JAPAN has committed to invest $ 4.5 billion for the ambitious Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor ( DMIC) project, commerce minister Anand Sharma said on Wednesday.

“ The Delhi- Mumbai Industrial Corridor envisages investment of $ 100 billion and we have now decisively moved from the stage of planning and design to the stage of implementation,” Sharma said.

“ The Japanese government is committing $ 4.5 billion for implementation of this project,” Sharma said. The DMIC is one of the most ambitious infrastructure projects conceived so far, which will give rise to 24 new integrated townships.

Addressing the joint session of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry ( Ficci), Confederation of Indian Industry ( CII) and Assocham to welcome the business delegation led by the Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, Sharma said the two countries aimed to increase bilateral trade to $ 25 billion by 2014 from around $ 14 billion last fiscal.

The current Indo- Japan trade is less than five per cent of the $ 300 billion Japanese bilateral trade with China.

“ We have set a target to increase bilateral trade to $ 25 billion by 2014 and I feel that we are very much on course to achieve it,” Sharma said, inviting Japan to invest in India’s infrastructure sector.

“ Over the next couple of decades, we will see massive expansion in Indian infrastructure.

In the coming five years itself, we have targeted to invest over a trillion dollars in creating capacities of infrastructure, which will further catalyse India’s economic growth,” he said.

In the last two years, Japanese foreign direct investment ( FDI) into India has amounted to $ 3.62 billion, concentrated mostly in sectors such as automobiles, electronics, financial services and telecom.

Prime Minister Noda, who is in India on a two- day official visit, said India and Japan enjoyed warm diplomatic relations and the two countries should further step up business and economic cooperation.

“ We should capitalise on our complementarities,” Noda said while addressing a business meeting.

“ I believe that India’s middle class will be the driving force if the manufacturing sector grows in India. We can achieve greater trade volumes,” Noda said at a meeting with business leaders in Delhi.

“ We can and should step up economic relations between the two countries,” Noda added.

Noda added that about 420 Japanese companies present in India have created over 1.50 lakh jobs in the country.

During his visit, both countries are expected to sign a $ 10 billion currency swap deal keeping in view fluctuating currencies. The rupee has slid around 15 per cent this year.

This will be the expansion of a previous $ 3 billion currency swap accord. The currency swap, under which Japan could lend India dollars, would help India cope with the rapid withdrawal of funds by overseas investors amid the global financial turmoil.

This is Noda’s first visit to India since he became the prime minister of Japan in September this year.

SKY IS THE LIMIT

DMIC will give rise to 24 new integrated townships The current Indo- Japanese trade is less than five per cent of the $ 300 bn Japanese bilateral trade with China Japan’ s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said India and Japan enjoys warm diplomatic relations and the two countries should further step up business and economic cooperation Both countries are expected to sign a $ 10 bn currency swap deal keeping in view fluctuating currencies. Currently, it has a $ 3 bn currency swap arrangement in place.

By Mail Today Bureau in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: Japan today expressed intention to invest USD 4.5 billion (about Rs 23,400 crore) in the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project over the next five years.

India’s ambitious USD 90 billion DMIC project is aimed at creating industrial infrastructure along the Delhi-Mumbai Rail Freight Corridor, which is under implementation. Japan is giving financial and technical aid for the project, which will cover seven states totalling 1,483 kilometers.

Noting the significant progress made by India’s contribution of a Rs 175 billion fund for development of trunk infrastructure for DMIC project, Noda announced the intention to “make available for the project Japan’s public and private finance totaling USD 4.5 billion dollar in the next five years,” a joint statement said.

This includes appropriate financing from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) as well as official development assistance (ODA) loan, it said.

The two Prime Ministers felt that the DMIC Project would redefine the character of infrastructure growth in India through advanced technology and green growth, it said.

“The two Prime Ministers shared the vision for the development of the DMIC that the governments and private sectors of the two countries cooperate in a mutually complementary manner to develop an environmentally sustainable, long-lasting and technologically advanced infrastructure in the region of DMIC,” it said.

The two leaders also felt that active involvement of Japanese agencies and companies would provide an impetus for the development of DMIC, the joint statement said.

