 |
Tuesday,
October 22, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
PTL, PunCom, PACL cleared for sale
Punjab presentation to World Bank today
UK visa centre for Jalandhar
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
PM calls for bridging developmental divide
Bhakra Dam — in the service of mankind
Modi to open international varsity Ind-Swift
gets ISO 9001-2000
VSNL net drops 33.27 pc
Mazda to close truck plant
Graphic: External
aid receipts and debt service payments
|
|
PTL, PunCom, PACL cleared for sale
New Delhi, October 21 Speaking to newspersons here, Mr Amarinder Singh said of the 29 PSUs cleared by the Vaishnav Committee set up by the erstwhile Badal government, five had been given the go-ahead. “Apart from Punjab Tractors and Punjab Communications, the other three PSUs to be disinvested are Punjab Alkalis and Chemicals Ltd (PACL), Punjab Tourism and Development Corporation (PTDC) and Punjab Container and Warehousing Corporation Limited (Conware),’’ he said. Punjab Tractors, one of the largest tractor manufacturers of the country, posted a net profit of Rs 140 million in the first quarter of this fiscal as against the Rs 254 million in the corresponding period last year. Both Punjab Tractors and PACL are promoted by the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation, which holds a 23.49 per cent stake (worth approximately Rs 225 crore) in PTL and around Rs 25 crore in PACL. Several tractor companies including Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher and Escorts, have evinced interest in buying stakes in Punjab Tractors. PACL has been incurring losses for the last four years. It lost around Rs 70 crore in this period. The state Disinvestment Commission had suggested the sale of a 43.96 per cent stake in Punjab Communications held by the Punjab State Electronics Development and Production Corporation (PSEDPC), to a strategic partner with a proviso that the remaining 26 per cent equity should be purchased by the strategic partner after two years at a negotiated rate which was not less than the one offered earlier. Also, the strategic partner would have to retain employees of Punjab Communications for at least one year and a voluntary retirement package, if offered after one year, should not be less than the one offered by the state on the date of disinvestment, it said. The PTDC has been running into losses for quite sometime now. Of the 18 tourist complexes running under it, 13 are running under losses and in 2000-01, their operating income was Rs 6.17 crore as against the expenditure of Rs 6.22 crore.
UNI
|
|
Punjab presentation to World Bank today Chandigarh, October 21 The Principal Secretary, Finance, Mr K R Lakhanpal, who leads the team, will anchor Punjab’s case on the fiscal reforms implemented so far. The previous government’s populist policy of giving “free” power and water to the agriculture sector in 1997 had blocked the flow of the World Bank money for various development projects. Earlier in July this year, the state had presented its case to the then Country Director of the bank, Mr Edwin Lim. The bank was convinced of the proposed fiscal reforms as enunciated in the Budget, 2002-03. It was agreed upon to open a “dialogue”. In this backdrop, the Punjab presentation tomorrow before the new Country Director, Mr Michael Carter, is an important step forward, following the opening of the dialogue. The priority areas identified for financial assistance are, power, rural water supply and sanitation, urban infrastructure, including water supply, sewerage and sewerage treatment plants and solid waste management, roads and bridges, irrigation, primary health care and agri-infrastructure and diversification. The presentation gives the background of Punjab economy and reasons for its meltdown, the average annual growth rate, fluctuations in the tax and GDP rates, the state’s declining share in the central taxes under various finance commissions, expenditure pattern (86.5 per cent going into salaries, wages and pensions), borrowings (over Rs 32, 496 crore), current scenario of revenue and fiscal deficits, burden of debt repayments, investments in public sector undertakings with no returns, etc. Mr Lakhanpal today told TNS that Punjab was not a basket case or unduly burdened by subsidies and off-budget liabilities. It has the inherent strength and resilience to overcome odds. He gave facts and figures on the improvement in fiscal position vis-a-vis reforms. The presentation listed out strategy to implement reforms through resource mobilisation, expenditure and public sector reforms and legal/institutional framework. The stress tomorrow will be on steps Punjab has taken to levy user charges for social and economic services provided to the people and recovery effected to meet operational and maintenance cost of such schemes and facilities. Moreover, re-engineering of the state through better ways and means, like cost-effective, efficient and radical changes and re-prioritisation will also be explained. In tune with the new world economic regime, Punjab is also to focus on provisioning of services giving people a choice through public and private sector participation by way of contract system, community participation, decentralisation etc.
