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| Friday, May 12, 2000, Chandigarh, India  
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School dropout & sister
summoned for love bug PNB plans to enter insurance
sector 550 viruses found each month
Lumpsum ST goes |
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Wipro, Nicholas Piramal
ADRs cleared
Haryana sets up IT fund CHANDIGARH, May 11 — The Haryana Government today set up an information technology initiative fund with an initial corpus of Rs 10 crore. Stating this here today, Finance Minister Sampat Singh said that the fund would be established with contribution from profit-making state public sector undertakings, cooperative institutions and other public sector organisations. The Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister will be the Chairman of the governing body of the fund. The other members of the governing body include Secretaries of Finance, Planning, Cooperation, Industries, Agriculture, Town and Country Planning, Education and Administrative Reforms. The Secretary, Electronics and Information Technology, will act as its member-Secretary. The day-to-day working of the fund will be managed by an executive committee under the Secretary, Electronics and Information Technology. The Managing Directors of State Industrial Development Corporation, State Financial Corporation, Hafed and the Warehousing Corporation, Chief Administrators of State Urban Development Authority and State Agricultural Marketing Board and Director, Industries will be its members. The Managing Director of Hartron will be the Secretary of the Executive Committee. Cyber city: The Haryana Government will take up with the Union Government the issue of allotment of free bandwidth from the Department of Telecommunications to the State on the pattern of Andhra Pradesh and the setting up of an Indian Institute of Information Technology (IIIT) at Gurgaon at the next meeting of the Inter-State council. This was stated by the Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, while presiding over a meeting on the implementation of the recently announced Information Technology Policy, here last evening. He said a cyber city of international standard would be developed by the HSIDC in collaboration with foreign companies. IIIT planned: Hartron had already initiated the work to set up an IIIT as the Government intended to start its academic session this year. He said that various departments of the State had been asked to prune or readjust those schemes which had outlived their utility so as to set aside 5 per cent of their Budget for the implementation of the IT plan in the State. Hartron was also re-organising itself to provide technical assistance on IT to various State Government departments. Special IT cells would be created in each department and these would be headed by the Chief Information Technology Officers. The policy aimed at providing 100 per cent IT literacy in the Government set up by 2002 by imparting training of a minimum proficiency to over 2.5 lakh employees. Special workshops would
be organised for officers and the training would be
imparted by Hartron and the Haryana Institute of Public
Administration among other institutes. Efforts would be
made to ensure that employees did not have to travel
outside their place of posting for computer training. |
Post-Budget
taxes galore GURGAON, May 11 — The Haryana Government has come under severe criticism from the industrial fraternity of the state. Industrialists allege the State Government has been “clandestinely” introducing a spate of new taxes under the garb of “municipal development taxes” and, thus, “burdening” manufacturers in particular. According to businessmen of the State, the provisions found no mention in the Budget announced only a few months ago and the State Government has been imposing them “on its own without any supporting reasons”. The situation has reached such a position that industrialists are now contemplating to shift their units to the neighbouring States where they feel environment is “more conducive and business friendly”. The latest addition to the series is the 4 per cent tax announced on May 5 which is to be levied on manufacturers for bringing raw materials worth more than Rs 10 lakh in a year in the “local area”. It has been dubbed as local area development tax and would be collected through quarterly income-tax returns. Traders have been totally exempted from the tax. President of Gurgaon Industrial Association (GIA) J.N. Mangla in response to the imposition of new tax said, “the already burdened manufacturers due to recent hikes in rates of taxes will now be overburdened”. He said even a medium level manufacturer would come under burden roughly to the tune of Rs one lakh annually with the introduction of this tax. Mangla said the greatest drawback is that the Government collects tax in the name of some development but infrastructure provided by the State Government remains at the same “dilapidated” State. Launching a scathing attack on the “arbitrary” policies of the State Government GIA’s Secretary Vipul Bedi said, “interests of the business community are not at all taken into consideration and even the Chief Minister evades meeting with us”. He said that on a number of occasions “we sought time to have a meeting with Chautala and discuss things but our requests were not heeded. “In such an atmosphere we are left with no option but to think of shifting our units to the neighbouring states which are equipped with better infrastructure and business friendly environment”, Bedi added. The State Government has also been accused of high-handedness and promoting “Inspector Raj”. Karnal’s Liberty Group (a leading shoe manufacturing company, is a glaring example cited by industrialists. Says one businessman from Karnal, “the frequent visits by officials from various State Department and agencies on one pretext or the other just to harass the company and its employees finally resulted in closure of most of its units. Workers resorted to gheraoing the local MLA, protesting actions of the state government” the businessman said on condition of anonymity. He said the officials visiting had some “vested interest” and when it was not fulfilled they adopted high-handed measures to harass the company. Other steps taken by the
State Government in the recent past which left
businessmen fuming were the reduction of sanctioned load
from 70 KW to 50 KW, enhancement of electricity duty,
introduction of declaration form on the pattern of Sales
tax Form-38. Industrialists have been opposing all these
provisions right from the day they were imposed but
failed to convince the relentless State Government.
