World’s biggest fish satellite-tagged in India

Veraval (Gujarat): As the year comes to an end, India took another small step towards learning more about the world’s biggest fish when a female whale shark was successfully satellite-tagged on Saturday in order to learn more about the movement and preferences of this gentle giant, known as “Vhali” or Gujarat’s Daughter, in the Saurashtra region.

The tagging, second-ever in the country, was done this morning by the Whale Shark Conservation Project team members with the help of the fishing community in Sutrapada, under a project supported by Tata Chemicals Ltd.

A joint initiative of the Gujarat Forest Department and International Fund for Animal Welfare – Wildlife Trust of India (IFAW-WTI), the project works to gather more information on the species to help develop effective conservation strategies.

Whale sharks, an endangered species, usually travel a distance of over 20,000 km from Australia to the Indian coast in Arabian Sea every year in winter. Alka Talwar, Head, Community Development, Tata Chemicals, said, tagging will aid in exploring new facts and data on whale shark’s habitat and provide information on their migratory pattern, breeding, and survival on the Gujarat coast. Aradhana Sahu, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Junagadh, said, “Gujarat has been leading the way in conservation of whale sharks in the country, with the fishing community coming forward to save the species over the past decade.”

B.C. Choudhury, Project Advisor, WTI, added that the project would be tagging more fish in the coming days, applying modified methodology to ensure minimal stress on the fish. The female whale shark tagged this morning was around 18 feet long, said WTI biologist Prem Jothi, who implanted the tag. It was caught in fishing net, and was released post-tagging.

Whale sharks were once brutally hunted in Gujarat for their liver oil used to water proof boats. In 2001, the whale shark became the first fish to be listed in Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

Following the successful Whale Shark Campaign launched by the Forest Department, IFAW-WTI and Tata Chemicals, in 2004, the fishing community of Gujarat began releasing whale sharks accidentally caught in their nets.

Five More Port Projects Appraised

New Delhi: The Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC-a high level committee of the Government of India) has appraised five proposals in the Port Sector. These projects as listed below will now be recommended for grant of final approval by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The Ministry of Shipping will submit a Cabinet Note to the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs for the purpose.

(i) Development of 4th Container Terminal at Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) on DBFOT- Design, Build, Finance, Operate and Transfer basis.

(ii) Development of Container Terminal at Ennore Port Limited (EPL) on DBFOT.

(iii) Development of Multipurpose Cargo at Mumbai Port Trust (MPT) on DBFOT.

(iv) Development of Mega Container Terminal at Tuna Tekra at Kandla Port (KPT) on BOT.

(v) Development of Container Terminal at Diamond Harbour at Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT) on BOT.

These projects are proposed to be awarded in the current financial year by various Major Ports for implementation under Public Private Partnership mode. The proposed projects are to create an additional capacity of 150 MMTPA with an investment of about Rs. 17630 Crores.

This year, the Ministry of Shipping has so far conveyed approval for 16 projects against a target of 30 and the Major Ports have already awarded these projects. These already awarded projects include six under PPP and 10 under non-PPP mode and they are expected to add a capacity of 89 MMTPA with an investment of about Rs.4200 Crores.

UK begins to woo students from smaller Indian towns

Mumbai: Following a 25 per cent decline in Indian students heading to the UK in the last two years, the British Council has embarked on a 20-city roadshow in non-metro cities such as Jaipur and Nagpur to reach out to new students.

The campaign follows the recent controversy over the UK visa bond, where visitors were required to cough up £3,000 for a visa. Though it was scrapped later, the issue dented the international image of that country.

Richard Everitt, British Council’s Director Education (India), said the number of Indian student applications to the UK has fallen to 30,000 from 40,000 over the last two-three years. “Fall in the rupee significantly reduced the share of household income spent on education abroad. Rumours about visa and access and increasing awareness about education options in competing countries such as Germany, Australia and Canada have all contributed to the decline,” he said. The UK attracts an average of four lakh international students every year of which 30,000 are from India.

“The idea of the 20-city tour is to raise awareness, reach out to a wider network of students and help bring back the numbers that have declined since the last few years. We want to dispel rumours of the UK having become an unfriendly destination for Indian students. There is no visa issue for them and they are free to work during study and after study based on certain conditions,” he added.

According to Everitt, Indians can work up to 20 hours a week during study and fulltime after study for a period of three years provided it is a high value job earning over £20,000.

“The only change from two years ago is the change in post study work options for Indian students from low value jobs earlier to high value jobs now,” he added.

The British Council plans to increase scholarships for Indian students in the UK. It plans to offer a microsite on UK’s education that can be accessed even from a handheld device, to cater to the tech-intensive generation.

In November, the British Council announced scholarships worth Rs 10 crore for Indian students, covering 260 post-graduate and under-graduate courses across 36 universities in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland for semesters starting in September 2014 and January 2015.

