SAIL to Set Up 6 Million In झारखण्ड

The media had reports that Steel Authority Of India Ltd. may set up a 6 million tonne greenfield steel plant in Jharkhand, with an investment of Rs 18,000 crore.
The Exchange, in order to verify the accuracy or otherwise of the information reported in the media and to inform the market place so that the interest of the investors is safeguarded, had written to the officials of the company.
Steel Authority Of India Ltd. has vide its letter inter-alia stated, "The subject of setting up of green field steel plants has been talked in the context of projected growth plan to increase its capacity upto 24 MT by 2010. In the line with the market prospect beyond 2010, SAIL is planning further growth at existing locations as well as at its new locations. The amount of such investments has not been finalized. Growth at new locations is also being planned at green field sites. One such project being conceptualized, is in the state of Jharkhand. For the same, a technical consultant, M/s MECON is being appointed to prepare a feasibility report to identify the proper location and its feasibility. It is estimated that capacity of such plant will be in the range of 6 MT initially to be expanded further. The final decision will be taken after availability of report from the consultant." -- www.nseindia.com

http://www.huliq.com/15887/steel-authority-of-india-set-up-6-million-in-jharkhand

Jharkhand’s new land acquisition policy by April

The Jharkhand government plans to come out with a new industrial and rehabilitation policy in April.
'The industrial and rehabilitation and resettlement (R and R) policy draft has almost been completed and will be announced by the second week of April,' Deputy Chief Minister -who also holds the industry portfolio- Sudhir Mahto informed the House.
Jharkhand currently has no R and R policy and the industrial policy that was announced in August 2002 has already lapsed.
The government signed 64 MoUs in the last six years. Seven companies (Jharkhand Ispat Limited, Neelachal Iron and Power Limited, Adhunik Alloys and Power Limited, Balaji Industrial Product Limited, Kohinoor Steel, Balabh Steel and Anandita Traders) purchased land and started production work by setting up industries in the state. Of the 26 companies that applied for land, 10 applications have been sent to the district administration to arrange for the land.
To translate the MoUs into reality, the state government has to acquire more than 100,000 acres of land.
Jharkhand is drafting a lucrative R and R policy to attract landowners and convince them to voluntarily part with their plots to facilitate industrialization. Land acquisition has emerged as a major bottleneck.
'Many changes have been made in the previous industrial policy. The previous one talked about incentives to investors who will pump Rs.500 million into the state. Now we have investors who are ready to pump a billion rupees at one go. The incentive level has been changed,' an industry department official said.
He added: 'The new industrial policy has been drafted considering the competition among the Indian states to attract investors.
' The state government has plans to go for industrialisation in every part of state, Mahto said when some MLAs asked why only some areas of the state were marked for industrialization. He also assured the house about the efforts to reopen the Japla cement factory in Palamau.
In Jharkhand, 20 percent of the population was displaced over major industrial projects, including those of the Tata Steel, the Bokaro Steel Plant and the Heavy Engineering Corporation besides coal mining and other projects.

India's Uranium Nightmare - eg. UCIL's Dec.24th accident

"India's Uranium Nightmare : The Indo-U.S. nuclear deal may be considered groundbreaking and historic by many in India and the United States, but this euphoria must not shroud the misery of thousands of people suffering the effects of uranium mining in India due to poor technical and management practices in existing mines. " -interesting article you can read- on: http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_article.html?article_id=eddfd0ee7d4d11c2bb907e93ed1a9d15&from=rss

Sinosteel to sign an MoU with the Jharkhand Government

Sinosteel India Pvt Ltd, ( http://en.sinosteel.com ) a wholly owned subsidiary of Sinosteel Corporation, is likely to set up a 5-million tonnes steel plant in Jharkand. The company expects to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Jharkhand by May-end. Hongsen Wang, MD, Sino steel India said that the company has already discussed its plans with Jharkhand chief minister and the state chief secretary.The production capacity of the plant will be 1.5 million tones initially, which will be increased to 3 million tonnes within 3 years and to 5 million tones within 5 years, once the plant starts functioning.
The plant is likely to come up around Jamshedpur. However, the company is likely to set up the plant any where in Jharkhand depending upon the allocation of land by the Jharkhand government. The company will initially invest $500 million.
Sinosteel India is also in talks with the West Bengal government to set up a metallurgical and engineering equipment plant in Haldia, West Bengal. For the Haldia project, the company will invest $30 million.

