Suzlon wins 57 MW repeat order from Turkish-utility major Ayen Enerji

Suzlon Energy Ltd has informed BSE about the signing of a repeat order for 57 MW with Ayen Enerji of Turkey. The order will be supplied with 27 units of Suzlon S88-2.1 MW turbine, to be installed at the Seferihisar and Mordogan projects in east Turkey.

World Bank to fund $1 bn for cleaning Ganga river

As Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is all set to make another serious bid to clean up the river Ganga, the World Bank has agreed in principal to make available $1 billion for the purpose. "We are talking of a long term billion dollar commitment for the newly created National Ganga River Basin Authority, a body headed by the Prime Minister, which will take up the task of cleaning up river Ganga in a much more systematic and serious manner than has been the case so far," Ramesh said. Prime Minister Singh is scheduled to hold a meeting in New Delhi Monday. The final decision in this regard is expected to be taken when the World Bank President Robert Zoellick visits India in December. Ramesh said in principle there has been approval that the World Bank will support the project. India has already spent Rs 960 crores in the last 20 years to clean the river Ganga but it no cleaner today than it was two decades ago. "Obviously, we have to do things differently then we have done things so far," he said. Noting that 75 per cent of the pollution in the river Ganga comes from municipal sewage and another 25 per cent comes from industrial effluents, he said both requires to be controlled in a much larger and wider way than has been the case so far. "The World Bank support would be a major element in bringing fair amount of resources as far as cleaning the Ganga River is concerned," Ramesh said.

Not many buyout opportunities in India: Tata Steel

Asserting that the steel maker has substantial investment plans in India, Tata Steel has said, however, there are not many acquisition opportunities here. Tata Steel's Chief Financial Officer Koushik Chatterjee said India remains the base for the company's future growth and substantial investment plans are currently being pursued. "...Meeting our growth goals through organic means in India, unfortunately, is not the fastest approach, especially for large capital projects, due to significant delays on various fronts," Chatterjee told the McKinsey Quarterly in an interview. McKinsey Quarterly the business journal of global management consultancy McKinsey & Company. "Nor are there many opportunities for growth through acquisitions in India, particularly in sectors like steel, where the value to be captured is limited — for example, in terms of technology, product profiles, the product mix, and good management," he noted. Tata Steel snapped up Anglo-Dutch entity Corus for over $12 billion in 2007, creating one of the largest steel makers in the world. About buyouts, Chatterjee said Tata Steel views acquisition more as a partnership. "From a mindset perspective, we quite genuinely tend to look at an acquisition as a partnership rather than an acquisition... We don't send plane loads of people into a new company. Instead, we only send in a few integrators. That's been the key interface," he said. Regarding the financial crisis impacting Tata Steel's business, Chatterjee said Europe has been worst affected while the company is increasing production base for steel in India. At Tata Steel Europe, there have been significant production cuts. Stressing that Indian mindset has "significant empathy", Chatterjee said, "the inclusiveness of the Indian mind set helps in building a global business".

International Year of the Tiger to kick off on Feb 14: Ramesh

To draw international attention on tiger conservation and protection, India will launch the Year of the Tiger on February 14, 2010 next year from Jim Corbett National Park, Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh announced. India's offer in this regard was accepted at a meeting held at the prestigious Smithsonian Institute, which was attended by other agencies including the World Bank. "Today India made the offer for launching the Year of the Tiger internationally on February 14, 2010 at Corbett," Ramesh said, adding the Year of Tiger would end in November 2010 with another tiger consultation in Ranthambore National Park. "Both these events would showcase what India is doing in the field of tiger conservation," Ramesh told reporters in an interaction after the meeting. The Russians are hosting the World Tiger Summit in Vladivostok in September 2010. Noting that all these were meant to establish India's leadership, Ramesh said 60 per cent of the tigers in the wild in the world are in India. "No country in the world has as extensive conservation program as we have," he said. The World Bank, Ramesh said, which has started a global tiger initiative, is very keen on supporting India in its tiger's initiative. "The President of the World Bank is personally very interested in this project. And today we discussed a possible World Bank support for livelihood security projects in the fringe areas of tiger reserves," he said. Making a convincing presentation at the meeting, Ramesh said there could not be much progress to protect the tigers, the local communities' needs to be fully involved in the task of tiger conservation. Noting that the World Bank President Robert B Zoellick would be visiting India in December, Ramesh said: "We are working on a possible World Bank project for improving livelihood security in a couple of States to begin with – Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand, Kanha in Madhya Pradesh, Nagarhole in Karnataka and Kaziranga Assam." His ministry would be working on these details, but he has got an initial interest from the World Bank that they would be very keen on supporting such a project. "This would be a very major attempt in creating an incentive structure, which will reduce encroachment on tiger reserve areas," he said. Noting that the Smithsonian has been training a large number of conservation biologist in India for last many years, he said it is particularly keen on a training program for conservation in our tiger reserves.

