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| Wednesday, December 6, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Badal tells businessmen farming
realities
Winners: Escorts, L&T, UP pavilion
Indian woman is Pepsi
President |
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Allahabad Bank makes
profits Mahindra IT park stone laid in
Mohali
NABARD loan for Punjab Polaris software
centre for Gurgaon Naidu shows the way in
infrastructure
Banned there, used
here Julia Roberts
most powerful Mehndi Hasan longs to sing
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Badal tells businessmen farming
realities CHANDIGARH, Dec 5 — Plain talk by the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, on the “gains” and “results” of AgroTech — 2000 at the valedictory function of the CII-sponsored show here today left the participants thinking. Speaking after Punjab Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, and two eminent agricultural scientists, Dr G.S. Khush and Dr G.S. Kalkat, the Chief Minister candidly remarked that enough enlightenment and knowledge was available about the problems that beset agriculture. Facts, figures and statistics too were referred to in their presentations. What matters to him was “simple practical solutions” because agriculturally Punjab may be a rich but its agriculturists are poor. “Farming is an uneconomical profession. It is time the erroneous impression in the outside world on profitable returns to farmers is erased”. Mr Badal was in his element when he addressed himself to the Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr Shripad Y. Naik. He suggested holding of a brainstorming session with those involved in agriculture to know the “realities and find remedies”. Unless the suffering and sacrifices of the farmers is understood in proper context their numerous problems will not be mitigated. No one pays attention to the heavy debt that farmers bear and are to clear. Otherwise why will farmers commit suicide? To re-invent agriculture, mind-set has to change. He asked the industry to lend a helping hand and invest in agricultural research besides processing for value addition. Mr Badal referred to the current topic of implications of the World Trade Organisation regime. He dubbed it as a “death warrant” for the farmers. Taking a dig at pro-WTO people, he said once a man with a big stick hit at the bundle of bangles a vendor was selling to the village belles and asked, “ What is inside”? The poor seller said, “Hit once more and nothing will be left inside”. Same will happen to farmers under WTO. Those who talk of “opportunities” and “challenges” which will make agriculture “competitive” and farmers “quality” conscious, perhaps, forget that competition is always among two equals. How could anyone even think of competition between the West and European farmers and son of a poor dalit or a kisan. Even those who have topped in annual examinations in matriculation, plus two or graduate level can be seen working as labourers. He turned to Dr Kalkat, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University, and asked if there were any students at PAU, who had passed out from a village school. Dr Kalkat replied, “Since 1994 there has been none”. Mr Badal questioned the long procedures involved in decision-making on simple issues in New Delhi. Everything is centralised. Even the Constitution has no provision to help states take their own decisions. This is one telling reason why Akali Dal has been fighting for greater autonomy and more powers to states. For this it was called “separatist”. The state governments have been reduced to dignified municipalities. The unitary form of government has done more harm than good”, he added. Turning to the organisers of the AgroTech, Mr Badal said it was a good effort and knowledgeable. But all this must be translated and put into practice to improve the socio-economic level of the farmers. Earlier, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, categorically stated that Punjab will oppose WTO in its present form. He blamed the Congress for hurrying into signing the agreement without fully understanding the implications thereof. He demanded a public debate, a comprehensive study and analysis of WTO’s impact on Punjab agriculture and strategic planning to safeguard interests of farmers. He referred to the conflict of interests of the developed and the developing countries. “WTO will spell doom for Punjab. The signing was done by the Centre under cloak-and-dagger policy”, he added. Both Dr Khush, Principal Plant Breeder and Head Division of Plant Breeding, Genetics and Biochemistry at the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines, and Dr Kalkat, made similar presentations. They talked of challenges facing Indian agriculture in the 21st century in general and those of Punjab in particular. It was a familiar portrayal of the problems and
requirements. The issues touched upon by them included diversification, processing, value addition, depletion of water table, soil health, stress on fruits and vegetables and breaking the mono-culture of rice and wheat, bulk storage and handling, building farm infrastructure, marketing etc . The real emphasis was that farmers could adopt new technologies and techniques provided they were assured of a reu menrative price and market. Otherwise all policies and plans would fail. Radical policy shift was the need of the day including abolishing land ceiling act, bringing about new legislations for area specific and crop specific farming, precision agriculture and working within the triangle of “agriculture, environment and poverty”. Mapping out cropping patterns on basis of geographical information surveys and using information technology for auctions, weather reports and market trends was stressed.
