Lok Sabha polls: Schedule announced
New Delhi: The Election Commission has finalised the poll schedule for the 14th Lok Sabha, and has announced that they will be held in four phases on April 20, 26, May 5 and 10, along with assembly elections in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnakata, Orissa and Sikkim. The counting of votes will take place on May 13 all over the country. In Andhra Pradesh this may be advanced by a day.

According to the commission polling will be conducted in four phases in Jammu and Kashmir, three in Bihar and UP, two in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur and Orissa and in a single phase in all the other 24 States and Union Territories. Notifications for the four stages would be issued on March 24, 31, April 8 and 16 respectively. The last date for filing of nominations would be March 31, April 7, 15 and 23. Scrutiny of candidature will be conducted in five phases on April one, two, eight, 16 and 24. The last date for withdrawal of candidature has been divided into five stages — April 3, 5, 10, 19 and 26.

Electronic voting machines (EVM) would be used in all constituencies to ensure secrecy and total neutrality. This would be for the first time in India's electoral history that EVMs would be used in all the parliamentary constituencies. As many as 1.075 million EVMs would be used during four-phase Lok Sabha polls and simultaneous elections to four assemblies.
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India reaches out to West Africa
New Delhi: Foreign Ministers of eight West African countries and India would are gathering here on Monday. The meet is being conducted to promote mutual co-operation in areas of common interest, and also to formalise the formation of a new group, which has been given the nomenclature Techno-Economic Approach for Africa India Movement or TEAM 9.

The eight West African countries meeting India today are Burkina Faso, Chad, Cote d'Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Senegal. The meet will consider India's offer of assistance in return for projects/markets/influence among these diverse, but resource-rich, countries from the African continent.
TEAM 9, from the point of view of this country, would be a good platform to showcase India's scientific and technological capabilities, which could be utilised for assisting these eight countries in select sectors. Apart from accessing business opportunities, TEAM 9 would also enable India to obtain support from the West African countries for political issues of direct concern to the country.
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Chennai Container Terminal: Normalcy restored
Chennai: Following discussions between the workers and the management normal operations have been restored at the Chennai Container Terminal Private Ltd on Saturday. According to a press release from the Chennai Port Trust, the terminal handled 1,200 TEUs in three shifts on Saturday against the usual 1,400 TEUs a day.

Pending clearance of the backlog, the Chennai Port Trust authorities have decided that up to March 2 the container terminal would receive export containers only for the next six vessels.
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Exports to US up 10.5% in 2003
New Delhi: After logging a growth of more than 20 per cent in the first half of 2003, India's exports to the US closed the year at $13.03 billion, representing a rise of 10.52 per cent. Imports from the US, at the same time, increased 18.75 per cent to $4.37 billion during 2003, compared with $3.68 billion in 2002.

According to trade statistics released by the US International Trade Commission, in spite of the higher growth in imports from the US, India increased its trade surplus to $8.66 billion in 2003 compared with $8.11 billion in 2002.
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Kerala allotted more rice
Thiruvananthapuram: The Centre has allocated 25,000 tonnes more of rice to the State under the Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojna, which is to be distributed to beneficiaries as part of the Food for Work scheme.

An official said here that the rice stock has been allocated to the districts of Thiruvananthapuram, Ernakulam, Kollam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Idukki and Thrissur. The respective district collectors have been asked to collect the rice from the godowns of the Food Corporation of India and identify work programmes for distributing the rice among the beneficiaries.
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