DEVELOPMENT DIGEST

VOL.3 1-30 September 2000 NO.6

The six infrastructure industries have reported 5.7 per cent growth in July 2000, with petroleum refinery products reporting nearly 36 per cent growth during the month under review. The overall index for these six industries rose to 154.1 as against 145.7 in the corresponding month previous year. The six infrastructure industries -- electricity, coal, steel, crude petroleum, petroleum refinery products and cement -- together account for weight of 26.68 per cent in the index of industrial production.

Production of electricity was up by one percent, steel by 8.4 per cent, coal by 1.8 per cent and cement by 6.3 per cent. Crude petroleum production reported insignificant growth in production in July 2000.

The state government has taken a decision to promote fruit based wine industry in Himachal Pradesh for opening a new avenue of value addition to the Horticulture industry. The wine industry would be established in the joint sector in collaboration with the renowned wine manufacturers Indage Group of Companies, Mumbai.

The joint sector venture has been registered as Himachal Indage Private Limited. The company would establish two wine industries in districts Shimla and Kullu, with a view to protect the interests of the apple growers of Himachal Pradesh from competition from imported apples. The matter had been taken up seriously with the Government of India (GOI). As a result the import duty for imported apples was increased by GOI from 35% to 56%.

In a move which could well mean good-bye to all - concrete toppings on footpaths and walkways, the Delhi Pollution Control Committee has issued orders to the civic agencies to use only porous tiles in future. This is to allow breathing space for tress and shrubs and reverse the trend of depleting groundwater level.

In the light of an alarming decline in the survival rate of new saplings planted on central verges, road islands and footpaths, as also the adverse impact on the life span of trees, the Delhi Government's Environment Department has come out with detailed guidelines to check this trend. The exercise is also in keeping with the Government's initiative on rain water harvesting. The new move is important for the success of the massive "Green Delhi" campaign launched by the Government with the help of voluntary groups and Residents' Welfare Associations.

The Haryana State Council for Science and Technology (HSCST) is establishing a plant tissue culture centre at Hissar at a cost of Rs. 4.97 crores. The project, being set up by HSCST in association with the Central Department of Bio-Technology, aims at using in-vitro techniques for mass multiplication of elite genotypes of various economically important horticultural and ornamental plants. The centre would also provide extensive training to scientists, entrepreneurs, farmers and corporates and popularise help application of tissue culture technology in the State.

(Ministry of Information and Broadcasting)

SCIENTISTS AWARDED

An Indian researcher, Surinder K Vasal, shares this year's World Food Prize with a Mexican cereal chemist for developing maize varieties with higher protein content that help prevent malnutrition and protein deficiency disorders in developing countries.

Indian diamond industry has succeeded in capturing more than 80 per cent of the world diamond market in terms of quantity and over 50 per cent in value. Now the sophisticated and high-tech Indian gem and jewellery industry is targeting a much larger and value-added $75 billion world jewellery market. Jewellery exports are targeted to touch $5 billion in next 5 years. The modern factories and state-of-the art machinery and computerised operations have lent a cutting edge to the diamond processing and jewellery manufacturing.

Gujarat's ambitious plan to find a place in the information technology world has received a big boost with the Centre announcing an investment of Rs. 10 crores in the Rs 360-crore Science City project being planned in Ahmedabad.

The state also plans to set up Internet kiosks in 226-odd sub-districts of the State where 'dhabas' or small eateries will be equipped with Internet connections.

The Centre will provide 50 per cent budgetary support to States for setting up 'one stop' facilitation centre in their respective capital. The project, along the lines of the proposed 'Paryatan Bhavan' in Delhi, should be completed in a time bound manner within three years.

The States are to accord a higher priority to

The Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has asked the States to present their proposals for assistance under the Accelerated Power Generation and Supply Programme (APGSP) which attracts a four per cent interest subsidy. This decision has been taken at a meeting convened by the Union Power Secretary with representatives of the State Electricity Boards (SEBs). The meeting focussed on the action plan for installation of meters at all consumer points. A provision of Rs. 1,000 crores has been made during the current year for Accelerated Power Development Programme for modernization of projects, upgradation of distribution network and metering the energy audit.

Lotus-IBM has launched their groupware, messaging and collaboration product Lotus Notes version 5.0.4 in Hindi. This will support the Devanagari and Tamil scripts which will enable Lotus Notes customers to use the application in Indian languages. All screens and menus will now be available in Hindi thereby allowing users to work comfortably in the local language environment. The Lotus Notes Hindi version is targetted at the government and public sector organizations in a big way.

