 |
Friday,
February 21, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
|
Stall
BPCL, HPCL selloff: Samata Poll
campaign boosts cellphones sale Indonesian
bank to settle Polaris row Elderly
fear cut in interest rates 500 cr
fund for tea, coffee growers |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Uttaranchal
to tap tourism: Luthra ‘8 pc
GDP growth not achievable’ BSNL
makes incoming calls free Govt
reassures 9.5 pc interest on EPF Indomint
to double mint production
|
|
Stall BPCL, HPCL selloff: Samata New Delhi, February 20 Agitated members of the Congress and Left parties supported the Samata and JD (U) members who demanded that the process of disinvestment of HPCL and BPCL should not be carried forward till it was discussed and approved by Parliament. The matter was raised during Zero Hour by Prabhunath Singh of the Samata Party who said the decision of the government to disinvest HPCL and BPCL was opposed by 95 per cent of the people. Moreover, Ram Naik had given a report but strangely the government did not take into consideration. “The government is playing into the hands of companies like Reliance. Oil companies are being disinvested under its initiative. Till a discussion takes place in the House the disinvestment process should be stalled. Otherwise there is a minister who will selloff the whole country,” he said. Mr Devendra Prasad Yadav of the JD (U) ridiculed the government’s decision by saying the disinvestment policy should be renamed as the selling national property policy. It was a national issue through which crores of consumers would get affected. He said nobody was considering the fate of more than 32 crore consumers who use kerosene sold by public sector companies. Mr Raghunath Jha also of the JD (U) said it was surprising that the opposition on the issue from within the government suddenly disappeared. “Ministers who had earlier protested against the oil companies’ privatisation have now surrendered. How have their mouths been shut? They should explain to the House,” he said. Mr Somnath Chaterjee of the CPI(M) said it was turning out to be a case as if these national companies were the asset of only one particular party. “Parliament has not been taken into confidence. The opinion of the Attorney General has not been given to us. Valuable assets are being frittered away by a corrupt and power hungry government,” Mr Chatterjee said. Congress leader Shivraj Patil expressed hope that members of the ruling party would speak with the same clarity against the disinvestment as they had spoken earlier when it came up for discussion again on the floor of the House. Former Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar, upset at the charge made by BJP leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra that the process of disinvestment was initiated during his Prime Ministership, said he was ready to face the Privilege Committee, if Mr Malhotra’s assertion was correct.
|
|
Poll campaign boosts cellphones sale Shimla, February 20 Enquiries from mobile service providers Airtel, BSNL and Reliance revealed that sale of connections and telephone traffic has registered a significant rise. They are, however, not clear whether the traffic and sale have been boosted by the elections or a drastic fall in the tariff. Sources in BSNL, which has stopped issuance of its post-paid connections, said that political parties had sent a demand of around 250 connections. The BSNL sources said political parties told the company that workers who already had mobile phones had demanded pre-paid connections from the political parties exclusively for the electioneering. They said drivers of vehicles engaged in the campaigning had also been provided with mobile connections to use them optimally. The Chief Operating Officer of the Airtel, the first entrant in the state before the 1998 assembly elections, Vinod Sud said February had seen a jump of around 15 per cent in the sale. He, however, said it was not sure if the rise in the sale was because of elections or falling tariff. Mr Sud said normally this month had been witnessed around 10 per cent fall in the sale. Airtel from Tuesday made its offer more attractive allowing incoming calls from even basic phone free prompting the campaigners to better utilise the mobile connectivity. Airtel also has a Rs 2500 pre-paid card for high end users like the ones engaged in elections. Top leaders of political parties have taken two connections one of Airtel and another of the BSNL as it provides across-the-state connectivity. Since the world cup and the withdrawal of nomination after February 10 number of messages sent through Airtel have been hovering around 13,800 to 18,000 on February 14. The barrier of difficult terrains and weather breaking lines had also been removed by mobile phone, political campaigners said.
