The Hindu Business Line : Friday, May 09, 2003

SC dismisses Govt plea on rubber issue — Upholds Bombay HC vacating import ban under advance licence
THE Supreme Court has upheld the Bombay High Court order, vacating ban on import of natural rubber under the advance licence scheme (ALS). Dismissing a special leave petition filed by the Centre challenging the Bombay High Court order, a ... More

SC order leaves rubber shrinking
RUBBER market tumbled following the Supreme Court's verdict striking down order of the DGFT suspending advance licence facility for rubber goods exporters. Now they can import NR without duty for export production. The NR content in rubber goods ... More

HC restrains Sahara from airing serial
THE Calcutta High Court has restrained Sahara Media Entertainment Ltd (Sahara) from broadcasting any episode of the serial Karishma-a miracle of destiny scheduled to be telecast from May 12, on Sahara Television Channel. Mr Justice ... More

ECONOMY

Mounting fiscal deficit worries finance panel chief
THE task of designing a fair scheme of fiscal transfers has become increasingly difficult as both the Centre and the States are continuing to incur mounting deficits, according to the Chairman of the Twelfth Finance Commission, Dr C. Rangarajan. ... More

Finance panel seeks views on fiscal reforms
THE Twelfth Finance Commission held a meeting of local economists and economic administrators in the city on Thursday on the various terms of reference of the commission under the chairmanship of Dr C. Rangarajan. According to the practice of ... More

ENVIRONMENT

`Artificial coral reefs regenerate marine life'
SETTING up artificial coral reefs in the shallow waters of the sea would result in marine resource regeneration and substantial increase in fish catches has been noticed near Nellore coast in experiments since 1995, Mr G. Gopala Krishna Murthy, ... More

Greens oppose pharma city proposal in AP
ENVIRONMENTAL groups are planning to file a suit against the setting up of a pharma city in the Parawada industrial development area near here on the ground that the shifting of bulk drug units from Patancheruvu near Hyderabad to Parawada would ... More

Ramky to build biomedical waste treatment plant in Howrah
THE Hyderabad-based Ramky Enviro Engineers Ltd would build the State's first common biomedical waste treatment plant at Howrah. This was announced by the State Health Secretary, Mr Asim Barman, who said that currently there was no such ... More

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS

CBEC issues alert on fake notification
MUMBAI: The havoc caused on Tuesday by the widely-circulated fake notification revising tariff value on imported crude soyabean oil (Business Line, May 7) has promptly elicited response in the form of an alert from the Central Board ... More

HEALTH

Aiding to prevent Aids!
The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, in a symbolic gesture donating money to a delegation led by the Union Health Minister, Ms Sushma Swaraj, on AIDS awareness to mark the International Red Cross Day in the Capital on Thursday. ... More

HOTELS

`Occupancy levels at Chennai hotels continue to slide'
"The room night contributed by the business segment in Chennai's quality hotels remained stagnant over the period with a marginal 0.6 per cent per annum increase in demand." More

PETROLEUM

`Only Govt must issue licences for gas pipelines'
THE Standing Committee on Petroleum has recommended that the Government and not the regulator should issue licences for natural gas pipelines. It has also sought Government approvals for entry into the gas retailing business. "The gas sector ... More

BPCL to tone up customer service
COUNTRY-WIDE consumers of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd's LPG cylinders, Bharatgas, can shortly look forward to an `upgraded' service whereby they can verify the quantity of LPG at the time of delivery. Further, working couples could decide ... More

Bids invited for 24 oil, gas blocks
THE Government on Thursday put on offer 24 oil and gas exploration blocks under the fourth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). Announcing the tendering of the blocks, the Union Petroleum Minister, Mr Ram Naik, said a dozen ... More

POWER

REC to sanction Rs 1,100 cr to AP
THE Rural Electrification Corporation (REC) has agreed to provide financial assistance to the tune of Rs 1,100 crore for the financial year 2003-04 to take up improvement works in sub-stations and electrification of habitations. A decision to ... More

STEEL

`SARS hits steel export to China'
AMIDST contradictory and confusing reports, several representatives of the Indian steel industry have confirmed that exports to China have been affected by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Apparently, it seems that everything is in ... More

RINL seeks lab for small-scale units in Visakhapatnam
A full-fledged testing laboratory should be set up by the State Industries Department here to enable the small-scale units dependent on the steel plant to supply quality components and spares to the plant, Mr B.K Panda, Chairman and Managing ... More

