Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma opens fifth spices park in the country at Sivaganga

Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma opens fifth spices park in the country at Sivaganga :
Kochi: The fifth spice park , an initiative of the Spices Board, has been set up at Mattupetty Sivaganga in Tamil Nadu for processing turmeric and chilli. The park was opened by union Minister of Commerce and Industry Anand Sharma in the presence of Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Sunday.

The park is aimed at facilitating the processing and value addition of turmeric and chilli, the major spices grown in the region, by setting up common facilities. The other four spice parks are located at Chhindwara in Madhya Pradesh for garlic and chilli, Puttady in Kerala for pepper and cardamom, Kota in Rajasthan for coriander and cumin and Guna in Madhya Pradesh for coriander, fenugreek and garlic.

The fifth spices park was built at a cost of Rs 19.50 crore against the estimated cost of Rs 20 crore. The Spices Board had developed all common facilities like power, water, communication facilities, warehousing, wide roads etc related to the park. The board will lease out the lands available in the park to private entrepreneurs for developing their own processing plants for value addition of spices for 30 years.

After establishing the processing units by the exporters the farming community can link directly with the exporters for selling their produce on a premium price and eliminate intermediaries in the supply chain. The park has processing facility for chilli and turmeric with a capacity of 1 tonne/hour each and steam sterilization unit in batch process with capacity 250 kg/hour apart .

Other parks are in the pipeline during XI Plan are at Guntur in Andhra Pradesh for chilli, Mehsana in Gujarat for cumin, fennel and coriander and Jodhpur in Rajasthan for cumin and coriander, Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh for mint and Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh for turmeric.

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Govt to spend Rs 3,507 crore to boost oilseeds output in 12th Plan

New Delhi: The Centre proposes to spend Rs 3,507 crore during the 12 {+t} {+h} Plan to boost oilseeds output and bring an additional area of 1.25 lakh hectares under oil palm.

“The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the implementation of National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm with an allocation of Rs 3,507 crore,” a statement said.

fresh fruit bunches
Besides enhancing oilseeds output by 6.58 million tonnes, the Mission would also bring additional area of 1.25 lakh hectares under oil palm cultivation with increase in productivity of fresh fruit bunches from 4,927 kg a hectare to 15,000 kg and increase in collection of tree-borne oilseeds to 14 lakh tonnes. “The implementation of the proposed mission will enhance production of vegetable oil sources by 2.48 mt from oilseeds (1.70 mt), oil palm (0.60 mt) and tree borne oilseeds (0.18 mt) by the end of the 12th Plan period,” the statement said.

seed replacement ratio
The mission would lay stress on increasing the seed replacement ratio with focus on varietal replacement; increasing irrigation coverage under oilseeds from 26 per cent to 38 per cent and diversification of area from low yielding cereals crops to oilseeds crops. Under the mission, the recommended varieties and proven technologies would be demonstrated in a cluster approach to ensure participation of all categories of farmers, irrespective of the size of their holdings, social status.

existing schemes
The national mission on oilseeds is built upon the achievements of the existing schemes of Integrated Scheme of Oilseeds Oil Palm and Maize , Tree Borne Oilseeds Scheme and Oil Palm Area Expansion programme during the 11th Plan period.

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Cabinet gives nod to flagship programme for higher education- RUSA

New Delhi: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs last evening approved about one lakh crore Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA). It is a new centrally sponsored scheme for higher education which will spread over two plan periods (XIIth and XIIIth). It will focus on state higher educational institutions. It will be a new flagship scheme of the government that will pave the way for far reaching reforms at the state level. A total of 316 state public universities and 13,024 colleges will be covered under RUSA.

The key objectives of RUSA are to improve access, equity and quality in higher education through planned development of higher education at the state level. It is proposed to improve the Gross Enrolment Ratio from 19% at present to 30% by 2020. It will help create new academic institutions, and expand the existing institutions, that are self-reliant in terms of quality education and professional management.

They shall be characterized by greater inclination towards research and provide students with education that is both relevant to them as well as the nation as a whole.

