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June 28, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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World Bank violates its own rules on China loan: report
No change in tax date
Amitabh,
Jaya face new cases
Scholarships for e-com students
Telephones get ‘intelligent’
Nalco to dominate alumina market ‘Stop recruitment in PSEB for 10 yrs’
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World Bank violates its own rules WASHINGTON, June 27 — The World Bank failed to follow its own rules in assessing potential social and environmental damage when it granted a $ 160 million loan to resettle 60,000 Chinese farmers in traditional Tibetan lands, a scathing independent report has revealed. Critics said they hoped the bank would now withdraw financing for the project, which Tibetan exile groups have blasted as tantamount to “cultural genocide.” financing had been delayed until specialists investigated objections to the project, which the USA has urged China to withdraw. The Bank’s board approved the loan last year against the wishes of the USA and Germany, two of the bank’s top three shareholders. Yesterday the report, compiled by three independent development specialists at the request of the world bank’s board, found the Bank broke seven of 10 of its own regulations when it examined and decided to back the resettlement loan. Human rights activists said there was now enough evidence for the project to be cancelled outright. “This is a project that they should not try to fix,’’ said John Ackerly, President of the International Campaign for Tibet which has led opposition to the project. “It’s really disappointing to see that they would try to push this forward.” The report said the Bank failed to comply with policies about assessing the social and environmental impact of the project, including on minority populations. The Bank did not make adequate efforts at consulting the public and conducted no meaningful analysis of alternatives. The report was leaked to the Press yesterday after the Bank’s board voted last week not to publish it despite calls from Bank President James Wolfensohn to release it in the interest of transparency. The report on the China loan found there were ‘’an unusually and disturbingly wide range of divergent, and often opposing views’’ among World Bank staff on how bank policies and procedures should be applied. With that in mind, ‘’there is no way that (Bank) policies can be applied with reasonable consistency,’’ the panel said. Besides listing failures by Bank staffers in following procedures, the report paints a picture of senior bank mangers failing to head off potential problems as they arose. Among other things, the Bank failed to publicly disclose information about the loan in a timely fashion to allow interested parties to make comments or suggestion.Key among the complaints made when the loan was being considered was whether the loan should be classified as an “A” project, which requires a lengthy environmental assessment, or a “B” project, which requires a simpler evaluation. Bank officials classified the loan as a “B” project, in what critics called a cynical move aimed at railroading the loan through before june when china was no longer eligible for concessional loans. The panel settled the debate, saying the loan should have been classified as an “A” project for reasons including the impact of building dams, reservoirs and resettling people. The report said the loan was classified as a ‘’B’’ project before a single World Bank official had visited the site. The decision was also made, ‘’without detailed maps and other basic information being available and, it would appear, without regard to,’’ the normal classification of World Bank loans. The report noted that the first Bank official to visit the project recommended that the status of the project be changed to ‘’A’’ status and that although, ‘’management was aware of the A/B debate, (they) did not intervene.’’ Ackerly suggested the World Bank should consider emergency aid for the affected people and consider alternative sites for the project which would be less ethnically sensitive. World Bank spokesman Peter Stephens said the Bank has accepted many of the criticisms. The project, he said, will now be classified as an ‘’A’ project, meaning it requires a higher-level environmental analysis, the upgrading of social assessments and the provision of better maps and documentation. — Reuters
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No change in tax date
NEW DELHI, June 27 (UNI) — The deadline for filing of income tax returns will not be extended beyond June 30, Minister of State for Finance V. Dhananjaya Kumar said today. Unlike last year, there was no need for extending the last date this time, the minister told reporters at the special counter set up at the Press Information Bureau (PIB) for collecting returns from accredited correspondents. On direct taxes, he said the collection of corporate and personal taxes in the past two and a half months this year was about 70 per cent higher than the figure for the corresponding period last year. The increase was even higher at about 90 per cent if corporate tax alone was taken into account. Introduction of online filing of returns which would enable quick refunds would take one or two years as this was possible only after computerisation of all the offices of the Income Tax Department. However, the facility for depositing income tax in all the computerised public sector banks would be introduced by August this year.
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Amitabh,
Jaya face new cases NEW DELHI, June 27 (PTI) — The police has registered three cases against Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd (ABCL) for its alleged criminal breach of trust with New Delhi Television Ltd (NDTV), in not paying dues of over Rs 10 crore. The Greater Kailash police has recently lodged cases of criminal misappropriation against ABCL Chairman Amitabh Bachchan and Vice-Chairperson Jaya Bachchan on the basis of the order passed by Metropolitan Magistrate (MM) Manoj Jain. The MM after hearing NDTV’s complaint had ordered the police to register the cases and complete investigation before August 3, the next date of hearing. One FIR said ABCL, which had worked as an agent for NDTV for its “Budget-96” programme telecast by Doordarshan on July 22 that year, had collected Rs 1.39 crore. After deducting its 20 per cent commission and paying the telecast fees to Doordarshan, ABCL was supposed to pay NDTV Rs 85.94 lakh as share, which was not paid.