— ANI |
Local tax,
State level collection! CHANDIGARH, May 11 — Industry representatives have urged the Haryana Government to withdraw the Haryana Local Area Development Tax Ordinance 2000 which has come into force from May 5, 2000, and levies a 4 per cent entry tax on all goods entering the State. The PHDCCI has said that this Ordinance be held in abeyance as it would adversely affect industry in the State which is already reeling under a financial crunch. In a communication to the Chief Minister, Chamber has pointed out that such a step would also prevent fresh investments in the State. The chamber in a
statement here today said the Ordinance is ill-conceived
as the tax collection would be done by the State
Government and not by the local bodies even though the
stated objective of the ordinance is that funds collected
would be used for local area development. |
School dropout & sister summoned for love bug MANILA, May 11 (Reuters) — The Philippine authorities tracking the source of the love bug virus summoned a local computer school dropout and his sister to appear today before investigators. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) identified the dropout as Onel De Guzman, a 22-year-old former student of Ama Computer College (AMACC) in Manila who submitted a thesis describing a programme similar to the destructive cyber-worm. But Rolando Quimbo, a lawyer for De Guzman and his sister, Irene, told Reuters that his clients would not appear because they had not received the summons. He said the pair would talk to journalists later in the day. The NBI said De Guzman was not yet considered a suspect in the case, and investigators wanted to check his background. Officials said Irene De Guzman owned a flat which was searched on Monday by the police trying to trace the source of the virus that crippled computers around the world and caused billions of dollars damage. An agent of the NBI’s anti-fraud and computer crime division told Reuters that Olen and his sister had been summoned to appear before investigators by 2 p.m. on Thursday. Yesterday, the AMACC distributed copies of a thesis proposal by Onel describing a programme designed to steal passwords and gain free access to the Internet. The school said Onel had excelled in his computer courses but dropped out after his thesis proposal was rejected as unethical. It has not heard from him since. Earlier in the week, the police detained Irene’s live-in boyfriend, Reonel Ramones, who was later released but will have to answer charges on May 19. Ramones said he had been mistaken for Onel. The NBI said they had followed up clues from data retrieved from the virus programme and via two Philippine e-mail addresses through which the love bug penetrated the Internet. Analysts in New York told Reuters that De Guzman’s proposed e-mail sender Trojan was similar to the love bug virus. John Paul Vranesevich, the head of Antionline, a web security site based in Beaver, Pennsylvania, that tracks hacker behaviour and informs authorities, said the code contained in the iloveyou virus matched the plan outlined in the thesis. He said the source code was riddled with errors and included a variety of personal information, leading Mr Vranesevich to speculate the author released the virus in error. Investigators said they had not ruled out the involvement of more people in the spread of the virus after they traced 10 encoded names linked to the AMACC. Officials at the AMACC
in Makati, a Manila business district, identified De
Guzman at a news conference yesterday as the author of a
thesis proposal detailing how computer passwords might be
stolen off the Internet. |
PNB plans to enter insurance sector NEW DELHI, May 11 (PTI) — Punjab National Bank (PNB) today announced new growth initiatives by venturing into insurance and credit card business along with coming out with its long-awaited public issue in the second half of this fiscal.The bank’s newly appointed Chairman and Managing Director S.S. Kohli told reporters that talks are going on with a number of foreign companies for joint venture in the non-life insurance business. In addition negotiations are in final stages for a joint-venture partner for the new credit card company. “The final decision on the selection of the partners will be taken soon,” he said. Addressing the first press conference after taking charge as PNB CMD last month, Kohli said the bank has also decided to come out with a public issue of Rs 90-100 crore in the next six months. However, he said the
