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| Thursday, August 31, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Himachalis now sell apple on Internet SHIMLA, Aug 30 — In a bid to get the apple growers freed from the clutches of the middlemen of Delhi, a Bangalore based Internet company has started organising “farmer bazars” in the apple heartland here to enable the orchardists to sell their produce direct online in the so far unexplored markets of the South. Companies rush for amnesty scheme Pak may buy Indian sugar
The first robot that can evolve |
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| Futures trading in petroleum sector NEW DELHI, Aug 30 — The government today permitted futures trading in the petroleum sector for Indian corporates to enable them to hedge against international price volatility on crude and petroleum products. Air India net loss declines to
37 cr
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Himachalis now sell apple on Internet SHIMLA, Aug 30 — In a bid to get the apple growers freed from the clutches of the middlemen of Delhi, a Bangalore based Internet company has started organising “farmer bazars” in the apple heartland here to enable the orchardists to sell their produce direct online in the so far unexplored markets of the South. The local growers believe that the experiment being done for the first time will help them reach new markets in the South and earn remunerative price for their produce. It was a general allegation that the middlemen in the traditional Azadpur market at Delhi were generally exploiting the apple growers by manipulating the prices for their produce. Mr Ajit Butail, who has initiated the Internet marketing of apple, told the TNS here today that a truckload of apple was yesterday auctioned on the Internet from here to a buyer at Calicut at the rate of Rs 252 per box against the prevalent price of about Rs 170 per box at Delhi. The seller will get Rs 252 net in his hand without deduction of any other charges. He said that so far 10 trucks with 5000 apple boxes have been traded on the Internet from here. The idea was catching with the growers who will no more have to run to Delhi or elsewhere for selling their produce and thereafter making rounds for getting their payments released from the traders. What the Internet group has arranged was to first market their produce while sitting home and then also make the payment at their doorsteps. Mr Butail said that the Internet terminal has been opened at Thanedar with great difficulty. However, trading could not be done from the main apple growing areas of Jubbal and Kotkhai because of non-availability of Internet connectivity. An enterprising grower, Mr Laxman Thakur, appreciated the idea of e-commerce of apple and hoped this will break the monopoly of the traders at Delhi. He said that his Eco-horticulture society will help the small growers in disposing their produce at a remunerative price and also transporting it on a joint basis. Meanwhile, the growers are blaming the state government for a glut of apple in the terminal market and also crashing its price by marketing the culled apple procured by the HPMC. They allege that the procured apple was being flooded in the markets in gunny bags and was sold at a much lesser price causing a loss to the growers. However, the Horticulture Minister, Mr Narendera Bragta, denied these allegations and claimed that the steps taken by the government had helped the growers in fetching higher prices. The procured apple was being sent to the markets in Barabanki, Kanpur, Moradabad, Bhind, Murena etc. where the higher grade apple was not marketed. So there was no question of crashing of prices because of this. He said that 86.50 lakh apple boxes have so far been sent out of the state against 60 lakh boxes during the comparative period in 1998 when there was a good crop. He said that the terminal market at Parwanoo has been made operational for the first time and about 100 apple laden trucks were being traded there daily. Crushing of apple to the full capacity of 220 tonnes was being done at the Parwanoo and Jarol units of HPMC. Mr Bragta said that 46 lakh cartons have been manufactured by the government owned factory at Gumma this season. Against 71 lakh wooden boxes imported by growers for packing apple in 1998, only 31 lakh wooden boxes have been brought this time as the growers were gradually switching over to cartons. |
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Companies rush for amnesty scheme NEW DELHI, Aug 30 (PTI) — The government today said it was getting tremendous response from corporates for the amnesty scheme “Company Law Settlement Scheme with over 36,000 companies availing the scheme till yesterday. The government has mopped up Rs 43 crore through the scheme, which allowed companies defaulting on filing their returns, including annual reports and balance sheets to submit their returns with the Registrar of Companies (RoC) and get amnesty. The three-month scheme comes to an end tomorrow. The scheme has picked up in the last few days and the government expects to collect more than Rs 60 crore, an official release said. In view of a long queue, the government also decided to set up additional counters at the offices of the Company Registrars, besides keeping the counters open till tomorrow, it said. The government asked non-complying companies to avail themselves of the one time “golden opportunity” and warned that non-complying companies will be dealt with an iron-hand and 10 times higher penalties will be imposed on them from September 1, 2000. The non-complying companies will also be blacklisted by the government, nationalised banks and financial institutions. “RoCs have been instructed to make all arrangements to ensure orderly and hassle-free compliance of companies at various counters,” it said. |
