Natwar Singh moves privilege motion against PM
New Delhi: Two days after claiming that the Congress was his biggest strength, former external affairs minister Natwar Singh has now moved a privilege motion against the prime minister in the Rajya Sabha for the leak of the Pathak committee report.

"I want to make it clear that I will not speak anymore on the matter till the Pathak committee report is tabled in the House," said Natwar.

Meanwhile, stung by the move, the Congress party sources have made it clear that by confronting the prime minister, Natwar Singh has breached party discipline and very likely would be suspended.

Vice president Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, chairman of Rajya Sabha, will now decide whether to admit the motion or not.

33 MP's from the Samajwadi Party, TDP and AIADMK, have said that they will be backing the privilege motion as also Congress' key ally CPI.
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ESC: Software, services exports up 32 per cent
New Delhi: Exports of software and services, including IT enabled services (ITeS), are estimated to have reached Rs29,500 crore in the quarter ended June 2006, marking an increase of 32.29 per cent compared with exports in the same period last year.

According to projections made by the Electronics and Computer Software Export Promotion Council (ESC), computer software and services exports, including ITeS, will increase to Rs1,40,000 crore, up by 33 per cent over the previous year's figure of Rs1,05,000 crore.

In the case of computer hardware, exports estimated for the quarter April-June 2006, are at Rs2,000 crore, a 25 per cent growth over the same period last fiscal.

The ESC has projected exports worth Rs11,500 crore for 2006-07, of which 21.4 per cent has already been achieved. ESC envisages an annual growth rate of 19 per cent in the hardware sector.
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CII: India needs to invest Rs14,89,500-cr in infrastructure sector over 5 yrs
New Delhi: The country would need to invest a massive Rs14,89,500 crore in the infrastructure sector over the coming five years according to industry body CII. Of this amount, the private sector would need to invest Rs60,000 crore every year, assuming that 20 per cent of the infrastructure investment came from private funding.

A CII study says that India lagged behind East and Southeast Asian economies in infrastructure spending vis-a-vis GDP. "While China spent 10.6 per cent of GDP, India's capital expenditure on infrastructure was below 4 per cent in 2003. The disparity was even more stark in absolute figure terms, with China spending 150 billion dollars in 2003 against India's 21 billion dollars," the study said.

The industry body appreciated the Planning Commission's draft approach paper to the Eleventh Plan, which mooted increasing investment from the current 4.6 per cent of GDP to 7-8 per cent in the Eleventh Plan period. But it pointed out that the target of 8 per cent was still short of 10 per cent figure, which the country needed to achieve.

The industry body stressed on evolving a roadmap between the Government, states and the private sector for drawing an overall investment plan in the sector, the study suggested.
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TRAI mulling release of 1900 Mhz band for CDMA 3G services
New Delhi: the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is exploring the option of providing the 1900 Mhz frequency band for CDMA operators, as per their demand, in an effort to arrive at a consensus on allocating spectrum for third generation (3G) mobile services.

TRAI has asked vendors manufacturing CDMA equipment such as ZTE, Lucent-Alcatel and Nortel to prove claims that there would be no interference with GSM-based cellular services in case spectrum was released in the 1900 Mhz frequency band.

CDMA operators have said that if TRAI releases spectrum in 1900 Mhz, the cost of offering 3G services would be drastically lower. 3G services will enable subscribers to access high-speed data services such as the Internet, video, TV and e-mail on their mobile phones. TRAI, in its earlier recommendations, had suggested releasing capacity only in the 2 Ghz frequency band. CDMA operators said that since there was no equipment suitable for operating in the 2 Ghz band, it would make 3G services unviable for them.

On the other hand, GSM operators, lead by the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) have sought spectrum in the 2 Ghz band only. The GSM operators said that allocation frequency in 1900 Mhz would create interference with their services and therefore should not be given to the CDMA operators.
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