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| Saturday, June 24, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Government skips Maruti disinvestment issue NEW DELHI, June 23 — Punjab is the worst affected by the Centre’s decision to ban inter-state sale of petroleum products, which has resulted in serious shortage in stock manufacturing units, the PHDCCI said and urged the government to review its decision. No plan to
tax blood in Delhi’ Jail for driving with cell phones
‘No dumping of butter oil’ Ritu Beri displays ‘Woman of West’
Death from overwork
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NEW DELHI, June 23 — Adopting a cautious approach in the wake of differences within the National Democratic Alliance, the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment (CCD) today confined its decision to giving in-principle approval for sale of shares in 11 more PSUs and approving the annual disinvestment plan of Rs 10,000 crore for the current financial year. The meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Disinvestment, chaired by the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, avoided a discussion on disinvestment in popular PSUs like Maruti Udyog Limited, BHEL, VSNL and MTNL and deferred the finalisation of a long term road map for privatisation of state-owned companies and instead confined it to the current financial year. Apart from giving in-principle clearance for disinvestment in MMTC, STC, Shipping Corporation, the CCD also cleared the case of Hindustan Zinc, IBP, Hotels Ranchi Ashok and Utkal Ashok, Hindustan Organic Chemicals, Hindustan Insecticides, Sponge Iron India and MECL. The CCD asked the Ministry of Disinvestment to formulate specific proposals for the 11 PSUs and bring these for consideration at the next meeting in July, Disinvestment Minister, Mr Arun Jaitley said. The meeting was held in the backdrop of several Ministers in the Vajpayee Government, including Petroleum Minister, Mr Ram Naik, Heavy Industries Minister, Mr Manohar Joshi and Railway Minister, Ms Mamata Banerjee, expressing concern over the reported move of the government to speed up the sale of government shares in PSUs. The CCD accepted Mr Naik’s proposal to defer disinvestment in oil PSUs till they are restructured. The CCD, however, cleared selling of government stake in the joint sector IBP. It also empowered the Disinvestment Ministry to appoint global advisor to speed up the disinvestment process and help meet the Rs 10,000 crore target for the current fiscal year. The CCD also set March 31, 2001 as the deadline for completion of disinvestment process for around 20 public sector companies. It decided to complete the disinvestment process in Indian Airlines, Air India, ITDC, Balco and IPCL within the current financial year. Disinvestment Secretary Pradip Baijal said a three-year plan for disinvestment would be taken up at the next meeting of the Cabinet Committee, which is likely to be held in the second week of July. |
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Petro ban hits Punjab NEW DELHI, June 23 — Punjab is the worst affected by the Centre’s decision to ban inter-state sale of petroleum products, which has resulted in serious shortage in stock manufacturing units, the PHDCCI said and urged the government to review its decision. In a communication to Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, the PHDCCI said the units located in Punjab are the most affected as the Panipat Refinery of the Indian Oil Corporation have stopped the supply of residue of the
furnace oil and heavy petroleum stock. Punjab does not have a refinery and since this stock cannot be stored in the Jalandhar depot of IOC, supplies are required to be obtained from Panipat Refinery. However, the ban of interstate sale of petroleum products, the supply have been stopped perhaps on account of oversight so far as Punjab is concerned, the chambers said. Certain units, which are located in the periphery of one state find it much easier to procure petroleum products from the terminal of oil companies rather than the terminal which is in their own state. Number of industrial units in Punjab, particularly steel rolling mills and induction furnace have come to a grinding halt and hundreds of trucks are awaiting supply in Panipat, the chamber observed. Keeping in view of the importance and criticality of the situation on account of production loss and employment of workers, the chambers urged the government to resolve the problem in order to restore the supply of these petroleum products. |
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‘No plan to tax blood in Delhi’ NEW DELHI, June 23 (UNI) — Delhi Finance Minister Mahinder Singh Saathi today denied reports that the government was contemplating imposition of sales tax on blood and blood products in the
Capital. Addressing a press conference here, Saathi described as “completely false” reports in a section of the press that the Delhi Government had sought clearance for imposing an 8 per cent sales tax on blood and blood products. Leave alone levying tax on blood, the Delhi Government had exempted 47 life saving drugs and 23 instruments needed in crucial surgeries from sales tax, the Minister said. He had on June 20 received a representation from the Hemophilia Federation, seeking a clarification regarding sales tax on derivatives like anti-haemophilia factors, including febia, which has never been exempted in the past. To remove any doubts in the minds of the medical fraternity and haemophilic patients, the government was issuing a separate clarificatory order stating that the blood products would be exempted from sales tax, he added.
