career makers september2011

September 2011

Volume : 09

Editor

D.V.RAGHURAMM.A., P.G.D.H.R.M., D.T.E.M

e-mail : [email protected]

Executive Editor

P. SUBHASHINIM.Com

NOTE: Printing of this bookprocess through many stages - Writing,Composing, Proof Reading etc. We tryour best to make this book error free. ifany mistake has inadvertently crept in,we regret it and would be deeplyindebted to those who bring it to ournotice. We do not take any legalresponsibility. The publishers shall beobliged if mistakes are brought to theirnotice for carrying out correction in thenext edition.

“Fulfillin

g a great need....

.”

Career & Competiti

on Series

CONTENTSPERSONS - 3AWARDS / PRIZES - 4ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES - 5SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY - 6PACE RESEARCH - 8DEFENCE - 11SUMMITS/ CONFERENCES - 12ECONOMY GLOSSARY - 14PROGRAMMES - 16REPORTS - 17BANKING SECTOR - 19COMMITTEES - 23INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS - 25NATIONAL AFFAIRS - 29SPORTS - 31CURRENT AFFAIRS QUESTIONS - 32

Career Makers September 2011, Volume: 09 2

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PERSONSLeila Lopes of Angola

crowned 60th MissUniverse

Leila Lopes from Angolawas crowned Miss Universe,smoothly handling an interviewquestion about what physical traitshe would change if could, whilewearing a strapless cream-coloredgown.

Lopes, Angola’s first winner,beat out 88 other competitors to winthe title during the 60th anniversaryof the world’s biggest beautypageant. She replaces last year’swinner, Ximena Navarrete ofMexico.

The first runner-up was 23-year-old Olesia Stefanko of Ukraineand the second runner-up wasPriscila Machado of Brazil. The thirdwas Miss Philippines and the fourthMiss China.

The globe’s biggest beautycontest is held in Brazil for the firsttime. The contestants, who mustnever have been married or hadchildren and who must be at least18 years of age and under 27 yearsof age by Feb. 1 of the competitionyear. Miss Universe 2011, the 60thanniversary of the Miss Universepageant, will be held at the

Credicard Hall, in Sao Paulo, Brazilon September 12, 2011. XimenaNavarrete of Mexico will crown hersuccessor. 89 contestants areparticipating in this year´s pageant,surpassing the previous record of 86contestants in 2006.

Miss Universe is an annualinternational beauty contest run bythe Miss Universe Organization. Thepageant is the most publicizedbeauty contest in the world with 600million viewers. The contest wasfounded in 1952 by Californiaclothing company Pacific Mills. Thepageant became part of Kayser-

List of Miss Universe titleholders

Year Country/Territory Miss Universe National title Location

2011 Angola Leila Lopes Miss Angola Sao Paulo, Brazil2010 Mexico Ximena Navarrete Nuestra Belleza México Las Vegas, Nevada U.S.2009 Venezuela Stefania Fernandez Miss Venezuela Nassau, Bahamas2008 Venezuela Dayana Mendoza Miss Venezuela Nha Trang, Vietnam2007 Japan Riyo Mori Miss Universe Japan Mexico City, Mexico2006 Puerto Rico Zuleyka Rivera Miss Puerto Rico Universe Los Angeles, California U.S.2005 Canada Natalie Glebova Miss Universe Canada Bangkok, Thailand2004 Australia Jennifer Hawkins Miss Universe Australia Quito, Ecuador2003 Dominican Republic Amelia Vega Miss Dominican Republic Panama City, Panama2002 Panama Justine Pasek Senorita Panama Crowned by Donald

Trump in NYC2002 Russia Oxana Fedorova Miss Russia San Juan, Puerto Rico2001 Puerto Rico Denise Quiñones Miss Puerto Rico Universe Bayamon, Puerto Rico2000 India Lara Dutta Miss India Nicosia, Cyprus

Roth and then Gulf and WesternIndustries, before being acquired byDonald Trump in 1996.

