Tsunami toll across the Indian sub-continent and SE Asia rises to 24,000
New Delhi: More than 24,000 people have now died due to tsunami waves that hit coastlines in South and South east Asia on Sunday morning. The giant waves have killed nearly 6,000 people in India alone. Officials now say the earthquake measured higher than the first estimates measuring nine on the Richter scale.

Latest figures indicate that over 12,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka alone with over 80 lakh people rendered homeless. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were conducting rescue operations in the regions under their control, officials said. Both the Government and the LTTE have called for urgent international aid to help deal with the islands' worst-ever catastrophe.

In Indonesia nearly 4,500 people have been killed with the Aceh region in northern Indonesia being the worst-hit. Thousands of soldiers combed seaside villages for victims and survivors in the region. A total of 65 strong aftershocks have jolted the archipelago since the massive earthquake unleashed tsunamis on Sunday morning.

In Thailand nearly 840 people, including an Indian, were killed mostly in the holiday resort city of Phuket. Rescue workers scoured beaches, coastal towns and resorts for survivors, while hundreds were still missing at sea in Phuket and nearby islands ravaged by the waves.

While over 40 people died in Malaysia, the death toll in Maldives stood at 30. In Myanmar too, 30 people are reported to have died.
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Insurance companies to provide immediate relief
New Delhi: The Finance Ministry has asked insurance companies to provide immediate relief to victims and their families affected by the devastation caused by Tsunami.

The Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) has set up special cells in the concerned zones for the immediate settlement of claims. Similarly, non-life insurance companies namely New India Assurance Company, National Insurance Company, United India Insurance Company and Oriental Insurance Company are also making arrangements for urgent help to the affected persons and families.

The Finance Ministry has also advised the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) for provision of immediate needed relief in the affected areas. The RBI has arranged for immediate meetings of the state level bankers' committees. Banks have been asked to assess the quantum of damage and the relief required.
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Tsunamis: India to set up monitoring system
New Delhi: The Minister of State for Science and Technology Kapil Sibal has announced that the government has decided to install equipment which can send warnings about a tsunami. It's called a sea floor pressure recording system, which would be put in the Indian Ocean. India is also joining a network of twenty-six countries, which will warn each other of any changes in the sea pressure and possibility of the onset of tsunami waves.

The new system would be linked to the existing devices called data buoys which record sea surface parameters, Sibal said adding any disturbance in the pressure of water would be recorded and sent to satellites.

The pressure recording system, which will have to be imported from the US, would also strengthen the country's cyclone warning system considering the fact that twenty five per cent of the world's cyclones are recorded in the Bay of Bengal, Sibal said.
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FM: Revamp of tax structure for petro, telecom and sugar sectors
New Delhi: Ahead of the budget for 2005-06, Finance Minister P Chidambaram has promised to make the tax structure simpler for petroleum, telecom, sugar and textiles sectors.

"What is common among textiles, petroleum, sugar and telecom sectors is a convoluted tax structure. We have to unravel it and make it simpler and investment-friendly. We will come up with a strategy in the next budget," he said at FICCI's annual general body meeting here. The Government has set up a committee, headed by Chief Economic Advisor Ashok Lahiri, to streamline the duty structure of petroleum products and a report is expected shortly.

On textiles, Chidambaram has said the government would attempt to unravel the tax structure for man-made fibres. He had tabled a report, prepared by NIPFP, in Parliament last week that proposed phase-out of subsidies for LPG, kerosene, fertilisers and other centrally-sponsored schemes.

FICCI outgoing president Y K Modi suggested a slew of fiscal measures, including a cut in Corporate Tax rate to 30 per cent, remodelling income tax slabs, lifting of surcharge and education cess, toning up tax system required to raise industry and services sectors' growth rates to over 11 per cent and pushing up agricultural growth to 4 per cent.
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Ordinance issued to amend Patents Act
New Delhi: Brushing aside opposition from the Left parties and racing against time to fulfill WTO obligations, the government issued an ordinance last night to amend the Patent Act to meet WTO obligations before December 31 deadline. The proposed amendment was necessitated as the country has only patents for processes and not products, reports said.

With this move, product patent regime has been introduced in drugs, food, chemicals and embedded software. An Intellectual Property Appellate Board has also been set up.

Commerce and Industry Minister Kamal Nath is expected to unveil the details tomorrow.
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ESC: Software exports up 30 per cent in first half
New Delhi: Computer software exports including IT enabled services is estimated to have touched Rs35,000 crore during the first six months of 2004-05, registering a growth of 29.63 per cent according to the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC).

"It is almost certain that the target set for software and services export for the financial year 2004-05 will be met going by the present tempo of export growth. The export figure estimated for the first six months, that is April-September 2004, shows that 44.5 per cent of the target set for the financial year has already been met," according to an ESC statement here.

According to its projections, software and ITES exports were pegged at Rs78,650 crore for the year 2004-05.

Significantly, the export achievement for the first six months of 2003-04 was 46.55 per cent, a share higher than the 44.5 per cent estimated to have been achieved in the first half of 2004-05," the statement said.
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