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Scholarships for e-com students CHANDIGARH, June 27 — EI Net-3L Academy has floated two scholarships — “Dastaquest-EI Net-3L Academy Scholarship” and “PC Quest-EL Net-3L Academy scholarship” — offering 100 e-commerce students scholarships worth Rs 38000 each, Rs 19,000 each for 5,000 students and Rs 9,750 for 10,000 students. The e-commerce course at the selected EI Net-3L Academy Study centres will cost Rs 38,000. The last date for depositing the completed application forms is July 28 for ‘Data Quest-EI Net-3L Academy scholarship’ and August 9 for ‘PC Quest-EI Net-3L Academy Scholarship. |
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Telephones get ‘intelligent’
BANGALORE, June 27 — Telephone subscribers and business houses here and other parts of India are being offered a wide range of hybride “intelligent” services, but there are few takers for the new technology, say telecom officials. With names like “free-phone” service to “virtual calling cards” or even “televoting”, a whole new range of services have recently become possible, thanks to advances made in adopting new technology. But lack of awareness about the potential of these services among the business community and the general telephone user is hampering their growth. “We are offering a service from a technical point of view. How people use it, misuse it, or don’t use it depends on them,” said an official. Some of the new services offered to businesses and customers include the “free phone service”. Here, instead of the caller, the receiving party — usually a business house in search of customers — foots the bill for the call. Firms that want clients to contact them without having to pay for the call, can use this sort of “reply-prepaid” form of telephony. It could encourage clients to readily contact the firm. Another little-noticed innovation is “India Card” which allows any telephone user to buy a fixed-value card and then make long-distance national or international calls from any telephone, without any charge on that phone. This works in most parts of the country, and you could buy a card in Delhi and use it in Bangalore, for instance. Billing for all the cards gets automatically done at a centre at Calcutta. This allows the card to be used till its value is exhausted, with a six-month expiry date. Such cards are available at values of Rs 100, 200 and 500 and each has a 5 per cent surcharge. The “account card-calling service” is a credit card. A credit limit is given to people who want to make calls, with the charge for the calls to be paid at a later date. “Premium rate service” is another facility for those offering consultation via the phone. Instead of being billed at the usual rate, those calling consultants for the service they offer would have to pay at a higher price. So the person calling in for say computer or career advice would have to pay more for each call made. The additional revenue earned is shared between the telecom department (30 per cent) and the person or firm offering the advice. This is for people who can offer specialised advice, even astrologers, who would then earn from it. Such numbers start with the 1600 telephone number, which is India’s equivalent to the American freephone number of 1-800. The other new services include universal access number service and virtual private networks. There are also “televoting services”, which will enable any firm or business house to take instant yes-or-no opinion polls of subscribers or consumers.
Computers set by by the Department of Telecommunications will tally the results and offer it instantly. — IANS |
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Nalco to dominate alumina market Damanjodi, (Orissa), June 27 — The National Aluminium Company Limited (Nalco) is set to dominate the Asian alumina market with the commissioning of the first phase of its expansion programme in the mining and alumina refining segment here today. The first phase of this expansion takes the capacity of the Alumina Refinery from 8,00,000 tpa to 10,50,000 tpa. The public sector undertaking, which is the largest integrated producer of alumina and aluminium in Asia is involved in expansion activities with a capital outlay of Rs 1665 crore in the mining and alumina refining segments. The expansion has been internally funded so far. The total financial commitment made now being Rs 1250 crore, it is expected that Nalco will report substantial savings on this brownfield expansion. The company reported a record sales turnover of Rs 2142.35 crore during fiscal 1999-2000, which is 42.16 per cent above the previous year’s figure of Rs 1506.65 crore. The unaudited financial results indicate the net profit at Rs 512.10 crore compared to Rs 248.35 crore in 1998-1999, representing an increase of 106.28 per cent. The pre-tax profit stood at a record Rs 683.35 crore. The company is in the midst of expanding its bauxite mining from 24,00,000 tpa to 48,00,000 tpa, alumina refining from 8,00,000 tpa to 15,75,000 tpa, aluminium smelting from 2,30,000 tpa to 3,45,000 tpa and captive power generation 720 mw to 840 mw. The brownfield expansion plan of Nalco envisages modernising and de-bottlenecking of the existing two streams of alumina production, having 4,00,000 tpa capacity each, to achieve 31 per cent higher output and addition of a new stream having a capacity of 5,25,000 tpa. The work started on both fronts simultaneously, under highly complex and difficult logistics of project management in a remote hilly region, are nearing completion. A number of energy efficient and highly productive process innovations, including a pre-destination facility, have been introduced in the Alumina Refinery in technical collaboration with Aluminium Pechiney of France. With the de-bottlenecking project commissioned now, the new stream of alumina production is getting ready for a time bound start in April 2001. Nalco has been the only aluminium company in the country with a planned exportable surplus in alumina, an intermediate chemical for production of aluminium metal and also having a variety of other applications. The company’s own 2,30,000 tpa aluminium smelter, located 700 km away in the Angul district of Orissa, consumes over 4,00,000 tonnes of alumina and the balance bulk of alumina goes overseas customers through the company’s own port facilities in Visakhapatnam. Even with increased internal consumption, the company has added more teeth to its alumina power in the international market. Known as one of the lowest cost alumina producers in the world, Nalco has so far exported 52.9 lakh tonnes of alumina on cumulative basis, earning Rs 3110.8 crore in fiscal 1999-2000. With the large scale expansion of the Alumina Refinery, Nalco, is likely to become a key player in the international market, with nearly a million tonne of alumina as exportable surplus. The biggest advantage of Nalco in the alumina business comes from its captive Bauxite mines in Panchpatmali hills, located 20 km from the Alumina Refinery. The company owns a single continuous plateau of lateritic bauxite deposits, estimated to be 310 million tonnes. Bauxite ore is directly fed to refinery through a single flight cable belt conveyer spanning 14.6 km over the hills and valleys. The 900 tonnes per hour ore delivery capacity of this unique pollution free conveyor system has been doubled to meet the higher demand of the expanded refinery. World Bank violated own rules on China loan.
