 |
Sunday,
June 17, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
|
Centre gives 4 cr for J&K food park
Problem of plenty in Punjab, Haryana
Fortunes lost in IT bubble burst
World Book ties up with Tata Infotech
5,000 visit CII expo
Mico net profit drops 23 pc Essar Shipping net up Dena Bank net dips |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
IOC turnover crosses
1 lakh crore In the wonderland of
investment
Implied
surrender
How safe is boating without life
jacket?
|
|
Centre gives 4 cr for J&K food park
Srinagar, June 16 Addressing a seminar on “WTO-related issues’’ here yesterday Abdulla said new WTO compatible strategies with special initiatives to boost exports are needed to seize the unfolding opportunities as Jammu and Kashmir is endowed with many traditional and non-traditional items which have world class image and hence has an important role in the country’s exports. The Minister sought to dispel the apprehensions expressed by some speakers at the seminar that the WTO could be detrimental to industry in Jammu and Kashmir saying that while there may be some disadvantages, the ratio of benefits is greater. There was need to follow and understand the WTO-related issues properly to optimally avail its advantages, he told the seminar organised by the Jammu and Kashmir Industrial Development Corporation and the Ministry of Industries and Commerce. State governments, Abdullah said, should launch massive awareness campaign at grass-root level about WTO so that India could successfully enter the world market. The Minister said states should formulate comprehensive strategies to become WTO compatible and submit a report in this regard to the Centre so that it could be discussed at the ministerial conference on WTO scheduled to be held in Doha in November next. He stressed the need for consensus building and mobilization of resources at the Central and state level to face the challenges posed as also to take full advantage of the WTO regime. Involvement of the states in the process of export enhancement was pivotal to finding a dignified place in the world trade market. “Our exports cannot increase on their own unless we can offer what the foreign markets want and that too at competitive prices, maintaining both high quality and the time schedules,’’ the Minister said. Jammu and Kashmir Industries and Commerce Minister Mustafa Kamal said the existing industrial infrastructure and machinery in the state are outdated and without the latest scientific inputs and communication, asking J and K industry to become WTO compatible would be unjust. He urged the Centre to provide liberal assistance to the state for rehabilitating and developing its trade and industry. The Centre should sanction as early as possible the industrial rehabilitation package, debt relief package and special economic package on the pattern of North-Eastern states. He suggested that a special power quota should be kept reserved for industry in J and K till the state overcomes the power crisis so that production losses due to power curtailments could be minimised. Addressing the seminar, the Agriculture Minister Choudhary Mohammad Ramzan said the WTO is a mixed bag of challenges and opportunities. The Minister appealed to the Central Government to declare all the six districts of the valley as well as the olive (zytoon) producing districts of Jammu as export zones.
PTI
|
|
Problem of plenty in Punjab, Haryana Chandigarh The two states, which had to procure record quantities of wheat this year — Punjab contributed 11 and Haryana 19 lakh tonnes, more wheat than last year, to the Central buffer — are still grappling with the problems created by the last year’s paddy and the just-concluded wheat procurement seasons. The logistical difficulties faced during the wheat season have now prompted the two states to send an SOS to the Centre, seeking adequate supplies of gunny bags for the coming paddy season. This, as well as other issues, are expected to come up at the meeting of the surplus states called by the Centre in New Delhi on June 21. A major development of this year’s wheat procurement season has been the unexpectedly huge arrivals in the two states, which put the marketing infrastructure, particularly of Haryana, under pressure. Because of Uttar Pradesh’s unorganised markets, which fetched its farmers prices much lower than the minimum support price, the state’s farmers flooded Haryana mandis with their produce. Some quantities of Rajasthan wheat were also marketed in Haryana mandis, creating logistical problems like acute shortage of gunny bags, labour and transportation. Even during the last paddy procurement season, many farmers from Uttar Pradesh and Punjab had brought their produce for sale in Haryana, forcing the state to impose