PM asks industry to invest in education, research

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Saturday, urged the country’s private sector and industry to invest in enhancing education and research in the country as India looks to increase its gross enrolment ratio from a meagre 18 per cent to 30 per cent by 2020.

“Today, our universities depend largely on grants for undertaking research. Greater support from industry will not only lead to better research outcomes but also enable industry to utilise these outcomes for meaningful practical application. It may be worthwhile on the part of our university academics to make a detailed study of how this interface works in other countries so that we can replicate the international best practices”, Singh said during the diamond jubilee celebrations of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Singh’s request for funding comes at a time when a number of bills proposed by the Human Resource and Development Ministry are pending in Parliament including the National Accreditation Regulatory Authority Bill and Foreign Educational Institutions Bill. In addition, proposals to amend the AICTE Act and setting up a regulator for distance education has been pending at various stages.

The Prime Minister also expressed concerns about the lack of quality of education at India’s premier institutes and the shortage of faculty in the country. “This brings me to the related issue of shortage of faculty in our institutes of higher education. This problem is likely to become even more acute with the expansion that is planned in the coming years,” PM added. The government is currently in the midst of rolling out the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) which will create 278 new universities and 388 new colleges in addition to converting 266 colleges to model degree colleges by the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan.

Singh also hinted at the need to create new models of financing for the higher education sector as the funding from the central government has declined in real term over the past years. “Although the demand for higher education has increased enormously over the years, the central and state governments’ financial support to institutions of higher education has declined in real terms. New models of financing higher education, based on well established norms, and improvements in the existing system of funding by the central and state governments, therefore, are critical concerns”, the PM said.

Higher educational institutes in the country had come in the line of fire after none of them could figure themselves amongst the Top 200 institutes in the world.

Haryana to have nuclear university

AMBALA, DEC 28:
A Nuclear University will be set up in Haryana soon at a cost of Rs 2,200 crore, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced on Saturday.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation for the institution on January 3, Hooda said, while addressing the Platinum Jubilee function of Atmanand Jain (Post-graduate) college here.

Hooda said he would give Rs 21 lakh from his contigency funds for the construction of multipurpose gymnasium hall at the college. He urged people to educate their children.

Referring to the special attention given to education in the state, Hooda said Haryana would become an international hub for education in the next five to seven years.

ESIC opens medical college in Kerala

KOLLAM, DEC. 22:
Employees State Insurance Corporation will complete all its projects of renovating and constructing modern dispensaries, hospitals and offices in Kerala on a priority basis, Minister of State for Labour Kodikunnil Suresh said here on Saturday.

The ESIC Medical College Hospital was inaugurated at nearby Paripally by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.

Suresh said such medical colleges would begin functioning from this academic year in Chennai, Gulbarga in Karnataka and Kolkata. The modernisation is part of the ESI’s ambitious Rs 480-crore programme to upgrade its hospitals, dispensaries and offices nationwide to adapt to the changing health delivery scenario.

Chandy applauded ESIC’s efforts for its services to the working classes of the State and promised the government’s full support to the Corporation.

Official sources said ESIC Medical College Hospital at Paripally would initially have 300 beds and later be upgraded to 500 beds with modern facilities.

AirAsia India set to begin with 5 aircraft, in first quarter

Just as Ratan Tata had dreamt of making the Nano a family car, especially for families compelled to travel on two-wheelers, the Tatas’ low cost aviation venture, AirAsia India, a joint venture between Air Asia Bhd (49 per cent), Tata Sons (30 per cent) and Telestra Tradeplace (21 per cent), will target “first-time travellers”, AirAsia India Chairman S. Ramadorai told Business Line in an interview.

Compared to the Tatas’ other aviation venture, Tata-SIA, this budget airline, which will operate point-to-point flights mainly from Tier-II Indian cities, has been slower on the takeoff. “But the moment the clearances come, we have done all the background work and will be ready to take off immediately.”

This budget airline, he says, should be ready to operate flights by the “first quarter of 2014, or even by February or March if the clearance comes”. The airline is yet to get the operating permit from the DGCA.

Asked if the Tata ethos of not paying speed money had slowed down the venture, he said, “Let it slow down; the moment the approval comes, we’ll take off. In the first year, we will operate five aircraft.”

The main objective of this airline, said Ramadorai, is to make air travel affordable to people… families, particularly first-time (air) travellers.”

Asked if it is possible to be low-cost and profitable he said, “Yes, our hubs will be there only in smaller cities as bigger cities are more expensive. And we are already in talks with various State Governments and have requested them to consider certain things.”

These include lower fuel taxes, “a State subject, and certain other facilities at the airports from where we’ll operate.”

