, Regional Director (North) of IA, the similar facility will be extended to other important cities
soon. |
co
by Pushpa Girimaji Hospitals cannot escape liability By asking a hospital to pay for its lapses in looking after a patient as its Intensive Coronary Care Unit (ICCU), the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has sent a clear signal that it will not condone any laxity on the part of a health care service provider when it comes to critical patient care. When a patient is in a serious condition, every minute, every second counts, as any delay in rendering medical assistance could prove fatal. And when that fact is recognised and the patient admitted to the ICCU, it is obvious that he requires constant care and monitoring of his condition. A hospital or its staff which fails in this duty has to pay for its negligence, the National Commission has held. In fact in this case the commission has held that there was no negligence on the part of the doctors who treated the patient. But the same could not be said of the hospital staff in carrying out the instructions given to them, the commission has said (Bhajan Lal Gupta vs Mool Chand Kharaiti Ram Hospital and others, OP No 182 of 1993). The case has its origin in 24-year-old Vijay Kumar, a resident of South Delhi, suddenly complaining one morning in June, 1992, of pain in his legs and his inability to move them. This was at 4.30 am. His father called a local doctor, and on his advice took him to Mool Chand hospital at about 6.30 am. By then the patient was complaining of extreme weakness and decreased power in the upper limbs. Even as he was being examined by a cardiologist and a neurologist, he complained of difficulty in breathing, following which he was moved to Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and then to the ICCU. Subsequently, a senior consultant neurologist who examined him at about 9 am said the probable diagnosis was acute infective polyneuritis or hypopotassemic paralysis or acute myasthenia gravis. He recommended further tests, suggested immediate line of treatment and also informed the parents that since a new mode of treatment, plasmapherasis was not available at the hospital, it was advisable to move him to G.B. Pant or Safdarjung Hospital. He also gave a letter to the doctor concerned at GB Pant, but the young man died before he could be moved there for further treatment. The death summary issued by the hospital said he was diagnosed to have acute polyradiculoneuropathy for which the necessary treatment was immediately given by his condition deteriorated quickly and he died at 12.10 p.m. The National Commission, after examining the line of treatment given to the patient, said there was no negligence on the part of the doctors of the hospital. However, it held the hospital staff that was required to carry out the directions of the doctors, negligent. The doctor in charge had given detailed instructions to the staff-in-charge of ICCU. One of them was that the patient be intubated. Yet, there was a delay of about two hours in intubating the patient. And there was a further lapse on the part of the nurse who failed to notice that the oxygen tube had been pulled out by the patient who was extremely restless, till it was brought to her notice by the patient’s mother. Holding these two to be serious lapses on the part of the hospital staff, the commission directed the hospital to pay the patient’s father, Rs 2 lakh as compensation. Said the National Commission: In cases of such grave and serious nature, extra care and vigilance is required and lack of it can have serious consequences as it did in present case. As a rule only serious patients are in ICCU and the staff is expected to be extra cautious. That level of caution should have been more, particularly when the staff was attributed with the knowledge that the patient was restless and his condition was deteriorating very fast. Observed the commission further; No one is sure as to whether the patient would have pulled through that crisis or even if he had survived, the damage already done by the said disease which had progressed to affect the entire body within a few hours and was still progressing could be checked or reversed. But the lack of extra vigilance at least contributed to the acceleration of the end. There is no evidence to show that intubation would have saved the patient. But such action may have helped in the treatment. No one can with certainty say if immediate intubation would have saved the patient or at least prolonged his life until he could be taken to any other hospital where plasmapherasis facility was available. None the less such delays and lapses are serious matters for which the hospital administration cannot escape liability. |
cr
I consider myself half German: Sinha Hamburg, March 11 A round of applause greeted Sinha, who served as India Consul General in Frankfurt in 1970s, when he switched to German to tell the over 400 captains of the German industry that “it was more of a home-coming than a rare honour to be the first foreign dignitary to make the after-dinner speech at the centuryold tradition of the “Libesmahl” (festive dinner) of a top business body”. “I consider myself half German,” said Sinha to another round of thumping on the tables at the function held in connection with the 81st annual meeting of the German-Asia Pacific Business Association (OAV) here. While lauding the latest Budget of India, OAV Chairman Peter Clasen said Sinha’s plans for India’s future have gone far beyond the international observers’ expectations in the light of the difficult framework conditions. Clasen described Sinha as one of the most “eminent architects” of the Asia financial markets who enjoyed high distinction as a reformer of Indian economy, especially when it came to the privatisation of public sector enterprises and overcoming sometimes almost insurmountable difficulties in that connection.
PTI Millions of Britons live in poverty London, March 11 “Breadline Europe”, which looked at poverty across the continent, identified an increasing number of Britons living in “absolute poverty”, defined as a severe deprivation of basic human needs. “It astonished us... we were expecting to find a small group of people but nothing like the amount we found,” David Gordon, co-editor of the report and a senior research fellow from the University of Bristol, told Reuters. Absolute poverty, which was defined by the United Nations in 1995, includes a lack of food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information. The report said 9 per cent of British households had reported that their income was far below that needed to keep them out of absolute poverty, while a further 8 per cent said their income was a “little below” the necessary level. Four per cent, or about two million people, said they or their partner had gone without food in the last year. The report, which took more than two years to complete, said welfare benefit rates were now significantly lower than was required to avoid poverty.
Reuters German beef for North Korea Stuttgart (Germany), March 11 Consumer Protection and Agriculture Minister Renate Kuenast told members of her Greens Party that some of the meat from 400,000 cattle due to be slaughtered in Germany would be sent to North Korea. “But this should not feed the country’s military,’’ said Kuenast. The cattle are being slaughtered in a bid to prop up the German beef market. Consumption of beef in Germany dropped by up to 50 per cent after the home-grown first cases of mad cow disease were reported late last year. All the slaughtered cattle will be tested for the disease before being released for export.
DPA |
bb
Award for Ranbaxy Inflation dips Paradigm centres Maruti to diversify |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
