Tuesday, November 23, 1999
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B U S I N E S S | Tuesday, November 23, 1999 |
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Patents
to trigger North-South rumpus |
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Honda floats new unit for
scooters
Seminar for CEOs |
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Patents to
trigger North-South rumpus A MAJOR row is threatening to break out at the opening of the World Trade Organisation’s talks in Seattle next week over the patenting of the genetic make-up of plants and animals to develop new drugs. The USA and Europe insist that corporations should be allowed to patent all plants and animals despite existing international laws and understandings which provide for protection of natural resources. India, Malaysia, Zimbabwe and other African and Latin American countries have accused the US and Europe of “bio-piracy’’. The Indians are particularly worried because US and European corporations have started to patent their traditional herbal medicines. In heated backroom talks in Geneva designed to iron out differences before the inter-governmental meeting, Mike Moore, the head of the organisation responsible for setting the world’s trading laws, is reported to have dismissed developing countries’ objections by saying that the WTO overrides all other international treaties. The US/EU proposals would force all countries to broaden their patenting laws, but the developing countries are resisting strongly. They say that patents on all life forms should be excluded from the negotiations of the Trade Related Intellectual Property (Trips) agreement, which is scheduled for renegotiation in the talks. If that is not possible, they argue that patents should be excluded for products and processes based on traditional knowledge. The gap between the two blocs is now extreme with the US and Europe responding that wider patents will improve health care and stimulate wealth. More than 500 non-governmental groups from more than 50 countries have written to President Clinton urging the USA to temper its patenting demands. They are not likely to succeed because the powerful US biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries have long wanted global patenting laws based on the American model. The problem which the USA must overcome is that the patenting proposals clash with other international laws. Another sticking point is agriculture, with the rich countries trying to force a further opening up of markets to their goods. The developing world, say India and others, must be allowed to protect and support their farmers up to the point of self-sufficiency. Prospects for the Seattle talks setting an agreed agenda are not considered high. “I have never seen such confusion in 21 years of international talks,’’ says trade analyst Chakrabathi Raghavan in Geneva. Meanwhile a British poll
suggests that the public has no idea what the WTO is.
Only 4 per cent of 1,000 people polled by NOP knew that
the WTO was responsible for trade rules. One person
thought international trade was governed by FIFA, the
world football cup organisers. — The
Guardian |
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LAHORE, Nov 22 (ANI) — Pakistan’s military government is seriously considering a proposal to declare the absconding bank defaulters as “absconders of the nation,” besides placing head money on those who have fled the country to avoid accountability. The military government has already arrested 32 major bank defaulters and launched a hunt for many others, some of whom are believed to have fled the country. In all, 300 defaulters have been short-listed for the arrest. Around 50 of them, who owe over Rs 50 billion to banks and DFIs, have already fled the country. The government is presently weighing various proposals to get hold of the absconding defaulters, especially those “who {after looting the national wealth} are now sipping their cognac in the French Riviera abroad.” Authoritative sources in the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) said that the “absconder of the nation” idea, primarily meant to get hold of the white-collar criminals, has all the potential to be given a practical shape. The proposal is being given serious thought by the NAB high-ups and may be materialised in the near future, once cleared by Chief Executive General Pervez Musharraf. As a first step, the proposal asks for preparing a list of all those who have ever looted the national wealth and made fortunes beyond their means. As a second step, their names will be advertised with a brief history of every absconder along with details of the assets. The proposal then says that the accused should be given some time to submit reply for contesting the case, after which, the general public should be asked to add or give more evidence. Later, liability will be fixed and established {the absconding person has to be the citizen of Pakistan}. The proposal says: “Once the case is ready against the absconder, make a format for warrant of arrest and recovery of liabilities against the absconder {anywhere in the world}. Make a seal of the 140 million people of Pakistan, affix it on each warrant and declare the absconding person as ‘absconder of the nation’.” The proposal says that
it will be a new concept as Western countries have less
respect for army rule and they can simply refuse to
cooperate. “But they will be bound by democratic
values to cooperate even with a military government the
moment they will come to know that it is a popular voice
by the 140 million people of Pakistan who have
established liability against the absconder.” |
Are
genetic foods safe? Ask Monsanto THE confrontation between the biotechnology industry and the environmental lobby is one of the most surprising and telling cultural struggles of the late 20th century. It is decidedly not over but the first round has gone — against all expectations — to the greens. The story of how that battle was won says a lot about the state of the earth at the cusp of a new century. The forward drive of technological innovation no longer looks quite so irresistible, and the subversive potential of the Internet has emerged as a powerful brake on the advance of globalism. It all looked very different in 1996, when the European Union first approved the import of genetically modified (GM) foods. The huge US biotechnology companies, Monsanto and DuPont, had already conquered America. The complaints of the professional ecologists, Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, seemed puny and marginal, they were seen as cranky Luddites against the sheer corporate muscle of the industry. The respected US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had given its approval to the marketing of GM crops, while US environmental groups could only mutter in disapproval, obliged to acknowledge it was unable to prove that genetically engineered food was at all harmful. US farms were well on the way towards a total swing to biotech agriculture. By last year, over half of all soybean acreage planted was GM, as were a third of all the country’s cornfields. Although most of the population was oblivious or indifferent or both, just