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Economic Highlights
ANDHRA REVIVES DEVELOPMENT BOARDS,5 March 2007 |
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Spotlight
New Delhi, 5 March 2007
ANDHRA REVIVES
DEVELOPMENT BOARDS
NEW DELHI, March 6 (INFA): The Andhra Pradesh
Government has decided to revive the Regional Development Boards for its three
regions---Telangana, Rayalaseema and Coastal Andhra.
The decision has been taken in a bid to address the concerns of political parties over uneven
development of backward areas, especially Telangana which has already stepped
up its demand for a separate Statehood.
One of the main reasons for the prolonged Statehood demand
is the continuous neglect of the region.
In his address to
the assembly, the State’s Governor,
Rameshwar Thakur had admitted that “in spite of all the care that the successive Governments have taken to ensure balance
between various regions, there still exists a feeling among sections of people
that some regions have remained less
developed than other regions..”
It was the previous Telugu Desam Government, headed by N.T.
Rama Rao that abolished the regional development boards in 1983. In view of the
decisions of the present Congress
Government on the revival of the development boards, political circles are
optimistic that regional development will receive a fillip thus bringing
contentment and all-round happiness
among the Telugus. Three cheers to the Congress
and its Chief Minister.---INFA
THE BILLION TREE
CAMPAIGN
NEW DELHI, February 6 (INFA): The United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is launching a major worldwide tree
planting campaign. Under the Plant for the Planet: The Billion Tree Campaign,
people, communities, organizations and governments will be encouraged to enter
tree planting pledges on a website with the objective of planting at least one
billion trees worldwide during 2007.
In addition to focusing on tree planting and the issue of deforestation, the Campaign will play a
broader symbolic purpose, highlighting issues
such as climate change, air quality, integrated water resource management,
biodiversity conservation etc.
The UNEP will work with civil society organizations, the
private sector and governments in al regions of the world to build on the successful model of the Plant for the Planet campaign.
Recognizing that there are many such tree planting schemes
round the world, UNEP proposes to federate these efforts in the context of the
existing UNEP Plant for the Planet campaign, by launching a major worldwide
Plant for the Planet: The Billion Tree Campaign.---INFA
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EFFORTS TO REDUCE INDUSTRIAL SICKNESS,3 March 2007 |
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Spotlight
New Delhi, 3 March 2007
EFFORTS TO REDUCE
INDUSTRIAL SICKNESS
NEW DELHI, March 4 (INFA): The Board of
Industrial Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) of the Union Government had received
between May 1987 and September as many as 6,991 references under the Sick
Industrial Companies (Special Provision) Act (SICA) 1985. The Board recommends
on how sick industries could be revived or closed down if revival is not possible.
With these references received, 5,412 were registered under
section 15 of SICA; 1,707 were dismissed
as non-maintainable under the Act; 760 rehabilitation schemes, including 12 by
Appellate Authority of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (AAIFR)/ Supreme
Court, were sanctioned and 1,303 companies were recommended to be wound up.
As many as 485 companies have been declared ‘no longer sick’
and were discharged from the purview of SICA on their net worth turning
positive after the implementation of the schemes.
Among the 296 references for PSUs, 213 (91 CPSUs and 122
SPSUs) were registered up to September 30, 2006. Rehabilitation schemes were
sanctioned for 28 CPSUs and 26 SPSUs. It was recommended that 29 CPSUs and 40
CPSUs be wound up. 9 CPSUs and 14 CPSUs were declared ‘no longer sick’.
The continued decline in the number of strikes and lockouts
indicates an improvement in industrial relations in the country. The number of
strikes and lockouts, taken together, was down by .4 per cent in 2005. During
the current year, as per the available information till September, 2006 West Bengal
experienced the maximum instances of strikes and lockout followed by Tamil Nadu
and Gujarat. Industrial disturbances were
concentrated mainly in textile, financial intermediaries (excluding insurance
and pension fund), engineering and chemical industries.
