Wataniya Telecom Drives for Regional
Expansion, Competition Demand for natural
gas expected to rise faster than for other fossil fuels in the
Middle East
New Fraud in Indian Airports
to Dupe NRI Passengers
Dubai - A new well-organised
conspiracy syndicate of Indian Immigration, Police, Customs and
Air India staff with networking at all the Indian International
Airports is reported. NRIs who travel by Indian airports should
be careful when they give their passport to Immigration/ Customs/Air
India staff. They should ensure that the passport is not tampered
with and invite trouble. Some corrupt officials have found an
easy way of making money from NRIs.
This is the way it works.
" At the time of the
passenger's departure, if the passenger is not looking at the
officer while he is stamping the exit, the officer very cleverly
cutsaway one of the pages from the passport. When the passenger
leaves the immigration counter, the case is reported on his computer
terminal with full details. Now all over India they have got
full details of the passenger with Red Flag flashing on the Passport
number entered by the departure immigration officer.
They make their money by doing
this. On arrival next time, the unsuspecting passenger is interrogated.
depending on the passenger's period of stay abroad, his income
and standing etc., the price to "get rid of the problem"
is settled by the Police and Immigration people. If someone argues,
his future is in peril , because there are always still some
naive people who
think that honesty is the basis of getting justice in India.
All passengers should be careful
at the airport. Whenever they hand over the passport to the counters
of Air India, or immigration or the Customs, they must be vigilant,
should not remove eyes from the passport even if the officer
in front tries to divert their attention. Also those of you
With contacts , please pass this information to all media men
and important Govt. authorities and politicians.
Every month 20-30 cases happen
all over India to rob NRIs the minute he lands. Similar case
happened with Aramco's Arifuddin. He was travelling with his
family of six .They got their US visa and decided to go via Hyderabad
from Jeddah. They reached Hyderabad, stayed for about a month
and left for the US. When they reached US, the page of the American
visa on his wife's
passport was missing. At the time of departure from Hyderabad,
it was obviously there since without the Visa neither the airline
nor the immigration officials would allow them to
leave.
The whole family had to return
to Hyderabad helplessly. On return to Bombay, they were caught
by the police and now for over 2 months, they are running after
the Police, Immigration officers and the Courts. One cannot either
imagine or believe that the Indian Immigration dept can play
such a nasty trick to harass innocent passengers to extort money
From them and in the bargain probably "sell" the Visas
as well to unscrupulous persons . All the passengers travelling
to & from India via Bombay, Hyderabad and Cochin must specially
be aware of this conspiracy. Every month 15 to 20 cases take
place, at each mentioned airport, of implicating the passengers
in the crime of tearing away the passport pages. On interviewing
some of them, none of them was aware of what had happened.
They don't know who, when
and why tore away the page from the middle of the passport. One
can imagine the sufferings of such people at the hands of the
immigration, police and the court procedures in India after that.
The number of cases is increasing in the past 2-3 years. People
who Arrive at the immigration, are questioned and their passports
are held and they are subjected to interrogation. Obviously,
the conspiracy started about 2 to 3 years ago and now the reports
are coming in. An official source who did not want to disclose
his name & identity told to me that this is a well planned
conspiracy in which the Immigration dept. and the Police dept.
are hand in glove. . -keralamonitor.com
Wataniya 'Red Balloon Bonanza'
Attracts Huge Crowds at Marina Mall
More Picture
Kuwait City, 24th August 2003 Wataniya Telecom
held a 'Red Balloon Bonanza' at Marina Mall on Thursday night
where 'Action' promotion staff gave away thousands of red Wataniya-branded
helium balloons to shoppers around the mall. The event attracted
a large number of children and adults alike to the 'Action' stand
and the Wataniya branch around the centre dome area.
Wataniya Telecom has embarked on a massive national campaign
this summer to promote 'Action', the Middle East's most diverse
range of advanced multimedia and entertainment lifestyle service
which includes movie previews, Arabic comics, Qu'ranic verses,
Blue Mountain Arts e-cards, wallpapers, screensavers, cartoons,
horoscopes and greeting cards. The campaign has also brought
about the launch of Kuwait's first Multimedia Messaging Service
(MMS) photography competition.
