Department of Food and Civil Supplies under the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs has allotted additional foodgrains amounting to 25,300 tonnes to 3 states, namely, Assam, Karnataka and Nagaland for distribution under TPDS (Targeted Public Distribution System).

    These allocations are over and above the monthly TPDS quota already allocated to these states.

    Assam has been allotted further quantity of 10,000 tonnes of rice for flood relief at APL (Above Poverty Line) rates in addition to 35,000 tonnes of rice already allotted to the state for flood relief during the current year. Nagaland has been allotted 3,00 tonnes of wheat at APL rates as special additional allotment for Christmas. 15,000 tonnes of wheat at APL rates has been allotted to Karnataka for October and November, 1998 enhancing the additional wheat quota from 5,000 tonnes to 20,000 tonnes for these two months.
 
 

    Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited has recorded Rs. 435.44 crore as profit after tax for the period April-September, 1998 as compared to Rs. 347.05 crore for the corresponding period April-September, 1997. The profit shows an increase of 25.47% over the corresponding previous period. The turnover of the Corporation at Rs. 12429 crore shows an increase of 28.75% over the same period last year which was Rs. 9653 crore.

    HPCL Refineries have achieved throughput of 4.41 MMT as compared to 5.48 MMT in previous year. The lower throughput has been due to the recent fire at Visakh Refinery which has since been fully restored.

    The net worth of the Corporation has increased to Rs. 4888.60 crore as of September, 1998 as compared to Rs. 4312.40 crore as of March 31st, 1998.
 
 

    The textile secretary to the Government of India, Shri Shyamal Ghosh, has stated the textile sector continues to be over-regulated and deregulation has become imperative especially in the wake of crisis situation being faced by the industry. While addressing a gathering at the Annual General Meeting of the Northern India Textile Research Association (NITRA), at Ghaziabad yesterday, Shri Ghosh noted that the industry was at cross roads and it would have to gear itself up to face the impending challenges of the next millennium.

    Since textiles was a very complex sector and numerous intra-sectoral issues were involved in the formulation of any policy relating to the sector, it was important that a wholistic view be taken by all associated with such an effort, the Secretary said. There is need to look into all the aspects relating to the industry starting from raw materials to the marketing of the finished products, he said.

    The Secretary, while mentioning that the Indian cotton was cost competitive internationally, expressed his concern over the problem of high contamination and also the low productivity of cotton in India. Only by achieving the yield levels equivalent to the world average of 500-600 kilograms per hectare, the production of cotton in India can be doubled, he added. Shri Ghosh also pointed out that while we have an advantage in wage costs we miss out on the financial costs (capital as well as depreciation costs) and power cost. The industry will have to seriously take measures to cut down its energy consumption which, he felt, was possible with the use of microprocessors and other high-tech equipment. The Indian textile industry, he pointed out, was way behind in weaving and particularly processing technology.

    While appreciating the role of NITRA in its untiring efforts in the field of research, Shri Shyamal Ghosh exhorted the industry representatives to invest more in research and development as that is going to play a key role in the future especially in view of the hard times being faced by the industry.
 
 

    Shri Ramakrishna Hegde, Union Minister for Commerce, was presented a cheque
of Rs.9,93,31,200/- by Shri S.D.Kapoor, Chairman and Managing Director, MMTC Ltd., here today, being the amount of dividend @ 20% on the equity held by Government of India in MMTC Ltd. With payment this year, MMTC has established an enviable record of declaring dividend for 32 years out of 35 years of its existence.

    Incorporated in 1963 with Rs.2 croress as equity, the Company has so far given seven bonus issues which resulted in the increase of paid up equity to Rs.50 crores now. With the dividend now paid, MMTC has so far contributed to the governmentÆs exchequer Rs.193 crores by way of dividend and Rs.47 crores by way of increase in government equity through bonus issues.

    During the year 1997-98, MMTC achieved a turnover of Rs.4473 crores with export accounting for Rs.1187 crores, imports Rs.3131.8 crores and domestic trade of Rs.154.6 crores. The year witnessed growth in export by about 4% with marginal decline in import due to lower import of urea on government account and the fall in international prices of various commodities handled by the Corporation. The company achieved higher trading profit during the year at Rs.114.7 crores as against Rs.86.4 crores realised in the previous year. The company has transferred a sum of Rs.6.35 crores to its reserves aggregating total reserves to Rs.595.8 crores as on 31.3.1998.

    Internationally well-known with high credit ranking in the world market, MMTC had made substantial contribution in the field of export and import of the country. While the export basket of the company encompasses items like iron ore, manganese ore, chrome ore, agro products, gold jewellery, engineering goods, textile, chemicals, etc., the items imported include non-ferrous metals, industrial raw material, fertiliser and fertiliser raw material, precious metals, coal, kerosene etc.
    The professionally managed company is further exploring areas in international trading to seize the opportunities thrown  open by the liberalisation.
 

