India and Germany sign Social Security Agreement
A comprehensive Social Security Agreement (SSA) was signed between India and Germany in Berlin. This is the 60th year of diplomatic relationship between India and Germany. There are about 68,500 Indians in Germany most of whom are working as professionals and self-employed. Both India and Germany reaffirmed that the bilateral trade should reach US$ 20 billion by 2012. There is a huge potential for Indian for Indian workers to take employment in Germany. India has signed similar agreements with Belgium, France, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, Hungary, Denmark, Czech Republic, the Republic of Korea and Norway.
India will continue to allow 100% FDI in Greenfield Pharma
PM chaired a high level meeting to discuss the FDI policy in drugs and pharmaceutical sector. The meeting took the following considered decisions:
a) India will continue to allow FDI without any limits(100%) under the automatic route for Greenfield investments in the pharma sector. This will facilitate addition of manufacturing capacities, technology acquisition and development.
b) In case of brownfield investments in the pharma sector, FDI will be allowed through the FIPB approval route for a period of upto six months. During this period, necessary enabling regulations will be put in place by the CCI for effective oversight on mergers and acquisitions to ensure that there is a balance between public health concerns and attracting FDI in the pharma sector. Thereafter, the requisite oversight will be done by the CCI entirely in accordance with the competition laws of the country.
India-Nepal Trade Increases by 36 Per Cent
The bilateral trade between India and Nepal has increased from US$ 1985 mn in 2009-10 to around US$ 2700 in 2010-11 registering an increase of around 36%. Several Indian private companies/Joint ventures have been able to secure survey licences for development of about 8,200 MW hydro power projects in Nepal at an estimated cost of Rs.82000 crores. Indian firms are the biggest investors in Nepal accounting for about 47.5% of total approved foreign direct investments. There are about 150 operating Indian ventures in Nepal engaged in manufacturing, services (banking, insurance, dry port, education and telecom), power sector and tourism industries. Indian joint ventures in Nepal have contributed significantly to increase in Nepal’s exports to India.
Expert Group for Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project
The Department of Atomic Energy has constituted an Expert Group of 15 specialists with an objective of interacting with the officials of state government of Tamil Nadu and spokespersons of the people in the neighbourhood of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) in Tamil Nadu. This Expert Group will explain the factual position on various aspects of the project and will also dispel apprehensions of some sections of the local people. The Expert Group comprises of renowned academicians, scientists, doctors and engineers specializing in areas like environmental science, radiation safety, nuclear reactor design, nuclear reactor safety, nuclear regulatory aspects, nuclear waste management, oncology, oceanography, fisheries, thermal ecology, seismology etc.
Real Time Train Information System (RTIS) based on ‘SIMRAN’ becomes Functional
In a major passenger friendly move, Indian Railways has opened the first phase of the Real Train Information System (RTIS) to public for accurate train tracking thus heralding a new era of application of advanced communication and information technologies in various Railway related activities. This new tracking system is based on Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation (SIMRAN) and has been developed jointly by the Ministry of Railways’ Research arm namely Research, Design and Standards Organization (RDSO), Lucknow and IIT, Kanpur.
Highest Ever Foodgrain Production in Kharif,Rabi
Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Minister, Shri Sharad Pawar, today expressed the hope that with record production in kharif and rabi seasons this year, the food production will exceed the target in 2011-12. The Minister also stated that strategies for rejuvenating agriculture sector have been working well and the targeted 4% growth in agriculture sector would be achieved. Foodgrain production has reached a record level of 241.6 million tonne in 2010-11. We have also achieved highest ever production of wheat, pulses, oil seeds and cotton. Overall farm output has also achieved an impressive growth rate of 7.5% during the last quarter of 2010-11 thus helping Agriculture GDP to register a growth of 6.6 % during the year. This also makes average growth rate in current plan to be 3.2% which we could achieve under some of the worst climatic conditions like drought, un-seasonal rains, flood, frost etc. in recent past.
IBSA Summit of Heads of State and Government- Tshwane Declaration
The President of the Republic of South Africa, Mr. Jacob Zuma, the Prime Minister of the Republic of India, H.E. Dr. Manmohan Singh, and the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil, Ms. Dilma Rousseff met at the Presidential Guest House, Pretoria, Republic of South Africa, on 18 October 2011 for the 5th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the India-Brazil-South Africa (IBSA) Dialogue Forum.They came up with "Tshwane Declaration" which deals with various aspects of economic co-operations like Global Governance Reform, Peacebuilding Commission, Global Financial and Economic Crisis, International Trade etc
0 comments: