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| Saturday, December 9, 2000, Chandigarh, India   
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Shadow of crime stunts industry Haryana sugar mills
to generate power
Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, wearing a Victoria's secret jewelled Fantasy Bra encrusted with Thai rubies, semiprecious stones and diamonds, reacts after a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a Victoria's Secret lingerie store on Thursday in New York.
— AP photo |
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Bankruptcy not to hit
Daewoo Electronics ONGC to explore
oil in HP Cooperative
policy on the anvil 230 million
use Net
Artificial rain in Islamabad,
Rawalpindi
Mutual funds turn buyers; FIIs indifferent
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Shadow of crime stunts industry BHIWADI (Rajasthan), Dec 8 — Industrialists here continue to be wary of anti-social elements,
notwithstanding the efforts of the administration to instil confidence in them. With a large number of units going sick and, a good many on them on the threshold of breaking, the uneasiness in industrial circles with regard to the safety of their lives and property has come about as one of the reason in stifling the growth of trade and commerce. The immediate cause which has effected loss of confidence in the administration and the police is their failure to make any headway in the alleged kidnapping of a young entrepreneur, Mr Vikas Jain, and a supervisor of his firm, Mr Jagdev Singh, both of them were kidnapped on September 28, 1998. What has led to protests in the industrial circles is the fact that the police of Rajasthan continue to whistle in the dark in the case. This, in spite of the fact that a police task force was formed, and the case was investigated by the crime branch. For fear of becoming a possible target to the lumpen elements, industrialists on condition of anonymity told TNS that Mr Vikas was called by some unidentified persons to meet them at a spot in this industrial township in connection with business. Mr Vikas, who responded to the call, did not return. Once a ransom money was also arranged to be handed over to the kidnappers, but the miscreants avoided taking the money. Also, businessman, who also publishes a news journal, was attacked while he was returning home. The Bhiwadi Manufacturers Association, the only organised body of the industrialists here, has made several representations to the concerned authorities, including the highest political and
administrative echelons in the state, but in vain. Besides, a spurt in violence on the industrialists, a few months ago, still rankle in the minds of the captains of industry and
continue to generate fear psychosis in them. Many of them are still not solved. There had been cases when industrialists drawing money from banks, were attacked. Significantly, a criminal of Uttar Pradesh, Satbir Gujjar, had formed a notorious gang with the help of locals. He stayed here and mixed with the industrialists without them having any knowledge of his activities. The local police had no clues of the spate of crimes. The gang used to operate in Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. It was only when the Delhi police got on his pursuit, he was shot dead along with his associate, in an encounter with it and the neighbouring Gurgaon police in Haryana. The encounter took place in Gurgaon while the Delhi and Gurgaon police were giving him the chase in a joint operation. Some of the industrialists interviewed opined that a strong reason for mushroom in criminal activities was the protection given to the lumpen elements by some prominent political leaders of Rajasthan. Also, a large number of industrial plots are virtually lying abandoned. The reason being that the firms have gone sick. Majority of the plot owners are from Delhi and other states. The sprawling plots having constructions on them provide a safe hiding place for the riff-raffs. As the owners hardly turn up the lights are hardly switched on, coming as a boon to the criminals. With police allegedly showing “phenomenal lapses” the stage remains set for them to take on the industrialists. Another reason was the geographical setting of Bhiwadi. Some of the areas of Bhiwadi mingle with areas of Dharuhera of Rewari district in Haryana. In a number of cases the conspiracies start in the areas of Dharuhera and executed in Bhiwadi or vice versa. The police station of Bhiwadi (under Rajasthan government) and the one in Dharuhera (under Haryana government) pass the buck on each other confounding the confusion and making the hapless entrepreneurs more helpless.