Winners: Escorts, L&T, UP pavilion CHANDIGARH: As the curtain came down on the CII’s biennial jamboree, Agro Tech, on Tuesday evening, it was the end of a five-day agricultural carnival for Chandigarh residents, of a high-profile urban kisan mela for farmers of nearby areas and sheer relief for the organisers. According to Mr Piyush Bahl, Regional Director, CII, Agro Tech generated business inquiries worth Rs 700 crore. The Chief Ministers of both Punjab and Haryana visited the fair more than once, indicating the changed trends. Industry-government cooperation is becoming more pronounced and visible. Punjab signed five MoUs with foreign companies involving an investment of Rs 50 crore. The UP pavilion received the best display award from Mr Parkash Singh Badal at the concluding ceremony. The first runner-up award went to Escorts Ltd, while L&T John Deere Ltd was adjudged the second runner-up. The other award-winners included Milkfed and Mother Dairy and tractor manufacturers like New Holland Tractors and Mahindra and Mahindra. The pavilions of Punjab, Haryana and Karnataka received special awards. Quite a few people confuse Agro Tech with a kisan mela. Media persons often ask: what is there for the small farmer? WTO, MNCS, globalisation and businessmen are all seen as “enemies” of the farmer. If that be so, why should China try so much to join the WTO and woo foreign companies for investment? Biases are bad enough, but having a closed mind is worse. Agro Tech is essentially by and for businessmen. It is a business show. It is not a forum to discuss farmers’ problems. But if businessmen want better infrastructure, stress the need for better seeds, water management, use of IT in agriculture and research in biotechnology, the farmer too will ultimately benefit. The only irritant during the fair was the self- righteous, know-all journalist.
Contract farming — PepsiCo style Tucked in a corner, almost unnoticed, quite unlike its high-profile image was the PepsiCo stall offering — no, not the cold drinks — but two small but fascinating machines — one a transplanter and the other a peanut seeding machine. It was PepsiCo’s name inscribed on the machines that caught the visitor’s attention. Mr Harchand Singh Khattra, Pepsi’s “Patiala Area Incharge”, explained that the transplanter is used to plant tomato and chilli saplings, finishing the job in one acre in an hour and a half. The other machine is used to show peanuts — it takes one hour to cover one acre. Both machines, based on imported models, are made locally, which are given by Pepsi free to its contract farmers, and are not for sale. Those who think Pepsi is engaged in tomato contract farming at Zahura village in Hoshiarpur district only may be in for surprise to know that the company has spread its operations to other districts like Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala and Sangrur. Under a contract, farmers grow, apart from tomatoes, chillie’s Basmati and peanuts.
