Thursday, November 8, 2012

Mardi 20 novembre 2012 - Parc des Expositions de Paris - Porte de Versailles - 17h15 - salle Uranus - Pavillon 2.3dans le cadre du Salon des maires et des collectivités locales
 LES ENJEUX DE LA LABELLISATION DES RISQUES POUR LES COLLECTIVITES TERRITORIALES  
  Aujourd’hui, les communes et EPCI ont des obligations en matière de prévention des risques. Cependant, la mise en œuvre d’une politique unifiée d’estimation et d’appréciation de la gouvernance publique locale des risques se heurte encore à un manque d’uniformité dans les méthodes, d’où des disparités dans l’efficacité des dispositifs mis en place. La création de labels pour jauger la gestion et la gouvernance locale des risques d’une collectivité  leur permettra d’évaluer leur démarche dans une optique d’amélioration continue. A quoi sert un label ? Sur quels critères les collectivités peuvent-elles l’obtenir ? Quels sont les avantages pour une collectivité locale à être « labellisée » ?
Mot d’accueil:  Médéric PETIT, Fondateur et Délégué Général des Rencontres, pdg de Media Contact Services
Présidence de séance :  Gérard COMBE, Président de Primo France, Délégué Général du Conseil économique, social et environnemental régional Rhône-Alpes
Intervenants :         
Charles FABRE, Maire de Tarascon,  vice-président de la Communauté d’agglomération Arles-Crau-Camargue-Montagnette
Guy DANIEL, Maire adjoint au Maire de Sommières
Jacques FAYE, Chef du bureau de l’information préventive, de la coordination et de la prospective,  Direction Générale de la Prévention des Risques
Thomas GRAIFF, Département Services publics et entreprises, Responsable Secteur public France, Marsh
Guillaume RIOU, Responsable Projets Pôle de compétitivité «Gestion des risques et vulnérabilités des territoires», Pôle risque d’Aix en Provence
Muriel FAYAT, Avocate, cabinet Stasi Chatain & Associés
Philippe BOULLE, Homeland Security Manager, COFELY-INEO

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National Herald affair: It’s fraud all the way

By S Gurumurthy

08th November 2012 07:42 AM

The bare facts exposed by Dr Subramanian Swamy on the National Herald affair this month are eloquent, needing very little prose. The fraud is explicit without exposition. Here are the basic facts. Financial crisis forced Associated Journals Limited (AJL), the publishers of National Herald newspaper founded by Pandit Nehru, to close down the paper in 2008. To pay off the employees to help the closure, the Congress Party had given interest-free loan of Rs 90 crore plus to AJL, then. With the newspaper shut, AJL had become a mere real estate company in 2008, with property in Delhi, Lucknow and Mumbai worth over Rs 2,000 crore in its balance sheet. Against this, AJL owed just Rs 90-crore plus to the Congress. It had very little liability, besides. The balance real estate of AJL, left after paying off the dues to Congress, legally and morally belonged to AJL’s thousand plus shareholders. Big and small, they had contributed Rs 89 lakh to AJL’s capital, when the Rupee was hundred times more valuable. If AJL’s real estate had been sold and cash distributed to the shareholders,     Brahm Dev Narain, a teacher holding just 41 equity shares in AJL, would have got some Rs 84,000. Hundreds of others would have got similar sums.

But, by deep design and defying both law and morals, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi appropriated — actually misappropriated — control of AJL’s Rs 2,000-cr real estate without paying a dime to AJL’s shareholders. In just three months, between November 2010 and February 2011 and in three moves, control of thousands of crore worth property passed onto the Gandhi family. Here unfolds the sordid story.

As the first step, in November 2010, a trust company named “Young Indian” was mysteriously formed with a capital of just Rs 5 lakh, in which Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi owned 38 per cent each (total 76 per cent) and two family retainers, Motilal Vora and Oscar Fernandes, owned the balance 24 per cent, making it cent percent Gandhi family outfit. Second, the very next month, December 2010, the Gandhis got the Congress party to assign the Rs 90-cr plus loan given to AJL in 2008 to Young Indian (read themselves) by paying to the party just Rs 50 lakh. The Congress wrote off the balance Rs 89.75 cr as irrecoverable. This creative — actually criminal — accounting substituted Young Indian for the Congress, entitling Young Indian to recover Rs 90-cr plus due from AJL. Finally, in February 2011, AJL converted the Rs 90-cr plus due to Young Indian into equity shares and allotted them. By this step, Young Indian became almost 99 per cent owner of AJL, and as much of the real estate of AJL. When AJL had assets worth Rs 2,000 cr, why should the Congress write off Rs 89.75 cr due from it as bad debt? Would the Congress have done it for any person outside the Gandhi family? And did the Congress Working Committee or AICC know of, or consent to, donate Rs 89.75 cr to the Gandhis through Young Indian? More. In the founding documents of Young Indian the one word that is totally absent is “Congress”! The design is self-evident. The Congress should be out completely and the Gandhi family should exclusively grab control of the AJL’s lands at Delhi, Lucknow and Mumbai worth thousands of crores for pittance. And it did happen.

