The Minister for Chemicals & Fertilizers, Shri Sundar Lal Patwa has said that the Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals is in touch with the Ministry of Agriculture for bringing about simplifications in the Insecticides Act and its procedures. Shri Patwa was addressing the members of the Consultative Committee attached to his Ministry, here yesterday. This was the first meeting of the Committee since Shri Patwa assumed charge as the Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers along with the Minister of State, Shri Satya Brata Mookherjee. The Department also plans to work further on the debureaucratization and simplification of procedures in an effort to bring the existing regulatory framework in India in line with the international practices, the Minister said. Shri Patwa said the Department is also examining ways in which a proactive role can be played in promoting the pesticides industry, particularly its export potential. He also emphasised that with the liberalization of the economy and opening up of the world market, the pesticides industry faces new challenges in the times to come. The Minister said stipulations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) are in particular relevant to the pesticides industry. The increasing awareness about environment and the need for cleaner technologies and biodegradable products has thrown up new challenges before the pesticides industry. The industry would have to gear up its Research & Development efforts and bring in technologies that would provide products that are user friendly and cause least harm to farmers.

‘5’

VIGILANCE AWARENESS WEEK AND ANTI-CORRUPTION PLEDGE

    Corruption is anti-national, anti-poor and anti-economic development. It is necessary to mobilize efforts to ensure that India emerges as a corruption free country and is able to fully utilize its human potential to become an economic superpower.

COMPANIES ACT SYNERGISES WITH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ACT

    The Government has directed all Regional Directors and Registrars of Companies to allocate a Corporate Identity Number (CIN) to each Company registered on and after November 1,2000 to make corporate sector most investor friendly. The CIN assigned to a Company will indicate listing status, economic activity(industry), State in which incorporated, year of incorporation, ownership and sequential number assigned by Registrars of Companies (ROCs). This will help investors chose the companies for their investments. The Department of Company Affairs (DCA) has stated this in a circular to Regional Directors and Registrars of Companies.

    The introduction of CIN follows implementation of the recommendations of E-Corporate Business Working Group to Synergies the provisions of the Companies Act, 1956 with the Information Technology Act,2000. With this, the process of introduction of E-Corporate Governance commences in the Department of Company Affairs. Measures are also afoot to follow the CIN with the introduction of e-filing of various returns like annual report, balance sheet accounts and so on shortly.

    The CIN has been designed to help identify easily companies belonging to a State, industry, ownership or age. It will be a 21-digit number.

    The first letter denotes the listed or unlisted company. The first five digits represent the economic activity of the company, the second two represent the State in which the registered office of the company is located, the next four indicate the year of incorporation of the company, still next three indicate ownership code. The last digits in the CIN are the unique number assigned to every company in any particular economic activity, in a particular State, particular year of incorporation and a particular ownership category.

    The DCA has also worked out a training schedule for the officials of ROCs all over the country in co-ordination with the National Informatics Centre(NIC).

'24'

INDIA POST AND MTNL SIGN MOU FOR DELIVERY OF TELEPHONE BILLS

  India Post and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) here today for delivery of telephone bills of MTNL in Delhi. The Delhi Postal Circle will deliver about 11 lakh bills per month to the telephone subscribers of Delhi. Correct and timely delivery of telephone bills will be ensured through dedicated postal staff to ensure customer satisfaction. Delhi Postal Circle has made special arrangements to deliver the bills within three days of the date of posting. The delivery will be made through a network of 85 delivery Post Offices in Delhi.

'38'

INDIA SEEKS SWEDISH COOPERATION IN ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY ON WATER FRONT

    A 20-member Swedish delegation led by Mr. Kjell Larsson, Minister of Environment, Government of Sweden called on the Union Minister for Water Resources, Shri Arjun Charan Sethi here yesterday. The Minister for Water Resources at the outset welcomed the leader and the delegation for paying a visit to India. Shri Sethi initiated the discussion by saying that the environment and water resources are two vital subjects engaged the attention of the planners, administrators, engineers, ecologists and technocrats world over as the source is fast depleting due to rapid urbanisation, growth of population and bio-degradation of nature. He called for mutual collaboration in these spheres to tackle the problems faced by both the countries.

