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| Thursday, September 21, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Oil prices vault to another 10-yr high Maruti AGM acts fast, clears lower
dividend at 25 pc Customer need not join inquiry: SC Finland offers phones
with built-in screen Sun Microsystems to acquire Cobalt Soft Indians pledge $1bn investment |
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Subhash
Chandra hikes stake in Zee Tele
Oil prices vault to another 10-yr high LONDON, Sept 20— Oil prices vaulted to another 10-year high on Wednesday prompting the International Monetary Fund to warn that rising fuel costs are casting a shadow over the global economic outlook. France said it would propose to this weekend’s meeting of the Group of Seven finance ministers immediate talks between representatives of the U SA, the European Union and the OPEC. Bolstered by fresh data showing no sign yet of any upturn in lowly U.S. petroleum inventories, oil dealers sent New York crude futures racing to the highest level since Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. U.S. light crude for October in electronic trade gained 77 cents to $37.28 a barrel. London Brent for November was up 87 cents a barrel at $34.50. Dealers cited weekly American Petroleum Institute data, released late on Tuesday, as the latest factor spurring prices higher. The API industry group said U.S. crude fell almost two million barrels in the week to September 15 to 287 million barrels or — 22 million below year-ago levels. Worse still for those worried about fuel shortages this winter in the world’s biggest petroleum importing nation, heating oil and diesel stocks showed little change. The API said those inventories rose a modest 1.25 million barrels to just over 116 million to remain 28 million barrels or 24 percent lower than at the same time last year. “The market will take (the API figures) in stride and go along its merry bullish way,” said Tom Knight with Internet energy trading company Redmeteor.com. “This is like giving a drunk another drink.” Production raised “We have increased production by over 3.2 million bpd in six months. That’s a lot of oil to put in the market in such a short time and should do the job,” OPEC Secretary General Rilwanu Lukman said in Jakarta on Wednesday. Lukman says the cartel can add more oil if necessary under a price stability mechanism that could bring an extra 500,000 bpd by the end of October. “If prices remain high, we don’t need a meeting, we won’t wait for a meeting. We’ll act,” Lukman said. But OPEC admits there are factors outside its control that are sustaining high prices. OPEC President and Venezuelan Oil Minister Ali Rodriguez said on Tuesday that market speculation had added $8 to the value of a barrel of crude over and above fundamental factors. Rodriguez said oil at $40 a barrel could prompt “emergency” measures by OPEC, which controls 60 per cent of global petroleum exports. “The oil markets are not yet in an emergency situation, but they could become so,” he said. “If prices reach $40, it would without doubt be a delicate situation. If it is permanent, then it would be an emergency.” — Reuters |
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Maruti AGM acts fast, clears lower dividend at 25 pc NEW DELHI, Sept 20 (UNI) — Maruti Udyog Limited (MUL) today held its annual general meeting, and approved a lower 25 per cent dividend for 1999-2000, amidst threats from the company’s workers’ union to go on an indefinite strike if demands for revision of incentive and new pension schemes were not met. The hurriedly-called AGM was held for only 30 minutes, the shortest in the company’s history. Representatives of the two equal shareholders in MUL — Government of India and Suzuki Motor Corporation of Japan — also approved the financial results for the 1999-2000 fiscal, company Managing Director Jagdish Khattar told UNI here today. “We approved the annual accounts and dividend for 1999-2000,’’ Mr Khattar added. Regarding the threats from the Maruti Udyog Employees Union (MUEU) to go on a tools-down strike, Mr Khattar said negotiations are on for speedy settlement of the issue. “Even during the two days of production suspension on Sepember 19 and 20, the plant has been operating on a single shift instead of the normal three shifts. Dealers had complained that consumers were not taking deliveries in the second fortnight of September on account of ‘Shradh’. This had forced us to cut down two shifts for two days. We will resume three shifts from tomorrow,’’ Mr Khattar added. Even as the AGM was underway, around 1500 plant workers from the MUL’s Gurgaon facility were agitating outside the company’s corporate office demanding commencement of production linked incentives, a better pension scheme and other benefits. Slogans like “management down down”, “Jagdish Khattar must go” rent the air. The Union leaders stated that in case their demand for an early settlement of the dispute is not met, the workers will resort to a tools-down strike and even go in for indefinite closure of the factory and sit on fast unto death. The MUEU members have also threatened to seek support from National Trade Unions like AITUC, CITU and INTUC for the purpose. The management, he said, has already convened a meeting with the Union members on September 23. Stating that the union was willing to commence unconditional talks with the management, Mr Abraham said. |