In 1998, Miss Universechanged its name from MissUniverse, Inc. to Miss UniverseOrganization and the headquartersmoved from Long Beach California,to New York City that year. DonaldTrump brought in a new team ofprofessionals to the contest headedby its new CEO, Molly Miles, andpresident Maureen Reidy. Thecontest would use the slogan"Redefined for Today" for promotionof the pageants.


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AWARDS /PRIZES

Prem Bhatia award forexcellence in

reporting, 2011For the first time since its

inception 15 years ago, the PremBhatia Awards for excellence inpolitical reporting and analysis, aswell as that for excellence inenvironmental reporting have beenshared by two journalists each.

The award for politicalreporting goes to Josy Joseph ofThe Times of India for hisconsistently fine reporting of thescandals that have made headlines,like the 2-G Spectrum allocation,Commonwealth Games and AdarshHousing Society scams.

Jyotirmoy Dey of Mid-Dayshares the award posthumously forhis superlative work all through hiscareer in exposing Mumbai'sunderworld and corruption in thepolice and bureaucracy, and he hadto pay for that with his life. The twowinners of the environmental awardare Madhuraj, chief newsphotographer of Matrubhumi, for hisvivid photographs that focusednational and international attentionon the catastrophic consequencesof the use of endosulfan pesticidein Kerala, and G. Nirmala, who haswritten powerfully on the samesubject in one of the publications ofSamakalika Malyalam Vaarike.

Rajiv Gandhi KhelRatna award, 2011

Ace Indian shooter GaganNarang has been conferred India’shighest sporting honour.

Arjuna Awards, 2011Arjuna Awards were

instituted in 1961 by the governmentof India to recognize outstandingachievement in National sports. Theaward carries a cash prize of Rs500,000, a bronze statuette ofArjuna and a scroll.

The 2011 awardees are:Zaheer Khan (Cricket), RahulBannerjee (Archery), PreejaSreedharan (Athletics), Vijas Gowda(Athletics), Ashish Kumar(Gymnastics), Rakesh Kumar(Kabaddi), Tejaswini Bai (Kabaddi),Rajpal Singh (Hockey), SanjayKumar (Volleyball), Sunil Chhetri(Football), Ravi Kumar(Weightlifting), Ravindra Singh(Wrestling), Suronjoy Singh(Boxing), Jwala Gutta (Badminton),Virdhaval Khade (Swimmimg),Sandhya Rani Devi (Wushu),Somdev Devvarman (Tennis) andPrashant Karmakar (Disabled).

Dhyan Chand Award, 2011Former India striker Shabbir

Ali, who took up full-time coachingafter hanging up his boots, hasbecome the first footballer to get theprestigious Dhyan Chand award asrecognition for his lifetimeachievement in sports. The otherawardees are: Sushil Kohli(Swimming) and Rajkumar(Wrestling)

The Dhyan Chand Award isIndia’s highest award for lifetimeachievement in sports and wasinstituted in 2002.

Dronacharya Award, 2011Inukurthi Venkateshwara

Rao (Boxing), Devender KumarRathore (Gymnastics), ShriRamphal (Wrestling), Kuntal Roy(Athletics) and Rajinder Singh(Hockey) have been given theaward.

Dronacharya Award is anaward presented by the governmentof India for excellence in sportscoaching. The award comprises abronze statuette of Dronacharya, ascroll of honour and a cash

component of Rs.500,000. Theaward was instituted in 1985.