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Haryana sugar mills
to generate power CHANDIGARH, Dec 8 — The Haryana government has decided to set up a Rs 30 crore project in the Shahabad Cooperative Sugar Mill producing about 7.1 MW of exportable power during the sugar producing season. The sugar mill will get from the Union Government Rs 70 lakh per MW as grant and a soft loan of Rs 1.3 crore. A spokesman of Sugarfed stated here today that the cogeneration plant is likely to function for at least 174 days during the season and more than 101 days off season with the saved bagasse and purchased rice husk. The Shahabad mill is likely to contribute Rs 50 lakh as equity whereas the
Haryana Government will provide about Rs 2 crore for this. He said a power purchase agreement (PPA) would be signed shortly by Sugarfed with Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam. Work for setting up a cooperative sugar mill at Gohana also included a cogeneration unit which would produce 5 to 7 MW of power on completion. The Gohana mill will be completed by December 1,2001. The spokesman said Walchandnagar had been assigned the task of providing the machinery and erection work for the proposed sugar mill. The Federation is also considering setting up similar cogeneration units in the other cooperative sector sugar mills in the State to produce about 30-35 MW of power. |
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Hyundai to hike car prices from January NEW DELHI, Dec 8 (PTI) — Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) today said it will hike prices of its cars between 2-4 per cent from January 2001. The exact quantum of the hike is currently being worked out. The hike would be spread over all the variants of both the cars. Terming the hike as inevitable, HMIL Managing Director y s Kim said weakening of the rupee and increase in input costs have put pressure on the cost of production. Hyundai India decision follows close on that of Maruti Udyog and Ford India to effect an increase in their car prices from January one. While Maruti said it will raise car prices by 3-5 per cent, Ford India said prices would be hiked by 1-2 per cent. |
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Bankruptcy not to hit
Daewoo Electronics CHANDIGARH, Dec 8 — After capturing a 12 per cent market share in the frost-free refrigerator segment in the country, Daewoo Anchor Electronics Ltd (DAEL) has decided to launch flat TV and air-conditioners, besides testing the market for multimedia products. This was announced today by Mr S.H. Suh, Managing Director of DAEL, who was here to address a dealers’ meeting. Mr Suh said Daewoo plans to add 11 new products to their existing portfolio of 45 different models of refrigerator, washing machine, TV and microwave oven. Commenting on the fallout of the Daewoo Motor bankruptcy, Mr Suh said that for the one and a half years Daewoo Electronics has completely done away with all managerial and financial inter-dependent relationship with the Daewoo group
companies and is totally unaffected by the crisis at Daewoo Motor Co Ltd. DAEL has also decided to increase the capacity of its Ranjangaon refrigerator manufacturing plant to 250,000 units a year from the current 100,000 units. The DAEL plant near Pune is Daewoo’s fourth largest export base. The company expects to make exports worth about Rs 22 crore to South Asian, SAARC and African countries next year. Daewoo Electronics holds 87 per cent stake in the company with Anchor Electronics holding the balance 13 per cent. The company has invested Rs 200 crore in India. The total investment is expected to touch Rs 240 crore by the end of 2001. |
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ONGC to
explore oil in HP DEHRA DUN, Dec 8 (PTI) — The Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) will begin oil exploration work in Sundernagar in Himachal Pradesh tomorrow. This follows emergence of favourable evidences like salt mining in nearby areas, a top company official has said. “We are beginning the spade work in Sundernagar of Mandi district tomorrow in hope of striking oil in the area,” ONGC Director (Personnel) Jauhari Lal told
PTI here. Besides non-seismic evidences like salt mining in Mandi district, other evidences like saline water in shallow wells also point towards presence of hydrocarbons, he said. He, however, said there were no immediate plans to begin oil exploration in Jammu and Kashmir region due to “prevailing atmosphere” in the state. Seismic surveys have indicated presence of hydrocarbons in the Pounch-Rajouri sectors, he said. Earlier, ONGC had taken up exploration in the Jawalamukhi area in Himachal Pradesh but abandoned the project after no oil was found. However, geoscientists in ONGC still believe of presence of hydrocarbon and striking oil in future in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. |
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Cooperative
policy on the anvil NEW DELHI, Dec 8 — The government is working on a National Policy on Cooperatives that will aim at making the cooperatives modern, efficient and competitive, the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr Nitish Kumar said here today. Addressing the General Council meeting of National Cooperative Development Corporation (NCDC), Mr Kumar said a Committee of State Cooperative Ministers and other experts were working on the policy and it would submit its recommendations soon for finalising the policy document. The Minister said another comprehensive Bill on “Amendment to NCDC Act” which would inter-alia make NCDC an equity based organisation and broad base its activities was also in the offing. These amendments would facilitate NCDC in overcoming financial constraints and help it to play a more meaningful role in promoting rural cooperative sector and service sector. The Minister said the recent initiatives taken by NCDC like reducing the rate of interest by 0.5 per cent and introduction of a Special Working Capital scheme at lower rates of interest would sustain the interest of State Governments in the Corporation’s programmes of financing rural cooperatives. Under the main agenda of the meeting relating to the approval of the annual report of the corporation for the year 1999-2000, it was informed that NCDC has disbursed total funds of Rs 462.52 crore in 1999-2000. The total assistance by the NCDC to support rural development through cooperatives so far is Rs 5214.34 crore. The Corporation has sanctioned projects aggregating Rs 586.95 crore in the year under review as against Rs 490.59 crore in the previous year. The Managing Director of NCDC, Mr P.K.Mishra said the NCDC earned a pre-tax profit of Rs 63 crore despite financial constraints.
