• China Backs India For Security Council Seat
• India has a Bigger Role to Play in Security Council
• India-Sri Lanka Microwave Link Revived
• India-U.S. Co-operation
• India Sending More Troops to Congo
• 'U.S., India Have Gone Beyond Talking About Ballistic Missile Defences'
• Global Fundmen on India Trip
• Atal, Pervez in Race for Nobel Peace Prize

• Indian Imagers to Nepal's Aid
• Stamp Released on India's Role in U.N. Peace Missions
• India, Russia, China for U.N. Reform
• Russia to Lease Nuclear Sub to India for 10 yrs
• Global CEOs Making a Beeline For India
• Delhi to Host Global HR Meet from Nov 22
• Indian to Head Global Agency
• World Bank Lauds India's Reforms Process

To help Nepal in its fight against Naxalite guerrillas, the Indian government is supplying sophisticated hand-held thermal imagers that allow soldiers to see very clearly in the dark. Bharat Electronics is making imagers for the Indian Army, mostly for use in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-east for operations against militants. This new technology allows infantrymen to see far more clearly in comparison with earlier night-vision devices. The imagers, made with foreign help, are in the process of being given to the Army, which has asked for 3,500 and got 2,600 so far. Speaking to reporters today, senior BEL officials said they were working with the Defence Research and Development Organisation to produce a prototype of a fire-detection radar like the US ANTPQ-37 that the army has purchased. The prototype, officials said would be ready within a year and further development will take another year. BEL has also produced the battlefield surveillance radar which has substantial export possibilities. Countries like Indonesia and Thailand have sought the radar, being used to detect militants crossing the line of control. It is also working on the upgradation of air-defence equipment for the Army like the Shilka guns and supplying more modern Indra II radars. BEL is no longer on the list of organisations by the USA and the recent warmth in ties could ensure better access to new technologies. A quarter of its work is for civilian use. This includes electronic voting machines, solar powered plants, including for traffic lights. It also makes set-top boxes for television. Last year, its exports amounted to $10 million. It is likely to rise to $16 million this year. A lot of the exports are to Africa and South-east Asia.

Courtesy: The Statesman, October 29, 2004

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The President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, today released a stamp to commemorate 25 years of India's contribution to the United Nations peacekeeping missions. The stamp was released at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan in the presence of top military and civil officials and Minister of State for Communications, Shakeel Ahmed. India has so far participated in 37 U.N. peacekeeping missions, contributing over 70,000 troops in 25 years. At present, India has 3,500 troops engaged in peacekeeping operations in Congo, Eritrea and Lebanon. The Congo mission would be upgraded to a brigade group this year while a battalion is being sent to Sudan in 2005. Addressing the function, the President said the Army may constitute a task team of its personnel presently working in U.N. missions and commanders who had worked in the past to collate their experiences and prepare a book on peacekeeping experiences. "This will become a vital training document for our troops during future operations and also an interesting archival information for military historians," he said. Mr. Kalam said it was essential to evolve the principle of "enlightened citizenship" in many of the countries based on Asian ethos to reduce the tensions in the world that are transforming into wars.

Courtesy: The Hindu, October 25, 2004

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The Foreign Ministers of India, Russia and China met here today - the third such trilateral meeting in as many years - and reaffirmed their commitment to fight terrorism and drug trafficking. Stressing the need for the three countries regularly to exchange views to "strengthen a collective approach to world affairs," the Ministers also decided that they would jointly examine the issue of United Nations reform - including the question of restructuring the Security Council - when the U.N. Secretary-General's High-level Panel on New Threats, Challenges and Change submits its report this December. Though there was no formal joint statement after their hour-long meeting, the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, the Indian External Affairs Minister, Natwar Singh, and the Chinese Foreign Minister, Li Zhaoxing, told reporters they had a commonality of approach and emphasis on the issue of terrorism. Among other issues of regional security discussed on Thursday were the situation in Afghanistan and Iraq. On Afghanistan, said Indian officials, the three Ministers agreed on the importance of political stability and the need to "prevent a resurgence of religious fundamentalist elements" there. The three also felt it was of paramount importance for the U.N. to stick to the schedule of parliamentary elections already agreed and to not assume that the successful conduct of presidential elections alone was sufficient to bring stability. On Iraq, the three countries expressed their desire to see "a sovereign and independent Iraq that is a master of its own destiny," a formulation which suggests Russia, India and China do not put much store on the `transfer of power' effected by the U.S.-led occupation authority in that country earlier this year.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, October 22, 2004

