Governmentt to enact new law to back SEZ rehab policy
New Delhi: The UPA government is planning to bring in a Bill in Parliament that will make it binding on companies to rehabilitate the farmers before they are displaced for setting up industries.

The proposed law will provide more teeth to the government to enforce rehabilitation policy being prepared by the rural development ministry.

He said the R&R Act will be an "over-riding" law on both the Land Acquisition Act and Special Economic Zone Act.

The ministry has sent its draft to the law ministry for examining legal and constitutional aspects of the policy.
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Mumbai, Delhi realty price rise highest in world
New Delhi: This confirms what may have suspected for a long time. Mumbai and Delhi saw the second highest (50.2 per cent) and third highest (33.3 per cent) growth in real estate rentals across the world in 2006, next only to Me'ouyan Soreq in Isreal, which saw an 87.5 per cent increase.

According to Cushman & Wakefield's annual report on 'Industrial Space Across the World,' two other Indian cities, Bangalore and Hyderabad, figure in the top 12 with rental jumps of 25 per cent and 23.1 per cent respectively.

According to the study, in terms of industrial rentals, New Delhi has moved nine places to 14th position. Cushman & Wakefield executive MD (South Asia) attributes this jump to the boom in the manufacturing sector.

It says as export volumes are rising rapidly, the sector is becoming increasingly attractive and is backed by the availability of private capital, strong domestic demand and a large pool of skilled and unskilled labour. The central government is also continuing with its legislative reforms and infrastructure improvements.

The report says a shortage of space has pushed up rents in Mumbai and New Delhi, and has led to manufacturing and logistics activity shifting to industrial parks outside the main cities. It said international manufacturers in sectors like automobile, biotech, pharmaceutical and telecoms are favouring setting up of operations in the economically flourishing states of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

According to the report, the world's most expensive industrial location is the area around London's Heathrow airport, followed by Isreal's Me'ouyan Soreq district and Tokyo.
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India wants realignment of voting rights at IMF
Washington: India wants realignment of voting rights at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to provide greater voice to under-represented countries.

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) deputy governor Rakesh Mohan addressing the World Bank-IMF annual meeting said, "The fundamental (voice and quota) reform has to come by giving greater share to the under-represented countries while that of the over-represented countries would need to come down."

Elaborating on quota and voice reforms, he said IMF needed to adopt a simple, transparent and linear quota formula to meet current global reality. He suggested a new formula, which should take into account Gross Domestic Product (GDP) computed entirely on purchasing power parity (PPP) basis as half-way blending of GDP at market rate with GDP on PPP would not meet the objectives of reforms.

A broader representation of developing countries would enhance the acceptability, ownership and effectiveness of the Fund's programmes and policies, he said in his address.
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