ICICI Limited announced the launch of its comprehensive social development portal www.icicicommunities.org. ICICI will only act as the facilitate or enabling the setting up of a platform for people to donate. The portal will be managed by the newly set-up social initiative group of the ICICI. The portal will be providing detailed information about projects being undertaken by select NGOs.

India has improved its position in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP), moving to the fourth place as compared to the earlier status of fifth rank. Only the United Sates of America, China and Japan have a better ranking than India in terms of PPP, according to the latest world Development Report.

By scaling up the ranking by a single notch, India has further enhanced its position as an emerging economy with great potential.

A site on the Indus valley Civilisation and the sub-continent before 1947 - www.harappa.com - has bagged the first monthly Britannica Internet Guide (BIG) Award that seeks to set indigenously constructed websites.

Billed as an on-line 'mine' of information and research material on pre-Partition India since time immemorial, "harappa.com" features photographs, lithographs, video clips, interviews and audio tracks on the sub-continent,. Besides listing books, museums and films pertaining to the Harappan Civilisation, the site also offers links to others sites on the Indus Valley Civilisation.

With the President giving his assent to the Constitution (83nd Amendment) Bill, 2000, the "right to education" has been incorporated in the Constitution as a fundamental right.

Notified in the Gazette of India, the Bill passed in the monsoon session of Parliament has now become an Act. It seeks to make the right to free and compulsory education for children from six to 14 years of age as fundamental right and to make it a fundamental duty of parents to provide opportunities for education to their children belonging to this age group.

The President has also given his assent to the Constitution (82^nd amendment) Bill and it has now been notified in the Gazette of India as an Act. It seeks to ensure status quo in terms of relaxation of qualifying standards of

evaluation for SCs and STs in promotions which have been restored through this amendment both in Central and State Government services.

WEBSITE FOR BIOTECHNOLOGY

A web site exclusively for biotechnology was launched by SPIC. The web site will offer services such as delivery of flowers, bouquets and flower arrangements across the country through authorized dealers at flower stock points and florists in about 165 places. Bulk purchase of flowers, as well as registration of florists to make use of the site is possible. The website can be accessed 'www.FlowersUnlimited.ws.

The Tea Board has identified certain area in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland, Orissa and Bihar as suitable for tea cultivation. Under the new area development scheme, the Board has identified these areas to be brought under tea cultivation in the Ninth Plan period. The Himachal Pradesh government has also shown interest in developing total area of 7,700 hectares for tea plantations in the Chamba, Kangra and Mandi districts. The Tea Board has aimed at bringing 20,000 hectares of land in the non-traditional area under the cultivation during this period.

There is good news for farmers" the G B Pant University of Agriculture and Technology" (GBPAT) has launched a "Help Line" to solve problems related to agriculture.

The Help Line telephone number is 05944-33336 and is open between 9-30 to 12 noon on all working days.

The International Scientist Award of the world Homoeopathic Development Organisation has been given to Dr. A.M

India's most sophisticated surfarce-to-air missile, 'Akash' was successfully test-fired from Chandipur-on-sea, on 19^th September 2000. The missile uses a ramjet propulsion system and surveillance radar system. The missile system fire control radar is a multi-target, multi-function phased array radar called Rajendra, and has a range of 60 kms. The radar and the missile can tract 64 targets of which four can be engaged simultaneously. The missile has a ceiling height of 18,000 m and is capable of detecting and destroying aircraft flying at tree-top level.

The report of United Nations Council for Trade and Development (UNCTAD) "Trade and Development Report. 2000", has termed as "above average" India's economic growth of around 7 per cent last year. The report noted that unlike China, Indian growth was based on the "dynamism of industry and services even with a sharp slow-down in agriculture , the economy expanded by close to 7 per cent in 1999 and the growth momentum is expected to continue this year".

With Internet use growing among the doctor community, comprehensive Indian health portal, www.heatlh4india.com, supported by an elite panel of medical advisors., has arrived on the worldwide web. It is a site which will interest one and all - doctors, health care providers, pharmaceutical companies, patients or just an inquisitive individual.

At www.heath4india.com ,a doctor can select clinician's section to get all relevant information for himself without doing much of searching. There are 16 specialty online medical journals for doctors , over 100 disease topics, about 180 drugs monographs and over 100 clinical articles. A few other special characteristics of the site include online consultation with a doctor, online medical records facility for its browsers, 24-hour help-line and latest news related to medicine and science. There is an online directory of hospitals , doctors , blood banks. Ambulances, eye-banks, chemists, diagnostic labs, medical equipment suppliers and pharmaceutical companies from all over India making the site content rich.

