Dubai, 19 July 2004 keralamonitor.com Gulfmonitor.com

DUBAI - Abdullah AbdulRahman, Acting Director of Finance Department in Dubai Municipality on Monday received Dastan Zholdassov, an official from the Ministry of Economy and Budget Planning of Republic of Kazakhstan.The visiting official, who was accompanied by Khazbek from the Consulate General of Kazakhstan in Dubai, was briefed about the experiences of Dubai Municipality in the field of economic development. Abdullah AbdulRahman gave a presentation on the history of the Finance Department in the Municipality and explained the work of different sections in the department such as the use of modern technology.The Kazakhstan official praised the great pace of development witnessed by Dubai in different fields, especially in the economic development. He also called for increased co-operation between Dubai and Kazakhstan and exchange of expertise between the two countries. Photo: Abdullah AbdulRahman receives the Kazakhstan visitors.

Dubai Municipality on Monday honoured 117 employees

Dubai, 19 July 2004

Photo: One of the employees is being honoured.

Dubai Municipality on Monday honoured 117 employees as part of the annual honouring programme for the employees who completed ten years of service with the civic body. Speaking on the occasion, Eng. Hussain Nasser Lootah, Assistant Director General for Environment and Public Health Affairs said that the higher administration of the Municipality has always been appreciative of the effort of the employees in making the civic body a model department.

Lootah, who is also Head of the Evaluation Committee in the Municipality for Dubai Government Excellence Programme, said he is sure that Dubai Municipality can achieve excellence in all fields by the sincere efforts of the hard working employees. Lootah also wished all the honoured employees success in their future career.

The honoured employees belonged to different departments under the sectors of Planning and Buildings Affairs, Roads and General Projects Affairs, Technical Services, Environment and Public Health Affairs, Administrative and General Services Affairs and Finance and Properties Affairs.

The ceremony was also attended by Eng. Mattar Al Tayer, Assistant Director General for Roads and General Projects Affairs, Eng. Abdulla Mohammed Rafia, Assistant Director General for Environment and Public Health Affairs, Eng. Mohammed AbdulKarim Julfar, Assistant Director General for Finance and Properties Affairs, and Eng. Abdullah AbdulRahman Al Shaibani, Assistant Director General for Technical Services, directors of different departments and heads of sections and units.

Kerala MPs Meet Power Minister

A delegation of 14 MPs from Kerala met the Union Power Minister Shri P.M. Sayeed in New Delhi today. The meeting had been called at the initiative of the Power Minister in view of some issues on pending power projects raised by the MPs, a few days ago in Parliament. Addressing the MPs, the Power Minister pointed out that under the 50,000 MW Hydro Electric initiative taken by the Central Government, two Hydro-Electric schemes of Kerala namely Barapole and Perinjankutty were to have pre-feasibility reports. Of this, the pre-feasibility of Perinjankutty has already been prepared. The project is estimated to cost Rs.360.81 crore. The Minister also informed the MPs about the four schemes of Kerala having an installed capacity of about 160 MW, to be renovated and upgraded under the Renovation , Modernisation and Upgradation Programme.

During the meeting, the Power Minister clarified that no project of the State Government was pending with his Ministry for clearance. The MPs appreciated the initiative taken by the Minister and requested him to expedite all clearances. In particular two schemes namely Athirapalli Hydro Electric Project and the Kuriarkutti project, came up for detailed discussions. In both these projects, it was found that revised proposal or clarification were awaited from the State Government.

The Minister assured the MPs that the bare minimum time would be taken by the Power Ministry for clearing State Projects. He promised the MPs that he will facilitate early clearance of power projects so that installed capacity could be increased. Members profoundly thanked the Minister for his initiative in organizing this extra-ordinary meeting.

FACT SHEET

The production of vanila in the country has increased from 60 tonnes in 2001-02 to 133.62 tonnes in 2003-04. Of the total production in 2003-04, Karnataka contributed 82.36 tonnes, Kerala 33.44 tonnes and Tamil Nadu 17.82 tonnes. In 2002-03, these States produced 54.31, 18.56 and 19.07 tonnes of vanilla respectively.

144 Foreign Universities in India

Rajya Sabha

There are 144 foreign universities/colleges/institutions are offering various courses of study to the Indian students. This information was compiled by the Association of Indian Universities sometime back, on the basis of advertisements appearing in the Indian newspapers.

Out of them 117 offer programmes on their home campuses and the remaining 27 are conducting programmes in India through their Indian partners. Though the Government has not received any specific complaint about fake foreign universities/educational institutions enrolling Indian students, with a view of averting such an eventuality Indian Missions in major foreign countries such as United States of America, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand were asked to check on the antecedents and credibility of educational institutions from these countries. The feed back received from the Missions has revealed that some of these institutions are not approved/accredited by the relevant agencies in their home countries and the Ministry has since approached Ministry of External Affairs before taking up the matter with the Missions of the relevant foreign countries in India.

The Government has also asked the National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA) to conduct a detailed survey on operation of foreign educational institutions in the country covering various aspects including their accreditation in their own countries and the twinning arrangements with local institutions. All India Council for Technical Education has also notified the "AICTE Regulations for Entry and Operation of Foreign Universities in India imparting technical education, 2003", according to which no foreign university/institution shall establish/operate its educational activity in India leading to award of diploma/degree including post graduate and doctoral qualifications without the express permission/approval of the Council.This information was given by the Minister of State for Human Resource Development Shri M.A.A Fatmi in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today.