'41'

SHANMUGHAM EMPHASISES THE NEED TO INCREASE INVESTMENT IN COAL SECTOR

6TH MEETING OF INDO-BRITISH COAL FORUM INAUGURATED

   The Minister of State for Coal, Shri N.T. Shanmugham emphasised that the Indian coal industry which is now in the process of deregulation and liberalisation could learn a lot from the British experience of privatisation. The coal industry in UK has successfully transformed itself from a nationalised monolith to private operations, functioning in efficient smaller number of units producing coal in a competitive market. He said that there is a need to increase investment in coal mining, coal handling and coal cleaning to overcome the anticipated demand supply gap over the next decade. The public sector will not be in a position to provide the infusion of requisite funds on the scale needed to achieve the targets in the 10th and 11th Plans. Therefore, channelisation of private sector resources into the coal industry has become imperative the Minister added.

'32'

MORE FLATS FOR GOVERNMENT EMPLOYEES IN GREATER NOIDA AND GURGAON

   Minister of State for Urban Development and Poverty Alleviation Shri Bandaru Dattatraya has said that more flats would be built by CGEWHO (Central Government Employees Welfare Housing Organisation) for Government employees in Greater NOIDA and Gurgaon because of the huge demand for houses in Delhi and surrounding areas. Laying the foundation stone of the residential complex consisting of about 980 flats being built by the CGEWHO at Sector-82, NOIDA, Shri Dattatraya said that CGEWHO is also surveying the whole country to assess the demand from Central Government Employees for building residential accommodation on self-financing basis.

   Centre will urge the State governments for speedy implementation of Building and Other Construction Workers’ (RECS) Act, 1996. Presiding over the first meeting of the Central Advisory Committee to review the implementation of the Act here yesterday evening, the Labour Minister Dr. Satyanarayan Jatiya said that he would be writing soon to the Chief Ministers in this regard. He said, if necessary, a conference of state Labour Ministers would be held to expedite the process of implementation.

    The Act provides for regulating the employment of service of more than 8.5 million construction workers in the country besides meeting their welfare, safety and health needs. The Act applies to the establishments employing, or having employed during the preceding year, 10 or more workers. The other most important feature of the Act is the constitution of a Welfare Fund for Construction Workers to be utilized for immediate assistance in case of accidents in addition to meeting medical expenses of beneficiaries for major ailments, pension, premia for group insurance schemes, loans for construction of houses and financial assistance for the education of their children. The fund would be raised by collecting a cess at rates not exceeding 2% of the cost of construction incurred by the employer. The fund will be managed by Welfare Boards to be constituted by the State Governments.

    Dr. Jatiya said only Kerala has set up Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board while Tamil Nadu Government is implementing the Construction Workers Welfare Scheme since 1994. In other States the process is on for constitution of Workers’ Welfare Boards. Dr. Jatiya said the other states can benefit from the experience of Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

    Participating in the meeting, members suggested introduction of registration card system for construction workers and employers should be urged to employ only such card holders. The holding of cards should automatically entitle the workers to various welfare benefits under the Act. One of the members suggested compulsory registration of women workers and suitable amendments in eligibility criteria for maternity benefits. It was also suggested that registration time for agencies should be reduced from 60 days to 30 days.

    Another important suggestion was to make training of workers as part of the Welfare and to promote it trained workers should be granted bonus and contractors be given rebate for employing trained workers. It was stated Andhra Pradesh has recently started training workers as part of the welfare activity.

   The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved the proposal for placing the services of Shri D.P. Bagchi, IAS (OR: 66) at the disposal of the Government of Orissa for his appointment as Chief Secretary to the Government of Orissa with effect from 1^st November 2000. Shri Bagchi is, at present Secretary, Ministry of Small Scale Industries and Agro & Rural Industries.

'26'

AVIATION TALKS

    The delegations representing the Governments of India and Malaysia met in New Delhi to discuss matters relating to air service operations between the two countries. It was decided that the designated airlines of both countries shall be entitled to operate 3,900 seats per week in each direction. In addition, the designated airline of Malaysia shall be permitted to operate 1,500 seats per week in each direction against the unutilised capacity entitlement of the Indian side, under a commercial arrangement. The Malaysian Airlines has also been given permission to operate services to Hyderabad, Mumbai and Bangalore under a Code-Share arrangement with the Indian carriers which will extend upto the West Coast of USA over Kuala Lumpur.

