Attendance: Cricinfo - 3rd Test: South Africa v Pakistan at Cape Town, Jan 26-28, 2007
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Sunday, January 28, 2007
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Knowledge Commission to connect 5,000 educational hubs: Pitroda
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The Sikh Times - News and Analysis - The Snake In the Garden
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Jindal to set up mega steel plant in West Bengal - India News
Jindal to set up mega steel plant in West Bengal - India News
Jindal to set up mega steel plant in West Bengal
Subscribe India News
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Marking a new era in West Bengal's industrialisation after days of clashes over land acquisition, the Sajjan Jindal-controlled JSW Steels Ltd Thursday signed an agreement with the state government to set up a 10-million-tonne steel plant with a cumulative investment of Rs.350 billion ($7.85 billion).
JSW Steel managing director Sajjan Jindal signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the presence of Chief Minister Buddhdadeb Bhattacharaya for the plant to come up over 5,000 acres at Salboni in West Midnapore district.
Spread over 12 years, the investment will cover a steel plant, a dedicated port, a coalmine and a power project, taking West Bengal into the big league of steel producing states like neighbouring Jharkhand and Orissa.
'We will start with a three-million-tonne capacity plant with Rs.100 billion investment. This will also have a 600 MW captive power plant,' Jindal said.
'It will take 48 months to commission this project,' he added.
'West Bengal has the best manpower for steel industry since all steel plants have a large number of Bengali technicians. They have developed a culture for 100 years in the steel industry. They are steel men. Steel is in their blood,' he said.
'West Bengal is one of the best sites for an integrated steel plant. We are close to the iron ore rich belt of Orissa and Jharkhand and also we are close to the ports. Nature has given West Bengal very high quality coal mine and we would revive some of the old coal mines which have been abandoned in Ranigunge area. We will also develop 600-metre deep underground mine, something not done in India before,' Jindal said.
Lauding the assistance of Bhattacharya, he said: 'I have not seen anywhere else in the country a government which is so proactive and supportive.
'The chief minister said he would provide all infrastructure and that it is his responsibility to see that a four-lane highway connects right up to the steel plant,' Jindal said.
'Today we not only lay the foundation of the factory but the prosperity and development of the whole region. If you see what we have done in Vijaynagar in Karnataka you will understand the transformation,' he said.
Jindal said he was also happy about the Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) expansion project in the state. 'I think it would have happened long back,' he said.
'This is a memorable day for West Bengal,' Bhattacharya said.
The state government has identified 5,000 acres for the steel plant at Salboni near Kharagpur. The plant is expected to create 10,000 direct and indirect job opportunities.
The land earmarked by the government is fallow, non-agricultural land and is unlikely to face any protests from the local population as the land acquired for the Tata small car project at Singur or Salim projects in Nandigram did.
Terming the recent week's incidents in Singur and Nandigram as unfortunate, Jindal said his group is specially careful about farmers because his own father and former chairman of the group Om Prakash Jindal - who died in a copter crash in early 2005 - was also from a farming background.
Jindal to set up mega steel plant in West Bengal
Subscribe India News
Thursday, January 11, 2007
Marking a new era in West Bengal's industrialisation after days of clashes over land acquisition, the Sajjan Jindal-controlled JSW Steels Ltd Thursday signed an agreement with the state government to set up a 10-million-tonne steel plant with a cumulative investment of Rs.350 billion ($7.85 billion).
JSW Steel managing director Sajjan Jindal signed the memorandum of understanding (MoU) in the presence of Chief Minister Buddhdadeb Bhattacharaya for the plant to come up over 5,000 acres at Salboni in West Midnapore district.
Spread over 12 years, the investment will cover a steel plant, a dedicated port, a coalmine and a power project, taking West Bengal into the big league of steel producing states like neighbouring Jharkhand and Orissa.
'We will start with a three-million-tonne capacity plant with Rs.100 billion investment. This will also have a 600 MW captive power plant,' Jindal said.
'It will take 48 months to commission this project,' he added.
'West Bengal has the best manpower for steel industry since all steel plants have a large number of Bengali technicians. They have developed a culture for 100 years in the steel industry. They are steel men. Steel is in their blood,' he said.
'West Bengal is one of the best sites for an integrated steel plant. We are close to the iron ore rich belt of Orissa and Jharkhand and also we are close to the ports. Nature has given West Bengal very high quality coal mine and we would revive some of the old coal mines which have been abandoned in Ranigunge area. We will also develop 600-metre deep underground mine, something not done in India before,' Jindal said.