    Both the sides reviewed the progress and action taken on the decisions of the last meeting of the working group. Besides new proposals, the working group has been discussing issues and subjects related to hardware, software, information technology in education, information technology in electronic governance, hi-tech habitats, cyber laws, hi-tech electronic and information technology products, information technology related materials technology and production and products certification and standardisation.

    Before the plenary session started, the Secretary, Shri Ravindra Gupta said both the sides noted that while significant progress has been made in bilateral trade and cooperation in this area, there is scope for further enhancement. Shri Gupta said that as the information and electronics sector is enjoying a high growth rate in the world economy, there are immense potential business benefits that can accrue to both the countries through closer cooperation. Shri A.P. Manoshkin expressing satisfaction at the discussions said both sides have also agreed for joint production.
 
 

    The MoU was a result of the concurrence given by the Information Technology Task Force in September 1998 pursuing the proposal of establishing High Speed National Data Network operating in the range of 2.5 to 10 GBPS (gigabits per second) and to connect it to international university network being established by CMU, Pittsburgh, USA. The IT Task Force recommended the implementation of the program within nine months, converting this program as a National Mission.

    It is estimated that the approximately $150 million programme will build a network topology of approximately 16,000 kilometers with 8 to 10 Nodes located at major cities and 25 high bandwidth Points of Presence (POPs), extendable to 100. The bandwidth of Sankhya Vahini will be in multi gigabits and continuously upgraded to stay at the cutting edge of technology.

    After the grant of requisite approvals by the Government, DoT would initiate steps for setting up the Joint Venture Company in India in which participation of IUNet Inc. would be within the framework of existing policy directives as approved by the Government.

    IUNet (India) will be set up in partnership with Department of Telecommunications in association with its corporations and leading Indian educational institutions including Indian Institute of Information Technology , Hyderabad. Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and all the six Indian Institutes of Technology. The participation from the educational institutions is essential to ensure definitive, substantial and continuing commitment from Indian educational institutions to the development, evolution and use of advanced networking facilities. They are also needed to develop educational training and research content.

    This network will be primarily a data network forming the National Backbone and will initially connect at least 10 metropolitan centres and over 100 universities, institutions of higher learning and research centres. As the speed of the network will be more than 1000-10,000 times the speed currently available in the country, it will not only be able to meet the research, teaching and learning requirements of educational institutions, but also the high bandwidth data communication needs of other organizations in the commercial, manufacturing and financial sectors.

    It would then become possible to access educational, training and digital libraries providing content that are available from some universities in the US and also from outstanding educational and research institutions in India. An easy guaranteed and affordable access to the network would accelerate the development of applications for distance learning, job-oriented training, upgrading and re-orientation of skills, healthcare, training of educators and numerous other novel applications.

    The network will be set up in phases with the first two phases consisting of the following:

• Create a National Internet Backbone by freeing a few fibres exclusively for this programing from the existing DoT network to support a bandwidth in the range of 2.5 GBPS to 10 GBPS. The proposed bandwidths dedicated exclusively for data would place India on par with the US and other advanced technological nations in the world.

• Set up a series of Urban Data Networks (Urban Links) linked to the National Backbone. This would be implemented by freeing a few existing fibres for this network, and by laying additional fibres with enhanced bandwidth capability. These networks will provide scalable high speed connection points and would support access to a wide range of end-users.

 
  2599 COMPANIES REGISTERED DURING JULY 1998

    Of the new companies registered, 2595 were limited by shares and four registered as guarantee companies. The total authorised capital of the companies limited by shares amounted to Rs.643.7 crore.

    Out of 2595 non-government companies limited by shares registered during the month under review, 203 were public limited companies with an authorised capital of Rs.178.8 crore and 2392 were private limited companies with an authorised capital of Rs

    The highest number of companies registered during the month was from Maharashtra and it accounted for 594 firms followed by Delhi with 577. Tamil Nadu with 217 and West Bengal with 206 occupied the third and fourth places respectively. These four States together accounted for about 61 per cent of the total number of companies registered during the month.

    Twenty-three companies with paid up capital of Rs.513.8 lakh ceased functioning during July 1998. Of these, three were public limited companies and 20 private limited companies.
 

  TAX FREE MUNICIPAL BONDS FROM CAPITAL MARKET

    The decision of the Government follows the recommendations of the Rakesh Mohan Committee (India Infrastructure Report) projects that for certain types of urban infrastructure requirements of funds would be of the order of Rs.2,50,000 crores for the next ten years. In this regard, new and innovative experiments are being attempted by municipal corporations, urban development authorities and other agencies in the country to mobilise resources from the capital market. The Ministry of Urban Affairs and Employment took up the matter with the Ministry of Finance for provision of fiscal concessions for the creation of municipal bonds market in the country.

