In a communication to Shri Maran, the Consultative Committee of Plantation Associations has stated that the position has since been reviewed and the industry’s assessment in the matter is as below:

• The prevailing policy of restricting FDI into the plantation sector appears to have emanated from clubbing plantations with ordinary agriculture.
• Plantation crops namely, tea, coffee, natural rubber and cardamom are, however, district from ordinary agricultural crops characterised as they are by long gestation periods and being perennial in nature.
• The government, through an Act of Parliament, had declared plantation crops as industry bringing them under the control of relevant Acts.
• Plantations crops also involve a distinct manufacturing/processing activity which do not feature in ordinary agriculture.
• Plantation crops for the reasons stated above require substantial and sustained investments which need to be significantly boosted in the coming years to enable plantation industry in India to effectively compete and grow in the face of world competition.

    "Having regard to the considerations stated above, it is the considered opinion of the Consultative Committee that the prevailing restriction on FDI into the plantation sector should be removed forthwith. The CCPA feels that foreign share holding could be allowed upto 74%. This change in policy is fully in tune with the liberalisation process firmly underway to propel Indian industry on a faster growth path", the letter says.

    The Minister for Information and Broadcasting Shri Arun Jaitley presented International awards to two prominent film directors, Shri B.V.P. Rao and Shri Santosh Sivan here last evening.

    Shri B.V.P. Rao’s film "Willing to Sacrifice" had won two awards, namely, Main Award in the category of Nature and Lanscape and Main Award in the European Film Festival in the Slovak International Film Festival in May, last year.

    The director of the film "The Terrorist", Shri Santosh Sivan won the Grand Jury Award at Cinemanila International Film Festival in July, last year.

    The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has started readying itself for the ultimate opening of services sector in terms of the postulates of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Accordingly, the Institute is playing an increasingly pro-active role in international arena and has drawn up a definite strategy with the ultimate aim of exporting Indian professional services in a big way. This is intended to enable Indian Chartered Accountants to take the lead in international affairs and come up on par with the developed countries.

    The first step in this direction was the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on April 26,1998 with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nepal, enabling it to provide technical and other support and for the growth of the profession of Chartered Accountants and accountancy in Nepal.

    Similar MoUs have since been signed with the Ukranian Federation of Professional Accountants and Auditors, Chamber of Audit of the Kyrgyz Republic and the Russian Board of Auditors.

    The Institute has also signed agreement with the accounting bodies of Italy for a reciprocal arrangement and technical support for the development of the accountancy professionals.

    The Standing Committee of Secretaries for Public Grievances in its recent meeting reviewed the performance of public grievances redressal machinery in the Ministries of Commerce, Urban Development and the Department of Supply. The high-level meeting chaired by the Cabinet Secretary, Shri Prabhat Kumar has asked these Ministries to take specific steps to streamline their respective grievances redressal machinery. The Standing Committee periodically reviews the performance of grievance redressal machinery in various Ministries and Departments.

    The Ministry of Commerce has been asked to develop citizens charters for organisations under it and monitor grievances regularly in those organisations. It has also asked it to fix time norms for each service provided by the Ministry and offices under it, as also to take action to measure customer satisfaction in activities having public dealings.

    The Department of Supply has been asked to monitor the disposal of grievances in the organisations under it including those in the Directorate General of Supply & Disposal (DGS&D) which has a large public interface. The Urban Development Ministry has been told to study the pending cases in Land and Development Office, which may not have come up as specific grievances as yet. It was also advised to complete the computerisation of records quickly so as to enable the applicants to access information easily.

    The Committee of Secretaries has emphasised the need for senior officers, particularly at the Joint Secretary level, to be accessible to the public or users at specified timings and also making available all Citizens' Charters and the time schedules of various activities at public interface on websites.

    The possibilities of introducing e-poll by various Ministries/Departments with public interface to survey the levels of customer satisfaction is also being examined in coordination with the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievance.

    The Committee of Secretaries was informed that due to the various steps taken by the Ministries/Departments, the number of grievances had reduced. The Committee decided to circulate websites of Ministries and Departments to the States and Union Territories also.

