Private broadcasters mandated to share live feed with DD
New Delhi: The Government has approved an Ordinance making it compulsory for content providers, television and radio broadcasters of major sporting events, cricket and non-cricket, to share live feed with the national broadcaster. The Sports Broadcasting Signals (Mandatory Sharing with Prasar Bharati) Ordinance 2007 mandates that live television and radio feed, minus advertisements, be shared with Doordarshan and All India Radio for events judged as being of national importance by the Union Government. This comes as the Delhi High Court has scheduled the next hearing of Nimbus Communications' plea against the existing uplinking guidelines, which mandate sharing of feed with Prasar Bharati for February 8.
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Government bans milk powder exports
New Delhi: The Centre has put a ban on milk powder exports till September 30. The ban covers skimmed, whole and all other types of milk powder, but has left out casein, an official spokesperson of the government said. The decision follows similar clampdowns on shipments of sugar and pulses, as part of the Centre's efforts to curtail inflationary pressures in primary commodities.

"The ban is applicable for most of the lean season (when milk production falls with the onset of summer) and we will review it in end-September," the Union Finance Minister, Mr P.

Chidambaram, told presspersons. Skimmed milk powder (SMP) prices in Delhi are currently at around Rs120 a kg, compared to Rs90 a kg at the same time last year. The increase is in line with international prices, with SMP of Western Europe origin quoting now at $3,050-3,200 per tonne free-on-board, up from last year's level of $2,100-2,250 per tonne.
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New urea pricing policy approved
New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the New Pricing Scheme (NPS) phase-III to encourage urea production from the indigenous urea units beyond 100 per cent of their installed capacity by introducing a system of incentives for additional production subject to merit order procurement.

At present, urea producers require prior permission from the Government to produce beyond 100 per cent of their capacities. Under the new system, the companies would not be required to seek permission for additional production.

They would also be permitted to retain part of the additional profit generated from additional output.

The NPS-III seeks to promote the usage of natural gas, which is the most efficient and comparatively cheaper feedstock, for production of urea. A timeframe of three years has been provided for conversion of all non-gas based urea units to gas-based units.
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