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September 23, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Govt decision
to corporatise DoT challenged in HC
ONGC may lose 10,000 cr Infy lists Mohali’s wrongs VAT system for North by 2002 planned Maruti, Mercedes,Telco sales down |
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Hughes Soft
facility for Gurgaon
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Govt decision to corporatise DoT challenged in HC NEW DELHI, Sept 22 (PTI) — The government’s decision to corporatise the Department of Telecom (DoT) from October, was challenged today in the Delhi High Court by an NGO on the ground that the proposed body — Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) — will not be able to fulfil the obligation of expanding telephone services to every nook and corner of the country. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Arijit Passayat and Justice D.K. Jain said, before examining the issues raised in the petition it would like to see that the telephone services, which were “disrupted” due to strike by the employees opposing the corporatisation, were normalised. “Before examining the aspects in the petition, we feel that the primary concern is to make the telephone services functional,” the Bench said, asking the government to take stern action against those indulged in disruptive tactics. The NGO, Telecom Watchdog, which earlier had challenged the migration package under the New Telecom Policy to private operators, also challenged “doling” out several incentives to the employees of BSNL saying it would put enormous burden on the state exchequer. While adjourning further hearing in the case to October 19, the court told Solicitor-General Harish Salve that there need not be any judicial order from the court to take strict action against the employees found guilty of disrupting the services. The government could use the “last tool in its hand to take stern action against the officials resorting to disruptive tactics,” the court observed. The government on August 31 had taken the decision to convert DoT into a private corporation, BSNL, with an authorised capital of Rs 10,000 crore. Telecom Watchdog counsel C.S. Vaidyanathan said the telephone density in the country was only 2.5 per cent and in rural area cost on laying a telephone line was Rs 1.50 lakh. A corporation with private equity, neither will spend money on expanding the services in rural areas at such a high cost nor will it have money for this. In most of the countries, the telecom services were privatised only when the tele-density had crossed over 20 or 30 per cent, Mr Vaidyanathan said. Since the government was duty bound to take the telecom services to every nook and corner of the country, it was spending money for this purpose without an eye on the profit. On the other hand, private companies were only interested in telephone services in “high volume consumer” areas like big cities so that they could “slice” high profit. Opposing the petition, the SG said the government took the decision to corporatise DoT under its 1999 policy of the privatisation of telecom services as it did not have funds to expand the communication services. The government could not go to international market to raise funds unless the services were liberalised, he said adding that the same officials, who were supposed to maintain the services, were “prompting” the ongoing strike. |
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ONGC may lose 10,000 cr NEW DELHI, Sept 22 (PTI) — The Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is likely to suffer a revenue loss of about Rs 10,000 crore during the current fiscal due to price ceiling on domestic crude imposed by the government to contain runaway oil pool deficit in the face of spurt in global oil prices. As against the stipulated realisation of 80 per cent value of the imported crude decided by the Cabinet for current financial year, the organisation was getting just about $ 16 a barrel as against the prevailing global price of $ 37 a barrel, company sources said. Protesting against the ceiling, ONGC has shot out a number of letters to the government saying the ceiling would hit its domestic investment plans badly, which in turn would impact the domestic availability of crude. ONGC, expected to sell about 23.5 million tonnes of crude to national oil refineries during 2000-01, would be deprived of free market benefits, they said while pointing out that government had put the ceiling from January 2000 by freezing the prices at the monthly average import price level of November last year. The Union Cabinet had decided to accord import parity to the extent of 75 per cent in 1998-99, 77.5 per cent in 1999-2000 and 80 per cent during the current financial year as part of phased deregulation of domestic crude prices to give total import parity from April 2002. When contacted ONGC’s Finance Director I.N. Chatterjee declined to comment on the issue saying he was preoccupied with the corporation’s AGM, being held on September 27. Sources said the government had fixed the ceiling at Rs 5,570 per tonne of crude for domestic producers and it was working out to just 47 per cent of the import parity at the prevailing exchange rate. When contacted Petroleum Ministry sources said ONGC was a beneficiary of the government’s protections during the first year of the implementation of price formula when it was being given about $ 14 a barrel when the ruling international crude prices had plunged to $ 9-10 a barrel. When ONGC officials raised the issue with the government recently, the Petroleum Secretary is believed to have told them that they would be compensated as per the price formula.