    Necessary guidelines for facilitating issuance of the municipal bonds are under way.

    Following the recommendations of 10^th Finance Commission, Rs.1000 crores were to be made available by the Centre for upgradation and augmentation of the urban infrastructures to the municipalities and municipal corporations through State Governments. About Rs.400 crores have so far been released to the States to this effect.
 
 

    The Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has stressed the need to evolve solutions to protect workers interests, as also to speed up the modernisation of crucial infrastructure facilities.

    Inaugurating the 39th World Congress of International Transport Workers Federation here today, the Prime Minister said that Governments and Transport Industries together have a major responsibility to ensure that the physical and occupational safety of transport workers was never compromised in order to cut costs. They must also play a positive role to ensure that the environment was also not harmed, he said

    Complimenting the ITF for consistently striving to improve the working conditions of transport workers and for raising its voice in favour of social justice, womenÆs empowerment and equitable global development, the Prime Minister noted with gratitude its role in stopping the loading of arms meant for India when the non-violent freedom struggle under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi was in full swing. Lauding the role of transport workers for keeping global trade and industry alive which helps promote social and cultural contacts and strengthens the world economy, the Prime Minister drew attention to

    IndiaÆs fruitful interaction with the International Labour Organisation and said that measures were being taken to strengthen implementation machinery to protect interests of seafarers, stevedores and other transport workers.

    The following is the text of the Prime MinisterÆs address:-
    I am highly pleased to be in your midst today at the 39th World Congress of the International Transport Workers Federation. This is an important event in the annals of IndiaÆs trade union movement. For it allows India to play host to the conference of a global trade union federation that represents over five million workers in more than 125 countries, belonging to every branch to transport.

    At the outset, I compliment the ITF for consistently striving to improve the living and working conditions of transport workers all over the world. But ITF has not limited its concerns only to wage issues. Since its inception in 1896, it has also raised its powerful voice in favour of social justice, womenÆs empowerment, world peace and equitable global development.

    In this context, I pay my tributes to Edo Fimmen, ITFÆs legendary general secretary between 1914-45, who broadened the horizons of the trade union movement to harness its support for anti-colonial, anti-Nazi and other progressive struggles around the world.
    The people of my country will recall in gratitude the role played by the ITF in stopping the loading of arms meant for India when the non-violent freedom struggle under the leadership of Mahatma Gandhi was in full swing.

    Transport workers are a unique and interesting constituent of the global work force. If any industry can claim to have been globalized first, it is the transport industry. Goods have been moved by land and sea ever since our human race settled in towns and urban areas.

    The Indus Valley civilization clustered around river ports and the sea port of Lothal with its amazingly well-designed docks and warehouses testifies to our forefathersÆ zest for trade beyond IndiaÆs shores. In ancient Egypt too, the Nile was the medium of transport and later traders moved across the Mediterranean between Rome and Carthage.
    Thus, international movement of goods by sea has gone on for almost as long as recorded human history. Of course, the slaves who manned the Roman galleys, did not have a trade union to defend them.

    Transport not only links the world, but it is also connects people and places within individual nations. In India, one of the greatest contributors to national integration have been railway workers and truck drivers.

    Theirs is a difficult but fascinating life. The truck driver who carries a consignment from Punjab to Tamil Nadu, or from Gujarat to Assam, spending his restful hours at a roadside dhaba away from his family and friends, is of course doing his work for his living. In the process, he weaves a beautiful fabric of national integration.
    The same is true of seafarers who brave the seas for days and nights so that goods move from one country to another. I salute transport workers all over the world for keeping global trade and industry alive, for nothing less than the continued prosperity of all our economies depends on the work that all of you do.

    But I also salute you for keeping social and cultural contacts on this planet alive, for you are a force that nurtures human civilization.
    For us in India, the health of the transport sector is vital for the health of the economy as a whole. This is a highly labour-intensive sector. According to a recent survey, the transport sector accounted for 3.07 per cent of total employment as against 2.7 percent during 1987-88.

    It is a matter of national pride that the trained manpower in merchant Navy which includes about 12,000 officers and about 43,000 seamen, is sailing on Indian and foreign ships. They earn valuable foreign exchange for the country and carry Indian goodwill to far-flung corners of the world.
    There is a vast scope for augmenting the number of Indian seafarers. The Government will soon start many initiatives to increase training and employment opportunities for seafarers.