details on the pricing and exact amount of the issue have
to be worked out. |
550
viruses found each month NEW DELHI, May 11 — While the LoveLetter computer virus has taken the world by storm by affecting large number of computer networks, resulting in losses to the economy, computer experts said more than 550 new virus are being discovered each month. There are over 52,000 known computer viruses in existence today and with the discovery of over 550 new ones each month, the e-businesses require instant protection from the newest security threat, experts said. While the LoveLetter worms and its variants are looming large, Network Associates, McAfee Avert WebImmune Service have been finding cures to these viruses, and many such solutions can be downloaded from the Net. “With the WebImmune service, we can now deliver to customers over the Internet real-time access to new cures and virus information, stopping potential virus outbreaks before they impact e-business,” Mr Vincent Gullotto, Director of McAfee Avert WebImmune Service, said. The company allows customers to submit suspected viruses and malicious code via the Internet directly to the Avert and receive instant information on the submission. If the file is malicious, the service will generate a cure and return it to the customer via the web site or by email. If a cure already exists, WebImmune will prompt the user to update their McAfee Active Virus Defense software with the application fix to detect and clean the virus, he said. For the LoveLetter virus, cures can be found at www.McAfeeB2B.com. McAfee users should employ the extra.DAT file with the latest scanning engine to stop potential email storms, which can crash systems. In addition, Microsoft Exchange users can download the GroupShield Exchange on-demand console from the McAfee B2B website for immediate detection and cleaning of the loveletter worms. myCIO.com, Network Associates Infrastructure application service provider, offers a free online service specifically designed to eliminate the LoveLetter worms from Microsoft Exchange servers. LoveLetter, as well as its variants, is an Internet worm that installs on Windows-based systems and as a worm its symptoms may not be obvious to unsuspecting users. The LoveLetter worm arrives from an infected user to the recipient’s desktop in the form of an e-mail attachment with the subject like “ILOVEYOU”. The body of the email
contains the text “kindly check the attached
LOVELETTER coming from me” and has the file,
“LOVE-LETTER-FOR-YOU.TXT.vbs” attached. |
Wipro, Nicholas Piramal ADRs cleared NEW DELHI, May 11 (PTI) — Government has cleared the proposals of software major Wipro and pharma company Nicholas Piramal to raise Rs 2,795 crore and Rs 430 crore respectively through American Depository Receipts (ADRs). The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), which met here this week, has approved 108 foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals worth Rs 5,287.11 crore which also include a proposal of Zee Telefilms to bring in foreign investment of Rs 64.50 crore in the company. The list of cleared FDI released by the Government today said the proposal of Japanese multinational Yamaha Motor Company to increase its stake from 50 per cent to 74 per cent in Escorts Yamaha Motorcycles Ltd was approved. The Japanese multinational company would invest Rs 316.64 crore for increasing its stake in the Indian venture. Multinational Bechtel, involved in executing the turnkey Tirupur water supply project, has been given approval to bring in an investment of Rs 190 crore in the project while Hinduja National Power Corporation Ltd’s validity of the financial closure had been extended for their 1000 mw power project in Vishakapatnam. The Hindujas, however, will not have to