The funding will be provided by the Central and State Governments respectively in the ratio of 90:10 for North-Eastern States and Jammu &Kashmir, 75:25 for Other Special Category States (Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand) and 65:35 for Other States and UTs. Funding will be made available to private government-aided institutions also, subject to their meeting certain pre-conditions for permitted activities based on laid down norms and parameters.

RUSA will adopt a completely new approach towards funding higher education in state universities. The key principles for RUSA funding will be performance-based funding, incentivizing well performing institutions and decision making through clearly defined norms.

These principles will help establish and rely upon a management information system to gather the essential information from institutions.

RUSA will aim to provide greater autonomy to universities as well as colleges and have a sharper focus on equity-based development, and improvement in teaching-learning quality and research.

The reforms initiated under RUSA will build a self-sustaining momentum that will push for greater accountability and autonomy of state institutions and also to unleash the potential of the state universities.

In order to be eligible for funding under RUSA, states will have to fulfill certain prerequisites which include creation of a State Higher Education Council, creation of accreditation agencies, preparation of the state perspective plans, commitment of certain stipulated share of funds towards RUSA, academic, sectoral and institutional governance reforms, filling faculty positions etc.

Under the scheme, an initial amount will be provided to the State governments to prepare them for complying with the above requirements. Once eligible for funding under RUSA, after meeting the prerequisite commitments, the States will receive funds on the basis of achievements and outcomes. The yardstick for deciding the quantum of funds for the states and institutions comprise the norms that reflect the performance in key result areas (access, equity and excellence). The State plans will capture the current position of the states and institutions with respect to these indicators, as well as the targets that need to be achieved. The State Higher Education Council will undertake this process of planning, execution and evaluation, in addition to other monitoring and capacity building functions.

At the national level, the scheme will be implemented by the RUSA Mission Authority and assisted by the Project Advisory Group, Technical Support Group and Project Directorate. The main agency through which RUSA will work in the States will be the State Higher Education Council (SHEC), an autonomous body that will function at an arm’s length from the state and central governments. SHEC will be assisted by State Project Directorate and Technical Support Group. In every institution, the Governing Body and a Project Monitoring Unit will oversee the project progress.

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NHPC to invest Rs 20,000 crore in private hydropower projects in next five years

New Delhi: In an attempt to revive the struggling hydropower sector in the country, state-run NHPC has decided to take over private hydropower projects and is ready to invest equity worth Rs 20,000 crore in the next five years.

The country's largest hydropower producer with an installed capacity of 5,702 mw, NHPC is eyeing to add another 4,000 mw through equity investments. "We want more projects on nomination basis. We aren't getting projects compatible to our capabilities," said ABL Srivastava, director ( finance), NHPC.

Company officials said that NHPC currently has enough cash reserves for the proposed equity investments.

"State governments have lately preferred private players for harnessing hydro power. But most of them have not taken off. Given the amount of equity with us, we are in a good position to form joint venture with private power companies and may even take over the project in many cases," said Srivastava.

NHPC officials also said that several private companies, especially with projects in the north and northeastern parts of the country, have approached the company to form a joint venture involving the state government as well.

"We are still planning our partnership model with state governments and private players for future projects," Srivastava told reporters.

NHPC has projects totalling 12,240 mw in the pipeline, out of which around 8,000 mw worth of projects are awaiting clearances from the central government. Some of its key projects such as Subahsiri (2,000 mw) and Dibang (3,000 mw) in Arunanchal Pradesh are awaiting clearances from the ministry of environment and forests.

The PSU recently commissioned 160 mw Teesta Lower Dam Power project, phase 3 (TLDP 3) project in Sikkim after a hiatus of six years due to geological challenges. It is building six hydropower projects in Sikkim totalling 4,000 mw. The phase four of TLDP, with capacity of 132 mw, is slated for commissioning in October 2014. Phase five of TLDP (512 mw) was commissioned in March 2008.

The upstream Teesta-3 power project in the state is being constructed by a private entity and is supposed to be commissioned by the end of this year in December but NHPC officials in the Teesta region said that no major work has progressed in it.

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Hyundai-Rotem supplies first coach to L&T Hyderabad Metro

Hyderabad: L&T Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd today put on display the first rail coach it received from the Hyundai-Rotem consortium.