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Pak may buy Indian sugar ISLAMABAD, Aug 30 — Pakistan, which is running short of sugar, is looking into the possibility of importing the commodity from India before November this year. Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood said that a final decision on the issue would depend on Pakistan accepting the price offered by India. The Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) has already issued an import tender for 100,000 tonnes of sugar. Tenders have been invited for 25,000 tonnes with shipment by October 15 and another 75,000 tonnes by October 31. The tender was issued on Monday and “eligible” exporters from all countries have been asked to submit their offers on September 9, 2000. The tenders would be opened on the same day at the TCP’s headquarters in Karachi. The minister said that India was welcome to join the competition and hoped that New Delhi’s price would be lower than the international market as freight charges were less from there to Pakistan. The minister said that the government has allowed the TCP to import sugar in an attempt to depress soaring domestic prices. In Pakistan, the price of sugar has touched an all-time high of Rs 30 per kg, and this has worried the government. A Sugar Manufacturers Association official said that some sugar mills had put forward a proposal for importing raw sugar and the agriculture and commerce ministries were looking into the matter. The official said this would help to reduce the price, adding that it was cheaper to refine raw sugar here. However, the present tenders floated by the TCP are for refined white crystal sugar. Pakistan’s last sugarcane crop output was 46 million tonnes that produced 2.45 million tonnes of sugar, short of the estimated domestic demand of three million tonnes. Some private traders have already imported 255,000 tonnes of sugar since May 18, when the first shipment carrying 13,000 tonnes reached the port of Karachi. The traders said that they had booked another 337,000 tonnes for import and this would reach the country in September. In 1998-99, Pakistan exported 565,000 tonnes of sugar, mostly to India, at a highly subsidised rate of Rs14 per kilogram as compared to local prices of Rs 18 to 19 per kilogram at that time. The initial subsidy was at the rate of Rs 2,500 per tonne, but it was later increased to Rs 4,500 per tonne to make the exports competitive in line with world prices. That export consignment created a stir in India as well as in Pakistan. Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee was accused of favouring his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif for self-interests. Sharif, against whom yet another reference is being filed for giving a massive subsidy to the country’s sugar industry, owns five sugar mills in Pakistan. — IANS |
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Kaun Banega Crorepati
culture spreads NEW DELHI, Aug 30 — A few days ago, sitting at the Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC) game show sets in Mumbai, India’s best-known quizmaster chuckled a little. Siddharth Basu, whose team prepares the posers thrown up by KBC’s host Amitabh Bachchan, had just heard of how quiz books promising answers to KBC questions and consequently, its millions, were selling like hot cakes. “I’ll change all the questions. I won’t use a single one given in those quiz books for the KBC show,” said Basu, hoping to have the last laugh. But is anybody listening? Most of India’s 33 million cable and satellite TV viewers religiously tune in to KBC, the Indian version of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’ which is aired four times a week on STAR TV. An entire KBC culture — quiz books, vocabulary, advertisements, theme parties et al — has been spawned, making the show step out of the small screen and straight into the average Indian’s daily life and lingo. Delhi, Calcutta, Patna or Mumbai, KBC frenzy has surfaced everywhere. “Two days ago I purchased 100 copies of the book ‘Koun Banega Crorepati,’ but today I have just three copies left for selling,” said Ashok Kumar, a bookseller in Patna. Never mind tedious copyright questions. ‘Koun Banega Crorepati’ and another book, ‘Be a Millionaire by Winning TV Quiz Contest’ have become best sellers, with millions wanting to take a pot shot at being a KBC star. Besides, there’s hardly an Indian tongue on which KBC lingo hasn’t rolled once. “Should I lock the answer?” or “Are you Sure?” or “Want to use a lifeline?” — questions which Bachchan repeatedly asks contestants — have entered the