Running until the 13th September, Wataniya
'Action' subscribers can take part in the competition by sending
their best 'summer fun' pictures by MMS to funtec@wataniya.com
and get a chance to win great prizes from Wataniya and Canon
every week. Action is available to all Wataniya post paid and
pre-paid "Xpress" customers. Between 1st August and
1st October 2003, all customers with GPRS and MMS featured mobiles
will be able to access Action with unlimited service for a newly
introduced promotional price of only KD 6. -keralamonitor.com
Thanjavur airfield in another
2-3 years says Commanding-in-Chief Air Marshal A K Trikha
Thiruvananthapuram: Commanding-in-Chief Air
Marshal A.K.Trikha has informed the media sources at a meeting
in the Southern air command headquarters that air field at Thanjavur
would starting operating in another two to three years. The fighting
power of the Southern Air Command will get a major boost with
the commissioning of the Thanjavur airfield. Warplanes would
also be stationed at Thanjavur, considering its strategic importance
and also said that the Akkulam Airforce Station here was capable
of handling any security situation in the region. He also said
that the IAF would soon be getting advanced jet trainers from
Britain, which would help our pilots to avail training in a faster
and more complex war machine.
Rajiv Gandhi Memorial to be
dedicated to the nation on October 10
Chennai: The Rajiv Gandhi Memorial built at
Sriperumbathoor built on an area of seven acres, would be submitted
to the nation on October 10. In a dedication ceremony, held on
the day, President A P J Abdul Kalam will dedicate the memorial
to the nation. The Union Urban Development Ministry is organizing
the function, which would begin at 1530 hrs. Congress President
Sonia Gandhi and more than 2,000 Congress leaders and workers
were expected to attend the function. The function would also
consist of an inter-faith prayer and a run around the memorial
by school children carrying the national flag.
The memorial is being built in memory of former
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi who fell a victim to suicide bombing
at Sriperumbathoor around 12 years back. The function would be
a very solemn one and would not have any speeches.
Housing ministers conference
A one-day conference of the Housing Ministers
and Housing Secretaries of the State Governments and Union Territories
is being organized at Vigyan Bhavan here tomorrow. The conference
will be inaugurated by the Deputy Prime Minister Shri L.K. Advani.
The conference would deliberate on various
housing issues including Valmiki Ambedkar Awas Yojana, Two Million
Housing Programme, Cooperative Housing, Public Private Partnership
for EWS Housing, Urban Reforms Incentive Fund, Integrated Low
Cost Sanitation Scheme and Night Shelter Scheme. It will also
discuss issues concerning initiative for boosting housing activities
in the country. The conference is being organized by the Ministry
of Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation (Department of Urban
Employment & Poverty Alleviation).
Intranet for Railways
Indian Railways have set up its own intranet
known as "Railnet" to interconnect various activity
centres for efficient and timely exchange of information and
data. Railnet connects the Ministry of Railways with the headquarters
of all Zonal Railways, Production Units and other centres.
Railnet has further been extended to various
Divisional headquarters, centralized training institutes and
public sector undertakings. Besides, Railnet is being extended
progressively to various Workshops and Loco sheds. The Railnet
system provides for e-mailing, web applications and Internet
facility to ensure overall efficiency with attendant transparency
of rail services.
PM's speech at ASEAN business and investment
summit
The India-ASEAN partnership & beyond
The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee
has called upon Asian countries to work towards strengthening
their mutual synergies, so that they are strategically placed
to derive maximum benefit from the emerging opportunities. Speaking
at the first ASEAN business and investment being held at Bali
today, Shri Vajpayee proposed the tapping of the exciting potential
of the future India-ASEAN partnership. He also alluded to the
importance of knowledge and human capital as the driving forces
of the 21st century. Referring to the stalemate at the Cancun
ministerial debate, the Prime Minister said that a rule-based
and fair multi-lateral trading system should remain the goal.
