Gear up to use GM seeds: Kalam
 

Chennai Oct. 15: Former president Dr A.P.J Abdul Kalam asked farmers to get ready to switch over to Genetically Modified (GM) seeds in a big way.  “We have to switch over to GM seeds because our agricultural productivity levels are very low. Our farm productivity is less than half of China’s,” said Dr Kalam during his interaction with the farmers of Manapakkam, Illedu and Chunampet villages in Kancheepuram district on Wednesday.   The former president, an aeronautical scientist of repute, pointed out that agricultural productivity of Tamil Nadu itself was low compared to that of states like Punjab.

“While the farmers of Punjab produce 7 tonnes of paddy per hectare, Tamil Nadu’s output is less than 4 tonnes. Our cultivation methods have to be improved so that the farmer gets a fair return,” said Dr Kalam. He said that farmers who opted for Bt Cotton, a GM variety seed, have made considerable gains financially as well as socially. “The tests and official clearance of GM seeds for various kinds of crops are underway. Once the final clearance is issued, farmers should opt for them,” he said. While one of the farmers asked him about the strong opposition to GM seeds from various sections, Dr Kalam said the farmers were free to choose the kind of crops they want.  “My suggestion is that you should improve the productivity and yield. If you can do it without GM seeds, you are free to do so,” said the former president.

Dr Kalam also wanted a quality assurance system to monitor seeds, fertilisers and pesticides.  “There were instances of farmers getting cheated because of spurious seeds and fertilisers, he said. The former president, who turned 77 on Wednesday, spent the entire day crisscrossing half a dozen villages and cut the birthday cake amidst the tiny tots of a play school in Illedu.     

Do not confuse us: Rajini fans
 

Madurai Oct. 15: Disappointed by superstar Rajinikanth’s statement that neither can anyone force nor stop his entry into politics, his fans in Madurai and Theni districts have come out with a strong remark against their star: Thalaivaa, neeyum kuzhambi, engalaiyum kuzhappaadhey (Do not get confused and confuse us too). Posters carrying these lines have cropped up in the rural pockets of Madurai and Theni districts. His fans, who had earlier expected superstar’s entry into politics to set right the problems faced by the state such as power crisis and thereby taunted the DMK government, have splashed graffiti venting out their frustration.

Unfazed by Rajinikanth’s statement that action would be taken against those responsible for such posters, his fans have put up posters with different wordings. “Will you enter politics or not? Come out with a good decision. Do not get confused and confuse us too,” read a poster put up by Vadipatti town panchayat councillor A.Boominathan. “Why confusion? Either you take a decision or let us take a decision,” said his fan V.Sonai through a poster in Sanampatti.

No major meltdown impact
 

CHENNAI Oct. 15: The global financial meltdown following the collapse of US investment banks will have limited impact on the industries in Chennai in the short and medium term, say industrialists. There are no long term fears Though the reverberations of the unremitting credit meltdown in the US were now echoing in the other sectors, industrialists feel this is temporary. According to Phaneesh Murthy, CEO, iGATE Corporation, “The decision making process will become slower in the next two quarters. December and March quarters will lead to further weakness. The overall spend in the financial services space will come down dramatically.”

Other sectors will also be cautious on their IT spend.ῠῠ ῠ”The overall IT budget in 2009 would be less than 2008 spending across the sector,” he said. Though the Indian IT companies might have a few comfortable quarters margin wise, there would be a lot of pressure on the revenue front. The domestic auto sector has also been pulled down by the slowdown and the crashing stock markets. The slowdown has hit sectors like heavy commercial vehicle and even small cars will not have any demand in the domestic market, say analysts in the auto sector. The financial crisis has also had an impact on the demand for gold in Chennai.
Despite high prices customers are finding the yellow metal a safer investment, said L K S Syed Ahmed, proprietor of LKS Gold House in Chennai.

The only negative thing about the slowdown in the US economy is that it has impacted hiring in tier-II cities. Many companies who usually go for campus hiring in September and October have now opted for December. A few companies have still not called candidates to whom they have made offers

‘Quit home’ protests gather pace in state
 

MADURAI Oct. 15: A new form of democratic protest, catching up in rural Tamil Nadu, is causing a severe headache to revenue officials. In May, Pillaimaar families of Uthapuram in Madurai district left their village and climbed the hills to live in the wild after the government razed part of a wall, which the CPM claimed separated Dalit and Pillaimaar habitats. With support from other villages, they lived on the hillside for about ten days before revenue officials persuaded them to return from their self-imposed exile. Now disgruntled groups in other villages too are following suit to catch the attention of the powers-that-be.

A month later, Hindu Vanniyars in Perumalkovilpatti near Ambathurai packed their bags and descended on the Mariamman temple in Dindigul to protest against the authorities who allegedly cut down trees to make way for the chapparam (chariot) of a church. The protestors stayed in the temple for two days until the revenue officials pleaded with them to return home. Last month in Kaakkivadanpatti near Sivakasi, six castes including dalits joined together against Naickers and vacated the village after the issue over rights to worship in the Kalia- mman temple came to a boil. About 500 families camped in another temple in a nearby village for a week to get their demands fulfilled.

In the western belt of Tamil Nadu, at Kandampatti in Salem, Vanniyars walked out of their village and stayed put in Siddhar hills last month when dalits were allowed to enter the Draupadi Amman temple. The latest in the news are the Ahamudaiyars of Melmangalam near Periyakulam who have pitched their tents on a hillside in support of their demand for representation on the local temple committee. ῠWhile political parties are trying to whip up passions, revenue officials face the tough challenge of making these people return.ῠ

Watch digital films in buses
 

Chennai Oct. 15: Tamil Nadu would become the first state in the country to install an internet-based Out of Home display technology in more than 10,000 buses operating on long routes. The facility would allow the passengers traveling through theses buses to view high quality digital relay of movies, educational programmes, government policies and other entertainment programmes.

Speaking to Deccan Chronicle G.J Moses, managing director, Pallavan Trasnport Consultancy Services Limited, a nodal agency that is implementing the programme, said that this is the first of it kind in the country and would be installed in buses under the build, own, operate and maintenance (BOOM) concept.ῠῠ “Earlier the system was used in the Rajdhani Express, but it is for the first time in India that it would be installed in the buses on large scale,” he said and added that initially the system would be installed in 2,100 buses.