28 Dec, 2011, 10.19PM IST, PT

Commercial IT Plot For immediate Sale in Sector 1, Noida, Property in Prime Location Of Noida having Near Metro Station, Banks, Post Office, Bus Stand, Taxi Stand all situated adjacently.  Suitable For all Commercial Activities. Brokers Please Excuse.

horeographed for the benefit of the nation’s TV news channels, Anna Hazare’s sound-and-fury show, staged to rid the country of the scourge of corruption in public life, is about to reach a finale. His threat to launch the ‘jail bharo’ agitation and to undertake yet another fast if Parliament fails to adopt his version of the Lokpal Bill before its current session ends next week has sent the entire political class into a tizzy. It should have been seen for what it is: a mocking defiance of an institution that for better or worse represents the collective will of the people of India.
The political class knows as much. But look at its conduct. The government is running helter-skelter for cover. It cannot summon the nerve to call Hazare’s bluff. Nor has it demonstrated so far the courage to present a robust Lokpal Bill that will take the wind out of the Teflon Gandhian’s sails. The opposition parties are even more craven. Honourable exceptions apart, they appear on Hazare’s platform to extol his agenda and to endorse the questionable methods he deploys to get his way. However, in all-party meetings held behind closed doors, they sing a different tune. In plain words, they are prepared to wield any stick to rain blows on the government and in the process regard the supremacy of Parliament to be a mere trifle.
In the midst of this pervasive cynicism, the voices of sanity are few and far between. They include A B Bardhan of the CPI and Amartya Sen. Both have gone on record to state that ‘people on the street’ cannot settle issues like the Lokpal Bill. But there is another, unlikely voice that has been heard too: Bal Thackeray. Not famed for his democratic credentials, the Shiv Sena chief has debunked Hazare’s campaign with the sort of abrasive candour that is his hallmark: the pressure tactics of Team Anna, he argues in substance, are meant to denigrate the institution of Parliament. Period.
Thackeray makes another, significant point that has got lost in the din of the Hazare campaign. He asserts, quite correctly, that we have enough laws to stem, and eventually roll back, the tidal waves of corruption. All that is needed is the will to implement them in letter and spirit. Why has this not happened? That is the question the political class needed to address before it discussed the Lokpal issue. Its inability or unwillingness to do so is typical of its myopia.
What is required is a clinically precise diagnosis of the malady of corruption. This has been done several times in the past but to no avail. The latest one that should command attention comes from Farooq Abdullah. At the all-party meeting last Wednesday, he caused much discomfiture when he uttered a blunt truth: to contest an election is prohibitively expensive. Friendly business houses alone can fund candidates and parties with unaccountable cash. This ‘golden goose’ will be killed if a Lokpal probes the ties between the two.
What Abdullah did not say is how this distribution of unsavoury largesse is to be tackled. But there is an answer. Sweeping electoral reforms, along with an end to discretionary powers of ministers and elected representatives, can do more to reduce corruption than the tedious arguments about the Lokpal Bill. The Bill could yet be passed. But you can be sure that the regiments of the righteous will pooh-pooh it.
No matter. The political class can still take heart from a recent development in Hazare’s native Maharashtra. In the just-concluded municipal council elections held in the state, the victorious parties, the NCP and the Congress, were the very ones that have been the prime target of Hazare’s ire. Did the people, as Thackeray observed, vote for money power? Or could it be that the sound-and-fury of the Hazare campaign in Delhi was no more than a whining whimper of no consequence by the time it reached the voters, including those in his very own Ahmednagar district? Should the latter be the case, Team Anna might well be left to wonder whether, to use Brecht’s stinging phrase, the time has not come to elect another people.

Dileep Padgaonkar times of india dt. 17th, December,2011

NOIDA: A day after the Noida Authority suspended two officials of the housing department after two cases of fraudulent sale of properties came to light, a third fake sale has been reported. The Noida police have arrested three persons, including a woman, for illegally transferring a plot in the posh sector 15A in another’s name.

According to the police, the accused, identified as Prem, Prahlad Singh and Sia Ram Sahi, all residents of Delhi, arranged for a fake lease deed of a 450 sqm corner plot in sector 15A. The plot, estimated to be worth Rs 20 crore, originally belongs to Uma Shankar and her husband Panduranga Shankar, who currently reside in Mandakini Enclave in Delhi. The trio, however, was planning to get the plot transferred in Prem’s name.

The matter came to light when Uma Shankar visited sector 15A on Monday and found the lock of the temporary room constructed on the plot broken. When she went to report the same to the Authority, the staff of the housing department told her that an application seeking transfer of her plot had come to the Authority. She then reported the matter to the police. A case has been registered and the police have arrested all three accused.

