The Hindu Business Line : Wednesday, July 12, 2006

EMPLOYMENT
Trends in employment and poverty
To tackle poverty, there is a need to foster the growth of rural enterprises by involving self-help groups and microfinance institutions on a much bigger scale. More

NRIS
TMB hikes NRE, FCNR rates
Tamilnad Mercantile Bank has hiked the interest rate by 30 basis points and 25 basis points for the maturity periods of "1 year to below three 3 years" and "3 years" respectively on its Non-Resident External (NRE) term deposits ... More

CEMENT
Bullish outlook for cement firms on back of higher prices
`There is scope for prices to rise by Rs 20-25 a bag across the country' More

COURTS/LEGAL ISSUES
Lalit Bhasin is new president of IIBA
The Supreme Court lawyer Mr Lalit Bhasin has been appointed as the President of the International Indian Bar Association (IIBA) for 2006-07. Mr Bhasin has taken over the charge from Mr Navneet Chugh, USA. ... More

TDSAT to use SMS as case-alert
After being used for weather alerts and cricket updates, SMS will now be used by the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to alert people about upcoming cases in the court one day in advance. The TDSAT has ... More

ECONOMY
Surge and plunge of the Paris Club
By design or chance, the Paris Club forged links with most other agencies and groups and played the role of a mysterious broker. It had to imbibe the changes in debt regime and operational styles. More

Kerala's fiscal deficit correction on course
Call to reduce public debt as a percentage of GSDP More

ENVIRONMENT
Fishermen object to Vizag textile park
`Effluents from units could hit fisheries' More

EXCISE AND CUSTOMS
Excise, customs duty collections rise in Q1
The Centre's excise duty collections recorded 8.1 per cent growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal to touch Rs 23,560 crore compared with Rs 21,791 crore in the same period last year. Customs duty collections continued to be buoyant ... More

FOREIGN TRADE
Modi signs protocol of cooperation with Astrakhan of Russia
The Gujarat Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, who was on a six-day visit to the Russian Federation along with a 16-member business delegation, has signed a protocol of cooperation with the Astrakhan province Governor, Mr Alexander Zhilkin, ... More

`Net'ting high
AN ARMY personnel walking towards the highest cyber cafe in the world at Sherathang near Nathu La Pass in Sikkim. The cyber café, at 13,600 ft, will help those trading through the re-opened silk route with China. ... More

HEALTH
Chikungunya on the decline in AP
The State Government has said that the incidence of chikungunya is on the decline. Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Dr I.V. Subba Rao, the Principal Secretary (Health), claimed that not many new cases were reported. ... More

PSU
5 PSUs' officers threaten stir on pay-related issues
Officers' associations of five public sector undertakings, including NTPC, Coal India, and SAIL, today threatened to go on strike if the Government failed to meet their demands, including greater financial autonomy on deciding pay and allowances ... More

PETROLEUM
GAIL in talks with Yemen Govt for LNG
For sourcing of gas for Dabhol, LNG project More

POWER
CERC moots uniform tariff for SERCs
Plans to implement `open access' policy for all power distribution More

Tata Power signs pact with Siemens arm
To take part in tariff based bidding process More

TEXTILES
Sisspa urges TUFS loans continuation
The South India Small Spinners Association (Sisspa) has said that capacity building in the textile industry being capital-intensive, the stoppage of technology upgradation fund scheme (TUFS), which provides capital subsidy in the form of interest ... More

SSI
ICAI proposes to come up with newer accounting standards
The institute feels the need to support the cause of small and medium enterprises, many of which have gained great significance in recent years. Independent directors must play key role, says chief More

TRAVEL & PLACES
Pak mulls spl visa window for Indians
Pakistan is considering setting up a special window to provide visas on preference to Indian businesspersons, said Mr Aziz Ahmed Khan, High Commissioner of Pakistan. He added that genuine traders and businesspersons from India ... More

TERRORISM
Train blasts rock Mumbai
Over 100 people killed, more than 250 injured at 7 places More

`It felt like large stones were pelting down on the train roof'
Ms Usha Nair, an Office Assistant in Business Line here, was on the train in which the first blast went off. She gives her account of her experience: On Monday, I took the 5.57-p.m. suburban local train home after work. This is the train ... More

Cellphones of no help in crisis situations
Television footage of Monday's wounded commuters in Mumbai fumbling with their cellphones to call someone, somewhere, got people asking themselves this question: why, during every crisis in the city, do telephone networks get jammed? Is it ... More

EDUCATION
Alumni give Rs 1-crore endowment to IIMA
In a unique gesture and as a mark of expressing gratitude to the society, a group of alumni of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA), working with the US-based equity firm Warburg Pincus, has given an endowment of Rs 1 crore to ... More

CARS
June car sales up 24.5 pc as price hikes loom
Motorcycle sales jump 26.9% More

MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS & HOSPITALS
Fortis gearing up for mega facility in Gurgaon
Announces launch of its 12th hospital More

REAL ESTATE & CONSTRUCTION
Confusion on eve of Century Textiles AGM
Ownership claim over land which houses mill by Wadias crops up More

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
Insat-4C loss: ISRO to decide on accommodating DTH operators
Alternative transponders for Sun TV; its DTH foray by year-end More

ISRO crash probe panel soon
ISRO is setting up a failure analysis committee to determine why the GSLV-F02 rocket went awry and crashed on Monday. The FAC will comprise aerospace scientists drawn from ISRO and from academic institutions, its spokesman, Mr S. Krishnamurthy ... More

Foundation ceremony
THE PRIME MINISTER, Dr Manmohan Singh, and the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, at the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research in Kolkata on ... More

CINEMA
FICCI moots growth strategy for film industry
Uniformity in entertainment tax, other concessions sought More

DISINVESTMENT
Sticklish singles
More

CREDIT RATING
ICRA appoints new Directors
Credit rating agency ICRA Ltd has announced induction of four new Directors onto its board — Mr Piyush G. Mankad, formerly Executive Director, Asian Development Bank, Mr Amal Ganguli, formerly Chairman and senior Partner, ... More

NATURAL CALAMITIES
Kerala seeks disaster relief from Centre
The State proposes to seek Rs 991.50 crore from the Centre under the disaster management programme for rehabilitation and reconstruction for damages resulting from natural calamities over the past few years. Speaking to presspersons here after ... More

TOURISM
Goa to have two more international flights
Goa is poised to welcome two international scheduled flights in October-November to enhance its foreign tourist inflow from charters in the tourist season ahead. The President of Travel and Tourism Association of Goa (TTAG), Mr Ralph de Souza, ... More

ECONOMIC OFFENCES
Corruption and reform
It would appear that, with time, the UPA Government led by the Congress is getting more unstable, the reason being that the coalition partners (both inside and outside the Government) are finding it increasingly difficult to share the same ... More