MCD to suspend sealing drive in capital
New Delhi: The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has suspended sealing of about 25,000 traders' establishments who have given affidavits for voluntary closure till further orders of the Supreme Court (SC).

These traders covered under the two notifications dated September 7 and 15 on mixed land use have to submit a fresh undertaking to the apex court-appointed monitoring committee and give an assurance that they have stopped misuse of their residential premises for commercial activities.

These properties include those that have already been sealed, those that have been voluntarily closed and also those that are yet to be sealed.

The fresh affidavits have to be submitted to the respective zonal offices of the civic body by November 19 and the monitoring committee will carry out random checks of the premises to ascertain if the misuse has been stopped.

The sealing drive will continue against the properties not covered under the two notifications, including those in the posh colonies and hazardous units.

The MCD's announcement followed a directive from the SC that it will consider giving relief to around 25,000 of them if they first stop the misuse of residential premises for commercial purposes.

Schools and government institutions operating from residential areas are unlikely to get protection from the sealing drive as the Supreme Court declined to budge from its stand.
Back to News Review index page  

India to have surplus gas in two years
New Delhi: India will emerge a gas-surplus country in the next two years. There will be a sharp spike in domestic gas production to 188 mmscmd in 2009-10, according to the Directorate General of Hydrocarbons. Supply will also be augmented by coal bed methane (CBM), with first gas expected by end-2007.

Companies like Reliance Industries and Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), will be a significant contributor to this. The former is expected to start production from the gas-rich Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin by mid- 2008.

Estimates of production from its block KG-D6 have been doubled to 80 million metric standard cubic metres per day (mmscmd) earlier this month. This is almost equal to the 84 mmscmd produced in the country today.

Gujarat State Petroleum is also expected to start production by early Jan 2009.
Back to News Review index page  

India Inc plans affirmative action against job quotas
New Delhi: The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry plan to implement an affirmative action plan to promote employment of Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe candidates in private sector companies during a meeting with the department of industrial policy and promotion in the commerce ministry.

However, the industry said it was strongly opposed to any legislation to force the issue. It was decided that the industry chambers would set up councils to promote persons belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

It was also proposed that an ombudsman of the chambers of commerce be formed to monitor and guide companies in this.
Industry has agreed to set targets for itself on affirmative action, including training more than 10,000 people and creating 100 entrepreneurs from among the disadvantaged, in a year.

In its presentation, Ficci suggested the government should promote special manufacturing clusters in districts with high population (over 40 per cent) of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes people besides providing fiscal incentives.

The body has identified 27 such districts that could be developed for the underprivileged and indicated the industries that could be developed in these districts, given their resource endowments.

The CII said it was committed to partner the government in a spirit of public private partnership on a voluntary basis on initiatives in affirmative action.
Back to News Review index page  

India adds 6.7mn new mobile users in Oct
New Delhi: 6.71 million new mobile users were added in October, boosting the mobile base to 136.22 million, the telecom regulator Trai said on Wednesday.

Of the new additions, 4.7 million signed up for services based on the widely prevalent GSM platform, and the rest opted for facilities that run on CDMA technology. Nearly 6.07 million joined the booming sector in September.

Many users are returning fixed-line phones as they shift to mobiles. The past month saw a decline 190,000 in fixed phones to 40.56 million. Overall, India's total telephone base rose to 176.78 million customers in October, compared with 170.26 million in September. Major players in the sector include Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications Ltd, state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam and Hutchison Essar.
Back to News Review index page