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No country has imposed sanctions till date, says Hegde

The economic sanction is merely a threat and no country has so far imposed any sanction on India in real terms, Commerce Minister Ramakrishna Hegde told the Lok Sabha today.

The minister said India was prepared to face any eventuality arising out of the nuclear tests conducted recently at Pokhran.

Admitting that the country had witnessed low growth in export in the past two years, he said the export growth rate was 2.64 per cent in US dollar terms in 1997-98 against the target of 18 per cent.

The revised target fixed for 1998-99 is $ 41 billion, he added.

The minister said the government had already set up an anti-dumping directorate in the commerce ministry.

Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha told the Lok Sabha that the Centre has released 15 per cent of the total budgetary allocation to the states as an advance for the implementation of externally-aided projects.

Sinha said Rs 7.5 billion had been released for 1998-99 as advance additional central assistance to 18 states, including Rajasthan and Karnataka.

Minister of State for Coal Dilip Ray said coal mining has been suspended in 139 mines of Coal India Ltd and 5 mines of Singareni Collieries Company Ltd since the nationalisation of coal mines,

He said about 42 million tonnes of coal reserves had been lost in fires, mainly in Jharia and Raniganj coalfields.

The coal reserves in the country, as on January 1, 1998, were 206,239.50 million tonnes, which were likely to last more than 100 years, he added.

UNI