Govt defers crop loan recovery, to set up fund for growers
New Delhi,Wednesday, November 13, 2002: In a major debt relief to drought-hit farmers, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee today announced that Government will not recover crop loans this year and set up a Rs 500 crore corpus to help plantation growers.
"Considering the gravity of the situation, I have decided to give direct relief to the farmers from payment of crop loans extended to them", Vajpayee said in a statement here.
"The Government has, therefore, decided not to effect any recovery of crop loan, including interest, during the current financial year. This benefit will cover farmers in the affected areas, including plantation sector", he said.
Vajpayee said the Rs.500 crore corpus, being created with a substantial contribution from the Centre, would be used for providing relief to growers during depressed market conditions. The details of the scheme would be finalised shortly in consultation with the Finance Ministry.
The Prime Minister's announcement came ahead of the crucial meeting of the Task Force headed by Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani which is expected to decide further release of funds and foodgrains to the drought-hit states.
The Centre has already released Rs 1186 crore under Calamity Relief Fund to 14 affected states apart from 13.25 lakh tonnes of foodgrains worth Rs 1500 crore.
Vajpayee also assured that modernisation of the processing industry in the plantation sector would get full support from the Centre and said repayment of loans given to coffee growers were being rescheduled upto a maximum of 11 years.
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Astrostat launch by by 2006: K Kasturirangan
Chandigarh,Wednesday, November 13, 2002: India would soon launch indigenously built specialised scientific research satellite Astrostat to learn more about deep space, Chairman Space Commission and Secretary, Department of Space K Kasturirangan has said.
The satellite has detectors to monitor different types of radio frequencies, X-rays and electromagnetic radiations which would give insight into deeper space and "significantly increase our understanding of space systems," Kasturirangan told PTI here.
The launch is likely to take place in 2005-06, he said.
Kasturirangan said there were plans to establish with five to eight years a unique space observatory which would have the facility to study different objects - including neutron stars and black holes - at different wavelengths simultaneously.
Asked how significant would these developments be, he said "We call it front-ranking science".
Kasturirangan said the observatory project would involve collaboration between various agencies across the country including Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, Inter University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, ISRO, Raman Research Institute, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, all from Bangalore.
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Five arrested in connection with lynching of Dalits
Chandigarh,Wednesday, November 13, 2002: Haryana police has arrested five persons in connection with recent mob violence leading to lynching of five Dalits in Jhajjar district recently, police said today.
The five arrested were residents of village Sura on the basis of investigations conducted by police after an angry mob beat to death five dalits near police post in Dulina village on the Gurgaon-Jhajjar road, they said.
Residents of Sura and adjoining villages immediately blocked traffic on the road protesting the arrest of the five.
Further investigations were in progress, the sources said adding that senior civil and police officers of Jhajjar, including Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police, have reached the spot.
The state government was still awaiting the report of Commissioner of Rohtak Division R R Banswal, who had enquired lynching of five dalits who were allegedly peeling off skin of a cow.
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VHP to defy yatra ban
Ahmedabad: A defiant Vishwa Hindu Parishad on Wednesday said that its yatra would go ahead despite the ban imposed by the Election Commission even as the state government said it would have to obey the directive of the EC not to allow the programme to go ahead.
While the political leadership of the BJP maintained a studied silence on the issue, after hearing about the EC's directive, Chief Minister Narendra Modi convened a meeting of senior officials to discuss the fallout of the decision taken by the EC, based on the report of the state government.
"We don't bother about the decision taken by the EC and we are going ahead with the yatra as scheduled," said Dilip Trivedi, general secretary of VHP's Gujarat unit, even as the VHP's international general secretary Dr Pravin Togadia said that he would make his stand clear at a press conference on Thursday.
As per the schedule, the Hindu Pat Padshahi Yatra was scheduled to commence from Godhra on November 17 and culminate at Gandhinagar on December 6, the anniversary of the demolition of the Babri Masjid, which is being observed as 'Vijay Diwas' by the VHP across the country.
The EC had sought a report on the yatra from the state government amid reports that the VHP planned to display replicas of the burnt down Sabarmati Express bogie during the yatra which was to be led by scores of Hindu seers from across the country.
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India wants greater scientific ties with EU
Brussels,Wednesday, November 13, 2002: India favours stronger scientific ties with the member countries of the European Union (EU) especially in the field of climate change to benefit not only the participating countries but the entire world.
"Strengthening of the scientific and technological collaboration between India and European Union would be greatly beneficial not only to these nations but the entire world," Minister for Science and Technology Dr Murli Manohar Joshi said at the European Policy Centre as a special invitee on Indian Contribution, here Tuesday night.