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Customer need not join inquiry: SC NEW DELHI, Sept 20 (PTI) — The Supreme Court has ruled that if a customer complains against an official of a bank of misappropriating money, he should not be involved in the internal inquiry of the bank on the issue. A Division Bench comprising Justice S. Rajendra Babu and Justice D.P. Mohapatra said “a customer of the bank need not be involved in a domestic inquiry conducted as such a course will not be conducive to proper bank-customer relationship and will not be therefore in the interest of the bank.” The matter pertained to the SBI where a customer on June, 1973, after depositing certain amount realised that she had put in Rs 1000 more than the amount mentioned in the bank slip and demanded refund. However, the cashier maintained that she had not deposited any excess amount but later when the Manager of the bank ordered a physical search of the cashier, he was found throwing away the money. The bank conducted a domestic inquiry and dismissed the cashier, who appealed against the dismissal order before the Central Industrial Tribunal. The tribunal, though held that the inquiry was just, fair and proper, quashed the dismissal order on the ground that the customer’s evidence was not recorded though the superior officer’s evidence was against the cashier. |
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Finland offers phones
with built-in screen NEW DELHI, Sept 20— Finland has offered the third generation of telephone systems to India. These phones will have a built in screen to provide for moving pictures and 24-hours internet connection. The offer was made by the visiting Foreign Trade Minister of Finland, Mr Kimmo Sasi, during his meeting with the Minister for Information Technology, Mr Pramod Mahajan. The visiting minister also said that IT professionals from India would be welcome in Finland in view of the immense possibilities for collaboration between the two counries in the IT sector and India’s acknowledged capabilities in this area. At a separate meeting with the Union Minister for Industry and Commerce, Mr Sasi emphasised the need for having an investment protection agreement with India. The two countries are also reworking an agreement on avoidance of double taxation and this should be in place by early next year, Mr Sasi told newspersons here. During the meeting with Mr Maran, the Finland Minister conveyed his country’s stance on subsidies on agriculture under the World Trade Organisation negotiations. Finland’s desire to involve labour issues under the WTO also figured in the talks.
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Sun Microsystems to acquire Cobalt NEW YORK, Sept 20 — In a high-value Silicon Valley deal, Sun Microsystems said it was buying server appliance maker Cobalt Network in a $ 2 billion stock deal. The deal is one in many in recent months involving Silicon Valley companies either co-founded by Indian Americans or where they hold key positions. Cobalt, one of Nasdaq’s hottest initial public offerings last year, was co-founded in 1996 by Indian American Vivek Mehra, a former veteran of Apple Computers and Silicon Graphics. An engineering graduate of Panjab University and Lowa State University, he is currently the company’s chief technical officer. With more than $ 16 billion in revenues last year, Palo Alto-based Sun makes the hardware and software that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to put up web sites. The deal with Cobalt, Sun said, would accelerate its entry into the growing server appliance market and bolster its focus on network computing. Server appliances are low-cost, easy-to-instal components that run web sites and electronic mail often used by small and medium-sized businesses and Web service providers. — IANS
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Soft Indians pledge $1bn investment NEW DELHI, Sept 20 (UNI) — Indian Americans, like Sabeer Bhatia, Kanwal Rekhi and Pawan Nigam, have pledged to invest $1 billion within next four years to resuscitate and upgrade the technical education foundation in India. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) is working towards facilitating inflow of this fund into India, Chamber Secretary General Amit Mitra told newspersons here today. This infusion was promised by the Indian Americans at a roundtable meeting held with the FICCI members during Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s visit to the United States. |