The rest of Young Indian’s story stinks even more. With the Gandhi family and loyalists holding its entire capital, the directors of Young Indian — besides Sonia and Rahul, are Vora, Oscar, Suman Dubey and Sam Pitroda — are time-tested friends of the family. But, what is the object of Young Indian? Young Indian says its first annual report (April 27, 2012), “is engaged in activities to inculcate in the minds of India’s youth commitment to the ideals of democratic and secular society”.

See what is the first act of this idealist company, after its birth in November 2010, to “inculcate” such ideals in youth. Its annual report shows that the company forthwith started its “operations in December 2010”, and as its first act in pursuance of “its objects”, it acquired the “loan owed” by AJL “for a consideration of Rs 50 lakh”, by which it became AJL’s 99 per cent owner. So the first act of Young Indian to promote idealism in Indian youth was to defraud the Congress party of Rs 89.75 crore on the one hand and the shareholders of AJL of thousands of crores of money on the other. See how the plot thickens.

Young Indians’ annual report discloses a further design — to alter the character of AJL itself. It says that AJL is recasting “its activities” to align its objects, Young Indian’s “main objects”. Finally to merge AJL into Young Indian? And “as part of the restructuring exercise of” AJL, says the annual report, the “loan was converted into equity”. A joke indeed! Young Indian speaks as if it is helping to restructure AJL. Young Indian is a pauper. Its director’s report shows that, from its inception in November 2010 to March 2012, its total income was — believe it — just Rs 800! Its total expenditure was Rs 69.79 lakh and its loss, after deducting its income (Rs 800) was Rs 69.78 lakh. Does the AJL, with huge real estate, need an asset-less and income-less pauper Young Indian for its restructure?

See the deepening design. Young Indian’s annual report intentionally conceals the crucial fact that the loan of Rs 90-cr plus owed by AJL to it was originally due to the Congress party — the intention being that Young Indian looted the Congress should be concealed. The report also suppresses the fact that AJL with asset base of a couple of thousands of crores had become (almost) its wholly-owned subsidiary. It says, in fine print, that shareholders — who? Sonia, Rahul, Vora, Oscar, Dubey and Pitroda! — will get information regarding the subsidiary on request.

This is a fraud on company law, which mandates that the details of the subsidiary be available to the public. More. Young Indian also totally suppresses its 99 per cent holding in the AJL saying that the shareholding “is treated as application on the object of the company” and so “the same has not been reflected as an investment in shares”. This deceptive accounting jargon means that the payment of `50 lakh for 99 per cent of shares of the AJL worth thousands of crores is shown not as an asset, but as expenditure! Why? Obvious.

To keep the investment out of the balance sheet of Young Indian! The annual report blatantly lies that since the net worth of AJL is negative, its investment in 99 per cent capital of AJL is written off as expenditure.

The balance sheet of AJL as on March 31, 2011, shows a positive net worth Rs 8 crore; of which Young Indian’s 99 per cent share is Rs 7.92 cr. So the negative net worth story is a fabrication. The real net worth of Young Indian is, of course, over Rs 2,000 cr.

And the final lie. After Dr Swamy’s expose, the Congress, with tears in its eyes, told the nation on November 3, 2012, that revival of National Herald, a symbol of Gandhi-Nehru ideals, was an “emotional issue” for the party, as if it has paid Rs 90 cr plus now for Herald’s revival. It had paid the amount in 2008 to help close, not revive, the Herald. Just three weeks before the Congress shed tears to revive National Herald, on October 11, 2012, ‘The Pioneer’ newspaper reported that Rahul Gandhi was emphatic that Young Indian had no intention of relaunching any newspaper. By an email to ‘The Pioneer’, Rahul Gandhi’s office said: “Young Indian is a not-for-profit company and does not have commercial operations.... The company has no intention of starting any newspaper”. Any more evidence needed to prove that the sobbing story of Herald’s revival is fake? A post facto lie?

So. The Gandhi family usurping the AJL’s Rs 2,000 cr real estate, with the funds of the Congress and through Young Indian, is fraud all the way. On the Congress. On the shareholders of AJL. And on the National Herald.

Pandit Nehru said: “I will not let the National Herald close down even if I have to sell (my own house) Anand Bhawan”. And now? The Gandhis have buried the National Herald and looted its real estate.

S. Gurumurthy is a well-known commentator on political and economic issues.

E-mail: comment@gurumurthy.net

http://newindianexpress.com/opinion/article1332271.ece
Cleantech Finland & EBTC

Greater Noida Expo Centre, 7th November 2012: Energy security and fast adoption of energy technologies were the key topics of the day at the India Cleantech 2020-REnergizing SMEs’ – a Cleantech Finland & EBTC joint forum that was held today on the sidelines of 6th Renewable Energy India Expo. The seminar jointly organized by Cleantech Finland and European Business and Technology Center (EBTC)was aimed at tackling initiatives and plans for renewable energy promotion in India.

