New Delhi, February 15
Countering criticism from some quarters about the sacrifice of growth at the altar of inflation, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today justified government’s anti-inflation measures and asserted that controlling the price line did not mean growth would be sacrificed.

In the backdrop of a hike in petrol and diesel prices could fuel inflation, the Prime Minister said the government has taken an important policy stand to keep inflation under check and ensure that growth is more inclusive.

Referring to some “impatient editorials” about the sacrifice of growth at the altar of inflation control, the Prime Minister said, “No government in the country can be oblivious to the objective of ensuring reasonable price stability without hurting the growth process.”

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh exuded confidence that this year, too, the government would be able to sustain 9 per cent growth and hold the price line at acceptable level even in the face of a global slowdown.

“The finance and commerce ministers are seized of the matter. I do not see any reason why we cannot sustain 9 per cent growth even in the face of a global slowdown. The domestic economy has the potential to sustain such growth,” he said inaugurating the 80th AGM of Ficci here today.

Pointing that the challenge is to tap into the potential and make it work, the Prime Minister assured to take all possible steps to help industry.

In an indication to the possible sops in the coming budget to the rupee-hit export sector, the Prime Minister said “the competitiveness of our exports remains our priority concern and whatever is necessary to enhance competitiveness and efficiency of our export sector that will find a ready listening point in our government.”

The sustainability of economic performance rests on the health of the agriculture sector, Prime Minister said the government would soon come out with a package to address the indebtedness of farmers.

Pointing out that the share of agriculture in the GDP has been declining, Singh said “we cannot minimise the important sector, for our economy and our polity. Agriculture is important because it supports a significant portion of the population and also acts as a social safety net,” he added.

“We have announced two major agriculture programmes costing Rs 35,000 crore in the 11th Plan — the Ashtray Krishi Vikas Yojana and the Food Security Mission and we are looking at ways of having a quantum leap in investment in irrigation,” Manmohan Singh said and hoped that these initiatives coupled with other steps in animal husbandry, horticulture and fisheries would help agriculture grow at 4 per cent in the coming years.

Maintaining that the Congress-led UPA government has not only accelerated economic growth substantially, but have also put in place the basic architecture for inclusive growth, Manmohan Singh took a dig at the previous NDA and United Front governments for what he called their lack of focus on economic agenda.

The Prime Minister also gave away the Ficci Awards for 2006-07 in six categories. These are: Bharat Biotech International, Hyderabad (Excellence in science, technology and technological innovation); Steel Authority of India Ltd (outstanding achievement in rural and community development); Grasim Industries, Cement Division, Tamil Nadu (outstanding achievement in environment sustainability of business).

While Zenith Computers Ltd, Mumbai, bagged the award for corporate excellence in SME Sector, ITC was awarded outstanding corporate vision-business peformance, social and environment action and globalisation award.

Chandigarh, February 15
Indian Railways is setting up ‘logistics parks’, a unique facility wherein all type of freight-related storage and handling apparatus would be offered under one roof.

Such parks would come up across the country. One such facility would come up at Laddowal, Ludhiana. Giving details of the new project, general manager, Northern Railways, Shri Parkash, said the parks, planned to be located near the dedicated freight corridors, would offer modern techniques of freight handling.

The development assumes importance as the quantum of freight handling from northern states, especially Punjab, has increased by 17 per cent as compared to last year. “In the past three years, the freight handling in terms of foodgrains has gone down, but the volume of loading of container traffic and fertiliser freight has increased by 1.5 million tonnes”, he said.

The spill over affect of the boom in the economic activity resulted in 12 per cent growth in passenger handling by the Northern Railways.

Talking about improving upon the passenger-related facilities, he said at least Rs 75 crore was being spent on improving the facilities at stations under the Ambala and Ferozepore railway divisions.

On other plans for Punjab, he said the Chandigarh-Ludhiana railway line would be ready by the end of 2009. He, however, refused to comment on any new trains being offered to Punjab.

On being asked about the requirement of double track between Chandigarh and Ambala, the general manager said surveys conducted by the Railways had indicated that the existing tracks was enough to handle the rush of trains.

The Railways was also planning to start the Sunday Jan Shatabdi between Chandigarh and Delhi. At present, the train runs six days a week.

Chandigarh, February 15
SRF Ltd, one of the largest producers of nylon tyre chords in the world, will now be diversifying into polyester tyre chords. The company will start manufacturing these chords from the first quarter of 2009.

This was revealed by Arun Bharat Ram, chairman of SRF, during an exclusive interview with The Tribune, here today. “Initially, we will be producing 15,000 tons of polyester tyre chord at our facility in Gummudipundi in Tamil Nadu. With this, the total capacity of our plant will increase to 65,000 tons per annum, which will include 50,000 tons of nylon tyre chord,” he said.

