 |
Friday,
August 17, 2001, Chandigarh, India  
|
No isolation for India at WTO talks: Maran
Bill to amend Insurance Act
Cong seeks White Paper on banks
UN to seek more funds for projects in India |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
PurpleYogi system
for Infosys
‘Unofficial guide of ethical hacking’ Plea for revival of Badla EasyBuyMusic in pact with Rediff.com HFCL to launch pre-paid card
Jaipan proposes 2:1 bonus issue
|
||||||||||||||||
|
No isolation for India at WTO talks: Maran
New Delhi, August 16 Mr Maran said this while presiding over the meeting of the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry here. US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick had said last week that India faced a risk of getting isolated in the WTO negotiations if it kept on opposing the launch of a new trade negotiation round at the Doha conference. Mr Maran said the preparatory consultations were underway at the WTO headquarters at Geneva about the Doha conference where industrialised countries would try to include new issues in the WTO agenda. India has all along maintained a stand that developing countries are not able to accept fresh obligations since many of the issues of the Uruguay round of 1994 remain unimplemented. The Commerce Minister said the NDA Government would intensify efforts for building a consensus within the country and garner support of the developing countries. Referring to the ongoing mandated negotiations and reviews, Mr Maran said India had already submitted comprehensive proposals in the areas of domestic support, market access, food security and exports of agriculture products. The country has also submitted proposals relating to the key areas of services seeking removal of existing limitations on movement of professionals. The Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) and the Trade Related Investment Measures (TRIMS) are the two most important areas of review from India’s point of view, he said. Under the TRIPS, India has sought protection of traditional knowledge, extension of higher levels of protection to the geographical indications for additional products, especially in the agro sector, like Basmati, Darjeeling tea, alphonso mangoes, etc. In the TRIMS review, the main Indian demand has been to allow the developing countries to fix some minimum levels of indigenisation while permitting foreign investments.
UNI |
|
Bill to amend Insurance Act New Delhi, August 16 The Insurance (Amendment) Bill, 2001, moved by Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha and opposed by Left parties, also seeks to permit more flexible mode of payment of premium through credit cards, smart cards, Internet etc, to be specified by the regulations, to be formulated by the Insurance Regulation and Development Authority of India. The Bill also seeks to amend the provisions relating to the allocation of surplus of life insurance and consequential amendments for the smooth functioning of the sector. Left parties strongly objected to the introduction of the Bill saying that the issue of
privatisation of insurance sector had been referred to the Petitions Committee, which has yet to submit its report. He said a large number of big players were looking for good insurance products and the intermediaries would be able to provide what agents cannot. Immediately after Mr Sinha introduced the bill to amend the Insurance Act of 1938, CPI-M’s Basudev Acharya and others said such a bill should not be introduced when the issue of privatisation in the insurance sector had been referred to the petition committee which was yet to give its report. “Introducing the bill would be going beyond the legislative confidence of the house”, Mr Acharya said. He questioned the bringing in of intermediaries into the sector, saying that the recent experience of the role brokers played in the stock market should be seen as a warning. Instead, the government was bent upon introducing brokers in the insurance business. This would result in closure of the insurance companies too, he said.
