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Wednesday,
August 21, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Allottees’ plea for petrol supply rejected
Punjab citrus fruits for Pepsi
Food mafia threat to grain lifting
IBM, StanChart face lawsuit
IT majors tie up to train students |
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Allottees’ plea for petrol supply rejected
New Delhi, August 20 While directing the Centre and oil companies not to dispossess the allottees of their assets till September 6, when the government is asked to file reply to petitions by various allottees, Justice Manmohan Sarin said “no interim direction for resuming the supplies can be issued at this stage.” The allottees pleaded that the oil companies should be directed to continue the supply to them at least till next hearing so that the consumers would not suffer. Putting the allottees in three categories — (i) those only been issued letters of intent not made actual allotment, (ii) whose outlets are terminated and (iii) whose premises are sealed — the court said in the case of first category no third party interest should be created by the government till next date of hearing. The court said the oil companies would not terminate the allotments any further in those cases where they had not done it so far and would not dispossess the sealed ones from their assets in the interim period. Over 40 allottees, mostly from Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Delhi, moved the court today challenging the government order cancelling petrol pump, LPG and kerosene dealerships since 2000 following the allegations of large scale allotments to the BJP and Sangh Pariwar activists. 2,131 allotments cancelled
Oil companies have taken over 467 petrol pumps and gas agencies while terminating 2,131 out of the 3,565 allotments cancelled by the Prime Minister following allegations of favouritism in their award. The Oil companies have till date sealed 263 petrol pumps, 197 gas agencies and 7 kerosene dealerships. While various courts across the country have given interim orders in case of 729 allotments, state-run oil companies have cancelled 941 petrol pumps, 1,043 domestic cooking gas (LPG) agencies and 147 kerosene dealerships as on August 19, 2002, highly placed sources told PTI here. Of the 2,131 allotments cancelled, 288 petrol pumps, 541 gas agencies and 44 kerosene dealerships were commissioned while in the case of remaining only letter of intents (LoI) were issued, sources said. “Cancellation of dealerships where only LoI has been issued won’t be a problem but in case of commissioned outlets compensation may have to be paid in cases where retail outlet/ gas agencies sites are owned by the dealers,” they said. Of the 3,565 dealerships which have to be cancelled, 979 petrol pumps, 1,162 LPG agencies and 105 kerosene dealerships have already been commissioned while
LoIs have been issued in case of 681 petrol pumps, 532 gas agencies and 106 kerosene dealerships.
PTI
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Punjab citrus fruits for Pepsi Chandigarh, August 20 The company signed an agreement with the Punjab Agri Export Corporation ( Pagrexco) here today. The agreement was signed by Mr P.K.Verma, Financial Commissioner, Development, Punjab and Mr Abhiram Seth, Executive Director, Pepsi Foods at the CM’s residence. Under the pact Mr Himmat Singh, Managing Director, PAIC said, ‘‘Pagrexco will coordinate the project on behalf of the state government and import planting material by September. Tropicana’s cultivars will be planted including fully grown trees at eighth locations in Punjab on trial basis, which is imported from Florida, Brazil and California.’’ The land for these nurseries, would be provided by PAU and the Horticulture Department in Amritsar, Patiala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and other places. PAU and the Horticulture Department would look after the plants in coordination with Pepsi. Mr Seth claimed that in case the results remained positive, the company would sign long-term contracts with farmers to procure citrus fruits, including oranges and grapes. It also plans to promote mandarian production to replace kinnows for table production. The Horticulture Department and PAU would provide land, besides taking up the responsibility of plantation, and additional supports. PAU scientists would provide research and monitoring inputs for the projects. The state government has reportedly agreed to invest substantial funds in the project from the crop diversification fund. However, the question of any share in future benefits from the project to the Punjab government remains unanswered and the officials were unable to disclose the total investments in the project. In fact, some officials privately admit that the project is unlikely to succeed unless the Punjab Government takes steps to legalise the contract farming through amendments in the Land Ceiling Act. This project can be a move to legalise the contract farming in the state, as desired by private agro-processing firms. In fact, a strong lobby is trying to convince the state government to initiate the process to boost agro-units. Mr Seth said the company would be able to save substantial amount from the project as it was currently importing concentrated juices from the USA and Brazil for the Tropicana brand.
