 |
Thursday,
December 12, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
|
Remove trade barriers, says WB
Can GM agro seeds cause sterility in males? A-I, IA disinvestment not now: Minister
FICCI cosies up; govt relents |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Selloff process of MTNL, BSNL begins
Privatising Ganga water?
New labour laws within 6 months
ICICI Infotech on expansion spree
|
|
Remove trade barriers, says WB Washington, December 11 A new bank report ‘’Global Economic Prospects and the Developing Countries 2003: Investing to Unlock Global Opportunities,’’ said uncertainties in the global financial markets have sapped the momentum of the modest recovery that began in late 2001. The report outlines steps that the rich countries and the developing countries can take in the current uncertain environment to increase the growth rates and speed poverty reduction in the developing countries. After an exceptionally slow growth in 2001 and 2002, the report said, global GDP is now expected to rise by 2.5 per cent in 2003, higher than the previous two years but still well below the 3.9 per cent expansion recorded in 2000 and significantly below the long- term potential growth rates. It warns that the ‘’global rebound might quickly lose the momentum and there is a significant risk that the world can slip back into recession.’’ “The recovery has been much more hesitant and uneven than we had expected,’’ said Nicholas Stern, World Bank chief economist and senior Vice-President for Development Economics. According to the latest forecast, high-income countries are expected to grow at about 2.1 per cent in 2003. On an average the developing countries will grow considerably faster, at 3.9 per cent. But the average makes regional differences, with East Asia leading the pack at 6.1 per cent, followed by South Asia at 5.4 per cent. Other regions are expected to grow less than 4 per cent, with Latin America managing a mere 1.8 per cent. Outside Asia and Eastern Europe, the growth rates in most developing countries are too low to generate a marked reduction in poverty. According to the report, factors suppressing global growth in the near term include waning consumer confidence, high-debt levels in the face of a weak equity market, and the fallout from corporate financial scandals in the USA, continuing investor worries over imbalances in the Japanese banking system and over-investment in telecommunications and other high technology in Europe, as well as concerns about debt problems in Latin America. The sagging global economy has reduced private capital flows to the developing countries, the report said. The net commercial bank lending has turned negative and FDI flows to the developing countries have fallen since their peak in 1999. Private foreign investment in infrastructure is down 25 percent from 1997 in the developing countries. Investors are becoming averse to long-term projects; accounting scandals in industrial countries have driven from the market major players such as Enron and WorldCom and slower growth in East Asia, Russia and Brazil has reduced investment demand. Not only is there less investment, but investors are more discriminating. Investment in the developing countries is being redirected to countries with better investment climates, the report said. But even in a sluggish global economy, the developing countries can do much on their own to promote growth and poverty reduction, the bank said. But lowering trade barriers can help compete away monopoly profits. According to the report, increasing imports in the concentrated industries from zero to 25 per cent of domestic sales reduces oligopoly profit mark-ups by 8 per cent through lower prices to consumers. Firms in Korea, Malaysia and Thailand are more productive than firms in India and China, in part because of lower trade restrictions and administrative barriers to entry, it said.
UNI |
|
Can GM agro seeds cause sterility in males? Chandigarh, December 11 *
Introduction of GM material into the human food chain in India could be dangerous. Apart from entering the food chain through direct consumption, the material could also enter through honey made by bees collecting GM pollen from the fields. *
GM mustard will contaminate other non-GM related crops in the surrounding
fields. This will destroy traditional varieties of mustard in India. *
GM mustard will contaminate even other non-mustard crops/species growing in the
neighbourhood. * GM mustard seeds will be priced very high and farmers will have to pay astronomical amounts. These are some of the myths the developers of Genetically Modified (GM) mustard are having to fight to secure its introduction in India. A result of eight years of research by a Gurgaon-based agro outfit, GM mustard, which may prove to be a boon for the stagnating mustard cultivation in the country, has undergone comprehensive testing and field trials to verify its performance across several parameters laid down by the government and is presently under consideration by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee, an expert committee set up by the Government of India to take a decision on the release of GM seeds. Myths surrounding the GM mustard are many but its developers are neither worried nor dismayed. “We are confident of overcoming all difficulties”, said Dr Paresh Verma, Director, Research, Proagro Seed Company, in an interview with TNS here today. “There has been resistance whenever a new scientific or technological development. There are people who are opposed to technological progress on ideological grounds only. In this connection, Dr Verma pointed out that opposition to the introduction of BT cotton has already disappeared. As a matter of fact, farmers from states like Punjab have been bringing BT cotton seeds from Gujarat for cultivation because of the obvious benefits. Dr Verma said that the GM mustard had been extensively tested for is food, feed and environmental safety and has been found to give a consistent increase of around 25 per cent in oil and 20 per cent in seed yield. Talking about the myths, Dr Verma said the hybridisation employed in GM mustard is built around a process of male sterility and restoration in mustard plants. There is absolutely no such impact due to consumption of GM mustard oil in humans and animals. In fact, hybrids, which have boosted productivity and meet the foodgrain requirement, are based on male sterility system and have been used for decades. The mechanisms controlling male fertility in plants and animals are very different. As regards another myth about possible contamination of non-GM crops, studies have shown that the pollen transfer is not significant beyond 10 meters. Extensive studies have shown that there will be no adverse impact of this pollen transfer on adjacent non-GM mustard crops with respect to health, environment and economic values. Since the transgenes do not alter the ability of a mustard plant to compete in its environment, the presence of these genes will not destroy the traditional mustard varieties. He also emphasised that contrary to the population belief, it will not be the first case of a GM crop entering the food chain India,. GM cotton is already being grown in India and we all know that cotton oil is extensively used to manufacture hydrogenated vegetable oil (e.g. Dalda) in India. Cotton seed oil is also used in cooking in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. Secondly, vegetable oil potentially derived from GM soyabean and canola and food potentially derived from GM corn has already entered the human food chain in India. |
