October 1, 2003

44 bids received for 22 NELP-IV blocks Best response to NELP rounds so far: Ram Naik

RailTel on take-off stage

The RailTel Corporation of India, a public sector undertaking under the Ministry of Railways, is now on a take-off stage Set up in September,2000, RailTel has envisaged completing Optic Fibre Cable (OFC) network with capacity and 16 connectivity on 15,000 route kilometres in the current financial year 2003-2004.

The RailTel is intended to modernize the Railways communication and market the surplus capacity to earn revenues. It earned Rs.45 lakhs during 2001-2002, Rs. 9.5 crores in 2002-2003 and Rs.4.98 crores during the first five months of the current financial year 2003-2004 from April, 2003 to August, 2003 from leasing of bandwidth and other telecom infrastructure.

Internet Cyber Café set up at New Delhi Railway Station, providing facilities of Internet browsing, e-mailing, video-conferencing, IP phones, photocopying and printing, is planned to be provided at 200 stations in the current financial year 2003-2004.

 

The RailTel would also provide Internet on one of the trains in the current year buoyed by the success of a trial of Internet on a train in April, 2003 between Tughlakabad and Faridabad stations.

Economic reforms has benefitted the country and the common man -says Advani

The Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani today claimed that the Government's policy on Economic Reforms has benefited the country and the common man. The country is on the thresh-hold of rapid progress in various fields. Inaugurating the 46th Annual Technical Convention of the Indian Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers, here this morning, Advani said even getting a simple phone connection was a frustrating exercise involving a long waiting period. The same was true for a humble gas connection. In other words wrong policies adopted by the Government had created an economy of shortages. Now, India is rapidly making the transition from an economy of shortages to an economy of surpluses. This has been possible because of the sound and far reaching policies adopted by the NDA Government during the past five years. Giving the example of the Telecom Landscape in India he said the situation has changed beyond recognition. India is one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world today and a mobile phone is no more a luxury for the common man.

The Deputy Prime Minister said the meaning and applicability of self-reliance has also changed because of liberalization and globalisation. The world has become far more inter-dependent than before and new avenues have opened up for trade, investment, technology transfer and economic cooperation in various fields. India has to fully seize this opportunities coming up in the new era. Nevertheless, self-reliance or the larger concept of Swadeshi has not ceased to have its relevance in the changed situation. Foreign investment, foreign technology, foreign management practices are welcome wherever they are needed but the basic effort has to be our own in terms of human and cultural resources. For this, we have to sharpen our focus on R&D. We will have to learn from the experiences of countries like Japan, Korea, Malaysia and Taiwan. Manpower development is very important for achieving success in this direction. Our efforts must be oriented towards producing quality products with internationally acceptable standards. With growing competition, particularly in fields like information technology, it is extremely important the professional manpower produced by India should be at par if not better with what is available in other countries. He said the end use of all technology is for the progress of human society and for improving the quality of life. Therefore, every organization working in this field must be conscious about this social responsibility.

Advani hoped that the deliberations in the Conference will be fruitful and result in pragmatic and tangible recommendations for policymakers.

 

NMDFC increases maximum limit under Micro Finance lending to Rs.25,000; reduces rate of interest to 4%

In order to improve the lot of poor among the minorities, the National Minorities Development and Finance Corporation (NMDFC) has increased the maximum limit of loans under the Micro Financing Scheme upto Rs.25,000. The increase constitutes a quantum jump from the existing Rs. 10,000 limit. The Corporation has also reduced the rate of interest on loans to 4% from 10% under this scheme. Announcing these decisions while inaugurating a seminar to review the working of various schemes of NMDFC here today, the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya said that these initiatives would help NMDFC to reach the poorest among the minorities particularly in rural areas.

Dr. Jatiya said that the majority of population in this segment of minorities is in constant need of small loans for either sustaining their livelihood or improving the same or creating new income generating avenues. He said that the Corporation is also actively considering to start a Student Loan Scheme from this year. The loans would be advanced to poor students belonging to minorities for pursuing technical and professional education.