    WorkersÆ empowerment and their participation in management is a principle that has gained wide currency in India. In the eleven major ports of the country, handling over 250 million metric tonnes of cargo, labour is associated in the management and the working of the ports closely. Each Port Trust Board has two labour representatives, who are appointed on the basis of labour union strength in the Port Trusts.

    India has a fruitful interaction with the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in promoting the welfare of transport workers. We are proud to be among the few countries that have actually ratified ILOÆs Dock Work Convention and the Occupation of Safety and  Health (Dock Work) Convention.
    In India, we have many laws to protect our seafarers, our stevedores and other transport workers. However, I would be the first to agree with you that these laws needed to be implemented better and faster. We are taking measures to strengthen our
implementation machinery.

    The Ministry of labour has recently reconstituted a tripartite industrial committee on road transport industry under the chairmanship of the Minister, with active participation of trade unions. The function of this committee is to study and discuss the challenges that are special to the transport sector in order to bring about a better understanding of the various problems and to render advice in this regard.

    Friends, you are meeting in New Delhi at a time when global trade and economy are facing a creeping crisis. The crisis has called into question the very phenomenon û namely, globalisation û that has boosted international trade, and hence transportation between nations.

    There is a distinct downslide in world trade and industrial output in recent years, most dramatically seen in the volatile financial markets in Asia and elsewhere. This affects workers in general, but transport workers in particular.

    It is only natural, therefore, that your federation should have sharply focussed on the underlying causes of this crisis. There is an urgent need for a new architecture for the global financial system, based on the principles of equitable and sustained development.

    My government is in the process of formulating a conceptual framework for an innovative restructuring of the global financial system, including the twin institutions û World Bank and the IMF û that were founded to regulate it.

    We will present this conceptual framework for a national debate and actively seek the views of our friends in the trade union movement.

    Transport workers have a direct stake in an early resolution of the crisis in the world economy. A sustained increase in global trade will mean the movement of an everincreasing quantity of goods across countries. This means that the demand for the work that you do at ports, airports, on ships, on trains, on trucks and other places, will rise. In order to address the imperative of economic recovery, Governments and transport unions together need to evolve solutions that both protect workers interests and yet lead to modernization of crucial infrastructure facilities. For example, we in India need to quickly reduce the turn-around time for ships at our ports and, also, provide many facilities available, at ports in competitive markets.

    If we achieve modernization of port facilities, it will accelerate economic growth in many industries and services, creating many more new jobs. So, ultimately, the gainers will be workers themselves.

    Retraining and upgradation of skills will have to be an important component of this exercise. Transport workers, like workers in other industries in todayÆs fast changing economy, need to use new cost-saving technologies and equipment, be more flexible in their work and not allow rigid job descriptions to come in their way.

    In this process of change, one thing must remain unchanged : namely, concern for the welfare of workers. Governments and transport industries continue to carry a major responsibility to ensure that the physical and occupational safety of transport workers is never compromised in order to cut costs.
    They can and must intervene to ensure that the environment is not harmed.

    If trade and commerce in the future is going to be regulated by the global rules of the World Trade Organization, shouldnÆt there be global minimum standards for health and safety ? Your Federation is the most apt organization to prepare a draft set of minimum standards for all you constituents. India would be happy to consider them favourably.

    I know that you will be discussing these and other issues that will facilitate one of the worldÆs oldest and most important professions to adapt to ever-faster change.
    With these words, I inaugurate the World Congress of the International Transport  Workers Federation.

    Thank you.
 
 

    Fifth meeting of the Indo-Russian Working Group agreed on the further technical advice on Jhanjra Project to achieve targetted coal production and to consider updated technology for explosive preparation works with use of Machine KSM 2000 R on a global competitive bidding basis, In lignite related areas cooperation was sought in respect method of segregation of Marcasite in lignite seam; possibility of exploiting deep seated lignite in MANNARGUDI and BAHUR fields; available technology with minimum environmental hazards for loosening the hard formations and method of fly ash disposal.

    For manufacturing of simplest explosives and technology of charging of the blast holes with the help of polyethylene hoses Russian companies were advised to persue the matter with Indian Explosive manufacturers.

    Russian side agreed to deliver the spare parts for Russian Equipment being used in India as and when there is necessity for the same.

    Both sides agreed that CMPDIL and GIPROSHAKHT will duly negotiate the extension of validity of MOU and to make necessary amendments or changes, if required.

    Both sides noted that the preparations of Master Plan for development of Talcher, Ib valley and Korba Coalfields is progressing satisfactorily.

    The protocol was signed by Mr. N.N Gautam, Advisor (Projects) Ministry of Coal and Mr. G.A Kassikhin, Head of the Department of Coal Industry in the Ministry of Fuel and Energy of the Russian Federation.