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Infy lists Mohali’s wrongs CHANDIGARH, Sept 22 — Leading IT companies based in Mohali are facing a host of problems. Infosys has conveyed in writing what all Mohali lacks and what wherewithal is needed to make the place the real IT destination. Poor infrastructure has already forced several NRI entrepreneurs to have second thoughts on investment in Mohali. The main hurdle is the unavailability of uninterrupted power, poor communication and connectivity in the absence of bandwidth. Government sources reveal that to improve power availability to the units, Punjab State Electricity Board engineers have held discussions and concluded that Rs 1.5 crore was needed to upgrade the existing 66 KVA distribution system. Another Rs 24 crore was needed for new exchanges to meet the demand of new units. The cost could be recovered from industry by increasing the price of land. There is a proposal to privatise production and distribution of power. Sources said even companies like Satyam have decided to put on hold their plan to set up a development unit in Mohali because of lack of required infrastructure. Should Punjab allow such companies to turn away? Several sources have told the government that to make Mohali look presentable, the approach roads should be improved, besides setting up a recreational centre a five-star hotel and a golf course. Infosys in its communication also refers to the following points: Providing land at attractive price (Rs 8 lakh to 10 lakh an acre) and free of encumbrances and litigation; the single-window should ensure corruption-free environment; world-class telecom infrastructure; traveller-friendly domestic air flights; latest scanning equipment at the airports rather than using primitive frisking method; an international airport at Chandigarh; at least two more Shatabdi trains on the Chandigarh-Delhi route, remove furniture and other petty shops that dot the main road from Chandigarh to Mohali and widen the road; the road leading to the IT Park, opposite PunCom and adjoining Sector 71 is also an apology; the public transport in IT Park and industrial sector is in a jeopardy and smoke-belching, noise-making autorickshaws must be phased out and the new ones must have metres etc. Despite these requirements and problems, plans are being formalised for setting up an Indian Institute of Technology and also a Global Institute of Science and Technology. Sources told TNS that the ECP Board of Management, which met here on September 18, was apprised of the sentiments of the IT giants.. According to Infosys Associate Vice-President, Commercial, Mr H.R. Binod, ‘‘Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula have the potential of becoming the software hub of Northern India provided the three governments have very attractive investor-friendly policies’’. |
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VAT system for North by 2002 planned CHANDIGARH, Sept 22 — The northern region states today resolved to put in place a comprehensive value added taxation (VAT) system by April 2002 in order to ensure better revenue generation and improved tax compliance. Participating in the 3rd Summit of Chief Secretaries organised by the PHD Chambers of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) here today, the chief secretaries of different states including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi opined that a comprehensive VAT and CENVAT on most of the commodities was very essential in the country in order to bring harmony in the taxation structure. The secretaries also opined that a pro-active labour policy shall go a long way to give a competitive edge for attracting new investment. The states should take lead to introduce necessary amendments in the rules and regulations so that employers may get flexibility in order to rightfully manage their business. The secretaries also said that a proactive labour policy was required for the industry to flourish and attract new investment. Mr R.S. Mann, Chief Secretary, Punjab said that the stringency of the labour laws should not force any entrepreneur to take recourse to capital-intensive technology. ‘‘There need to be greater flexibility in the employment of contract labour and out-sourcing of certain services. The managements of the companies need to be given more powers for retrenchment of the workers’’, said Mr Mann. On the problems being faced by the industrialists, he said that the government had taken steps to remove the bottlenecks in the delivery system .Regarding IT policy, the government was laying major thrust on IT and exclusive packages of facilities for the IT industry were also being offered. Ms Vineeta Rai, Adviser to UT Administrator said that a uniform structure was very essential for the benefit of the common man also. ‘‘The reduction of sales tax needs to be done in a uniform manner so that states do not suffer on account of loss of revenue’’, she added. Mr Ramesh Chandra, Principal Secretary, Finance, Government of Delhi said that the decision of implementing uniform floor rates for sales had not reduced the sales tax realisation .‘‘The governments need to prepare themselves for phased abolition of central and local sales tax and VSAT should be introduced at the earliest possible’’. Mr Ashok Khanna, Past President and Chairman of the PHDCCI, said that with the liberalisation of economy, the action for business had shifted from centre to states. ‘‘In the true sense of liberalization we need to liberate ourselves from the lengthy procedures and internal systems due to which delays and losses occur’’, said Mr Khanna. He also said that the current classification of commodities was distorted. ‘‘A more scientific base for categorising commodities in appropriate slabs is very essential’’, he said. |
