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No
compromise on farmers’ interests, Kamal Nath tells WTO chief
Infosys
campus to be a sprawling one, says Pai
New
bill on SSI sector likely |
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Made in
heaven, designed Meeting
on VAT today Today
is World Day against Drug Abuse
Graphic: Foodgrains production
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No compromise on farmers’ interests, Kamal Nath New Delhi, June 25 Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath told this in no uncertain terms to visiting Director General of WTO Suppachai Panitchpakdi who acknowledged that the new deal will have to factor in the “sensitivities of Indian agriculture”. “The deal has to take into account the sensitivities of Indian agriculture and this is something which the Ministers of member countries are aware of,” the WTO chief told newspersons after meeting the Commerce Minister. Mr Nath, on his part, made it clear that India would not grant market access as a trade-off offered by the developed countries to slash subsidy to farmers in their domestic economies. “Agriculture is not a trade in India. It is involuntary and is a question of survival and subsistence,” Mr Kamal Nath said. The Minister said: “our sensitivities cannot be compared with other nations”. Mr Suppachai expressed hope the differences could be narrowed down. “I have come with a hope that we can narrow differences”, he said. This is the first visit of the WTO chief after the UPA government assumed office. “At the moment negotiations are still going on with the hope that we can narrow down the differences, particularly in the areas of market access. I have been told that further progress has been made in the areas of domestic support and export subsidies. I tried to emphasise to the Minister that we need to finalise before the General Council meeting in July,” he said. India has been consistently maintaining that there was no question of compromising on the interests of about 650 million farmers. The negotiations in discussions on the agreement on agriculture (AoA) has failed to take off since it collapsed at the Ministerial meeting in Cancun. The WTO Chief said it was for the first time that the European Union (EU) had agreed to remove export subsidy and reduce domestic support. “It is a lifetime opportunity,” he said. He said that countries are trying to be flexible and “this gives me good hope”. The G-20 group of nations with India and Brazil as its leading members have come out with a paper recently and is considered to be the starting point for breaking the impasse on negotiations in market access and subsidies. Meanwhile, official sources said that the Commerce Minister will take up with the Finance Minister all pending export-related issues, which could not be resolved in the last couple of years. These include issues before the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Central Board of Excise andd Customs (CBEC) and Banking.
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Infosys campus to be a sprawling one, says Pai Chandigarh, June 25 Mr Pai was here for the ‘Bhoomi Pujan’ at the Infosys campus site in the up coming Chandigarh Technology Park in Kishangarh just north of the Sukhna lake. Ranked number three in the Infosys hierarchy, after Dr K. Naryanamurthy and Mr Nandan Nilenkani, he said the company will be spending Rs 100 crore on the setting up the campus. ‘Money will not be problem as we have Rs 200 crore lying as ready cash,’ he added. Normally Infosys has campuses which have 1.20 lakh square feet of space this one will be like two campuses in one. It will be used for development of software and have about 2,400 employees. Once Chandigarh is ready will also keep the existing facility in Mohali. The company did a Rs 70 crore business from Mohali. The campus in Chandigarh will be built in phases. ‘The plans are ready and work will start once Mr Murthy sees the plans and okays these.’ It will take no more than two weeks. When asked if the strict building byelaws of Chandigarh were a hindrance in architectural design of the campus Mr Pai said, ‘No, the place has been designed as such.’ Also Infosys, on the request of the Chandigarh Administration, will be training teachers of Punjab Engineering College and Chandigarh College of Engineering and Technology.
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New bill on SSI sector likely New Delhi, June 25 He was addressing a national conference of state ministers that was called to review the Prime Minister Rozgar Yozana and other employment schemes running under the Ministry. He said, “the draft note of the Small Enterprises Development Bill 2004 has been circulated among various ministries. Once their comments are available it will be taken to the Cabinet and efforts will be made to introduce the bill in the Budget session of Parliament.” The bill will address the issues of registration, credit, marketing and trade protection, he adding that the proposed bill would seek to bring all laws governing SSI sector under one. The bill will also seek to curtail the inspector raj by bringing down the number of inspections that SSI units are subjected to one in five years. For additional inspections the inspectors will have to seek the approval of the higher authorities. The bill also seeks to empower the SSI Ministry to decide on the excise concessions to the units and the definition of the SSI unit, said Mr B.S. Minhas, Secretary, SSI. At present, units with an investment of less than Rs 1 crore fall under SSI category with some exemptions like pharma, hand tools, hosiery and stationery items, where the limit is Rs 5 crore. Mr Prasad also called upon the state governments to utilise all the funds and subsidy provided under the PMRY and other schemes otherwise, he said, the Centre would be forced to divert funds to performing states.
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Made in heaven, designed on earth
Kolkata, June 25 From a family event, weddings have today become more a style statement and come in designer packages according to the likes and tastes of the families involved in the elaborate affair. You can order a Tarun Tahiliani designed trousseau, have exquisite jewellery for the bride and the groom and plan a dream honeymoon destination. But all this and more comes at a steep price, Rs 50 lakhs and above, said Mr Tarun Sarda, the man behind “Celebrating Vivaha’’ 2004. “The main idea is to facilitate the multiple hassles of organising the wedding in the family as grandly as they want, without getting bogged down by the multiple visits to goods and service suppliers,’’ Mr Sarda said. “The market in Kolkata is huge and we plan to organise a wedding exhibition in the city next year,’’ he added. “Celebrating Vivaha’’ 2004, to be held in New Delhi at the Taj Palace from August 6 to 9, will unveil varied offerings on venues and locales for marriages, make-up and makeovers, jewellery, cosmetics, trousseau for brides and grooms, theme planners, wedding coordinators and designer home ware.
— UNI
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Meeting on VAT today
New Delhi, June 25 The meeting of the Committee, headed by West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta, is also expected to discuss the issue of proposed Service Tax Bill and the impact of possible revenue losses to state government after moving over to the new regime. Service tax has been one of the thorny issues with consensus yet to be arrived at on the list of services that would be remain in the state list and those that will be in the Central list. While the 95th Constitutional Amendment Bill allows the Union Government to levy service tax, no decision has been taken on how to distribute the bill among the states and the Central government. Some state governments have pointed out that according to the draft Service Tax Bill, there were certain services for which states were already charging sales tax, but the introduction of the service tax these fall under the Central list. This would adversely affect the revenue of the states. The 95th Constitutional Amendment Bill passed last year by Parliament allows the Centre to levy taxes on services and keep this revenue with itself or pass it on to the states. |
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Today is World Day against Drug Abuse New Delhi, June 25 Since India lacks any comprehensive policy to check growing drug abuse, the country may have to face fall in industrial and agricultural productivity like some of the African and some Latin American countries. The spread of AIDS in the country has already assumed alarming proportions. These are implications of the findings of a report “ The Extent, Pattern and Trends of Drug Abuse in India” released here today, on the eve of the International Day against drug abuse and illicit trafficking, falling today. The report jointly prepared by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has estimated that in the age group of 12 to 60 years, 21 per cent of males (62.5 million) are alcoholics, 3 per cent (8.7 million) take cannabis and 0.7 per cent of them, estimated to around 2 millions, are opium addicts. The report indicates alarming trends of alcoholism, opium, and cannabis use among children, women, and youth in urban and rural areas.
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Inflation up at 5.89 pc BenQ Xansa NFL rating Apollo tyres TV18 |
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Chandigarh, June 25
