Poll India: 2004
General Elections 2004 - For women its still a long haul
According to a background note released by the Election Commission women are severely underrepresented as candidates in the forthcoming elections to the Lok Sabha. In a state wise analysis, through out the country, the commission has come out with interesting results. In an Andhra Pradesh, out of a total of 279 candidates in the fray for the 42 Lok Sabha seats, only 21 are women. Maharashtra's track record in respect of women contestants is similar, with just 29 of the 412 candidates contesting the 48 Lok Sabha seats, being women. In Karnataka, 172 candidates are trying their luck for the 28 Lok Sabha seats and only 10 of the contestants are women.

For the 26 Lok Sabha seats in Gujarat 151 of the 162 candidates are men, with only 11 women candidates being in the fray. Of the 182 candidates fighting for the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand, only 13 are women. In Chhattisgarh, of the 102 candidates fighting it out for the 11 Lok Sabha seats in the State, just 12 are women. Goa has 2 Lok Sabha seats with only one woman candidate among the 16 contestants.

In Manipur, with 2 Lok Sabha seats, of the 12 contestants in the fray, only one is a woman. Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Daman & Diu have 2, 1, 2 and 1 seats respectively but do not have any female candidate. Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Dadra and Nagar Haveli have one Lok Sabha seat each and one female candidate each.

In Uttar Pradesh, 32 of the 80 Lok Sabha seats are going to the polls in the second phase. There are 378 male contestants while the number of female candidates stands at 14. In Bihar, a total of 329 candidates are in the race for 28 out of the 40 Lok Sabha seats going to the polls in the first two phases. While the number of male contestants is 322, only seven women are in the fray.

Jammu & Kashmir has six Lok Sabha seats of which three are going to the polls in the first two phases. Only three of the 46 candidates in the fray are women.

Violence in J&K steps up
Srinagar: Two separate incidents of terrorist violence were reported in Jammu and Kashmir shortly before Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was scheduled to address a poll rally in the state.

While militants exploded a grenade at a Congress rally at Banihal, in the Doda district, killing one person and injuring 19 others, in another incident, at the Jamia Mohalla in Baramulla near Srinagar, militants set-off a powerful improvised explosive device injuring six civilians. Meanwhile, security agencies killed a Lashkar-e-Toiba commander, which is being seen as a major breakthrough.

EC tightens screw on expenses
New Delhi: The Election Commission has said that candidates will have to pay for security arrangements at rallies. Amending its earlier order, the Election Commission has said that the costs of setting up barricades and rostrums will now be considered to be the expenses of the candidate contesting from a particular constituency. But the costs can be shared if a party's top leader is campaigning for a group of candidates from one region.

CII sets up help line for voters in AP
Hyderabad: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the State Election Commission have jointly set up a help line with 20 telephone terminals to provide details on the voters' list in Hyderabad and Secunderabad as a part of their "Voter Awareness Campaign." The help line will provide the name and serial number of a voter and identify their polling booth in their respective constituency, for the forthcoming elections. The help line will be operational round-the-clock.
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FICCI sponsors conference on communications infrastructure in South Asia
New Delhi: The federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry along with the USTDA will be co-sponsoring a dialogue on regulatory change and market growth in South Asia on April 21-23, 2004, in New Delhi. According to the sponsors, for the past decade South Asia has been the second fastest-growing region in the world after East Asia, with an average annual growth rate of 5.3 per cent. But in spite of logging this growth the region has lagged behind in telecommunications infrastructure development, with telephone density remaining below one per cent even as the demand for basic, mobile, and Internet services is skyrocketing.

To help facilitate the development of new infrastructure projects, contribute to continued market liberalization and proactively assist U.S. companies in promoting their product solutions in these rapidly developing markets, the U.S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) will hold a conference in New Delhi, India, that will highlight opportunities in the communications infrastructure sector in eight countries : Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka Ambassador David Gross, U.S. Coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy, will lead the U.S. Delegation.
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Repayment of 11.50 per cent Government Stock, 2004
New Delhi: The outstanding balance of 11.50 percent Government Stock, 2004 is repayable at par on May 9, 2004 and no interest will accrue thereon from the said date. Since May 9, 2004 happens to be Sunday, the government stock will be repaid by the paying office on the previous working day, i.e., May 8, 2004.

In the event of a holiday being declared on May 8, 2004 by any state government under the Negotiable Instruments Act, 1881, the paying offices in that state will repay the government stock on the previous working day. This Press Note from the ministry of Finance supersedes the press note dated April 6, 2004 issued in respect of repayment of 11.50% Government Stock, 2004.
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Freight loading at an all-time high for Railways
New Delhi: Indian Railways loaded a record all-time high 557.05 million tonnes (MTs) of freight during 2003-2004 registering an increase of 7.05 MTs over the revised target of 550 MTs for the year.

The all-time high freight traffic performance of the Railways during the year indicates buoyancy in the core sector of the national economy.
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