Jharkhand.org.in | The public website of Jharkhand State

Hot issues of Today

Feb 19, 2007

Jharkhand corporates happy with World Bank rating

By IANS, Ranchi, Feb 18 - Jharkhand entrepreneurs are happy with the World Bank report that ranks state capital Ranchi above Mumbai and Kolkata in terms of doing business.

'The World Bank report has justified that Jharkhand will emerge as a leader in industrial states if the state government works in a positive way to facilitate the efforts of the investors,' said Arjun Jalan, president of Jharkhand Chamber of Commerce Association -, here Sunday.

'Jharkhand is a treasure trove of natural resources and it needs direction and promotion. The state government should further improve the environment for the entrepreneurs,' said Jalan.

The World Bank report published last week portrayed a rosy picture about Ranchi.

The survey, titled 'Doing Business in South Asia', was conducted by the World Bank last year. It included 12 Indian cities, including New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Chennai, Bhubaneswar, Lucknow, Chandigarh, Patna, Ranchi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Ranchi came in tenth position while Mumbai and Kolkata ranked eleventh and twelfth respectively.

Corroborating Jalan, city-based entrepreneur Ashok Saraf said: 'Jharkhand already has Tata Steel, Bokaro Steel, the coal companies and other industries. Jharkhand needs further investment to exploit the natural resources.'

'If the natural resources are exploited properly then the state will emerge as a stronger economy of the country,' he said.

The survey was conducted taking 11 aspects into consideration. They included licence procurement, property registration and the ease with which a new business can be started.

Hyderabad topped the list followed by Bangalore.

http://www.rxpgnews.com/business/Jharkhand-corporates-happy-with-World-Bank-rating_16061.shtml

Petrol pumps to go on strike in Jharkhand

RANCHI: Around 600 petrol pumps of Jharkhand would keep their shutters down on Monday. The 24-hour bandh would be observed in response to the strike-call given by the Jharkhand Petroleum Dealers' Association (JPDA).

Announcing this here on Sunday, JPDA president Ashok Singh said the bandh has been called due to the "apathetic attitude" of the state government with regard to their demand for reduction of sales tax despite making repeated requests.

Petroleum dealers in the state pay a sales tax of 20 per cent on diesel where as the corresponding figure in many adjoining states is around 12 per cent. This huge difference leads to higher rates of diesel in the state that adversely affects the sale figures of petrol pumps located in bordering areas, Singh claimed.

Dwelling on the other key demands that forced the association to resort to the extreme step, the JPDA president said apart from high rate of sales tax charged on diesel, the petroleum dealers were also opposed to move of the state government to charge VAT on lubricants at the dealers point and delay made on part of the government in clearing dues against supply of fuel to government bodies.

Singh said the association's working committee will meet sometime in March to decide the date of indefinite strike if their demands are not met by then.

Earlier, a delegation of JPDA met assembly Speaker Alamgir Alam and appraised him of the demands of the association. The association members had also met CM Madhu Koda earlier this month seeking remedial steps. But having failed to get a concrete assurance, the JPDA decided to launch an agitation.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Petrol_pumps_to_go_on_strike_in_
Jharkhand/articleshow/1634468.cms

Tribal women running a bank in Jharkhand

Bengabad (Jharkhand), Feb.18 (ANI): Following the adage: "Unity is strength", a small group of Santhali women are running a small bank in Bengabad Block of Jharkhand's Girdh District to facilitate money transactions in their village.

IFICCO (IRMA Finance Imitative Credit Co-operative), the bank was opened with the financial help of Institute of Rural Management, Anand (IRMA) after the resident tribal women in Karmjora Village here got annoyed with the ill-tempered bank employees in the Bengabad Block.

Most of these tribal women, who are basically housewives, have formed respective groups, pooled in their possible resources and deposited the amount as savings in the IFICCO bank, to transform their lifestyle through collective wisdom.

According to Pushpa Tirkey, Deputy Manager of IFICCO Bank, running a bank was never a child's play but after initial struggle and through collective efforts, they could overcome such hurdles.

"The tribal women work in villages and saved money in a group. To deposit the savings in a bank was quite strenuous since it was very far from the village. Besides, the women faced problems in opening the account and also in depositing and withdrawing their hard earned money. We had problems with the bank manager. Faced with such problems, we decided to open a bank here," said Pushpa Tirkey.