Lauding the assistance of Bhattacharya, he said: 'I have not seen anywhere else in the country a government which is so proactive and supportive.
'The chief minister said he would provide all infrastructure and that it is his responsibility to see that a four-lane highway connects right up to the steel plant,' Jindal said.
'Today we not only lay the foundation of the factory but the prosperity and development of the whole region. If you see what we have done in Vijaynagar in Karnataka you will understand the transformation,' he said.
Jindal said he was also happy about the Indian Iron and Steel Company (IISCO) expansion project in the state. 'I think it would have happened long back,' he said.
'This is a memorable day for West Bengal,' Bhattacharya said.
The state government has identified 5,000 acres for the steel plant at Salboni near Kharagpur. The plant is expected to create 10,000 direct and indirect job opportunities.
The land earmarked by the government is fallow, non-agricultural land and is unlikely to face any protests from the local population as the land acquired for the Tata small car project at Singur or Salim projects in Nandigram did.
Terming the recent week's incidents in Singur and Nandigram as unfortunate, Jindal said his group is specially careful about farmers because his own father and former chairman of the group Om Prakash Jindal - who died in a copter crash in early 2005 - was also from a farming background.
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Wednesday, January 10, 2007
How to prevent Singurs
How to prevent Singurs
DLF's public share issue may or may not do well, but from a public policy perspective the important point is that, since the company filed its first draft prospectus last year, it has increased the size of its land bank dramatically, to 10,255 acres.
In addition, the company has identified 60 cities in which it plans to identify and then acquire land to build shopping malls. Unitech, another major realty firm, has a land bank slightly larger than DLF's at around 10,500 acres, and has already added 200 acres to this in three months. Meanwhile, Reliance is reported to have already acquired (in a few months) 8,000 acres for its proposed special economic zone in Haryana.
If privately-owned realty firms can sew up large tracts of land in a short period of time, why does the government need to be in the business of acquiring land from farmers by invoking the doctrine of eminent domain, and then handing the land over to businessmen to set up factories -- and frequently inviting controversy in the process?
It is true that if a state government promises to make land readily available to industry, it enhances the state's attractiveness as an investment destination. But it is equally obvious that governments are not distinguishing themselves in the process. In West Bengal, the Singur fire is yet to die down even as another one, this time over the proposed Salim project, has become the next battleground.
* Singur: Why farmers are on a warpath
* Reasons for opposition to Tata plant
* 'Why should Singur's farmers subsidise Tata?'
In Haryana, the protest by a Congress MP over the Reliance SEZ could well result in a similar situation. The situation is no different in most other states, the government's inability to get land for Posco in Orissa being one of the more prominent examples.
It should be obvious that the solution lies in asking the private sector to get its own land; indeed, some of the firms planning large retail footprints across the country are tying up with specialised realty firms for precisely this reason.
While there is no definitive evidence that anyone can offer in support of the argument, it is entirely likely that protests would reduce dramatically if the government went out of the picture -- compare the lack of protests when Reliance Petroleum hikes its petrol/diesel prices with those when the government hikes them for state-owned enterprises; and the lack of protest when the two private sector power distribution companies BSES and NDPL raise their tariffs, compared to the time when the Delhi Vidyut Board did the same as a government organisation.
None of this should be taken to mean that the government has no role to play, or that the private sector will now be free to go and buy the most fertile land, though it has to be recognised that the world over capitalism has progressed only with the landed becoming landless and getting absorbed in the industrial/service sector labour force -- indeed, it is obvious that if people don't get off the land, their incomes will rise only slowly.
The government's role, in this scheme of things, will get enforced through the process of zoning -- once the government decides, for instance, that wasteland around Bhopal can be converted for industrial use and notifies this, then it is up to the private firms to go and buy up the land on their own.
So, if it wishes to protect fertile land around Bhopal, to continue with the same example, the government only has to refuse to notify it as commercial land.
DLF's public share issue may or may not do well, but from a public policy perspective the important point is that, since the company filed its first draft prospectus last year, it has increased the size of its land bank dramatically, to 10,255 acres.
In addition, the company has identified 60 cities in which it plans to identify and then acquire land to build shopping malls. Unitech, another major realty firm, has a land bank slightly larger than DLF's at around 10,500 acres, and has already added 200 acres to this in three months. Meanwhile, Reliance is reported to have already acquired (in a few months) 8,000 acres for its proposed special economic zone in Haryana.
If privately-owned realty firms can sew up large tracts of land in a short period of time, why does the government need to be in the business of acquiring land from farmers by invoking the doctrine of eminent domain, and then handing the land over to businessmen to set up factories -- and frequently inviting controversy in the process?