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Russia will lease to India a nuclear-powered submarine capable of firing nuclear and conventional missiles, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday. ''Moscow and New Delhi have signed a contract under which the Indian Navy will get a multi-purpose submarine Project 971 on a 10-year lease,'' Interfax news agency quoted an unnamed senior Russian military industry source as saying. The official said the contract was signed earlier this year, but gave no further details. Interfax said the submarine will be ready by 2007. Last month, Russian media reported that Amur Shipyards in the Russian city of Komsomolsk-na-Amure had resumed construction of two Project 971 submarines stalled for sev-eral years because of lack of funds. Itar-Tass news agency said the submarine, which belongs to Russia's most advanced Akula-II class and is comparable to the US Sea Wolf and modernised Los Angeles-class submarines, costs $1.7 billion. Interfax quoted experts as saying the price of the lease could run up to ''tens of millions of dollars''. Project 971 submarines can be equipped with nearly 30 cruise missiles capable of delivering nuclear or conventional warheads as far as 3,000 km. But according to Russian media reports, the submarine leased to India will be armed with nuclear-capable missiles of shorter range not exceeding several hundred kilometres.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, October 22, 2004

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China on Wednesday took a strategic step forward in its relations with India: it formally endorsed India's candidature to the UN Security Council during a crucial visit by Tang Jiaxuan, state councillor and one of the seniormost leaders in China. The new-look relationship will kick off with a high profile visit by Chinese premier Wen Jiabao in January next year. The relationship is also being substantially upgraded, with both countries preparing to hold their first ever strategic dialogue while a free trade agreement is being worked out. But it is China's endorsement of India's candidature to the UN Security Council that has set a new benchmark in the relationship. Speaking to reporters here, Tang said China endorsed India "playing a greater and more constructive role in the UN Security Council". Analysts say this is a major step forward by China and the closest it will get to openly backing India. Beijing had hitherto been ambivalent at best on UN reform or India's candidature.

Courtesy: The Times of India, October 21, 2004

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Come Saturday and India will once again warm up to hosting the who's who of global business. In fact, PepsiCo chairman & CEO Steve Reinemund's three-day visit to India, beginning October 23, will jumpstart the visit India season. Following him in November will be Microsoft Corp's president & CEO Steve Ballmer, Boeing president & CEO Harry Stonecipher, Intel Corp CEO Craig Barrett, and Alstom chairman & CEO Patrick Kron. And as expected the itineraries are jam-packed. Even as Pepsi India spokesperson calls the visit a routine one, this would be Reinemund's first visit in three years after he took over as the chairman & CEO. "He will spend time visiting Indian operations, addressing employees and possibly squeeze in a trip to the Punjab facility," according to the spokesperson. For Microsoft's biggie Ballmer, this would be his second visit in nine years. While his itinerary has a trip to Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai packed into it, the trip underlines the importance that India has come to gain as a strategic development base as well as market for Microsoft. While Intel CEO Barrett's visit in mid-November is still under wraps, there are reports that he may be accompanied by a high-level team including president & COO Paul S. Otellini. The French major Alstom will host its CEO in India on Nov 2. The purpose of the visit is to oversee Indian operations and tap opportunities in the power sector. In addition to the CEO brigade there are a host of events that will bring the bigwigs to Indian shores. Oracle Corp executive VP Ron Wohl, for instance, will be coming down to attend the Oracle Open World that will be held in India after a gap of five years. This will be Wohl's first visit to India.

Courtesy: The Hindustan Times: October 20, 2004

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New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clarke, who is scheduled to visit New Delhi later this week for discussions with the Centre, today indicated in Bangalore that she could see a substantially larger role for India in the enlarged United Nations Security Council. ''We are working as one of the groups of countries led by Mexico - called 'The Friends of UN Reforms' - and what we are looking for is a change in the Security Council, which reflects the 21st century rather than 1945,'' she ''...We see a role for enhanced regional representation and we find it hard to see that India will not have a bigger role,'' she added. Clarke's five-day visit to India - the first by a New Zealand PM after David Lange's visit in 1985 - is not just aimed at including the inking of a bilateral agreement between the two countries. The New Zealand PM added that she saw the visit as ''a genuine effort by both countries to step up the 1950s relations'', agreeing that both the countries had changed a lot and there were things that both could cooperatively engage in. ''Sectors like information technology are where we can collaborate, but we still have some issues around agriculture access which must be pursued. We see a number of possibilities to freshen up the relationship,'' added Clarke.