The following is the text of the speech made
by the Prime Minister on the occasion:
"It is a great pleasure to be here among
eminent business representatives from ASEAN, East Asia and India.
I congratulate the organizers of this first ASEAN Business and
Investment Summit. Events like these provide valuable opportunities
for interaction among business and industry of our countries
and for exchange of perspectives between Governments and industry.
While the 20th century economy was driven
by capital accumulation, manufacturing technologies and labour
power, the 21st century is defined by knowledge and human capital.
It is this that gives strength to the Asian identity. There is
an emerging perception that this will be the century of Asia's
pre-eminence. The brainpower of Asian scientists and engineers,
the dynamism of our businessmen and industrialists, our intellectual
and human resource capital - all these support this perception.
The growing economic weight of Asia is strengthened by favourable
demographic trends, and is no longer constrained by Cold War
divisions.
India, ASEAN and the countries of East Asia
are a part of this trend. ASEAN is already in an advanced stage
of economic integration. With each of China, Japan and Korea
also, ASEAN has a well-developed and diverse economic relationship.
India has lagged behind, for a variety of political and economic
reasons. However, this situation is changing rapidly, and it
is the exciting potential of the future India-ASEAN partnership
that I propose to put before you today.
Over the last 12 years, the Indian economy
has maintained an average annual growth of over 6%, which is
better than that of most other countries. Our interest rates
are falling, inflation has been kept down, and foreign exchange
reserves are growing rapidly. India remained unaffected by the
Asian financial crisis a few years ago. We have targeted an 8%
growth over the next five years. As our economic base is large,
there is considerable untapped potential for India's continued
- and even accelerated - economic growth.
Perceptions shape decisions. Often they are
flawed. Sometimes, they are incomplete. The rich cultural diversity
and spiritual traditions of India are well known, but they constitute
only one aspect of India. There is another India, the India of
the 21st century, which is still not so well known, with its
many strengths:
One, an inherently strong economy driven primarily
by indigenous skills and domestic enterprise.
Two, a growing and accessible domestic market,
with import and investment barriers falling away. To take just
one random example of the growth of the market: in the last few
months, it has been absorbing about 2 million mobile phones a
month. Import duties are moving towards ASEAN levels, and sectoral
caps on foreign investment are rising.
Three, a rich pool of human resources - English
speaking, with R&D skills, technological training and managerial
capabilities.
Four, some special capabilities in state-of-the-art
technologies. India is one of only three countries - the others
are USA and Japan - to have indigenously designed and manufactured
supercomputers. It is one of only 6 countries, which can build
and launch its own satellites.
Five, global leadership in technologies of
the Knowledge Economy. India's pre-eminent position in IT and
IT-enabled services has led global companies to set up captives
in India or to outsource their operations to quality Indian service
providers.
Six, a sound and transparent financial system,
with well-managed banking and insurance sectors, and vibrant
capital markets. Our paperless, computer-driven National Stock
Exchange is the third largest in the world, in terms of number
of annual transactions.
India is today a country on the move. We are
experiencing many revolutions simultaneously. There is, of course,
the IT revolution. This in turn has unleashed a socio-cultural
revolution, which has empowered hundreds of millions of our citizens,
strengthening our democracy and stimulating our creativity. We
are experiencing a demographic revolution, where the numbers
of young people are increasing. Already, 54% of our population
is below 25 years of age. This has created a revolution of expectations,
where a powerful new force of young people, full of optimism
and ambition, fired by boundless energy, is actively seeking
opportunities for wealth, success and prosperity. The combined
effect of these has been a psychological revolution, in which
a defensive, introverted approach has given way to an outward-looking,
self-confident attitude, willing to accept challenges and take
risks, rejecting fear and shunning fatalism.
It is this India that seeks to partner ASEAN
in this era of globalization. India's trade and economic interaction
with the ASEAN countries has been steadily growing, but not fast
enough. A year ago at the First India-ASEAN Business Summit,
I had said that the India-ASEAN trade of less than 10 billion
dollars does not do justice to our combined population of one
and a half billion people, producing a trillion and a half dollars
worth of goods and services annually. Our trade has since grown
by about 25%, but my comment remains valid.