    The Ministry of Commerce apprised the Committee that it has set up a Grievance Committee, Trade Dispute Cell and an Export Facilitation Cell in the Office of the DGFT, besides Information and Facilitation Counter. Forms and proformae are reviewed and rationalised in accordance with the import/export policy. The Ministry also has an updated website. Most grievances pertained to the Rubber Board and are related to the service issues of employees.

    The Department of Supply informed the Committee that it has ensured the timely formulation of rate contracts through a new mechanism for time bound disposal. It has also put into position a system for timely payment to suppliers within 7 working days with no queue jumping. A website has been put up which offers the list of rate contracts, suppliers, items and prices of sale along with specifications. The rules which control formulation of rate contracts have been revised and made available through priced publications. Grievance redressal has been computerised in the subordinate organisations and Citizens' Charters framed for DGS&D, Chief Controller of Accounts (CCA) and National Test House. These three organisations also have Information and facilitation counters. The Department is preparing administrative and technical manuals for the National Test House.

    The Ministry of Urban Development holds public hearings every fortnight. Analysis of the nature of grievances is also carried out to identify areas where improvements have to be brought about. The Ministry indicated that there has been improvement in the CPWD, which has a Single Window System for recording complaints. The Directorate of Estates has put the waiting list for the allotment of Government accommodation on NICNET for facilitating easy access. Lok Shivirs are being held in the DDA for on-the-spot disposal of grievances. In the Land and Development Office, procedures for conversion of lease hold properties into freehold have been simplified.

    India and Switzerland today exchanged the Instruments of Ratification for Promotion and Protection of Investments between the two countries, which was signed on the 4^th April, 1997 at New Delhi. With the exchange, the agreement has come into force. The Finance Minister, Shri Yashwant Sinha and the Minister of Economy of Switzerland, Mr. Pascal Couchepin exchanged the instruments of ratification in a function here. The agreement will impart new momentum to the continuing Indo-Swiss economic relations particularly mutual investments in the two countries.

    The Agreement provides elaborate dispute resolution mechanisms to guide disputes between an investor and the host Government, as well as between the two Governments. For settlement of disputes between an investor and the host Government, provisions have been incorporated for prior negotiations to resolve disputes as well as for conciliation and international arbitration.

    The Agreement also provides that all investments, subject to the Agreement will be governed by the laws in force in the country where the investment is made. The Agreement will remain in force for a period of ten years and may thereafter continue indefinitely unless either Government gives one year's written notice of its intention to terminate the agreement any time after the initial nine-year period. It is expected that the Agreement will serve as a major catalyst for investment flows from either country.

    The two countries also signed a Protocol amending the existing Double Taxation Avoidance Agreement (DTAA) between them. The Protocol was signed by Shri Yashwant Sinha and Mr. Pascal Couchepin.

    The Protocol seeks to stimulate mutual flow of investment, technology, trade and services between the two countries by providing lower withholding tax rates as mentioned below:

* Under the Indian Income tax law, dividend is not taxed in the hands of the shareholder. Consequently, non-residents/foreign companies will also not be taxable in respect of dividend income in India.

    In addition, the protocol amends the existing DTAA provisions on taxation of capital gains on sale of shares. Now capital gains earned by Swiss residents from transfer of shares of companies resident in India will be taxable in India. The definitions of Royalties and Fees for Technical Services have been widened. Consequently withholding tax provisions will be applicable to a larger number of payments.

    The protocol will come into force on a later date after notifications by the two Governments regarding completion of procedures required by their respective laws for bringing into force of the Protocol. It will have effect in India in respect of income for the financial year following the calendar year in which the protocol comes into force.

'30'

    National Workshop for Finalization of National Forestry Research Plan has called for management of forest eco-system on sustainable basis without compromising the ecological security of our present and future generations. Inaugurating the Workshop here today, member Planning Commission Dr. D.N. Tiwari said that major challenges before the forest researchers and managers are to enhance the productivity of our natural forests for meeting bio-mass requirement of local people as well as industries depending upon them, to arrest the loss of bio-diversity due to over exploitation of resources, to check degradation of land and water resources and to invent range of products for enhancing human welfare. Dr Tiwari also emphasised the need for concentrating forest research to a limited number of species so that technological breakthrough similar to green revolution in agricultural sector could be achieved

    Delivering the presidential address, Inspector General of Forests, Shri C.P. Oberoi stressed the need for looking at forestry from a more open, cooperative, ecological, functional and environmental angle. Stating that India has 21 per cent of its land under forests and the real and meaningful forest cover extends over only 12 per cent of the area, Shri Oberoi said that Government's priority is to conserve these forests and reverse the process of degradation over about 30 million hectares of forest land which has scant tree cover.