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Subhash Chandra hikes stake in Zee Tele NEW DELHI, Sept 20 (PTI) — Promoters of Zee Telefilms, Subhash Chandra and associates, have increased their stake in the company by over 16 per cent to 66.59 per cent in the last one year through restructuring and consolidation of various group companies. The promoters have increased their stake in multimedia giant ZTL to 66.59 per cent from 50.5 per cent as on March 31, 1999, on account of Zee Telefilms’ acquisition of 100 per cent stake in Zee Multimedia Worldwide Ltd. BVI, according to the latest annual report of the company. Zee Multimedia Worldwide, in which Subhash Chandra and his associates held majority stake, controls most of the channels and overseas activities of Zee. Zee Telefilms issued 19.41 crore equity shares of Re 1 each at a premium of Rs 104.70 per share of the company to the shareholders of Zee Multimedia for the acquisition. Also, during the year ended March 31, 2000 Rupert Murdoch-controlled Star Group acquired 3.95 per cent stake in Zee Telefilms as part of the $ 296.51 million divorce between Zee and Star. Zee in turn, acquired Star’s 50 per cent stake each in group companies PATCO, Siti Cable and Winterheath Company. Half of the total consideration of $ 296.51 million dollars was discharged by way of issue and allotment of 1.61 crore equity shares of Re 1 each at a premium of Rs 399.33 per share, as per ZTL’s annual report. The remaining half of the total consideration was prepaid by ZTL in March this year in cash, instead of two
installments as planned earlier, thus completing the acquisition. |
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Data Access pact with CA, Lucent NEW DELHI, Sept 20 (PTI) — Data Access India, today announced a partnership with Computer Associates (ca), Lucent Technologies, Sun Microsystems and Cisco Systems to furnish technical backbone for its proposed, fully-converged network of the world (now) service. Data Access has its own international gateways with a direct satellite hooked up to the Internet and these leading infotech players will provide hub and gateway technology besides software to efficiently manage the myriad systems needed to provide a countrywide convergence service, a company statement said here. “The now venture is really a convergence in its true sense and we wanted the world’s best software and infrastructure providers as partners to deliver the highest quality of service to our consumers,” Managing Director of Data Access Siddhartha Ray said. Cable TV Act to be amended: Jaitley NEW DELHI, Sept 20 (PTI) — Information and Broadcasting Minister Arun Jaitley has written to all state Chief Ministers today asking them to ensure enforcement of amendments to the Cable Television Networks Act (CTNA) regarding programme and advertising codes and cable operators showing films for which they did not have authorisation and copyright. The Minister has asked them to suitably instruct Police Commissioners, District Magistrates and Sub-Divisional Magistrates to effectively apply the provisions and take care that law abiding cable operators will not be harassed. He said there was need for effective action to ensure that cable operators do not show films for which they do not have permission from copyright holders, obscene programmes and advertisements of tobacco, liquor and infant foods. The Cable Operators are barred from transmitting any TV channel which does not subscribe to the code. The amendments envisage that the Programme and Advertising Codes are applicable to all TV channels and the clause that “adult” programmes can be shown after 11 p.m. has been deleted. It also makes it mandatory for cable operators to show DD-I and DD-II besides a regional DD channel as notified by Prasar Bharati. India and Russia to improve cooperation NEW DELHI, Sept 20 (PTI) — India and Russia today agreed to explore ways of enhancing co-operation in IT sector, especially with regard to exchange of Infotech students and utilisation of scientific manpower, as a prelude to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to India early next month. “India and Russia would explore various opportunities for co-operation in the IT sector during Russian President’s visit to the country. This would envisage exchange of Indian and Russian IT university students,” IT minister Pramod Mahajan told reporters after a 30-minute meeting with visiting Russian Vice-Premier Iliya Klebanov. Mahajan further said during his upcoming visit Putin would be accompanied by the Russian Minister for Communication and Informatics, and added that scope for IT co-operation would focus on synergising Russian scientific expertise with India’s IT knowledge. Klebanov, who