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| Friday, February 11, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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Jobs decline due to
liberalisation: study NABARD to double self-help groups Vision care drive by Bausch &
Lomb
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Hero Honda sales log 35
pc growth Woolmark shawl exports double Plan to legalise Net telephony
Jobs decline due to liberalisation: study NEW DELHI, Feb 10 (PTI) — Economic liberalisation in India has failed to reduce poverty despite sweeping policy changes initiated since 1991, a study has revealed.A range of policy changes were carried out with the aim of reducing poverty through employment generation and push up earnings, but it resulted in negative growth of jobs, it said. The study, commissioned by the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID) for to the World Development Report, 2000-2001, said liberalisation could not be termed as “unconditional success” as only garment, footwear and gems and jewellery sectors saw tremendous growth. Giving a comparative analysis of unorganised manufacturing sector employment in 1988-89 and 1994-95, the study showed a negative growth of 5.2 per cent with Andhra Pradesh and Haryana showing similar negative growth of around 20 per cent. The study conducted by “CUTS centre for International, Trade, Economics and Environment” also revealed that industrial employment between 1987-88 and 1994-95 increased by only 15 per cent. The study which also analysed the liberalisation initiated in Pakistan and Bangladesh said both countries did not achieve the desired results out of the reform process. Pakistan also saw inconsistent reform policies, lack of debt management in budgetary effort and slow industrial growth and employment. The study titled
“Liberalisation and Poverty: Is there a virtuous
circle ?” said during the reform period
opportunities created were more for skilled labour and
less for the unskilled ones that too only in sectors like
garments, footwear and gems and jewellery. |
NABARD to
double self-help groups SHIMLA, Feb 10 — Encouraged by the success of self help group scheme to promote micro finance movement for the uplift of poor rural families, NABARD has set up a target of doubling the number of such groups in Himachal Pradesh by December, 2000. Over the past three years as many as 1982 self help groups have been formed in the State and the bank has advanced Rs 98 lakh to 657 groups. This has facilitated economic uplift of 20,000 families without subsidies or institutional concessions. According to Mr A.K. Garg, General Manager of the bank, the scheme has enabled financial institutions to cover the segment of the rural poor which did not have access to formal banking system because of their perceived poor financial repayment capabilities. The scheme has surprised bankers as financed self help groups have reported hundred per cent repayment of loans. The bank has now decided
to upscale the association with micro finance movement by
providing credit and services to the members of groups
and undertake capacity building of animators. |
Vision
care drive by Bausch & Lomb CHANDIGARH, Feb 10 —Bausch & Lomb has launched a campaign in Chandigarh and Punjab to create awareness about eyecare among youth. The ‘‘Fresh Vision Eye Camps’’ are being organised in schools and colleges. Giving this information to TNS here today, Mr J.P. Singh, Vice-President, Bausch and Lomb. Vision Care, said that the company had conducted a survey in 1998 in Punjab which showed that out of 100 students only 16-17 students wore glasses whereas 40 of them needed vision care. Mr J.P. Singh said that there are two general myths about wearing contact lenses. One, the lens could fall off during some hectic activity. Giving examples, he said many sports people who earlier used to wear glasses now use soft disposable to lenses. ‘‘The lenses now available don’t fall off at all,’’ he asserted. They do not hurt the eyes in case of a mishap because they are not made of glass. The second myth, he
said, is about the maintenance of lenses which is no
longer cumbersome. There is now one multipurpose solution
for cleaning, rinsing and disinfecting contact lenses
which cost Rs 800 (for students) upwards. As a result,
the dropout rate among contact lens users has fallen from
50 per cent to 20 per cent. Youngsters increasingly use
lenses of different colours to make a fashion statement. |
Hero Honda
sales log 35 pc growth FATEHABAD, Feb 10 — Hero Handa has sold out 7.60 lakh motorcycles in the current financial year. The company has registered a jump of 35 per cent over its sales the last financial year. This was stated by Mr
Verender Uppal, Managing Director and Mr Ajay Dikshit,
Zonal Manager (North) of the Hero Honda Motors Limited,
during a chat with the mediapersons here today. The
senior functionaries of the company were also here in
connection with the inauguration of a new showroom and
service station of the company. |
Woolmark
shawl exports double AMRITSAR, Feb 10 — Having identified the future needs of the booming shawl sector, Dr S.K. Chaudhuri, Woolmark Director for India and South-East Asia has said shawl development will remain the thrust area for the Woolmark company for 2000 and 2001. “In a not so encouraging export performance at present of the wool sector, shawl registered around 30 per cent growth till December, 1999 and more than 50 per cent growth by the Woolmark shawl licencees. In fact the Woolmark licencees have even doubled their exports since last year”, Chaudhuri said addressing a seminar on the design and colour trend for woollen shawls held here yesterday. The Woolmark company has taken up a few development programmes for the licencees. Shawl design and trend presentation is one such project that the company initiated last year. The company in association with the textile design department of the National Institute of Fashion Technology, Delhi, presented the shawl colour and design trends 2000-01 for the domestic as well as export market. The shawl industry
consumes nearly 4 million kg of Australian Merino wool
and 1 million kg out of this is consumed for export
requirements. Shawl exports registered more than 400 per
cent growth between 1993 and 1999 — a quantum leap
from Rs 700 million to Rs 2,894 million. In its bid to
boost the export trade, the shawl collection was
displayed in Australia, Hong Kong and the USA last year.
Fashion previews and displays were also organised in
Delhi, Calcutta and Bangalore to promote the domestic
market for shawls. |
Plan to legalise Net telephony The Union Government is considering legalising Internet telephony in the country since it was felt that ‘sooner or later, it has to be legalised,’ Minister of State for Communications, Tapan Sikdar, said on Thursday. “Our Ministry is fully aware of the pros and cons and the issue is being currently examined by the Group on Telecom and Convergence,” Sikdar told the ‘Third Telecom Summit’ organised by CII in Delhi. HDFC Bank: HDFC Bank is planning to launch a slew of products including payment gateway facility, allowing companies to conduct e-commerce transactions with their clients and business partners through the bank. HDFC Bank, which is the clearing bank for leading stock exchanges including NSE and BSE, is also working on a software to provide trading in shares through Internet, company officials said. Satyam Online: To celebrate the first Valentine day of the millennium, Satyam Online has introduced its Valentine connection offer for registrations done between February 8 and 29. All customers registering for a 30 hour connection stand to gain an additional 10 hours and a discount coupon worth Rs 2500 on a leading brand of scooters. Further all customers registering for 90 hours and above, both fresh and renewals, during the offer, stand to gain 29 hours extra in addition to a Titan watch and the discount coupon worth Rs 2,500 an a leading brand of scooters. All the customers
registering their connections would also get an
opportunity to participate for a Bumper prize of a
scooter to be won each week till February 29 on the basis
of the winning slogan. — PTI, TNS
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