The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, January 12, 2005

Mukesh Ambani steals the show at pre-Budget meet
THE presence of the Reliance Industries Chairman, Mr Mukesh Ambani, at the pre-budget meeting with the Finance Minister, Mr Chidambaram, and his subsequent separate meetings with the Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Dr Rakesh Mohan, and ... More

India Inc pitches for core sector investment
CORPORATE India has made a case for an investment-oriented budget that would give further fillip to infrastructural development, especially in the agricultural and food-processing sectors, besides giving an impetus to growth and boosting ... More

Correct inverted duty structure on capital goods, says Naik
THE domestic capital goods sector on Tuesday pitched for rationalisation of the existing customs duty rates on various capital goods so as to provide them with greater effective protection from imports. Speaking to Business Line after ... More

ENVIRONMENT

Vedanta refinery project has violated forest laws: Panel
THE Rs 4,500-crore alumina refinery project of Vedanta Alumina Ltd, a Sterlite group company, at Lanjigarh in Kalahandi district of Orissa has suffered a serious setback with a fact-finding team, deputed by the Supreme Court's Central Empowered ... More

Plan to make Bangalore a cleaner city unveiled
IN what has been termed as the first of its kind in the country, the Karnataka Government on Tuesday unveiled an initiative to make Bangalore a cleaner and a healthier city. Unveiling the `Bangalore Declaration', the Karnataka Chief Minister, ... More

HEALTH

Nimesulide `safe' for children
A POST-marketing study on nimesulide conducted by the Kolkata-based International Medical Research Organisation (IMRO) has indicated that the non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug is safe and effective in the treatment of fever and a wide range of ... More

PETROLEUM

GAIL to supply gas to RCF through Dahej-Uran pipeline
GAIL India Ltd has signed a five-year agreement with Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilizers Ltd (RCF) for supplying close to two million cubic metres a day of natural gas through its proposed Dahej-Uran pipeline. This makes RCF among the first ... More

GAIL moots `industry gas plan' for timely supplies
GAIL (India) has proposed developing an `Industry Gas Plan' for closer interaction between the suppliers and the shippers to ensure timely supplies to the customers. "The Industry Gas Plan meetings may be held on a monthly basis. During the ... More

Petroleum Minister in talks with Myanmar officials
THE Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Mr Mani Shankar Aiyar, who is on a visit to Myanmar, had a meeting with the Prime Minister, Lt-Gen Soe Win. Lt-Gen Soe Win welcomed India's participation in the development of the energy sector in ... More

TAXATION

CAs may not be allowed to represent Govt before NTT
THE Government is unlikely to permit chartered accountants (CAs) to represent it before the proposed National Tax Tribunal (NTT) even as the CA community is making a case for such a representation. Official sources said there was no particular ... More

TN Chamber against service tax liability on trade
THE Tamil Nadu Chamber of Commerce and Industry has opposed the shifting of service tax liability on trade and industry and has threatened to launch nationwide agitations if the move is not suspended. Addressing the press here today, the ... More

EDUCATION

Panel to examine foreign varsity entry
IN a clear indication of the Government moving towards permitting foreign universities to set up their establishments in India, the Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Mr Arjun Singh, on Tuesday announced the setting up of a high level ... More

Varsities in pact for research
BANGALORE: Cornell University of the US on Tuesday singed a memorandum of understanding with Dharwad University for collaborative research programmes and exchange of students and faculty and technology in food security, nutrition and ... More

`Destination for education'
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, has said that Kerala will be made an international destination for education. The Chief Minister said this while addressing a team of visiting non-resident entrepreneurs in the ... More

Digital project in AP Govt schools
HYDERABAD: The American India Foundation plans to expand its digital equaliser project to 100 Government or Government-aided schools in the State. It has already computerised course material in 11 schools in Hyderabad and 10 in ... More

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS & HOSPITALS

Karnataka plans to open 5 Govt medical colleges
These colleges will come up in Bidar, Raichur, Belgaum, Mandya and Hassan districts. More

INDUSTRY ASSOCIATIONS

CII meet today to push Bengal's business agenda
THE process of kick-starting the business agenda of West Bengal all afresh in 2005 is set to get a major boost here on Wednesday. The 11th in the series of CII Partnership Summits, and the third in West Bengal, after the last one at 1997 in ... More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Hypersonic travel may become a reality
FLY from Hyderabad to New Delhi in 20 minutes flat! Sounds fiction today, doesn't it. But wait, aeronautical engineers are optimistic that it is in the realm of the possible, in the near future. Today, the flying time between the two ... More

DISINVESTMENT

Govt to offload stake in Maruti, BHEL by fiscal-end
WITH a buoyant stock market and foreign institutional investors reiterating their confidence in the India story, the Government has decided to expedite the proposed sale of a part of its holding in Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) and exit ... More