Mr Moses said that the content like movies, songs and commercials will be hosted in the web and operated from the central server at the control room by the operating agency. The LCD television with a unique inbuilt set top box would download the contents in compressed and encrypted files of MP4 and AV format while entering or halting at the wireless fidelity enabled depot. The contents can be adjusted according to the area within the stipulated time slots, which would allow local advertisement and contents to be displayed. Besides instant messages and warning could also be sent to the buses from the control room, he said.

Debendranath Sarangi, secretary, transport department, said earlier Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation was spending Rs 5.50 crore per annum for operating televisions in 4,000 buses. The new systems will fetch additional revenue of about Rs 8.75 core per annum as ad revenue.

A drama, says Jaya
 

Chennai Oct. 15: AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday called chief minister M. Karunanidhi’s call for resignation of MPs from Tamil Nadu on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue ‘a hypocritical drama.’ῠ She dubbed the resignation of DMK Rajya Sabha MP Ms Kanimozhi as ‘the height of drama’ and asked all the DMK ministers at the Centre to resign immediately if they were really concerned about the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils.ῠ “I strongly condemned Indian military’s secret support to the Sri Lankan military in the latter’s annihilation of Tamils. I called upon chief minister M. Karuna-nidhi to withdraw support to the UPA government at the Centre to bring about a solution to the issue,” said the AIADMK chief in a statement here.

“I said that unless the DMK withdraws support to the UPA at the Centre, Delhi will not come forward to help the Sri Lankan Tamils on a humanitarian basis. The resolution adopted at the all-party meet raises doubts as to whether Mr Karunanidhi has been acting at the behest of the LTTE. The resolution has asked for an end to war in Sri Lanka. Ending war is an internal decision of that country,” she pointed out.ῠ “The priority is to ask the Centre to stop military aid to Sri Lanka and pressurise Lanka to stop attacks on innocent Tamil civilians. Will Mr Karunanidhi ask the LTTE to stop using innocent Tamil civilians as strategic pawns in the war?” she asked.

“Mr Karunanidhi had eulogised the slain political chief of the LTTE. Will he ask the LTTE to allow innocent Tamil civilians to move to safer places? There is information that the LTTE is not allowing the Tamils to move to safer places,” she said. “Mr Karunanidhi is only attempting to protect the LTTE by asking for a ceasefire now. This is not acceptable,” she added.

MDMK MPs ready to resign
 

Chennai Oct. 15: MDMK general secretary Vaiko on Wed-nesday said that his party was ready to sacrifice the posts of its two MPs for the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils. “MDMK is ready for any kind of sacrifice to protect the interests of Tamils and to stop the genocide of Sri Lankan Tamils,” he said in a statement.

He also appealed to the Centre to threaten Sri Lanka with economic sanctions and end of all diplomatic ties if the Lankan government did not agree to a ceasefire.ῠ “Prime Mini-ster Manmohan Singh had admitted in a letter written to me on October 2 that India had been helping Sri Lanka militarily to protect the latter’s national unity. India should take back all the radars given to Sri Lankan Air Force and withdraw Indian military units deployed there,” Vaiko demanded.ῠ “India should cancel the financial aid given to Lanka and stop giving military training to Lankan forces. We should pressurise them to announce ceasefire and allow opening of a U.N. office at Colombo,” he said

Ring road to link Vandalur, Minjur
 

Chennai Oct. 15: The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) has pla-nned to develop a 62 km long outer ring road connecting Vandalur in the south and Minjur in the north to decongest traffic in the city.ῠ CMDA member secretary Vikram Kapur told Deccan Chronicle, “We have pla-nned to develop an outer ring road along the periphery of Chennai Metropolitan Area with the objective of relieving congestion within the city and catalysing even dispersal of urban growth.” The outer ring road will connect four national highways - NH 45 at Vandalur, NH 4 at Nazarathpet, NH 205 at Nemilichery and NH 5 at Nallur - and the Thiruvottiyur Ponneri-Panjetty Road at Minjur covering 62.3 km. The cost for this road with six lanes is estimated to be about Rs 850 crore.

The CMDA would acquire land for the ORR in two phases, Mr Kapur said. The first phase of land acquisition from NH 45 to NH 205 for a length of 29.5 km covering 29 villages had been completed and the second phase of acquisition from NH 205 to TPP Road covering 28 villages was under progress. “We expect the land acquisition to be completed by this year end and execution of the project would begin in 2009,” he added. “This project will help divert traffic emanating from Chennai-Tiruchi road, Chennai-Bangalore road, Chennai-Tiruvallur high road, Chennai-Nellore road and Tiruvottiyur-Ponneri-Panjetty road,” he said.

The member secretary said that a consultancy study for the preparation of a detailed feasibility report (DFR) for the project had been completed. “On getting the state government’s approval of the DFR, the preparation of a detailed project report will be taken up after which execution of the work will begin,” he said.

Woman priest takes charge
 

Madurai Oct. 15: For Pinniyakkal (50) of Nalluthevanpatti in Usilampatti block, it has been an unrelenting battle with the men in her village and neighbourhood who do not want a woman as a temple priest. Her father Pinnathevar assigned the ancestral poosari rights of the Sri Duragai Amman Temple to her before his death in November 2006. However there was opposition to her becoming the temple poosari. The deputy tashildar submitted that 89 per cent of the villagers were against her and they chose a male poosari in her place. But Pinniyakkal’s perseverance carried her through. After two long years, the Madras High Court Bench in Madurai ruled on September 5 that “the altars of God must be made free from gender bias.” Justice K. Chandru also directed the Collector to provide protection to enable her to perform poojas.

On Tuesday night, after over a month, the district administration gave her the protection. Unfazed by stiff opposition from the men, especially in Puthur Nalukarai and Linganaickanpatti, she retrieved her poosari rights.ῠ Accompanied by revenue officials and police and draped in an auspicious yellow saree, she walked into the Durga temple to serve the Goddess. Some men in Linganaickanpatti had created obstacles when she was taken to the temple.

“They obstructed our entry by placing thorny bushes on the path to the temple. We had to hold talks with them. But they refused to give in saying they were not willing to give their lands for the purpose, which they had allowed when the male poosari was in charge of the temple. So we had to take her through a temporary path,” a police officer said. However, a happy Pinniyakkal told Deccan Chronicle, “Women in my village are by my side.ῠ Recognising me as a poosari, they, in accordance with the custom, offered me the head of the goat after they slaughtered it during a festival last week. This is more than enough for me.”