UNI |
|
Cong seeks White Paper on banks New Delhi, August 16 Party spokesman Anand Sharma said the Prime Minister had attempted to gloss over the problems being faced by people and the issues of economic slowdown and investors confidence had not been addressed. Referring to the Sampoorn Gramin Sadak Yojna announced by the Prime Minister, Mr Sharma asked if the budgetary provisions had been made for the scheme from where the government would mobilise Rs 10,000 crore required for the scheme, the spokesman asked. Maintaining that the government had failed to deliver, Mr Sharma said there was negative job creation instead of more jobs, industrial production had slowed down, budgetary deficit had increased and country’s credit rating had been lowered by some rating agencies. The government did not seem to have the money for the series of welfare measures announced by the Prime Minister. The government was not in a position to borrow from the banks as these were not in a happy situation either. Seeking a white paper on the condition of public sector banks, Mr Sharma said while the UTI’s condition had come out in the open, the government should also disclose details about other mutual funds. Mr Sharma was not categoric when asked about the party’s stand on the Lokpal Bill. The party’s stand would be made known when discussion takes place on the bill. Earlier, senior Congress leader Madhav Rao Scindia had said the Congress would like the bill to be passed in this session of Parliament. |
|
Master Capital starts derivative trading Ludhiana, August 16 According to Mr H.S. Arora, Managing Director of the Company, the response to this segment of the capital market is quite satisfactory and the company is hopeful that the trading in new products will become popular soon. Mr Gursharan Bajaj, Business Manager of the company disclosed that the daily trading in futures and options from Ludhiana and Chandigarh has crossed Rs 2 crore. In fact the high difference between the buyer and seller rate was one of the cause of low business so far. He admitted that the main business in derivates is limited to NSE, where the average daily volumes in futures — value based business — are varying between Rs 80-100 crore. The business in options — premium value based business — have reached Rs 1.5 to 2 crore per day. However, the derivatives trading at the BSE is currently negligible. He said with the increase in volumes increases the arbitrage opportunities shall also emerge within the derivatives market and across the cash and derivatives market. Investor also benefits from leveraging their investment while knowing the limit of risk they are taking. Further, since all deals in the derivatives markets are cash settled, there is no hassle of delivery handling. According to the company, NSE has permitted its members to charge only 10 per cent margin against their gross exposure in futures market and brokerages have been kept at a lower level to popularise the new products. The company is hopeful that once the investors understand the intricate strategies of option market like hedging, strangle and straddle etc, the depth and liquidity will improve and this segment will ultimately drive the capital markets, as is the case in Singapore and Korea. |
|
UN to seek more funds for projects in India
New Delhi, August 16 “We would like to increase funding for
projects in India from the present level of around $ 36 million. We are
awaiting approval of the government for our Country Service Framework (CSF)
once the green signal is obtained we will approach doners,” Dr George
Assaf, UNIDO representative for India and Regional Director for South
Asia, said here. Declining to comment on the quantum of funds to be
raised he said “the increase will be substantial,” adding that
government’s approval for the CSF was expected within a week’s
time. UNIDO already has its largest project of $9 million in Jharkand
for a coal bed methane project. PTI |
|
PurpleYogi system for Infosys New York, August 16 Infosys will incorporate PurpleYogi's Discovery System into its enterprise software applications to "organise and classify unstructured marketing documentation such as reports, customer proposals, case studies and competitive research," a press statement issued by PurpleYogi said. "The deployment of the PurpleYogi Discovery System plays an important role in Infosys' unstructured information management initiatives, allowing individuals across the company to respond more quickly to ever-changing industry trends," said Nimish Mehta, President and CEO of PurpleYogi. The PurpleYogi Discovery System technology allows personnel to quickly familiarise themselves with various facets of the company by providing a contextual view of the company's important corporate information, the statement said. Infosys will also use the PurpleYogi Discovery System to add depth and dimension to new employee training and orientation, it said adding that the functional areas of sales and marketing would also benefit from the integration of the technology. According to Merrill Lynch, the unstructured data management market segment is estimated to grow 31 per cent from 1999 to 2004. Merrill Lynch estimates the unstructured data management market to be more than $4 billion by 2004. "Harnessing the intellectual capital within a company has become essential for competitive advantage and even survival," said Kris Gopalakrishnan, Deputy Managing Director and head (customer service and technology) of PurpleYogi Inc. "The only effective implementation of a knowledge management strategy is one that captures the intellectual capital throughout the entire
organisation. The PurpleYogi Discovery System will be an important tool for our own consultants in enhancing client relationships." Founded in 1999, California-headquartered PurpleYogi is a privately held company that has received funds from Softbank Venture Capital, Intel Capital, At India and Skyblaze Ventures LLC.
IANS |
|
Software, services exports dip in Q1 New Delhi, August 16 The export growth rate of 52 per cent is, however, lower than 65 per cent growth witnessed in the first quarter of 2000. “Despite the IT slowdown, the contribution of software and service export revenues for the first quarter has increased from 20 per cent in 2000-01 to 21.5 per cent in 2001-02,” (Nasscom) Chairman Phiroz Vandrevala, told reporters here. The association has projected export revenues of Rs 40,000 crore for 2001-02. Stating that the latest results indicated that the situation was not as gloomy as painted, he said, “Although the growth in percentage has dipped a bit but the industry still continues to grow at a steady pace.” “Irrespective of the slowdown, leading Indian software and service companies have continued to grow at over 50 per cent, which is very positive by any industry standard,” Vandrevala said. Nasscom also announced a new organisation structure with two key appointments — Som Mittal, Managing Director of IT company Digital as a Vice-Chairman, and Sangeeta Gupta as a Vice-President of the Association.
