India looking at long term sale of ore to China - to renegotiate with Japan
New Delhi: Steel minister Ram Vilas Paswan has said that India is considering a long-term contract on sale of iron ore to China and may consider renegotiating its deal with Japan.

"We are thinking of entering into a minimum five-year-term ore export agreement with China in view of the growing demand there after ascertaining their need," Paswan said during a seminar on the steel sector here today.

He said India would renegotiate the ore export deal with Japan as this has become necessary in the wake of higher demand for quality input from domestic steel producers.

The steel ministry has asked the state-owned National Mineral Development Corporation to drastically cut down its export of iron ore to 1.7 million tonnes (mt) a year from 5.4mt. More of the input will then be available to steel makers like the Ruias and Jindals to feed both their existing plants and new facilities in Gujarat, Orissa, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.

As older steel makers such as SAIL and the Tatas have their own iron ore mines, newer players look to state-run NMDC for their supply. NMDC supplies about 16mt iron ore in domestic markets and exports up to 6mt of high grade ore.

Exports of high grade iron ore to Japan at cheap rates have been a sore point with most domestic steel-makers. They argue that the domestic steel industry is expanding and needs high class ore, a scarce resource the world.

The two most sought-after raw material in the global commodities market are high grade iron ore and high class coal, needed for steel. India and Brazil are the only nations that possess quality ore with an iron content of between 60-65 per cent.
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Draft of Unorganised Sector Workers' bill presented to PM
New Delhi: The latest draft of the Unorganised Sector Workers' Bill has been presented to the prime minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday by Dr Arjun Sengupta headed National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS). The proposed benefits such as health cover, sickness allowance, maternity benefit and life insurance cover, pension for all workers in the unorganised sector with a salary of less than Rs6,500 per month.

The Bill is intended to cover around 362 million workers in the informal sector, including small and marginal farmers, agricultural workers and domestic workers, and informal workers in the organised sector.

It has proposed a National Minimum Social Security Scheme. Apart from other benefits, it provides for a provident fund (PF) cover with an assured return of 10 per cent for workers above poverty line. For below poverty line (BPL) workers, an old-age pension of Rs200 per month has been suggested.

According to the proposals, the large network of post offices would be utilised for making payments under the new Bill. It also suggests constitution of a nodal National Social Security Board (NSSB) headed by a Chief Executive Officer.

The commission has estimated the cost of the scheme, a much-debated issue that is said to have delayed the Bill, to be Rs7,367 crore (0.20 per cent of GDP) in the first year and Rs25,401 crore (0.48 per cent of GDP) in the fifth year when it reaches the last worker.
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CBI holds pre-bid conference for upgrade of data management system
New Delhi: CBI will seek bids from the corporate world for the upgrade and modernization of its data management system. Reportedly firms such as Tata Consultancy, Ernst and Young, PriceWaterHouse Cooper, CMC and Newgen are in the running.

These corporate giants have attended the pre-bid conference organised by CBI here last evening. The pre-bid meeting gave a preview about what the CBI was looking for in the project, which includes computerisation and data management.

The CBI had invited Expression of Interest (EoI) from reputed companies or consortiums, both private and public sector, for initiating a holistic, coordinated modernisation and capacity building of the computerisation project of the agency.

Interested firms will have to ensure integration with investigation and prosecution-related systems.
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Govt. to set up maritime university
New Delhi: The government will set up an university dedicated exclusively to maritime education in the country, shipping minister TR Baalu said on Tuesday.

The university would also provide a boost for research in the maritime sector and promote maritime education at the highest level, an official statement quoting Baalu said. The minister announced this while giving away national awards for excellence in research in the maritime sector here.
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