Today, IFICCO, the IRMA Finance Initiative Savings and Credit Limited, is a pride for every tribal women in Karmjora Village, which is dominated by the Santhali tribe.

"When we used to go to the other banks, we faced lot of problems, we could not take out money as per our convenience. So, finally, we decided to open our bank and named it IFICCO. Now, any woman here can withdraw money according to her convenience," said Prabhawati Hansda, an employee with the IFICCO Bank.

The visitors or customers say the customer-friendly approach is all that anyone wants in a bank and it exists here.

"I have taken Rupees 3,000 as loan from the group and 2,000 rupees from the bank. I wanted to arrange a total of rupees 5,000 to invest in my shop which today earns me my daily bread and butter," said Prabhavati Hansda, a shop owner.

The bank is run by these tribal women collectively by extending help to each other wherever the need arise.

The bank's success, since being opened in 2005, can be assessed from the fact that today it maintains over 350 customers' accounts.

Slowly but steadily increasing number of tribal women are showcasing interest and confidence in the bank to deposit their emoluments or taking loans as per their need.

The biggest impact of IFICCO bank has been on the local moneylenders who are finding no takers for their well-known exploits. (ANI)

http://www.dailyindia.com/show/115896.php/Tribal-women-running-a-bank-in-Jharkhand

Six children injured in grenade blast

Hazaribagh (Jharkhand), Feb. 18 (PTI): Six children were injured when a grenade exploded within the firing range of a BSF training school in Jharkhand's Hazaribagh district today, triggering a demonstration by villagers demanding action against its authorities.

Police said some children were grazing cattle at the spot, between Marhatta and Zulzul Pahar, when they spotted an object and hit it with stones. As the explosive went off, the children suffered serious injuries.

All the injured were taken to Hazaribagh Sadar Hospital, where the condition of four turned critical and they were taken to Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences, Ranchi.

An attending doctor said some of the children suffered injuries in the abdomen and lost their hands.

The grenade was suspected to have been left unnoticed after a firing demonstration by the BSF trainees at the range two days ago, police said.

A large crowd later demonstrated before the Muffasil police station demanding adequate compensation for the children's families and action against training school authorities.

Superintendent of Police, Hazaribagh, Praveen Singh said action will be initiated against those found to be responsible.

http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200702182240.htm

Assocham to facilitate Rs 1,00,000-cr investment in West Bengal

Seeks land acquisition policy before clearing SEZ proposals
Identifying West Bengal as the main business growth centre, the Assocham is preparing a blueprint for attracting Rs 1,00,000 crore investment from domestic and multinational companies in the state by 2010.

The blueprint, which is in the final stage, will be shortly submitted to West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee identifying chemicals, petrochmicals, engineering, automobiles, food processing, agri-business, bio-technology, IT and ITEs as the potential areas, Assocham President Venugopal N Dhoot said today.

"West Bengal is set to attract an additional investment of Rs 100,000 crore by 2010 in view of its investment-friendly policies and the fastest growth in domestic product. Assocham has created a committee under chairmanship of B.G. Bangur, which is finalising the blueprint," Mr Dhoot said.

In order to fructify the estimated investment, the Assocham will organise West Bengal Invest Mart in September this year, showcasing the state as the best investment destination to about 500 business leaders from across the country and abroad, he said.

"We are trying to make Italy and France as the partners countries for the Invest Mart. I have already talked to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi with the request and he has responded," the Assocham chief said.

The other foreign countries to be contacted to participate in the conclave, included the USA, the UK, Canada, Austraila, Germany and Japan, he said.

In reply to a question, Mr Dhoot said some of the findings of Assocham had revealed that the food-processing sector, biotchnology, IT and ITEs would alone attract investment of Rs 40,000 crore by 2010 while an investment of Rs 50,000 crore had been projected in the blueprint for the chemicals and petrochmicals, engineering and automobile sectors.

"We are going to approach the first 50 big industrial houses, including the Tatas, Birlas, Ambanis and Mahindras to come up with investment. We will also start visiting some foreign countries in October as part of our effort to rope in the MNCs with whom we have good relationship," Mr Dhoot added.