PTI |
|
‘Unofficial guide of ethical hacking’ New Delhi, August 16 Meet the whiz-kid, Ankit Fadia, who authored the interestingly titled book “Unofficial guide to ethical hacking” in 15 days flat during his summer vacation. “I want to create a new wave of ethical hackers which would revolutionise the global cyber security scene,” says a determined Fadia adding it was “frustration” of finding no comprehensive book on the topic that spurred him to write one. Contrary to the popular perception that hackers are the villians of the virtual world, Fadia explains that there is a category of “do-gooders” among them too. Fadia terms the “criminal hackers” as “crackers”. “The rest are all hackers.” “Hackers”, this Class XI student insists, “stick to their sacred ethics which is to never delete any files or cause damage to the system which they have broken into. Elaborating a typical hacker’s plan of action, Fadia says the first step is identifying the target host. This is followed by scanning the target system for vulnerable points or services. Then comes the exploitation of those points and getting into the system. Next is doing what you want to do in the system which is succeeded by removing the traces you left behind. Finally, he says, comes the ‘compulsory’ step which is to e-mail the administrators of the system that their site has been broken into and telling them what counter-measures they should take to strengthen the security wall of their systems. It is this sanctimonious step which earned Fadia oodles of goodwill and in turn prompted him to coin the phrase ‘ethical hacking’ and further propogate it. “I sharpened my skills by hacking into the websites of Internet Service Providers and Indian computer magazines. But I would then tell them about it and they would thank me,” he says. “One of the magazine editors even offered me a job but backed out when he discovered my age,” he laughs. “Though he completed the book two years back it is the legal concerns regarding the topic which delayed the clearence for publishing the book,” says Joseph Mathai of MacMillan India Limited, the publishers of Fadia’s book. The 624-page book which fetched its publishers orders for nearly 4000 copies and for its Portugese translation, gives an account of various internet tools employed by computer hackers apart from a section teaching readers how to write and deal with viruses. “To guard against crackers, it is a must to know how they work. Everyone who is even remotely connected to computers should learn about hacking to survive in this wired age,” says Delhi-based Fadia who also writes e-tutorials on hacking. Fadia started his website http://hackingtruths.box.sk for a small circle of his like-minded friends to whom he sent out periodic manuals. Today the site, he claims, is ranked world’s second best after antionline.com “which is owned by a person who works for FBI with whom I exchange tricks and tips.” However, Fadia rues the lack of legitimacy for the kind of hacking he preaches. “In USA, they have yearly ‘hackers conventions’ where headhunters of fortune 500 companies visit and recruit the best talents among the hackers,” Fadia says adding “even in India hackers are employed but it is all undercover.” Nasscom Chairman Phiroz Vandrevala, who released Fadia’s book recently, says “the unique book has once again brought the issue of company security to the forefront.” Praising Fadia, Vendrevala said “it is a proud moment for the information technology industry as this book only strengthens the global impression that Indians are a force to watch out for in the field of computers.”
PTI |
|
Plea for revival of Badla New Delhi, August 16 Raising the issue during zero hour, Nitish Sengupta (Trinamool Congress) said the ban on Badla trading had led to brokers becoming paupers and regretted that they had been also maligned. “The ban on Badla trading had also led to closure of secondary markets. It should be revived and continue for sometime,”.
PTI |
|
EasyBuyMusic in pact with Rediff.com Mumbai, August 16 EasyBuyMusic through this alliance will sell its vast range of Indian and Western music cassettes and CDs at the Rediff.com marketplace. The alliance enables EasyBuyMusic to handle the entire front-end as well as back-end logistics for Rediff.com’s music section.
UNI |
|
HFCL to launch pre-paid card Chandigarh, August 16 Connect phone card will allow the user to make calls from any Connect phone using his pre-paid card. The service will be available in Punjab and Chandigarh. To use the calling card, the customer will have to dial 170170 (toll free) after which he will be required to enter a 10 digit unique and secret PIN number, followed by the destination number. |
bb
Sales tax limit CII seminar Reckers seminar Cash on Spot |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 121 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