about every processed food that Americans consumed contained GM ingredients. This silent revolution made the market leader, Monsanto, the most profitable agro-industrial corporation on the planet, with enough money to hire former senior members of the Clinton administration to smooth its way through Washington. The $8bn company had — so it appeared — realised the dream of its president, Robert Shapiro, of creating a totally new form of industry: life sciences. It was an industry of the future, which would use its mastery of genetics to mould new generations of crops, drugs, chemicals and industrial materials to suit the needs of the world’s burgeoning population. It has not quite worked out like that. Monsanto’s fall has been as sudden as Shapiro’s dream was lofty. Its stock price has slumped and there were reports last week that the company could be broken up or sold off by the end of the year. European consumers proved far less willing than their American counterparts to trust in the wisdom of the authorities, especially in the wake of the mad cow disease outbreaks and a string of other food scares. Newspaper coverage in Europe has also been far less reverent than in America, where many science correspondents had been converted by industry lobbyists. The European coverage of GM, by contrast, varied from cautious questioning to frenzied panic over “Frankenstein Foods”. Last month, a pale and humbled Shapiro went before his arch-foes in Greenpeace to apologise for his vaulting ambitions. “Our confidence in this technology and our enthusiasm for it has, I think, been widely seen — and understandably so — as condescension or indeed arrogance,” he confessed. It was clear that Europe would prove a tougher nut to crack than the US market. Consumer suspicions had been raised by the British mad-cow fiasco, and the import or cultivation of GM foods without more comprehensive testing was under fire. For the time being, the rush towards a genetically modified diet has been slowed to a more cautious pace. It has been, Rifkin argues, a cultural victory for Europe, where food, cuisine and culture are intertwined, over America, where food is just another commodity. —
The Guardian |
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SINGAPORE, Nov 22 (DPA) — A millionaire banker is celebrating his 91st birthday by offering everyone in Singapore who is over 90 and still active a gift of 1,000 Singapore dollars (700 US dollars). Tan Chin Tuan’s present was announced yesterday at the launching of senior citizens’ week and the celebration of his birthday. Chew Gek Khim, grand-daughter of the former Chairman of the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation (OCBC) Bank, said Tan came up with the idea “as a celebration of life.” She told The Straits Times her grandfather takes a broad view of activity and anyone who is “active” in the family or even in a home for the elderly would qualify. There are no official figures on the number of people over 90 in the city state, although the 1990 census found 27,099 people aged 80 and above. Chew said Tan reads the newspapers, keeps abreast of recent developments in politics and has an active mind. “He constantly
surprises me,” she was quoted as saying. “He
still overseas his own group of private investment
companies.”
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Honda
floats new unit for scooters NEW DELHI, Nov 22 — The Honda Motor Company (HMC) of Japan today said its proposed independent venture, Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India Private Limited, will manufacture scooters only to prevent overlapping with its joint venture, Hero Honda Motors Limited (HHML). “The new company will initially manufacture scooter for a period of five years and later motorcycles” , Senior Managing Director of HMC, Mr K. Suzuki told reporters here today After five years both the companies will be at liberty to foray into any segment of two wheeler market in the country. The manufacturing facility of the proposed new subsidiary will be located somewhere near Delhi, and is expected to roll out the first models in mid-2001. Sources said that the facility is likely to be established in Haryana. “Both the companies have taken certain decisions to sufficiently safeguard the interest success of existing joint ventures”, Chairman and Managing Director of HHML, Mr Brijmohan Lall Munjal said. Director of HHML Pawan
Kant Munjal said that the company plans to invest Rs 300
crore over the next three years in capacity expansion and
launch of new models. |
Oswal
forms trust for cyclone victims CHANDIGARH, Nov 22 — A Rs 200 crore rehabilitation plan spanning over five years has been mooted by Mr Abhey Oswal, Chairman, Oswal Chemicals & Fertilizers Ltd, for the rehabilitation of Orissa cyclone victims. The Aurna-Abhey Oswal Trust, formed on November18, will spend Rs 40 crore annually to help the cyclone victims through various rehabilitation schemes such as establishment of hospitals and medical facilities, educational institutions for women and children, drinking water, dwelling units for widows, and creation of a wide array of self-employment avenues. The company has so far distributed eatables, clothings, medicines and other sanitation materials worth Rs 10 crore. The trust will generate a corpus of Rs 200 crore over the next five years and negotiate with banks for loans to the victims for self-employment schemes involving another Rs 800 crore. The beneficiaries will cover fishermen, taxi owners, rickshaw pullers and the farming community at large. The production at the
Paradeep factory of Oswal Chemicals & Fertilisers Ltd
is expected to start production from January 2000. |
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NEW DELHI, Nov 22 (PTI)
— The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has
entrusted an agency to conduct a study on agricultural
taxation and explore widening of the tax base which is
slated to touch 30 million by 2001. “We have
entrusted an agency to carry out a study on taxing
agricultural income in the years to come to give a
positive movement in that direction”, the Chairman
of Board of Direct Taxes, Ravi Kant told a seminar on
“Direct Tax Reforms” here. |
Seminar
for CEOs LUDHIANA, Nov 22 — “To keep pace with the fast changing, cross-cultural environment, the human resource management has assumed an important role for creating learning organisations. Most important insights and ideas come from looking outside one’s immediate environment”, said Mr Sachit Jain, Chairman, Textile Sub Committee, CII (Northern region) at a day long seminar on human resource HR practices in the textile industry here the other day. The objective of the programme was to enable CEOs/Directors from the textile industries participating in the seminar to re-look into their business practices to meet the rising global competition. It was conducted by Mr
Ganesh Shermon, President, Human Resource Management,
Arvind Mills Ltd., and Mr Neelesh Hundekari, Principal
Consultant, HRM Consulting group Limited. Mr H.R. Singal,
Chairman, CII, Ludhiana zonal council, also spoke. Over
75 representatives from the textile industry attended the
sessions. |
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