It is true that if a state government promises to make land readily available to industry, it enhances the state's attractiveness as an investment destination. But it is equally obvious that governments are not distinguishing themselves in the process. In West Bengal, the Singur fire is yet to die down even as another one, this time over the proposed Salim project, has become the next battleground.
* Singur: Why farmers are on a warpath
* Reasons for opposition to Tata plant
* 'Why should Singur's farmers subsidise Tata?'
In Haryana, the protest by a Congress MP over the Reliance SEZ could well result in a similar situation. The situation is no different in most other states, the government's inability to get land for Posco in Orissa being one of the more prominent examples.
It should be obvious that the solution lies in asking the private sector to get its own land; indeed, some of the firms planning large retail footprints across the country are tying up with specialised realty firms for precisely this reason.
While there is no definitive evidence that anyone can offer in support of the argument, it is entirely likely that protests would reduce dramatically if the government went out of the picture -- compare the lack of protests when Reliance Petroleum hikes its petrol/diesel prices with those when the government hikes them for state-owned enterprises; and the lack of protest when the two private sector power distribution companies BSES and NDPL raise their tariffs, compared to the time when the Delhi Vidyut Board did the same as a government organisation.
None of this should be taken to mean that the government has no role to play, or that the private sector will now be free to go and buy the most fertile land, though it has to be recognised that the world over capitalism has progressed only with the landed becoming landless and getting absorbed in the industrial/service sector labour force -- indeed, it is obvious that if people don't get off the land, their incomes will rise only slowly.
The government's role, in this scheme of things, will get enforced through the process of zoning -- once the government decides, for instance, that wasteland around Bhopal can be converted for industrial use and notifies this, then it is up to the private firms to go and buy up the land on their own.
So, if it wishes to protect fertile land around Bhopal, to continue with the same example, the government only has to refuse to notify it as commercial land.
Labels: Farmers protest in Singur
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India set to join broadband revolution
India set to join broadband revolution: "
Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad | January 10, 2007 17:45 IST"
India is poised to join the rest of the world in the broadband revolution, with four companies Reliance Infocomm, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Tata Teleservices and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited committed to the broadband market, Confederation of Indian Industry (Andhra Pradesh) past president B V R Mohan Reddy said in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Addressing the one-day conference on telecom and broadband, organised by the CII and the Andhra Pradesh government, Mohan Reddy said, "Like many nations, states, cities and communities, we are trying to accelerate the deployment and usage of broadband networks. To date, these efforts have predominantly focussed on the supply side; promoting infrastructure build-out and determining appropriate competition and regulatory policies."
Globally, broadband is picking up speed. From just over 17 million users in 2001, the number of broadband users in the world has crossed the 70 million mark.
In Korea, 57 percent of the population has a broadband connection. In China, the number of broadband users has touched five million within just one year. The Japanese broadband user base crossed 6 million within three years, he pointed out.
Analysts predict that India too can grow big on broadband. But as of now, the base of Indian broadband is not even 0.02 percent per 100 persons as against 57.5 in Korea. It is just 10 percent of total Internet users.
There are still a number of hurdles relating to regulations and technology to be sorted out, he explained, commenting on the Indian demand scenario.
Mohan Reddy, who is the chairman and managing director of Hyderabad-based Infotech Enterprises Limited, said that this scenario does not worry the telecom companies. Their immediate focus will be to get to the 60 million households, which have cable TV and the 7 million Internet users first.
He said that currently, telecom operators earned an average of about Rs 500 from each customer from VOICE.
The calculation is that this will climb by another Rs 1,000 once broadband is introduced since the consumer spends Rs 300 for cable services, Rs 500 on voice calls, Rs 600 or Internet and at least Rs 100 on video and entertainment per month.
Telecom companies offering broadband stand to pocket all this, which will make the average revenue per user from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 per month, he added.
Referring to the Indian cost scenario, he said that consumers would not be spending more because they already pay for all these services to different operators.
In fact, consumers will have the convenience of a single billing system. For operators, there is another advantage. The churn, or the rate at which consumers shift operators, will fall because once you have taken a broad connection, the operator owns the copper wires right up to the TV or the PC. Redoing the wiring would be expensive, he pointed out.
Mohan Reddy felt that broadband would also give a fillip to fixed-line companies, which have been losing voice customers to the wireless operators. Broadband would enable fixed-line companies to use their existing infrastructure without much investment to generate additional revenues.