|
|
UK visa centre for Jalandhar Jalandhar, October 21 Even the UK Government has intended to strengthen its ties with India by increasing its annual trade from£ 5 billion to 10 billion during the next five years. Addressing a joint session on the Indo-British Partnership (Outreach Event) organised jointly by the British High Commission and the CII, Northern Region, Lord Swaraj Paul and Mr. John Deniss, head of the visiting British Commercial Team said the centre would open in January, 2003, as this was part of ongoing efforts to improve the level of visa services in India and “make these services more accessible to visa seekers.” “This gesture demonstrates not only the seriousness with which the UK takes its relations with India as a whole but also the special importance of the North and of Jalandhar in particular,” said Lord Paul. Lord Paul said there were a number of factors for the success of the two countries’ relationship in trade and a common factor—hard work put in by the Indian and British businessmen—was responsible for it. Lauding the role of Jalandhar in the development of the country, he said the industry here had a long history of excellence in the field of metal extrusion, hand tools and light engineering. “As a matter of fact, I grew up in these businesses in Jalandhar which has developed into a small-medium sector operation and could be a case of study for future industrial development of India. I am sure the revision of the current state industrial policy, to be announced soon, will further support this growth,” said Lord Paul. Lord Paul, who is also the Chancellor of Wolverhampton University, said India and Britain were looking forward to join hands in education. “We have already taken up the matter with Panjab University, Chandigarh, for initiation of a student exchange programme,” he said. Mr Deniss said the opening of a visa application centre would save a large number of Punjabis from inconvenience caused by way of repeated tours to Delhi. Mr. Avtaar Henry, the Punjab Industry Minister, urged Lord Paul to guide entrepreneurs of Jalandhar and Punjab and to enable them to explore more avenues in the Western world. Others, who spoke included Mr. Mukul Joshi, Principal Secretary, Industry and Commerce, Punjab, Mr. S.K. Rai, Vice-Chairman, CII, Punjab State Council and Mr. Gursharan Singh, Chairman, CII, Jalandhar Zone.
|
|
PM calls for bridging developmental divide New Delhi, October 21 In his inaugural address, read out in absentia, at the Eighth General Conference of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), the Prime Minister said that “the world needs bold and benign political economic initiatives from the developed countries to meet this challenge ( of bridging the developmental divide)”. “And this is what India and other developing countries had been consistently advocating in the UN, the WTO and other-multilateral fora”, the Prime Minister said in his speech which was read out by Prof V.S. Ramamurthi, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology. The Prime Minister said that problems of poverty, ill-health, unemployment, drinking water, sanitation and shelter, food and energy security has to be resolved with low-cost solutions by optimal utilisation of local human and natural resources. The Prime Minister was scheduled to inaugurate the five-day international conference, but could not attend because of indisposed health. Emphasising the need for cooperation among scientists of the developing countries to address the issues of under-development, the Prime Minister said that it was not possible to trace the ‘Second World’ in the world map. He pointed out that science and technology were primarily instrumental in enabling countries shed their “Third World” tag. Speaking at the conference Union Minister of Human Resource Development and Science and Technology Dr Murli Manohar Joshi underlined the need for legislating uniform laws pertaining to Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) all over the world.
|
||
|
Bhakra Dam — in the service of mankind During college days, I used to wonder if “Economic Development” existed outside the graphs and tables embodied in the textbooks and papers. However, on my posting at Bhakra Dam and by standing at the feet of this 740 feet high massive concrete structure, rising three times the height of Qutab Minar and providing incalculable benefits to the people, I have firm conviction that economics does exist and has a tangible shape as it flows from this gigantic dam. As per Indus Water Treaty, executed between India and Pakistan after partition, under the aegis of World Bank in the year 1960, the waters of three eastern rivers namely; the Sutlej, the Beas and the Ravi were exclusively allocated to India. With the completion of Bhakra Dam on Sutlej in 1963, Beas Project on the Beas and subsequently Ranjit Sagar (Thein) Dam on the Ravi in 2001, India has fully harnessed the irrigation and water potential of these rivers. The initial construction of Bhakra Dam commenced in 1948 and was completed in 1963. The impounded Gobind Sagar is a magnificent lake of 96 km length extending upto Slapper (Mandi District). The dam is further flanked by two power plants, which generate about 6500 million units annually. The water releases irrigate about 2.88 million hectares of new areas thereby benefiting Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and other neighbouring states immensely. The construction of the Dam has been a convincing expression of the great creative abilities of Indian workers and engineers. The confidence and experience gained at Bhakra enabled them to construct Beas Project and Ranjit Sagar (Thein) Dam subsequently — using state of art technology and indigenous resources. Late Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru, our beloved Prime Minister, was a man of vision and foresight. This was the first major river valley project taken up for construction after Independence of India. He was the driving force for the construction of this Project. He had been an inspiration for the workers and engineers of the project and his guidance and patronage became instrumental in its expeditious completion. The keen interest taken by the then Prime Minister is evident from the fact that he visited the project at least 13 times during its construction period. He had so much affection and attachment with this project that whenever his close associates or foreign dignitaries/President visited India he brought them to the Project to show that India was progressing economically. Prominent visitors were — His Excellency Nitika Khrushchev (USSR), Marshall Tito of Yugoslavia, H.E.Chi Minh (Viet Nam) H.E. Jamal Abdul Nassar (Egypt), H.E. Chow En Lai from China, H.E. Dalai Lama and other international personalities. Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru described the project as under:- “Bhakra Nangal project is, something tremendous, something stupendous, something, which shakes you up when you see it. Bhakra, the new temple of resurgent India, is the symbol of India’s progress”. Bhakra Dam as “Modern Temple of Resurgent India” gets further testified by the fact that about 2.5 to 3 lakh visitors visit this man-made monument every year. It will not be out of place to mention here that whosoever visits Sri Anandpur Sahib Gurudwara and Naina Devi Temple for prayers, invariably visits Bhakra to have a glimpse and to pay respect to this Engineering Marvel. Gobind Sagar has achieved the highest yield of fish (1100 tonnes/year) amongst the large dams in the country. Fishing activities have also generated direct and indirect employment to about 4,000 oustees. The history of Bhakra Dam has been a history of high hopes realised through the dogged determination of our people and above all our engineers. The gigantic structure has not only been constructed by steel and concrete but with the blood of 150 martyrs and sweat and toil of 13,000 workers and 300 engineers. As the time flows, the names of those associated with the project will continue to rank high in its history. A mechanism in the shape of embedded instruments etc. has also been provided in the body of the Dam to monitor its health regularly. Although Bhakra Dam is almost four decades old, yet there is no laxity in its command, standing benefits and imposing position. Recently, when the farmers of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan states were crying for waters for their wilted crops due to monsoon failure in 2002, Gobind Sagar came to their rescue and mitigated their hardships significantly. This engineering wonder is Gem amongst the Dams of this country as well of the world. This project completed at the cost of about Rs 245 crore (1963 price index) has already reimbursed its cost by many multiples through its varied stream of benefits. As Bhakra is having 39th Dedication Day Anniversary on 22 October 2002 — Let us pledge to maintain the pride and glory of this “God given gift”. Let us pray that this project continues to bless and bestow us with prosperity and well-being-as before.
|
|
Modi to open international varsity
New Delhi, October 21 “Under the joint venture, a new institute — Modi Apollo International Institute (MAII) — has been set up to bring the first campus of WIU to India with an initial investment of around $ 2 million,” K.K. Modi, Chairman, Modi Enterprises, told reporters. “The plan is to open another 33 campuses over 10 years. Investments will depend on the requirements,” he said.
PTI
|
|
Ind-Swift
gets ISO 9001-2000
Chandigarh, October 21 The company is aggressively preparing to enter the highly regulated international pharmaceutical markets where drugs worth US $ 80 billion are going off patent in next 4-5 years. Out of these drugs the company’s product portfolio already comprises of the drugs with world market of US $ 25-30 billion.
TNS
|
rc
VSNL net drops 33.27 pc Mumbai, October 21 Total income for the period under review also declined by 25.23 per cent to Rs 1,304. crore from Rs 1,744.2 crore in July-September 2001, the company said in a release here today. Other income for Q2 dropped substantially to Rs 56.3 crore from Rs 148.8 crore in Q2 of the previous fiscal.
Indo Rama Indo Rama Synthetics (I) today announced a 163 per cent increase in its net profit at Rs 34.24 crore for the quarter ended September 2002, over the same period last year. The firm showed an increase in turnover by 34 per cent at Rs 617.38 crore while reducing the interest cost by 43 per cent to Rs 16.29 crore in the quarter from Rs 28.77 per cent. The net profit for the halfyear rose by 194 per cent to Rs 74.43 crore compared to Rs 25.35 crore in the comparable period of the previous year.
Jindal Strips Jindal Strips has posted a 137 per cent rise in the net profit for the second quarter ended September 30 to Rs 22.46 crore. The company’s net profit for the first half of the current fiscal stood at Rs 33 crore against Rs 16 crore during the same period last fiscal, a company release said today. During the first half, the net turnover rose to Rs 871.7 crore from Rs 553.82 crore.
Indo Gulf Corp Indo Gulf Corporation Limited, an Aditya Birla Group Company, has posted an increase of 35 per cent in net profit at Rs 102.99 crore during the quarter ended September 30 over the same quarter in the previous year. Terming the results as ‘impressive’, Managing Director Debu Bhattacharjee told newspersons here that though the sales turnover improved by 14 per cent at Rs 793.72 crore during the quarter, the spurt in the profit was mainly derived by a prudent debt restructuring through active treasury management that led to a significant drop in interest charges, resulting in a saving of Rs 17.08 crore.
Bharat Forge Bharat Forge Limited (BFL) has reported a quantum jump of 580 per cent in net profit at Rs 17.35 crore for the quarter ended September 2002 as compared to Rs 2.55 crore over the corresponding quarter of the previous year.
BPL Soft Energy BPL Soft Energy Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of BPL Ltd, has achieved financial break-even for the second quarter ended September 30, 2002. The company posted a modest net profit of Rs 2 lakh on turnover of Rs 25.68 crore as against a net loss of Rs 1.1 crore on turnover of Rs 26.03 crore during the coresponding period of the previous financial year.
Agencies |
|
|
|||||
bb
RBI warning Modular switches CSI convention |
 |
| 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 | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