Courtesy: The Indian Express, October 19, 2004

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India and Sri Lanka today revived the microwave link by launching the 'direct link of International Long Distance Services (ILDS)' between the two countries. The Union minister for communication and information technology, Mr Dayanidhi Maran, made the inaugural telephone call through the microwave link to the Sri Lankan minister for posts and telecommunications, Mr D M Jayarathne, in Colombo to mark the launch of this 'direct link.'A state-of-the-art digital microwave link was established between Rameshwaram in south Tamil Nadu and Talaimannar, the northern tip of Sri Lanka, to facilitate the ILDS link under an agreement between BSNL and Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) in October 2003. A teleconference between Colombo and Chennai brought the function live to the audiences in both the cities. Apparently an earlier microwave link between Madurai in Tamil Nadu and Colombo, established in 1980 was shut down in the mid-1990s' following strains between India and Sri Lanka. The Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) and SLT proposed to lay high-capacity submarine cables connecting Tiruchendur in South Tamil Nadu with Colombo for providing all types of telecom services. The project would be completed by September 2005. Meanwhile, the BSNL chairman-cum-managing director, Mr A K Sinha, used the occasion to announce a hefty slash in Internet and broadband access charges by 60 per cent.The dial-up or access charges would be reduced from Rs 24 per hour to Rs 9.60 per hour, a 60 per cent reduction. It will be further reduced to Rs 4.80 per hour on Sundays and national holidays.

Courtesy: The Statesman, October 17, 2004

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India will be hosting the 33rd world conference and exhibition of International Federation of Training and Development Organisations (IFTDO) in Delhi from November 22-25. The Switzerland-based global apex human resource development organisation comprises 150 member organisations spread over 50 countries and is focused on issues related to training. To be inaugurated by the President, the HR mega event would also witness the institution of the `ISTD-FICCI Award for Excellence in HR Practices,' an Indian parallel to the Balridge Award in the US. The awards are meant to promote good HR practices in the country. The award will be given to two categories of corporates defined on the basis of manpower. Sources said that the Union HRD Ministry, CII, FICCI, National Institute of Personnel Management (NIPM), All India Management Association (AIMA) and a host of chambers, among others, were collaborating in organising the global HR meet. While the Tata group has agreed to be prime sponsor of the conference, negotiations are on with L&T and a host of companies for sponsorship. The conference will focus on `Value creation and human development - The emerging dimensions." The sources said that the IFTDO organising committee headed by Mr Subir Raha, the ONGC chief, are currently busy holding road shows across the country to ensure maximum participation in the event.

Courtesy: www.thehindubusinessline.com, October 16, 2004

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India and the U.S. today launched a $30 million, five-year initiative to expand bilateral cooperation in power distribution reforms in India. Indian government agencies and the U. S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will cooperate under the project called Distribution Reforms, Upgrades and Management (DRUM) to provide electricity to millions of people across the country. As part of the project, Indian experts will examine the experience of the rural electrification programme in the U.S. and modify them accordingly to suit the Indian context.

Courtesy: The Hindu, October 15, 2004

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India has accepted the United Nations' plea to increase its troops' presence in Congo and will shortly despatch a brigade there, Defence Secretary Ajai Vikram Singh said here on Monday. Having already deployed a contingent of the Indian Air Force (IAF) including helicopters and airport maintenance crew in the strife-torn country as part of the UN peace-keeping mission, India would further upgrade its presence there with a brigade (3,000 men), he said. Stating this here while delivering the inaugural address at the national seminar on "Future of Operations - Implications for India," the Defence Secretary said that India always keeps a brigade strength of troops on standby to be deployed in peace-keeping operations. The Government accepted the world body's request of more troops for the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr Singh said, adding, the deployment of Indian troops to the African country demonstrated India's commitment to peace-keeping.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, October 12, 2004

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India and the United States have gone beyond merely talking about ballistic missile defences in their discussions, the U.S. Ambassador to India, David Mulford, has said in a published interview. The Ambassador has stated that the issue was to "figure out" which (ballistic missile) system is "needed where". In an interview to the October issue of Force magazine, a journal dealing with national security issues, Mr. Mulford shed new light on the current state of discussions on ballistic missile defences. Asked if he saw the possibility of the two countries going beyond merely talking about such defences, the Ambassador was quoted as saying, "Yes. I think that is what is under discussion now. There has already been a discussion about technology and systems." Do you think that ballistic missile defences would destabilise the entire region? No, the Ambassador responded, stressing that these were defensive systems.

