VAT regime kicks in from today
New Delhi: Twenty states switch over to the new Value Added Tax regime from today despite a storm of protest from the trading community.

Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and five BJP-ruled states of Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh are not introducing VAT in the present form.

After June, the VAT panel will assess the progress of the new tax regime and will review some of the rates.

Meanwhile, the Confederation of All India Traders has said that their agitation will continue.
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Pawar: India and China to enhance cooperation in agriculture
Beijing: India and China have started working on a key bilateral agreement to enhance cooperation in the agriculture sector, Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said after concluding his official visit to China.

He termed his discussions with the Chinese side as successful and productive and said officials of both countries have started working on a bilateral agreement, which could be signed "at an appropriate time".

Pawar, who held in-depth talks with his Chinese counterpart Du Qinglin suggested that since both India and China had their strong as well as weak points, it would be beneficial for both countries to enhance cooperation so that they could be mutually beneficial.

For instance, Pawar noted India was ahead of China in terms of agricultural production. However, China is way ahead in terms of per hectare yield.

Pawar, whose visit came prior to Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's scheduled state visit to India from April 9-12, also conveyed greetings from the Indian leadership to Wen.
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Tenth Plan: Mid-term review lays stress on agricultural growth
New Delhi: The mid-term review of the 10th Plan (2002-07) has stressed the revival of agricultural growth and the rejuvenation of the farm support system. It has pointed out that achieving a GDP growth rate of eight per cent was critically dependant on achieving higher growth rates in agriculture.

The average rate of growth in the 10th Plan is likely to be below seven per cent, well short of the 8.1-per cent target, admits the review.

Stressing for improved support systems in extension, credit and the delivery systems of inputs such as seeds, fertilisers and veterinary services, the review will call for developing private sector alternatives, apart from strengthening the existing public sector network.

The report calls for prioritising schemes on rehabilitating existing irrigation systems, ground water development through back-ended subsidy schemes, artificial recharge of ground water and "inclusion of command area development works as part of major/medium projects". The total cost of this effort is estimated at around Rs1,10,000 crore and the Central share up to the end of 11th Plan period could be around Rs23,000 crore.

To find additional resources for these schemes, the report has suggested linking the existing FFW (Food for Work) and SGRY (Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana) programmes and the new Backward Regions Grant Fund, to ensure that at least in the 150 or so districts covered by these programmes, projects related to irrigation and water management receive priority.

In other districts, the AIBP (Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme) and the RIDF (Rural Infrastructure Development Fund) schemes should be used to focus on irrigation and water management programmes, and the AIBP should be further enhanced for this purpose.

According to the mid-term review, completing nine ongoing mega irrigation projects (in West Bengal, Rajasthan, Bihar, Punjab, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra) will cost about Rs27,700 crore.
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Inflation dips further to 5.11 per cent
New Delhi: Cheaper primary articles, including food and non-food items, and cooking gas pushed inflation further down to 5.11 per cent during the week ended March 19.

The point-to-point Wholesale Price Index (WPI) inflation fell by 0.12 per cent from the previous week's level of 5.23 per cent despite costlier vegetables. It stood at 4.53 per cent in the year-ago period.

The WPI, however, stood unchanged at the previous week's level of 189.1 points with heavy-weighted manufactured items becoming costlier. It was 179.9 points in the year-ago period.

Government revised upwards inflation to 5.43 per cent during the week ended January 22 as against the provisional estimate of 5.37 per cent. WPI stood corrected at 188.5 points during the third week of January as against provisional figure of 188.4 points.

After remaining unchanged in the previous two weeks, the index for Fuel, Power, Light and Lubricants' group declined by 0.7 per cent to 287 points mainly due to six per cent fall in the prices of LPG and two per cent for bitumen even as prices rose for lubricants (five per cent) and naphtha (four per cent). The index was 262.6 points in the year-ago period.

Manufactured Products' group index was up 0.2 per cent to 168.6 points due to costlier beverages, tobacco, textiles, paper, chemicals, basic metals, machinery and transport parts. The index was 161.2 points in the previous year period.
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European patent office revokes neem patent
New Delhi: The European Patent Office has found it fit to cancel the patent on the Indian 'neem' tree which it had issued to a US multinational. The patent office had originally issued the patent to the US chemicals multinational W R Grace in 1994.

However, when they came under pressure with charges of bio-piracy from various environmental activists including Indians like Vandana Shiva, the patent office decided to withdraw it.

The dispute started more than 15 years ago on December 12, 1990 when W R Grace and the US government filed a European patent application for the 'neem' tree with the EPO.
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