|
|
Indonesian bank to settle Polaris row
Singapore, February 20 Bank Artha Graha (BAG) said in a press statement that it sought arbitration in January after Polaris Software Lab Ltd of India failed to deliver its contractual obligations. Polaris Chairman Arun Jain and senior Vice-President Rajiv Malhotra were arrested in Indonesia on December 13 and held for almost a week before being freed amid a public outcry in India. The contract between the two states that any disputes must be settled through the Singapore International Arbitration Centre, BAG said in a statement issued in Singapore late yesterday. Polaris was awarded a contract worth at least $ 1.3 million in 2001 to install a banking application for BAG. It had promised the new system could go “live” within four months after work commenced in January, the bank said. “However, BAG realised that this promised timeline of four months could not be met at all,” it said. Despite extending the system integration dateline to September 2002, Polaris was still unable to set the system up properly, BAG said. “Therefore, BAG, in accordance with its rights under the agreements, issued a letter to Polaris on November 27, 2002 terminating the agreement with immediate effect,” the bank said. The bank also said it was entitled to claim damages for Polaris’ breach of the agreements.
AFP
|
|
Elderly fear cut in interest rates Chandigarh, February 20 Condemning the logic of the government that the cut in the interest rate is necessary to provide a level-playing field to the domestic industry in view of the lower interest rate in the international market, Prof M.R. Aggarwal, Department of Economics, Panjab University, said, “Investment in the industry depends on the expected rate of return and lower interest is just one factor for the growth of investment. If the Finance Minister slashes the interest rates, that seems certain, the senior citizens will be badly hit, who have now limited options for investment.” The expert on international economics claims that the reduced rates have shifted the investment from productive to unproductive sectors like real estate and gold. The investment has not picked up due to the continuing recession, but with the increase in inflation, the real interest income of the senior citizens will be affected with any cut in the interest rates. Mr Jang Bhadhur Bhasin, CA and senior citizen said, “The offer of the 0.5 per cent additional interest rate to retired persons is just a marketing stunt. If the government is serious about the interest of these people, it should at least double the income tax assessment limit for them — from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh — and rebate should be enhanced from Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000.” Mr Sunil Gupta, another CA, said: “Though the senior citizens have limited options for investment but they should think about diverting their savings towards equity-linked saving scheme and in government securities, where annualised returns have been around 12 per cent this year. The Finance Minister should ignore the Kelkar recommendations and think about the wider interests of the society.” Dr G.S. Sodhi, a retired professor from the Education Department of the PU, lamented that the government has ignored the interests of retired people who had put their entire savings in the small savings or banks. They should be provided some relief in the budget and should not be punished for the inefficiency of the industrial or banking sector.
|
|
500 cr fund for tea, coffee growers New Delhi, February 20 The objective of the fund is to bring about price stabilisation for each of these commodities without resorting to procurement operations by government agencies. The scheme will initially cover 3.42 lakh growers having operational holdings of four hectares. A number of growers to be covered is as follows: rubber- 1,97,461; coffee- 71,949; tea - 42,619; and tobacco- 30,317. The growers are spread across Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and Northeast. Under the scheme, each participating grower will be required to make a non-refundable initial contribution of Rs 500 to the fund and open a PSF account with a nationalised bank.
|
|
Uttaranchal to tap tourism: Luthra Chandigarh, February 20 He has been transferred from Kolkata to
Dehradun. Talking to the TNS here today, he disclosed that his first priority would be to ensure that the assesses could “pay income tax with minimum pain.” For this, he said, he plans to have interactions with the trade, industrial and professional organisations, to understand their grievances. He claimed that efforts would be made to resolve all the genuine grievances of the tax payers. Department wants to honour all the honest tax payers, and deal firmly with the tax evaders. Regarding his priorities, Mr Luthra said, “It is premature to comment, as I have to first understand the problems of the tax payers and department officials. But I am hopeful that there is a tremendous potential in the growing segment of religious and adventurous tourism. Further, the face of Dehradun from a city of IMA has changed, after it has been made the capital of
Uttaranchal. Construction and other business activities are picking up that would help increase revenue.” Talking about his experiences in Kolkata, he said, “It has been a very fruitful experience, where I got full cooperation from colleagues and worked a friendly environment.” He said, as per the instructions of the Central Board of Direct Taxes, he would also like to prepare directories of professionals like doctors, chartered accountants, advocates and self-employed people in the organised sector, for the better compliance of tax deposits. The computerisation of the income tax returns would further help improve services and timely payment of refunds, he added.