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Maruti, Mercedes,Telco sales down NEW DELHI, Sept 22 (PTI) — Sluggish market conditions continued in August, 2000, and pushed car sales down by 8.3 per cent to 53,272 units with Maruti, Fiat, Telco, Mercedes Benz and Honda Siel recording negative growth in sales. Maruti Udyog posted a 17.5 per cent sales dip at 31,203 units in August this year against 37,840 units in the same month of 1999 mainly on account of stiff competition from Hyundai and Daewoo. MUL’s market share also fell to 58.6 per cent in the reference month from 65 per cent in August, 1999, according to figures released by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers
(SIAM). However, car sales were marginally higher by 0.9 per cent at 2.44 lakh units during April-August 2000-01 compared to 2.42 lakh vehicles in the corresponding period of last fiscal. Sales of multi-utility vehicles declined by 0.8 per cent to 9,186 units in the first five months of 2000-01 from 9,261 units in the same period of last fiscal. Motor cycles continued to eat into the share of scooter sales with the former posting a 22 per cent growth during the month against 23.6 per cent fall in sales of scooters. In the commercial vehicles segment, medium and heavy vehicles were worst hit as sales fell by 28.6 per cent in August. However, light commercial vehicle sales increased by 26 per cent during the month. Tata Engineering (Telco) recorded a 24.7 per cent fall in sales at 3,495 units in August, 2000, from 4,639 units in the same month last year. Telco’s sales, however, rose by 29.5 per cent during April-August, 2000-01, to 21,578 units.
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Hughes Soft
facility for Gurgaon GURGAON, Sept 22 (PTI) — It Hughes Software Systems (HSS) today announced it has entered into an agreement with US-based Armillaire Technologies for setting up a dedicated facility at Gurgaon to develop software for the latter’s switching infrastructure. “The facility would develop software for the switching product line of Armillaire which includes local switch, gateway switch and an ATM packet switch, with a roapmap to include built-in Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) capabilities,” Arun Kumar President and Managing Director of Hughes said here. Under the agreement, Hughes would deploy about 65 IT professionals initially and 125 professionals by March 2001 for the project. |
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Microsoft faces MRTPC probe NEW DELHI, Sept 22 (UNI) — A day after Microsoft Corporation launched its millennium edition operating system
here, the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Commission (MRTPC) has asked the Director General of Investigation (DG) to further probe whether the world’s largest software house is indulging into monopolistic and restrictive trade practices in India. The commission has directed the DG to complete his report by December 4 since his preliminary report had not established clearly whether the provisions of the MRTP Act 1969 were attracted when restrictions were imposed for the use of Microsoft Software in terms of the end users’ licence agreement (EULA). The DG has also been asked to ascertain what would be the effect in the context of Section 15 of the MRTP Act if the EULA conditions are protected by the international copyrights treaties. The DG had not done its preliminary investigation on these lines and the commission wants it to further probe into the complaint of a mumbai resident. The complainant had alleged that the Indian subsidiary of Microsoft Corporation was indulging into monopolistic and restrictive trade practices since the buyer is restrained to use the Microsoft Software on more than one computer owned by him. SC, high courts on computer network NEW DELHI, Sept 22 (UNI) — The Supreme Court and all the 18 high courts of the country have been inter-connected through a computer network of the National Informatics Centre (NICNET) as part of the efforts to speed up the disposal of cases. Besides, the functioning of 430 district courts has also been computerised under a programme for massive use of information technology in courts which would go a long way in reducing pendency of cases in the judiciary, an official press note said today. The introduction of information technology has helped in the smooth functioning of courts in several aspects. Daily cause lists are now generated through the computer and important judgments of the apex court are available on
NICNET. Also, computerised facilitation and enquiry counters have been established in the Supreme Court and the High Courts of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Calcutta and Andhra Pradesh. The Centre has advised the remaining high courts to set up such counters. All the states and Union Territories have been advised to provide necessary training to court staff in computerisation with the assistance of the