On Tuesday, two separate but similar incidents of fraudulent sale of properties in Noida had come to light. In one instance, a Meerut-based businessman was duped of Rs 73 lakh. The accused Vidyasagar sold off a plot in sector 20 that he claimed belonged to him to the businessman Rajendra Agarwal. However, at the time of registry, the Authority informed the real owner of the plot, who then reported the same to the police. In the second case, a Delhi-based government employee Anjani Jha was duped of several lakhs by an unknown person who sold him a plot in sector 31 that actually belongs to one Madhu Pasi.

The police have registered cases in all the three matters and further investigations are on. Meanwhile, after the matters came to light, the Authority suspended two of its officials – Shivlal and Manju Rathod – of the housing department.

TNN Dec 15, 2011, 06.31AM IST

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has said that an advocates unprofessional conduct has to be viewed seriously,because if one blinked at blots on the nobility of the profession,it was bound to adversely impact peoples faith in the rule of law.Legal profession is a noble profession.It is not a business or atrade.A person practising law has to practise in the spirit of honesty and not in the spirit of mischief making or money-getting.An advocates attitude and dealings with his client have to be scrupulously honest and fair, a bench of Justices R M Lodha and H L Gokhale said.
The judgment came in a case where an advocate had surreptitiously usurped a part of the property over which his client was litigating with another person.
The Madhya Pradesh Bar Council had found the litigants charges against the advocate to be true and suspended him from practising law for a year.The advocate appealed against the councils decision,pleading innocence.However,when the bench nailed his lies,he pleaded for leniency saying he was suffering from glaucoma and also produced a compromise with his client on the issue.
Justice Lodha,writing the judgment for the bench,rejected the twin requests and said,In our view,the settlement with the complainant does not mitigate professional misconduct and must not prevent adequate punishment to the advocate appellant. It added,The punishment for professional misconduct has twin objectives deterrence and correction.Having regard to the overall facts and circumstances of the case,we are of the view that if the advocate appellant is suspended from practise for three months,the above objective would be met.

http://lite.epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/CAP/2011/12/15/17/Img/Ar0170201.png

AHMEDABAD: A group of farmer leaders on Monday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to implement the decision to allow foreign investment in multi-brand retail, or else face a nation-wide agitation.

Leaders representing the Consortium of Indian Farmers Association (CIFA), which has 4 lakh farmers’ organisations from across 12 states as members, on Monday met the prime minister and stressed the need for foreign investment in supermarkets.

“The system of going through dalals, adithiya/commission agents to sell farm produce is highly exploitative as they charge 10% commission for auctioning and also deduct 10% on the pretext of quality deficiency. They manipulate prices and cheat in weighing of the produce. They do not give official receipts to the farmers. Invariably, they evade taxes to governments as all the transactions are unaccounted for. Also, another 3-4 middlemen are involved in the chain of marketing system and take away 30-40% of retail price without adding any value,” said CIFA president Satanam Singh Behru.

“FDI in retail will be helpful to farmers, as it will establish producer groups and arrange for forward-backward linkage between the farmers and retailers. The existing producers under ATMA and the new producer groups will have facility to get quality inputs, extension services and packing facilities,” he added.

CIFA leaders later said the PM was supportive of their concern but did not give any assurances. “The prime minister conveyed to us that he is all for reforms in Indian agriculture but has to carry along political consensus and consumer perspective in issues like sugar export de-control,” said CIFA secretary general P Chengal Reddy.

While lobby groups such as CIFA are demanding FDI, there is no unanimity yet on the issue. Unions like the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta- Ugrahan), the CPMaffiliated All-India Kisan Sabha and others see FDI in retail as a big threat to farmers. “We oppose FDI in retail and are now educating farmers at state level about it,” said S Malla Reddy, V-P, All-India Kisan Sabha. 13 Dec, 2011, 04.01AM IST, ET Bureau

RACE promoters Jaypee Group got the Formula One Promotional Trophy for the successful conduct of the inaugural Indian Grand Prix at a glittering FIA Gala function in Gurgaon on Friday.

F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone presented Sameer Gaur, CEO of Jaypee Sports International, with the best promotional trophy for the year.

The Buddh International Circuit in Greater Noida hosted the inaugural Indian Grand Prix on October 30 and was also awarded the ‘ Motorsport Facility of the Year’ award at the Professional Motorsport World Expo 2011 Awards, held in Cologne, Germany.