Order has gone down drain: HC
 

Chennai Oct. 15: Pulling up the state government for allowing conservancy workers to get inside the drains, despite its earlier directive, the Madras high court on Wednesday reiterated its order and cautioned that any violation would be viewed very seriously. A division bench comprising Chief Justice A K Ganguly and Justice F M Ibrahim Kalifullah posted after three weeks, further hearing of the PIL filed by A Narayanan. The bench said, “This court feels very much disturbed on hearing that even after an order was passed on October 13 making it amply clear that no human being should be allowed to get inside the drainage/sewerage lines for clearing any block, in an incident that took place on October 14, one person who went into the drain, allegedly for clearing the same, had died and two persons have been seriously injured.”

The Government Pleader submitted that no person had entered the drainage line for clearing the block and that the person who had reportedly died in the incident was involved in the work of construction of a new drainage line which had not yet become operational.
“We have before us a report filed by the Chief Engineer of the Chennai Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board, in which it has been stated, ‘Entry of worker into the manhole cannot be avoided in some circumstances’. It has been stated that one such situation is when an inspection is to be carried out to assess the condition of the infrastructure or when machine erection is required, entry of man is allowed into manhole using protective gears. But, the photograph shown in the newspaper clearly demonstrates that those who go inside the drains for clearing the block use no protective gears. Therefore, the report which has been filed does not match with the ground realities”, the bench pointed out.

However, the government pleader submitted that he would file a detailed affidavit in this regard, for which, he was granted two weeks time, the bench added.

Pimp’s arrest under Goondas Act upheld
 

Chennai Oct. 15: The Madras high court on Wednesday upheld an order of the Commissioner of Police (CoP), detaining a pimp under the goondas act. A division bench comprising Justice Elipe Dharma Rao and Justice S Tamilvanan dismissed the HCP filed by N Jyothi, seeking to quash the order of CoP, detaining her husband Mohan alias Mohan Reddy under the goondas act. According to police, Mohan was a habitual offender under the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act and already four cases were pending against him for acting as a pimp. Promising cinema chances, he brought girls from neighbouring states through his associates and thereafter induced and forced them to indulge in prostitution.

Petitioner contended that her husband knew only Telugu. Since the order of detention, grounds of detention and other documents were not supplied in Telugu, his detention was vitiated. Pointing out that serious allegations of inducing and forcing innocent women to the flesh trade has been made against the detenu, the bench said on a perusal of the entire materials placed on record prima facie there were reasons for the CoP to detain him under the act.

Power cuts may go, says minister
 

Chennai Oct. 15: Electricity min-ister Arcot N.Veerasamy on Wednesday said that the existing schedule of load shedding across the state would be stopped in the near future.
The one and half hour power cuts in the city had already been lifted and the six and a half hour power cuts in the rural areas had been reduced to two hours, he claimed.

Inaugurating the Energy and Environment Meet, a one-day seminar organised by FICCI here, he said Tamil Nadu would be a power surplus state by 2012. “Merchant Power Plants (MPPs) with a total capacity of 20,000 MW in the East Coast area had been sanctioned. The construction of ports at Thoothukudi, Villupuram and Cuddalore to ensure coal supply, will get over in two years and the power projects will start generation by 2012,” he said. 
More power projects to generate 1,600 MW were in the pipeline and would commence generation by 2010, he said.

“We are encouraging all sugar mills to generate power through cogeneration. The government has requested the technical team at TNEB to explore the possibilities of increasing generation from the sugar mills,” he added.   Later answering queries from the media Veerasamy said the power cuts in the state had almost been lifted because of the rain. The problems faced by the industrialists because of power shortage would also be sorted out.

K. Balasubramanian, Member (generation) TNEB, later addressing the gathering on the power position in the state said that of the 24 applications received by the TNEB for setting up MPPs, 12 had been sanctioned. Work on three MPPs with a capacity of at least 6,000 MW had started. Gireesh B.Pardhan, additional secretary, Union ministry for power, and energy experts took part in the seminar.

Deccan Chronicle

Diversion of Rs 2-a-kg rice
 

Kadapa, Oct. 15: Rice being supplied for distribution to the poor under the Rs 2-kg-rice scheme to the Kadapa district is allegedly being diverted to open market.ῠ Middlemen are selling the rice at Rs 1,000 per quintal in the open market.

The Kadapa district is receiving 8,385.107 metric tonnes of rice for distribution of white ration card holders, 1,768.445 metric tonnes of rice for distribution to Antyodaya card holders, 16.660 metric tonnes of rice for Annapurna Yojana card holders and 7.500 metric tonnes of rice for distribution to weavers per month.

About 40 per cent of rice is allegedly being diverted to open market. Middlemen are buying rice from ration shop dealers and ineligible persons, who got white ration cards. Officials failed to weed out bogus white ration cards in the district.

There are 16,096 ration shops in the district and there are no dealers for 107 ration shops. In-charge dealers are distributing rice in the shops giving scope for diversion of rice.ῠ Middlemen are diverting Rs 2 -a-kg rice from Kadapa, Proddutur and Badvel areas in the district to other districts and other states. They are also mixing Rs 2-a-kg rice with quality rice and selling them with profit by creating fake bills.

The Rs 2-a-kg rice is also being supplied to the Kadapa city from Valluru, Khajipeta, Mydukur, Badvel and other areas.ῠ Traders are selling the rice in the open market by again polishing it or mixing it in high quality rice.

As officials failed to take action, the diversion of Rs 2-a-kg rice is going unabated. The Rs 2-a-kg rice is being supplied to the Kadapa city in mini vans and autorickshaws. Officials in the checkposts are allegedly taking bribes and failed to check the diversion.ῠ In September, 25 bags of rice was brought from Mydukur to Kadapa without any bills. The autorickshaw carrying the rice crossed three checkposts.

Farmers suffer crop loss
 

Kurnool, Oct. 15:ῠ Farmers in Kurnool district are facing problems due to the failure of crops and lack of remunerative price.ῠ Even though the yield of onion crop was good, farmers failed to get remunerative price. There are 5..54 lakh hectares of cultivable land in the district and farmers cultivated paddy in over about 2.5 lakh hectares.

Farmers allege that as the supply of fertilisers was erratic, yield was affected.ῠ Farmers cultivated onion over about 45,000 acres in the district and got a good yield. However, traders are refusing to offer a good price for the produce. Some farmers are now using onions as fodder for sheep. Some other farmers, who cultivated groundnut in the place of tomato, also suffered losses.