NIC. Law Minister Arun Jaitley has written to the Chief Justices of High Courts and Chief Ministers in this connection. Intel-based notebook computers by Dec BANGALORE, Sept 22 (PTI) — IBM India will introduce in the last quarter of 2000, industry’s first Intel-based notebook computers with integrated wireless Local Area Network (LAN) capabilities. In addition, IBM will also announce the bluetooth PC card options for its notebook and desktop computers. The new ‘IBM Thinkpad I series 1300’ notebook computers would be the first Intel processor-based systems to offer integrated 802.IIb wireless LAN capabilities. They were compatible with IBM’s recently announced high rate wireless LAN access point, linking wireless thinkpad notebooks to wired networks, an IBM press release said here. Cofuture bags order NEW DELHI, Sept 22 (TNS) — Cofuture the IT joint venture launched recently by Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL) and Australian media mogul Kerry Packer’s Consolidated Press Holdings (CPH), has bagged a major contract for complete hospital management systems
from Stamford Hospital, an internationally acknowledged UK specialty hospital in London. Announcing this here today, the CEO of Cofuture, Mr Rajiv Shah, said Cofuture will provide patient administration, hospital administration and executive information systems as part of its ‘Hospital Management System’ solution to Stamford Hospital. |
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The rich getting richer NEW YORK: Yes, he’s still the richest American. But the big news was that Oracle Corp chief Larry Ellison is the second-richest person in the richest country on earth, just five billion dollars behind Microsoft Corp supremo Bill Gates. The latest Forbes magazine list of the richest people in the USA showed Gates is worth an estimated $ 63 billion, despite losing some $ 22 billion in net worth in the last year as Microsoft’s stock slid. Ellison, who was No. 12 on the annual list last year, rocketed up to the second spot by raising his net worth by $ 45 billion to 58 billion. Behind Ellison, the third richest is Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen with a net worth of $ 36 billion. The Forbes list, published in the Oct 9 edition of the business magazine, shows the rich are still getting richer. The total net worth of the Forbes 400 members soared 20 per cent, to $ 1.2 trillion, which is nearly the gross domestic product of Britain. In spite of the “tech wreck” in April, when shares in technology companies slumped, there are 31 new billionaires on the Forbes 400. Now 298 of the 400 richest Americans are billionaires. Forbes pointed out that Gates’ net worth exceeds the gross domestic product of Peru, while investment sage Warren Buffet — No. 4 on the list — has amassed more wealth ($ 28 billion) than the gross domestic product of oil-rich Kuwait. Cable tycoon Ted Turner’s $ 9.1 billion, which makes him the 21st richest American, equals the gross domestic product of Panama. Some notable celebrity names appear on the list for the first time this year, including Martha Stewart, whose October 1999 public offering of her Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia IPO and branding deal with K-Mart have vaulted her to a net worth of one billion dollar. Vince McMahon, the man who made the world wrestling federation wwfe.o into a pop culture icon, has amassed a fortune estimated at $ 1.1 billion. New additions that have technology to thank for their wealth include Jeffrey Hawkins and Donna Dubinksy, creators of the palm pilot and Vincent Smith and David Doyle, co-founders of Qwest software. — Reuters. Editor beaten up for ‘insult’ TOKYO: Two right-wing thugs who beat up a magazine editor for what they regarded as disrespect to Japan’s crown princess were jailed for 16 months on Friday. But the victim of the attack, Yasunori Okadome (52), Editor-in-Chief of monthly magazine Uwasa no Shinso (Truth of the Rumor), complained they had got off lightly. He was punched and beaten with a glass ashtray by Hidemi Shimamura (35) and Toshio Kasai (34) who demanded that the magazine close down for not using an honorific title with the name of Princess Masako in an article in its June edition. Okadome’s magazine has also reported allegations that the police caught Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori in a brothel when he was a student more than 40 years ago, during a raid on Tokyo red light district. Mori is seeking a retraction of the article, front-page apologies in national dailies and 10 million yen ($93,850) in compensation from the magazine. — Reuters It breaks down sex barriers CAPE TOWN: A South African invention soon to go on sale breaks down one of the last barriers between the sexes by enabling women to urinate standing up. The “Eezeewee”, a reusable device with a shaped plastic cup and a length of pipe, has taken six years to develop and is already patented in 106 countries. It will be in shops around the world by the end of the year. “It will be invaluable for women who are travelling, hiking, camping, fishing, sailing, skiing or bed-ridden. Having a wee has never been so easy,” Stephan Odendaal, Managing Director of Mouldmed, the company that invented the device, said on Friday. “It even has a handy, discreet carrying pouch so it can be taken everywhere,” he added. “One of these can last a woman a lifetime.”
— Reuters
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