an informal ban on import of paddy. However, Centre’s intervention forced Haryana to lift the ban. Another significant feature of this year’s wheat procurement season was that while the purchases of government agencies soared from around 95 lakh tonnes in Punjab and 45 lakh tonnes in Haryana last year to over 105.50 lakh tonnes in Punjab and nearly 64 lakh tonnes in Haryana (mainly due to huge arrivals from Uttar Pradesh), the procurement in the two states had a shorter duration. Starting in the fourth week of April, it ended in Haryana by May 6 when the state’s procurement agencies bought 44 lakh tonnes of wheat, nearly the same quantity as last year. But arrivals from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan swelled to prolong the season till May end. In Punjab too, the season ended by the third week of May, when the state agencies had procured nearly 104.50 lakh tonnes of wheat. Last year, the wheat procurement season was prolonged beyond the normal April-June cycle. Punjab witnessed the arrival of nearly 70,000 tonnes of golden grain even during the rainy months of July and August, a rare phenomenon. Mr P. Ram, Secretary, Food and Supplies, Punjab and Mr Dharam Vir, Commissioner, Food, Haryana, attributed the unexpectedly huge wheat arrivals and consequent large procurement to the abstention of private traders. Farmers who used to hold back sizeable stocks for sale at higher prices during the lean period, offloaded their surplus immediately after harvesting because of the bitter experience last year when stocks had to be sold after the end of the procurement season at prices lower than even the MSP. The private trade in Punjab and Haryana bought only about 9,300 tonnes of wheat as against about 2.50 lakh tonnes last year. Similarly, Haryana traders this year purchased only about 3,700 tonnes against last year’s purchases of nearly 1.50 lakh tonnes. What is more interesting is that the two states witnessed record arrivals despite a fall in wheat production in Punjab from over 159 lakh tonnes last year to about 155 lakh tonnes. Haryana’s production, however, witnessed a marginal increase this year.
IPA
|
|
Fortunes lost in IT bubble burst New York, June 16 Meerut-born software entrepreneur Navin Jain is the fourth highest loser in the technology bubble burst, according to a recent survey by financial magazine Fortune, which says at least 20 prominent tech tycoons have lost more than a billion. Jain, who founded the Seattle-based content aggregator Infospace in 1996, lost $ 10.13 billion according to the magazine. Infospace was a $ 40 billion company and its stocks were a staggering $ 138 when it lost its position at the stock market and on Tuesday, its stocks closed at $ 3.97. But Jain expresses confidence that he would win his billion, and more, back. "I will get those billions back," says Jain, adding, "the billions (lost) will be like pocket change," he says, apparently unaffected by the reversal of fortune. Jain is among the 20 top entrepreneurs who say their "paper fortune" shredded by 10 figures over the past 18 months as the stock market tumbled. Together, top five losers were poorer by $ 52.28 billion. But Fortune says: "Before you shed a tear for these guys, remember that most of them are still centimillionaires which is good since "dues at the billionaires losers club get pretty steep." The hardest hit by the technology bubble burst was Michael Saylor, co-founder of Microstrategy in Washington, who lost $ 13.53 billion and is now worth less than $ 200 million. His stocks plummeted from $ 333 to $ 3.64, a decline by 98 per cent. "I just hope I don't get up one day and have to look at myself in the mirror and say — You had $ 15 billion and you blew it all. There's the guy who flushed 15 billion dollars down the toilet," he had told The New Yorker in April last year. Other top losers in the dot com debacle are Jeffery Bezos, CEO of amazon.com who lost $ 10.80 billion; David Filo, co-founder of yahoo, who is poorer by $ 10.31 billion and Jay Walker of priceline.com whose worth went down by $ 7.5 billion.
PTI
|
|
World Book ties up with Tata Infotech
Chicago, June 16 Officials of Tata Infotech here said the contract will be initially for two years. Tata Infotech will offer critical 24-hour support to WBOL, which will include trouble shooting, content updates, enhancements and introduction of new features and consultancy for technology upgrades. WBOL is a subscription-based service for schools and libraries in the USA, Ireland, England and Australia that attracts an average of two million hits a day. This number is expected to increase substantially as a result of WBOL's recent alliance with America Online. According to Tata Infotech executive Naren Chawla, the project will be executed in Bangalore.
