Haryana mandis received over 13.33 lakh tonnes paddy till Nov 3, food and supplies minister Ganeshi Lal has said in Chandigarh. He said 12.25 lakh tonnes paddy was purchased by millers and dealers, 18,417 tonnes by the food and supplies department, 21,656 tonnes by the hafed, 48,405 tonnes by the Food Corporation of India, 5,865 tonnes by the State Agro Industries Corporation, 8,898 tonnes by the State Ware Housing Corporation and 4,243 tonnes paddy by the Confed.

Sikkim tourism: In order to boost tourism in the tiny Himalayan state of Sikkim ,the government has decided to set up a state tourism development corporation to look after the commercial activities of the tourism department. According to an official release, the decision was taken on Wednesday at a cabinet meeting headed by chief minister Pawan Chamling. The meeting was also attended by chief secretary KS Rao .

IA offers more capacity: In its winter schedule, Indian Airlines has offered more capacity from Delhi to Bangalore, Srinagar and Mumbai to meet the increase in demand. The airlines since November 3 has added 290 seats daily between Delhi and Bangalore by operating a new airbus A-320 flight. The daily flight will leave Delhi at 1950 hrs. With this, the airline will now offer more than 6000 seats per week on this sector.

Forests protection: Maharashtra forest and environment minister Ganesh Naik disclosed that the state government has decided to provide modern weapons and other facilities like wireless sets to forest employees on field duty for their self defence and encourage self-confidence among them. Naik was speaking at a function organised after he inaugurated the fifth Maharashtra forest tournament for the employees of the forest department at police parade ground here.

TN telephone exchanges: All telephone exchanges in Tamil Nadu would be converted to electronic exchanges before the end of 1998, according to chief general manager Tamil Nadu telecom circle TG Saranathan. He told reporters at Nagarcoil on Wednesday that it was proposed to provide telephones in all villages in the state before the end of the financial year 1997-98. A new dialling system for districts would be introduced next year, he said.

View on coffee production: The government on Thursday said the Coffee Board's estimates of a record 2.30 lakh production of coffee this season (July '97-June '98) was based on a proper survey and charged the growers with "developing a constant habit of disputing" official figures. We always go by the estimates of the board and as per its estimates, the country will have a record production of 2.30 lakh tonnes, a commerce ministry official said.

Meet on spices, medical plants: A national conference on recent trends in spices and medicinal plant research and the seventh annual meeting of the Academy of Plant Sciences, India, will be held from April 2 to 4, 1998 at Calcutta. The conference is being organised by the academy in collaboration with Spices Board.

Farmers stir in Haryana: Farmers will gherao parliament on the opening day of its winter session and launch `jail bharo' campaign as part of intensification of their stir in Haryana in support of their demands which included reduction in power tariff. This was decided at a joint meeting of Kisan Sangharsh Samiti and bharatiya kisan union, spearheading the farmers' agitation in the state, in Mahendergarh district on Wednesday, according to the sources.

`Low input in farm sector': Union agriculture minister Chaturanan Mishra has voiced concern over low investments in the agricultural sector during the Ninth Plan and called for increased investment. In the past 50 years, we have heavily invested in the industry. Give 10 years investment in the agricultural sector and see the change. Poverty will vanish from the country," Mishra said.

International science festival: An international science festival, including the sixth international robotics olympiad, takes off in Lucknow from November 20. The festival, where students from schools across the country and seven other nations would gather for nine days for various competitions, would also bring together 11 renowned scientists from the US, Canada, Poland and the UK, besides eminent Indian scientists would judge the performances of participants.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.