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India News
Tsunami death toll over 10500
The tsunami caused more than 10500 casulaties in India and the Andaman and Nicobar
islands. In India more than 7200 lives were taken. It is feared that more than 5000 people
have been killed in the Andaman Islands. More than 3000 deaths have been confirmed and
2000 people are missing. (The Indian Expres).
India ignorant of tsunami warning
The tidal waves reached India 90 minutes after the earthquake. Scientists of the tsunami
warning system based in Honolulu issued a tsunami-warning to 26 partipating countries.
India was not among them. The National Institute of Oceanography only came to know about
it after tidal waves had hit the Indian coast. Tad Murty a Canda-based Indian who helped
setup the pacific and canadian tsunami warning systems told Indian Express that he tried
several times to convince the Indian government to set up a tsunami warning system but
that he was turned
down because the lack of money to sustain a full-fledged system.
(The Indian Expres)
India should make a move at upcoming SAARC summit
According to (The Indian Expres) C. Raja Mohan India's prime minister, Mammohan Sing,
should rewrite the script of regional integration. He should put new life to the South
Asian Association of Regional Cooperation when the member countries meet in Dhaka early in
the new year. "India already has some sort of free trade with Bhuttan, Nepal and Sri
Lanka but India has been niggardly in offering better market access to Pakistan and
Bangladesh (....) A simple unilateral offer by India to grant
duty-free access to all goods from its neighbourhood (...) Will dramatically promote
regional integration (...) He should be grabbing it by both hands to unveil a long term
vision for regional cooperation as well as unilateral steps to begin its
realisation." (The Indian Expres)
Tax regime to be reformed
Finance minister P Chidambram promised to make the tax structure simpler for petroleum,
telecom, textile and sugar sectors to make them more investor-friendly. At the december
27th FICCI's anual general meeting he said that subsidy and dole led growth is not
sustainable, but investment led growth is. We must sustain 7 to 8 percent growth for the
next ten years. That requires massive investment and to promote this we will simplify the
tax structures. (The Indian Expres)
250000 jobs to be created in ICT and outsourcing sectors
Thanks to sound corporate results, usage foreign direct investment inflows and dark clouds
dissapearing off the outsourcing market job growth will exceed 250000 in ICT and
outsourcing sectors in 2005.
(The Indian Expres) |
