Poll India: 2004
News Flash: Member of Parliament and leader of the TDP's parliamentary wing, Yerran Naidu has been injured in a landmine blast near Srikakulam. According to reports Naidu is said to be out of danger having been discharged after treatment at a government hospital at Srikakulam.
Back to News Review index page  

Latest stampede victim: Lalji Tandon
Lucknow: Senior BJP leader Lalji Tandon has quit as the convener of the Election Management Committee of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in his Parliamentary constituency, Lucknow.

Tandon's decision comes a day after the Election Commission (EC) filed an FIR against him under section 171 (B) of the IPC, for offering inducements to voters in Lucknow, which resulted in the killing 22 women during a stampede.
Back to News Review index page  

Some more victims: EC transfers DM and SSP
Lucknow: The Election Commission (EC) has rejected a request from the Uttar Pradesh government to reconsider its order for transfer of the District Magistrate (DM) and the Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) of Lucknow.
Back to News Review index page 

CII study: Southern States lead the nation
New Delhi: A study undertaken by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), titled `Key factors making India a major global player: The southern stake', has said that cities such as Bangalore, Hyderabad and Chennai have emerged as growth poles, creating centres of excellence in information technology, biotech and pharmaceuticals.

The southern states have led the way in producing `knowledge workers' by creating centres of academic excellence. Besides, the southern states are also performing well above the national average in terms of Gross Domestic Product growth. The study points out that the urban agglomeration of Bangalore alone contributes to around 40 per cent of the country's services exports which stands at $ 8 billion per annum and around 12 per cent of goods exports which is valued at $ 6 billion per annum0

Dynamic clusters with sectoral specialisation such as Tirupur exported $ 800 million worth of goods. The study sets a target of increasing India's exports to 2 per cent of global exports or touching $ 178 billion by the year 2010.
Back to News Review index page 

India TV: New launch - old faces
New Delhi: India TV, a 24-hour Hindi news and current affairs channel promoted by television presenter Rajat Sharma, has gone on air. The launch of 24-hour programming on India TV will be in the third week of May 2004.

India TV is a free-to-air news channel and will be beamed from the PAS 10 satellite.
Back to News Review index page  

Ozone officers to discuss compliance action plans
New Delhi: A Meeting of the South Asia and South East Asia Pacific Network (SA-SEAP) of Ozone Officers is being held at Agra (UP) from 19th to 21st April, 2004. The meeting will discuss various issues and identify the best mix of approaches to strengthen and sustain the phase out of ozone depleting substances (ODS). The meeting will cover three main themes -

1. Preparation of Compliance Action Plans.
2. Retrofitting, recovery and re-use of refrigerants.
3. Strengthening institutions tasked with ozone protection during this compliance period.

The 22 member countries of South Asia and South East Asia who would be participating in this meeting include: - Malaysia, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Fiji, Indonesia, Korea DPR, Republic of Korea, Lao DPR, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Brunei, Cambodia, China India, Iran, Maldives, Mongolia and Myanmar. It is for the first time that Afghanistan and Bhutan will participate in the meeting. Both are currently not yet parties to the Montreal Protocol.

In addition, the implementing agencies (The World Bank, UNIDO, UNDP and UNEP) and other bilateral agencies are also participating in this meeting.

The Asia Pacific region has two of the largest CFC producing countries in the developing world - China and India, and also has many of the globe's low volume consuming countries like Maldives and Fiji.
Back to News Review index page