IANS
|
|
|
5,000 visit CII expo Chandigarh, June 16 Encouraged by the response Amity Universe, a chain of schools, including business and IT schools, which is the principal sponsor has decided to establish a campus in Chandigarh where training in a short term cyber laws course will be provided for the first time in the region. Stating this at a press conference here today, Mr Atul Chauhan, Director, Amity, shared the plans of the organisation for the region. He also said the Amity brand of "total education" which at present having 35 schools in and around Delhi also plans to start a correspondence course in mass communication and journalism . Mr Anurag Mahindra, DGM, Marketing, Connect, who too are the sponsors, said the company would shortly launch its own gateway and provide better connectivity. Globsyn Technologies which has set up 24 informal learning "knowledge pubs" in Chandigarh, Panchkula, Ludhiana and Ambala will focus on expansion in this region, said Mr Mukhwinder Singh, Senior Manager, Globsyn Technologies.
|
|
|
Mico net profit drops 23 pc
Bangalore, June 16 Addressing the 49th annual meeting of the company here yesterday company chairman Hubert Zimmerer said the profit after tax for the year was Rs 81.20 crore as against Rs 105.80 crore registered in 1999. He said the sector registered a negligible growth of only 0.7 per cent in 2000 after a robust 26 per cent growth recorded the previous year. Optimism about the economic turn-around in India has belied expectations. The GDP growth rate for 2000-01 was estimated at 5.8 per cent as against 6.4 per cent the previous year and 6.6 per cent in 1998-99. Overall industrial growth was only 5 per cent as against 6.5 per cent the previous year. Essar Shipping net up
Essar Shipping has registered a growth of 107 per cent in the net profit at Rs 100.27 crore for the year ended March 31,2001 to Rs 46.44 crore for the corresponding period last year. Consequently, the earnings per share has gone up to Rs 5.10 for the year compared to Rs 2.46 for the last year. An Essar release said in Ahmedabad today that the company’s total income at Rs 472.39 crore was up by 5 per cent compared to Rs 449.02 crore for the corresponding
period last year. After providing for interest at Rs 59.24 crore and depreciation of Rs 69.38 crore, the company has earned a net profit of Rs 100.27 crore.
Dena Bank net dips
Dena Bank has posted a net loss of Rs 266.12 crore for the financial year ended March 31, 2001, compared to a net profit of Rs 62.87 crore in the previous fiscal. Total income for the year under review was higher at Rs 1,915.46 crore as against Rs 1,810.52 crore in FY-00, Dena Bank said in a notice to Bombay Stock Exchange today.
Agencies
|
|
|
IOC turnover crosses
1 lakh crore New Delhi, June 16 India’s only Fortune “Global 500” company registered a record turnover of Rs 1,13,479.84 crore as against 94,263.73 crore during the previous year. During the period the net profit went up to Rs 2,720.33 crore from Rs 2443.40 crore in the previous year. There has been an increase of 20.38 per cent in turnover and 11.33 per cent in net profit. IndianOil has recommended a dividend of 95 per cent which will result in a payout of Rs 739.74 crore. Last year the dividend was 75 per cent. The earning per share has gone up to Rs 34.94 as against Rs 31.38 in the last year. IndianOil’s seven refineries — at Guwahati, Barauni, Gujarat, Haldia, Mathura, Panipat and Digboi — achieved a record throughput of 33.22 million tonnes, surpassing the previous best of 32.42 million tonnes in 1999-2000. The company’s extensive network of crude oil and product pipelines together transported 39.44 million tonnes of crude oil and petroleum products during the year under review.
|
|
In the wonderland of
investment Q: I have been recently selected for the post of XXI Metropolitan Magistrate, and I stand in the 30% tax liability. To avoid the tax to some extent for FY 99-00 when I became the first time tax payer. I tok following actions. 1. LIC Policy ‘Jeevan Shree of Rs 5 lakh for 25 years, premium Rs. 25,500 p.a. 2. Medical expenses bill for Rs. 15,000. 3. Mutual fund deposit Rs 10,000. 4. G.P.F. with monthly contribution of Rs. 2,000. This enabled me to file the returns with no tax liability. But now after reading your book I feel that I have made a mistake in taking the LIC Policy since I am unmarried aged 31 years. There is no dependent except my mother and she is looked after by my brother. Before entering service, I took a car loan of Rs. 2 lakh and am paying EMI of Rs. 6,000. Till I was an advocate, the interest of Rs. 3,000 towards the loan was allowed by the Department but now, this will not be allowed against my income of Rs. 13,000 per month. Further as the GPF interest rate has also reduced, I don’t know whether to increase the GPF subscription. Answer early because I have to pay the second year LIC premium on June 1. — K.P.M. Zeenath Sharifa, 60 Unis Ali Street, Anna Salai, Chennai-2. A: Normally, I would have not answered your query because it lacks clarity. However, since as a magistrate you will be entrusted with discerning right from wrong, let me make an attempt to put you on right track. There is no point in calling a doctor when rigor mortis has set in. I wish you had approachd me before taking Jeevan Shree. In the case of LIC, entry attracts red carpet but premature exit is penalised so severely that one does well by staying in until the end of