Seafood Sector To Meet In Chennai On January 2014

The Marine Products Export Development Authority (MPEDA), under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India, in association with the Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI) is organizing the 19th edition of India International Seafood Show (IISS) at Chennai Trade Centre, Chennai, India from 10th - 12th January 2014.

IISS is the oldest and largest seafood event in Asia, providing a platform for manufacturers and suppliers of processing machinery, packaging systems, certifications, processing ingredients, cold chain system, logistics etc. to showcase their products along with technical sessions delivered by world renowned experts on the latest technological developments in this industry.

This time, MPEDA enhanced an overseas as well as domestic participation with 75% of space sold out by end of September 2013. As on date, 306 stalls and 1000 delegates have registered for the show. Exhibitors from USA, China, Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Argentina etc. are going to make their presence felt in IISS 2014. 50% participants are exporters of marine products, 25% are from the manufacturers / suppliers of equipment/ machinery and refrigeration. The rest is covered by aquaculture sector, packaging, ingredient/chemical manufacturers, Government agencies, labs, logistics etc.

With only 30 days for the show, few stalls that are available will be allotted on first come - first served basis. It is pertinent to note that the marine products exports for the last two quarters (April to September 2013) has shown a quantum jump of 39 % in Rupee terms and 28% in Dollar terms, compared to same period last year and if the trend continues, it will surpass the export target of USD 4.3 billion setting a new record in the history of marine exports.

More details and online registration/ booking are available in the event website, www.indianseafoodexpo.com

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Is Politics on Bills Mounting Pressure on Economy?

 

What exactly the health of Indian economy? Can you gauge the dept of the crisis that the Indian economy has been going through now?

These questions are obvious and meaningful, if any one asking you about the economy and its condition. The current circumstances are creating panic over downgrade economy, that really going through a bad patch.

The situation was bit quite different and healthy (personal opinion of the writer) as of 1991, where the road to economic reforms was exactly started. Now the situation has repeated the history, but the situation is dealing with different crisis.

It is not wrong to say that the stock markets were tumbled due the more domestic reasons than the euro debt crisis.  The governments has pushed many bills in to the lower house and those could be aiming the 2014 general elections.

But the bills like Food Security, Pension Bill, Land Acquisition Bill might not be in favor of the capitalist form of economy.  Bill might have affected adversely to the economy. And no doubt that in future these bill would help the people of India.

 Considering the current economic crisis the politics over the bill and introducing those in haste could be bring more shocks to the economy, which is already on a bad condition.  

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Samajwadi Party to Skip UPA II Dinner Party

Samajwadi Party, which extends outside support to UPA government, has decided not to attend the UPA II dinner party tonight. The dinner party is being hosted to celebrate the 4th anniversary of the UPA II government at the center; the Prime Minister would be meeting the key allies and supporters of UPA II government today evening at dinner.

The senior leader of Samajwadi Party Naresh Agarwaal said taht their leader would not attend the UPA II's 4th anniversary dinner party. The BSP Supreme Mayawati likely not to attend the party of UPA II, however there was no official confirmation over this from the party. The UPA government has completed the 4 years successful term at the centre for the second time.

The second term of the UPA government was full with scams and controversies; those gave opposition parties to grill the government on many issues. And this could be the major reason of Samajwadi Party boycotting the dinner party.



Some key allies in the UPA coalitions might not be happy with the scams and performance of the government in tackling those. The country will go for the mega polls next year and the parties have been started their implementing the strategies to reach their voters.

It is noteworthy that the Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav had strongly criticized the UPA government over the incursion of Chinese Amy into Ladhak region.  

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9 Subsidised LPG from April 2013: Govt

The government of India has hiked the number of subsidised LPG to nine from April 2013 from existing six per year on Thursday.

The meeting of Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) was held on Thursday, which gave its nod to increase the number of subsidised LPG cylinders per year.

The cabinet has also gave its nod for "small quantum" periodically hike in diesel price by oil companies.

From April 2013, the customers will get nine subsidised LPG cylinders per year.

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Direct Cash Transfer Scheme: Pros and Cons

The much awaited scheme of Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, Direct Benefits Transfers Scheme has been kicked off in 20 districts in India on Tuesday.

The number of districts has been reduced to 20 considering the difficulty in implementing the project, which demands high banking infrastructure and bank, Adhar cards of beneficiaries.

There will no change in the schemes for the direct cash transfer; rather there will be change in the method of payment to beneficiaries.

As a pilot project, the schemes like pension, scholarship and rural employment guarantee scheme beneficiaries having bank, Adhar cards will get direct cash transfer to their respective bank accounts.

The scheme has been criticised by various political parties including the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, terming a scheme to lure voters and to get mileage in the 2014 general election.

The big question rises, is the scheme of direct cash transfer launched in hurry? Since, most of the villages even lack banks and beneficiaries have no bank account, how the cash to be transferred and in what time it is going to achieve the complete set up.

For the current fiscal year, the government to pay the subsidies of around 1.8 lack crore for food, fertizer and fuel subsidies. The number of subsidies beneficiaries may be high in number count.

In practically, it is very hard to have that much infrastructure and administration to cop up with the proper implementation of the cash direct transfer scheme.