Groundnut was cultivated over about 2.15 lakh acres in the district and officials said that there was no yield over 99 per cent area of cultivation.ῠ Farmers, who stopped cultivation of tomato as they are not getting a remunerative price, are in for a shock as tomato is selling at the rate of Rs 25 per kg now.

Farmers, who usually cultivate tomato over 20,000 hectares in the district, only cultivated it over 10,000 acres this year. Leaders of farmers unions and the MLC, Ms Masala Padmaja, demanded that the government announce the district as drought-hit and implement a special package.They threatened to launch a protest if the government failed to take steps to help farmers.

Tourism school in Nellore
 

Nellore, Oct. 15: Officials have identified 10 acres adjacent to National Highway-5 near the Toll Plaza at Venkatachalam, 20 kms from Nellore, for the proposed Indian Institute of Tourism and Travel Management (IITTM).ῠ Nellore is going to be the first centre for IITTM, an autonomous body under the ministry of tourism, in Southern India.

As of now, the IITTM has four centres in the country at Bhubaneswar, New Delhi and Goa with headquarters at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. The Nellore centre will start fullfledged operations from the next academic year.ῠ Sources said that the Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, had prevailed upon the union government to allot an IITTM centre for AP after he came to know about their plans to open a centre in Southern India.

Similarly, The minister for tourism, information and public relations, Mr Anam Ramnarayana Reddy, convinced the CM to establish the same in Nellore, which is emerging as a potential hub for industries and tourism. Students at the Nellore centre can opt for various diploma courses like postgraduate programmes in Tourism and Leisure Management, Tourism and Travel Management and Tourism & International business management.ῠ There are also proposals to add BBA and MBA and all the courses are approved by the All India Council for Technical Education.

Since it would take some time to complete the permanent building, district officials have been looking for a building with 7,500 square feet of space to start the institute from the next academic year. The district collector, Mr K. Ramgopal, said that they had identified required space at three colleges in and around Nellore, and a decision will be taken after inspection by IITTM officials.

“They will send a proposal to the ministry of tourism after visiting the colleges we have identified and the exercise is likely to be completed within the next 10 to 15 days. Classes will start from the next academic year along with campus construction activity,” Mr Ramgopal said.ῠ An IITTM team led by Professor Nimit Choudary from Gwalior already visited Nellore some time ago, and are likely to examine the places identified by the local authorities to give their nod.

Speaking to this newspaper from Gwalior on Wednesday, Prof. Nimit Choudary said that they had plans to add new courses related to international business programmes from 2011 in the Nellore centre.ῠ He also said to visit Nellore shortly to select the site for the institution.

Room boy restores valuables
 

Tirupati, Oct. 15: In a commendable act, a guesthouse attendant at Tirumala restored Rs 2.50 lakh worth valuables including cash, cell phone and jewelry to a devotee who forgot the items in the cottage on Wednesday.ῠ According to information, Sanjay and his family members belonging to Hyderabad stayed in room No 1 and 2 at Vijay Mallya guesthouse at Tirumala for two days and vacated the rooms on Wednesday morning.
The items, Venkataramana found include, Rs 17,500 cash, cell phone worth Rs 35,000 and gold ornaments valued at Rs 2 lakh.

He alerted the enquiry counter official, Mr Lakshmi Narayana, about the valuables and he in turn informed the matter to officer on special duty, Mr Chinnamgari Ramana.ῠ They have managed to locate Sanjay while he was on his way to collect caution deposit he paid for the room.ῠ Officials and the pilgrims appreciated Venkataramana for his honesty.

Rodent menace in farms
 

Rajahmundry, Oct. 15: After facing the nature’s fury in the form of floods and cyclonic storms resulting in crop damage, the farmers are facing rodent menace in their paddy fields during kharif sesaon in East and West Godavari districts.

Though the farmers are able to recover from the crop damage and loss with the intervention of the government in the form of compensation and insurance cover, they are facing the problem of rodent menace and it is expected that nearly 15 to 20 per cent of the total paddy yield is likely to be lost in the two districts. Paddy is the major crop in these districts and the presence of the rodents in paddy fields is quite common. The issue is how best the farmers are able to handle the menace.

The agriculture authorities maintain that the farmers are being educated on how to tackle the rodent menace by keeping rat traps, keeping some poisonous chemicals and also taking up fumigation. The authorities maintain that the steps to tackle the problem should be taken up by the farmers collectively in a particular stretch of the fields and caution that if not so, the rodents simply keep moving from one area to the other area by eating away the crops.

Though there is no specific assessment of the quantum of loss in the paddy fields due to rodents, the agriculture authorities maintain that on an average about 10 per cent of the total crop gets either damaged or destroyed by the rodents. As the harvesting of the extended crop due to floods and cyclonic storm during kharif is underway, the agriculture authorities advised the farmers to work collectively to avoid damage to crop.

In East Godavari, on an average paddy is grown in about 2.24 lakh hectares of land with an average yield of 28 to 30 bags of paddy per acre.

In West Godavari, paddy is grown in about 2.37 lakh hectares land and the average yield per acre ranges from 25 to 28 bags of paddy. The agriculture authorities maintain that they could get good yield during kharif despite cyclonic storm and floods which caused some damage to the crops in certain areas. Though there is no expectation of bumper yield, the farmers could get good yield.

Price of palm oil declines
 

Kakinada, Oct. 15: In the midst of soaring prices of all essential commodities, the sharp fall in the price of palm oil, the largely consumed edible oil brought much relief to the consumer.

The oil which is largely consumed by the middle class and common people soared high much to the discomfort of these sections in the recent past. The price of the oil which was Rs 55 per litre in August this year is now being sold at Rs 39 to 40 per litre pouch pack in the open market. It is said that the fall of retail price by 40 per cent has given much relief to the consumer. The notable factor in the sharp price decline is confined only to palmoil in the open market.

Several reasons were attributed for the price decline in the last couple of months. The first and far most reason is fall in the prices of crude oil in the international market, particularly in Malaysia. Waiver of excise duty to the full extent by the government is another reason. Effective steps taken by the governements both at the state and the central level, in the form of sale of palmoil at subsidised price of Rs 45 per litre introduced in July this year has also helped in the fall in the price. The variation in the prices of other oils is very little when compared to the largely consumed palm oil.

