Rising coal, crude prices will hurt corporate earnings, profit margins: UBS

HONG KONG: Profit margins of Indian companies will be under pressure as rising coal prices force them to pass on the increase in cost to customers, according to commodity analysts present at the UBS APAC Journalist Forum in Hong Kong. UBS expects thermal coal's contract price to remain above $100 per tonne over the next one year.

"Domestic prices for coal in India is still 20-25% lower than international prices," Peter Hickson, global basic materials strategist, UBS, told ET on the sidelines of the conference. "But then, even a small increase will affect the bottom lines of cement, power and steel companies, which use coal in a big way."

Demand for coal in India has grown at 9% a year for the past five years. The country, along with China, will play an important role in driving up global coal prices. India expects power coal usage to rise from 400 million tonnes to 600 million tonnes by 2015. Apart from coal, crude prices will also play a major role in the corporate earnings of Indian companies. Analysts expect the effect of oil prices to start showing on the earnings from the April-June quarter.

"We're not sure where oil prices are headed," Mr Hickson said. "In normal circumstances, we expect crude prices to hover at $85-90 per barrel level but there are many concerns. The crisis in Gulf countries, tight supply environment and steady demand will keep crude prices firm."

Problems in Japan , volatile west Asia and "slower" economic activities in China could have an impact on the overall commodity prices. Crude oil, platinum, phosphate, lead and palladium are on the 'preferred commodity list' while nickel, steel, uranium and aluminium have fallen out of favour - at least in the short-term - for most commodity analysts.

"Cost curve will be up for most commodities over the next few years," said Andrew Ferguson, CEO of APAC Resources . "It'll not be excess liquidity alone that will keep commodity prices up; demand-supply gap and high cost of extraction will add to the overall prices. Raising interest rates to control commodity price inflation will not bring about a big change in prices."

Copper prices are likely to be governed by China's seasonal restocking, which should last till May. The recent spike in steel prices in US and Europe is largely driven by an increase in seasonal activity, low steel inventories and raw material cost-push. Analysts are worried that key-end markets like construction, infrastructure and real estate have not contributed much to the demand for steel.

Gold prices may benefit from lingering European Union sovereign debt concerns, rising inflation fears and the West Asian crisis. "Gold prices will be firm this year. We do not expect a sharp spike up, but a gradual rise in prices. I am bullish on gold as an asset class," said Mr Ferguson.

source:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/markets/analysis/rising-coal-crude-prices-will-hurt-corporate-earnings-profit-margins-ubs/articleshow/7840309.cms

Budget hike won't help education sector - Sibal

The 24 percent hike in the outlay for education announced in the union budget will not help the sector because what is needed is a change in mindset, Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal said on Thursday.

"A 24 percent budget hike will not help the education sector. It is not just money allocation that we need, the country needs a change in mindsets involved in teaching, the quality of education and the education provider," Sibal said at the inauguration of the three-day Emerging Directions inGlobal Education (EDGE) conference in the capital.

"To change the dimensions of higher education in the country, we need a whole new crop of teachers who are responsible and willing to teach from their hearts," the minister added.

The annual EDGE conference brings together the heads of higher education institutions from all over the country, including vice chancellors, directors and educationists, to interact on policy making in the higher education sector. 

"While focusing on higher education, we also need to think of the diluting quality because of mushrooming institutes. The ministry has often done checks in such private institutions where the entire faculty is hired for a very short period to lure students," Sibal said, referring to the money minting business in the education business.

According to statistics by Ernst and Young, nearly 40 million students are expected to opt for higher education by the year 2020, compared to the current 17 million.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/Budget_hike_won't_help_education_sector_-_Sibal_13671/

Global experts at AMU's conference on chemistry

Aligarh: Hundreds of delegates from India and abroad will gather here for a two-day 'international conference on chemistry' being organized by theAligarh Muslim University (AMU) on Saturday.

The conference is being organized as part of AMU's centenary celebrations.