average Indian’s daily vocabulary, far from making the show monotonous which is what critics had initially said would happen. “KBC lingo has caught on. People are using KBC phrases at the drop of a hat,” says a pleased Sameer Nair, Senior Vice-President, programming, STAR TV. In fact, much to the amusement of everyone, in a recent KBC episode, a contestant shot back the catchphrases at Bachchan himself! Says leading film and TV critic Amita Malik, “I would personally far prefer to watch (quiz show) Mastermind India or the U.S. Tennis Open. But there is no doubt that KBC has proved popular in over 20 countries for the same reasons. First, there is the lure of money. Second, the questions are easy for ordinary people like shopkeepers and housewives to attempt. Third, there is the element of greed, and last but not the least, who doesn’t want to be on TV and shake hands with Amitabh Bachchan?” Conducted in Hindi, with loads of dramatic music and lighting thrown in, and of course, the impeccable Bachchan, the show has just about everybody — from the cook to the CEO — lapping it up. “I think the biggest reason behind KBC’s popularity is Bachchan,” says Nair. Children and youths in urban India are busy playing KBC versions of their own, often mouthing “are you sure?” and “confident?” in the Bachchan mode. And even if the young ones sometimes want to go for the cartoon network, they stand little chance, thanks to adults. “Four days a week, my mother doesn’t budge from the TV when KBC is on. I dare not suggest that I want to watch some other TV programme,” says Devanjali Basu, a 13-year-old resident of Delhi. — IANS |
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The first robot that can evolve PARIS, Aug 30 (AFP) — Scientists have developed the first robot that can evolve and replicate without human intervention, in a key step towards realising the goal of artificial intelligence. Not so many years from now, the descendants of this creature could be sent out as inter-planetary explorers, able to mutate to meet the challenges of an unpredictable environment, they hope. Researchers from Brandeis University, Massachusetts, devised a computer simulation in which 200 robots evolved along Darwinian lines. The robots started out as static assemblies of basic components, with the computer instructed to learn how to improve the design progressively so that the robots could move. The design improved generation after generation as the computer learnt to discard features that were useless or cumbersome — just like the process of natural selection that prevails among life forms in nature. After several dozen generations, the smartest robots in the simulation were able to make clumsy movements. After several hundred more generations, the computer selected the three “fittest” designs and then built them in real life, using a 3D printer — a nozzle that builds up progressive layers of heated thermoplastic that cools down and solidifies, forming a three-dimensional structure. The only help from humans was to insert a small standard electrical motor enabling the robots to move. The machines are small, simple and far removed from the popular vision of a robot: they are made of simple triangles and rectangles, like a child’s construction set, and move forward by pushing a bar or limb against the floor. Even so, they are an achievement, as they cross the robotic threshold from virtual into physical reality. “This is, to our knowledge, the first time any artificial evolution system has been connected to an automatic physical construction system,” say the inventors, describing their brain child as a primitive replicating robot.” In an adjoining commentary, robotics pioneer Rodney Brooks acclaimed the work as “a long awaited and necessary step towards the ultimate dream of self-evolving machines.” Artificial intelligence is a long-standing dream of scientists, although it also has a controversial side, evoking dark images of machines that could eventually gain
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Futures trading in
petroleum sector NEW DELHI, Aug 30 — The government today permitted futures trading in the petroleum sector for Indian corporates to enable them to hedge against international price volatility on crude and petroleum products. A detailed guideline on the opening up of the futures trading route would be issued by the RBI shortly, an official release said here. The Petroleum Ministry had mooted the proposal on the basis of suggestions from a Parliamentary Standing Committee nearly two years ago. However, the implementation of the proposal has been speeded up as the international crude prices are highly volatile during the past several months. India is expected to spend around $ 17 billion on import of about 78 million tonnes of crude and over 2.5 million tonne of petro products as against $12.8 billion in the previous financial year. |
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Air India net loss declines to 37 cr NEW DELHI, Aug 30 (UNI) —Air India, for the first time in five years, made an operating profit of Rs 76 crore in 1999-2000 while experiencing a net loss of Rs 37 crore, its lowest since 1994-95, Civil Aviation Minister Sharad Yadav announced today.