    Shri Oberoi disclosed that the Joint Forest Management (JFM) programme would now be executed through village level JFM committees, registered as societies under the relevant Act. This has been done to give certain legal baking to JFM committees so that they could be more effective in the management of forests. It has also been decided that 50 per cent members of the JFM General Body shall be women and the presence of atleast 50 per cent women member will be a pre-requisite for holding the General Body meeting.

    Shri Oberoi said that the JFM programme involving village communities and NGOs in the regeneration, management and protection of degraded forests is being implemented in different states since June 1990. More than 36,000 village committees are managing about 10 million ha. (1 crore ha.) of forests. Many degraded forest areas have been rehabilitated with the help of JFM.

'8'

    The government will soon be launching a information technology based electronic education scheme called " Classroom 2000". This was stated by the Education Secretary Shri M.K.Kaw while inaugurating a national seminar on "Information Technology and Schooling Process" organised by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), here today.

    Shri Kaw said it is time that India launched a drive for computer literacy as we are decades behind other nations of the world in this front. He said a central scheme concerning this did not receive a serious attention and was transferred to the states about three years ago. However, some states like Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra have picked it up well and are doing excellently involving both private and public sectors.

    In the new literacy drive computer education will be taken up in a general way and within two years ten thousand schools will be brought under it. Then one thousand schools will be covered under the computer aided technology programme, while in the last stage one hundred "smart schools" will be set up where every student will be an autonomous learner through computer.

    Speaking at length the Education Secretary said funds will not be a problem in the way of achieving this goal. But funds alone will not help. We have to create a mind-set among all concerned for this. He said response of the industry in helping to achieve this goal is very encouraging. The Ministry has approached the government for providing tax benefits to those donating hardware or software for the computer literacy drive, he said.

    Shri Kaw asked NCERT to assume the role of a think-tank and become a national database of all educational activities, where softwares, books and publications concerning information technology are available. It should create an atmosphere for achieving a breakthrough in classroom information technology, he added.

    The Director, NCERT, Professor J.S. Rajput said the Council is ready to launch itself in to the task of Information Technology based Electronic Education. He said NCERT is in the process of renewing its curriculum incorporating this in it.

'26'

    The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has made certain regulations in the Ground Handling of Air Transport Services. These regulations will be called the AAI (General Management, Entry for Ground Handling Services) Regulations, 2000.

    As per these regulations an operator or carrier may either carry out ground handling services at an airport by itself or engage the services of any of the following:

1. Airports Authority of India
2. The two national carriers, Air India & Indian Airlines
3. Any other handling agency licensed by the Airports Authority of India

    The Board of AAI will lay down terms and conditions (including financial consideration), eligibility criteria for ground handling agency (both financial and technical) and number of such agencies to be appointed at each airport keeping view the safety, security, demand, available infrastructure, land and other relevant consideration.

    Bureau of Civil Aviation Security may impose such restrictions as may be necessary in case of any or all items of baggage goods handling at any or all airports on grounds of security.

'16'

    India and Switzerland today underlined the scope for enhancing bilateral trade and investment ties from its present level which is insignificant compared to Switzerland’s global trade and investment. Mr. Pascal Couchepin, Swiss Federal Councillor and Head of the Federal Department of Economy, Government of Switzerland, leading a high-level delegation of Swiss business and industry, called on Shri Omar Abdullah, Minister of State for Commerce and Industry, here this morning for an exchange of views on the prospects of bilateral trade and economic cooperation. Shri Abdullah underlined the need for stepping up the two way trade in a balanced manner, particularly in the context of the potential in sectors like marine products, chemicals, drugs & pharmaceuticals, silk, jute goods, tea and spices. Trade and business possibilities, he said, would be also greatly helped by the understanding on the removal of quantitative restriction (QR) that was reached in 1997 on 64 items of interest to Switzerland. Mr. Couchepin said he saw great export possibility for India in the services sector, particularly in computer software and conveyed the keenness of Swiss companies to invest more in India. Currently, Switzerland is the 17^th largest investor in India, while globally it is ranked as the 10^th largest investor. The Swiss Minister said that he would like Switzerland to move up from 17^th to 10^th position as the largest investor in India.

