2 February 2005

Dont Leave the Country: Health Minister Urges Indian Nurses

Dr. Anbumani Ramadoss, Minister of Health & Family Welfare has urged the nurses not to leave the country but to stay on as their services are required for the nation. He urged them to go to rural areas. Dr. Ramadoss was speaking at a function to inaugurate a nurses residential complex here today. The Minister said that the 413 flats that have been made available today would roughly meet twenty per cent of the housing needs of the 3,000 nurses in the city. Built at a cost of Rs. 36.69 crore, the complex has 413 dwellings and would help house nurses from Safdarjung Hospital, Dr. Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Lady Hardinge Medical College Hospital and Kalawati Saran Children’s Hospital.

(He said India produces the largest number of nurses in the world with about 9,00,000 nurses in the country and are always in demand.) Dr. Ramadoss said a National Institute of Nursing needs to be set up in the country. He said four Regional Institutes will also be set up. This would enable the nurses to continue nursing education for the advancement of techniques. Dr. Ramadoss suggested that nursing services needs to be recognized in the country. For this, something on the lines of the Padma Awards needs to be established he added. Smt. Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi presided over the function. Dr. R.K. Srivastava, DGHS welcomed the gathering.

Deora-Yachoori Discuss Petroleum Price

Shri Murli Deora, the Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas has emphasised that the prices of essential commodities like PDS Kerosene and domestic LPG needs to be affordable for the consumers particularly the poor and vulnerable section of the society. Shri Deora held discussions with the senior CPM leader Shri Sitaram Yechuri on the issue of prices of the sensitive petroleum products in view of the rising international oil prices. The Minister informed that as the Government accords highest priority to the interest of the weakest and vulnerable section of the society, there is no intention to increase prices of PDS Kerosene and domestic LPG. Shri Deora apprised Shri Yechuri that the solutions to restore the financial health of Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) would be soon found keeping this in mind.

The Minister also had discussions with Dr. C. Rangarajan who heads the inter-ministerial committee to suggest pricing and taxation policy of petroleum products and called upon the Committee to submit their report at the earliest. Shri Deora explained that OMCs (IOC, BPCL, HPCL and IBP) have incurred a cumulative loss of about Rs. 2898 crore during April-December, 2005 against a net profit of Rs.5223 crore during the corresponding period of previous year. The losses assume greater proportion if we take into account the Rs.9751 crore assistance provided to OMCs by upstream oil companies. Considering that international prices of crude oil and petroleum products are still at very high level and that there is no intention to increase the prices of PDS kerosene and domestic LPG which is used by the vulnerable section of society, the recommendations of the Committee would help government find a balanced solution.

Jordanian On-line editor prosecuted

AMMAN, 29 January (IRIN) - Human right activists have called on the government to drop charges filed against the editor of an opposition party website for posting articles written by parliamentarians more than a year ago."We want freedom of press as high as the sky, as King Abdullah said recently," said Nidal Mansour, director of the Centre for Defending the Freedom of Journalists (CDFJ). "But, given this case, the Jordanian government is clearly not going in this direction, and we condemn it."On 5 January, prosecutors at the State Security Court (SSC) charged Jamil Abu Bakr, editor of the Islamic Action Front (IAF) party's website, with "belittling the dignity of the Jordanian state". The charge referred to articles posted in December 2004 on an IAF webpage.

The incriminating articles, which criticised alleged favouritism in the appointment of senior government officials, were written by two IAF representatives, Azzam al-Hunaidi and Ali Abu Sukkar.The IAF currently holds 17 seats in the lower house of parliament.In early 2005, a civilian court dismissed charges against Abu Bakr. But while civilian courts are responsible for processing press violations, the SSC has jurisdiction over alleged crimes involving state security, including those against "the dignity of the state and national consciousness".

According to Jordanian law, judges are appointed by the prime minister and prosecutors by the military chief of staff.Although the court follows civilian criminal procedures, its lack of independence has given rise to charges of politically motivated prosecutions, says civil liberties monitoring group Human Rights Watch (HRW).

Senior government officials announced in July 2005 that they would eliminate press censorship, and that they would not apply articles in Jordan's Penal Code that criminalised "insults" to the king or "slander" of government officials and institutions, according to HRW.The government also promised a new draft of the Press and Publications Law, due to be drawn up by Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit and his cabinet as part of a "National Agenda" reform package.Critics, however, complain that the status quo remains.

"Jordan has reverted to its old habit of silencing critics with repressive laws," said Sarah Leah Whitson, director of HRW's Middle East division."Charging Abu Bakr in a state security court does far more harm to Jordan's reputation than anything he may have posted on the internet," Whitson added."We aren't against the [State Security] court, but against the interference of the government in the court," added Mansour.

Bosch boosts investment in India

Key German car parts supplier Bosch AG has sharply increased its investment plan for India from 180 million euros (218 million dollars) to 325 million euros, Germany's daily Handelsblatt reported Tuesday (31 Jan). The planned investment, which is to run until 2008, follows an increase in Bosch's turnover in India to 685 million euros last year, underscoring the growing strength of the Indian economy and its booming car market. "We will soon cross the billion threshold", said Bernd Bohr, a leading Bosch executive told the newspaper. Bosch currently employs about 14,000 employees in India. The major focus of Bosch's activities in India is on the development of its manufacturing capabilities for diesel technology. Bohr predicts that car production in India should grow at an annual 8 per cent until 2015. Already 1.6 million vehicles have been produced in the country. The passenger car market has doubled since 1998 to more than one million, the newspaper reported. The German car industry should not miss out on the enormous potential of the Indian market, Bernd Gottschalk, president of the federation of the German automobile industry (VDA), said. Gottschalk went on to call on small-to-medium sized German firms to also launch a push into India.