Addressing newspersons after the board meeting of the national carrier, which is in the process of disinvestment, the minister said this was reasonable achievement for the airline which had operating losses of Rs 413 crore in 1996-97. It showed a turnaround to the tune of Rs 489 crore, he added. By registering a net loss of Rs 37 crore, the airline which had losses of Rs 297 crore in 1996-97, has made a turnaround of Rs 260 crore in three years. In fact if the price of aviation turbine fuel
(ATF) had not shot up in 1999-2000, Air India may have made a net profit of Rs 180 crore. |
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Glide to set up global gateway CHANDIGARH, Aug 30 — SAB Infotech Limited (Glide), Internet service provider in Chandigarh and Punjab has been granted clearance by the Ministry of Commerce, and DoT to set up an International Gateway project here. With this, Glide has become the first ISP to get such a licence, a spokesperson of Glide said today. After commissioning of this gateway, ISPs will be able to provide international bandwidth to subscribers without going through the VSNL gateways. The gateway will be set up using NSS-703 Satellite on normal C-band with bandwidth 2.2 Mhz for uplink and bandwidth 7.3 MHz for downlink. SAB Infotech at present has a subscriber base of 25,000. The Glide nodes currently are under construction in Karnal and Palampur and with commissioning of these nodes, most towns in Haryana and Himachal will also be covered. The International Gateway Project is likely to be commissioned by the end of October this year. Kinzan’s e-business products for India CHENNAI, Aug 30 (PTI) — Think Business Networks (TBN), a us-based software company, said today that it had entered into a strategic alliance with Kinzan Inc of the USA, to distribute the latter’s e-business products in India. Tbm will also customise and implement Kinzan’s core 3 suite of applications, which would enable organisations with a network of officiates to manage content, commerce and communications, Ram Kumar, Chief Executive Officer of TBN, told reporters here. The business objective of this alliance in the initial stage will be to create an awareness of Kinzan’s products in the Indian market. Stating that three prospective organisations had expressed interest in the applications, he said the alliance would generate revenues of over $ 2 million in the year 2001. TBN, expecting a revenue of over $ 5 million this fiscal, is looking forward to acquire companies for expanding their operations in India. Wipro to set up digital exchange BANGALORE, Aug 30 (PTI) — Wipro will set up multiple digital exchanges for the IT marketplace, Wipro Corporation’s chairman Azim H Premji said today. Premji said the e-economy would see the advent of the digital marketplace, and by the year 2004, it was estimated that the B2B e-commerce market in the USA would be $ 2.7 trillion. Infosys opens office in Hong Kong BANGALORE, Aug 30 (PTI) — Infosys Technologies Ltd., announced the opening of its office in Hong Kong today. Infosys believed Hong Kong to be a hub of e-business activity in Asia and looked forward to leveraging the opportunities available there. The Hong Kong office would be headed by Vineet Toshniwal. Silverline to invest in US firm MUMBAI Aug 30 (PTI) — Silverline Technologies Limited (SLT) is to invest $ 12.5 million in New York based e-business solutions integrator, TIS Worldwide, to pick a minority 6 per cent stake in the latter as against its earlier plan to acquire the company. Silverline would join Goldman Sachs as an outside member of TIS’ Board of Directors. Bausch eyewear business NEW DELHI, Aug 30 (PTI) — Bausch & Lomb India, will handover the reins of its eyewear business to Italy’s Luxottica by October, a top company official said today. “The whole of eyewear business will be transferred to Luxottica by October” J.P.. Singh, Vice President (vision care), Bausch & Lomb India Ltd told PTI. This follows buy-out of Bausch & Lomb’s worldwide eyewear business including brands like ‘Rayban’ and ‘Killer-loop’, by Italian sunglasses major Luxottica in April last year. GIL recorded a turnover of Rs 13.76 crore registering a growth of 397 per cent from Rs 2.77 crore in the last financial year. Tips fixes floor price at Rs 325 Mumbai,
Aug 30 (PTI) — Music company Tips Industries Ltd has fixed a floor price of Rs 325 per share for its initial public offering of 30 lakh equity shares of Rs 10 face value through the book building route to part-finance the Rs 187.95 crore expansion plan. The issue includes book building portion of 27 lakh equity shares and fixed price portion of three lakh shares, company Chairman and Managing Director Kumar Taurani told newspersons here today.