The major drawback would be the implementation of the direct cash transfer in the mega schemes related to food, fertilizer and fuel.

Food Subsidies

The implementation of direct cash transfer scheme in food subsidies seems very tough, keeping the clear view of the current Public Distribution System (PDS). Where beneficiaries or buyers need to pay the full price of the goods and then they would get their subsidy in form money into their bank accounts from the government.

Subsidies on Fertilizers

In move to help farmer, the subsidies on fertilizers helping farmers a lot. Once the scheme of direct cash transfer is being implemented for fertilizer subsidies, the farmers might need to pay the exact price of the fertilizer and then to get their subsidies into their accounts.

Fuel Subsidies

The implementation of direct cash transfer scheme in fuel subsidies would be a big challenge for the government. The cap on use of LPG gases for year has been criticised by the various political parties, as the people have been getting the privilege from many years. Similarly, household to pay the market price of the LPG gas cylinder and then to get the subsidies to their bank account. And it would be more difficult for the government to deal with Petrol and diesel price on subsidies rate, as commuters purchase and use.


The advantages of the direct cash transfer are it will check the middle man, corruption and wastage of time of beneficiaries. And on the flip side, it involves less transparency, big hurdle in handling bulk transfers, arranging a big infrastructure of banking and Adhar cards sound most impossible.

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Was Mid-day meals successful?

By Jyoti Parida

Food! Food! Food! What does it really mean? We can only understand the real meaning of food when we don’t get it. With empty stomachs nobody would be able to work. The schools that were opened for the poor children were always with a zero attendance. So government planned to keep the mid-day meals for poor children.

The main purpose of these meals is to provide them with hygienic food for stamina, physical strength and concentration to read. The government is not providing these meals to the poor children but to the future of the nation. Media across the country raised the many issues over the proper management of the mid-day meal at government schools. But hardly to there is any improvement since the programme launched.

But of the apathetic look the purpose of the mid-day meal progamme is till out of the realm of its actual target and poor students. There were many reports about the quality of the food is being served to students. And in some parts of the country the scheme is very successful.

Now, the question arises whether the pipeline that is formed between the government and the midday meals is already having a leak or is being leaked. The teachers and people associated with this scheme should come forward to achieve the aim of feeding poor children school those are leaving school to earn bread and butter for their family members by engaging themselves in labour work.

So many NGO’s are coming forward to provide better and healthy meals for these children. They are collecting funds by arranging big concerts performed by the celebrities and using it for a noble cause. Were ever they are being successful in there missions they have got a better result in the attendance of schools. Not only in the attendance but also academically well off.

There is a proverb “empty mind is devils workshop” similarly “empty stomach is devils workshop” and it really means. No one in this world can stay without food. So everyone should understand this proverb and help the children to come to schools for education so that one day India would also be counted in the list of higher percentile of literacy.

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Bharat bandh Today opposing Petrol Price Hike

Bharat bandh called on Thursday, May 31, 2012 by opposition parties opposing the hike in the petrol prices in India by the UPA government. This time the hike of petrol was not matter of one or two but around 7 rupees, the biggest hike in the price petrol in India.

Normal life affected in the country due to the strike, shops were closed and plying of vehicles completely stopped in many parts of the country including Odisha. In the capital of Odisha, Bubaneswar, there has been huger response to the strike. Many roads in the city were blocked and activists stopped commuters to reach their destination.

The strike by opposition parties including the BJP was called opposing the hike in the petrol price recently by the central government. The fall in the value of rupees against dollar in the international market made the crude costlier for the oil companies in importing oil from other countries.  

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National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in India

The proposal of National Counter-Terrorism Centre (NCTC) in India has been the hot talk in India of late. The proposal has been supported unconditionally by the Chief Minister of Assam Tarun Gogoi.

NCTC will be operational from March this year aiming to curb the terror acts. And it comprises the agencies like Intelligence Bureau's (IB) and Multi-Agency Centre (MAC).

The proposal from the UPA government has been opposed by non-Congress governments in Odisha, West Bengal, Gujarat and Bihar.

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Petrol Price to go up Again?

Business News: The petrol price in India might go up by 0.65 paise from this Friday following fall in the value of rupees against US Dollar. The costly Dollar made the imports costlier, which has big impact on Indian economy too. The oil companies in India reportedly got the approval from the government for the possible hike in the petrol price.

It will impact the household budget of common man in India, where they have to pay more for the petrol comparing to the other nations in the world. Recently, the oil companies have slashed the price of petrol by around Rs. 2 and now the again hike would be big blow for the people to pay for it.

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FDI in Indian Retail Market?

Business News: The recent move to allow foreign companies into Indian retail sector is the biggest move by the government so far in India. Recently, the government approved for the 51 per cent FDI in multi-brand retail.

This will allow the foreign companies to fight with the domestic big companies in the retail sector. However, according to media reports, major companies like - Aditya Birla Retail, Future Group and Reliance Retail welcomed the government's move to allow foreign companies in this sector.

Its good time for the FMCG customers that they are going to get foreign products in the local retail markets, however, some of the political parties have been opposing this move.

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