This is in the backdrop of the twin issues looming large over the globe -- the unchecked ever-increasing exploitation of the limited resources of the planet and the resultant climate change posing danger to the very existence of the mankind, Joshi said.
Appreciating the increasing awareness about these issues in Europe and many other parts of the world, Joshi said "India and the EC nations can collaboarte in a big way in tackling these problems because of the expertise available with us and easy mobilisation of funds."
Joshi said in view of the availability of infrastructure and expertise, a Centre for Excellence in Climate Control was to be established in India.
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Pak Navy negotiates with China to acquire battle ships
Islamabad,Wednesday, November 13, 2002: Pakistan is in talks with China to acquire F-22 Frigates in order to gain "credible combat power" and has finalised contracts to build guided missile boats, its Naval Chief, Admiral Shahid Karimullah, has said.
The talks are underway and very soon these "latest state of the art ships" would be flying Pakistani flag, he told a meeting of Naval officials yesterday, APP new agency reported.
He said Pakistan Navy actively pursued the proposal to acquire F-22 Frigates from China as the Government here has approved to carry out negotiations.
Karimullah, however, did not disclose the number of ships Pakistan would be acquiring.
It was not yet announced here whether the Pakistan Navy proposed to buy them or acquire them on lease.
Admiral Karimullah also said that the contract for the construction of guided missile boats has also been concluded.
The report however did not mention the country to which the contracts have been given.
The acquisition of these missile boats and ships equipped with latest guided missiles would enhance the strike capability of Pakistan Navy manifold, the Naval Chief said.
"We are also pursuing a number of up-gradation and modernisation programmes both through utilising our local expertise and foreign assistance in order to fulfil the demands of Fleet", he said.
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India, Australia seek greater cooperation in maritime service
Sydney,Wednesday, November 13, 2002: Seeking Australian investment in India's defence industry, New Delhi and Canberra today called for greater bialteral cooperation in the maritime services.
Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Madhvendra Singh today discussed areas of bilateral defence cooperation during a series of meetings held in Canberra with Australian Defence Minister Robert Hill, Vice Chief of Defence Services Rear Admiral Russ Shalders and Chief of Australian Navy Vice Admiral Chris Ritchie.
India sought Australia's cooperation in training of naval personnel, ship-building and increased goodwill visits by warships and conducting joint exercises, Singh said.
Singh, who is the first Indian chief of Navy to visit the continent, also held round table discussions with senior Australian Navy officials and inspected the Coast Watch Organisation, which is the Australian equivalent of India's Coastguard.
He informed his counterparts that the India has recently allowed private sector participation in the defence industry upto 100 per cent and with Foreign Direct Investment permissible upto 26 per cent both subject to licensing, for manufacture of all types of defence equipment within the country.
Hill said India is an important strategic partner and Singh's visit marks a good beginning and the two countries will build stronger relations based on it.
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Guidelines for publication of Indian editions of foreign mags
New Delhi,Wednesday, November 13, 2002: Government today issued the guidelines for publication of Indian editions of foreign non-news and non-current affairs magazines, journals and periodicals in which a total foreign investment of 74 per cent has been allowed approval will be given on a case-by-case basis.
Each application shall be processed by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry after due inter-ministerial consultations to decide whether the proposed publication is covered under the category of scientific, technical or speciality magazine, an official release said.
Representatives of the ministries concerned or specialist bodies and language experts will also be associated in the task though in appropriate cases the Information and Broadcasting Ministry will issue an approval.
This approval will be subject to compliance with provisions of the Press and Registration of Books Act and Rules for publication of foreign journals or 'No Objection Certificate' for foreign investment, the release said.
The Union Cabinet had given its nod in June allowing foreign investment with a 74 per cent cap in non-news and non-current affairs publications while in the case of news and current affairs print media it would be upto 26 per cent.
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Views on divestment cannot be termed differences: Advani
New Delhi,Wednesday, November 13, 2002: Making light of the controversy over disinvestment, Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani has said that views on the mode of privatisation cannot be called "differences" within Government.
He also said in an interview to PTI that the Kelkar Taskforce recommendations on tax reforms were only a consultation paper to elicit public opinion and not a Government decision yet.
To a question on differences within the Government on disinvestment policy, Advani said " "there are no differences."
"Just because there are two views on the disinvestment of the two oil companies (Hindustan petroleum and Bharat Petroleum), it cannot be said there are differences," he said.
Even those who were committed to liberalisation and disinvestment had two views on the mode of privatisation through strategic route, Advani said.
