Government to set up 200 schools for SC/ST students
New Delhi: The government is proposing setting up 200 secondary schools for SC/ST students in the 2007 Budget and about 175 crore will be earmarked for this expansion programme.

The proposed schools will be part of the Navodaya Vidyalaya set up. These schools will be established in districts with a high population of SCs and STs. In order to improve access for students from these backward communities, 50 pc of seats will be reserved for SCs/STs depending on which of the two is numerically dominant in the district.

The remaining 50 pc of the seats are to be filled by general category students and also SCs/STs. The reservation quota will be followed as well. In other words, in a district which has an overwhelming SC population, the Navodaya Vidyalaya will reserve 50 pc seats for SCs. For the remaining 50 pc 7.5 pc seats will be set aside for STs. No further reservation will be made for SCs.
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India likely to enter into infrastructure MoU with Italy
New Delhi: The Government may soon sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Italian government for co-operation in the fields of roads, ports and logistics and may also include an exchange programme of officials and experts in the infrastructure sector of both the countries.

Shipping, road transport and highways minister TR Baalu met Italian infrastructure minister Antonio De Pietro on Thursday to put forward his proposal for such an MoU.

The Italian minister highlighted the importance of safety, environmental protection, quality, archaeological and historical aspects being followed by Italian infrastructure firms and hoped that Italian entrepreneurs may also be suitably associated in the Indian infrastructure scene.
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A few foreign cos on security black list
New Delhi: The National Security Council has highlighted the need to block the entry of some foreign companies in the country's sensitive infrastructure sectors. This comes after National Security Advisor M K Narayanan's revelations regarding terrorists' manipulation of stock markets in India.

A report of NSC has said that such companies, unless checked, could gain access to the country's vital information and communication technology assets. In this context, the report cited the case of Egyptian mobile telecom company Orasscom which it said, "...has the potential to be on the board of one of India's major telecom companies Hutch-Essar" (whose major stake has now been taken over by British telecom giant Vodafone).

Orasscom had reportedly been in the running initially for a controlling stake in the Hutch-Essar. The report also said Orasscom received investment from the late Yasser Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, and is the biggest telecom operator in Pakistan. with a large presence in Bangladesh.

The NSC report said the presence of the Egyptian company in India would not be in national interest as the entity could gain access to "our ICT assets and enhance the capabilities of our adversaries in gathering intelligence.

Other overseas companies identified by the NSC were Huawei of China and Dubai Ports World, which recently had its access to US ports blocked by that country. An aviation company, which has its stake in an Indian private low-cost carrier, also figures on the list.
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