The company’s chairman was in town to participate in the North West Qualtech Awards, to honour companies who have successfully implemented Total Quality Management (TQM) in the region. It was under his guidance that SRF was chosen for the prestigious Deming Award for their nylon chord business, and was the first company to receive this award outside Japan. “We are now moving towards challenging the Japan Quality Medal for our nylon chord business and aim to get the Deming Award for our chemical business,” he said

Talking about the polyester packaging film business of the group, he said they were now planning to double their capacity by mid 2009. “Initially, this business was a loss making venture, but over the past one and half year, we have been making a good profit. We set up a new line in the special economic zone at Indore, and as of now the total capacity of our two units (the other is in Uttarakhand) is now 26,000 tons a year,” he said.

Talking about the group’s chemical business, he said that they are the largest producers of refrigerated gases. “With the government regulation on phasing out of CFCs, we have now indigenously developed an alternate gas called 134 A. Our plant at Bhiwadi in Rajasthan has a capacity of 25,000 tons per annum. We will soon be developing six new flourene-based gases, which will mainly be manufactured for export purposes,” he said.

The group, which also holds management control over the Lady Shriram College, New Delhi and runs the Shriram Schools, is now looking at Punjab to set up schools here. “We propose to set up a Shriram school in Amritsar and one in either Chandigarh or Mohali. We will manage the school on our own, as we want to retain the quality and brand image of Shriram Schools,” he added. 

Islamabad, February 15
Aiming to facilitate people-to- people contact and bilateral business and trade activities, India and Pakistan today decided to more than double the number of weekly flights between them and add a new destination for designated airlines in each other's territory.

The two countries signed a memorandum of understanding to increase the number of flights from 12 to 28 per week for each side, at the end of two-day talks between their civil aviation officials here.

They also agreed to add a new destination to the two destinations currently available to designated airlines in each other's territory. Chennai will be added for Pakistan's designated airlines and Islamabad for the designated airlines of India.

This will facilitate direct air connectivity between the capitals of the two countries, said a joint statement issued at the end of the talks.

The two sides agreed to designate three airlines each to operate the "agreed services on the specified routes".

Currently, only one airline each operates between India and Pakistan.

Both countries agreed to meet again at a mutually convenient date within a year to review the "capacity and frequency framework and additional destinations in each other's territory, keeping in view the market demand".

The Indian team at the talks was led by director general of civil aviation Kanu Gohain while the Pakistani delegation was headed by Maj Gen Mir Haider Ali Khan, additional secretary in the defence ministry. — PTI

Chandigarh, February 15
The industry in the region has reacted sharply to the reduction in prices of iron and steel, saying that the effects would not percolate down to the tiny and small-scale manufacturers. The government had yesterday asked the steel companies to roll back the price hike by Rs 500 per tonne of HR coil and Rs 1,000 per tonne of TMT bars.

Amarjit Goyal, past president of PHDCCI and chairman of Modern Steels, while appreciating the move of the government, said this rollback would bring little relief to the tiny and small-scale industry. “The main producers are under pressure to increase prices because of increase in prices of iron ore and metallurgical coke and ferrow alloys. The government could reduce the current excise duty from 16 to 8 per cent and abolish the customs duty on scrap,” he said.

He added that if the Punjab government reduces the CST from 2 per cent to 1 per cent and state VAT from 4 per cent to 2 per cent, it would bring relief to the steel industry.

New Delhi, February 15
The World Bank report on agriculture titled 'Agriculture for Development' says that greater investment in agriculture in transforming economies like India is vital to the welfare of 600 million rural poor living in these countries, mostly situated in Asia.

In transforming economies such as India and China, agriculture contributed an average 7 per cent to growth in GDP between 1995 and 2003. Agriculture sector accounts for about 13 per cent of the economy and employs just over half the labour force. The report recommends that in these countries, where 2.2 billion people live in the countryside, the agriculture agenda should focus on reducing the disparity between rural and urban incomes and raising the incomes of the rural poor.

The report warns that the international goal of halving extreme poverty and hunger by 2015 will not be reached unless neglect and underinvestment in the agricultural and rural sectors over the past 20 years is reversed.

"Agriculture growth as shown at the time of the green revolution can be highly successful in reducing rural poverty in India", said Isabel Guerrero, World Bank country director in India.

The report says that agriculture can provide pathways out of poverty for millions of rural poor, who would otherwise be left behind in transforming economies. One way out is through a high value agriculture revolution. Incentives to diversify into high value horticulture, poultry, fish and dairy products via pricing reforms and an overhaul of subsidy support for cereals offer an opportunity to diversify farming systems.