TEXTILES

SARS fear brings orders for garment units
THE fear of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome) among European garment buyers who are increasingly reluctant to visit the Far-Eastern garment production bases to place orders seems to be changing the wind of opportunity in favour of Indian ... More

SSI

Kerala plans to revive small, medium sectors
The State Government is in the processing of developing a massive `small industries revival initiative', Mr P.K. Kunhalikutty, State Industries Minister, said. More

Hyderabad Khadi board assistance

WATER

Ion Exchange unit for Rail Neer commissioned
ION Exchange (India) Ltd, the water treatment company, has commissioned its plant for production of Rail Neer, packaged drinking water for the Indian Railways. The plant was inaugurated by the Union Minister for Railways, Mr Nitish Kumar. The ... More

BREWERIES

TIDCO to float tender for grape wine project
THE Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO) will shortly come out with global tenders to identify private promoters for a grape wine and grape spirits project, according to industry sources. The unit is expected to come up at ... More

RADIO/TV

TV broadcasters lobby hard to put off CAS
EVEN as the deadline for the implementation of a conditional access system (CAS) approaches, the queue outside the office of Information & Broadcasting Minister, Mr Ravi Shankar Prasad, is lengthening with a cross-section of people from the ... More

Basic tier under CAS fixed at Rs 72
THE Information and Broadcasting Ministry on Thursday notified that when the Conditional Access System (CAS) comes into force on July 14, cable operators would have to offer a minimum of 30 free-to-air television channels in the basic tier ... More

EDUCATION

Resident programmes for college faculty from ICFAI
THE ICFAI University is organising a first of its kind three-day residential development programme for college faculty belonging to business schools, engineering and degree colleges spread across the country. The national conclave of leaders in ... More

New faculty for South Asia International

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS & HOSPITALS

Manipal Hospital ushers in `corporate' change
OVER the last year, there have been quiet changes at the Manipal Hospital on Bangalore's busy Airport Road. A new management team is bringing in a culture that is more "corporate". This is most evident in the new top management, which includes ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

GSLV-D2: It's a `bull's eye' launch
THE country's space programme reached another milestone on Thursday, with the successful launch of the GSLV-D2 rocket and the injection of the GSAT-2 experimental satellite into its designated orbit. The 40-metre, 414-tonne rocket blasted off ... More

GSLV launch: A step closer to self-reliance
THE successful launch of the GSLV-D2/GSAT-2 on Thursday takes India closer towards self-reliance in the satellite launch business. India, like other countries, needs the services of a number of satellites such as for telecommunications, remote ... More

DISINVESTMENT

Govt rapped on HPCL, BPCL disinvestment plans
THE CPI(M) leader, Mr Somnath Chatterjee, on Thursday urged the Government not to sell away the country's jewels for a song by disinvesting the profit-making oil companies such as HPCL and BPCL. Initiating a discussion on a motion moved by his ... More

Oil PSUs' disinvestment — Parliament nod must, panel tells Govt
REITERATING its stand, the Parliamentary Committee on Petroleum on Thursday asked the Government to seek the approval of Parliament for privatising oil majors Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, since the two ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

`850 acres ready for distribution among tribals'
THE State Minister for Tribal Welfare, Dr M.A. Kuttappan, has said that the State Government has readied 850.4 acres of land for distribution among landless tribals during the course of this month and the next. An official spokesman quoted the ... More

CRIDA project for rural poor

EVENTS

Fapcci seminar on telecom

Hyderabad engagements

INCOME TAX

Ace offers insurance policy for I-T assessees
CONVENTIONAL wisdom suggests that filing income-tax returns is a one-way street, with large fees to be paid to chartered accountants. But a little-known consultancy firm is turning this system on its head by "incentivising" the whole process with ... More

TOURISM

11 pc increase in tourist arrivals
DESPITE the tension in the Gulf region, India had registered an increase of 11 per cent in foreign tourist arrivals during the first four months of the calendar year as compared to the same period in the previous year. Official figures released ... More

ECONOMIC OFFENCES

Pricing violation, fraud in grant of licences alleged — `Lok Ayukta probe into drug scam almost complete'
"The most serious offence is the non-enforcement of laws by the Controllerate, which went against public interest. The public is estimated to have paid more than Rs 200 crore for overpriced medicine in one year." More

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