The West Bengal Minister for the Welfare of the Minorities, Youth Development and Technical Education, Moh. Salim urged NMFDC to work for overall development of the minorities rather than a mere loaning agency. Speaking as the Chief Guest Salim called upon the Central government to evolve an inbuilt mechanism to bridge the shortfall in recoveries of loans advanced by the corporation.

The Chairman of the NMFDC Qari Mohammad Mian Mazhari said that a meeting of economic and education experts would be held in December to improve the reach of the Corporation. He said that the activities of the NMDFC have progressively increased during the last nine years and has provided financial assistance to more than 1.85 lakh beneficiaries. He said that besides the urban centres, NMFDC is focussing on rural areas where majority of its target groups are located. Mazhari said that nearly 50,000 beneficiaries have been assisted through a network of 100 NGOs under the Micro Financing Scheme.

The representatives of State Channelising Agencies from various states, NABARD, Planning Commission and various corporations working under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment participated in the day-long seminar.

Withdrawal of recognition of IME Qualifications

The Government has withdrawn the recognition of Associated Membership Examination Section A & B and Part-I & II of Technician Engineers Examination (T) of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (India), Mumbai for the purposes of employment under Central Government.

The withdrawal comes into force with immediate effect and will operate prospectively. Students who have already got Section A & B and Part-I and II awards from IME (India), Mumbai will continue to be eligible for employment in Central Government.

The decision to withdraw recognition as mentioned above came after a review carried out by High Level Committee for recognition of educational qualifications.

IME (India), Mumbai will be at liberty to approach the Ministry of Human Resource Development for recognition of awards granted by them for employment purposes in the Central Government as and when they remove all deficiencies with regard to revision and upgradation of curriculum, examination system, procedure for appointment and qualification of examiners, and other related issues, as pointed out by the Group constituted by the High Level Committee.

Govt withdraws duty exemption on the import of coin blanks

The Government has recently withdrawn the duty exemption on the import of coin blanks. This has provided the steel industry an even playing field for supply of coin blanks to the government mints. With an appropriate duty structure, the entire demand of this industry can be indigenously met, the Steel Minister Braja Kishore Tripathy, said today, addressing a special meeting of the Indian Stainless Steel Development Association (ISSDA).

He said, at present there are two global tenders for coin blanks under evaluation. The industry has requested that the provisions of the latest notification, withdrawing the duty exemption on coin blanks be made applicable in the evaluation of the tenders. The Ministry of Steel has already taken up this issue with the Finance Ministry.

Tripathy said that Nickel is an essential ingredient for this sector. The union budget 2002-03 rationalised the customs duty on Nickel at 10 per cent. But increasing prices of Nickel have necessitated a further reduction in customs duty. The Ministry will take up this issue in its budget proposals for 2004-05considering the market situation during the current fiscal.

 

The Minister said with an impressive performance in 2002-03 the Steel Industry has reached the take-off stage for integration with the global steel market. The forces of revival that helped the turnaround of the industry, continue to sustain the process of revival and resurgence. During April-August the growth of domestic production of finished carbon steel was 7.3 percent; exports 37 per cent; imports 4 per cent and apparent consumption 3.4 per cent.

He observed that India now produces 1.2 million tonnes of stainless steel representing a share of 5.58 per cent of total global stainless steel production of 21.5 million tonnes. In spite of fierce competition in the global stainless steel market, India has exported about 4 lakh tonnes of stainless steel worth over Rs. 2,500 crore. With an export coverage of more than 30 per cent, the stainless steel sector is much ahead of the overall steel sector, where the export coverage is about 10 per cent. He complimented the stainless steel industry for its remarkable performance.

 

Tripathy said, China with its massive infrastructure development programme and needs of a growing economy has been an important export destination for Indian stainless steel. In the coming days this trend is likely to be maintained as the export market continues to perform at a high level and China's demand continues to be the prime mover in boosting exports.