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230 million
use Net WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (AFP) — About 5 pc of the world’s population over the age of 14 — some 230 mn people — are “active” Internet users according to a study. The report by the research group eMarketer released yesterday estimated the number of active user will nearly triple to 640 mn by 2004 comprising 14 pc of the global population aged 14 or above. “Active” Internet users are people who spend at least one hour per week online according to eMarketer. “During the past year the Web’s infrastructure. Internet access technologies and online content have increased substantially as the Internet continues to evolve” said Nevin Cohen a company analyst in a statement. The report showed wide disparities in global e-commerce revenue projections by 2004, which ranged from $963 bn to $3.48 trillion.
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Artificial rain in Islamabad, Rawalpindi ISLAMABAD: Islamabad and neighbouring Rawalpindi were showered with artificial rain on Thursday night, bringing respite from a prolonged dry spell. “The meteorological office has carried out successful testing of its equipment to conduct artificial
rain fall,” a meteorological department official said, adding the regular experimentation of artificial rain would be conducted from January. The rain, lasting a few minutes, was the result of cloud seeding by the meteorological department. Officials said dry ice was sprayed on clouds by an aircraft, which catalysed crystal formation in the clouds resulting in rain. “The raindrops did not contain any harmful substance and it was just like normal raindrops,” the official added. Health experts have said that the light rainfall in the twin cities would Due to the dry weather condition, cases of chest congestion, running nose, fever, sore throat and other viral diseases had registered a steep rise in the two cities.
— IANS TV makes
them dream NEW DELHI: “I feel like wearing pants,” says a plump woman in rural Bangladesh, in a new documentary film. With her sari covering her head, a naked child in her arms and smiling coyly, she is unlikely to ever walk in trousers. But that’s satellite television in South Asia, it’s about making people dream. And it’s the theme of the film — called “Michael Jackson comes to Manikganj” — and a new book on the South Asian experience of satellite television. Both the film and the book were released at the British Council on Thursday. “Satellites over South Asia,” written by former BBC journalists David Page and William Crawley, is the result of the efforts of over 400 media experts, politicians and common people during two and a half years of intensive research. The film gets its name from a wizened Muslim in the remote village of Manikganj in Bangladesh, preparing to celebrate a marriage. “So do you play songs during the ceremony,” asks TV journalist Nupur Basu of the man. “Yes,” he grins, pointing to a huge loudspeaker, “we play the songs o of Michael Jackson.” Basu was stunned, and out of her incredulity was born the film. From the soap operas of Pakistan television and the phenomenal lure of “Kaun Banega Crorepati” satellite television has penetrated every nook and cranny of the South Asian milieu. “From the Muslim priests of Peshawar who think Islam is threatened by Zee TV and advocate burning television sets, to people of India’s largest slum Dharavi, who are disappointed that cream advertisements on television don’t instantly make you beautiful, the researchers received varied respons- es to the idiot box. “I would not dare kiss a girl on the road, just because they do so on TV,” the book quotes a Nepalese boy, “but there have been changes in the way I dress and in the way I look at things.”
— IANS Once junior,
now senior RAIPUR: Senior IAS officials in the new state of Chhatisgarh find it hard to report to Chief Minister Ajit Jogi, who was once their junior in the service. Jogi served as an IAS officer in undivided Madhya Pradesh and belonged to the 1970 batch. He resigned from the IAS to join politics in the late 1980s. “It is difficult to stand in rapt attention and address the same person as `Sir’ who was once your junior and the situation was the other way round,” an IAS official of the Chhatisgarh cadre who was senior to Jogi said on condition of anonymity. As many as seven officials, including Chief Secretary Arun Kumar, were senior to Jogi and are holding some of the most important posts in the state. Sources say it is for this very reason that Chief Secretary Kumar has reportedly applied for a posting on deputation with the central government while two other officials who are already on deputation in New Delhi are not willing to return to Chhatisgarh. “This is the irony of democracy that a farmer who used to fear meeting you becomes a minister one fine morning and your subordinate or colleague becomes the Chief Minister,” quipped a senior IAS official of Madhya Pradesh.