Opium Cultivation in Jharkhand

Anti-narcotic agencies have come across evidence indicating that opium cultivation is being taken up in a big way in Jharkhand (particularly in areas where naxalities have been taking "control").
Agencies have found that new areas are being tilled for opium poppy cultivation at places like Chatra, Pakur, Hazaribagh, Palamu and Latehar in Jharkhand. Not long ago enforcement agencies came across large illicit opium poppy fields in Pakur and Chatra, which were subsequently destroyed. Opium from such areas supplied as raw material to indigenous heroin manufacturers, including those based in Uttar Pradesh.
These findings have led the agencies to believe that under the "protection" of naxalites, opium is being cultivated in huge quantities in areas under their influence."As the murky business fetches easy and huge sums of money, naxalites too have no problems with it," said an official, adding that there are satellite images available with the enforcement agencies proving that opium poppy fields do exist in the naxal-affected areas.
Investigations have revealed that instead of supplying raw opium to heroin manufacturers the growers convert it into morphine, the base material for heroin. "Transporting opium in huge quantities would be a cumbersome process. So, they first convert it into morphine and then smuggle it out," said the official.
There are strong indications that several heroin manufacturers from Uttar Pradesh -- who earlier depended on the opium grown in the State -- have begun procuring morphine originating from these areas. One of the reasons behind such a shift is that the authorities concerned have enforced 40 per cent cut down on the total licit opium production in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. Also, enforcement agencies have mounted pressure on farmers possessing licence to grow opium to abstain from illicit cultivation.
These factors have led to a significant decline in the pilferage of opium for heroin manufacturers. In a way, officials feel, this would give a boost to opium production in areas under the influence of naxalites. As a result, heroin manufacturers in Uttar Pradesh who earlier set up labs close to areas producing opium are now exploring "virgin" locations for the purpose as they are procuring the raw material from somewhere else. "Delhi is both the destination and the transit point for the heroin originating from Uttar Pradesh," the official added.
Adding to the problem, anti-narcotic agencies have found that in areas where poppy seeds used to be grown traditionally along the Jharkhand-West Bengal border -- Purulia, Bankura, Mednapur and Murshidabad -- farmers are now being introduced to opium cultivation for heroin production. Earlier the cultivation used to be of "benign" nature. Now that several parts of Chhattisgarh have come under the influence of the naxalites, anti-narcotic agencies suspect that it has provided yet another opportunity to illicit opium cultivators.

Work out in Mahato killing

Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda has expressed hope that the case of slain MP Sunil Mahato will be soon worked out by the CBI. CBI probe has been recommednded by the Jharkhand government for early work out in the case.
Justifying their decision to kill Sunil Mahato, the Maoists said that the JMM MP was turning out to be an obstacle to the naxals in the region.
West Bengal Secretary of the CPI (Maoist) Somen has said that the decision to kill Mahato was taken at a very senior level in 2003. It was to stop Mahato from raising a Salwajudam-like militia.Somen also said that Mahato was planning to enact Lango-like incident, where villagers killed 14 Maoists in 2003.
State police have arrested ten suspects in connection with the killing and have intensified their combing operations.

Enraged cricket lovers in Jamshedpur & Ranchi

Enraged cricket lovers in Jamshedpur took to the streets and burnt effigies of Indian players today following India’s shock defeat over Bangladesh in their world cup opener।The fans shouted slogans against team India players for their poor show and asked the BCCI to call back the team.

