DEVELOPMENT DIGEST

VOL.3 1-31 October 2000 NO.7

The high-security Tihar Jail took a big step towards reformation and rehabilitation of prisoners by launching a website for sale of paintings made by its inmates and formally starting the sale of its confectionery and snacks under the brand name "TJs". The website -- softronindia.com/expressionstihar -- will display paintings made by adolescent prisoners. It will provide the outside world a window on Tihar.

Parvathapur village, 126 kms from Hyderabad, achieved the distinction of becoming the first "solar-powered digital culture and electronic commerce centre" in the country to be linked to the world through the Internet. Parvathapur is one of the 50 villages to be converted into e-commerce centres by local company Greenstar India in collaboration with Mandala Grameena Bhagaswamya Samstha and Villages in Partnership, a voluntary organisation.

(The Pioneer - 4-10-2000)

Diversified major ITC's International Business Division (IBS) has launched a new website - www.Itcibd.Com - to provide a one-stop platform for global customers of agricultural commodities from India. ITC is also planning to expand the web-enablement programme for the farmers to 14 states. In the initial phase, ITC will help rural commodities setup e-hubs to access web for information.

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), has introduced a six-month certificate course in "Women's Empowerment and Development". The main objective of the course is to sensitise students and development activists on the gender related issues, to provide the necessary expertise on women's issues. The course is available both in English and Hindi. The required qualifications for the admission are either 10 plus 2 or three years of working experience as a development activist.

Six infrastructure industries including electricity and petroleum recorded 7.3 per cent growth in 1999-2000 against 2.5 per cent in 1998-99 as the new industrial policy provided the much needed competitive stimulus for accelerated growth, the CII statistical yearbook said. The 32^nd edition of the year book, compiled by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), also pointed out that share of small scale industry sector in the total exports was over 30 per cent. The publication projected that passenger traffic on railway would reach 4800 million from 4469 million in 2000-01.

(The Hindu - 5-10-2000)

Procuring agencies in Haryana have so far procured 1,23,794 tonnes of paddy as against 30,876 tonnes in the corresponding period last year. The Food and Supplies Department had procured 23,633 tonnes, Hafed 67,200 tonnes, Haryana Warehousing Corporation

(Ministry of Information and Broadcasting)

10,945 tonnes, Agro Industries 5,611 tonnes and Confed 3,340 tonnes at the minimum support price announced by the Union Government. The Food Corporation of India had also procured 13,065 tonnes of paddy in the various mandis of the State.

WWF-India has bagged the first Rajiv Gandhi Wildlife Conservation Award for its contribution in spawning a large number of conservation NGOs as well as professionals to preserve the environment and wildlife in the country. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 1,00,000, a trophy and a citation. The citation said, "the WWF-India and its nature clubs, other associates and supporters have sprung a whole generation of environmentalists, who are continuing the crusade in whatever personal or professional capacity to preserve the ecosystem".

Taking into account the fact that there has been an "annual growth of more than 40 per cent in mushroom production in the country", the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is starting a vocational programme on mushroom cultivation. Its training programme commences from November 1 and will be taken up in areas around 10 practical-cum-demonstration centres in Delhi and other towns and cities. The IGNOU's instructional package will comprise self-study print materials, TV and audio programames as well as practicals under the guidance of mushroom experts and growers.

Gems and jewellery exports have gone up by 14.30 per cent to $2,180.88 million during April-July 2000 from $1907.95 million during the corresponding period last year. Of the total exports, cut and polished diamonds account for $1,911.86 million followed by

gold jewellery and coloured gemstones. The gems and jewellery sector with exports worth over $8 billion in 1999-2000 as against $6 billion the previous year had shown consistently high growth in the last two consecutive years. Of the total gems and jewellery exports, the share of diamonds was around $6.6 billion accounting for 82.5 per cent.

The Territorial Army has raised a battalion of Ecological Task Force. It comprises 147 members, including three officers and five Junior Commissioned Officers. Their primary task is to convert the 2,200 barren acres into a forest, Kargil Martyrs Memorial forest. The force, the first of its kind , would function for five years. The project cost is Rs 8.23 crore.

To protect and conserve rare plants of medicinal value, the Municpal Corporation of Delhi has decided to develop the Capital's first herbarium at Punjabi Bagh. To be set up over four acres, the herbal park will nurture rare species of plants, shrubs and trees with medicinal value, some of which are nearing extinction. The park will be the only one of its kind in Delhi and will serve as a nursery for several other similar parks to be developed in future.

Bangalore based e4e Inc has launched India's first technology holding company and unveiled plans to invest $ 300 million over the next three years to help entrepreneurs

build global companies. e4e would focus on building Internet technology enabled infrastructure service companies like manage IT services, network management and wireless data services.

The Centre has taken the initiative for upgradation and development of the subordinate judiciary and it will disburse Rs 502.90 crores in the next four years to the States and Union Territories. The 11^th Finance Commission had passed an award for upgradation and special problem grants for the administration of justice in the States and Union Territories at the district level and subordinate level administration. The
Commission has taken into account the huge pendency of criminal cases in the subordinate judiciary and recommended creation of 1,734 additional sessions courts at the rate of five courts per district in the country. On an average, a judicial officer will be able to clear 168 cases per year. From 2001 to 2005, about two million cases will be disposed of.

For the first time the BBC World Service programmes are available on All India Radio (AIR). This is the first time that BBC has reached a rebroadcasting agreement in India. A variety of programmes including news, science and sport programmes will be broadcast on its National Channel on 1215, 1566 and 1134 MW. Sports International will be available at 2325 on Thursdays. World Business Review and Science in Action will be broadcast on Saturdays at 1945 and 2130 respectively.