REVOLT IN TDP
HYDERABAD, March 4 (INFA): Open defiance by
senior leaders, dissension among
local cadres and lack of popular support is causing concern to the TDP
President, N. Chandrababu Naidu. But, as the leader of the Opposition since the
Party lost power in May 2004, Naidu has not been able to galvanise his partymen
to launch popular agitations on important public issues.
The party is frittering away its scarce resources on non-issues which do not concern the public at large.
The TDP leaders, including former ministers, ex-MLAs, former
MPs and party functionaries, have virtually taken a long holiday from active
politics and this is one reason why the Party cadres have also gone into
hibernation. Only when Naidu gives a call for organizing a protest dharna on
some issues or other do these
leaders and cadres make their guest appearance and again go back to their
personal preoccupations.
Some recent happenings indicate the said state of affairs in
the TDP. Narsipatnam MLA Ch. Ayyannapatrudu raised a banner of revolt against
Naidu over the selection of Party candidates for the Greater Visakhapatnam
Municipal Corporation elections. The Party launched a membership enrolment and
renewal drive but realizing that popular support has waned it had to bring down
the target drastically.
The TDP’s so-called Statewide agitation against the Congress Government’s alleged anti-poor policies recently
turned out to be a flop show. The TDP is
also waging a fruitless agitation
demanding the location of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at
Basar.---INFA
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GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR INDIA’s GROWTH,1 March 2007 |
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Spotlight
New Delhi, 1 March 2007
GLOBAL SUPPORT FOR INDIA’s GROWTH
NEW DELHI, March 2 (INFA): The external
economic environment is likely to remain supportive of India’s growth
momentum in the coming year. Global
output growth during the year has been projected at 4.9 per cent according to
the Economic Survey, 2006-07.
With the ongoing upswing in investment, exports are expected
to continue with its observed buoyance in recent years. Simultaneously, rising
investment and higher growth will also result in higher imports. But a
continuation of the relatively benign crude prices of recent months will have a
softening impact on import growth.
The current account of the balance of payments, which had
turned into a deficit in 2004-05 and 2005-06, is likely to remain in deficit in
2006-07.
However, going forward, this deficit may come down with rapid
growth in invisible (particularly software and business
services) receipts, higher exports, and a slowing down of import growth.
From the investment-saving perspective to the current
account, the Survey has observed increase in the domestic savings rate, with
accelerating growth and declining dependency ratio, also supports such a
prognosis.
While downside risks from volatile crude prices and large
global imbalances remain, with strong capital flows---particularly of the
non-debt variety---financing the current account deficit through surplus on the
capital account should not pose difficulties.
In fact, it is quite likely that the ‘problems of plenty’
with large increase in foreign exchange reserves will continue with its associated implications for monetary management.
The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister has
raised certain valid issues in the
context of projections of BoP for 2006-07 like the need to reconcile divergence
of trade data between DGSI&S and RBI, the need to cut delays and ensure its
timely availability, and minimizing the extent of revisions.
Though beyond the final revisions of data (or even after
about a year) there has been lesser
divergence, the estimation of the various parameters of external sector, so
critical for its management, has become arduous.
The movement towards fuller capital account convertibility
may also require a sound system of monitoring of the external sector variables
and hence a modern real time system of data management is an imperative, lest
the ability of the country to diagnose the symptoms of a crisis in time and
take corrective action stands compromised.---INFA
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BOOST TO FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRY, 26 February 2007 |
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Spotlight
New Delhi, 26 February 2007
BOOST TO FOOD
PROCESSING INDUSTRY
NEW DELHI, February 27 (INFA): The Union
Ministry of Food Processing
Industries has prepared a “Vision Document 2015” for giving a boost to the
growth of food processing sector.
The Document envisages trebling of the size of the sector by
increasing the level of processing
of perishables from 6 per cent to 20 per cent, value addition from 20 per cent
to 35 per cent and share in the global food trade from 1.5 per cent to 3 per
cent.
Under the Vision 2015, the thrust areas identified for
strategic intervention are, establishment of mega food parks, modernization of
abattoirs, cold chain value addition and preservation infrastructure, upgrading
safety and quality of street food and establishment, upgradation of quality
control laboratories. The Ministry has identified strategies along with a
detailed action plan in this regard to realize the Vision.