In Ranchi cricket fans damaged महेन्द्र सिंह धोनी 's under-construction house on Sunday.
Around two hundred fans under the banner of the Jharkhand Yuva Morcha (JYM) attacked the house in the Harmu housing colony. JYM is the youth wing of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM), which is part of Jharkhand's ruling alliance.
The house was being built on 4,000 square feet of land, costing around Rs 50 lakh, gifted to the player by former Jharkhand chief minister Arjun Munda.
The angry protesters burnt an effigy of the player and shouted slogans "Dhoni Murdabad" (Down with Dhoni) and demanded that the land gifted to him be taken back.
Police have meanwhile provided security at the Dhoni family's home in the Mecon housing colony.

Scholarships to XLRI, Jamshedpur Students

Bharti Foundation, the Corporate Social Responsibility arm of Bharti Enterprises, today awarded scholarships to two students from XLRI Jamshedpur under the 'Bharti Scholarship Scheme'. Abhishek Mall and Sandeep Agarwal from XLRI Jamshedpur received their first scholarship cheque from Mr. M. D. Prasad, Vice President (Operations) Bihar & Jharkhand, Bharti Airtel Ltd.
According to Fr. Casimir Raj, Director, XLRI School of Business and Human Resources, "Corporate Social Responsibility has emerged as one of the key pillars of corporate strategy and Bharti Airtel's initiatives in this regard are truly commendable. Education is a great enabler and initiatives like these are bound to foster an appetite for knowledge and management experience amongst budding professionals."

Jharkhand to raise SPG for VIP Security

The Jharkhand government has decided to raise a Special Protection Group (SPG) to provide security cover to the politicians, bureaucrats & VIPs on the Maoist hit list.
Chief Minister Madhu Koda announced the raising of SPG on Saturday, March 18 in Jamshedpur while attending the last rituals for slain JMM MP Sunil Mahto (who was killed by suspected Maoist rebels on March 4).
“The state government is reviewing the security of VIPs in the state and it will be beefed up for those not adequately protected now” said Koda. Koda, however, did not divulge the kind of SPG the state will raise.

Tata Steel unit to buy rolling mills in Vietnam

Tata Steel Ltd's subsidiary NatSteel had agreed to buy controlling stake in two rolling mills in Vietnam for an enterprise value of around $41 million.NatSteel would acquire 100 per cent of SSE Steel Ltd and 70 per cent of Vinausteel Ltd. The deals would give NatSteel an extra 430,000 tonnes in annual capacity and are expected to be completed by June.

Jharkhand Shuts Down- JMM Bandh

The anger in Jharkhand over the gunning down of Mahato hit the streets and the highways.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha called a statewide bandh on Monday, 5th of March in protest against the gunning down of its Lok Sabha MP Sunil Mahato. The bandh was a dawn- to-dusk shutdown. All parties (Congress, BJP, CPI(M), CPI, RJD, AJSU and LJP ) extended support to the bandh.
The bandh, which began amidst tight security, was incident-free except some stray incidents of stone-throwing and blocking of roads at various places in the State, including Gamariah, where Mahato's residence is situated. Emergency services like hospitals and water services were exempted from the bandh.Traffic on the Ranchi-Jamshedpur, Ranchi-Patna & Kolkata-Delhi highways was brought to a standstill. Train services in some parts of the state were also hit with JMM workers sitting on the tracks.In Jamshedpur, JMM workers burnt tyres and blocked roads. JMM and Congress workers raised slogans against Naxals. “It is an irreparable loss to the party,” said deputy chief minister Sudhir Mahto.