SwadhinataSammanona Award

Former Indian PrimeMinisterIndira Gandhiwas honouredposthumously with the highestBangladesh award the BangladeshSwadhinata Sammanona(Bangladesh Freedom Honour ).The award was meant to honourIndira Gandhi’s for her outstandingcontributions to Bangladesh'sLiberation War fought in 1971.During the tumultuous days of 1971,the great Indian leader Indira Gandhihad taken a firm, principled stand toside with the oppressed people ofthen East Pakistan. Under IndiraGandhi’s leadership India sheltered10 million Bangladeshi warrefugees, lobbied for Bangladeshinternationally, secured the releaseof Sheikh Mujib from a Pakistani jailas well as risked a war to hastenBangladesh’s freedom.The awardincluded a 200 tola gold medal anda citation.Bangladesh PresidentZillur Rahman presented the award,the highest honour for any foreignnational after 40 years ofBangladesh's independence fromPakistan.

The award was received byher daughter-in-law Sonia Gandhiwho visited Bangladesh at theinvitation of Sheikh Hasina. Theaward recognised Indira Gandhi’sdirect support, cooperation, herstrong role and unique contributionto Bangladesh’s independence.Bangladesh set up the honours todecorate 47 foreigners who helpedthe country during its struggle forindependence and mark the 40thanniversary of its achievement.

Mphasis UniversalDesign Awards 2011

The National Centre forPromotion of Empowerment ofDisabled People (NCPEDP) in


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ENVIRENVIRENVIRENVIRENVIRONMENTONMENTONMENTONMENTONMENTALALALALALISSUESISSUESISSUESISSUESISSUES

association with AccessAbility andBarrierBreak Technologiesannounced the winners of theNCPEDP-Mphasis UniversalDesign Awards-2011 in July2011.The awards honourorganisations and individuals fortheir exemplary work in promotingthe cause of accessibility for thedisabled. The awards are given outin three categories -- persons withdisabilities, working professionals,and companies and organisationson the eve of Independence Day (15August).The Awards will coveraccessibility in the following fields:Built Environment, Transport,Information and CommunicationTechnology, Services and Aids andAppliances.

The Total Volume ofArctic Sea Ice Fell to a

Record Low in 2010The total volume of Arctic

sea ice fell to a record low in 2010,according to a new study. Scientistsat the Polar Science Center of theUniversity of Washington estimatedthat last year broke the previous2007 record for the minimumvolume of ice, which is calculatedfrom a combination of sea ice areaand thickness.

Axel Schweiger of Universityof Washington, led the study.According to the scientists, icevolume is now plunging faster thanit did at the same time last year whenthe record was set. The Arctic seaice area fell below 4.6 million sq km

recently, compared with the recordlow of 4.13 million sq km in 2007,whereas the minimum ice extent inthe early 1970s was 7 million squarekm.

Delhi to have world-class institute onclimate changeDelhi will soon have a world-

class institute that will impart trainingto people and chalk out strategiesto curb the effects of climate change,CM Sheila Dikshit said.

Replying to a short durationdiscussion on environment in NewDelhi on Thursday, Dikshit said hergovernment has decided to set upMahatma Gandhi Institute forCombating Climate Change atBakauli spread over an area of 18acres.

"The institute will come up inthe campus of Mahatma GandhiInstitute of Integrated Rural EnergyPlanning and Development which ispresently under utilised," she said.

Noting that multi-prongedstrategies are needed to controlpollution in the city which has 65lakhs vehicles, she said hergovernment was also looking for atechnology to generate energy fromthe waste. "The number of vehiclesis much more than number of totalvehicles in other metro citiestogether," she said.

Around 8,000 metric tonnegarbage is being generated in Delhi

on daily basis, she said. To controlair pollution in Delhi, air ambiencefund has been created by imposinga fee of Rs 0.25 per litre of dieselsale in Delhi, she added.

For promotion of vehiclesoperated with clean fuel, thegovernment is giving subsidy tobattery operated vehicles from airambience fund, Dikshit said.

Impact of ClimateChange on Agriculture

The Indian Council forAgriculture Research (ICAR)initiated a project titled “Impact,Adaptation and Vulnerability ofIndian Agriculture to ClimateChange” in 2004 to study the impactof climate change and globalwarming on agriculture crops,horticulture, forests, livestock,fishery etc.