Agricultural labour productivity has not increased as rapidly in India as compared to China or even Bangladesh. Labour productivity has remained stagnant in India since the mid 1990s, but has grown in China and Bangladesh.

Chandigarh, February 15
The Commonwealth Business Council (CBC), a consortium of heads of the commonwealth countries on the business, has expressed keenness to bring investment in Punjab after the state assured the CBC that the government would extend full cooperation to international investors by providing core infrastructure, social infrastructure and micro-financing.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who met with members of the CBC, has directed chief secretary R.I Singh to coordinate the procedural clearances and approvals for the projects and schemes in a time-bound framework.

The CBC plans investments in the core infrastructure, power, social infrastructure and micro-financing. The CBC team visited Punjab at the invitation of Member of Parliament Naresh Gujral, who was also present in the meeting.

Briefly outlining his vision for the overall development of the state, Badal said Punjab government had firmed up policy contours for the super mega projects which would further catalyse major capital investment in the medi-city, knowledge-city, IT, realty and industrial manufacturing sectors.

The Chief Minister hoped that micro-financing would considerably result in the 'enrichment of the co-operative movement'.

Dwelling on the concept of micro-financing, director, Commonwealth Inclusive Growth Foundation, Mahesh Ramachandran, said the foundation had successfully implemented the programme of micro-financing in Africa. He mentioned that now the foundation had tied up with the states of Punjab, Gujarat and Kerala to undertake micro-financing in a big way. He said Punjab had a 70 per cent agrarian base coupled with a strong co-operative movement which had a bright future for the micro-financing to boost the agricultural economy in the state, which was already at the crossroads due to heavy indebtedness and marginal returns.

Chief secretary RI Singh briefed the members about the policy and guidelines of mega projects in the sectors of industrial, agro, housing and multiplexes.

He also invited investment proposals in the field of multi-disciplinary higher education as Mohali would soon set up a knowledge city, including a world class institute of bi-technology, information technology, nano technology and Indian Institute of Science and Research, besides a premier management institution in collaboration with business management school of Hyderabad. 

Mohali, February 15
Punjab chief secretary Ramesh Inder singh today said Punjabis must give up the “chalta hai” or the “lihaaj kar do” attitude that Punjabis excel in. The chief secretary was addressing a galaxy of industrialists at the 7th North-West QualTech Award ceremony here this evening.

One of the most prestigious Quality Awards of the region, the North-West QualtTech awards were presented at a glittering ceremony at PTU's Gian Jyoti School of TQM and Entrepreneurship of Punjab Technical University.

Godrej and Boyce Mfg., Mohali, Lakshmi Precision Screws, Rohtak, and GNA Duraparts, Hoshiarpur, won the 7th North-West Qualtech Awards in the large, medium, and small industry categories, respectively.

Ramesh Inder Singh pointed out that quality was a matter of “attitude and approach” which the northern region had been lacking because of the gradual erosion of interest in mathematics and science. In primitive and feudal societies, quality was the first casualty, he said. He added that quality management was not a one-time thing. “It has to go on every day year after year and become a way of life.”

He said the Punjab government was making special endeavours to develop Mohali as the knowledge hub where new world-class centres for the nano technology, biotechnology, management education were being set up to build up the critical mass of intellect much needed in this region.

Arun Bharat Ram, Chairman and Managing Director, SRF Limited, in his keynote address, shared his experiences as a Deming Prize winner.

Chandra Mohan, Chairman, Governing Council of Gian Jyoti School of TQM and Entrepreneurship, said that growing participation by large as well as small businesses, from both manufacturing and service sectors, in these Awards was a sure sign of the spread of the quality movement in the North-West region.

J.S. Bedi, member of the Governing Council of the Institute, complimented the participating teams for sharing their best practices.

The Vardhman Quality Navigator Award for large business with turnover greater than Rs 350 crores was won by Godrej and Boyce Mfg. Co., Mohali. SRF Ltd., Bhind, and Reliance Industries, Hoshiarpur, were the runners-up.

Trident Quality Pioneer Award for medium business with turnover greater than Rs 100 crore to Rs 350 crore was won by Lakshmi Precision Screws, Rohtak. The runner-ups were Arisht Spinning Mills, Baddi, and Gates India, Lalru.

Winsome Quality Pathfinder award for small business with turnover less than Rs 100 crore was won by GNA Duraparts, Hoshiarpur. The runners-up were Hycron Electronics, Baddi, and Rico Castings, Ludhiana.