Distinguished panelists discussed India’s Cleantech mission 2020 and how the integration of policy, technology,finances and markets are helping to shape that future beyond borders. Finland has emerged as a leader for clean technology products and solutions and India’s National Action Plan on Climate Change has laid out a target of generating 15% of total power from renewable sources by 2020, starting with 5% in 2010.
“Energy efficiency and energy security are essential in meeting the demands of a growing economy. Finland is one of the top nations in the world in environmental performance and energy efficiency and has a very strong technological know-how in the use of renewable energy sources.” said Ms Mari Pantsar-Kallio, from the Ministry of Employment and Economy of Finland, on the occasion of the Renewable Energy India Expo where she is attending together with a delegation of leading Finnish energy technology companies.

Rapid development of clean technologies is crucial and the success will be critically dependent on how we can leverage new technologies and new innovations. India's energy consumption is the fifth largest in the world and it exceeds production by 12.7%. Rapid economic and population growth mean that the need for energy will continue to grow in the future, so the challenge is to guarantee energy security.

Finland is actively developing cooperation between Finland and India in promoting clean technology.
Cleantech Finland, a network of Finnish cleantech experts, and the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation – Tekes are taking part in India’s primary Renewable Energy event with the aim to create new contacts and identify potential business and R&D partners.
The Renewable Energy Expo is a great platform to leverage the expertise and showcase the best of renewable technologies that benefit the world at large. Being one of the leading countries in energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in the world Finland can offer a broad range of expertise in support of India's growth and development.

Virender Sehwag launches VS319, a cricket bat

Virender Sehwag launches VS319, a cricket bat collection by SG exclusively retailed through Jabong.com
New Delhi, November 6, 2012: Virender Sehwag, Zen master of modern cricket today unveiled VS319 collection which is brought by SG Cricket, India’s biggest cricket equipment manufacturers. The collection which will be exclusively retailed through Jabong.com, comprises of four different range of bats- VS 319 Dasher, VS 319 XLR8R, VS 319 Prot駩 and VS 319 Excel and are priced from Rs 1599/- to Rs 5999/-. The collection is highly inspired by the record breaking score of Virender Sehwag of 319 runs in a test match. This remarkable collection will be exclusively retailed through www.jabong.com for all the cricket lovers of the country.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Manu Kumar Jain, Co- founder, Jabong.com said, “We are delighted to launch this amazing cricket bat collection with the legendary cricketer Virender Sehwag himself. Jabong.com has had a long association with SG Cricket and has become the exclusive online retail partner for launching this collection. India has a lot of cricket fanatics and we are sure that this collection is going to be a hit amongst our customers. Jabong.com has already become a fad amongst the youngsters and this collection will strengthen our offerings in the sports section, making us one of the leading fashion & lifestyle portals in India.” He further added “In just a few months, Jabong.com has become the fastest growing and the no. 1 E commerce company in the fashion and lifestyle domain. The website has become one-stop-shop for all fashion and lifestyle needs for online customers in India providing a widest assortment of over 500 brands and more than 50, 000 products in the offering (the largest in the E commerce space).”
Mr. Paras Anand, Director, SG Cricket said, “We are pleased to launch this exciting cricket bat collection here on this platform with Virender Sehwag. India is known to be a cricket loving country with cricket crazy fans and we have been manufacturing cricket equipment for the past 8 decades. We are confident of our association with Jabong.com and are sure that it will result into a mutually beneficial relationship. Jabong.com is a young and youthful brand that synchronizes best with our offerings and mission. We are very excited about this launch and with Jabong.com we would be able to supply our bats in every nook & corner of the country”.
Also present at the occasion, the renowned cricketer, Virender Sehwag said, “It feels excellent to be a part of this exclusive launch. I am honored to have a collection after my name and that recalls my highest score in a test match. I have been associated with SG for a long time and this association with Jabong.com will definitely be fruitful for both brands.”
The collection will be available for patrons across India from November 06, 2012 onwards at www.jabong.com
About Jabong.com
Jabong.com is one-stop-shop for all fashion and lifestyle needs for online customers in India. The fastest growing e-commerce website for online shopping of fashion & lifestyle products has 500+ brands and more than 50, 000 products in the offering. With a keen eye on the latest fashion trends Jabong.com offers the widest assortment of fashion and lifestyle brands across categories such as shoes, apparel, bags, accessories, fragrances, home and living, sports-wear etc. In a few months since its launch, Jabong.com is the most trafficked e-com site in India (as per Google.com traffic stats). As per the Com-Score report of May 2012, Jabong.com has the second highest amount of traffic coming to its site.
About SG Cricket
Sanspareils Greenlands Pvt. Ltd. started marketing its branded cricket gear under the name SG in the year 1982 and slowly went on to become the largest cricket gear manufacturing unit in the world. Over decades, we’ve been esteemed with the privilege of sharing associations with cricket marvels like Sunil Gavaskar, Rahul Dravid, Virender Sehwag, Suresha Raina and many more. SG’s global foothold can be estimated from International tie-ups with brands like Kookaburra, Slazenger, Gray Nicolls, Gunn & Moore, Adidas and Reebok. Not just that, over the last 25 years, SG has earned countless accolades from the Sports Goods Export Promotion Council of India, New Delhi. Association with SG brings with it an already established brand name in sports goods industry along with a rich history of 8 decades.

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