POLICE OFFICER TRAINEES PASS OUT FROM NATIONAL POLICE ACADEMY HYDERABAD

    Thirty three IPS Officer Trainees including 3 Lady Officers and 3 Officers of Palestinian Security Force passed out from the National Police Academy at Hyderabad today, after completion of their 42 weeks Basic Course. Doyen of the Indian Police Padmavibhushan K.F. Rustumji, who was the Founder Director General of the Border Security Force took the salute at the Passing Out Parade.

    The Chief Vigilance Commissioner, Shri N.Vittal has called for steps to end political corruption, which he said, is the root cause of all forms of corruption. Addressing a meeting at Rail Bhawan in New Delhi today to mark the inauguration of the Vigilance Awareness Week, Shri Vittal asked 'why should our political system be based on black-money. He suggested amendment to the Income Tax Act so that donations to political parties are made legal and public and are tax-free to a suitable extent. He also urged the implementation of the Benami Transaction Prohibition Act so that Benami property can be attached. He said adequate mechanisms should be created in all Ministries, Public Sector Undertakings and other places to ensure that speedy punitive is taken against those found guilty. Shri Vittal added that public awareness should be created against corruption which is anti-national and anti-poor.

    Shri Vittal said that the society has to shed away the attitude of little concern against corruption. He said that vigilance is generally perceived as a negative phenomenon. He said that time has come when we should give it a positive form. The process can be initiated by encouraging the honest persons within the organisation. He suggested that each Department/Ministry should identify zero corruption units/sections which should work as a catalyst for others.

    Earlier, the Chairman, Railway Board Shri Ashok Kumar said that the Railways, with a large network, have a massive public interface ,. The Railway Board is quite conscious about making the Railway services more user friendly. With a view to ensure that the concept of zero tolerance against corruption percolates deep down the entire system, the Board has issued necessary instructions to ensure effective supervision of the subordinates at every level. He said that the country needs a crusade against corruption and the Railways are very much part of this crusade.

    Shri Vittal also released a compilation "Chetna Ahwan" which has been brought out by the Railway Board on the occasion of the 'Vigilance Awareness Week'. It consists of articles on the subject of corruption contributed by the Railway officials and workers .

    A number of Seminars, debates, essay competitions and other activities are being organised in various field units of the Railways during the observance of the week.

‘21’

INFLATION RATE BASED ON ALL INDIA CONSUMER PRICE INDEX NUMBER FOR INDUSTRIAL WORKERS FALLS

    The rate of inflation, based upon the CPI-IW has decreased by 0.49% from 3.99% in August 2000 to of 3.50% in September, 2000 . In September, 1999 it was 2.14%.

    The All India Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial Workers (CPI-IW), on base 1982-100, for September, 2000 has increased by 1 point to stand at 444 (four hundred & forty-four) points. The CPI-IW during the corresponding period last year had increased by 3 points.

    The Fall/Rise in index varies from centre to centre. In 31 centres index increased between 1 to 16 points, in 14 centres it remained constant and in 25 centres it recorded decrease of 1 to 13 points when compared to previous month.

    During the month Srinagar centre has experienced the highest increase of 16 points mainly on account of increase in prices of Cinema Charges, Electricity Charges and prices of Vegetables & Fruits whereas Solapur centre has experienced the maximum decrease of 13 points mainly due to fall in prices of Rice, Wheat, Jowar, Groundnut Oil, Vegetables & Fruits and Kerosene Oil. Index remained stationary in 14 centres viz. Thiruvananthapuram, Warangal, Bhillai,, Pondicherry, Mumbai, Chennai, Surat, Balaghat, Mercara, Jalpaiguri, Raniganj, Noamundi, Guntur and Bangalore.

The index in respect of six main centres for September, 2000 stood at the following level :-

1. Ahmedabad 442   4. Chennai 475

2. Bangalore   427    5. Delhi         516

3. Calcutta 465             6. Mumbai 507