UN releases stamp on Mahatma Gandhi

Marking the International Day of Non-Violence, the United Nations has released a stamp of Mahathma Gandhi on the occasion of his 140th birth anniversary. United Nations Postal Administration, the world body's postal agency, released the one-dollar stamp designed by a world famous Miami-based artist Ferdie Pacheco, with the Father of the Nation in red, blue and gold. Also the envelopes marked with the stamp and the United Nations' seal were on sale. Several UN envoys, present at a function organised by the Indian Mission to celebrate his 140the birth anniversary, reiterated the influence of Mahathma Gandhi's life. "In many ways, Mahatma Gandhi previsioned the UN. Much of the work that we do in the area of human rights owes its genesis in the struggle against racial discrimination, which he focused on," Hardeep Singh Puri India's ambassador to the UN said. President of the General Assembly Ali Treki stressed upon Gandhi's commitment to communal harmony between Muslims and non-Muslims. Paying tribute to Gandhi, the US envoy to the UN Susan Rice said "Gandhi had influenced millions of Americans. Gandhi believed that physical force could be turned aside by moral forces." Both, Ambassador Puri and Rice spoke of the historic trip that civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr, made to India in 1959 to see the country of the Mahatma. On his return Dr King wrote, "It was wonderful to be in Gandhi's land." This year, on the 50th anniversary of the journey, the US sponsored the visit of Martin Luther King III to retrace the steps of his father and mother. Quoting King that "The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience but where he stands in times of challenge and controversy," Rice spoke about Gandhi's influence on US history. "That is true of people but it is also true of nations." All over New York City, small and big events were organised to mark the birthday of the Father of the Nation. In the morning, New Yorkers gathered to sing Gandhi's favourite songs and paid floral tribute at his statue at Union Square in Manhattan. "Gandhi has to be celebrated all over the world because his message echoes around the globe," Prabhu Dayal, the Consul General of India in New York said.

Congress had no desire to pursue Bofors case: CPI

The government's move to end investigations into the Bofors case has "exposed" Congress dispensation's will to fight corruption, CPI said today. "The last decade and a half has shown that the Congress had no desire to go ahead with the Bofors case, when it came too uncomfortably close to higher-ups within it," a resolution adopted at the CPI National Executive meeting said. Deliberating on the meeting's proceedings, CPI general secretary A B Bardhan said they felt that the government "dragged its feet, intervened frequently and brazenly in the entire process, did everything to weaken the case so that it cannot stand the scrutiny of the courts in India and abroad". "It has now shamelessly decided to drop it altogether. This exposes Congress government's will to fight corruption," he added. The government has recently informed the Supreme Court that it has decided to withdraw case against Italian Businessmen Ottavio Quattrocchi.

Over three lakh cases of swine flu reported worldwide: WHO

Swine flu cases worldwide crossed the 3 lakh-mark even as health officials continued to seek ways and means to contain the spread of the disease. Already 3.19 lakh people have been affected across the globe due to the H1N1 virus which causes swine flu and a total of 3,917 deaths have been reported from 191 countries. According to latest data of Union Health Ministry, India has reported 10,378 cases of H1N1 influenza cases and 328 deaths from the infection. The WHO Global Influenza Surveillance report said over one lakh people have tested positive in North and South America, where over 2,948 deaths have been reported. This is followed by the Western Pacific region with over 85,299 people testing positive for the virus and more than 300 deaths being reported from there, WHO said. The third most affected area is European countries with over 53,000 people already testing positive for H1N1 virus and 154 deaths reported from there. It is followed by the South-East Asian region. Nearly 30,293 positive cases and 340 deaths have been reported from different countries in this region. The Eastern Mediterranean has reported 11,621 positive swine flu cases along with 72 deaths there followed by Africa where 8,264 positive cases and 41 deaths have been registered. A finding by the WHO also suggest that the pandemic flu virus, H1N1, continued to be the dominant one in the atmosphere. Between April 19 and September 12, pandemic H1N1 virus was the dominant virus in the atmosphere. On an average, the pandemic A (H1N1) accounted for 60.6 per cent of all flu detections in northern hemisphere and southern hemisphere, according to the finding..