Privatisation leads to job loss: Experts
WITH liberalisation, globalisation and privatisation, there is a continuous rollback of the State and disinvestment of public enterprises leading to downsizing of both Government and public sector undertakings and thereby leading to job loss, ... More

SOCIAL WELFARE

Kerala Minister assurance on PDS rice
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Food and Civil Supplies Minister, Mr Adoor Prakash, has said that the State Civil Supplies Department will not accept low quality rice from the Food Corporation of India (FCI) depots for public distribution. The ... More

RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Rural telecom: Too many networks foil the booth
The call of exclusive bids for rural telecom operations has presented the country a situation in which one step taken forward is reversed by two in the opposite direction. Sufficient thought does not seem to have been given while giving the ... More

INTERVIEW

`Technological change is instrument of competition'
MR Richard C. Levin, Professor of Economics, has been the President of Yale University for more than ten years now. He has specialised in economics of technological change and is considered an authority on intellectual property rights. He is ... More

EVENTS

Exhibition on architecture
KOTTAYAM: The Indian Institute of Architects ( IIA) Kottayam is organising Architectural World 2005, a complete exhibition of building materials, architecture and interior design products from January 13 to 16, in association with ... More

In Hyderabad today

ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Passion turns hitech business
COLLECTING gadgets from various countries used to be Mr Naveen Bhandari's passion. He has now turned this passion into a business - he sells the latest gadgets in the city. Operating from the congested Athipatan Street, a by-lane off the ... More

INCOME TAX

Revenue Dept clarifies on EoUs
THE Revenue Department has clarified that an undertaking set up in domestic tariff area (DTA) and subsequently converted itself into an export-oriented unit (EoU) and deriving profit from export of articles or things or computer software ... More

EXPORTS & IMPORTS

Export target set at $88 b for next fiscal
BUOYED up by the first nine months export performance of the current fiscal when exports are estimated to have crossed $53 billion, the Commerce Ministry has set the bar of performance a bit higher by fixing an export target of $88 billion for ... More

Commerce Ministry for scrapping export cess on coffee
THE Union Commerce Ministry will make a strong plea for removal of export cess on coffee in the current Budget, according to the Commerce Secretary, Mr S.N. Menon. Exporters should also separately lobby for it, he said, at the annual coffee ... More

NATURAL CALAMITIES

Kerala: Panel to draw up insurance scheme for coastal areas
THE State Government has constituted a seven-member committee with a mandate to chalk out a comprehensive insurance scheme for the coastal population of the State. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the representatives of ... More

Manpower spots Nagapattinam to set up vocation centre
MANPOWER Inc., a global employment services firm, plans to invest $1 million (around Rs 4.5 crore) in a vocational training centre in Tamil Nadu to help rebuild lives of those affected by the tsunami. It has identified Nagapattinam as the most ... More

Tsunami: Fish safe for consumption, says study
SCIENTISTS at the Fisheries College and Research Institute (FCRI), Tuticorin, have said that the fish caught along the Nagapattinam coast is safe for consumption. According to FCRI Dean, Dr R. Santhanam, a study completed by the scientists of ... More

Arvind Mills donates Rs 1 cr for tsunami relief
ARVIND Mills, the cotton textile manufacturer, has contributed Rs 1 crore towards the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund in aid of the victims affected by the tsunami that hitthe country's southern coast. The company also donated denim and ... More

India has sought tsunami aid: World Bank, ADB
THE World Bank and the Asian Development Bank announced today that they have received a request from the Union Government for aid to rehabilitate tsunami-affected people. A press release from the multilateral agency said the assistance ... More

Tata Institute to compile data on tsunami-hit loss
THE Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, will be making a scientific assessment of the damage caused in terms of loss of lives and materials by the tsunami in the coastal districts of the State, to generate data and make them available to ... More

Rs 15-cr aid for fisherfolk in AP
HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh Government has released Rs 13.90 crore to procure new boats/nets and repair boats of fishermen affected due to the tsunami. The Government has also released another Rs 1.45 crore from the Calamity Relief ... More

Contributions to The Hindu Relief Fund

Lanco group gesture

TOURISM

TN bid to get tsunami-hit tourism back on track
THE Tamil Nadu Tourism Department has drawn up an action plan to restore traveller confidence in the State. Since the economies of the some of the affected areas such as Velankanni, Kanyakumari and Mahabalipuram depend on tourists, it is ... More

Kerala orders revamp of district tourism councils
THE State Government has issued orders for the reconstitution and reorganisation of the District Tourism Promotion Councils (DTPCs) set up in all districts of Kerala. According to the Government Order, DTPCs are being restructured based on the ... More

After tsunami, it's business as usual on Kerala beaches
PRAVEEEN and friends were an unhappy lot. When the mild aftershocks of the tsunami receded from the Varkala coastline, it seemed to have taken away their means of livelihood. Praveen and 21 other friends made their living by hiring out beach ... More