the term or prior death. You may perhaps do well by discontinuing the Jeevan Shree policy and kiss good bye to the one premium paid. May be, it is beneficial to continue. You have not given me the details of the policy in respect of the premium-paying term. Your query lacks clarity even in other respects. You state that the interest on the car loan will not be allowed once you become a Metropolitan Magistrate and begin earning a salary. You were also contributing to GPF (Government Provident Fund) before becoming a magistrate when you were a practicing advocate. Can a practicing advocate contribute to GPF? I do not think so. Then again, are you not using the car for performing your duties as a magistrate, including back and forth journey to the court? May be, I have not understood you clearly. You had some privileges as a practicing advocate and some other privileges as an employee. The plus and minus tilt the scale in your favour but only if you take the right actions. Q: I am a pensioner and I opened a 5 year post office Recurring Deposit account on 12.01.2000. The then prevailing interest rate was 11.5%. Then w.e.f. 15.01.2000 the rate was slashed to 10.5%. Now it has been further reduced to 9.0% I would like to know whether these new rates are applicable to fresh depositors only or to old account holders as well (like it is in PPF). — J.JACOB, kasprochris 921@rediffinail.com A: Thankfully, the rate is locked, once you buy any of the NSO schemes, other than PPF. I have been pleading for someone to go for ‘Public-Interest Litigation’ (PIL) against this atrocity but no one has responded. Mr Kirit Somaiya has evinced some interest, but I am not sure. There are about 3 dozen PILs against UTI Rajlakshmi, in spite of the offer document being clear on this issue and several courts of law has given their verdict in favour of UTI. There is none against PPF. I do not fathom the logic of this inertia. UTI appears to be the best scapegoat for pointing an accusing finger, but not PPF. Bad! Q: I was a resident Indian taxpayer till I left for UK on a job-cum-training assignment in August 1997. I returned to India for good in August 1998. I was advised by my CA to pay the tax earned on dividend income in India and my salary was taxed in UK. I have kept my UK earnings in UK which is earning interest in pounds. After leaving UK I have applied for non UK residency whereby no tax is being deducted in UK on my savings income. My CA says that my earning in UK in pounds is taxable here. Please advise me on the tax implications on the principal amount, interest if it is kept overseas, and interest if it is to be brought in India. Till date this income has not been brought in India and has not been disclosed to income tax thanks to the conflicting advice I have received. — Aniruddha D Bhagwat, a bhagwat@rediffmail.com A: Yes, your CA is right on 2 counts. Firstly, having been outside India only for one year, you have not earned the status of Resident but Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR). It is only RNORs who are not taxed on their forex income. Secondly, you either pay tax here in India or in UK. If the same income is taxed in both the countries, one can claim the benefit of Double Tax Avoidance Agreement between the two countries. The situation of the same income not being taxed in either countries does not arise unless the income is earned in countries which are tax havens. |
rc
by Praful R. Desai Implied surrender Q: Was there a surrender of pre-existing tenancy? Whether the theory of ‘implied surrender’ relied on by landlord on execution of new agreements of any avail? Ans: In Viswanathan v Abdril Hameed [2001 (1) RCJ 321] the Kerala HC expressed the view thus: A tenancy was created in 1933 for 3 months. This tenancy though continued for years together. In the meantime, both the landlord and the tenant died. A new agreement was executed between their successors. Rent was increased. Does this amount to surrender of pre-existing tenancy? The HC at the outset clarified that the Kerala Rent Control Act is a beneficial piece of legislation intended to protect tenants from eviction except on a case being made out in that behalf in terms of the relevant provisions of the Act. While construing such a legislation, even if it is assumed that two interpretations are possible of a provision giving protection to the tenant, the one that achieves the object of providing such protection should be preferred to an interpretation which tends to deprive the tenant of that protection. Therefore, the HC said, even if for the purpose of S.11 (17) of the Act, the theory of ‘implied surrender’ of the lease is invoked, but there has been no physical discontinuance of occupation, the HC was inclined to the view that the interpretation should be in favour of the tenant in continuous occupation as a tenant, whether it be under the same transaction or under periodic renewals or under different lease deeds executed one after another. In that view also, the HC took the view that in a case where the occupation of the tenant as a tenant had commenced prior to 1.4.1940 and had never ceased until the date of the application for eviction, the tenant must be held to be entitled the protection of S.11 (17) of the Act. The HC held that by misunderstanding the legal effect of the lease deed and by misinterpreting S.11 (17) of the Act, the Rent Controller and the Appellate Authority have committed an illegality and an impropriety, which calls for correction in exercise of the jurisdiction U/s 20 of the Act to this Court. The HC therefore felt constrained to interfere with the orders for eviction passed U/s 11 (3) of the Act. Consequently, the HC allowed the present Revision Petition and set aside the order for eviction U/s 11 (3) and held that the tenant is entitled to the protection of S.11 (17) of the Act. The result is that the application for eviction filed by the landlord stands dismissed. |