The Government hasprepared the National Mission forSustainable Agriculture underNational Action Plan on ClimateChange. The Mission identifies 10key dimensions for promotingsustainable agriculture practiceswhich will be realized byimplementing a Programme ofActions that covers both adaptationand mitigation measures throughfour functional areas, namelyResearch & Development,Technology Products & Practices,Infrastructure and Capacity Buildingand sponsored research. In

Projects in Eco-Sensitive AreasThe Ministry of Environment and Forests has issued the

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification in September, 2006mandating prior environmental clearance for developmental projects andactivities as detailed in the Schedule to this Notification. The projectproponents are required to undertake preparation of the EnvironmentalImpact Assessment (EIA) Reports, based on the Terms of Reference,for appraisal of the project for the environmental clearance.TheNotification further prescribes under General ndition the procedure forconsideration of projects within 10 kms. from the boundary of notifiedEco-Sensitive Areas and Protected Areas, notified under Wildlife(Protection) Act, 1972.


addition, a new scheme namely“National Initiative on ClimateResilient Agriculture (NICRA)” hasbeen launched in year 2011 toenhance resilience of Indianagriculture against climate change.

As per the Greenhouse GasEmission Inventory 2007 publishedunder the aegis of Indian Networkfor Climate Change Assessment(INCCA), agriculture sectorcontributes to 17% of the net greenhouse gas emissions from India in2007.

ICAR and different StateAgriculture Universities have beenevolving technologies to reduceemissions from agriculture sectorwithout compromising the food grainproduction. These tchnologiesinclude improved irrigationmanagement techniques, cultivationof aerobic rice, System of RiceIntensification (SRI) and use ofneem-coated urea.123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890

SCIENCE &

TECHNOLOGY

World’s First DoubleLeg Transplant

Doctors in Spainperformed on 15 July 2011 theworld’s first double-legtransplant, giving two new legsto a man whose legs weresevered in an accident.The manlost both of his legs above theknee in an accident and theattempts to fit him with artificiallimbs were not successful.PedroCavadas of La Fe hospital inValencia performed theoperation. He is the first doctorin the world to successfullytransplant a jaw and a newtongue while doing a facetransplant.

Intel develops world’ssmallest data centre

Chip maker Intel is showingoff what they are calling the world’ssmallest data centre. Dubbed as“Cloud-in-a-Box” system, the Intelunit is designed to be used as ademonstration tool to illustrate thepower and efficiencies of cloud com-puting. Intel is powering the unit withXeon processors, but they are alsopromoting several other security andoptimisation technologies like IntelAES New Instructions for more effi-cient encryption, Intelligent PowerNode Manager to better controlpower needs for increased serverdensity and Intel's VirtualisationTechnology.

Intel anticipates that by 2015,2.5 billion people with more than 15

billion devices will access theInternet. By then, online traffic willreach a zettabyte or ‘one million mil-lion billion bytes’.

Intel foresees that soon com-panies will have to develop datacentres with smaller footprint, whichare at the same time secure andenergy-efficient. According to thecompany, their new technology willcater to this necessity and will helpcompanies to deploy cloud fasterthan ever before.

The “Cloud Vision 2015”,Intel’s futuristic vision, anticipates anenvironment where cloud data cen-tres are seamlessly and securelyconnected, fully automated “withlittle or no human interaction andclient-aware” providing secure ac-cess and optimal experience acrossa range of devices, fromsmartphones to notebooks.

Sriharikota to be anassembling hub

The Indian Space ResearchOrganisation (ISRO) is drawing upplans to develop the Satish DhawanSpace Centre at Sriharikota into acentre for assembling satellites androckets in the near future.

“Our vision is a quantumjump in satellites and launch ve-hicles to be dealt with in future years.The space port in Sriharikota shouldfurther develop into an area wherethe industries in India working forspace would come together, as-semble satellites and rockets thereand move to the launch pad,” ISROChairman K. Radhakrishnan said.