Courtesy: The Hindu, October 09, 2004

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A group of global investors and consultants will be hitting the Capital for a three-day summit that starts on December 5 to discuss investment opportunities in India. The list includes executives of Boeing and Morgan Stanley of the US, Air Asia, Duetsche Bank of Germany, Artec Group of Egypt, SAS Institute, the Star group of Hong Kong, AT Kearney, CNC International Corporation of China and PricewaterhouseCoopers and officials from the World Economic Forum. Ministers from Australia, South Africa, Brazil and China will make a comparative analysis of India and China. The summit will follow Chidambaram's road shows in New York and London this month. However, representatives of foreign companies will not hold road shows in the country. Instead, they will discuss investment opportunities and mingle with their Indian peers like State Bank of India Chairman AK Purwar, ICICI Bank CEO KV Kamath and ITC Chairman Y C Deveshwar. The heads or representatives of major companies, including Infosys Technologies chief mentor NR Narayana Murthy, Godrej group's Jamshyd Godrej, Bajaj Auto head Rahul Bajaj, Bharat Forge Chairman Baba Kalyani, AV Birla group Chairman Kumarmangalam Birla and Biocon MD Kiran Mazumder Shaw, are expected to attend the summit.

Courtesy: The Business Standard, October 07, 2004

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Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf and former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee are two of the many frontrunners for this year's Nobel Peace Prize to be announced on Thursday. According to The Nation, the final list of hopefuls totals 194 candidates, including Musharraf and Vajpayee. The list of candidates also includes 50 organisations, including European Union. Among the other 142 individuals in the running for the prestigious accolade are US President George W Bush, French President Jacques Chirac, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Pope and former Czech president Vaclav Havel. If Musharraf wins, it will be the very first instance of a serving army general becomes recipient of such a prestigious award. On record, there has only been one case where a retired general winning the Nobel.

Courtesy: Hindustan Times, October 06, 2004

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The persistence of India's economic reforms process has yielded enormous benefits, according to the World Bank. However, a lot still needs to be done to improve the investment climate in the country. "The key is to address important constraints in ways that give firms confidence to invest and to follow initial reforms with ongoing improvements. India's reforms increased growth from an average of 2.9 per cent a year in the 1970s to 6.7 per cent by the mid-1990s, and the share of its population living on less than $1 a day fell from 54 per cent in 1980 to 35 per cent in 2000," says the World Development Report, 2005. Accelerating growth and poverty reduction requires governments to reduce the policy risks, costs, and barriers to competition facing firms of all types -- from farmers and micro-entrepreneurs to local manufacturing companies and multinationals. The World Bank's investment climate surveys show that corruption is the number one constraint firms face in South Asia. Unreliable electricity supply is next as losses from electricity outages average over 10 per cent of sales in India and over 6.5 per cent in Pakistan, the report points out. Resolving bankruptcy takes an average of 3.2 years on an average across all regions. South Asia's average is 4.8 years, with procedures taking 10 years in India. Registering a business takes 24 days in Pakistan, 35 in Bangladesh, 50 in Sri Lanka and 89 in India.

Courtesy: www.rediff.com, October 04, 2004

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Dr Gullapalli N. Rao, founder of Hyderabad's L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, has been elected as the first Chair of the Board of Trustees of the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB), a charitable organisation registered in the United Kingdom. In addition to his four-year term as Chairman of the Board, he will serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of IAPB. This is the first time in the 30-year history of this international organisation that the same person will hold all three positions simultaneously. Dr Rao will spearhead the agency's efforts to eliminate avoidable blindness throughout the world by the year 2020, through Vision 2020: The Right to Sight, a collaborative programme of IAPB and the World Health Organisation. Dr Rao took office during the Seventh General Assembly of the IAPB in Dubai from September 20 to 24, attended by more than 500 delegates from 75 countries across the globe, according to a press release.

Courtesy: The Hindu Business Line, October 01, 2004

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