Chandigarh, September 11
The $12 billion Posco steel plant in Orissa will not be delayed because of the ongoing tussle between the state and Central government over alleged violation of forest rights. Union Steel Minister Virbhadra Singh today said the South Korean steel major will get the possession of land very soon.

The minister was here to participate in the Steel Mart, organised by the CII here today. Posco, the world's third largest steelmaker, has been given clearance to mine iron ore in Khandadharnear region of Orissa. It had signed a memorandum of understanding in June 2005 for the plant, which is to be built in three phases by 2016. The steel production at the plant is scheduled to begin after the completion of the first phase. But after the Union Environment Ministry directed the state government to stop all work on the project, including land acquisition, as a special committee had found that the company had failed to protect forest land and settlers, the project was expected to get delayed.

However, the minister said today that they were acting as facilitators for ensuring that the project takes off. “But this does not mean that we will allow anybody to violate the law. We are very keen that the oustees get a fair deal. The company will be asked to pay annuity, besides ensuring proper rehabilitation of the oustees by providing them with schools, industrial training institutes et al, so that they can be trained and later employed at the steel plant,” he added.

Talking about the iron ore exports from the country, he reiterated that he was for ban of exports, so as to save the country’s natural mineral wealth. “We had even recommended that the customs duty on iron ore exports be raised to 20 per cent, but there was no consensus on either the ban of exports or hike in customs duty,” he said.

Giving an assurance to the secondary steel producers present here, the minister said he was in favour of some kind of regulation on pricing in steel. 

Chandigarh, September 11
Innovation is the new mantra in steel production. With the steel prices in India being linked with the global prices and demand failing to keep pace with the supply, steelmakers are finding innovative ways to use the metal, bring down its cost of production and ensure that it reaches to the smallest of consumers.

It was at the Steel Mart, organised by the CII here today, that these innovations - in business format, developing new high strength steel and in formation of cooperatives by the secondary steel producers came to the fore. Take the case of the All India Induction Furnace Association, which is realising that to keep their furnaces burning, a regular supply of power is needed and that they will have to act themselves to get this basic raw material. Being the biggest power guzzlers , the induction furnaces are the first to get power cuts, in case of seasonal power shortages.

It is thus that the association is tying up with various state governments to set up cooperative power plants, which will have induction furnaces in the region as majority stake holders. “These power plants are being set up in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. These will be set up with a 51 per cent stake with the induction furnace and 49 per cent stake with a power producer. All these power plants will have a capacity of over 500 MW. We are in final stages of talks with the Power Trading Corporation to set up these plants. By having our own cooperative power generation, we can run our businesses better,” said Association president JK Arora.

It’s not just that the industry is learning to help itself. The leading steel producer in the country, Essar Steel, is busy strengthening its retail business to ensure that its steel now reaches the smallest consumer. “You no longer have to buy our steel in multiples of tonnes. We have set up two formats of outlets - hypermarts and express marts - which cater to the end consumer. As of now we have 100 hypermarts (larger format retail outlets) and 400 express marts (small retail outlets, mainly franchisee-based) throughout the country, which alone is giving us business worth Rs 3,600 crore per annum. We are retailing 1.1 million tonnes of steel through these marts and seeing the huge potential here, we have decided to expand hyper marts to 150 and express marts to 650 by the end of this fiscal,” said Girish Rao, CEO, Essar Hypermart.

Hyderabad, September 11
Andhra Pradesh, a leading global IT outsourcing destination, has expressed deep concern over anti-outsourcing rhetoric sweeping the US and the decision of Ohio State to ban outsourcing of government Information Technology and back-office projects to India.

“It is ironical that the US which has always advocated free market and competition is opposing outsourcing at a time when more and more countries are opening up their markets for competition. Raising invisible trade barriers on the eve of the US President’s visit to India in November does not augur well for relations between the two greatest democracies on the planet,” the Chief Minister K Rosaiah said.