He was addressing a meet-ing after the inauguration of theOceansat-2 ground station at theIndian National Centre for OceanInformation Services (INCOIS) inHyderabad recently.

ISRO and INCOIS wereworking together in the area of en-vironment and climate monitoring,he said, adding that INCOIS wassending forecast to coastal areas

based on inputs received fromOceansat-2 launched two yearsago.

Japanese ‘K’ Com-puter

The Fujitsu-designed KComputer, was recently announcedthe winner of the biannual Top 500supercomputer list at the Interna-tional Supercomputing Conference(ISC) held in Hamburg. It is threetimes faster on the Linpack high-per-formance computing (HPC) bench-mark than last winner, the Tianhe-


First renewable energy-based mini-gridsystem

On Jluy 1, 2011, a renewable energy-based smart mini-gridsystem, the first of its kind in the country, was formally commissionedon the campus of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) in Gurgaon.

The system, which uses advanced digital and control techniques,has been designed and developed by TERI, with support from the UnionMinistry of New and Renewable Energy and others.

A smart mini-grid is an intelligent electricity distribution network,operating at or below 11KV, to provide electricity to a community. Thesmart mini-grids use advanced sensing, communication and controltechnologies to generate, manage, distribute and utilise electricity atthe local distribution levels more intelligently and effectively. The systemintelligently manages and balances multiple loads through inter-connected energy resources, providing rapid responses to networkdisturbances, minimising outages and preventing black-outs. Theelectricity is supplied by a diverse range of Distributed Energy Resources(DERs) and typically include small conventional generators such asdiesel gensets, and/or a range of renewable generators such as solarPV, micro-hydro power plants, wind turbines, biomass etc.

These smart mini-grids can be wisely used to strengthen thecountry’s electricity sector and also enhance the performance of ruralelectricity supply systems.

1A. K Computer is capable of overeight quadrillion calculations persecond with an Rmax score of 8.16petaflops. This makes it more pow-erful than the next five systems inthe top 10 combined. Unlike previ-ous winners, K Computer does notuse graphical processing units(GPUs), such as those made byNvidia, nor does it use x86 proces-sors from Intel and AMD; instead, itis based on Fujitsu- designed Sparcprocessors.

K Computer is based at theindependent Riken research lab inJapan. Riken caries out research inphysics, chemistry, medical science,biology and engineering. It needs tobe noted here that Japan was lasthome to the world’s most powerfulTop 500 system in 2004, with the 36-teraflop Earth Simulator. In the newTop 500 list, Tianhe-1A of Chinacame second and US Oak RidgeNational Lab’s Jaguar came third.

National Optical FibreNetwork

The Telecom Commissionhas recommeneded the Scheme forcreation of National Optical FiberNetwork (NOFN) for providingBroadband connectivity toPanchayats. The objective of thescheme is to extend initially the ex-isting optical fiber network whichextends upto districts HQ's/BlockHQ's level upto the Gram Panchayatlevel by utilizing Universal ServiceObligation Fund (USOF) .The costof the initial phase of the NOFNscheme is likely to be in the regionof RS 20,000 crore. Similar amountof investment is likely to be madeby private sector complementing theNOFN infrastructure while providingservices to individual users. A HighLevel Committee (HLC) to steer andcoordinate all activities related to thecreation and implementation ofNOFN was earlier constituted byDOT on 26th April 2011 under theCo- Chairmanship of Sam Pitroda,

Adviser to PM on Public Information,Infrastructure and Innovation andNandan Nilekani, Chairman, UIDAI.The HLC has already held 3 meet-ings and has initiated steps to putthe implementation on a fast track.A Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) willassume the responsibility for execu-tion of the project after approval ofthe scheme by the cabinet. The SPVwill be finally owned by the Govern-ment/USOF. The BSNL has beenentrusted with the task of undertak-ing the preparatory activity forproject execution and establishmentof the SPV.

