J&K's anti women bill unlikely to be passed
Jammu: As women groups in the University in Jammu and lawyers unions took to the streets, the chief of the state legislative council said that a controversial bill, which seeks to bar local women from the right to acquire property in the state, would require a two-thirds majority and that the state government is unlikely to get those numbers.

The council has a total strength of 36 members out of, which six chairs are lying vacant. The National Conference with fifteen members and the PDP with four are both in favour of the bill but it still does not add up to a two-thirds majority, which is what the bill requires.
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French Minister: Reforms will lead to economic boom
New Delhi: The French Minister for Industry, Energy and Telecommunications, Ms Nicole Fontaine, has said that the economic reforms in India would eventually lead to an "economic boom".

Addressing a meeting organized by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) Ms Fontaine said that bilateral trade, which had tremendous scope, was far below potential, with France being the eighth largest investor in India. She urged businessmen of both the countries to capitalize on the friendship between the two countries.
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Panel set up for quarterly review of economy
New Delhi: The Government has decided to set up a panel under Vijay Kelkar, Advisor to Finance Minister, which will prepare a quarterly review of the economy as mandated under the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act (FRBM).
The panel will comprise the Finance Secretary, D.C. Gupta, the Revenue Secretary, Vineeta Rai, the Budget Secretary, D. Swarup, and the Financial Sector Secretary, N.S. Sisodia.
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TUFS for engineering industry mooted
Coimbatore: The Central Government has been asked to formulate a technology upgradation fund scheme (TUFS) for the engineering industry along the lines of the one for the textile industry. This suggestion has been made by the Engineering Export Promotion Council.According to the council the engineering industry in the country achieved exports of nearly $7.8 billion last year and this year hopes to achieve a volume of $9 billion. While the US topped the export market, Europe and the UAE were the other two major regions catered to by the Indian engineering industry.This programme, on the lines of TUFS for the textile sector, would make adequate finance available for the engineering industry, enabling it to modernize at competitive rates.
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Kerala defers farm loans recovery for six months
Thiruvananthapuram: The State Government has decided to defer revenue recovery proceedings on farm loans for a period of six months, given the prevailing drought conditions in the state. Meanwhile, the State Government has set up Crisis Management Groups (CMGs) at the State and district levels to deal with the drought situation. According to the Chief Minister, individual ministers have been given the responsibility to coordinate drought relief measures in various districts.
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Dumping duty on Chinese melamine recommended
New Delhi: The Designated Authority in the Commerce Ministry has recommended imposing preliminary anti-dumping duty on melamine from China.The non-toxic substance, reacted with formaldehyde, has a number of uses in downstream products. In response to a written petition filed by Gujarat State Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd, Vadodara, the sole producer of melamine in the country, the Authority initiated the investigation for the period between April 2002 and June 2003. It noted that though the product was being imported from several countries, import prices from other countries were higher and not undercutting or that the volume of imports was de-minimus. However, there was a significant increase in imports from China in relation to other countries.
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Bar-coding for the health sector
Chennai: EAN India Ltd. plans a drive to extend barcodes to the health sector. EAN India is an organization under the Ministry of Commerce, which is responsible for the barcoding standards that go onto products. Initially the organization intends to target the management of blood banks.

Barcoding would enable efficient collection, storage and distribution of blood products. EAN is working with state blood councils in this regard to interest them in a barcoding initiative for their network of blood banks. EAN is also working with the Apollo Hospitals chain to barcode its entire process and the supplies that it buys.
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