The price of other oils in the open market is as follows: branded sunflower oil ranges from Rs 75 to Rs 73, groundnut from Rs 74 in August to Rs 70 in October. Similarly, the price of soybean stands at Rs 63 as against the price of Rs 65 two months ago. The price of rice bran oil in the market stands at Rs 61 as against Rs 65 in August this year. It is also said that the fluctuations in value of US dollar also had its effect on the price of palm oil in the open market.

Andhra Pradesh Ediable Oil Marchants Welfare Association president Grandhi Babji said the fall in price of palm oil(crude) in the international market had its effect and resulted in the decline of its price.

KCR all praise for Desam MLA
 

Karimnagar, Oct. 15: In an apparent indication of the possible electoral alliance between the Telugu Desam (TD) and the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), Mr K. Chandrasekhar Rao, the TRS president, showered praises on the veteran TD leader and the Sircilla MLA Ch. Rajeshwar Rao for convincing his party leadership take separate Telangana stand. Fuelling speculation on the imminent electoral tie-up between the two pro-Telangana parties, Mr Chandrasekhar Rao, accompanied by Hanamkonda MP B. Vinod Kumar, held discussions with Mr Rajeshwar Rao at the latter’s residence for more than half-an-hour at Vemulawada on Wednesday.

Later, the TRS chief participated in the inaugural ceremony of a purified drinking water plant organised by SEWS, a voluntary organisation headed by Chennamaneni Ramesh, the son of Ch. Rajeshwar Rao at Gandhinagar.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Chandrasekhar Rao said thousands of children in Nalgonda district were still reeling under flourosis due to the apathy of the government in providing protected drinking water as assured. The ultimate solution to the plethora of problems faced by the people of the region lies in formation of separate Telangana, he contended and complimented Mr Rajeshwar Rao’s son Ramesh for taking up infrastructure development programmes in the core areas of education, health and drinking water through the NGO in about 100 villages in Sircilla division.

“Telangana is not a slogan but it is a valiant struggle to end exploitation and attain the cherished statehood”, he remarked. Mr Rajeshwar Rao said his ambition was to see a separate Telangana fully developed in all spheres. Ramesh said that the plant will enable the people of the town gain access to 20 litre drinking water for just Rs 2. TRS floor leader in the Assembly E. Rajender and others were present.

PR to ‘honour’ T-sentiments
 

Nizamabad, Oct. 15: Praja Rajyam (PR) party official spokesperson Parakala Prabhakar said that the party had a clear stand over separate statehood for Telangana.ῠ “Party president Chiranjeevi has already declared that the Telangana movement is a struggle for self-respect,” he said and added that the Praja Rajyam would honour the wishes of Telangana people and support their cause.

Dr Prabhakar along with party monitoring team members addressed a press conference here at the PR district unit office on Wednesday.ῠ He said that the PR was committed to eradicate political corruption as it was the main cause for all ills that are afflicting the society now.”If rulers behave honestly, the entire system will follow suit,” he opined.

People of the state were eagerly awaiting grassroot reforms in administration, he added. The spokesperson said that compulsory education for all up to graduation level was planned by Praja Rajyam. “The party high command is planning to provide international standard education to students,” he said. Priority will be given to providing basic facilities like medical care and education to all families across the state, he said.ῠ To provide remunerative prices for agriculture produce, the party will take all necessary steps, he said.

“We will restrict market forces as and when required,” he explained.ῠ Dr Prabhakar said that the Praja Rajyam was concerned about the welfare of unorganised sector workers, particularly, as in Nizamabad district, bidi workers and building construction labourers.ῠ Reacting to a query, he said that the party had arranged 600 persons for security during the Praja Ankita Yatra in North Andhra.

ῠ

17 junior colleges sealed
 

Vijayawada, Oct. 15: The future of as many as 10,000 students hangs in balance since 17 private unaided junior colleges in Krishna district which were running without permission from the Board of Intermediate Education were sealed by intermediate regional inspecting athority.

Regional intermediate inspecting officer, Mr K. Gangadhar, told this correspondent that the board has been conducting intensive inspection all over the state on the minimum facilities available for students in the colleges and also the permission for the usage of the building where the classes are being conducting by the colleges.

The board constituted a three-member committee to inspect the junior colleges comprising one officer from the board, one from the engineering department of the state government and one from the revenue department. The committee has been inspecting all the colleges to check the facilities like drinking water, toilets, ventilation in classrooms and other issues along with the permission from the board for such building.

The committee would submit its report to the join collector of each district after the inspection and finally the joint collector would submit a consolidated report on the district to the state government. The RIO said that the government has to take a final decision on the future of the students from the sealed institutions. He said 15 days time was given for all the institutions to provide minimum amenities for students and after that, a revenue officer deputed by the joint collector will conduct a final inspection of the junior colleges.

There are 20 government, 27 aided, one railway, six social welfare and 145 unaided junior colleges functioning in the district. Some of the managements of these sealed colleges are still trying to keep the students in the dark by saying that the required permission would be obtained from the government within a week and also assuring them that the academic year would not be wasted.

It was learnt that some of the colleges are even conducting classes secretly though their classrooms were sealed by the regional intermediate inspecting officer.

Hot food scheme launched
 

Guntur, Oct. 15: More than 2.50 lakh children aged below six years and 60,000 pregnant and lactating women in Guntur district will get hot cooked food which contains rich nutritional value through the 4,150 Anganwadi centres across the district from Thursday.

The women and child welfare department has made all arrangements for supply of hot cooked food free of cost.

The zilla parishad chairperson, Ms K. Vijaya, on Wednesday formally inaugurated the distribution of hot cooked food at a programme organised in the ZP hall. Children, pregnant women and lactating mothers can visit the Anganwadi centres to take hot cooked food which is available in three formats.

Each child will be served with 75 grams and women 130 grams daily. The 75 grams quantity will increase to 225 grams after cooking. The three mixes contain fried wheat, soya beans, vegetable oils, salt, lemon, pulses and spices.ῠ The ZP chairperson said the cooked mix contains five types of vitamins and four types of minerals which give strength to the takers.

As many as 1.30 lakh children aged below three years and 1.23 lakh children below six years will be benefited. Besides, 31,000 pregnant women and over 30,000 lactating mothers will be benefited.

The women and child welfare department project director, Ms N.J. Nirmala, said that two Anganwadi projects are in Guntur while the remaining 21 projects are located in different parts of the district.

