World Bank considering funding rural development projects in India
Hyderabad: The World Bank is said to be considering proposals to fund livelihood projects in India in addition to its current commitments.

The WB India country director Michael Carter said the bank is currently in talks with Bihar, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh to fund livelihood projects. Saying it is too early to pledge a figure, Carter said, "Over last five years we have committed over US$1bn for rural development in India and a substantial portion of this has already been spent."

After infrastructure, rural development was a primary focus of the World Bank funding in India.
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POSCO's proposed port may spell disaster for Paradip Port
New Delhi: The Shipping Ministry of the Government of India has said that the proposed port to be set up by the Korean Steel Company could lead to severe erosion along the coastline posing serious threat to the Paradip Port.

The Orissa government has been asked to undertake intensive and detailed study regarding erosion if they decided to develop a minor port for the Korean steel giant and associate the government and the Paradip Port with such studies.

The said project could spell disaster for the Paradip Port as erosion downstream and deposits upstream could wreak havoc on it, sources said.

They said that the Ministry was not against the world's fourth largest steel maker opting for a captive port, but given the sensitivity of the proposed port at Jatadhari, barely 12 kms from the Paradip Port, the Government was compelled to advise caution.
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TRAI wants Govt to shift to IPv6 platform
New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) wants the usage of IPv6, a new Internet protocol platform in e-Governance projects, to be made mandatory to give a head start to the deployment of this advanced technology.

Trai says this would expand the available IP address space, provide better service, mobility support and security. Issuing its recommendations, the telecom regulator said this is considered necessary in view of fast expanding Internet usage and increased demand on the IP address space.

Other major TRAI's recommendations are setting up of test beds for experimentation in IPv6 technologies, creation of a National Internet Registry in the country in addition to the current Regional Internet Registry, now located in Australia and bringing awareness about IPv6 through the government agencies.
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Railways earn Rs.22,615.53 crore from freight
New Delhi: Indian Railways earned Rs22615.53 crore in revenue from freight during the first eight months of the current financial year ending November 2005 against Rs19355.47 crore in the corresponding period last year.

The earnings from freight during the month of November 2005 stood at Rs2928.41 crore.

The railways carried 55.03 million tonne (MTs) of freight during the month as compared to 49.37 MTs of such traffic during the corresponding period last year registering an increase of 11.46 per cent, an official release said here on Tuesday.
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NTPC granted seven coal blocks: Govt.
Mumbai: The government has decided to allocate seven coal blocks to the National Thermal Power Corporation, which has a joint venture with Coal India Limited.

The decision would ensure provision of regular supplies of coal to its power units as it plans to expand electricity generation capacity the state-owned NTPC on Tuesday informed the stock exchanges.

The seven coal mine blocks have a total capacity of 4,102 metric tones.
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US panel drops 30,000 H1B visas from Bill
Washington: Disappointing thousands of skilled Indian job-seekers in America, a panel of the US House of Representatives and Senate has dropped a plan from the Budget Bill to add some 30,000 H1B visas.

The House of Representatives cleared the final budget, trimming nearly US$40bn and the Senate is close to giving its consent.

The original Senate plan had not only the addition of 30,000 H1B visas on an annual basis; but also a net addition of 90,000 more employment based green cards that offered permanent residency to skilled workers.
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European Commission grants €20mn aid
New Delhi: A delegation of the European Commission has announced additional aid of €20 million for rehabilitation of victims hit by tsunami in the Indian Ocean region including India.

This is over and above the €103mn already extended for the victims and is in keeping with the commitment made by the Commission's President Barroso at the Jakarta conference in January last to provide €123 million for humanitarian programmes in the tsunami hit areas, Ambassador and Head of European Commission delegation said.

The funds would cover 1.5 million displaced people and to provide integrated assistance, including healthcare, water and sanitation, shelter and livelihood recovery.
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Iran assures supply of LNG to India by '09
New Delhi: Iran has said it would honour its commitment to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to India by 2009, India's oil minister, Mani Shankar Aiyar, said on Tuesday.

Iran had signed a deal with India in June to export 5 million tonnes of LNG annually for 25 years from the end of 2009.

But analysts say the deal, and a proposal to build a pipeline from Iran to India, was jeopardised by India's decision to join the United States in September and vote to refer Iran's nuclear programme to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions.
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Assam gives cash benefit on New Year
Guwahati: The Assam government has given a New Year gift of 8.5 per cent cash to over 3.5 lakh of its employees on their basic salary and basic pension effective November 1, 2005.

Chief minister Tarun Gogoi said the benefit would amount to 5.1 per cent when calculated on the existing pay or pension packet. The gift would cost the exchequer an additional Rs307 crore.

The unilateral government decision to convert DA/DR equivalent to 50 per cent of basic pay/pension was without the Pay Commission recommendations, but following requests of the state government employees and pensioners, he said.
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