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Maharashtra does away with pension scheme for new employees
Mumbai: In an attempt to tackle the worsening financial crisis in the state, the Maharashtra government plans to introduce an employee's contributory fund in place of the current pension scheme for new employees,.

The move is part of the Vilasrao Deshmukh government's effort to cut the state's wage-cum-pension bill, which constitutes about 52 per cent of its total budget.

This year, Maharashtra will spend about Rs33,000 crore of the total budget of Rs60,000 crore on wages. Of this, the pension expenditure alone works out to Rs11,000 crore.

Maharashtra employs about 1.6 lakh people in various departments as of March '05. Last year the government lifted a four-year freeze on recruitment before the state assembly polls.

The burgeoning outgo on pension expenditure has been the cash-strapped state's biggest concern.
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UDF loses in Kerala civic polls
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's Congress-led United Democratic Front, which came to power in 2001 with 100 out of 140 seats in the assembly, has been handed a resounding defeat in the civic body polls. The results are a continuation of the downslide the UDF has been experiencing since its heydays of 2001, with the last big reverse happening in the Lok Sabha polls when every single Congress candidate in the state was defeated.

The CPM-led Left Democratic Front has swept the civic polls, the two star performers were the Democratic Indira Congress (Karunakaran) led by former Congressman K Karunakaran, and the BJP, which has hardly been a significant force in Kerala politics in the past. The LDF coalition, won all the five city corporations in the state, including Thrissur where the UDF held sway for decades.

According to the poll results former Congressman K Karunakaran has bounced back into the reckoning in Kerala politics, proving to his former party colleagues that they can still take a few lessons from him.

The BJP has also put up a vastly improved performance. The party, which is yet to open its account in the state assembly, put up its most impressive performance yet by becoming the single largest party in the Palakkad municipality with 17 seats, against 16 each by the UDF and LDF.
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India's vote against Iran to have no impact pipeline project: Aiyar
New Delhi: The petroleum minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, has said that India's vote against Iran at the International Atomic Energy Agency will not have any bearing on the $22-billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to India from that country or the proposed $7.5-billion Iran-Pakistan-India gas pipeline.

India voted in favour of a motion drafted by the European Union that called for reporting Iran to the United Nations Security Council for violation of international nuclear safeguards.
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PM assures India Inc of consensus regarding FDI in retail
New Delhi: Prime minister Manmohan Singh has said that a census on FDI in retail would soon emerge as what policy the government should adopt. In a meeting with high-profile delegation of food processing industrialists, the PM said that large-scale investments in the retail sector could also help the food sector.

The delegation led by CII president YC Deveshwar brought three key points to the PM's notice notably fiscal incentives in the form of excise, customs and central sales tax reductions. It also requested the government to open up the food processing sector for big business and sought against small-scale reservations in the sector.

The PM gave his assurance that demands for fiscal incentives would be forwarded by him to finance minister P Chidambaram in the next Budget.
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State to seize errant builders' property under land ceiling act
Mumbai: Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has said that lands belonging to developers who have flouted the Urban Land Ceiling Act will be seized by the authorities.

At present the government is in the process of cancelling 757 schemes of such developers which will result in the government getting back 522.8 hectares of land. The state is reviewing housing projects under the Act.

The law makes it mandatory for builders to make a certain portion of the developed land available to the government — a commitment many builders have failed to comply with. As of end August, the government had already withdrawn land sanctioned to builders in as many as 295 cases, opening up 222.5 hectares of land.

This freed land is being made available to agencies such as Maharashtra Housing and Area Development Authority (MHADA) and Mumbai Metropolitan Regional Development Authority (MMRDA) for their development-related projects.

The government aims to free a further 6,876 hectares in nine cities across the state in a year's time if the current pace is maintained.
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LPG, kerosene subsidies to end
New Delhi: Subsidies on kerosene and LPG will come to an end in 2007, according to Sushil Tripathi, Secretary of the Energy Ministry.

The government will not repeat this year's bond sale to cover some losses incurred by oil companies forced by law to insulate consumers from a surge in oil prices, Tripathi said at the World Petroleum Congress in Johannesburg.
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India to offer textile sops to SAARC
New Delhi: The government plans to give a host of tariff concessions in textile sector to the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries under the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). The details of the plan have not yet been decided, said a senior textile ministry official.

There are possibilities that the government could consider abolishing specific duties on import of textiles from Pakistan and Bangladesh, the two countries that have capabilities in the textile value chain, and complementary to India's.

The Indian industry however has asked for more time in order to brace up to the increased competition from neighbouring competitors.

The industry has reiterated that concession to SAARC countries under SAFTA be offered only if quantifiable reciprocal offers are available from other participating countries in terms of greater market access for Indian textile products.
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New pension plan likely to be 'a great success':PFRDA
New Delhi: The Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has said the proposed New Pension System is likely to be a great success, drawing as many as two crore subscribers during its initial days and in around five to seven years, the number could swell to around 4 crore.

The New Pension System will come into effect for the general public after Parliament approves the PFRDA Bill.

The deputy governor, Reserve Bank of India, Dr Rakesh Mohan, said a stable and low inflation regime was necessary for the proposed pension structure to flourish.

He advocated that the new system should allow portability of funds when a subscriber switches from one job to another.

Officials said there would be severe restrictions on premature withdrawal of funds by subscribers of the New Pension System. He said according to the current thinking, a subscriber would have to compulsorily invest at least 40 per cent of the accumulation at the age of 60 years to buy annuities.
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