We have recognized this fact in the India-ASEAN
Framework Agreement for Comprehensive Economic Cooperation, which
we have been negotiating over the past year. We are working on
eliminating trade and investment barriers to facilitate business.
At the same time, India is conscious of the
concerns of the new ASEAN members. We are offering unilateral
tariff concessions on items of export interest to the CLMV countries.
We are also seeking to incorporate an Early Harvest scheme to
provide the incentive for a long-term engagement. If we proceed
along this course, we can target a trade turnover of US$ 30 billion
by 2007 and a Free Trade Area within 10 years.
A study, commissioned by our apex commerce
& industry organizations, has highlighted five main areas
with maximum promise for growth:
Indian IT enabled services create multiple
opportunities for collaboration in embedded software or joint
development of industry specific solutions. ASEAN countries can
outsource their operations to quality Indian service providers
at competitive prices. Today, South East Asian countries import
most of their IT products from the West. The irony is that most
of these products are actually created by Indian sub-contractors.
The result is a double disadvantage: you pay much more, and India
gets much less.
The Indian financial services industry is
growing rapidly, driven by deregulation of insurance and investment
in the banking sector by private companies and foreign banks.
ASEAN investors will find attractive opportunities in personal
financial services, insurance and corporate banking. India is
poised to emerge as an additional global hub for financial transactions.
The Indian pharmaceutical industry has achieved
global recognition. The strength of this industry is low cost,
high quality generics. Branded and patented medicines are also
beginning to emerge as an important segment of the industry.
ASEAN can source its imports of low cost generics from India,
or shift manufacturing base to India.
Indian entertainment business has benefited
from deregulation and export opportunities. Joint ventures for
TV content production and animation software exports present
attractive opportunities for India and ASEAN.
India has placed special emphasis on infrastructural
development to stimulate rapid economic growth. This includes
de-regulation of all segments of our telecom industry and upgradation
of highways, bridges, ports, airports and convention centres.
Many ASEAN companies are already present in these and other sectors.
There are many other opportunities here for Asian business.
For free trade and open economic interaction,
we must review, improve and harmonise our travel-related regulations
and restrictions, including visa regimes. We have to upgrade
our air, sea, road and rail links in capacity and quality, to
meet new demands. To improve the profitability of business activities
and tourist ventures, we should develop cross-regional links
of tourist centres to enhance the synergy of Asian destinations.
I will say a brief word about India's investment
regime. It is liberal and transparent, as befits a democracy
like ours. We may occasionally have some problems, because of
the difficulties in reconciling competing interests and concerns.
This is normal in an open, democratic set-up. We are constantly
trying to refine our regulations and procedures. All the same,
if you analyse the experience of our foreign investors, returns
on investments in India are generally higher. Repatriation of
profits is also much easier than in many other countries.
Investors have to understand that India's
continental size and diversity are unique. Marketing or investment
strategies that may have worked well elsewhere may need to be
tailored differently for India. Those who understand this do
well. Companies that have taken the trouble of finding the right
keys to unlock the doors of the Indian consumer's mind have done
well for themselves. People tell me that successful investors
often paint a deliberately pessimistic picture to discourage
competitors from entering a lucrative market!
In spite of the stalemate at the Cancun Ministerial
Conference, a rule-based and fair multi-lateral trading system
should remain our goal. But while we search for this ideal, regional
trading arrangements offer immediate advantages, particularly
for geographically contiguous regions. They can provide our domestic
industry and agriculture with a valuable learning period, before
being exposed to the far greater competition of global free trade.
Non-Asians view Asia as the principal market
of the future. But it will also emerge as a manufacturing hub
and a global provider of services. In the next 50 years, as the
population of the developed world ages, a younger and better-educated
work force will emerge in Asia to fill the breach. This generation
will drive the future growth of the global economy. Asian countries
should work towards strengthening their mutual synergies, so
that they are strategically placed to derive maximum benefit
from the emerging opportunities. The India-ASEAN partnership
should energise this process to move us closer to our shared
goal of making this truly the Asian century.
Thank you".