The International Conference on Chemistry:Frontiers and Challenges will see the participation of delegates from the US, Poland, Saudi Arabia andMalaysia. Scientists from India and abroad will also deliver lectures. Around 500 delegates shall present their papers during the conference.

The inaugural function will be held at Kennedy auditorium, organizing committee Chairman Syed Ashfaz Nabi said. Padma Vibhushan awardee, former governor and former AMU Chancellor A.R. Kidwai, will be the chief guest.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Uttar_Pradesh/Global_experts_at_AMU's_conference_on_chemistry_13640/

Global standards required in agriculture education - Pawar

New Delhi: Minister for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries Sharad Pawar has called for evolving global standards to enhance quality and relevance of agricultural education and research in the country. 

Addressing a two-day conference of vice chancellors of agriculture universities and directors of ICAR institutes here today, Pawar said, "Requisite models of public-private partnerships must be evolved for educational activities as well as for development, application and flow of technologies from lab to the market place and for strengthening of National Agricultural Research and Education System infrastructure through active interface with the industry." 

He stated that, "In order to effectively address the emerging needs of agricultural sector, we require highly competent human resources. In this context, Global schools, demand-driven curricula, student centered and problem solving approach in curriculum delivery, effective co-ordination of multi-commodity and multi-disciplinary research in entire production to consumption chain of agricultural commodities and capacity building through training at the national and international level, are some issues which need priority attention."

"I am glad to share with you that the Council is contemplating a National Agricultural Education Project for which a committee is already working to suggest reforms andrenewal of higher agricultural education in the country," he further added.

Referring to the revised course curricula now implemented in agricultural universities, Pawar said that new curricula focuses on development of knowledge, skills and attitude. "To make it demand driven, new courses have been added including the Experiential Learning with the objective of entrepreneurship development in students," he stated. 

He called upon the vice chancellors to expeditiously take steps for adoption of the Model Act developed by the ICAR for agricultural universities. 

Expressing happiness over increase in number of woman students in higher agricultural education in the recent years, he said that 60 new girls hostels in 38 agricultural universities have been completed that can accommodate 3,000 more girl students. 

The Minister said, "Degradation of natural resources and unpredictable shifts in climatic patterns have been impacting the farming practices. Competitions posed by globalization and opening up of economies, ethical issues of trade related intellectual property rights, genetically modified foods and organisms and enforcement of strict quality regimes need immediate attention while developing technically qualified manpower. More than ever before, knowledge coupled with skills has become imminent for enhancing agricultural production, marketing and trade."

He further added, Pawar said, "The infrastructure including the laboratories, farm and other facilities in some of the institutions are quite old and need renovation and upgradation. He said that though the ICAR supports agricultural universities to the possible extent to develop globally competitive infrastructure for technology generation and dissemination and human capacity building, the States should also rise to the occasion by extending adequate support."

The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries, Harish Rawat also addressed the conference. He said that agriculture in India, through research and technology development, has enabled the country, to increase the production of foodgrains by 4 times, horticultural crops by 6 times, fish by 9 times, milk 6 times and eggs 27 times since 1950-51. 

Rawat said, "The Department of Agricultural Research and Education extends, academic, professional, and limited financial support, to the state agricultural universities. Keeping in view the minimum essential requirements, which can bring about tangible changes at ground level, several new initiatives were put forth that needed greater financial support from the Government of India."

"The present era of partnership calls for enhanced collaboration between the agricultural universities and ICAR institutes, and other related agencies," he concluded.

source:http://indiaedunews.net/Today/Global_standards_required_in_agriculture_education_-_Pawar_13583/

Role for Teachers Is Seen in Solving Schools’ Crises

DENVER — Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, convening a two-day labor-management conference here on Tuesday, argued that teachers’ unions can help solve many of the challenges facing public schools.

But as the conference opened, that view was under challenge in a number of state capitals.

Republicans in several states have proposed legislation in recent weeks that would bar teachers’ unions from all policy discussions, except when the time comes to negotiate compensation. In Tennessee and Wisconsin, Republicans have proposed stripping teachers’ unions of collective bargaining rights altogether.