— IANS |
Mutual funds turn buyers; FIIs indifferent IN a seven-day string of bullish fervour, besides select key scrips, side stocks were placed in the forefront on BSE, bolstered largely by sizeable buying by mutual funds led reportedly by LIC. In spite of the last day of the current settlement, dealers said speculators made commitments in several Indian stocks that provided better investment opportunity due to prevailing low price levels, while ignoring high-priced it counters which carry heavy margins on the head. FII's, which had slowed down activity for quite some time now, have disappointed their Indian counterparts by almost being sidelined, showing little interest in fresh investments. This is largely attributed to Nasdaq’s failure to change its southward track in the past several days for one or other reason. The Board of Directors of
Godrej Soaps on Friday approved the scheme of demerger of its consumer products
business as a going concern to a new company, Godrej Consumer Products Ltd (GCPL). With the demerger, on and from April 1, 2001, which is proposed appointed date, the consumer products business will be transferred to and vested in GCPL. The
current capital of GSL is Rs 59.82 crore divided into 5,98,28,780 equity shares of Rs 10 each. On the scheme becoming effective, the capital of GSL will be reorganised to Rs 35.89 crore divided into 5,98,28,780 shares of Rs 6 each. Additionally, the eligible shareholders of GSL on a record date, to be finalised later, will be issued and allotted 5,98,28,780 shares of Rs 4 each in GCPL aggregating Rs 23.93 crore. RBI on Friday notified that NRIs, overseas corporate bodies and persons of Indian origin should not make any further purchase of
Astra IDL Ltd shares without its permission. The net purchases of equity shares of the company in the secondary markets had reached the 8 per cent limit of its equity. Castrol
maintained its rising tempo for the second straight session and share prices shot up to Rs 295 at mid-way but profit-taking trimmed part of earlier gains and ended Rs 4.10 higher at Rs 279. NIIT
on Friday entered into a global strategic alliance with ComputerLogic Inc. The alliance provides NIIT new business opportunities for its it services and solutions offerings in the automotive
parts, materials and insurance space. ComputerLogic provides solutions that enable its clients in the automotive aftermarket to reduce their overall cost of doing business by deploying a customised platform and specialised tool sets. Thomas Cook Holdings of the UK which owns 40 per cent of
Thomas Cook (India) has announced a change in its shareholding. Germany’s leisure group Condor and Neckermann Touristic
(C and N touristic) has announced that it intends to acquire Thomas Cook Holdings, the third largest travel company in the
UK, for UK £ 550 million (Rs 3630 crore). The acquisition is subject to the approval of the European Commission and the supervisory boards of C and N’s two owners ie.Karstadtquelle
AG (50%) and Deutsche Lufthansa AG (50%). Following this acquisition, c & n will become the second largest travel group in Europe and the third largest travel group in the world. Hindalco is to pick up 10 per cent stake in Bihar Caustic & Chemicals Ltd from
Grasim Industries at Rs 13 per share, aggregating Rs 1.01 crore, Hindalco said in a notice to BSE. Hindalco and Grasim each hold 10 per cent of the equity of
BCCL. Post-acquisition, Hindalco will hold 20 per cent of the equity. ICICI
has sanctioned a financial restructuring scheme to Flex Foods for conversion of part of the Rs 1.3 crore term loan into equity shares of the latter at Rs 10 per share. In a notice to BSE, Flex Foods had proposed to allot 13 lakh equity shares consequent upon the conversion of the loan on a preferential basis on December 14. The government plans to offload 15 per cent of
VSNL equity to a strategic partner along with the transfer of management after the Parliament session. Thereafter the government will disinvest a minimum of 5 per cent of the company’s equity through a fixed public offering in the domestic market for small investor and will be priced at a discount to the prevailing market price of the
VSNL stock. UTI Bank will increase its capital shortly to meet the capital adequacy ratio, (CAR), besides strengthening its varied high-tech operations through diversified instruments. The modalities will be decided in a month. — agencies |
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IFFCO Indica car Kelvinator PNB cuts rates Abdul Kalam |
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