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Food mafia threat to grain lifting Chandigarh, August 20 One such crisis is of huge food grain stock rotting in godowns. Expeditiously clearing this is as much an issue as is de-clogging the public distribution system and finding new markets for Punjab grains. As per the state Department of Food and Supply, wheat alone procured since 1998-99 worth Rs 12, 679.71 crore is waiting to be cleared. Movement of grains outside the state is abysmally low. The wheat stock has been eating into the finances of the state which has paid Rs 1,578.85 crore as interest alone to the SBI, since 1998-99. The changing character of the food grain sector requires radical changes in the food grain trade policies. Whatever one may say about India’s 40 million tonnes food grain buffer stock, a World Bank report on India’s food grain marketing policies and reforms to meet food security clearly says the rice and wheat demand alone is expected to rise to as much as 200 million to 230 million tonnes by 2020. This calls for efficient food grain market operations. In this backdrop, the immediate issue calling attention is of paddy procurement and milling. This operation is carried out by the FCI and on its behalf by several state agencies. Even as current kharif crop (paddy loss) is being assessed, following delayed monsoon, elsewhere there is deep concern over “food mafia” that obstructs procurement operations or hijacks the normal trade practices in the kharif season. The real threat that “food mafia” poses is as much from truck unions, particularly in the Malwa region, as also staff of the procurement agencies take away large chunks of food grains. Though the Punjab government has declared truck unions as illegal, strong vested political/bureaucratic interests provide them safety-nets which impedes free and fair market play and also extract a heavy price from the procurement agencies. There are at least eight districts in Malwa where ‘’rogue centres’’ have been identified. Such location-specific problems also result in procurement of “poor” quality paddy and resultant “poor” quality rice. Punjab can easily meet the rice requirements of neighbouring states but truck unions pool create physical obstructions and disallow others to operate. That is why Punjab is unable to meet either rice, wheat requirements of flour mills of even Himachal Pradesh, J and K, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi.
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IBM, StanChart face lawsuit London, August 20 Edward Fagan, the American lawyer representing thousands of victims of the racist regime, is expected to visit London this week to make public a list of British defendant companies, that also includes Barclays Bank, BP and computer firm ICL. Some are alleged to have lent money to the South African Government in the 70s and 80s. Others are accused of exploiting black workers or otherwise benefiting from racism. All companies vigorously deny wrongdoing and plan to fight the action. Fagan, who has helped Holocaust victims to wring $1.25 billion in “Nazi gold” compensation from Swiss banks, plans to sue a host of American and European firms, including Chase Manhattan and UBS banks, computer firm IBM and Royal Dutch Shell, the oil giant. He has estimated they are collectively liable for between $50 billion and $100 billion. The legal action seeks to establish a fund to compensate 20,000 South African citizens. Fagan has declined to comment but is understood to be planning to lodge complaints against the multinationals at a district court in New York this week. If a judge allows the case to proceed, it is expected to last several years unless an out-of-court settlement is reached. The action is to be filed under America's Alien Tort statute, which allows victims to sue in US courts for alleged human rights violations perpetrated in other countries. One of the lead plaintiffs in Fagan's legal campaign is Lulu Petersen, the sister of 13-year-old Hector Petersen, whose death at the hands of police sparked the 1976 Soweto uprising. The revolt spread across South Africa, killing hundreds more people. Michael Hausfield, another US lawyer who represented Holocaust victims, is also preparing a class action against corporations accused of propping up white rule. The issue has embarrassed South Africa's present government, which is keen to attract foreign investment, and the country's ruling African National Congress has distanced itself from the lawsuits. But the actions are supported by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who chaired South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Committee. A Barclays spokeswoman said: “We left South Africa in the mid-80s but while there we worked hard to integrate its communities.” Another British company being sued said: “We did business in South Africa but not in a way that broke laws or violated sanctions. To suggest we supported apartheid is ridiculous. We were all vocal critics of apartheid.” By arrangement with The Guardian
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IT majors tie up to train students
Bangalore, August 20 Cisco Systems has tied up with H-P, Sun Microsystems and Panduit Corporation to broad base its academy programme with the Indian Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) to supplement the existing university curriculum across 15 states in India and through the South Asian region. The courses will be offered in two lots —one to the teaching faculty and another to third and fourth year students of engineering colleges. And they will be offered at a price that is one-tenth the money spent for one engineering course semester because the companies will sponsor them. "This will never replace the existing curricula in universities but supplement it as the world gets deeper into the Internet era," S. Sadagopan, Director, IIIT-B, told reporters here on Tuesday. IIIT-B, the nodal agency for the SAARC region, will train the faculty of 10 engineering colleges in India, Nepal and Bhutan in the first batch. The trainees will then train faculty of 10 other institutions. The curriculum provides scope for students to look at the entire gamut of options available in the IT sector. Over a period of time "we would like to reach out to the polytechnics and maybe the high school level because networking technologies have remained some kind of a mystery," said Kapil Jain, Country Manager, H-P Services India. "Employers are hungry for IT-skilled workers and Cisco is expanding its networking academy programme to arm students with the critical IT skills necessary to remain competitive in the workplace," B. Ashok, Vice-President, Cisco Systems India, said. "The more qualified professionals become, it means more business for the industry. It is difficult to put a number to the requirement of the industry for networking professionals, but as the Internet encompasses everyone's lives, it is imperative for the industry to look at the future demand," said K.P. Unnikrishnan, country head of marketing, Sun Microsystems, India.
IANS
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Bajaj showroom LT Overseas Motorola handsets Intel CEO PNB branch J & K Bank HCL Infosys Scansoft software Wockhardt Centurion Bank |
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