HEALTH
UB affiliate bets on telemedicine
YOU may be scaling the Mount Everest, but your critical cardio-vascular statistics could be monitored in faraway, John Hopkins University in the US. That's the power of telemedicine. The telemedicine market in India has been estimated to be at ... More

POWER
PTC to talk to pvt players for trading surplus power
POWER Trading Corporation (PTC) will begin negotiations with captive power producers (CPPs) in order to trade the estimated 10,000 MW surplus power that the CPPs have. Stating this, the PTC Chairman and Managing Director, Mr Tantra Narayan ... More

STEEL
SAIL, RINL may broadbase Australian coal supplies — Mull imports from Canada, Poland
PUBLIC sector steel producers Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd (RINL) are trying to broadbase their coal supplies from Australia and are also studying options of importing coal from Europe and Canada. According ... More

Secondary steel industry wants import duty cut further
THE secondary steel industry is not satisfied with the Government's move to bring down import duty by just five per cent. They feel it is too little and more should have been done. "A reduction of five per cent is not sufficient to ensure the ... More

TEXTILES
SITRA to fabricate fibre unit for Tripura SHG
THE South India Textile Research Association (SITRA), involved in research and development in non-conventional fibre development, has offered to fabricate and supply to a Tripura-based women self help group (SHG) a fibre extraction machinery for ... More

WATER
Lessons on water management
KOCHI: The Central Water Commission organised a training programme here for schools teachers on water management. The programme, which 50 schoolteachers attended, was meant to generate mass awareness on the scarcity of fresh water. The ... More

COAL
CIL asked to make coal available for BPL families
THE Government has asked Coal India Ltd to make coal available for domestic consumption to families below the poverty line. The modalities of the scheme are yet to be worked out, but the move is expected to provide relief to poor households in ... More

EDUCATION
Scholarships mooted for IIM studies
SCHOLARSHIPS and easy loans are a better option to make management education at IIMs more accessible, according to senior corporate leaders. Reducing fees at IIMs to Rs 30,000 per annum will not necessarily make these institutions accessible to ... More

IIT Kharagpur to set up disaster management centre
THE Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur (IITK), is setting up an exclusive Centre for Disaster Management, according to Dr S.K. Dube, Director. To be functional from July 2004, the Centre, perhaps the first among the IITs, would be set ... More

IBM launches TryScience Kiosk
CHENNAI: IBM India on Wednesday launched its TryScience Kiosk at B.M. Birla Planetarium, Tamil Nadu Science and Technology Centre. Based on the www.tryscience.org Web site, the kiosk is an online ... More

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS
Assocham inks MoU with Karachi chamber
THE Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Assocham) on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) to promote trade, investment and economic relations between India and ... More

`Legal system should be supportive of entrepreneurial efforts'
MR Justice Devinder Gupta, Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh High Court, has called upon the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Fapcci) to strive hard to maintain the public confidence in the economic ... More

TEXTILE MACHINERY
Textile engg industry seeks level field
THE textile engineering industry is seeking the removal of anomalies and a restructuring of fiscal levies to allow it a level-playing field in the domestic market against foreign suppliers. Mr Sanjay Jayavarthanavelu, Co-Chairman, Federation of ... More

GRANITE & MARBLE
`Granite industry continues to shine'
THE boom period for the granite industry, which started in 2002-03, is continuing even in the current fiscal. Granite exports from the country are expected to register a 20 per cent increase over the previous year as the Indian products have ... More

HEALTHCARE PRODUCTS
`Good scope for Indo-Pak co-op in healthcare sector'
INDIA could capture the $3-trillion global healthcare industry and there is potential for co-operation between India and Pakistan, said Mr Vinod Khanna, Union Minister of State for External Affairs. Delivering the inaugural address at the ... More

DISINVESTMENT
Divestment process to start ticking soon for HMT cos
TWO units of the state-owned HMT Group — HMT Tractor and HMT International — could be put on the divestment block in a couple of months, according to Government sources. "Expressions of interest (EoI) to sell off both the units is ... More

WTO
`Services must be part of WTO framework pacts'
SERVICES would have to be necessarily included in any framework agreement that is being attempted by the US and the European Union (EU) to bring the multilateral talks at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) back on rail, Mr S.N. Menon, Special ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT
VC funding for youth — Women SHGs set to take up mini-hydel projects in AP
IN a series decisions the Andhra Pradesh Government will allow women self help groups (SHGs) to get into power generation with mini-hydel projects, announced a new youth empowerment policy that seeks to provide linkages with venture funding and ... More

Lokenath Mission centre in Hyderabad
HYDERABAD: Lokenath Divine Life Mission, with its experience in the areas of upliftment of the urban and rural poor through the spread of education, health and micro-credit, plans to open a centre in Hyderabad, according to a press ... More

Banks urged to meet Rozgar Yojana targets
RESERVE Bank of India has urged banks to expedite the meeting of targets as stipulated in the Prime Minister's Rozgar Yojana (PMRY). In a circular issued to the chiefs of all commercial bank's here on Wednesday, the apex bank has said, "The ... More

EVENTS
CII to organise seminar on employee involvement in Kochi
THE Confederation of Indian Industry, Kerala, is organising a one-day seminar on `Kerala's high performance workplace through employee involvement' here on Saturday. The objective of the seminar is to unleash and to share the experiences of ... More

Chinese products expo in Mumbai
THE China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) organised its first exhibition in Mumbai this week, showcasing industrial and consumer products from China. The exhibition, jointly organised by Worldex India/China, is being ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS
Maharashtra hikes sugar export subsidy
THE Maharashtra Government has decided to give a subsidy of Rs 250 per quintal for exports to the State sugar co-operative mills for the current season (2003-04), from November 1, 2003, official sources said. This will be given in addition to ... More

Non-availability of ships hits corn exports
CORN (maize) exports from the country have slowed down as global buyers are delaying taking delivery of their consignments due to non-availability of ships. On the other hand, a higher aflatoxin level is proving to be a deterrent in entering ... More

Domestic demand, high price continue to mar spices export
THE downward trend continues in export of spices from the country with the decling touching Rs 280 crore during April - January of the current fiscal. Given the situation, total exports during the current fiscal are certain to remain far below ... More

TOURISM
Ponda beauty
Fishermen cast their nets in the backwaters of Mandovi River in Ponda, Goa. The river connects the islands of Chorao, Divar, Jua and Cumbarjua, each of which is a tourist ... More

Sunset cruise
Foreign tourists on a sunset cruise in the waterways in Kochi. As per the figures available from the Tourism Department, as many as 1,42,915 tourists from various countries visited various destinations in Kerala since November last fetching a ... More