Centre lets States cap wheat, pulses stocks
New Delhi: To contain spiralling prices of wheat and pulses, the Union Government has allowed the State Governments to put restrictions on stock limits, licensing requirements and movement of these two commodities.

In effect the government has restored the powers of States to clamp restrictions under the Essential Commodities Act, 1955 (ECA) - which was taken away through a Central Order issued by the previous National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime on February 15, 2002 for six months. States will be allowed to unilaterally issue their own orders fixing storage limits and other restrictions as part of de-hoarding operations in these two commodities.

Also import of wheat and pulses and also inter-State movement of these items will be kept outside the purview of any controls. However.
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Quota Bill introduced in Lok Sabha: referred to House panel
New Delhi: The Union Human Resources Development Minister, Arjun Singh has introduced in the Lok Sabha the Bill providing for 27 per cent reservation for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in Central educational institutions, which would be made operational from the academic year 2007.

Making out a case for the "staggered'' implementation of the quota regime over three years from the academic session '07-08, the Bill, in section 3, spells out four categories of institutions which will be kept out of its purview. It includes eight institutes defined as "centres of excellence, research institutions and institutions of national and strategic importance.''

They include the Mumbai-based Homi Bhabha National Institute and its 10 affiliates such as Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay; Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam; Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore; Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar; Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre, Kolkata; Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata; Institute of Physics, Bhubaneshwar; Institute of Mathematical Sciences, Chennai; Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad; and Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai.

The other institutions falling in this category are Tata Institute of Fundamental Reserach, Mumbai; North-Eastern Indira Gandhi Regional Institute of Health and Medical Science, Shillong; National Brain Research Centre, Manesar, Gurgaon; Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore; Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad; Space Physics Laboratory, Thiruvananthapuram; and Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Dehradun.

The provisions of the Bill will also not apply to central government institutions running in tribal areas, minority educational institutions and "any course or programme at high levels of specialisation, including at the post-doctoral level, within any branch of study or faculty, which the central government may, in consultation with the appropriate authority, specify.''

The decision to refer the Bill to the standing committee for finetuning its provisions had a conciliatory effect on the striking medicos, engineering and management institute students, who, later in the day, announced the suspension of their anti-quota stir for three months. They'll now wait for the report of the standing committee, which has been asked by speaker Somnath Chatterjee to submit its report during the winter session of Parliament.
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BEST launches smart card
Mumbai: BEST, which runs buses in Mumbai, has introduced a `Smart Card System' on 50 commuter buses. These cards are obtained after cash is prepaid and allow automatic fare collection the buses.

The card is held in front of a reader on the bus that deducts the fare amount from the "smart card". Two readers would be installed on the buses for easy access. The Smart Card is the new version of a similar system introduced by the BEST service five years ago.

The earlier system had to be shelved due to technical problems. The cards would be available at BEST depots, with a minimum value of Rs50. The system would be activated from August 28.
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DoT wants Dept of Space to vacate spectrum
New Delhi: The Department of Telecom (DoT) wants the Department of Space (DoS) to vacate spectrum in 2.5 Ghz and 3.5 Ghz bands for use by telecom operators to provide Wi-Max services. Wi-max is said to be a disruptive technology that operators around the world are looking to introduce as it supposedly gives the benefits of a 3G service at lower costs. DoS has been maintaining that its current operations and services should not be affected while making the spectrum available for commercial, mobile use.

The Ministry of Communications is betting big on Wi-Max technology to spur broadband usage in the country and the Government has formed a joint venture with French major Alcatel through the state owned C-DoT, to set up a global research and development centre for Wi-Max technology.

The DoT move comes despite opposition from the GSM cellular camp lead by the Cellular Operators Association of India, which has said that 2.5 Ghz should be reserved exclusively for 3G services based on Wide band CDMA (WCDMA) technology.
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Indian Railways lines up three corridors for bullet trains
New Delhi: Te Indian Railways is contemplating setting up three dedicated high-speed corridors where trains will travel at speeds of at least 250 km an hour.

The routes being considered are the Mumbai-Pune, Delhi-Jaipur and Chennai-Bangalore sections. The cost to build the infrastructure could range from Rs200-300 crore a km.

Despite being high speed trains the fare on these trains would be lower than air fares. Sources say the tariffs between Mumbai and Pune could be in the range of Rs1,500, as compared to average air fares of over Rs2,500 for the distance.

The fares between Delhi and Jaipur could be around Rs2,400, as against Rs2,500 and Rs4,000 for air fare.

Each train would have six coaches and would carry 400-450 passengers. However, it would be possible to increase the number of coaches to 10.

The fastest trains in the country at present, which include the Shatabdi Express and the Rajdhani Express, run at a maximum speed of 160 km an hour.
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