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‘Stop
recruitment in PSEB for 10 yrs’ CHANDIGARH, June 27 — Mr Amarjeet Goyal, Chairman, Punjab Committee, PHDCCI, said here today that during the industry’s meetings with the Chief Minister, it was realised that 50 per cent of the electricity delivered was unmetered i.e. 2000-2500 million units. The Chamber suggested that the supply to the agriculture sector should be metered. In view of the huge burden of employment cost on the PSEB, the Chamber suggested that there should be no recruitment for the next 10 years and the contract system of employment should be encouraged. Punjab is fortunate to have 60 per cent thermal and 40 per cent hydel power and this advantage should be passed on to consumer. In addition to the electricity tariff, the industry was also burdened with 11 paise fixed electricity duty and 4 paise octroi.
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Indal board reconstituted Essar, Marathon deal called off HDFC acquires Guj Amb subsidiary BEL declares 25 pc dividend |
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Pepsi offer Paving Stone Rockport Essma Rosebazar.com |
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Kaun Banega Crorepati Startec Global Communications Corporation, a Maryland-based company founded by Ram Mukunda, is a provider of integrated communications services to ethnic communities and emerging economies. The company will provide its screening system though its Indian affiliate, Dialnet Communications Ltd. STAR TV, a Rupert Murdoch company currently broadcasts the ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire’ show throughout India via its programming agent, News Television India Pvt. Ltd. Like the American version of the show, contestants for the Indian version, known as “Kaun Banega Crorepati” in Hindi which boasts of renowned Amitabh Bachchan as its star attraction, are selected from a large pool of viewers who telephone a special line and correctly answer a certain number of questions. — IANS A new breed
in the making To drive home his point, Vinod Gambhir points to his watch running at 12 noon and says, “See I can walk into my workplace at my convenience and leave anytime I want without having to worry about my boss.” Gambhir and his family (a wife and a brother) run an Internet cafe, PCO, a boutique and a pool room in the first two floors of his South Delhi home while the entire family, including his retired parents, live on the top floor. Grover of Grover Links is another such entrepreneur. Apart from running a PCO and fax machines, he also provides teleconference facilities in South Delhi. He is not shy of divulging his monthly income, which he says is Rs 6,000 after all expenses, including the salaries of his employees are taken out, but says he savours his freedom more than his monetary gains which he hopes will increase with time. It is not only Internet cafe owners who are flourishing at their homes. You name anything — Yoga training centres, gymnasium, beauty parlour, coaching class, creche — and there is a house that runs one of these. — PTI ‘McScholar
of the Year’ Vikram Dighe, a McDonald’s restaurant manager from Coatesville, Pennsylvania, received the national award in Illinois from Alan Feldman, President of McDonald’s U.S.A. “Considering Vikram’s exemplary academic accomplishments, combined with his role as a leader in the restaurant and his community, he’s a perfect example of what can be achieved through dedication, hard work and determination,” said Alan Feldman. Dighe is a recent graduate of Coatesville Area Senior High School where he maintained a 4.3 grade point average. He was also a member of the Academic Team and has been recognised by the high school Honor Society. A McDonald’s employee since 1998, Dighe plans to attend Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, New York, this fall. — IANS BPL paints train blue The train was formally flagged off from Chruchgate by BPL Mobile Communications CEO Girish Rangan and Western Railway General Manager VD Gupta on Tuesday. The Mumbai suburban trains provide connectivity and mobility to thousands of commuters everyday. This is for the first time in the 75 year history of the Western Railway that a suburban train has donned a corporate colour. In the past, the Railways had allowed advertising only in the form of posters and ad panels. “This new concept will improve the aesthetics of the train by giving it a festive look”, Gupta said. — PTI |
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