A ‘lion of Punjab’ in Holland Guess what is the Dutch style of welcoming a Punjab minister? When Animal Husbandry Minister Rattan Singh, accompanied by the Director of Animal Husbandry, visited Holland recently, he went to the headquarters of Dutch company K.I. Samen in Grashoek. In their honour and also to mark the tercentenary celebrations of the birth of the Khlasa, Senator G. Bracks baptized a young bull as the “Punjab Lion”. This information has been shared by officials of K. I. Samen company, which had put up a stall at Agro Tech. Holland is known worldwide for its bulls and cows. K.I. Samen claims to have the largest number of “excellent” classified bulls. Such is the level of reverence the Dutch show to the cows that they have installed a statue of a cow in the capital of Friesland with the words “us mem” (our mother) inscribed under it. |
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Indian woman is Pepsi President New York, Dec 5 - Chennai-born Indra Nooyi has been named as the next president of soft drink and snack food giant PepsiCo, making her one of the highest ranking Indian American women executives in corporate America. The announcement came shortly after New York-based PepsiCo announced on December 4 its $13.4 billion acquisition deal of Quaker Oats Co, which owns the Gatorade and several leading snack food brands. Nooyi, 44, currently the company’s chief financial officer (CFO), will expand her duties and assume the additional post of president. Her promotion is a part of several executive changes announced by PepsiCo chairman and CEO Roger Enrico when the Quaker deal goes through. Described as a strategic adviser to Enrico, Nooyi is among the six key officers who report directly to the chief. She is considered to be largely behind PepsiCo’s move to spin off its restaurant and bottling business — which has resulted in booming stocks after several flat years. In her new role as president and CFO, Nooyi will also be nominated for election to the PepsiCo Board. She will be responsible for corporate staff functions, including legal, human resources and corporate communications, in addition to her current CFO duties overseeing finance, strategic planning, mergers and acquisitions, information technology, advanced technologies and procurement. “Indra’s contributions to PepsiCo have been enormous and she will make a great president,” Enrico said in a statement. “She is a terrific addition to our world-class board and her perspective will be invaluable.” Nooyi, a Yale management graduate who migrated to this country in 1978, will be at the helm of a combined company that will have revenues of $25 billion with an expected market capitalization of more than $80 billion. The Quaker deal will place PepsiCo among the world’s five largest consumer products companies. A 20-year veteran of the industry, Nooyi was placed 45th in Fortune magazine’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” annual list this year. A firm believer in teamwork, she is known within the company circle for her analytical abilities, a key component behind her rise. Nooyi, whose remuneration for fiscal 1999 totalled more than a $1 million, is also believed to be the chief strategist behind PepsiCo’s competition with rival Coca-Cola. Before joining PepsiCo in 1994, she worked at the Boston Consulting Group, then Motorola Inc. where she was the vice-president for corporate strategy and planning and she later had a similar role at Asea Brown Boveri. Nooyi, her management consultant husband and their two daughters live in Greenwich, Connecticut.—IANS |
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Haryana to shut
three coop units CHANDIGARH, Dec 5 — The Haryana Cabinet today accepted the recommendations of the Cabinet sub-committee on disinvestment about closing down three loss-making cooperative institutions. Stating this here today, a government spokesman said that the three institutions — Haryana State Industrial Co-operative Federation Ltd, Haryana State Cooperative Development Federation Ltd and Haryana Co-operative Handloom Apex Co-operative Federation (Handloom Apex) have been incurring losses worth crores of rupees. There was also no chance of their becoming viable. The Cabinet today also accepted the recommendation about retrenchment of 311 surplus employees of CONFED. The Board of Directors of the CONFED had also recommended retrenchment of the employees, the spokesman said and added that more than Rs 5 crore was being spent by CONFED for the salaries of these employees who did not have any work. The Cabinet also decided that the work relating to the Haryana State Co-operative Housing Federation Ltd, would be handed over to the profitable Haryana State Cooperative Land Development Bank once the Life Insurance Corporation agreed to the proposal. Housefed has so far accumulated losses worth Rs 7.58 crore and has to clear dues worth crores of rupees to the LIC which advances loans to it. The government would carry out merger, diversification and downsizing of other PSUs to save tax-payers money from being wasted. Any employee affected by these decisions would be paid compensation. Their names would be retained in the surplus pool of the Cooperative Department and would be considered in when suitable requirement of employment would arise.