Education historians said the unions were facing the harshest political climate since states began extending legal bargaining rights to schoolteachers decades ago.

The conference, convened by the Department of Education, drew school authorities and teachers’ union leaders from 150 districts across the nation to Denver to discuss ways of working together. To participate, each district’s superintendent, school board president and teachers’ union leader had to sign a pledge to collaborate in good faith to raise student achievement.

Some districts that had hoped to participate could not because relations grew too hostile before the conference.

They included New York, where the schools chancellor, Cathleen P. Black, and the United Federation of Teachers president, Michael Mulgrew, had each signed the pledge. But recent criticism by Ms. Black of the city’s system of seniority-based teacher layoffs angered Mr. Mulgrew, he said, and late last week he pulled out of the conference.

“I wasn’t going to walk into Denver with the chancellor and say, ‘We’re the hypocrites, here for the conference,’ ” Mr. Mulgrew said.

Natalie Ravitz, a spokeswoman for Ms. Black, said the chancellor was disappointed. “We think there are critical issues we need to work together on,” Ms. Ravitz said.

Chicago, Miami-Dade, Philadelphia and eight others among the nation’s 25 largest school systems were at the conference, alongside representatives of 140 smaller districts from 40 states.

In his opening remarks at the conference, called Advancing Student Achievement Through Labor-Management Collaboration, Mr. Duncan commended several districts and their unions.

Among them were Douglas County near Denver, where, he said, the union helped the district pioneer a new teacher evaluation system. In New Haven, a union contract established an innovative mentoring program. And in Los Angeles, the union contract at the Green Dot charter school network details teachers’ instructional responsibilities rather than their working hours.

The conference comes at a time when thousands of districts are facing their most severe budget cuts in a generation, and union contracts calling for layoffs based on seniority could force many districts to dismiss their most energetic young teachers.

But changing these policies could also prompt some districts to remove more experienced, higher paid teachers to balance their budgets.

Mr. Duncan urged participants to search for solutions to the dilemmas posed by mass teacher layoffs.

“We have to learn to problem-solve together,” he said, underscoring his view that school systems can face challenges most effectively by working with the unions.

But in some states an alternate view appeared to be gaining force.

The Idaho schools superintendent, Tom Luna, a Republican, has proposed legislation that would limit collective bargaining to teacher compensation, and exclude unions from deliberations over the design of education policies. Republican lawmakers in Indiana have proposed similar legislation.

Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin has gone further, proposing to end collective bargaining rights for nearly all the state’s 175,000 public sector workers, more than half of whom are teachers. That proposal could pass since Republicans command large majorities in the Legislature.

In Tennessee, State Representative Debra Young Maggart, the chairwoman of the Republican caucus, also introduced legislation that would bar teachers’ unions from collective bargaining.

“Teachers’ unions have been blocking education reform, and my bill will deal with the problem,” Ms. Maggart said.

But Sharon Vandagriff, president of the teachers’ union in Hamilton County, Tenn., who came to Denver for the conference, said her union had worked for years with school authorities to overhaul struggling schools in Chattanooga. Across Tennessee, unions made concessions that paved the way last year for the state to win $500 million in federal Race to the Top money, she said, adding that Ms. Maggart’s bill has demoralized many teachers.

“It feels like an attack,” she said.

Some Democrats, too, are adopting a tougher stance toward teachers’ unions.

“We think they have a right to exist and a role to play in education reform,” said Joe Williams, executive director of Democrats for Education Reform, an advocacy group that pushes for charter schools. “But we wish management would be more aggressive. When management tries to appease, we end up with contracts that aren’t good for public education.”

Charles Taylor Kerchner, a professor of education at Claremont Graduate University who studies labor union history, said, “This is the harshest time for teachers’ unions that I’ve seen since the advent of legislatively sanctioned collective bargaining half a century ago.”

source:http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/16/education/16education.html?_r=1&ref=education