    Shri Abdullah apprised the Swiss delegation of the recent policy changes in the direction of further liberalisation of FDI policy and sought to know from the Swiss side the specific bottlenecks hindering actual investment inflows. The Swiss, on their part, sought further reduction of import duty on items of interest to them, in particular pharmaceuticals, power generation (spare parts for gas turbines), watches etc. Shri Nripendra Misra, Additional Secretary and Shri R. P. Agarwal, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry also participated in the discussion along with Export Commissioner, Shri Anil Swarup and other senior officials.

    On multilateral trade issues, Shri Abdullah said that India stood for a transparent and orderly multilateral trade regime and reiterated opposition to non-tariff barriers which were affecting market access. He also emphasised the need to address imbalances in the existing agreements and hoped for continued support from Switzerland in the multilateral trade fora. Mr. Couchepin said that his government would like the early resumption of negotiations so that the Ministerial Conference could take place next year for launching a new round which, he said, would also help in achieving progress in the mandated negotiations in agriculture and services. The Swiss side agreed with India’s stand that labour issues should be discussed in the ILO.

    Shri Abdullah expressed the hope that the Indo-Swiss Joint Commission, which had not met since December 1996 and which was due to be held in Switzerland, would be convened shortly so that new initiatives in trade and investment could be launched.

    Besides Mr. Couchepin, the high-level Swiss delegation included top officials of the Swiss government, senior representatives of several Swiss companies and the Ambassador of Switzerland to India, Mr. Walter Gygers.

    The Government has decided to constitute an Empowered Committee of Secretaries (ECS) under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Petroleum Dr S. Narayan to take investment decision in respect of the Vietnam Gas project of the ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL). This has been done in order to evolve a fast track investment decision mechanism as OVL is required to take a decision by February 2000 regarding its share of investment in the Vietnam Gas project. OVL has a participating interest of 45 percent in gas project in Vietnam which has a reserve of the order of about 2 trillion cubic feet (about 57 billion cubic metres). The Project development cost for producing natural gas from this field is estimated to be US$508 million. Of this OVL's share of investment is about US$230 million.

    The constitution of ECS will enable OVL to get timely decisions and such decisions shall be submitted to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for ex-post-facto approval. Other members of the ECS are, Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs, Secretary, Department of Legal Affairs, Secretary, Economic Relations, Ministry of External Affairs and the ONGC Chairman.

    The Project was appraised as economically viable by an investment banker M/s. Greenwich Natwest (GNW) of UK. GNW had been hired by OVL for carrying out techno economic study of the Project and to make recommendations for appropriate strategy.

    OVL had signed a Production Sharing Contract (PSC) in 1988 with Petro Vietnam for exploration of oil and gas in the offshore of Vietnam. In 1992, OVL, with the approval of CCPA had assigned its 45% participating interest to British Petroleum, UK (30%) and Statoil, Norway (15%). The consortium made a gas discovery in the block in 1992-93. As per the provisions of the PSC, the commercial terms were to be negotiated and agreed between Vietnam Government (Petro-Vietnam) and contractor. The Main Commercial Terms Agreement (MCTA) was signed between Petro-Vietnam and Contractor in 1996. As per provisions of the MCTA, OVL with CCEA approval has trasferred 10% participating interest to Petro-Vietnam out of its share. Further, MOU was signed between Petro-Vietnam and contractor which included Gas pricing formula and gas sales terms.

    On account of representations received from various quarters, the Ministry of Urban Development has extended the scheme of conversion of leasehold tenure of land into freehold in Delhi. The conversion from leasehold to freehold on 1987 land rates would now be further available upto 31^st March, 2000. The date of depositing the conversion fee or the first instalment thereof shall be treated as the crucial date for the purpose of calculating the conversion fee.