The Centre has embarked on massive use of information technology in courts to speed up disposal of cases and for this it has released Rs. 208.28 lakhs to various States and Union territories for the development of infrastructural facility for the judiciary. In the District and subordinate judiciary, the areas identified for computerisation cover case file monitoring, certified copies, report generation, library and data-base resource sharing, e-mail facility, personnel information system and payroll and accounts processing.

The Supreme Court, all the 18 High Courts and 430 district courts have been computerised and the Apex Court and all the High Courts have been inter-connected through NICNET. Daily cause lists are being generated through computer. Important reported cases of the Apex Court are available on NICNET.

At a time when focus has shifted from the modern Allopathic system of medicine to the traditional natural systems of health like Ayurveda, a comprehensive portal on

Ayurveda promises to take the traditional Indian system of medicine to homes all round the world. Allayurveda. Com - the world's first and most comprehensive portal on Ayurveda - takes the viewer through a detailed journey of this ancient system that has nearly 5000 million adherents worldwide. The portal provides comprehensive information on the ancient holistic system of medicine, including a vast range of natural herbs and minerals that assure relief or cure without any side effects.

Armed with his new state mantra of e-governance, the Madhya Pradesh chief minister is set to make his folks technosavvy. For this the I.E.C softwares Ltd has awarded a Rs 250-crore deal. To provide total IT solutions to 2,000 schools and 189 colleges in the state over the next three years, a virtual university called Bhoj Open University is coming up in the State which will equip a person with an online degree. Next on the cards is an information highway - a high speed data communication network - that will connect the urban to the rural.

The goodies for the rural belt include 7,800 computer kiosks and 7,500 computer centres for the primary and middle schools. A school student will have to pay up only Rs 54 per month while a college student pays Rs 84 per month.

Thousands of road users in the Capital have benefited immensely from the newly-installed Area Traffic Control System now under trial in the busy Connaught Place area and around ITO Crossing. Though few might have noticed the difference, travelling time in the area is officially stated to have been reduced already by almost half. While on the face of it everything seems the same at these places, about 200 sensors which have been placed three to four inches under the road surface at almost 50 intersections are silently helping in improving traffic management in a large part of New Delhi and Central Delhi. "Split Cycle Offset Optimisation Technique" or SCOOT, traffic is being controlled now with a computerised system from a control room set up at Teen Murti. The British-designed computer system installed in the Control Room receives information about the volume of traffic from the sensors and processes it for providing an optimum mix of signals to allow maximum flow of traffic from a crossing at any given point of time.

(The Hindu - 27-09-2000)

Hope India Technologies, an electronic cataloging and multimedia solutions company, has developed a pathbreaking programme of virtual walkthrough of the majestic Taj Mahal and the grand Khajuraho temple. This experience can be availed in form of a CD. Developed for the Union Ministry of Tourism, the CD is envisioned as an effective tool to promote tourism and a successful response to this will be replicated for other historical monuments as well.

The Cabinet cleared the introduction of the Multi-state Cooperative Societies Bill, 2000 to minimise the extent of government control and interference in the functioning of these institutions. The proposed Bill bars ministers in the central or state government from holding the office of a director on the board of a society. It will also make a director liable for disqualification if he absents himself form three consecutive board meetings. A member would also be liable for disqualification if he is collectively responsible for non-conduct of audit, election and general body meeting within stipulated period. The bill will replace Multi-state Cooperatives Act, 1984.

The Indian Astronomical Observatory's two-metre telescope at Hanle in Ladakh has been commissioned, making it the world's highest observatory. The IAO, situated at a height of 4,500 metres, is being set up by the Indian Institute of Astrophysics (IIA) in

Bangalore. The telescope was made by EOS Technologies of the United States and had been designed for remote operations. The remote control room will be located at the IIA's Centre for Research and Education in Science & Technology (CREST) at Hoskote, some 35 km. from Bangalore. The telescope's optical imager was built by the IIA.

The Indian Army launched a Hindi bilingual software 'Vijay' to celebrate and popularise the Golden Jubilee Year for National language - Hindi. The software will enable jawans to communicate easily in Hindi from far-flung areas like Kargil, Leh. Udhampur, etc. It has also been provisioned that with the help of the Department of Telecommunications (DOT) and local post offices, the e-mails in print would be sent to the families of jawans and officers alike in minimum time . The bilingual software allows writing letters, preparing slides, sending e-mail and creating data-bases in Hindi.