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Wednesday,
October
1,
2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Rice
output to touch 75.05m tonnes CPM to
lend support to Karunakaran government Advani for
focus on research, development
Joshi’s
resignation a farce, says Cong |
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Tripathi’s
remand extended Gujarat
joints told to go veg Extra
spectrum cleared for cellular operators Haryana
gets excess rainfall, Punjab has it normal Navy
Vice-Chief De Silva retires
INSAT-3E
closer to orbital plane
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Rice output to touch 75.05m tonnes New Delhi, September 30 The foodgrains production this year is estimated at 108.45 million tonnes which is an increase of about 18 million tonnes over last year’s production. The production in 2003-04 is expected to reach 75.05 million tonne, marking an increase of 8.54 million tonnes. The production of coarse cereals is estimated at 27.96 million tonnes, registering an increase of 7.83 million tonnes. The production of Kharif pulses this year is expected to reach 5.44 million tonnes. In the commercial crops, oilseeds production is estimated at 15.08 million tonnes registering an increase of 63.6 per cent over past year. Soyabean production is estimated at 7.10 million tonnes whereas groundnut production is estimated at 5.93 million tonnes this year. The first advance estimates of kharif production figures was
revealed out at the two-day national conference on agriculture for rabi campaign 2003-04, which concluded today. The conference was chaired by the Agriculture Secretary, Mr R.C.A. Jain, an official press note said today. The food production estimates are based on the feedback given by the states. The information obtained from the Space Application Centre and the Agriculture Ministry’s Crop Weather Watch Group. Production of cotton is likely to jump by 40 per cent over the last year’s production. It is estimated at 13.12 million bales of 170 kg each, as compared to 9.31 million bales last year. The production of jute and sugarcane are likely to register a marginal decline. Jute and mesta are estimated at 10.75 million bales of 180 kg each which is lesser than last year’s 10.78 million bales. Sugarcane production is estimated to decline by 17.2 million tonnes or 6.2 per cent to 261.4 million tonnes this year from last year’s level of 278.6 million tonnes. The decline in sugarcane production mostly reflects the decline in sugarcane production in Maharashtra, which is estimated to be hardly at half the normal production of about 50 million tonne. During the conference, drought hit states like Karnataka, Kerala and Maharashtra brought to the fore the problems arising from deficient rainfall which have implications for the rabi/summer crops in their respective states. The conference, therefore, underscored the need for evolving appropriate strategy to cope with the problems likely to be encountered in the near future. The conference discussed in detail the strategies for forthcoming Rabi season, including cropping plan and availability of key inputs for different crops in different states. |
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CPM to lend support to Karunakaran government New Delhi, September 30 However, the CPM made it clear that it would not participate in any such government unless it gets a mandate to do so through elections. A day after the Congress lost the Ernakulam Lok Sabha seat to the CPM supported independent candidate Sebastian Paul, CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan told newspersons here that Mr Karunakaran had taken a strong stand against the UDF government’s “misdeeds”. Asked if the CPM would cooperate with Mr Karunakaran in case he quit the Congress, Mr Vijayan said his party had cooperated with Mr Antony in 1980 when he left the Congress and “if the situation warrants now we will take a positive step.” Mr Karunakaran, who openly rebelled against the Congress candidate M.O. John, handpicked by Mr Antony, has the support of 21 Congress MLAs. Regional aspirations are also highlighting the contradictions as the CPM, which is trying to defeat the BJP at the national level and is ready to enter into an understanding with the Congress , is out to settle old scores with the same party in Kerala. |
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Advani for focus on research, development
New Delhi, September 30 ''Even as I congratulate members of your profession for your outstanding accomplishments, I must also point out that we have to advance faster in order to make for the lost time in previous decades as other countries in Asia, some much smaller than India, have established far greater strengths in electronics and telecommunications," Mr Advani said at the golden jubilee celebrations of the Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE). The Deputy Prime Minister said there was a need to follow a well-conceived strategy to increase electronics and information technology hardware exports from the current level of $ 1.3 billion to about $ 25 billion by 2010. ''We have to sharpen our focus on research and development and international collaborations and learn from the experiences of countries like Taiwan, Japan, Korea and Malaysia," he said. He emphasised that all along this developmental phase, the country had to ensure that the swadeshi concept was not forgotten. He said India faced an urgent need to tackle ''daunting challenges'' like poverty, lack of infrastructure and backwardness to become a developed nation by 2020. ''India must become a developed country by 2020 as envisioned by our President and Prime Minister," he said. The Deputy Prime Minister said as part of developmental steps, there was a need to ensure that every village in the country had, among other facilities, adequate and self-sufficient health and educational infrastructure.
— TNS |
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Joshi’s resignation a farce, says Cong New Delhi, September 30 “The so-called temporary relief, which is supposed to have been obtained today from the Lucknow Bench of Allahabad High Court has been rendered possible by the deliberate failure of the CBI to file a caveat in the Lucknow Bench. The misuse of the CBI by the NDA government and the connivance of the CBI have once again been demonstrated,’’ party chief spokesman Jaipal Reddy said. |
Tripathi’s remand
extended Lucknow, September 30 Mr
Tripathi, who was in CBI custody till 2 pm today, was produced in court. The CBI counsel argued that following the polygraphy test on Mr Tripathi yesterday in New Delhi, there were evidence that the former minister was hiding something from the sleuths. |
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Gujarat
joints told to go veg Ahmedabad, September 30 Even as the Gujarat government plans to launch a campaign for vegetarianism on October 2, the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, some people here have started threatening non-vegetarian food outlets with dire consequences. A string of roadside eateries in a predominantly Hindu neighbourhood of western Ahmedabad have been forced to supply vegetarian fare. The 20-odd fast food outlets, mostly selling Chinese non-vegetarian food, opposite the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in the Vastrapur neighbourhood, have been ordered to go vegetarian or shut down. According to a fast food outlet owner, a group of 15 persons visited them a week ago and threatened them with dire consequences if they did not stop selling non-vegetarian food. “They (the group) told us that in a Hindu-dominated area, non-vegetarian food is sacrilege,” Rocky Thapa, a Nepalese national and the owner of a Chinese fast food joint”, told IANS. “I too am a Hindu and we Nepalese are traditionally non-vegetarian. But they wouldn’t listen to my arguments. They told us to shift elsewhere. Some of them even told us to move to Muslim-dominated localities of eastern Ahmedabad.” They say they can’t possibly lodge a complaint as the police is hand in glove with those who want vegetarianism imposed.
— IANS |
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Extra spectrum cleared for cellular operators New Delhi, September 30 The matter was discussed at a meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on telecom last week. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has been maintaining that licence could be granted to the fifth operator provided there was additional spectrum availability. It has been a long-standing demand of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) to make available additional spectrum to improve the quality of services with an additional subscriber base. The 25 Mhz spectrum will be made available by the country’s defence establishment over a period of two years. The additional spectrum for civilian use would involve a cost of Rs 900 crore, which the Finance Ministry is learnt to have agreed to grant to the Armed Forces for the modernisation of equipment to make it compatible with the appropriate frequency. Presently, the average spectrum availability in India was to the extent of 6.2 Mhz while the world average was over 17 Mhz. In addition, the allocation of spectrum per operator was critically linked to the number of
subscribers it had. The Indian Air Force (IAF) had earlier opposed the move to make available any additional spectrum on security considerations and had voiced concern that it might come perilously close to the frequency used by the IAF signalling apparatus. Subsequently, a committee was formed within the Ministry of Communication, which also had a representative from the Ministry of Defence. |
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Haryana
gets excess rainfall, Punjab has it normal Chandigarh, September 30 It is a good news for far- mers and traders that monsoon has
withdrawn. Earlier, it had been predicted that its withdrawal may get
delay- ed till the first week of October. Weather experts say that
there is nothing unusual regarding the persistence of monsoon till the
last week of September as officially, the monsoon period is counted
upto September 30. Normally, it withdraws from this region by
September 20,” says Mr S.C. Bhan, Regional Director, Indian
Meteorological Department, here.
It was a bad monsoon last year for the region with Haryana being
the most drought affected, followed by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh.
However, the worst hit was Rajasthan where Punjab had to rush relief.
The situation has been much better this year.
In Haryana, the average rainfall this year is 593 mm. In Punjab, it
is 481 mm. In Haryana, the districts of Faridabad, Fatehabad, Gurgaon,
Hisar, Jhajjar, Panchkula, Rewari and Rohtak have recorded excess
rainfall and Sirsa, Sonepat, Yamunanagar, Ambala, Bhiwani, Jind and
Kaithal have had normal rainfall. The districts of Karnal,
Kurukshetra, Panipat and Mohindergarh have recorded a deficient
rainfall. However, average rainfall in Haryana is above normal. The
state is set to create new records in foodgrain production this year
because of the good rainfall.
In Punjab, only Ropar district has recorded excess rainfall.
Rainfall has been normal in the districts of Bathinda, Gurdaspur,
Hoshiarpur, Ludhiana, Patiala and Jalandhar and deficient in Amritsar,
Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepore, Sangrur, Kapurthala, Moga,
Muktsar and Nawanshahr. “Overall, the rainfall scenario in Punjab is
normal,” says Mr Bhan. Reports from the field say that Punjab is
going to set a new record in paddy production this year. The average
yield of paddy per acre has been far better than previous years, say
farmers.
In Himachal Pradesh, it has been excess rainfall only in Una and
Bilaspur districts. Rainfall has been normal in Hamirpur, Kinnaur,
Mandi, Shimla and Sirmaur and deficient in Chamba, Kullu, Lahaul-Spiti
and Solan. As Himachal Pradesh has received only a normal rainfall
this year most reservoirs where the water level had fallen to a record
low last year have not attained optimum water level yet. |
Navy
Vice-Chief De Silva retires New Delhi, September 30 He will be succeeded by Vice-Admiral Arun Prakash, who is currently the Commander-in-Chief of the Western Naval Command. Vice-Admiral De Silva took over as Vice-Chief of Naval Staff in January, 2002. He is a graduate from the National Defence Academy (NDA) and was commissioned in the Navy in 1965. |
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INSAT-3E closer to orbital plane Bangalore, September 30 Satellite controllers at the Indian Space Research Organisation today fired the 440-newton liquid apogee motor of the satellite for 36 minutes to enhance the perigee (closest point to the earth) to 33,000 km from 14,960 km. The apogee (farthest point of the earth) was maintained at 35,570 km and the inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane had been reduced from 1.9° to 0.14°.
— UNI |
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Shekhar’s surgery today New Delhi, September 30 |
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