Allahabad Bank makes profits CHANDIGARH, Dec 5 — Mr B. Samal, Chairman and Managing Director of Allahabad Bank, inaugurated the bank’s fully computerised Sector 17-B branch here today. Mr Samal said the bank has done a total business of more than Rs 28,000 crore. It has 2000 branches all over the country and has been making profits for the last few years. At present its 300 branches computerised and there are 12 ATMs in the country. The bank has launched Retail Banking Boutique, comprising 100 centres all over the country, to provide loans for cars, house, and other consumer loans. Under priority sector lending, the bank has lent 43 per cent of net banking credit as against the statutory requirement of 40 per cent. The bank has issued 62,000 Kisan cards to the farmers so far. It plans to issue one lakh cards to the farmers under its Green Card scheme. The bank has also launched a compromise scheme for the settlement of NPA accounts as per RBI guidelines. The bank has conducted a two-day interactive programme at Panchkula which was attended by officers and award staff unions. This seminar was addressed by Dr S.P.S. Pruthi, Dr Jacob Mankidy and Prof T. Ravishankar. |
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Mahindra IT park stone laid in
Mohali SAS Nagar, Dec 5 — An attractive package like exemption in sales tax, dedicated telecommunication and power lines, single window clearance and land availability are some of the incentives to be offered to the IT players coming to Punjab. Mr Parkash Singh Badal announced this at the foundation stone laying ceremony of Mahindra Knowledge Park, a Rs 350 crore joint venture of Mahindra Realty and Infrastructure Developers Ltd and the Punjab Government. The knowledge park, said Mr Badal would strengthen the IT infrastructure in the town. In the coming years we will move ahead of Bangalore — which the Punjab views as a challenge. Efforts to set up a Global Institute of Science and Technology (GIST) here were also being made. The Chief Minister urged the promoters of the knowledge within a year. Mr Anand Mahindra, Managing Director of the Mahindra and Mahindra, said the project would provide direct employment to 15,000 persons and indirect employment to around 60,000 persons. The first of kind park in Punjab would offer 1.5 million sq feet of premium quality office space with a facilities catering to IT industry. Stating that the IT was impacting the business world massively, Mr Mahindra said the company was concentrating on six major areas. “ India was basically serving as a service provider in the IT industry and we want to take a leap in the software solutions provider”, he said adding that the IT enablement of agricultural sector and the IT education were areas of thrust.
NABARD loan for Punjab CHANDIGARH, Dec 5 —NABARD today reiterated its commitment to provide loan assistance worth Rs 1,091 crore to Punjab in the current fiscal year. Mr. Y C Nanda, Chairman of the bank, at a meeting here today with Mr. Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister of Punjab, said the bank would favourably consider any project for the Rural Infrastrctural Development Fund in the state. The meeting was held to discuss issues relating to agriculture credit, rural infrastructure and rural development in the state. According to an official spokesperson, Mr. Nanda said NABARD’s commitment to Punjab would be to the tune of Rs. 1,091 crore of which Rs. 510 crore would be for re-finance for investment credit, Rs. 470 crore for re-finance for short-term credit and the balance under the RIDF.
NEW DELHI, Dec 5 (PTI)— CHENNAI-based
Polaris software lab is planning to invest up to rs 53 crore by 2001 end for expanding its operations, including the setting up of development facilities in
NOIDA and Gurgaon and a wholly-owned subsidiary in Ireland. The company, which attracted media’s attention following the breakup of its $21 million aquisition agreement with us-based data inc., wili go for strategic investments as part of which it will take up to 20 per cent stake in overseas companies. Commenting on the company’s expansion plans
Arun Jain, chairman and ceo of Polaris said, “we will invest about rs 53 crore by mid-2001 for strengthening our development operations in the country. Of this rs 33 crore will be channelised for a 1200 seat software facility in
Chennai and rs 20 crore for a 700 seat software centre at Gurgaon.” The company currently has three software development facilities in
Chennai and two in NOIDA. Overseas, Polaris is looking at setting up its marketing presence in
Ireland initially and converting it into a development hub for Europe, over the next few years. The upcoming investments for the company’s growth strategy, would be supported through internal accruals. The company, is also planning to pick up 15 to 20 per cent stake in overseas companies, especially
Germany and Japan in order to gain technical and geographical leverage. Polaris, currently, has two subsidiaries in the
