Indian Diamond Institute (IDI), an institution jointly aided by government of India and gem and and jewellery export promotion council (GJEPC) are facing a serious financial crunch threatening the very existence of this premier institute. According to its chairman Chandrakant Sanghvi, the IDI, established in 1978, was reconstituted by the central government during 1982 keeping overall administrative control under its own authority and 80 per cent of the funds came to IDI through commerce ministry as grant in aid and remaining twenty per cent was borne out by the other partner GJEPC. He said that during 1992-93 under its economic reforms policy, union commerce ministry decided to phase out its grants to the IDI by ten per cent every year thus increasing the burden on GJEPC. The only institute of its kind in south Asia, Sanghvi said that this year GJEPC is contributing 90 per cent of IDI's total net expenditure and during the millennium year it will be meeting 100per cent of its expenses.

Chilka lake fishermen

The National Fishworkers Forum (NFF) and the World Forum of Fish Harvesters and Fishworkers (WFF) have fully extended their support to the fishermen in and around Chilka lake of Orissa, who are protesting against the alleged decision of the state government to permit setting up of shrimp farms by the rich. In a press release in New Delhi on Thursday, NFF said the fishermen in and around Chilka lake will be blocking the Orissa assembly on the opening day of its budget session at Bhubaneswar on Friday to protest against the government stand in supporting the shrimp farmers of the rich supported by goons. In fact, all the political parties are supporting the shrimp farms of the rich and MNC's, the NFF alleged and claimed that those politicians have no respect for Supreme Court verdict of demolishing all the shrimp farms in India.

Copper prices shoot

Copper prices shot up to the highest level in the eight-month period on Wednesday on asurprise move by the top US Miner Phelps Dodge Corp to cut its copper production, the latest in a series of cutbacks in response to a supply glut. In other commodity markets, gold closed firm after the Fed raised its key short-term interest rate only 1/4 percentage point. Oil hit a 19-month high as US stockpiles edged lower, and grains seesawed on the weather, ending slightly higher. At the COMEX, copper for September delivery closed 5.05 cents a pound higher at 76.65 cents a pound, the highest settlement price since last November. Phelps Dodge's production cut of 68,000 metric tonnes a year, announced as one of several moves that will result in a $61 million charge against earnings and elimination of 1,650 jobs, came on the heels of a decision last Friday by Australia's Broken Hill Proprietary Co Ltd to close its US copper unit, which accounts for about 1,80,000 tonnes of annual production.

Greenpeace warning on maize

Environmental group Greenpeace called on the European Commission to withdrawauthorisations for genetically modified maize in the 15-member European Union, and said it might sue if Brusssels failed to act. Greenpeace made the call after researchers at Cornell University found in May that the hybrid crop, known as Bt-maize, produced pollen that could harm the larvae of the monarch butterfly. The EU's executive commission said in May it would block the approval of another Bt-maize developed by US company Pioneer Hi-Bred International, but said similar crops already being marketed by Monsanto Co and Novartis AG would not be immediately affected. ``The commission's logic is skewed,'' Greenpeace biotechnology campaigner Thomas Schweiger said in a statement.

Indonesian oil, gas rights

A parliamentary commission has decided that mining rights under Indonesia's draft new oil and gas law will be vested in the state, a commissioner said on Thursday. However, Erie Soekardja, head of the parliamentary commission on oil and gas, said supervision of the contracts was still underdiscussion. ``We are still discussing what sort of body will supervise contracts, whether there will be two, one for upstream, one for downstream and so on,'' said Soekardja. Indonesia's parliament is debating a draft oil and gas bill to replace the 1971 law. The draft law will strip state-owned oil and gas corporation Pertamina of its distribution monopoly and open the downstream sector to foreign competition. The parliamentary commission, which began sitting on June 16, is charged with making final changes to the bill before it is presented to parliament.