In identical letters addressed to External Affairs Minister SM Krishna, Commerce and Industries Minister Anand Sharma and IT and Communications Minister A Raja, the Chief Minister urged them to take up the matter with America at appropriate forums to ensure that Indian IT industry and people do not suffer.

He pointed out that more than half of the world’s top 500 companies outsource work to India, which has become the world’s back-office, where western firms set up call centres and number-crunching and software development outlets to cut costs.

“In recent years, Andhra Pradesh in particular has become an IT hub providing employment to more than two lakh persons in various Indian and multinational companies. Any hasty decision from the US to ban outsourcing would be detrimental to the interests of all our IT qualified graduates,” Rosaiah said.

AP is ranked fourth in the country in terms of software exports which have crossed Rs 35,000 crore last financial year. It is home to some of the leading global and domestic IT companies, providing jobs to nearly two lakh people.

“At a time when bilateral trade and business relations between India and the US are likely to grow deeper and wider in the wake of the civil nuclear cooperation agreement between the two nations, the anti-outsourcing plans are jarring,” the Chief Minister said.

Stating that AP had grown into an IT hub providing employment to thousands of young and educated engineers and other graduates, he said the Ohio ban seems to be a precursor to what will come from other States in the US since there was every likelihood that they would fall in line.

Abort landing. Ascend. Go around. Make another bid for landing after touching down at the right spot". This was what First Officer (Capt H.S.Ahluwalia) impressed upon commander (Capt Z.Glusica) twice. But the commander depended upon his own instincts. He ignored FO's guidance. He undertook landing, which proved fatal as all passengers on the flight of Air India Express at Mangalore airport died in a crash on May 22.

The manual of operations lays down that the commander and the First Officer should function in unison. But, it did not happen on the ill-fated flight, which crash-landed owing to lack of understanding between the two main functionaries in the cockpit.

The Court of Inquiry (CoI), which is conducting the probe, reportedly summoned some of the colleagues of the commander and co-pilot. All of them were unanimous that both the officials of the ill-fated flight were experienced and competent. But their failure to function as one unit led to crash.

Apart from lack of teamwork in the cockpit, another significant point that has emerged is that 'table-top' runway at Mangalore airport is not very conducive for smooth operations of flights. Several litigations are pending in this regard.

The CoI is expected to make public its findings into four-month-old crash shortly.

Another 'freak' accident took place at Rajiv Gandhi International Airport (Hyderabad) recently. The hand of an airline employee, Amrita Roy, 24, was trapped in a retracting aerobridge. She collapsed and died in airport hospital where doctors failed to revive her. The first accident had taken place at Delhi airport where a girl died as she got trapped in the escalator some years ago.

According to Hyderabad airport police, a case of negligence has been filed and probe is being instituted as how a hand could be trapped in the retracting aerobridge.

The politicians of Union government and Mumbai government have buried the hatchet. They have pushed their egos into background. They have agreed to forget the tussle between 'purana and navi' Mumbai. This is a welcome development. All hurdles for the construction of another international airport at Navi Mumbai have been removed after two years of controversy.

On September 18, 2008, the managing director of the City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Limited (CIDCO) had stated: "We want the work on Navi Mumbai to begin as early as possible . We want to work to replant the mangroves that occupy about 115 hectares and have also offered replant of these on the Palm Beach Road and other areas of Navi Mumbai. The first phase of the work can be completed by 2012 provided CIDCO was given permission to start the work right away".

Analysts feel that the work should begin shortly and the first phase may be completed by 2014.

Q: I have a few queries. I have a two year old daughter and we wish to invest for her.

1. Presently I have opened a PPF account in her name with my wife as the second holder. What I wish to know is that as long as she is a minor, in case something unfortunate happens, then how can my daughter gets access to the money in the PPF account.

2. I also have a savings account in her name with myself as "Father & Natural guardian" in SBI. In this case also, how does my minor daughter get access to the money in case anything happens to me?

Due to these queries, we have now started investing in NSC with myself and my wife as joint holders and my daughter as nominee. — H. D. Davar