It announced that the elevated rail system would be fully managed remotely. These trains will have no drivers and run from a central control system. And the ‘driver’ in the metro train coach will only help facilitate entry and exit of passengers and ensure their safety.

This coach is part of the large order the metro project placed on the consortium for supply of rail coaches for the 72-km elevated metro rail project being developed by L&T.

The coach was formally unveiled here today by the Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, in the presence of officials of L&T and metro rail officials.

Each air-conditioned coach will have capacity to seat about 330 people and a train of six coaches is expected to carry about 2000 passengers. While these trains have the capability to manage a top speed of 80 km per hour, the average speed is likely to be 38-40 km per hour. Initially, 171 coaches for 57 trains will be supplied by Hyundai-Rotem and the rest in a phased manner, said N.V.S. Reddy, Managing Director of Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd. L&T had placed the Rs 1800-crore order with Hyundai-Rotem last year.

V.B.Gadgil, Chief Executive and Managing Director of L&THMRL, said that the coaches will be run on centralised radio frequency from a central operational control system. “We have made good progress so far, but the pace of work can get better,” he felt.

Initially, it is proposed to run each train with three coaches and later this will be ramped up to six coaches for one train.

The gap between each train will be 90 seconds. All the trains will have CCTV cameras in and outside of the cars, mobile and laptop charging sockets inside the cars. The supply of coaches will be in a phased manner as the project is ready for commissioning.

First phase will be operational by March-April 2015.

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UK, AP to share tech, work on energy conservation

Hyderabad: The UK Government has agreed to collaborate with Andhra Pradesh in sharing latest technologies and best practices in energy conservation and efficiency, according to a statement from the State Energy Conservation Cell.

The State has set up an internal target of achieving energy savings of around 15,000 million units per annum worth about Rs 7,500 crore.

Andrew McAllister, British Deputy High Commissioner at Hyderabad, along with his team, met P.K. Mohanty, State Chief Secretary and assured him that the UK is willing to extend technical support to the State in bringing best practices in energy efficiency and energy conservation.Mohanty said the Bureau of Energy Efficiency has identified Andhra Pradesh as high potential State for energy conservation and the Central Electricity Authority has recognised the recent energy conservation initiatives across various sectors including industry, agriculture and Government.

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Cognizant buys France’s Equinox

Chennai/ Bengaluru: Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp on Wednesday said it had acquired France-based Equinox Consulting, a financial services consultancy, for an undiclosed sum. The acquisition will strengthen the company’s global consulting capabilities and presence in Europe, it said.

The company expects around $40 million annualised revenue from the acquisition but declines to share financial details of the deal.

Under the terms of the agreement, around 160 consulting professionals will join Cognizant, which is known for making small-ticket tuck-under acquisitions to bridge the gaps in its offerings. The company has made seven such buyouts in the last three years of which three have been in consulting related.

Francisco D’Souza, chief executive of Cognizant, said with the deal, Cognizant is better positioned to help European clients challenge the status quo and unleash new potential across their organisations by creating new business and information technology models.

Equinox Consulting provides business consulting services across investment banking, asset management, retail banking, insurance, and specialised financial services. Founded in 2004, the company is known for its regulatory consulting expertise.

Cognizant Business Consulting (CBC) contributes approximately six-seven per cent to Cognizant’s total revenue and the company has been trying to further expand its presence in the service area as it is considered to be a high-margin business.

India’s second largest IT firm, Infosys Ltd, which already gets over 30 per cent of its revenues from Consulting, also acquired Switzerland-based management consultancy firm Lodestone Holding AG last year in $350 million deal.

France, Europe reach
Experts also believe that the acquisition of Equinox Consulting will also help Cognizant strengthen its presence in France, a non-English speaking geography, and aid in cracking the European market. While the European market offers huge potential, the penetration into the geography is currently much lower.

In an interview with Business Standard after the announcement today, Cognizant's Senior Vice President and Head of Continental Europe and Asia-Pacific Santosh Thomas said, European clients are looking to buy a broader range of services — consulting, applications, infrastructure, and business process services. They are seeking partners who can drive cost-savings and innovation on one integrated platform.

The acquisition will also add to the company’s existing presence in the financial services and insurance sector — the largest industry segment for Cognizant — which contributed around 42 per cent to its top line.

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