Book on IHK’s natural resources released

Monday, 24 December 2012

Srinagar, Dec 24 : Justice (retd) B A Kirmani said in order to achieve self- reliance there is urgent need to explore and tap natural resources which are in abundance in held Kashmir.

 “It was unfortunate that Kashmir despite being rich in the treasures of natural resources was in a bad condition for want of day to day commodities and civic amenities like electricity,” he said at the release of a book "Natural Resources of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh" authored by Dr Mir Nazim Hussain and Mir Ashiq Hussain at auditorium of S P College here.

 He blamed people and government equally for what he termed as devastation of natural resources.

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Thieves on prowl in Zakura, Batpora

Srinagar, Dec 24 : Thieves decamped with goods worth lakhs of rupees from a garment shop at Zakura crossing last night.
 Reports said the thieves broke shutters of the shop Wearhouse and decamped with garments worth lakhs of rupees.

 Meanwhile in the same area, three LPG gas cylinders were stolen from two residential houses at Jeelanabad and Batpora in Hazratbal on December 12 and 13 respectively.

 Among the three LPG gas cylinders two belonged to Ghulam Rasool Wadoo and another to Ghulam Rasool Wani were stolen by thieves.

 “We have lodged complaint with the concerned police station. We make a fervent appeal to SSP Srinagar to look into the matter and nab the accused at the earliest to restore sense of security in the area,” he said.

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Infant deaths shock Baramulla

Baramulla, Dec 24 : Death of two infants in the newly set up Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) in district hospital Baramulla has sent shockwaves in this occupied Kashmir town.

Two neonates died after the hospital authorities failed to provide the electricity to the SNCU unit for 4 hours.

Sources said that two women hailing from Sheeri and Dardpora Baramulla gave birth to two babies. “The new born babies were suffering from asphyxia and the hospital authorities decided to place them under observation in the SNCU,” they added.

 Grief stricken parents of the neonates told Greater Kashmir that the electricity of the SNCU went off and the hospital authorities did not bother to start the generator for at least four hours leading the death of both the neonates.

“Despite our repeated pleas to start the generator the on duty officials remained unmoved. Both the infants died due to the acute hypothermia” said Tariq Ahmed father of one of the infants.
 “We saw our babies dying in front of our eyes. The two doctors deployed for the night duty did not bother to visit the ward. Where were they? Why paramedics of the unit did not inform the on duty doctors” questioned Tariq.

 While demanding stern action against the hospital authorities parents and relatives of the infants lodged a strong protest and demanded immediate inquiry in to the incident.
 Repeated attempts to contact the Director Health, Chief Medical Officer Baramulla and the Block Medical Officer proved futile.

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China lets foreign sovereigns, central banks exceed $1 billion investment limit

Sunday, 23 December 2012

Shanghai, Dec 23 : China's foreign exchange regulator has removed the $1 billion limit for foreign sovereign wealth funds, central banks and monetary authorities buying Chinese assets through the Qualified Institutional Investor Programme (QFII).

The new regulations, published on the website of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE), did not specify a new top limit, merely that the funds can apply to invest over $1 billion.

The policy is aimed at sovereign wealth funds like Qatar Holdings and the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, both of which have already been approved to invest up to $1 billion each through QFII.

SAFE will retain the right to approve or deny individual applications on a case-by-base basis.

Chinese regulators have said in the past that facilitating increased foreign investment in Chinese assets will help restore confidence in China's stock markets, which have declined by over 60 percent since November 2007.

But the total amount of foreign money allowed to enter the domestic stock market remains small, and the new rules do not increase it.

Combined foreign investment in China's stock market accounts for only 1 percent of total market capitalization.

The overall net quota for the QFII programme remains at its current $80 billion, of which SAFE has only allocated $36 billion for use by QFII funds as of November 30.

Foreign appetite for Chinese equities has shown some signs of increase in recent months, especially in Hong Kong, but the weak performance of stock-focused QFII funds - and complaints about high fee structures - has dampened appetite. (GRAPHIC: Comparison of QFII fund performances in China.

To drum up additional interest, Chinese regulators, including officials from the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, went on an overseas tour in September to advocate for Chinese equities and QFII in particular.

The new regulations also relax restrictions on the ability of funds to remit principal and income from investments, but made no further clarifications as to how China will tax QFII profits, an area of enduring uncertainty for QFII investors.

Chinese stock markets had their biggest single-day jump since 2009, which some analysts attributed to expectations of further relaxation of rules on foreign investment in stocks.

Others, however, offered alternative explanations for the unusual jump, such as behind-the-scenes share buybacks by state-owned entities trying to engineer a rebound for the end of the year.


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