Jamshedpur MP Sunil Mahato Shot Dead

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) Member of Parliament (MP) Sunil Mahato on March 4 bore all the elements of a typical Maoist 'surprise attack'. Mahato was the chief guest at the prize distribution ceremony of the tournament, held in the memory Santosh Mahato of Nagrik Suraksha Samiti, an outfit backed by the administration to combat extremism — who was killed by Maoists a few months ago. As the 41-year old MP watched a football match on the eve of Holi at Bakuria village (near Ghatshila-40Kms. from Jamehedpur- in Jharkhand's East Singhbhum district) cadres of the Communist Party of India-Maoist (CPI-Maoist) numbering around 40-45, including women members, who were already present among the spectators came from behind the pandal where Mahto was sitting. While some of them walked up to the unsuspecting MP under the pretext of garlanding him, the others shot him with the weapons they had snatched from his bodyguards.

The rebels pumped around fourteen rounds into Mahto’s chest and abdomen from point blank range. The MP was killed on the spot along with two bodyguards (Deep Raj and Sahdeo Raj Shastri) while one of his party colleagues (Prabhakar Mahato- block secretary of JMM) died on way to the Tata Main Hospital. Another party colleague succumbed to his injuries subsequently. The rebels raised slogans before leaving with four INSAS rifles and ammunition looted from the guards. They also punctured & torched the MP’s vehicle.

The bodies of Mahto and the two bodyguards were taken to the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital, Jamshedpur for post mortem.
The shootings took place around 6 in the evening.
Mahto, a first-time MP, represented Jamshedpur constituency and was also the party General Secretary. He had a strong mass base in the region. He had defeated BJP’s then sitting M.P. Abha Mahato by more than one lakh votes in the last Lok Sabha election.
His wife Suman and two daughters survive him.
The CPI-Maoist on March 6 claimed responsibility for the killing by putting up handwritten posters in the villages of Hadia and Lango areas under the jurisdiction of Ghorabandha police station far from the site of the killings, thus arousing suspicions that Mahato could have been the victim of his personal rivalry with the Mafia, not the Maoists. The posters, however, claimed that Mahato had instigated villagers at Lango to kill 11 Maoists, and further that Mahato was killed for two reasons: for telling contractors not to pay 'tax' to the Maoists; and, for supporting the anti-Maoist movement being led by the Nagrik Suraksha Samiti-NSS/Nasus (Citizens Defence Committee) in East Singhbhum and West Singhbhum districts. The posters declared: "He instigated innocent tribals. He asked them to kill us with arrows. We killed him with bullets."
Unlike the Jharkhand government, which preferred an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the killing, the union government was convinced of the fact that the act was the handiwork of the Maoists. Union home secretary, V.K. Duggal, stated on March 5, "Apparently, it looks like retaliatory action because as a key functionary of the Nagarik Suraksha Samiti, Mahato had been raising his voice against Naxals." The union minister of home affairs, Shivraj Patil, in a suo moto statement in the Rajya Sabha on May 6, before the Maoist posters claimed responsibility for the killing, provided a vivid description of Mahato's assassination. He also spoke of the customary reinforcements, 'sealing' of borders and combing operations to nab the culprits.
It is, however, nobody's belief that Mahato's killers would actually be caught. There is even less faith that the unlikely event of their arrest could dent the reign of the Maoists in Jharkhand.

Founder's Day Celebrations-3rd March

Fireworks and a dazzling illumination of Jubilee Park in Jamshedpur kick started Founder's Day celebrations at the Tata Steel plant in Jamshedpur on Saturday, 3rd March 2007. Chairman Ratan Tata was in Jamshedpur on the occasion of Founder’s Day (168th birth anniversary of Jamshedji Tata, the founder of the Tata Group).
This year it is a special occasion particularly after Tata's recent $12 billion acquisition of Anglo-Dutch steel company Corus. In fact, a team from Corus, including its Chairman Jim Leng, was in Jamshedpur to participate in the celebrations.
Dr J.J. Irani, Director of Tata Sons & Tata Steel; Mr B. Muthuraman, Managing Director of Tata Steel; Dr T. Mukherjee, Deputy Managing Director (Steel) and Mr A.N. Singh, Deputy Managing Director (Corporate services) among others paid homage to the founder of the company, Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata, at the latter's statue within the steel works.
Tata Steel is also celebrating its centenary year this year.