She said the mix stocks were sent to Anganwadi centres in 23 projects located across the district. ZP chief executive officer, Mr P. Durga Prasad, officials from women and child welfare department, zilla parishad, ZPTC members and others attended the event.

Police block women
 

Visakhapatnam, Oct. 15: Rights organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) alleg-ed that Paderu police had created an atmosphere of fear in the Agency on Tuesday night in a bid to prevent tribal women of Vakapalli, who were allegedly raped by Greyhounds last year, from attending a meeting in Delhi.

The women planned to go to Delhi for a national consultation on “Violence against indigenous women” slated for October 17 and narrate their case. The consultation is to be held with two United Nations special rapporteurs (UNSRs) - Dr. Yakin Erturk, the UNSR on ‘Violence against women, its causes and consequences’ and Prof. S. James Anaya on the ‘Situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people’.

Part of the mandate of the UNSRs is to meet and interact with civil society bodies so as to deepen their own understanding and information of issues confronting indigenous women in India, which in turn, will inform their annual report and enhance their work on the selected topic.

Two of the 11 Kondh women of Vakapalli, who were allegedly raped on August 20 last year by special party police personnel, came to Paderu on Tuesday evening. They had planned to come down to Anakapalle and board Nizamuddin Link Express for Delhi on Wednesday. The two, Korra Chilakamma and Pangi Sittayi, along with their relative Pangi Kondababu, were to be accompanied by one or two representatives of the Adivasi Aikya Porata Samiti and a local NGO.

“Police led by Paderu DSP Stalin, went to the house of Mr K. Krishna Rao, a local NGO functionary, at around 11 pm on Tuesday, checked his house and office and threatened him with dire consequences if he extended any support to the Vakapalli women. Given this atmosphere of intimidation, the two women had no choice but to return to their village on Wednesday,” the Human Rights Forum state secretary, Mr V.S. Krishna said adding that over the past 14 months, women of Vakapalli had been subjected to harassment by the police time and again.

“The latest incident comes in the backdrop of a private complaint moved by the Vakapalli women which has since been taken on file by the Paderu court,” Mr Krishna added. The HRF urged the Collector to intervene and ensure that the Adivasis of Vakapalli as well as those extending support to them in their fight for justice were not harassed by police.

Drop economic reforms: BMS
 

Visakhapatnam, Oct. 15: While the American economy is in turmoil and top most banks are collapsing one after the other, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is imitating the American model of economy and pushing through the ‘reforms’, observed the all India general secretary, Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, Mr K. Lakshma Reddy.

Addressing a press conference here on Wednesday, Mr Reddy demanded that the government draw lessons from the recent happenings in the American financial sector and withdraw the so-called ‘economic reforms’.

“Despite strong opposition by the BMS representatives and other central trade unions in the meeting of Central Board of Trustees of Employees Provident Fund in July, the Union minister for labour, Mr Oscar Fernandes, decided to appoint private companies such as the Reliance Capital, the HSBC and the ICICI to manage the huge amount of EPF.

From the decision, it is evident that the UPA government wants to invest the workers’ hard earned PF amount in stock market, where there is no security to the investment, through the private fund managers,” said Mr Reddy. As part of their second phase of protests against the Centre’s move and demanding withdrawal of the decision, the BMS would approach one crore workers from November 1 to 15 and collect their signatures opposing the move.

An all-India delegation of the BMS will meet the President of India and submit bundles of signatures seeking withdrawal of the government’s decision. Earlier, the BMS workers held demonstrations all over India in front of the EPF regional commissioner’s offices on September 12.

Deccan Chronicle

FM sops to hike liquidity
 

New Delhi, Oct. 15: The finance minister, Mr P. Chidambaram, on Wednesday announced more measures to ease the tight liquidity situation. These include, immediate package of Rs 25,000 crore to banks under farm waiver scheme and increase cap on foreign investment in corporate bonds.ῠ These steps came after a high-powered meeting chaired by the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, on Tuesday, which discussed measures further required to be taken in view of the global financial crisis.

“Under the agricultural debt waiver and debt relief scheme, the government had agreed to provide a sum of Rs 25,000 crore as the first installment to the commercial banks, RRBs and cooperative credit institutions . It is felt that this money should be provided immediately,” said Mr Chidambaram.ῠ He said that on the request of the government, the RBI has agreed to provide this amount to the lending institutions immediately. The money made available to the commercial banks is Rs 7,500 crore and to the Nabard Rs 17,500 crore. There will be no requirement of providing collateral, said the finance minister.

Mr Chidambaram said that while Indian banks were well capitalised, they would be given access to funds to raise their capital adequacy ratio up to 12 per cent.ῠ “Our banks are well capitalised. Their CRARs are well above the basel norm of eight per cent and the RBI stipulated norm of nine per cent. No bank has a capital adequacy of less than 10 per cent,” said the finance minister.

He said that the details of the capitalisation scheme are being worked out. Mr Chidambaram said that the limit of FII investment in corporate bonds will be raised from $3 billion to $6 billion. “The Sebi has informed me that it will address any requests for relaxation in the proportion of investment in equity and debt required to be maintained by an FII under current regulations,” he said.

Mr Chidambaram said that after the Reserve Bank of India, the government is also issuing an advisory to public sector banks impressing upon them the need to ensure easy drawdown against sanctioned limits and continued active parti-cipation in the inter-bank call money market.

Sensex tanks 674 pts
 

Mumbai, Oct. 15: Weak global cues saw the market open down 250 points and the Sensex plunge further after the L&T results were out. They were below street expectations and raised fe-ars that the corporate res-ults which are yet to come would be on similar lines.ῠ Short selling in the L&T stock saw the stock loose Rs 110. “The stock was ruling around Rs 950 and a few seconds before the announcement of the results the stock went to Rs 942. There was heavy shorting in the stock and several other stocks like Reliance Infra and RCom,” said Mr Alok Agarwal, head, research, K.R. Choksey Securities.

No merger for Goyal, Mallya
 

Hyderabad, Oct. 15: The Jet Airways chairman, Mr Naresh Goyal and the Kingfisher Airlines chairman, Mr Vijay Mallya, on Wednesday ruled out merger of India’s top two private airlines.ῠ The two airlines account for about 60 per cent of the market share.

“There is no equity swap. Our understanding is for purely commercial all-iance,” Dr Mallya said. Speaking to the media, Mr Goyal said that the alliance is not a marriage of convenience and the consolidation in the aviation industry is inevitable.