co
by Pushpa Girimaji How safe is boating without life jacket? IT’s now four years since the apex consumer court came down heavily on the Boat Club at Barapani lake near Shillong for providing boating facilities without adequate safety measures. By holding the club guilty of negligence for offering cruising facilities without safety provisions, including life jackets, life buoys, qualified life guards, adequate communication and first aid facilities, the consumer court sent a clear signal to all those running such services around the country to pay more attention to safety or else face the consequences. Unfortunately, even today, very few have paid heed. At least state governments should have drawn up stringent safety regulations and enforced them, but obviously safety consciousness is lacking even there. On a recent visit to the Kumaon hills, for example, I saw all lakes in and around Nainital dotted with boats. Obviously, sailing along the cool waters of the lakes is highly popular with the tourists. But barring the Yacht club of Nainital, which provided life jackets to those who went on their yachts, no other boat provided such safety measure. While some had one life buoy, most had none and I saw entire families, carrying small children and even babies, cruise on these boats. And many of them admitted that they did not even know how to swim. Nainital is not an exception. If you look at the lakes and rivers in different parts of the country where boating facilities are provided, you will see that in almost all these places, life jackets and life buoys are unheard of. So also trained life guards and communication facilities and even emergency first aid provisions in case of an accident. In fact there is no contingency plan at all for any untoward happening. Even those who row or run the boats are not trained for rescue operations. In the case of Wg Cdr P.S. Sandhu vs Union of India which I referred to in the beginning, complainant had gone on a picnic to the Barapani lake along with his colleagues and their family members. Fifteen of them got on to the boat and had travelled one and a half kms, when the boat suddenly capsized. Four of the passengers, including Sandhu’s wife died as a result of drowning. The national commission before which Sandhu filed a complaint, pointed out that except for a solitary life buoy, no life jackets had been provided to the passengers who travelled by the boat on that ill-fated day. Said the commission: The provision of adequate number of life jackets in the boat is a mandatory requirement for ensuring the safety of passengers in the event of any mishap during a boat cruise and in not providing sufficient number of life jackets or at least life buoys on the boat there was grave deficiency in the service provided by the boat club authorities. If only life jackets or life buoys had been provided and the boatman had sufficient training and experience to instruct the passengers about the timely wearing and mode of use of the life jackets, the loss of four precious lives by drowning could have been avoided, the commission observed. The commission also referred to other flaws: The boatman who navigated the boat, for example, had no training nor skill in assisting passengers in distress. In this case he himself had to be saved from drowning by some persons who went to his rescue. There were also no trained life guards to pull out those who fell into the river and provide first aid and resuscitation. It also pointed to absence of communication facilities between those on the boat and on the land and held the Army authorities which ran the club responsible for negligent service. It awarded the complainant and his two minor children, Rs 3 lakh and Rs 5 lakh, respectively, for the death of Mrs Guddi Sandhu in the boat tragedy. So the next time you plan to go on a boat cruise, ask some basic questions on safety: What is the capacity of the boat? How many passengers is it supposed to carry? Are they providing adequate number of life jackets for all those travelling on the boat? Are there enough life buoys to hold on to in case of an accident? Where are they placed? How experienced is the person handling the boat? Are they any trained life guards around? Are there any first aid facilities? Is the person providing the service equipped to handle an emergency? How well prepared are they for such an eventuality? Is there a doctor or a hospital nearby? Refuse to hire those boats that do not satisfy safety requirements. Remember, you are paying for the service and you have every right to demand that the service should be safe. And since the state governments are not enforcing such safety requirements, it is now left to those who hire these services to demand that their right to safety be met. |
bb
HFC lok adalats Seminar held Composite mill Forex reserves up Visa Airways IT exposition Hero Honda outlet |
 |
| 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 | |
