Inflation rises to 3.59 per cent
New Delhi: Inflation rose by 0.05 per cent to 3.59 per cent during the week ended April 29, as against 3.54 per cent a week ago, as prices of food items went up.

The inflation was pegged at 5.67 per cent during the same week previous year.

Analysts said prices could see a steep increase once the Government decides to pass on surging global oil prices to customers. This is expected to have a cascading effect on other product prices as well.

The wholesale price index for all commodities rose by 0.1 per cent to 199 points during the week ended April 29, from 198.8 points of the previous week.
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Industrial production growth down to 8 per cent
New Delhi: Industrial production growth slowed down to 8 per cent during 2005-06 compared to 8.4 per cent the previous fiscal.

The slow down was due to a steep decline in the growth of mining sector and moderate fall in the growth of manufacturing and electricity sector during 2005-06 year-on-year, official data released today said. Industrial production growth also slowed down to 7.7 per cent in March, compared to 9.8 per cent in the same month of 2005.
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Essential drugs not to come under patents
New Delhi: Essential drugs would not come under the new patent regime and companies manufacturing patented drugs would not be closed down, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.

The chemical and fertilisers minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that the companies manufacturing patented drugs would not be shut down but would pay royalty.

He said that the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA) had raised a demand of Rs694.07 as overcharged amount from 249 pharma companies. Of this a sum of Rs99.16 crore had been recovered up to March 2006 as overcharged amount, he said.
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Huge power shortage in Delhi: Shinde
New Delhi: The state of Delhi is facing its worst ever power shortage with a 4.4 per cent peak demand deficit, power minister Sushilkumar Shinde informed the Parliament.

He said the Government had taken various measures to augment power supply in Delhi. These included allocation of 1884 MW from Central Generating Stations located in northern region, allocation of upto 295 MW power from unallocated quotas in CGSs in different time slots and 33 MW allocation from unallocated quota of Rajasthan Atomic Power Plants Unit 3 and 4.

"Under the Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (APDRP) launched by the Government of India for improvement of sub-transmission and distribution system, projects amounting to Rs922.61 crore have been sanctioned and Rs105.51 crore have been released to Delhi as on March 31," he said.
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Planning Commission recommends setting up eleven more IITs
New Delhi: The Planning Commission has recommended the setting up of eleven more IITs in India. "This is necessary to maintain the flow of a skilled workforce", deputy chairman of the planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said today at the National Technology Day awards function. He said that upgrading the IITs would not be enough to meet the country's needs for skilled and trained manpower.

He added that while enrollment rates in schools have risen significantly at the primary school level, the drop-out rate is almost 50 per cent however, meaning that half the children who join school do not continue their education. The success of literacy programmes depends on the drop-out rate being lowered, rather than an increase in enrollments.

The Planning Commission has also recommended a rise in the expenditure on education and health from 0.9 per cent of the country's GDP to 2 per cent in the coming plan.
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