CII (AP) chairman G Vivekanand said that telecom networks of India and China were among the largest in the world. Broadband networks in some regions in these two economies such as Shanghai and other coastal towns of China, and Bangalore and Hyderabad in India are more developed than some parts of the industrialised world.
India's position as a global capital of outsourcing industry has been a major trigger for enhancing broadband demand in the country, he observed.
The telecom services in India have improved significantly. India operated one of the largest telecom networks in Asia and ranked fifth after China, the US, Japan and Russia, with 183.46 million telephones as on November 30, 2006, registering a 50 per cent growth, as against 125.79 million as on December 31 last year.
Tele-density per 100 population has grown from 7.04 in March 2004 to 8.95 in March 2005 and to a level of 16.28 in November 2006.
The mobile phone made its debut in the country in 1995 and number of mobile phones in the country has shot up to 100 million by June 2006, with around 5 million new customers being added on a monthly basis.
Broadband services were launched in India in 2005 and now cover about 300 Indian cities with a combined 1.5 million connections.
Andhra Pradesh Minister for Finance K Rosaiah said the state government, through various programmes and initiatives, has helped the IT and telecom industry to flourish.
The tech tie-ups, liberal policies and good and positive environment to do business has put AP on the path to progress.
Andrew Dinsley, first secretary (trade & investment), UK Trade and Investment, gave an overview of the telecom and broadband sectors in the UK. With over 8 million broadband users, UK was adding 70,000 new users per week.
UK's telecom industry is one of the largest in Europe with 7,800 companies, employing 250,000 people with annual turnover of $ 65 billion.
Syed Amin Jafri in Hyderabad | January 10, 2007 17:45 IST"
India is poised to join the rest of the world in the broadband revolution, with four companies Reliance Infocomm, Bharti Tele-Ventures, Tata Teleservices and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited committed to the broadband market, Confederation of Indian Industry (Andhra Pradesh) past president B V R Mohan Reddy said in Hyderabad on Wednesday.
Addressing the one-day conference on telecom and broadband, organised by the CII and the Andhra Pradesh government, Mohan Reddy said, "Like many nations, states, cities and communities, we are trying to accelerate the deployment and usage of broadband networks. To date, these efforts have predominantly focussed on the supply side; promoting infrastructure build-out and determining appropriate competition and regulatory policies."
Globally, broadband is picking up speed. From just over 17 million users in 2001, the number of broadband users in the world has crossed the 70 million mark.
In Korea, 57 percent of the population has a broadband connection. In China, the number of broadband users has touched five million within just one year. The Japanese broadband user base crossed 6 million within three years, he pointed out.
Analysts predict that India too can grow big on broadband. But as of now, the base of Indian broadband is not even 0.02 percent per 100 persons as against 57.5 in Korea. It is just 10 percent of total Internet users.
There are still a number of hurdles relating to regulations and technology to be sorted out, he explained, commenting on the Indian demand scenario.
Mohan Reddy, who is the chairman and managing director of Hyderabad-based Infotech Enterprises Limited, said that this scenario does not worry the telecom companies. Their immediate focus will be to get to the 60 million households, which have cable TV and the 7 million Internet users first.
He said that currently, telecom operators earned an average of about Rs 500 from each customer from VOICE.
The calculation is that this will climb by another Rs 1,000 once broadband is introduced since the consumer spends Rs 300 for cable services, Rs 500 on voice calls, Rs 600 or Internet and at least Rs 100 on video and entertainment per month.
Telecom companies offering broadband stand to pocket all this, which will make the average revenue per user from Rs 500 to Rs 1,500 per month, he added.
Referring to the Indian cost scenario, he said that consumers would not be spending more because they already pay for all these services to different operators.
In fact, consumers will have the convenience of a single billing system. For operators, there is another advantage. The churn, or the rate at which consumers shift operators, will fall because once you have taken a broad connection, the operator owns the copper wires right up to the TV or the PC. Redoing the wiring would be expensive, he pointed out.
Mohan Reddy felt that broadband would also give a fillip to fixed-line companies, which have been losing voice customers to the wireless operators. Broadband would enable fixed-line companies to use their existing infrastructure without much investment to generate additional revenues.
CII (AP) chairman G Vivekanand said that telecom networks of India and China were among the largest in the world. Broadband networks in some regions in these two economies such as Shanghai and other coastal towns of China, and Bangalore and Hyderabad in India are more developed than some parts of the industrialised world.
India's position as a global capital of outsourcing industry has been a major trigger for enhancing broadband demand in the country, he observed.