|
A-I, IA disinvestment not now: Minister New Delhi, December 11 Mr Hussain, expressing confidence that the issue will be sorted out in the current financial year, said the purchase of 17 aircraft for Air-India and 43 for Indian Airlines was going to the highest level since it involved huge sums of money. The minister, talking to reporters after addressing an international conference on aviation and tourism, said the Disinvestment Ministry had not advanced any fresh proposal for the sell-off of the two airlines. Any plans for disinvestment will be taken up only after the new aircraft are purchased and the airlines are strengthened, he insisted. “Before September 11 there were no buyers for Air-India and Indian Airlines. So how will there be bidders after September 11. I am not against disinvestment but it is not the right scenario for selling the airlines. We are concentrating now on buying new aircraft and not disinvestment,’’ he said. He said new services had been started by Air India. It would be difficult to keep up the momentum unless aircraft were bought. For the fleet expansion, the Ministry of Finance would have the main role since a large amount of money was required. Hence, the CCS will decide when and how many aircraft are to be bought on the basis of the recommendations made by the two airlines, he added. Mr Hussain also announced that the draft bill for privatisation of the Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata airports was ready and would be put up before the cabinet soon for its approval. The proposal for privatising the four metro airports through a joint venture with Airports Authority of India (AAI) as percentage partners will be delayed (it was to be completed by March, 2003) because the ministry was examining various comments, including those made by the Standing Committee of Parliament.
UNI |
|
FICCI cosies up; govt relents New Delhi, December 11 The present government’s seemingly growing inclination to distance itself from the CII can be gauged from the fact that not a single political bigwig preferred to grace the three-day CII-WEF organised India Economic Summit held at a glittering hotel here. While CII officials downplayed the issue, the difference in atmospherics was starkly evident from the absence of any government representative in the annual extravaganza attended by the who’s who of the global corporate world. On the other hand, FICCI’s increasingly warm equation with the Vajpayee Government can be perceived from the fact that the Mr Vajpayee himself has consented to deliver the inaugural address at the 75th AGM — ahead of a proposed session with Congress President Sonia Gandhi. ( Ms Gandhi, is yet to confirm her participation). An upbeat FICCI Secretariat has drawn out an elaborate programme leading up to the AGM on December 13 with special sessions of to be addressed by ministers of key economic portfolios and important currency administrators. Those that are
scheduled to come calling at the FICCI AGM include Minister of Disinvestment Arun Shourie, HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi, Deputy Chairperson of Planning Commission K.C. Pant, Commerce Minister Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, among others. The Vajpayee Government’s growing disenchantment with the CII can be traced back to the Annual General Meeting of the CII held earlier this year. In a marked departure from the past, Congress President and Leader of the Opposition Sonia Gandhi was invited to inaugurate the three-day event. Ms Gandhi’s remarks during the session was peppered with strong political undertones and with sending more than audilble murmurs that the CII was anticipating a Congress regime at the Centre in a near future. |
|
Selloff process of MTNL, BSNL begins New Delhi, December 10 When contacted, Member Secretary Amitabha Bhattacharya said the Commission was currently working on submitting proposals for disinvestment of public equity in as many as 12 companies but declined to give the names. The Commission is understood to be studying the case of Power Finance Corporation (PFC), Rural Electrification Corporation (REC), Central Mine Planning and Design Institute (CMPDIL), Cotton Corporation, Hoogly Dock and Port Engineering, National Building Construction Corporation (NBCC), Rajasthan Drugs and Pharmaceuticals, Indian Medicine Pharma Corporation and Jute Corporation. When asked how soon the Commission would be able to wrap up the exercise, Bhattacharya remained non-commital. However, going by the speed with which the Commission has been working (at the rate of four reports in last two months) it is expected to submit most of the proposals by March 2003.
PTI |
|
Privatising Ganga water?
New Delhi, December 11 Raising the issue during Zero Hour, Prakash Ambedker said all the states located on the bank of the river Ganga could now get water from it only through that firm. The agreement has been signed on the plea that the firm would take measures to purify the water of the river, he added.
PTI |
|
New labour laws within 6 months
New Delhi, December 11 “The new labour laws, which will also rationalise existing labour laws, will be in place within the next six months,’’ Union Labour Minister Sahib Singh Verma told newspersons on the sidelines of a seminar on globalisation organised by a business school here. The laws would comprise new provisions and amendments to the 10 to 12 existing laws, Mr Verma said. The new laws would bring the existing labour laws in tune with the liberalised environment, he said. The minister said that despite all round liberalisation, labour reforms have been neglected. “Labour reforms should have been taken up when the World Trade Organisation (WTO) regime came into force,’’ Mr Verma said. He said an umbrella organisation for unorganised sector would be created to ensure social security for around 25 to 35 crore workers. The minister said that 10,000 dwelling units would be handed over to subscribers of Employee Provident Fund on December 25. The government has planned to allot one million houses to EPF subscribers. Stating that there was a need for more skilled workforce, Mr Verma said in India only 6 to 7 per cent workforce was skilled while the figure for countries like France and Germany was 80 per cent.
UNI |
bb
CS exam HMT gets ISO SBP PNB Gilts Insider trading HPCL bid L&T Infotech |
 |
| 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 | | 122 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