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Jail for driving with cell phones SINGAPORE, June 23 (Reuters) — Singapore, known for its strict anti-littering, anti-chewing gum laws, now plans to jail motorists who hold mobile phones to their ears while
driving. They face a six-month jail term for a first offence or a S$1,000 ($588) fine, or both, and a driving ban, a police spokesman said on Friday. A second offence would double the fine and jail term. The city state’s laws had initially set a S$200 fine and 12 demerit points which accumulate towards a licence disqualification for offenders. “We’re seeing a serious trend that people are just ignoring the police,” the spokesman said. The law had been tightened to clamp down on drivers not using “hands-free” sets while on the road. The Singapore Department of Statistics said 196 people were killed and 8,915 injured in car accidents in 1999. The police spokesman said there had been no documented cases of accidents caused by handphone use while driving. |
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NEW DELHI, June 23 (UNI) — The current panic in the domestic ghee (desi) market cannot be blamed on butter oil imports, Animal Husbandry Secretary A.N. Sinha said today. Talking to UNI, he said the 44.04 per cent duty on butter oil import was a fool-proof check on any attempt by developed nations to dump cheap dairy fat in the country. The landed cost of butter oil is comparable with the domestic ghee price due to the duty factor, and so it would not be advantageous to import it for use as an adulterant to ghee. Many major dairying states were recently in a
quandary due to speculation that huge quantities of butter oil were flooding the markets due to liberalisation of imports under the WTO stipulations. In Punjab and Haryana, the state-owned dairying corporations were forced to slash the selling prices of ghee in deference to market sentiments. Farmers’ organisations too complained that ghee stocks remained unlifted for want of demand in the face of butter oil imports. However, the Secretary said it was not possible to establish any
correlation between butter oil imports and the recent turbulence in the ghee prices. The market reaction could be solely due to rumours and speculation of “large-scale import of butter oil”, he opined. The import figures of butter oil contradicts such speculative reactions. A careful examination of the wholesale as well as retail prices of both branded and unbranded ghee in important cities showed that the prices were stable during the last three years. While the prices of branded ghee remained at around Rs 150-160, the wholesale price of unbranded ghee was at around Rs 100 a kilo, he pointed out. |
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Ritu Beri displays ‘Woman of West’ PARIS, June 23 (AFP) — Indian opulence met western style as New Delhi designer Ritu Beri, already a grand success on India’s fashion scene, targeted European style mavens with a new collection for the “Woman of the West.” Her show, unveiled last night at a private club on Paris’ chic rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, reflected both the richness of India’s fabrics and embroidery, and the practical comfort of everyday Parisian styles. Capri pants of varying lengths, some with wide embroidered cuffs, were paired with satin brocade bib tops, held together with tiny criss-crossing straps revealing bare backs, or sari blouses in saffron, turquoise and purple. Ankle-length flowing silk skirts inlaid with Swarovski crystals or adorned with richly embroidered patterns were worn with basic cropped halter tops, covered by luxurious stoles. “I was trying to do something that would be more acceptable to the audience, something that people could relate to,” Beri told AFP after the show. “It’s a mix of different looks, colours, materials,” she added. “And I did give it a new twist.” The designer herself wore slim-led black pants and a simple black tank with a short jacket of ecru lace with a ruffled hem, adopting her show’s “Melange” theme of contemporary fashion with a traditional flair. Beri’s evening wear was equally sumptuous. A cap-sleeve gold gown was paired with a vibrant purple and green silk stole. An intricate purple border at the waist and hem adorned a two-piece sage green ensemble, topped with a multicolored floral wrap. She also showed some of her wedding designs, eliciting gasps from the hundreds of well-heeled guests in their evening finery attending the club’s annual party. One model wore a scoop-neck beige silk tank paired with a matching floor-length skirt, encrusted with stones. Another wore a shimmering silvery bikini top veiled by a sheer wrap