Election Commission stays Rajya Sabha poll results in U.P.
New Delhi: The Election Commission put off the declaration of results of the Rajya Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh and asked the Returning Officer to send records of the nomination papers of the two Congress candidates which were rejected on Saturday. The Commission will decide the next course of action today after going through the records and the objections filed by the Congress. The Deputy Election Commissioner, A.N. Jha, said the records would reach the Commission today and a decision would be taken by the evening.

The decision to stay the declaration of results and summon the records and all necessary and relevant papers from Lucknow was taken at a meeting of the full Commission, presided over by the Chief Election Commissioner, T.S. Krishnamurthy. As many as 11 Rajya Sabha seats from the State are at stake. In the fray are industrialist, Anil Ambani, the former cine star, Jaya Bachchan, hotelier Lalit Suri and others. The Samajwadi Party leader, Amar Singh, also met the Deputy Election Commissioner today. He described the Congress charges as "baseless."
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National Foreign Trade Policy on the anvil
New Delhi: A National foreign trade policy that would go beyond the Exim policy and outline the game plan for enhancing the country's share in global trade would be unveiled by end-July, according to the Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath.
According to the Minister the national foreign trade policy will not negate any of the existing initiatives.
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Exports up: Trade deficit widens
New Delhi: India's exports surged by 29.40 per cent during May 2004 at $5.81 billion compared with an export performance of $4.49 billion recorded in the same month during the previous year.
The cumulative exports during April-May 2004 increased by 24.80 per cent at $10.82 billion compared with $8.67 billion recorded in the same period during fiscal 2003-04.

Trade deficit for April-May 2004, however widened to $3.78 billion, against a deficit level of $2.94 billion during April-May 2003-04. Imports in May 2004 stood at $7.73 billion, registering an increase of 28.19 per cent over the import level of $6.03 billion recorded in May 2003. Cumulative imports during April-May 2004 increased by 25.75 per cent to $14.6 billion ($11.61 billion).
Oil imports stood at $4.6 billion ($3.13 billion), a rise of 46.97 per cent. Non-oil imports are estimated at $10 billion ($8.48 billion), a 17.92 rise.

The Commerce and Industry Minister, Kamal Nath, held that the buoyancy in export growth could be attributed to "economic recovery" in key markets. He said that exports of gem and jewellery, iron ore, textiles, man made fibre, petroleum products recorded significant growth during May.
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Heavy Industries panel to look at revival of PSUs
Kolkata: The Union Minister for Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Santosh Mohan Dev, has said the Ministry has set up a committee to take a fresh look at ailing public sector units and examine their chances of revival. The committee comprising six joint secretaries would submit their report by July. The committee is chaired by Secretary of the Heavy Industries Ministry.

He said that the decision to take a fresh look was in line with the Common Minimum Programme of the Government which said that loss-making units will not be sold off if they can be turned around. Once the report was available, the managing directors of these companies would be asked to submit their suggestions followed by the unions.

He said that a preliminary exercise for revving up the heavy industry units has already been completed and a tentative requirement of plan funds under a distinct head 'Restructuring of PSEs under DHI' has already been projected to the planning commission and the Union Finance Ministry.
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IIM-B also opts for old fee structure
Bangalore: On the heels of the IIM-Ahmedabad, the board of directors of Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore have also decided to retain the old fee structure of Rs 1.50 lakhs per annum.

The board has also decided to increase the allocation of the need-based scholarships from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 75 lakh.
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Call for increased focus on agricultural sector
New Delhi: The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) has called for increased capital expenditure by the Government in the agricultural sector for sustaining a higher rate of economic growth. According to a study done by the chamber the gross capital formation in agriculture as a proportion of GDP has declined significantly from 21.53 per cent to 17.8 per cent during the period 1990-91 to 2001-02.

The study was undertaken to estimate the overall performance of different sectors of the economy based on the gross capital formation as a proportion of GDP, the chamber said in a release here today. According to the study, except for 1994-95, the gross capital formation in the agriculture sector has not been satisfactory during the 1990s till 2001-02. According to the analysis, the contribution of agriculture and allied industries in gross capital formation has also shown a downward trend, from 14-15 per cent in early seventies to 9.5 per cent in 1986-87 and remaining low henceforth.

The study shows that gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) by agriculture and allied sectors as a percentage of GFCF has nearly halved in the last two decades. According to the study, there is a sharp decline of public sector's GCF in agriculture and allied industries and has halved from 50 per cent to 22.56 per cent between 1980-81 and 2000-01.
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