Cross-subsidy in rail fares at Rs4,500-cr
New Delhi: The Government said that the cross-subsidy in passenger fares has touched Rs4,500 crore due to unchanged ticket fares for the last three years. The Minister of State for Railways, R. Velu said during Question Hour in Rajya Sabha in reply to a query said a sum of Rs124 crore was being spent for traffic facility works in Orissa. He said 15 stations in the State have been identified for modernisation. This included Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and Puri stations.
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Industrial growth slows down to 9.6 pc in June
New Delhi: Industrial growth in India slowed down to a sluggish 9.6 per cent in June 2006, as compared to 12.2 per cent in the same month last year. During April-June this fiscal, the Index of Industrial Production grew 10.1 per cent, as against 10.4 per cent in the year-ago period.

About 13 out of the 17 industry groups showed positive growth during June 2006, as compared to the corresponding month of the previous year while Other Manufacturing Industries recorded the highest growth of 25.8 per cent, followed by 22.9 per cent in 'Transport Equipment and Parts' and 19.5 per cent in 'Basic Metal and Alloy Industries'.

'Wood and Wood Product; Furniture and Fixtures' posted a negative growth of 25.5 per cent, followed by 7.7 per cent in 'Leather and Leather Products' and 2.1 per cent in 'Food Products'. The 'Basic Goods' sector grew by 8.4 per cent in June compared to 8.6 per cent in the same month of 2005.

The 'Capital Goods' sector rose strongly at 23.7 per cent during the month against 13.5 per cent in the previous year, while 'Intermediate Goods' recorded a growth of 9.9 per cent in June from 4.2 per cent in same month of the previous fiscal.

There was a steep fall in the overall growth of 'Consumer Goods' in June to 5.9 per cent compared to 23.7 per cent in the same month of last year.

While growth in 'Consumer Durables' sector was up to 19.9 per cent from 12.8 per cent last year, the 'Consumer non-durables' sector grew by a mere 1.5 per cent as against 27.5 per cent in the same month of 2005.
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ISA wants export of iron ore stopped
New Delhi: The Indian Steel Alliance (ISA) has asked prime minister Manmohan Singh to intervene and stop the export of iron ore. It said if this was not done the growth of the steel industry would be seriously jeopardised.

It said that by encouraging export of iron ore and stopping steel exports, India's competitive advantage was being transferred to China, Korea and Japan and India would go back to a colonial economy — becoming a mere supplier of commodities and importer of finished product.

ISA officials said iron-ore rich nations like Ukraine, Kazakhstan, USA and China did not export any ore while India was exporting 90 million tonnes annually.
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