Indian plant geneticist Surinder K Vasal has been awarded the prestigious Millennium world Food Prize along with Mexican biochemist Evangeline Villegas for lifetime work for developing a higher-yielding, protein-rich corn that could help prevent malnutrition in millions of people. The World Bank made an announcement that the two awardees

, Amritsar-born Vasal, 62, and Villegas, 76 will receive the $25,00,000 prize.

(The Economic Times - 15-10-2000)

An Indian American, who had set up an endowment fund for Indian studies in the United States two years ago, has now launched another fund in India to promote American Studies. Urmila Mohapatra, author and resident of Terra Haute, Indiana, has established a Rs. 1,00,000 ($2,175) endowment fund at Utkal University , Orissa for projects to help enrich the study of American politics and society. Mohapatra, a native of Orissa, had established a $ 16,000 fund at Indian State University (ISU) in 1998 to promote Indian studies at the university.

Maharashtra is coming up with its own version of the hugely popular "Palace on Wheels" kind of luxury train. The luxury train, likely to be called "Deccan Odyssey" will benchmark itself with the kind of services offered by a five-star hotel. The train will start from Mumbai and travel across the State to Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Goa, Kolhapur, Pune, Ajanta-Ellora at Aurangabad, and will return to Mumbai via Igatpuri (Nashik).

The cost of the project is estimated to be Rs 35 crore, which includes doing up the coaches and interiors and the marketing expenses. Around Rs 15 core will be funded jointly by the state government and the central government. The project will be co-shared by Konkan Railway and Central Railway.

(The Pioneer - 15-10-2000)

"Shores of Silence-Whale Sharks in India" by renowned wildlife filmmaker Mike Pandey has won the top award for environmental films on television at the Wildscreen 2000 festival, also known as the 'Green Oscars,' in

Bristol. The film was chosen out of 47 international entries. This is the second time that a film by Mike Pandey has won the 'Green Oscar' at the Wildscreen International film Festival for Environment and Conservation. 'The Last Migration -- wild Elephant Capture in Sarguja' had become the first Asian film to win the Wildscreen Panda (Green Oscar) in 1994.

The Upanishads are the spiritual treatises. They are considered to be the fifth Veda. There have been numerous translations of the Upanishads. The latest in the series of translations is the pioneer work done by Dr. Upkar Sagar Bhardwaj, a senior lecturer of English in the Government Post-Graduate College, Faridabad. He has translated three Upanishads into Hindi: Isa, Kena and Katha. Translation is in heroic couplets, highly rhythmical and musical. The translated version has been entitled Brahamnad.

The Centre has finalised a draft National Youth Policy, 2000, focusing on channelising the talents in rural India and re-orienting the Government's policy for the disabled. For the first time, a Government policy paper talks about active coordination between the government department and private agencies for the promotion of activities and rights of the youth, as well as in the field of information and research, which is going to be the thrust area.

The Union Finance Ministry has put its seal on giving industry status to the film industry through a notification under the IDBI Act. The notification under Sec 2(C) 17 of the IDBI Act 1964 provides for recognition to film-making as "an approved industrial activity". The move would enable the industry get easy finance from banks for making good films.

(The Hindu - 21-10-2000)

In a pioneering effort aimed at using the ever-popular playing cards as a medium of disseminating health awareness, the Heart Care Foundation of India (HCFI) has come out with a set of innovative "Heart Care Playing Cards". For the first time, playing cards will become a medium of creating awareness about a healthy heart. Messages like heart attack cannot be acquired over one day, soya products are good for heart or heart attack is preventable provided you live in accordance with the laws of nature, appear with interesting cartoon illustrations at the back of normal playing cards.

To move in the direction of electronic corporate governance, from 1 November each of the new company to be registered in the country will be assigned a Corporate Identity Number (CIN) reflecting the activity/industry, ownership, year of incorporation, State of registration and the status of the firm. Simultaneously steps will be taken to allot CINs to all existing companies and this process is likely to be completed by the end of next year, when all offices of the Registrar of Companies would be fully computerised. With the introduction of the CIN , the investors and the general public would get more meaningful information about a company.

A dedicated police force is being set up to protect and promote tourism in the city of Mumbai. The Mumbai Tourism Police will be specially trained to understand visitors' concerns and requirements, and will be positioned in areas with major tourists presence like the International Airport Gateway of India, Nariman Point, Chowpatty and Juhu Beach.

RELIANCE, 2 OTHERS GET INSURANCE NOD

The country's insurance sector opened up to private participation with the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority granting permission for registration of three private companies while giving in-principle clearance to three others. Reliance General Insurance, HDFC-Standard Life Insurance and Royal-Sundaram Insurance were granted permission for registration under Section 3 of the 1938 Insurance Act. Companies that have been granted permission for registration are now eligible to do business in the sector.

The Centre has decided to hand over 34 famous national tourist sites to private parties for upgradation of facilities. Private parties will now be handed over such sites as Taj Mahal in Agra, the Sun Temple in Konarak, the Bridhiswara Temple in Thanjavur, the Golkonda Fort in Andhra Pradesh or the churches and convents in Goa for beautification and provision of civic amenities. The monuments and their entry fee will remain with the government, but private parties will be allowed to develop the premises and do the maintenance.

The Government launched a $ 72-million telecom reform project with World Bank's assistance to provide spur competition in the sector. World Bank's assistance amounts to $ 62 million and Government would contribute $ 10 million towards the total project cost. The project, slated to be completed in phases by December 2004, aims at promoting private investment and competition in telecommunication sector in the country. The world bank funded project involves DoT headquarters, wireless planning and coordination wing, telecommunication engineering centre, TRAI and telecom settlement and appellate tribunal .