A Group of Ministers (GoM) under the chairmanship of
Minister for Agriculture, Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution,
Sharad Pawar, has been set up to consider an Integrated Strategy for Promotion
of Agri-Business: Vision, Strategy
and Action Plan for Food Processing
Sector. The GoM held several meetings. The provisions of its facilities shall
come into force from such date as the Central Government may notify in the
official Gazette.
The main objective of the Bill is to bring about a single
statute relating to food and establish Food Safety and Standards Authority with
a view to (a) lay down food standards, (b) effectively regulate manufacture,
import, storage, distribution and sale of food to ensure consumer safety and
promote global trade, (c) pool infrastructure, manpower, testing facilities and
(d) rationalize and strengthen existing enforcement mechanism.
It has been decided to set up a National Institute of Food
Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) at Kundli, Haryana as an
International Centre of excellence which will work synergistically with the
industry and similar institutions. The Institute would have 15 theme centres on
food technology, management and international trade.
The street food sector in India is currently completely
unregulated. This has often been a concern for public health authorities. There
have been periodic attempts by local authorities to do away with street food
vending. There is a need to regulate street food vending in India and to
bring it within the organized sector.
MFPI has therefore decided to take the initiative in this direction
along with industry associations,
NGOs, municipal bodies and Ministries of Urban Development, Poverty
Alleviation, Panchayat Raj Institutions and Tourism with a view to improve the
safety of food in the streets.
The effort will be to ensure safety and facilitate value
addition, which would lead to increase in income level of food vendors. Six
Pilot projects are proposed to be taken up in Delhi,
Chennai, Kolkata, Agra,
Mumbai and Guwahati. ---INFA
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FIRST ELEVEN MONTHS OF NREGA,24 February 2007 |
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Spotlight
New Delhi, 24 February 2007
FIRST ELEVEN MONTHS
OF NREGA
NEW DELHI, February 26 (INFA): As many as one
crore and thirty lakh people in 200 most backward districts in 27 States have
been provided employment under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(NREGA) during the first eleven months of its launch on February, 2006.
The NREG Act constitutes the first step towards realizing
the right to work as enshrined in the Directive Principles of State Policy in
the Constitution. Article 39 states that “the state shall, in particular,
direct its policy towards securing: “that the citizens, men and women equally,
have the right to an adequate means of livelihood.”
The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act empowers
ordinary people to demand their constitutional right to work by placing a
corresponding duty on the State to implement that right.
As many as 43 per cent of those provided employment are
women. Among the beneficiaries, 45 per cent belong to Scheduled Castes and 32
per cent to Scheduled Tribes.
Two thousand five hundred lakh person days of employment has
been provided under the programme through execution of about 2 lakh 30 thousand
works of which almost half have been completed.
These works are predominantly for water and soil conservation,
forestation and land development, thus creating durable rural assets.
Fifty per cent of the works are implemented by gram
panchayats. Contractors and machinery are out of bounds from NREGA works, which
have to be labour intensive with 60 per cent funds being spent on wages alone.
Care has been taken to dispense with fears expressed from time to time about slippage of NREGA funds
or robbing the poor workers of their hard earned wages.
The Act allows for the public inspection of documents on
payment of a fee and regular social audits of the scheme’s implementation by
the gram sabha.
There is also provision for inspection of all works by block
level officials, 10 per cent of works by district level officers and two per
cent of works by State level officers.
Moreover, the Rural Development Ministry has been regularly
urging State authorities to set up local vigilance and monitoring committees. The
NIC has developed web-enabled MIS software for application from the village to
the Ministry level, which has been provided to all States before launching the
NREGA.
The monitoring initiatives by the Centre include 137
National Level Monitoring visits, 29 visits by Area officers, review meetings
and state specific reviews and field inspections, as well as independent professional studies.
The findings are being shared with States. Fund transfer is
being done directly to districts, which are expected to place required amounts
with gram panchayats and other implementing agencies. ---INFA
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