Poll India: 2004
BJP saree distribution: 21 women killed in Lucknow
Lucknow: A stampede in Lucknow killed at least 21 women, as the unfortunate women rushed to collect free sarees being distributed on the occasion of senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon's birthday.

The Election Commission would be looking into allegations of violation of the model code of conduct. The administration is looking into allegations that the meeting had not taken permission from the relevant authorities. According to reports the Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee will be rushing to his constituency to have a first hand assessment of the tragedy.

SC to pass final order on political ads today
Delhi: The Supreme court is expected to pass its final order on the monitoring of political advertisements being telecast on the electronic media today. This will be on an appeal filed by the Union Information and Broadcasting ministry against the interim order of the Andhra Pradesh High Court staying the banning of ads.

The court had earlier asked the centre to file its response to the suggestions made by the Election Commission on monitoring such advertisements, by April 12. The Supreme Court, however, had granted the request of the centre for additional time till today.

Sonia raids Sangma's lair in Tura
Tura: Congress President Sonia Gandhi will visit Meghalaya's West Garo Hills district town Tura, for an election campaign meeting today. The seat is a stronghold of former Lok Sabha Speaker and Nationalist Trinamool Congress leader Purno A Sangma. Sangma will be seeking re-election for a record eighth time.

Sukhram merges HVC with the Congress
New Delhi: In a major boost to for the Congress, former Union Communication minister Sukhram today joined the Congress and announced the merger of his Himachal Vikas Congress with it.
Sukhram also announced he would not hold any post in the party till he was cleared in the ongoing corruption cases against him.

Jethmalani files from Lucknow
Lucknow: Independent candidate Ram Jethmalani has filed his nomination papers from the Lucknow Lok Sabha seat against the incumbent, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
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Gujarat Riots: SC orders re-trial in the Best Bakery case
New Delhi: The Supreme Court has ordered the retrial of the Best Bakery case outside Gujarat. The apex court also directed that the public prosecutor in the case will be changed and the new one will take necessary follow up action for retrial as well as reinvestigation of the case. The case will be shifted to Maharashtra from Gujarat.

During the Gujarat riots in March, 2002, 14 people were burnt alive at the Best Bakery. On June 26 last year all the 21 accused were let off by the court. Though there were 70 witnesses, all of them turned hostile.
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C-MMACS: S-W monsoon likely to be on time
Bangalore: The Bangalore-based CSIR Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation (C-MMACS) has said in its latest forecast that the south-west monsoon rains are expected to hit the shores of Kerala on time this year and is expected to start on May 31 or June 1. The centre predicts a lesser rainfall for the month of June by around five per cent for the southern states and around ten per cent for the rest of the country. The C-MMACS is yet to come out with the forecast for the remaining three months of the rainy season.
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Industry records 7.4 per cent growth for Feb.'04
New Delhi: The official Index of Industrial Production (IIP) has recorded a 7.4 per cent growth in February 2004, over and above the year-on-year increase of 7 per cent during the same month of the previous year. According to the latest IIP data released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO), the manufacturing sector has grown by 6.7 per cent in February 2004 as against 7.1 per cent in February 2003.

The cumulative growth for the industry as a whole during April 2003-February 2004 worked out to 6.7 per cent, compared with 5.8 per cent for the corresponding 11-month period of the previous fiscal. The growth rates for manufacturing, mining and electricity for this period were uniformly higher at 7.2 per cent (6 per cent), 5.2 per cent (5.6 per cent) and 4.5 per cent (3.5 per cent), respectively.
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India invited for UNCTAD meet
New Delhi: India has been invited to take part in the eleventh session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) scheduled to be held in Sao Paulo in Brazil from June 13 to 18. The organisation meets every four years to debate key economic and development issues, particularly those relating to trade, investment, finance and technology and also to set priorities and guidelines for the organisation.
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FICCI Seminar: Understanding customer choice
New Delhi: Addressing a seminar on 'Customer Value Management' jointly organised by FICCI and the customer Value Foundation in the capital customer guru Ray Kordupleski, President, Customer Value Management (CVM) Inc., the key to success for Indian enterprises will be defined by identifying those specific areas in products, services and prices that would provide the customers the best value. Striking a correlation between prices, products and services, Kordupleski emphasised that a great deal of success lies in what the customers pay for a product or a service and what is actually delivered by the company. He said that the focus should be on maintaining that equation.

He opined that factors like accessibility, responsiveness, promptness, right delivery on promises, well-informed people and proper follow-ups could go a long way in forging and sustaining a 'relationship' with the customer. Kordupleski stated that devising a strategy that can correlate customer and business results, creating the correct corporate culture and capitalizing on the information strategically were some of the most essential factors. Asserting that excellent value creates loyalty he stated that customer value added (CVA) impacted return on investment (ROI) on a large scale. In this regard, he drew attention to a survey covering about 100 companies, which revealed that companies that recorded a high score on CVA were found to have better ROI.
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National Conference: Specialized courts would help
New Delhi: Speaking at the National Conference organized jointly by FICCI and the Bar Association of India on "Reinventing Indian Legal System for Achieving Double Digit Economic Growth" in the capital Justice Rajendra Babu, Judge, Supreme Court of India, underscored the need for developing specialized business courts in the larger context of delineating the role of legal system in economic growth. Stating that justice in time is a sine-qua-non of modern business transactions, Justice Babu said "Our aim should be to ensure quick dispensation of justice without being hasty".

He agreed that in order to tackle this deep rooted challenge, setting up of more specialized courts for adjudicating bankruptcies, labour relations disputes, tax cases and other commercial matters is high in priority as it would help strengthen institutional infrastructure for a market economy. Outlining distinctive characteristics of specialized courts, Justice Babu said that they are subject matter specific i.e. judges handle only certain kinds of cases following streamlined rules of procedures to speed up hearings and increase accessibility. They certainly shorten the appeal process and they may or may not permit appeal to courts of general jurisdiction. Most often they recruit high calibre judges who are experts in their fields on attractive terms of service.

Giving analogy of the recent collapse of Argentinean economy because of lack of a strong legal system, Justice Babu said, " No country could achieve the status of 'Developed' without a strong legal system". He further added, reinventing the Indian legal system can provide a enabling environment for achieving a double digit economic growth.
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CII: Ten point agenda for incoming government
New Delhi: The Confederation Indian Industry (CII) has released a ten-point agenda for the incumbent Government, which it feels is imperative to sustain a10 per cent growth rate.
According to CII, the government must deepen and accelerate reforms to facilitate rapid infrastructure expansion and also execute major infrastructure projects speedily, efficiently and in a transparent way As a means of the Government's reform agenda, CII strongly advocates the implementation of VAT across India.

Implementation of VAT across the country will make India a lucrative common market benefiting farmers, consumer industries and all other sectors of society, according to CII.Another key priority for the incumbent Government, according to CII should be to consolidate the measures already taken to build new relationships across the globe for mutual benefit specially focusing on the developing world. The Government should increase interaction with South and South East Asia, feels CII.
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