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Pak producer sues Zee LONDON, Aug 30 — Pakistani film producer Ijaz Durrani is seeking damages from Zee Television for allegedly broadcasting his hit film ‘Heer Ranjha’ without prior permission. The amount of damages being claimed has not been disclosed. Durrani has also asked Zee TV to hand over any copies of his film to him forthwith. Durrani, who was recently in London, is the former husband of famed Pakistani singer Noor Jehan. Karim Solicitors of Hatton Garden, London, acting on behalf of Durrani, say their client has the exclusive worldwide rights to the film. In a letter sent to Zee, the solicitors have said: “It has come to our attention that you broadcast and transmitted the said film at least twice via your satellite and cable programme service. “By such broadcast and transmission of the said film you have flagrantly infringed our client’s rights, including copyright, thus causing him to suffer substantial loss and damage.” A Zee spokesman when contacted by IANS refused to comment on the issue. — IANS New channel from Sept 3 MUMBAI: Yet another television entertainment channel will go on air from September 3. Mr Kishore Lulla, Chairman and Managing Director of the London based B4U Multimedia International Ltd Group, said the channel would bring to the television viewers “the world of stars’’. Shahrukh Khan’s company Dreamz Unlimited has signed a contract with B4U to produce film-based programmes and television serials for the channel. The digital entertainment channel will consist of three bands, entertainment where most of the programming will be Bollywood driven. Film stars would share some of their favourite recipes, the travel show would feature them sharing their holiday plans with the viewers likewise a fitness programme and other lifestyle related topics. The second band will feature serials and the third band movies. — UNI Is thermometer dependable? Ahmedabad: It could be risky to depend solely on thermometers available in the market to find out whether someone is nursing a fever. Twenty out of the 21 brands of thermometer tested by a leading consumer organisation here were found giving a far from accurate reading of the body temperature. Besides, none conformed to the standards of marking and packing. Save one, none carried the code for the batch of manufacturing and the mark showing the year of initial verification. According to a report in Insight, the journal of the Ahmedabad-based Consumer Education and Research Society, none of these brands passed the test on the “response time” count. A thermometer without the correct dimensions such as the correct length of the scale may result in an inaccurate reading. Only one of the three enclosed-scale type of brands conformed to this parameter. Eleven of the 14 solid stem thermometers did not have the right dimensions and scale as specified by the India Standards. — IANS Kate Winslet buys house LONDON: “Titanic” star and mother-to-be Kate Winslet has bought an 800,000 pound ($1.17 million) rural home in southern England in which to raise her baby, the mass circulation Mirror tabloid reported on Wednesday. The 24-year-old British actress, whose baby is due next month, moved into the riverside property along with husband Jim Threapleton (26) a few weeks ago. The Mirror, which did not give a precise location, said the four-bedroom house was surrounded by water and could be reached only via a bridge. — Reuters |
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Fert policy NEW DELHI, Aug 30 (PTI) — The government has completed the consultation process for the new Fertiliser Policy, Chemicals and Fertilisers Minister Suresh P Prabtoday, said today. “We have just completed four roadshows on the new fertiliser policy to take views of all concerned. The consultation process is over and the policy will be announced soon,” Prabhu said on the sidelines of the “Marketing Summit 2000” organised by CII.
Sugar output NEW DELHI, Aug 30 — India is all set to emerge as the world’s largest sugar producer with the production of the sweetening agent during the current sugar season 1999-2000 estimated to reach an all time high level of around 180 lakh tonnes. As on July 7, 2000 the production of sugar was 178.68 lakh tonnes as against 152.38 lakh tonnes during the corresponding period of previous season, marking an increase of 17.26 per cent.
IEC bags order CHANDIGARH, Aug 30 — IEC Software Ltd. has bagged a contract worth Rs 30 crore from the Government of Uttar Pradesh to impart IT education in 75 colleges in the first phase.
SBI branch CHANDIGARH Aug 30 — State Bank of India, Chandigarh circle has computerised 158th branch at Sector 41, here. Mr C.L.Sethi, Assistant General Manager, informed that SBI’s fully computerised branches will be inter-connected and ATM facility will also be provided at most of the branches.
SBP branch CHANDIGARH, Aug 30 — State Bank of Patiala inaugurated it’s 33rd computerised branch today at Nawanshahr. Mr R.S. Sharma, General Manager (operations) said that the bank proposed to cover 70 per cent of it’s business by computer operations by the end of December this year.
Railways NEW DELHI, Aug 30 (PTI) — Maintenance of records and monitoring of siding operation in the Railways “are rather weak,” the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has said in its latest report on the Railway Ministry.
Chemist shops BANGALORE, Aug 30 (PTI) — Bangalore-based Medybiz.com, a weo-enabled health services company, has targetted a turnover of Rs 15 crore in the first year of operations. |
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