 

Despite all odds, he said, the Indian stainless steel producers have bravely faced the global competition to create records as demonstrated by their excellent all round performance in 2002-03. This sector will continue to sustain its competitive advantage and will come out with even more impressive performance in this fiscal. He assured the stainless steel fraternity that Government will examine all problems raised by ISSDA in a time bound manner and appropriate action will be initiated.

 

The Secretary, Steel, V.K.Duggal said, the problems like large-scale export of chrome ore and concentrates, dumping of prime and seconds of pipes and tubes, imposition of duty on imports of stainless steel by Mexico and other issues are being examined by the Ministry. He asked ISSDA to provide more facts and figures on some issues to the Ministry to initiate action.

The senior officials of the Steel Ministry and the members of the ISSDA attended the meeting.

 

Vice Admiral John C Desilva, PVSM, AVSM, ADC Vice Chief of the Naval Staff retires

 

Vice Admiral John Colin DeSilva PVSM, AVSM, ADC Vice Chief of the Naval Staff relinquishes his office today after a glorious innings that spanned across 40 years in the Navy. A Missile and Gunnery specialist, DeSilva held several prestigious and coveted appointments in his distinguished career.

During his naval career, the Admiral held a variety of command and staff appointments. His command assignments afloat include the command of Missile Vessels INS Sindhudurg, INS Vijaydurg and commissioning of the Guided Missile Destroyer INS Ranvijay in the erstwhile USSR. He was at the helm of the Western Fleet of the Indian Navy in 1995-96.

In the rank of Commander, he set up the Warship Workup Organisation of the Navy in 1982. Promoted to Flag rank in 1992, he held appointments of Assistant Chief of Personnel (Human Resource Development), Assistant Chief of Naval Staff (Information Warfare and Operations), Controller Warship Production & Acquisition and Chief of Personnel at Naval Headquarters. Subsequently, he took over as Director General of the Coast Guard and Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Naval Command. He held the present appointment since 15 Jan 02.

The President of India decorated Vice Admiral DeSilva with Ati Vishist Seva Medal in 1993 and the Param Vishist Seva Medal in 2001 for meritorious service of an exceptional order.

Union Labour Minister lays foundation stone of ESI Dispensary in Wazirpur Industrial area

The Union Labour Minister, Dr. Sahib Singh today laid the foundation stone of ESI Dispensary in Wazirpur Industrial area, Delhi. This will be the 37th ESI Dispensary under the ESI Scheme in Delhi area. The 800 sq.yds. plot for the dispensary has been acquired from the DDA to provide basic medical facilities to the industrial workers of the area nearer to their work place. A four doctor dispensary is being constructed on the site at an estimated cost of Rs. 30 lakhs.

Lal Bihari Tiwari, Member Parliament (Lok Sabha) presided over today's function. MLAs and Councillors of the area besides a large number of representatives from employers and employees attended the ceremonial function.

Speaking on the occasion, the union labour minister said that health care was the most important component of social security under the ESI Scheme. It was, therefore, imperative to provide a good and reliable infrastructural facility in densely worker populated areas. He said that the corporation was committed to providing high quality health care services to the 310 lakh ESI beneficiaries across the country. To achieve this goal, Dr. Sahib Singh said the corporation had already set up Model ESI Hospitals in 12 states so far. Some more ESI hospitals are in the process of being taken over by the corporation in the near future.

 

As of now, the ESI scheme covers about 5.50 lakh industrial workers in the national capital region of Delhi. Full medical care is provided to about 24 lakh beneficiaries that includes the dependants of insured persons. Medical services under the scheme are provided through a network of 36 dispensaries and 4 hospitals located at Basaidarapur, Rohini, Okhla and Jhilmil Shahdara. The Corporation spends over Rs. 100 crores in Delhi area for provision of medical facilities to about 1/5th of the total population of the national capital region.