The telecom services in India have improved significantly. India operated one of the largest telecom networks in Asia and ranked fifth after China, the US, Japan and Russia, with 183.46 million telephones as on November 30, 2006, registering a 50 per cent growth, as against 125.79 million as on December 31 last year.
Tele-density per 100 population has grown from 7.04 in March 2004 to 8.95 in March 2005 and to a level of 16.28 in November 2006.
The mobile phone made its debut in the country in 1995 and number of mobile phones in the country has shot up to 100 million by June 2006, with around 5 million new customers being added on a monthly basis.
Broadband services were launched in India in 2005 and now cover about 300 Indian cities with a combined 1.5 million connections.
Andhra Pradesh Minister for Finance K Rosaiah said the state government, through various programmes and initiatives, has helped the IT and telecom industry to flourish.
The tech tie-ups, liberal policies and good and positive environment to do business has put AP on the path to progress.
Andrew Dinsley, first secretary (trade & investment), UK Trade and Investment, gave an overview of the telecom and broadband sectors in the UK. With over 8 million broadband users, UK was adding 70,000 new users per week.
UK's telecom industry is one of the largest in Europe with 7,800 companies, employing 250,000 people with annual turnover of $ 65 billion.
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Friday, January 05, 2007
Amnesty International Public statement of Kalinga Nagar Police firing
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Public Statement
AI Index: ASA 20/001/2007 (Public)
News Service No: 001
2 January 2007
India: Kalinga Nagar police firing one year on – Orissa must ensure speedy justice for adivasi victims and address their concerns over displacement
On 2 January 2006, 12 adivasis – including three women and a 12-year-old boy – were killed in police firing, as hundreds of adivasis protested against commencement of the construction of a proposed six million tonne steel plant (Tata Steel) at Kalinga Nagar in Jajpur district. One policeman was also killed in the violence during the protest.
In this context, Amnesty International wishes to remind the Orissa Government that it has the responsibility to:
- ensure speedy justice and adequate compensation to the victims of the Kalinga Nagar police firing. The state government must prosecute those suspected of being responsible for human rights violations, including excessive use of force, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;
- withdraw cases levelled against those peacefully expressing their right to freedom of expression over issues relating to development plans at Kalinga Nagar;
- announce a consistent policy of full consultation with the communities at Kalinga Nagar before any development project affecting their livelihood can take place;
- ensure full scale consultation about the human rights impact of economic decisions with those to be affected – including with adivasi activists and with non-governmental organizations. These are vital means through which human rights are safeguarded in the context of development;
- and
- ensure that, where populations are resettled, there are just, adequate and culturally-sensitive rehabilitation, resettlement and reparation schemes in force for those affected.
Background Information
The adivasi protestors belong to the Munda community and are affiliated to Bistapan Birodhi Jan Manch, a group protesting against displacement at Kalinga Nagar. Kalinga Nagar is being promoted as an industrial area by the state Government-owned Industrial Development Corporation (IDCO).
In the last five years, the Orissa Government has signed 45 agreements to set up
various industrial plants in the state. Of these, thirteen major steel plants are coming up at Kalinga Nagar, where more than 100 chrome washing plants are already in operation.
The adivasis at Kalinga Nagar allege that IDCO has been acquiring their lands either through force or at a low price and selling the same land to various companies at a high price. They also allege that they were not consulted or provided with access to information, and are excluded from the decision-making processes that affect their livelihood.
The police firing last year occurred after months of protests from adivasis who claimed that they had received inadequate financial compensation for the land acquired from them for the proposed Tata Steel plant.
Not satisfied with the State and Union Governments’ offer of monetary compensation for the families of the victims of the police firing, the adivasis have been demanding:
- disciplinary action against those responsible for the deaths;
- dropping of cases against their community leaders;
- granting of equivalent farm land in lieu of land acquired from them;
- an end to further displacement due to other industrial projects in the area; and
- that the State Government recognise that the adivasis have the right to development and the use of resources in areas of their traditional habitation.
A number of developments over the last year point to a situation where time may be running out for the state government to resolve these issues of contention. The adivasis at Kalinga Nagar continue to barricade the proposed plant site and a few neighbouring villages and prevent entry of officials in the area until their demands are met. A memorial to the victims of the police firing has been erected there. The latest round of talks between the adivasi representatives and the State Government, held in May, have failed to provide any practical solution. Also, the judicial inquiry ordered by the state government into the firing faces an uncertain future after India’s Supreme Court recently ruled that judicial inquiries should be headed by retired and not sitting high court judges.
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