Railways extend e-ticketing facility
New Delhi: Railways have extended the e-ticketing scheme on all Rajdhani/ Shatabdi/ Jan Shatabdi Express and other super fast trains from January 1, 2006.

e-Tickets dispenses with the need for carrying a rail ticket for the journey and the user can take a printout of the reservation details and go on the journey without requiring to have the ticket delivered to him, according to a Northern Railway Press release.

The e-Ticket differs from normal Internet tickets where the tickets are couriered to the customer.

Currently only confirmed/RAC tickets can be booked through e-reservation.
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Govt. circulates paper on labour market
New Delhi: The government has circulated a "discussion paper" among the various stakeholders, about making the labour market flexible, the government said on Thursday.

Views have also been sought on amendment in the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947.
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EPF rate: MPs walkout in LS
New Delhi: The Government's reluctance to restore the EPF interest rate to 9.5 per cent had led to the Left parties and the Samajwadi Party, both UPA supporters, staging a walkout in Lok Sabha on Thursday.

The members said the Employees Provident Fund Board's recommendation to reduce EPF interest rate by one per cent had harmed the interests of lakhs of people.
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Govt. wants simultaneous decontrol of sugar, cane prices
New Delhi: The government wants the sugar sector ultimately to be decontrolled, and has asked farmers to increase yield while advising mills to hike ethanol production and captive power generation.

The Government has also extended the debt-restructuring scheme of Nabard to sugar cooperatives financed by urban cooperative banks, and has asked private players to go through the corporate debt mechanism of banks to reduce their interest burden.

Sharad Pawar, agriculture minister and P Chidambaram, finance minister said the Government is committed to deregulate the sugar sector. But it should balance interest of farmers, industry and consumers. They declined to give the time frame.

At present, sugarcane prices are determined by the State governments while the Centre controls the sugar prices through release of monthly quota.
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Planning Commission approves Rs.19,000 crore for UP
New Delhi: The Planning Commission has approved funds worth Rs19, 000 crore for Uttar Pradesh for 2006-07, a 41 per cent increase over previous year's Rs13,500 crores.

The decision was announced following chief minister, Mulayam Singh Yadav's meeting with deputy chairman of the planning commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

The chief minister had earlier demanded Rs20,000 crore for the state.
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WB welcomes FDI in higher education
Kolkata: The education sector has now been thrown open to infusion of foreign money in West Bengal.

West Bengal higher education minister Satya Sadhan Chakraborty said: "We are seeking foreign investment in the form of collaborations with our universities in the emerging fields of science and technology." He said, "We have received a huge investment proposal from a premier American institute in West Bengal in the field of science and technology. Presently we are examining the proposal and if it works out it would be a remarkable development."

He would not name the institute.

He added that, "We welcome Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in higher education, especially in the field of the wide-ranging biotechnology discipline, nanosciences, material science and aerospace."
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Exports fall by 11 per cent in Nov '05
New Delhi: Exports dropped by 11.38 per cent during November 2005 to US$6.16bn, compared to US$6.95bn during the same month in 2004, widening the trade deficit during April-November 2005 to US$27.64bn.

The decline during November also pulled down the overall growth during April-November 2005-2006 to 16.07 per cent. It was 22.08 per cent during April-October 2005.

Exports during the first eight months stood at US$57.06bn as against US$49.16bn in the corresponding period last fiscal.

The trade deficit for April-November 2005 shot up nearly 70 per cent to US$27.643bn from US$16.34bn during April-November 2004-2005, according to the data posted on the website of Ministry of Commerce.

Imports during November 2005 increased by 8.68 per cent to US$9.9bn compared to US$9.11bn in November 2004.
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Open access in distribution: firms allowed to select electricity supplier
New Delhi: Firms can select their electricity supplier in West Bengal, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh as the electricity regulators in these states have approved seven cases of open access in distribution.

Three companies - Aditya Cement, Chittorgarh; DCM Sriram and Hindustan Zinc have been granted permission in Rajasthan, a Central Electricity Regulatory Commission release said.

West Bengal Electricity Regulatory Commission has approved the application of Bhushan, Electrosteel Castings and Indal while Himachal Pradesh Regulatory Commission has given its approval to Gujarat Ambuja.

Open access in distribution has been allowed under the Electricity Act, 2003, which envisages that state commissions form regulations that facilitate introduction of open access for consumers of more than 1 MW by 2009.
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