To present this as differences within the government was not proper, he said, adding that government had been pursing the disinvestment policy for the last four years.
On Kelkar's reforms on which even sections of BJP had expressed reservations, the Deputy Prime Minister said he had a brief discussion with Finance Minister Jaswant Singh.
He said he had not gone through the recommendations yet and that the Finance Minister himself was not in agreement with some of the things mentioned in the report.
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Mechanism to compensate revenue loss of states
New Delhi,Wednesday, November 13, 2002: Government today said it will provide a "safety net" to compensate revenue loss to states with the implementation of Value Added Tax system from April one, 2003.
"In case states lose out (with implementation of VAT), there will be a mechanism to compensate loss of revenue, Finance Secretary S.Narayan said adding "a safety net" will be provided to states.
Singling out multiplicity of taxes as a major reason the tax structure not being transparent, Narayan told a FICCI seminar that arbitrariness would get largely eliminated with the implementation of VAT all over the country.
He said Government was against tax incentives for boosting investment, implying that some of the exemptions to industry would go in the coming budget
"Tax system should be competitive and cetainly not as an incentive to investment as past experience has shown that such incentives have not helped in boosting investment," Narayan said inaugurating the seminar on "India's Tax Competitiveness".
Two years ago Government gave Rs 15,000 to Rs 17,000 crore worth of tax incentives and there was no comensurate increase in investment as the impediments were elsewhere infrastructure and not in the tax system, he said.
Narayan said the Rs 251 crore project for computer networking of tax department approved by cabinet yesterday would revolutionise the tax administation.
The project when implemented in two to three years would create a data base to track down every transaction made by a tax payer and make the system "hassle-free".
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India to become global hub for mission critical work: Gates
Bangalore,Wednesday, November 13, 2002: Microsoft chief Bill Gates said today that India was on course to become a global hub for 'mission critical activity' in software as it was increasingly earning a reputation for its quality work and delivery on time.
Addressing developers here, Gates, on his maiden visit here, said two-three years back, if companies decided to do their mission critical work in India, it was then considered to involve enormous risk but no longer.
Gates said that in the last couple of years, Indian companies such as NASDAQ-listed Infosys Technologies Limited, based here, had built a worlwide reputation and earned a name for delivering quality work on schedule.
In the next few years, he predicted, firms in the US and Europe would be sure to insist that Indian companies be considered for doing all mission critical work.
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ICC to take drastic measures against unruly venues
London,Wednesday, November 13, 2002: The venues which witnessed crowd trouble during the first three one-dayers between India and West Indies could be banned from staging any more international matches if the Safety and Security Committee of the ICC, which is meeting shortly, takes a decision to this effect.
"We have asked this committee to consider appropriate penalties for venues which consistently fail to meet their obligations in meeting minimum standards of security.
"This is likely to include the ultimate sanction of withdrawing international status from a ground, combined with a heavy financial penalty," International Cricket Council chief executive Malcolm Speed said in a statement last night.
The ICC's attempt to expand its powers to remove international status from venues was prompted by the crowd- trouble during the third one-day international between India and West Indies at Rajkot yesterday.
Chasing a victory target of 301 in 50 overs, India were 200 for one in the 28th over when a section of the crowd threw objects at the West Indies players forcing the match referee Mike Procter to abandon the match and declare the hosts winner under the Duckworth-Lewis system.
The first two one-day internationals at Jamshedpur and Nagpur respectively were also affected by crowd trouble but play was able to continue.
Though at present the ICC does not have any authority to remove the international status of a venue, Speed said that the option will be considered by the imminent meeting of the Safety and Security Committee.
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Shoaib Akhtar found guilty of ball tampering
HARARE: Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar has been found guilty of ball tampering in the first Test against Zimbabwe, match referee Clive Lloyd said on Wednesday.
Lloyd confirmed the umpires had reported the matter to him and there was agreement that Shoaib had changed the condition of the ball illegally during the match which ended with Pakistan's 119-run victory on Tuesday with a day to spare.
"The umpires and I inspected the ball and it was clear to us that it had been scratched," Lloyd said.
Lloyd replied in the affirmative when asked whether the guilty player was Shoaib, adding "we have severely reprimanded him". He said no further action would be taken.
The Pakistani team management was not immediately available for comment.
Umpires Srinivas Venkataraghavan and Dave Orchard had two discussions with Pakistan captain Waqar Younis and Shoaib before and after lunch on Tuesday over the condition of the ball.
Shoaib left the field immediately after the second discussion, which followed his 14th over. He returned to bowl the penultimate over before tea.
The Pakistani express bowler finished with a match analysis of seven for 118.
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