2004-05 GDP growth at 6.5 percent: CII
New Delhi: The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) has pegged GDP growth for the year at around 6.5 per cent.

It said growth would continue to remain strong in the industry and services sectors, while the growth in agriculture would be around
1 per cent due to the erratic monsoons and the high base of the previous year.

However, the CII has said that non-agricultural GDP growth 8.5 per cent, would make for the non performance of agriculture and it was feasible to look at an overall pace of 7.5 per cent, if not 8 per cent, on a sustained basis over the next 5-10 years.

According to the CII report, the population below poverty line was expected to decline to 19 per cent by 2007 from the present 26 per cent.

The CII report has also indicated that there had been a marked improvement in the overall literacy in the country. Stating that there had been an overall improvement in schooling data, the report pointed out that 96 per cent of children attended at least five years of schooling.
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India in strategic partnership with EU
Brussels: India is opening talks with the European Union (EU) to forge a strategic partnership. This status has so far been given to just five big countries.

An EU official said this would give India the status of a big player, ahead of the bloc's one-day meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and two of his ministers in the Hague, the Netherlands.

The official added this would place India in a club of EU special partners alongside the United States, Canada, Japan, China and Russia.

The EU as a bloc is both the leading foreign investor in India.
However, the EU has ploughed 10 times as much investment into China, and its total trade with India is worth less than 20 per cent of the flow of exports and imports between Europe and China.
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Foreign reserves cross 121 bn mark
Mumbai: India's foreign exchange reserves stayed on the upward path with further inflows of $562 million to cross $121 billion mark during the week ended October 29, 2004 according to Reserve Bank of India in its latest weekly statistical supplement released on November 6.

Foreign exchange reserves for the week under review grew by $562 million to $1,21,178 million, the.

The reserves saw an inflow of over $2 billion in October.

The foreign currency assets were also up by $550 million to $1,15,651 million.

Special Drawing Rights rose by $4 million at $5 million while gold remained static at $ 4,192 million, it said. India's Reserve Tranche Position (RTP) with International Monetary Fund (IMF) rose by $8 million and stood at $1,330 million, the report said.
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Singapore invites foreigners
Singapore: The Singapore government under a new immigration policy wants more foreigners to take up citizenship.

Officials said the new immigration policy would be driven by assessment on the basis of not just academic qualification but also talent, skills and experience. Other considerations would be potential contributions of the main applicant's family members and how they could fit into the country's requirements.

At present, academic qualifications play the main role in deciding to admit applicants for permanent residency and citizenship.
The government is also targeting foreign students on scholarships who could be convinced to settle in Singapore with their families.

Recently, Singapore also changed the earlier work permit to introduce a new S pass. The new category of work pass, which replaced the Q2 pass is to meet industries needs for skilled manpower at the middle management level.
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Rly revamp plan put on fast track
New Delhi: The revamp plan of Indian Railways has been put on the fast track by railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Mr Yadav has more ambitious plans up his sleeve than mere railway safety.

Rail Bhawan has proposed a Rs24,000-crore railway modernisation plan to upgrade a part of the creaking 63,000-km rail network and other infrastructure. The plans will run concurrent to the existing upgradation programmes currently underway in the Railways.

Conceived as a five-year plan to be implemented between 2005 and 2010, the idea involves increasing the speed of freight trains to 100 km-per-hour on select routes and that of select passenger trains to 150 kmph, besides introduction of a high-speed train that will run at the speed of 250-300 kmph between commercial hubs Mumbai and Ahmedabad, as well as improved passenger facilities and new coaches.

Other plans include mechanised cleaning systems, modern loos, crash-proof fire-retardant coaches and expansion of the computerised ticketing service
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