The Assocham wants the Centre to put on hold all SEZ proposals till it works out a land acquisition policy with adequate compensation package.

"Pending proposals on SEZs should be put on hold until the government puts in place its land acquisition policy and an adequate compensation package," Mr Dhoot said.

The chamber had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting that land should not be taken without farmers' consent, he said.

While SEZs were required if the country were to develop as an industrialised nation, the Centre, however, should come out with a policy to resolve any problems faced by the farmers while setting up SEZs, he said.

In reply to a question, he said any political issue regarding the SEZs will have to be addressed by the Centre and the respective state governments.

He said they would submit a report to the Group of Ministers on ways to resolve the problems of farmers should their land be taken for SEZs.

Asked whether the land losers should be offered equity of the SEZs, he said it could be a solution in case the land loser was not happy with the compensation he would receive for his lost land.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2007/20070219/biz.htm#1

A fair system

Reservations for backward communities raise issues of fairness and the constitutional requirement of equal treatment and efficiency. They also fragment society. The Supreme Court has directed that creamy layer should be excluded.

Defining creamy layer is not easy. Disadvantages of social and economic backwardness may persist over generations. How do we have affirmative action that does not compromise on fairness and merit? I have outlined here a scheme that does that.

We can safely assume that all Indians have the same genetic background and the same potential, apart from the statistical variation one would find in any group. One's performance in an exam or test is a function of what one has achieved. Achievement depends on potential and on nurture.

A person from a backward caste, with illiterate parents, who has grown up in a small village and is poor would not perform as well in an exam or a test as someone who is from an upper caste, has parents who are professionals, is well off and has gone to a good school, even when both of them have the same potential.

That is why many countries try to base their admissions on some kind of an IQ test. Such tests are, however, not completely free of nurture or background bias.

If we can make admission based on a merit list adjusted in a transparent manner for differences in nurture to reflect true potential, it would seem to be a fair system. The question is how to measure potential in a way that accounts for differences in background and nurture?

One way to do this is to give marks for different types of handicaps as the Jawaharlal Nehru University does. The marks given to different attributes of disadvantage, which may include religious background, should be empirically defensible and dynamic so that they adjust over time.

One way to measure the potential in such a manner is as follows: Take the school-leaving exam as the starting point. Then take the average of each subgroup of students. One can differentiate many such groups.

Then take the difference between the highest average scoring subgroup and the average of a particular subgroup and add that difference as a nurture handicap to the marks of all those who belong to that particular subgroup. After this the admission is strictly on merit.

The handicaps must, however, be updated every three years. Such a system has many advantages. It will not destroy the incentive to work hard of people from disadvantaged groups. At present all they have to do is to get minimum qualifying marks. T

The creamy layer will automatically move out to another group with a lower handicap value and eventually over time the handicaps will disappear. If the disadvantage persists, it may take two generations for the creamy layer to float out. This will be consistent with the Constitution and fair since all are treated equally.

The proposed system would take care of economic backwardness too. In fact, in this system there is no need to allocate a quota. Any group, such as Muslims, that is disadvantaged can be considered as a separate category.

Of course, one would not want a group to be so small that there are not enough students of that group appearing for the school-leaving examination. The system can be used for admissions to IITs and IIMs or even entry-level jobs in public and private corporations, which are based on common admission tests.

If the basic premise of the system were correct that people selected are the ones with best potential for achievement there would not be any need to have reservations in promotions.

Of course, if the achievement of some of those selected is not up to scratch, special remedial training can help them quickly catch up. The cost of such training should be small and firms should be willing to bear it. One can also give tax concession for such training.

Large private corporations can use such an approach for recruitment. It should involve no compromise on getting the best person for the job. Nor should it affect their competitiveness. It is worth emphasising that the system is self-liquidating.

Once we have provided equal opportunities to all groups and as backward groups make progress, the differences in the average marks obtained will decrease and eventually disappear. That is the most attractive feature of this scheme.

The writer is member, Planning Commission. Views are personal.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/A_fair_system/articleshow/msid-1586863,curpg-3.cms

Hot issues of Today

Report News

Music Video

Email Support

Be a Volunteer

Complain us