bring in any fresh foreign investment in the project. Canon India, manufacturers and distributors of copiers, has been granted approval to expand its activities in India with further infusion of Rs 43.50 crore. Mauritius-based All Asia Television Broadcast Ltd engaged in telecom, Internet service providers and software business, has got approval for infusing Rs 21.75 crore while the Hong Kong based channel V Music Networks Ltd proposal to bring in an additional Rs.4.3 crore for its Indian operations has been cleared. Modi Xerox Ltd has got the FIPB approval for extending its technical collaboration agreement. Software company Bazee. Com. Inc of the U.S has been permitted to amend its activity clause. The U.S multinational company is involved in software development. Another software company Nicco Infotech Ltd has been allowed to increase its foreign equity form 51 per cent to 100 per cent with an investment of Rs 1.48 crore. UTV Software Communications Ltd has been allowed to increase equity from 61 per cent to 63.57 per cent by way of equity swap which would not entail any inflow of foreign investments. The FIPB also cleared
proposals of Encore Software Ltd to reduce its equity
from 31.11 per cent to 10.35 per cent and to bring in
foreign investment of Rs 6.28 crore. |
Lumpsum ST
goes CHANDIGARH, May 11
— The Punjab Government has decided to abolish the
lumpsum sales tax leviable on vanaspati units with effect
from May 15. Thereafter vanaspati units are required to
pay sales tax on their actual taxable turnover at the
rate of 4 per cent, according to Mr C.L. Bains, Financial
Commissioner, Taxation, Punjab. |
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Vardhman Spg net soars 57.72 pc LUDHIANA, May 11 — The net profit of Vardhman Spinning and General Mills Ltd is up by 57.72 per cent to Rs 6.23 crore in the last quarter ended March 31, 2000 as compared to Rs 3.95 crore in the corresponding quarter of previous year. The company’s net sales registered an increase of 8.24 per cent from Rs 98.67 crore to Rs 106.80 crore in quarter ended March 31. The net profit is up by 5.91 per cent from Rs 30.81 crore to Rs 32.63 crore. During the year, the Board of Directors declared an interim dividend of 5 per cent. The board has further recommended a final dividend of 7 per cent on the paid up equity share capital of the company in its meeting held on May 8,2000. Vardhman Polytex net up 37.18 pc Net profits of Vardhman Polytex Limited for the year ended March 31 are up by 37.18 per cent at Rs 17.20 crore against Rs 12.53 crore achieved during the previous year. The company has achieved a turnover of Rs 241.33 crore as against Rs 226.61 crore during the previous year. In addition to the interim dividend of 35 per cent already declared, the Board has recommended a final dividend at the rate of 7 per cent thereby resulting in a total dividend of 4 pre cent during 1999-2000. Mahavir Spng to pay 42 pc Mahavir Spng to pay 42 pc. Mahavir Spinning Mills Ltd has registered turnover of Rs 773.06 crore as against Rs 661.46 crore during the previous year, an increase of 16.9 per cent. The profits of the company have increased from Rs 49.70 crore to Rs 57.38 crore showing an increase of 15.45 per cent. In addition to the interim dividend of 35 per cent already approved for payment by the board, the board has recommended final dividend at 7 per cent resulting in a total dividend of 42 per cent during 1999-2000. Maral Overseas to pay 20 pc BHOPAL, May 11 (PTI)
— Maral Overseas Limited (MOL), a company of the Rs.
1500 crore LNJ Bhilwara Group, today announced a 15 per
cent rise in revenues to Rs. 259 crore for the year
1999-2000 against Rs. 226 crore recorded in the last
fiscal year. The company has achieved a growth in
operating profit to Rs 52.25 crore compared to Rs. 47.32
crore last year, a release said today. The company’s
Board of Directors had recently announced an interim
dividend of 20 per cent to its shareholders for the
financial year 1999-2000. |
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Monsanto Samsung Gyphome IndusInd card Tea boutique |
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