India-EU to enhance Economic Cooperation

India and the European Union (EU) will explore closer economic cooperation, following a bilateral trade meeting held in London on 1st February 2006 between Shri Kamal Nath, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Mr. Peter Mandelson, the EU Trade Commissioner.

In a joint statement issued at the end of the meeting, Shri Kamal Nath and Mr. Mandelson said: “ India is a very important partner for the EU and vice versa. So while our priority for now is the Doha Development Agenda (DDA) and we are fully focussed on that, we want to think creatively about how to boost our commercial relations, building on the potential benefits of a successful Doha Round. Following our meeting today, our officials will discuss how to ensure that by the time we get to the EU-India Summit in October 2006 we have a clear road map of how our bilateral trade and investment agenda can be strengthened and we have an agreed basis on which to start bilateral negotiations towards closer economic co-operation”.

Later, at a joint press briefing, Shri Kamal Nath said the EU was India’s largest trading partner accounting for about 20 % of India’s global trade, with bilateral trade in 2004-05 amounting to US $ 35.30 billion and registering a growth rate of 20 % over the previous year. India’s exports to the EU were valued at US $ 17.25 billion and India’s imports from the EU were US $ 18.05 billion. During the first seven months of the current financial year 2005-06 (April-October), Indo-EU bilateral trade has recorded a growth of 28 %.

Summit level interactions between India and the EU have been held since 2000 and the last Summit was held in New Delhi in September 2005 under the co-chairmanship of the Prime Ministers of India and the UK (as the UK was holding the EU presidency at that time), when both sides adopted the India-EU Strategic Partnership Joint Action Plan. The High Level Trade Group which is to meet shortly will also report to the next Summit in 2006, including the possible launch of bilateral negotiations on a broadbased trade and investment agreement.

TEX Dubai set to grow by 30 per cent this year

January 30, 2006

The 18th Gulf Education and Training Exhibition (GETEX) Dubai 2006, the Middle East’s leading education fair, is set to grow by 30 per cent over its previous edition, attracting some of the world’s leading education providers, reputed manufacturers and suppliers of educational technology, equipment and services besides major players in the region’s expanding education sector to the Dubai International Exhibition Centre from April 12 to 14, 2006.

“The growing popularity of GETEX Dubai has placed the event firmly among the world’s top ten education exhibitions,” said Anselm Godinho, Managing Director of IC&E, the organisers of the fair. “For the second consecutive year, GETEX Dubai 2006 will devote a special segment targeting the Middle East’s demand for the latest educational technologies and equipment, providing a one-stop-shop for cutting-edge solutions to end-buyers, dealers and importers across the region at the GETEX Technology and Equipment segment,” he added.

“The UAE’s considerable achievements in education require continuous investment in updating and creating new educational infrastructure to properly equip graduates for the job market. Many high technology-driven secondary, undergraduate and postgraduate education centres have been established and managements are planning to set up more high-tech, modern schools across the region,” Godinho pointed out.

“Managements are increasingly realising the benefits of deploying technological solutions as a means of improving the standard of instruction, ensuring higher student participation in the learning process and reducing operational and infrastructure costs. As a result, more investments are being made in technological tools and methods that will enhance education delivery, knowledge management and control processes in their institutions. GETEX Dubai 2006 will provide a unique forum for manufacturers and dealers in education technology and equipment to interact with the region’s education providers, professionals and students,” he added.

GETEX Dubai 2006 will also feature a separate segment highlighting the emerging trends and methodologies in the Corporate Training and Human Resource Development sector. “In the UAE’s extremely competitive job market, niche qualifications merit world-class remuneration packages. This has led to a huge demand for MBA and other post graduate courses from individuals seeking to better their career prospects.

“Human resource departments of business organisations too are allocating bigger budgets for customised training programmes for their personnel. This has made the UAE a significant market for international business schools and specialist training organisations promoting their MBA and post graduate programmes among corporate clients,” he said.

Besides these key areas, GETEX Dubai 2006 will fulfil its traditional role as the most comprehensive regional platform showcasing a wider array of diverse, international study options in higher education for students, parents, professionals, the academic fraternity and working persons from the UAE, the GCC states, the Indian subcontinent, Iran and other Middle East countries.

“More than 10,000 pupils graduate each year from the UAE’s 3000 odd schools. A vast number of them seek tertiary education. Though local avenues for quality higher education are growing, a high proportion of students still prefer to study in institutions of international repute in countries such as Australia, Canada, India, Malaysia, New Zealand, Switzerland, the European Union, UK and USA,” Godinho said.

Targeting over one million youth of under 18 years and another two million people aged between 18 and 40, GETEX Dubai 2006 will directly reach about three-quarters of the UAE’s five million residents. A separate segment on Special Needs Education is also being introduced for the first time this year. GETEX Dubai 2006 enjoys the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Nahayan bin Mubarak Al Nahayan, UAE Minister of Education. International Conferences & Exhibitions also organises the prestigious Arab Oil and Gas Show (OGS) which caters to the region’s flourishing oil, gas and petrochemicals industry.