44 bids received for 22 NELP-IV blocks Best response to NELP rounds so far: Ram Naik

Ram Naik, Minister (P&NG) announced that 44 bids had been received for 21 blocks under the fourth round of the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP-IV) by the bid closing date of 30.9.2003. The onland blocks, for which bids have been received, fall in the States of Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Nagaland, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu and Tripura.

In all 19 companies have submitted bids (details enclosed). Out of these 12 are domestic while 7 are foreign companies. 9companies have bid for the first time ever under NELP. These new companies are Zarubezneftgaz, Russia; BGEPIL, UK, Aban Lloyd Chiles Offshore, India; Hydrocarbon Resources Development (P) Limited, India; BPCL, India; HPCL, India; Prize Petroleum Limited, India; Canoro Resources Limited, Canada; and India Hydrocarbon Limited, India. 17 blocks attracted multiple bids, whereas 4 blocks attracted single bids. Thus under NELP-IV, the number of blocks attracting multiple bids as well as the percentage of the blocks bid for as against those offered has been the highest compared to the previous three rounds. It may be recalled that the Government of India, in May, 2003 had offered a total of 24 blocks covering 11 onland, 1 shallow water and 12 deepwater blocks under NELP-IV. The Government has so far signed 70 Production Sharing Contracts (PSCs) under the first three rounds of NELP.

Government of India had undertaken a comprehensive promotional exercise to promote the blocks through five road-shows at New Delhi, London, Houston, Calgary and Perth and through an exclusive NELP-IV IndigoPool website. During the road-shows as well as on the web-site, the response of companies had been quite encouraging.

Earlier 48 companies had reviewed the data packages for the 24 blocks on offer. The no. of companies visiting data rooms for review of data under NELP-IV as well as the no. of data packages purchased was the highest as compared to the previous three NELP rounds. A total of 75 data packages were sold. The total amount received from sale of data packages is about US$ 3.5 million (about Rs. 17 crores).

Naik said that evaluation of bids received under NELP-IV will be undertaken on priority. The bids would be evaluated in accordance with the transparent quantitative Bid Evaluation Criteria (BEC), as already informed through Notice Inviting Offers (NIO). He said that efforts would be made to evaluate and award the blocks in about two and half months time and thereafter sign the contracts in another one and half months time. The full process was expected to be completed by end January, 2004.

Naik brought out the positive results, which had already started flowing from the three rounds of NELP under implementation. He mentioned that a total of 9 discoveries have been made under the first two rounds of NELP. With the aggressive implementation of ongoing work programme, further discoveries could be expected in the near future. Naik mentioned that preparations for NELP-V were in progress and the bids were expected to be invited in the first quarter of 2004-05.

INSAT - 3E orbit raised further

In the second orbit raising manoeuvre, conducted at 2.38 PM (IST) today, the 440 Newton Liquid Apogee Motor (LAM) on board INSAT-3E was fired for 36 minutes by commanding the satellite from Master Control Facility (MCF), Hassan. With this LAM firing, INSAT 3E perigee (closest point to the earth) has been raised from 14,960 km to 33000 km. The apogee (farthest point to earth) is at 35,750 km and the inclination of the orbit with respect to the equatorial plane has been reduced from 1.9 deg to the present 0.14 deg. INSAT-3E now has an orbital period of 22 hour 40 minutes. The satellite will now be in the continuous radio visibility of MCF- Hassan.

INSAT-3E was launched by Ariane-5 of Arianespace on September 28, 2003 from Kourou, French Guyana, and the first orbit raising manoeuvre was carried out from MCF-Hassan yesterday morning (September 29, 2003). The satellite came within the radio visibility of MCF this morning at 8.41 am (IST), and all the necessary operations like earth acquisition and gyro calibration were carried out before the second orbit raising manoeuvre was started. All systems on board INSAT-3E are functioning normally. The third apogee motor firing is planned in the next few days.

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