with a hip-hugging full skirt with a jeweled waistband, a thin belt skimming her waist. “It’s beyond fashion, it’s art,” raved one male guest. The European and Asian models on the flowering tree-lined runway wore crystal nose studs and rings attached to bracelets by a line of stones, as well as intricate jeweled headpieces, lending an exotic air to the more Western designs. Beri, in her early 30s, has boutiques in New Delhi and Mumbai, and among other national honours was tapped to outfit the Indian Olympic team for the 1996 summer games in Atlanta. The young designer’s star has risen in Europe over the past year, after she became the first Indian designer to show haute couture in Paris last July. Her second show in the French capital came in January. Asked if her successes in Paris over the past year had changed her marketing strategy for Europe, Beri coyly said: “I can only tell you that there is going to be a big surprise very soon.” She said her next Paris show would take place in October, when she would present a ready-to-wear collection. — AFP |
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Death from overwork TOKYO: Dentsu Inc, Japan’s biggest advertising company, on Friday admitted liability in the suicide of a worker from overwork and agreed to pay the man’s parents 168 million yen ($ 1.61 million) in compensation. The out-of-court settlement follows a landmark decision in March by the Supreme Court that found Dentsu responsible, the first time a company had been found liable in a case of “karoshi”, or death from overwork. Dentsu employee Ichiro Oshima killed himself in 1991 at the age of 24 after working an average of 80 hours a week — sometimes on shifts from 9.00 a.m. until 6.00 am. the following morning. Dentsu issued a statement on Friday saying the agency “will try to prevent a recurrence of such a sad incident by thoroughly looking over employees’ working and health conditions.” The settlement ended a seven-year court battle between the parents and the company, which had refused to acknowledge any responsibility for Oshima’s death. “I believe part of (Ichiro’s) honour has now been restored,” Oshima’s 71-year-old father Hisamitsu told reporters. Karoshi became a buzzword in the early 1990s. The idea of working onself to death represented a nadir for the Japanese labour force, which earned a reputation for countless hours on the job and putting work above hobbies, social commitments and even family.
— Reuters Spy software for e-snooping NEW YORK: A stealth software, designed to help parents keep tabs on the websites their kids visit, is increasingly being used by jealous spouses and suspicious bosses to check how their partners and employees are using the Internet. The software called “Spector” has also led to two divorces when one woman discovered her husband was visiting porn sites and sex-related chat rooms. In another case, a man confronted his wife with the e-mail she sent to her boyfriends. Low priced at $ 50, Spector operates silently without showing up in the computer’s directory. It records every e-mail, web page, instant message, programmes, files, keystrike, password or credit card number. These Spector recordings can be played back later by entering a secret combination of keys and password. The software, claims Spectersoft, the company which has developed it, can’t be detected even by nerdy teenagers.— PTI Indian unveils fastest chip NEW YORK: A graduate from the premier Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), who is a researcher with IBM, has been instrumental in developing what is considered the fastest static random access memory (SRAM) chip currently in the world. Rajiv Joshi, a product of IIT, Mumbai, unveiled the chip at the VLSI circuits symposium in Honolulu, Hawaii. IBM contends that with the higher speed SRAM macro, the CPU avoids the roadblocks of traditional cache memory and can access frequently used data and instructions quickly. The feasibility of this design has been demonstrated by the IBM lab in Yorktown Heights, where Joshi works. A researcher at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Centre, Joshi has an M.S. degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in mechanical/electrical engineering from Columbia University, New York. — IANS
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SIP Tech issue from July 12 Kajaria Ceramics net up 64 pc JK Tyre, IOC enter alliance Aksh Optifibre issue on June 28 Bank depository services on Net $100 m US order for Hinduja Fin |
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SystemLogic Convergent Nuchem Weir Heinrich Kopp Jindal Photo Site for kids |
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