On the likely numbers the fledgling airline will handle in the first year of operations, Ramadorai said: “Our goal is clear, we want to provide affordable air travel, bring in first-time travellers and we want families to travel by our airline. How or what this scales up to, we’re not worried about.”

The point to point flight will be relatively short haul “60-90 minutes, max”, he added.

On why the Tatas would choose an IT man (he retired as TCS CEO in 2009 after a stint of 37 years in the company and continues to be its Vice-Chairman), Ramadorai said: “As in everything else, they wanted somebody they can trust… somebody who would be suitable, not necessarily somebody who knows the business. That, you can pick up anyway, but somebody who could be counted upon for ethical conduct…to present the right face and a clean image.”

L&T Metro to take up trial runs by July next

L&T Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited expects to commence trial runs for the phase one of the elevated metro project in Hyderabad by July 2014.

The rail coaches from the Hyundai Rotem consortium are expected to arrive in Hyderabad by May next and the trial runs for the first phase of 8-km stretch between Nagole and Uppal of the 72 km metro project will be taken up by July. While the trials will go on for few months, the phase one will be ready for commercial operations by March 2015, N.V.S.Reddy, Managing Director, Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited, said.

Reddy said that the progress of the project has been thus far very encouraging in spite of facing several hardships on course. So far, the concessionaire L&T and Hyderabad Metro have invested about Rs 4,000 crore. This includes Rs 3,100 crore by L&T and Rs 900 crore by Hyderabad Metro.

The project has gathered momentum and more than a third of the piers have been erected. The pace is expected to go up next year as various elements of the project have now come together. The right of way issues too have been addressed, he said.

Referring to the land acquisition for the project, he said of the 269 acres of land assured to be handed over to L&T, 267 acres of land has been handed over so far. Only two acres of land is held up due to a court case and we expect that this would also be resolved shortly. The land acquisition in terms of providing ‘right of way,’ that is providing access for project development, is also being addressed in couple of busy areas.

TREE PLANTATION

“So far more than 1800 trees have been translocated with 98 per cent survival rate. We have also taken up massive tree plantation drive involving colleges and students. All these will ensure that there is good greenery for the project,” he explained.

Referring to the possibility of issuing smart cards to passengers, which will potentially double up as multipurpose cards, Reddy said several banks have evinced interest in taking part of this initiative. At least two banks will be chosen at the appropriate time, he hinted.

No shortage of life insurance products from January 1: IRDA

HYDERABAD, DEC. 27:
There will be no shortage of life insurance products from January 1 when new norms come into effect, according to T. S. Vijayan, Chairman, Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA).

“Every life insurer has a minimum 10 to 15 products ready to be launched or already launched. We have cleared about 500 products so far,” Vijayan told newspersons on the sidelines of an interactive session organised by the Federation of Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry here on Friday.

Life insurers have been barred from hawking old products starting next month. They can only sell products that are compliant with the new product design norms brought in by the insurance regulator early this year.

“As all products have gone to the shelves of the insurers (from IRDA after approval), their exact launch would depend on their market strategies,” he added.

SERVICE TAX

Earlier, while addressing participants at the meeting, the IRDA chief said the imposition of service tax or its removal was not in the purview of the insurance regulator.

The premium on life insurance products, especially those by the Life Insurance Corporation, is likely to go up from January 1 as the market leader would collect service tax separately. Several private insurers have already started doing so.

BANCASSURANCE

Referring to the permission being given to banks to act as insurance brokers , Vijayan said: “Banks should represent the customers. We want banks to sell the best policies of 24 life insurance companies. We are pushing for it.”

The Finance Ministry had issued a circular last week asking banks to turn into brokers of multiple insurance companies.

As of now, banks are only permitted to act as corporate agents of insurers

Vineet Nayar retires from HCL Technologies’ Board

NEW DELHI, DEC 27:
HCL Technologies (HCLT) on Friday said Vineet Nayar, Director of the company since 2008, has decided to retire from the Board. However, he will be a Senior Advisor to HCLT and HCL Corporation, it said in statement.

The company said Nayar has decided to devote more time to his Foundation.

“Vineet has been a friend and a colleague for over two decades now. His contribution to HCL and the Board has been a benchmark for others to follow and we all are very proud of him. I look forward to his continued association with HCL as a Senior Advisor,” Shiv Nadar, Chief Strategy Officer and Chairman, HCLT said.

As a Senior Advisor, Nayar will advise HCL Corporation on key strategic issues and also work with the Board of HCLT on initiatives such as driving a high performance culture amongst senior managers and new strategies for growth, the company said.

“As I pursue my dream, of creating a ‘Million Smiles’ through Sampark Foundation, I carry with me goodwill, best wishes and lots of learning. I also hope to continue to add value to both HCLT and HCL Corporation through my continued association,” Nayar said.

HCLT’s shares closed at Rs 1,256.20 on the BSE on Friday, up 0.80 per cent from the previous close