He said, “It (alliance) had happened in the US and the Europe and it has happened for the first time in India.” He said that the rationalisation of routes, capacity and costs are essential for survival and that market share was not the answer to profitability.ῠ “There are instances where fighting for market share made the companies go bankrupt in the US,” he added.

Mr Goyal said that the break-even point for the aviation sector is at 90 per cent capacity utilisation, while the companies are operating between 60-70 per cent. “On top of this, international airlines are dumping capacity in India, lowering their prices knowing we cannot match the competition…. therefore we have to work together,” he said. On the lay-off of 850 Jet Airways’ employees, Mr Goyal said those employees were on probation and the company has just not extended the probation.

He said even Air-India can join the alliance, if wants. Later in the day, the Union civil aviation minister, Mr Praful Patel, said the government does not have any details of the deal. “In absence of such details, we cannot comment on it,” he added.ῠ However, he said the government will not have any problem, if the alliance is within the rules and regulations of the aviation ministry.

Crude falls to $76 bbl
 

London, Oct. 15: Oil prices fell on Wednesday to their lowest in 13 months, dragged down by expectations that economic weakness will cut further into demand for crude.ῠ The US crude was down $3.76 a barrel at $74.87 by 11:04 am EDT. It touched a session low of $74.62, its lowest since September last year. London Brent crude was $4.03 down at $70.50 a barrel. Stock markets also fell sharply and the dollar weakened against the yen as global recession fears returned to centrestage after governments around the world pledged trillions of dollars for bank bailouts.

A weak performance from the US retailers provided evidence of the slowdown. The retailers suffered their biggest monthly drop in sales in more than three years in September. Recession in the world’s top consumer the US and other key markets could further dam-pen oil demand.ῠῠ

Lodha’s son to claim Birla assets
 

HARSH VARDHAN Lodha would soon move Calcutta High Court seeking conversion of his father’s proceedings for the over Rs 5,000-crore M.P. Birla group assets, for which late Rajendra Singh Lodha had filed a probate application vide a will by Ms Priyamvada Birla. “Harsh Lodha will apply in the high court for conversion of Mr R.S. Lodha’s proceedings after it reopens following puja vacation,” said Mr Lodha’s counsel, Mr Debanjan Mondal. The Birlas and Rajendra Singh Lodha had been fighting a bitter legal battle over the M.P. Birla group assets with the probate petition pending in the high court.

Tatas to pay Rs 900/sq mt to Gujarat

THE GUJARAT government on Wednesday decided to charge Rs 900 per square meter from Tatas for the 1,100 acre land given for Nano Car Project in Sanand, officials sources said. The state cabinet meeting chaired by the chief minister, Mr Narendra Modi, took this decision on the basis of recommendation of state-level land valuation committee of the Gujarat government. Tata Group will have to pay Rs 400.65 crore for the 1,100 acres of the land at the rate of Rs 900 per square metre.

Tata Motors develops LPG trucks

COUNTRY’S BIGGEST truckmaker Tata Motors on Wednesday said its Korean commercial vehicle subsidiary has developed the prototype of the 4.5 tonne LPG truck in association with the Korean government. “The vehicle was developed by Tata Daewoo in association with the ministries of commerce, industry and energy, Korea Energy Management Corporation and a consortium of 12 organisations,” Tata Motors said in a statement. The first Korean LPG medium commercial vehicle would be of 4.5 tonne payload and would conform to EURO V emission norms, it added. The truck is powered with a Liquid Phase Injection engine.

No tax for RNOR
 
By Kamal Rathi

Q. I was a non-resident In-dian for the last ten financial years (1998-99 to 2007-2008) and stayed in India for only 370 days in that period. Further, I stayed for only 307 days in India during last seven financial years. Consider-ing this, can I avail benefit of Resident Not Ordinar-ily Resident (RNOR) status for three fiscal years?

Can I claim the benefit of tax free (as available to an NRI) interest for three financial year on my investments such as NRE deposits and FCNR deposits in view of my RNOR status. Kindly tell me, if such benefits are for two or three years, if I fulfil both the conditions.

I have to inform my banks to treat me as an RNOR and also treat my deposits as the same.

Do I have to file income tax return as Resident Not Ordinarily Resident (RNOR) showing interest income and claim rebate or filing tax return is not necessary?

Dwarkanath Narayan, Mysore, Via E-mail.

A. According to Section 6(6) of the Income Tax Act, a person is said to be “not ordinarily resident” in India in any previous year if such person is an individual who has been a non-resident in India in nine out of the ten previous years preceding that year, or has during the seven previous years preceding that year been in India for a period of, or periods amounting in all to, seven hundred and twenty nine days or less.

On the above facts, you will not be liable to tax on the income from investments outside India for two financial years 2008-09 and 2009-10, since you will be able to fulfil at least one condition laid down under Section 6(6), namely being a non resident for nine years during the ten years preceding the relevant financial year.

According to Section 139(1), an individual should furnish a return of income in the prescribed form, if his total income during the previous year exceeded the maximum amount which is not chargeable to income tax.

Hence, if your total income exceeds the threshold limit, you need to file income tax return. You will be entitled to claim the admissible deductions permissible under the provisions of Income Tax Act.

(Kamal Rathi is a chartered accountant, representing Rathi & Malani, a Hyderabad-based accounting firm. Readers can mail their queries on income-tax tokamalrathi.ca@gmail.com)

Honda eyes small car biz
 

Kolkata, Oct. 15: The Indian small car market will see yet another player entering the domain with the Japanese car manufacturer Honda designing a car for domestic consumption, the automobile maker said on Wednesday.  “We are designing a small car which will be launched a few years down the line,”said Mr Jnaneswar Sen vice-president (marketing) Honda Siel Cars India, the Indian subsidiary of the Japanese company said here. The car would be placed in the B, B+ segment, Mr Sen said.

The company would launch a premium hatchback model by 2009 summer. The model has been named ‘Jazz’ and would have a engine capacity of 1200 cc, he said.  Launching the new Honda City, Mr Sen said that the company’s second production base was coming up at Rajashthan and would be ready by the end of 2009.  The company would make an investment of Rs 1,000 crore at its Rajashthan plant. The initial capacity would be 60,000 units per annum, which would be expanded up to two lakh units per annum.  Last year, the company sold 62,000 units across all its models.