Asia pacific region, in Sydney and Singapore and operates from six its branch offices in the
American market. |
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Naidu shows the way in
infrastructure HYDERABAD, Dec 5 — Mr Chandrababu Naidu has thought of a novel idea to promote private investments in major infrastructure projects in the state. He has obtained his Cabinet’s sanction to bring forward legislation that will give private investors ample freedom in developing, transferring, operating and leasing any of these projects. The idea was prompted by his recent visit to China and other far-eastern countries where he was impressed by the fast development of infrastructure by private parties. Mr Naidu is having consultations with corporate, financial leaders and other experts on the manner of developing infrastructure projects. Fresh legislation has become necessary as the single window scheme has been found to be inadequate. Since licensing has been liberalised in several sectors, the single window scheme has become somewhat redundant. Apart from that, the infrastructure projects requiring huge investments needed a different approach to be made attractive to both local and foreign investors. The proposed legislation is expected to define not only the role of the government but also enable the investor’s freedom to choose the manner they wish to operate them. Several projects are proposed to be thrown open to private investors. These include ports and harbours, airports apart from power generation, transmission and distribution, roads and bridges. With severe financial constraints the government is facing, it is also proposed to throw open to private sectors projects such as telecommunications, land reclamation, information technology, canals and dams, sewerage, drainage, inland water transport, education, metro rail road, industrial and knowledge parks, townships and public markets. In essence whatever the private sector wants to will be given over to them. |
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Banned there, used here NEW DELHI: India is allowing import and use of 33 pesticides which have been banned in some other countries, the government admitted in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday. “There are several pesticides which are banned in some other countries of the world, but are not banned for use in India. Pesticides, which are not banned in our country, can be imported subject to the provisions of the Insecticides Act, 1968,’’ Minister of State for Chemicals and Fertiliser Satya Brata Mookherjee said. The list of pesticides banned in ‘some’ other countries, but being used in India, is as follows: Alachlor, Aldicarb, Captafol, Captan, Carbaryl, Carbosulfan, Chlorobenzilate, DDT, Dicofol, Dieldrin, Diuron, Ethylene Dibromide, Endosulfan, Fenarimol, Fenproparthrin, Lindane, Linuron, Maleic Hydrazide, MEMC, Methomyl, Methyl Parathion, Monocrotophos, Oxyflourfon, Paraquat Dichloride, Phorate, Phosphamidon, Pretilachlor, Sodium Cyanide, Thiomaton, Triazophos, Tridemorph, Zinc Phosphide and Ziram.
— UNI Julia Roberts
most powerful LOS ANGELES: Julia Roberts is the most powerful actress in Hollywood and the third most powerful woman in the entertainement industry, the Hollywood Reporter has said. Paramount Pictures President Sherry Lansing remained at the top of the Reporter’s list of the most influential women in entertainment, the journal said on Monday in its ninth annual “Women in Entertainment: Power 50 special issue.” Roberts (“Erin Brockovich”) was the first actress named to the list of the 50 most influential women in the motion picture, TV, music and other entertainment industries. Roberts’ 20-million-dollar price tag makes her the highest-paid female actor in the industry. The 33-year-old actress “ability to turn a small project into a mainstream commercial vehicle and to help secure financing for major production companies gives her unprecendented clout as an actress,” the paper said.
— AFP Mehndi Hasan longs to sing ISLAMABAD: Bed-ridden ghazal mastero Mehndi Hasan’s only ambition is to sing again, after a paralytic stroke has kept him away from his beloved music for over a year now. “I will sing as soon as I recover,” the world-renowned singer said adding the only thing that worried him was his voice. Severe mental stress and fluctuating blood pressure had tiggered the stroke which he suffered last year while on a concert tour in India. It affected the left side of his brain and the right side of his body, Dr Farukh Iqbal of Sheikh Zaid Hospital in Lahore was quoted by The Nation daily as saying. “The famed singer is also suffering from asthma and has difficulty in breathing,” the doctor said. However, Hasan is showing signs of improvement and may be able to walk without support soon, he said.
— PTI |
bb
Maruti to hike prices Demat account SBI branch Titan Ind O. P. Munjal TVS-Suzuki BoB scheme Solan branch |
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