After collecting the award, Gaur said: “ This is indeed a very proud moment and I am honoured to receive this FIA award on behalf of my entire team and everyone whose support was indispensable in ensuring the resounding success of the first ever Indian Grand Prix.

“ These compliments give us strength and will definitely inspire us to take ensuing events to new heights,” Gaur added.

By Mail Today Correspondent in New Delhi

India’s food price inflation is a major driving factor behind the country’s overall accelerating inflation over the past few years. Agricultural food prices in particular have risen recently. Over the past year, vegetables have become costlier by 18%, pulses by 14%, milk by 10%, and eggs, meat

and fish by 12%. The rise in fruit prices was, however, relatively smaller (5%), as it was for cereals (3%).

This price escalation is largely due to an inefficient supply chain in agriculture. Some of the supply side constraints have been identified: poor agricultural productivity, lack of corporate involvement in agriculture, ceilings on landholding size, existence of middlemen, hoarding, and, more importantly, insufficient cold storage facilities and transportation infrastructure. Around 50% of fresh produce in India rots and goes to waste between the farm gate and the market because of inadequate cold storage facilities and a poor distribution network. These factors unfavourably affect agricultural supply, create a supply-demand gap and help raise food prices.

Controlling food price inflation has become an urgent policy objective for India because of the regressive tax that inflation imposes, since food occupies a massive share in the consumption basket of a significant section of the Indian population. Moreover, persistent and spiralling food inflation also threatens the macro-economic stability of the country and the potential for high and sustained economic growth in the future. With the clear objective of curbing inflation, the Cabinet approved 51% foreign direct investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail on November 24, after intense deliberations at different levels that extended over a year. The policy comes with some riders to protect the interests of neighbourhood stores, farmers and small and medium-sized enterprises. If effectively implemented, such FDI has the potential to:

Bring in foreign capital, technology and the managerial expertise of big international retailers;

Develop an efficient linkage between the back-end supply chain and the front-end via capital investment and technological inputs;

Create a proper farm-to-fork infrastructure through direct purchase from farmers and the resultant control of intermediaries;

Bring about efficient movement of produce through the reduction of transit costs;

Minimise the prevailing wastage of fresh produce through improving and adding upon the existing cold storage facilities, transport infrastructure, warehousing technology and food processing facilities;

Help raise farm productivity through the application of contract farming;

Increase agricultural production, reduce intermediate costs, render remunerative prices to farmers for their produce and eventually lower final food prices to consumers, thus integrating retailers into the value chain;

Create employment in small and medium-size industries and back-end infrastructure.

Despite the regulatory provisions to ensure domestic competition and protect the domestic retail industry and farmers, the policy has met with stiff opposition. Concerns include the possibility of monopoly power of foreign entrants over both farmers and consumers, predatory pricing strategies of the entrants, manipulation of prices for the entrants’ own benefit and a fall in income, employment and the eventual destruction of the unorganised indigenous retail sector dominated by small family-run outlets.

But it is important to remember that other countries like Argentina, Brazil, Chile, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore and Thailand have allowed 100% FDI in multi-brand retail since the 1990s and many of them have had encouraging experiences. China, for one, permitted FDI in retail as early as 1992. It has since attracted huge investments in the retail sector without affecting either small retailers or domestic retail chains. Since 2004, the number of small outlets rose from 1.9 million to over 2.5 million in China. Employment in the retail and wholesale sectors increased from 28 million to 54 million from 1992 to 2001. In Indonesia, even after 10 years of opening FDI in multi-brand retail, 90% of the business remains with small traders.

Favourable experiences of other emerging markets suggest that the appropriate implementation of FDI in multi-brand food retailing, with effective checks designed to protect indigenous small and medium-size enterprises, will eventually alleviate the supply-side impediments to agricultural production. It will transform the way perishable agricultural produce is acquired, stored, preserved and marketed — and thus help control India’s persistent food inflation.

( Nandita Dasgupta teaches economics at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, United States )

Nandita Dasgupta
December 06, 2011

Noida: The Court Order may make 5,000 odd abadi plots allotted or to farmers as part of post-acquisition rehabilitation benefits a much sought after locations. These plots are located on the periphery of sectors. Earlier, farmers were given plots measuring 5% of the total land acquired. The high court last month increased the area of these plots to 10 %. ——- for details HT, Noida City of Hope, dt. 6th, December,2011