is currently on a three-day tour to the country to prepare for the Indo-Russian summit, said the two sides would aim at expanding the level of IT co-operations during Putin’s visit beginning October 2. “The discussion with IT minister, focussed on ways and means of increasing bilateral co-operation in the Infotech sector,” Klebanov said. Tata Elxsi offers Maya 3 MUMBAI, Sept 20 (PTI) — Bangalore-based Tata Elxsi Ltd (TEL) in association with Aliaswavefront, a subsidiary of Silicon Graphics, today launched Maya 3, a 3D animation software. “In last six months, there has been an explosive growth in digital content creation and Maya is a dominating software hence had a tremendous future in the country”, Prasad Ganguli, Industry Manager Film/Video/Broadcast, Tata Elxsi told reporters here. |
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India 10th in staff loyalty New York: India figures in the top 10 countries globally where employees are loyal and grateful for their jobs while Japan, Britain, Hong Kong and Singapore demonstrate very low levels of employee loyalty, according to a study by a U.S.-based research group. The 2000 Global Employee Relationship Report, conducted by the Indiana-based Walker Information Global Network and the public policy, non-profit research group Hudson Institute, placed India 10, ahead of Germany at 12, Canada at 16, China at 17, Australia at 25, Japan at 26, Britain at 27 and Hong Kong at 31. Singapore was placed last at 32. The USA was placed seventh while Colombia, South Korea and Cyprus took the top three spots. Walker Information and Hudson Institute, a global partnership that researches stakeholder measurement and management and forecasts trends for government and businesses in more than 75 countries, said results of the study indicated consistent global trends on work-related behaviours and factors influencing employee commitment, and areas that needed attention. Regardless of cultural and national differences, the study revealed unsettling results - low level of employee loyalty and commitment to business organisations and a dwindling level of faith in their organisation’s ethics and leaders. Only 34 per cent of all employees were truly loyal to their organisations. In addition, one in four employees knew of or suspected an ethical violation in their organisation in the past two years, but only 43 per cent of those employees reported the violation. —IANS Plagiarists’ paradise LONDON: In Britain two Manchester-based undergraduate entrepreneurs have launched a website carrying scores of A-grade essays which students are free to pass off as their own work. The site is the latest enterprise of Nick Rose and Jordan Mayo, both 19, who published GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education) revision guides while at Manchester grammar school and went on to launch the revise.it website while in their first year at Oxford University. They claim their new essay bank, aimed at A-level students and new undergraduates, is the largest free collection ever made available online. The site has already been warmly welcomed by students and condemned by teachers as an incitement to cheating. Subjects on which essays are available include languages, history of art, religious studies, economics, history and politics. “I’ve never been very good at essay writing,’’ Rose confessed. ``We don’t see the essay bank as a cheating mechanism. It’s an incredibly valuable resource and the essays are there for everyone to share. You can learn an awful lot by reading other people’s work on the subject. And if you are short of an essay at 8.30 on a Monday morning, decide to copy one of ours and don’t get caught, that’s fine. Exams are a fight. It’s us against them. If they don’t catch us, we win. If they do, well ...’’ — The Guardian Purifying water with silver BANGALORE: The Centre for application of Science and Technology for Rural Areas is developing a water purification system using the bactericidal properties of silver which will provide clean and safe water at a low cost. Two prototypes of the system have been developed at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) — one with a normal candle coated with silver and the other with clay beads coated with silver, ASTRRA’s Prof H.N. Chanakya said. Silver is dissoluble in water and prevents bacterial multiplication and blocks their respiratory tracts. Water, howsoever clean, has scope for secondary contamination when dirty objects come in contact with it. However, bactericidal properties of silver eliminate even secondary contamination by destroying bacteria. Right proportion of silver is needed for best effects on bacteria and enzymes. Nine GMs of silver in about 1.5 kg of clay beads or on the candle has been found to be right for both prototypes for a specific amount of water.— PTI |
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