|
|
‘8 pc GDP growth not achievable’ New Delhi, February 20 He was addressing Global Conference of Actuaries organised by FICCI, the Actuarial Society of India and the International Actuarial Association here today. Mr Chidambaram said that savings, in proportion to GDP had declined by 2 per cent and unless the savings are increased to at least 28 per cent, and then with foreign investment, we raise our investment to GDP to at least 32 per cent, there is no way in which this India can attain the eight per cent growth in GDP. He also informed that the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has asked the government to reduce tax rate on policyholders surplus to 3 per cent from the present 12.5 per cent as suggested by Eradi committee and exempt pension schemes for unorganised sector in the Budget. Mr Chidambram said that the private sector is a marginal saver, public sector savings rate is zero and the government is a notorious
"dissaver" and said that the household sector should be provided with incentives in order to encourage savings. Talking about declining interest rates, he said senior citizens and people who save through general and employees provident fund would be hurt most as they depend on their savings. In this backdrop, he stressed on the need to introduce investment instruments for long-term which would fetch a higher interest rate for these people.
|
|
BSNL makes incoming
calls free New Delhi, February 20 “With regard to our cellular service, we have decided that there will be no incoming charge from any telephone — WLL, basic and cellular phones,” CMD of BSNL, Prithpal Singh said here today. It is applicable to Plan 325 and on all denominations on the pre-paid category, he said. BSNL’s announcement today comes more than a month ahead of the stipulated deadline of April 1, 2003, which has been fixed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). “There will be no airtime charges on incoming calls for CellOne customers for calls received from any phone, fixed or cellular and from any operator, BSNL, MTNL or private operators,” Mr Singh said. BSNL is at present working on a new tariff structure and will present the proposals before TRAI soon.
|
|
Govt reassures 9.5 pc interest on EPF
New Delhi, February 20 “We will continue with the present rate (9.5 per cent). It is because the investment decisions were wise that we are still able to offer such a rate,” Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma told reporters here after a board meeting of the Employees State Insurance Corporation. In the wake of falling interest rate regime, the Finance Ministry had asked the Labour Ministry to cut down the rate by 0.5 per cent after it realigned the rates of other savings instruments to the yields of government securities.
PTI
|
|
Indomint to double mint production Chandigarh, February 20 With the turnover of Rs 35 crore, the company started contract farming in 1997 by growing mint on 116 acres to help farmer to have a predetermined price. At present, the company is producing mint in Chamkaur Sahib, Machhiwara, Jagraon, Hoshiarpur and Nakodar. “We give Rs 600 for 1 kg of peppermint, Rs 250 for 1kg arvensis oil and Rs 540 for 1kg spearmint to a farmer, the same price which he earns for wheat production”, Mr S. Banbarkar, marketing head of the company, said. The company also provides assistance for disease-free planting material along with guidance for crop monitoring. The 100 per cent buyback of the produce by the company ensures the safety for farmers, he said. The company has developed distillation capabilities in Jagraon, Chamkaur Sahib, Nakodar and Badani, besides, a processing and blending unit in
Zirakpur. The company has also sub-contracts distillation capacities to process mint. It exports 70 per cent mint oil worldwide and markets 30 per cent to pharmaceutical, confectionery and oral-care firms in the domestic market. He said “the optimum time for planting peppermint and spearmint is December and January and it takes four months to
yield dividend.” Replying to a question as to why Punjab was selected for mint farming, the MD said, “good land holding, adequate water, availability of the PAU and warm temperature are some reasons that encouraged us to move to Punjab from UP”. With the 25 per cent market share in the domestic market, the total capital investment of the firm in Punjab is Rs 10 crore and plans are afoot to double it within a year, he said. Mr D.S. Gill, in charge, Chandigarh, said the government should provide subsidy and easy loans for machinery.
|
bb
TVS Victor Car for disabled Sterlite Ind Uco Bank Allahabad Bank Bank of Punjab |
 |
| 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 | | 123 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