Quality’s name of game
 

Bengaluru, Oct. 15: While the old slogan of ‘come to us for cost and stay with us for quality’ still holds good for the Indian IT/ITES sector, it has marched way ahead and today plays a distinct role in enhancing the customers’ business outcome. This is accomplished by increasing the customer’s revenue, collections or market share and delivering a great customer experience. The question is, how important is the role of the ‘quality’ in the business of delivering customer delight? While the question seems like a no-brainer, the answer is somewhat startling, as this correspondent discovered, at the fourth edition of the two-day, Nasscom Quality Summit, 2008 which opened in the city on Wednesday.

Says Arjun Singh, CEO (BFSI), WNS Global Services P Ltd: “While it is clear to most people the world over, that by adopting Six Sigma, corporations can save zillions of dollars by allowing for better product development, quicker time-to-market, improved processes and delivering customer delight, the stark reality in the Indian context is that companies in the BPO space score a measly three out of ten when it comes to adopting the power of Six Sigma. The problem lies in the fact that business leaders seldom buy into the Six Sigma strategy, even when it is obvious that it has the power to transform the way businesses are done.” Six Sigma is a business management strategy that uses a set of quality management methods, including statistical methods, which seeks to identify and remove the causes of defects and errors in business processes.

While most organisations continually implement quality practices, they are faced with practical challenges along the way. “One major issue I have to contend with is the fact that the quality team in my company are mere matrix collectors and do not concern themselves with the nuances of delivering product quality. What is actually required is for them to interpret the matrices and for this they need domain expertise. This is rarely the case, as most experts consider the quality function unglamorous,” said Rajiv Mody, chairman, Sasken. Quality is an absolutely strategic function, even in times of a financial meltdown or a storm in a business cycle, because it ultimately reflects in the value delivered to the customer. Even as most companies consider ‘process quality’ an absolute hygiene factor on which ‘product quality’ is built, there is a dire need for quality to be incorporated at every stage in the product development lifecycle.

“Companies create different departments to handle different functions. But quality as a function cannot be the responsibility of one department alone,” said N Chandrasekaran, COO & executive director, TCS.

Bobby Mitra, MD, Texas Instruments, agrees. “If quality is relegated to one department then checks tend to become sloppy. Quality needs to be a part of every deliverable because there is no God at the end to check it for all defects, which get introduced into the product at every level.”

Belt-tightening ahead for IT
 

New York, Oct.15: On Wall Street, the prices of shares in technology companies have been bouncing around even more than most other industry sectors. Tech stocks were battered on Tuesday, driving down the overall market.

The picture is mixed and uncertain. But based on the early readings before quarterly earnings begin in earnest soon. IBM, surrounded by rumours of weakness, announced its third-quarter results in advance last week, beating analysts’ estimates. Oracle, too, says it is holding up fine. But SAP, the enterprise software maker, and Rackable Systems, which supplies server computers to big Web companies and many smaller businesses, recently lowered guidance for the quarter.

Gartner this week presented its information technology spending projections for 2009, and it sees the souring economy taking a toll. Its worst-case projection (incr-easingly likely, it seems) places worldwide growth in technology spending at 2.3 per cent for 2009, down from 5.8 per cent previously. Stronger Asian markets like China are propping up the overall numbers. In North America, Gartner sees spending growth at half a per cent in 2009, down from 5.3 per cent previously.

In an interview, Peter Sondergaard, Gartner’s senior vice president for global research, explained that information technology was now so integral a part of business operations that spending was no longer going to be much higher or lower than the broad economy. “This isn’t like the 2000 to 2002 period, when much of the world lost confidence in IT,” he said.

Horizons will shorten, and projects that can wait likely will. “CIOs have to learn to think like CFOs,” he explained, using the common shorthand for chief information officers and chief financial officers. At a conference this week, Mr. Sondergaard offered a “top 10″ list for squeezing more out of tight budget dollars. In the spirit of the new austerity, we’ll just give you the top five (the bottom five don’t add much):

1. Reduce headcount and freeze hiring.
2. Curtail data center expansions and “virtualise” servers, putting more software loads on fewer machines. 3. Renegotiate with technology and services suppliers.
4. Consolidate functions and systems to achieve greater economies of scale.
5. Outsource commodity services.

It’s enough to warm any CFO’s heart.

Diagnose biz gains traction
 

Bengaluru, Oct. 15: On a computer monitor in his office in the high-tech hub of Bengaluru, Indian radiologist Arjun Kalyanpur examines a scan of the skull of a six-year-old boy who fell off his bicycle. A few minutes later, thousands of miles away, doctors at a hospital in Philadelphia prepare the boy for surgery after receiving an urgent email from Kalyanpur diagnosing a subdural hemorrhage in the child’s brain.

It’s the middle of the night in the United States, but it’s daytime in Bangalore and Kalyanpur and his team of 35 radiologists are reading hundreds of scans sent by hospitals across the United States during the night shift. “ERs in the U.S. find it difficult to staff at night. There’s a radiologist shortage in the U.S. as well,” Kalyanpur said.

Bangalore, the outsourcing capital of the world, is becoming a global center for telemedicine thanks to a pool of Western educated doctors, extensive outsourcing infrastructure, lower costs and a convenient time zone to diagnose medical conditions during the U.S. night. Teleradiologists in India read X-rays, CT scans, magnetic resonance imaging and other medical images of patients in the United States, Singapore and a host of other countries around the world.

It’s ideal for hospitals facing ballooning costs and a shortage of radiologists. And it’s not just teleradiology, experts say just about every area of medicine that does not require direct patient interaction could be outsourced in the future. This could include scans of pathology samples, ECGs, EEGs and other diagnostic systems used to determine a preliminary diagnosis.

“Telemedicine is on the rise,” said Avinash Vashistha, the CEO of Tholon Inc, a private equity advisory firm, who has written a book about outsourcing. “Once it acquires critical mass in 2 to 3 years, we expect the thrust to come from insurance companies as they recognise the cost benefits and lower premiums for the plans that have components of telemedicine.” There are some concerns, though, that it might lead to dangerous misdiagnosis and even those in the industry admit that regulation hasn’t caught up with technology when it comes to medical malpractice, ethics and legal liability.

Liability, privacy and malpractice issues pose challenges as this new industry expands without a supporting international regulatory framework as well as an ethical code of conduct. “In the end the challenge really is when you’re doing something for the U.S. and something happens, who’s liable for it?,” said Vashistha. The business is lucrative and already there are 10 or more teleradiology firms in India as well as several in the United States, some of which are listed companies.

Deccan Chronicle