Green GrowthThe government of India re-

cently announced the setting up ofa high-level expert group to assessthe impact of economic growth onenvironment. The expert group hasbeen constituted under environmenteconomist Partha Dasgupta to pro-vide a roadmap for Green NationalAccounting System (GNA) to evalu-ate impact of economic growth on

environment by 2015. The group isset up jointly by the Planning Com-mission and Ministry of Environ-ment. The panel will also includedistinguished economists NitinDesai, Vijay Kelkar and Kirit Parikh.The committee has been mandatedto evaluate the environmental andecological implications of high GDPgrowth on ecology and biodiversity.

Largest water massTwo teams of astronomers

has discovered the largest andfarthest reservoir of water everdetected in the universe. The water,equivalent to 140 trillion times all thewater in the world’s ocean,surrounds a huge, feeding blackhole, called a quasar, more than 12billion light-years away. A quasar ispowered by an enormous black holethat steadily consumes asurrounding disk of gas and dust.As it eats, the quasar spews outhuge amounts of energy. Bothgroups of astronomers studied aparticular quasar called APM


08279+5255, which harbours ablack hole 20 billion times moremassive than the sun and producesas much energy as a thousandtrillion suns. Astronomers expectedwater vapour to be present even inthe early, distant universe, but hadnot detected it this far away before.There’s water vapour in the MilkyWay, although the total amount is4,000 times less than in the quasar,because most of the Milky Way’swater is frozen in ice. Water vapouris an important trace gas that revealsthe nature of the quasar. In thisparticular quasar, the water vapouris distributed around the black holein a gaseous region spanninghundreds of light-years in size. Itspresence indicates that the quasaris bathing the gas in X-rays andinfrared radiation, and that the gasis unusually warm and dense byastronomical standards.

E. coli InfectionE. coli stands for Escherichia

coli — bacteria (germs) that causesevere cramps and diarrhoea. E. coliis a leading cause of bloodydiarrhoea. The symptoms are worsein children and older people, andespecially in people who haveanother illness. E. coli infection ismore common during the summermonths and in northern states.

Symptoms of E. coli Infec-tion:

(a) bad stomach cramps andbelly pain.(b) Vomiting.(c) Diarrhoea, sometimes withblood in it.

Complications related to E.coli: The most common complicationis called haemolytic uremicsyndrome. People with this problemget haemolytic anaemia (which is alow red blood cell count),thrombocytopenia (which is a lowplatelet count) and renal failure(which is kidney damage).

Haemolytic uremic syndrome ismore common in children. It cancause acute renal failure in children.This problem starts about 5 to 10days after the diarrhoea starts.

Recent Outbreak of E.coli:

A new strain of E. colicontaining gens from two distinctgroups of enters aggregative E. coli(EAEC) and enter haemorrhagic E.coli (EHEC) has hit Europeannations. This outbreak of E. colilinked to contaminated saladvegetables had caused at least 22deaths and hundreds of infectionsin Germany, Sweden and othercountries.123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890

SPACERESEARCH

NASA's GRAIL Mission:Studying the Moonfrom Crust to Core

You can get as poetic aboutthe moon as you want — andeveryone from lovers to lyricists toastronauts has had a go at it. Butthe fact is, the thing's a lump —beautiful, to be sure, but a lump allthe same, created more than 4billion years ago when a Mars-sizeplanetesimal whizzed by, collided

with Earth and blasted out a massof molten debris that eventuallycooled into the moon.

In fact, the moon is a seriesof lumps within lumps. Even as itwas congealing, it did so unevenly,with scattered areas of high densitythat senologists labeled mascons —for mass concentrations. Thehighlands and plains are made ofdiffering materials too. Higher localdensity means stronger local gravity,which can not only wreak havoc onprecisely calibrated spacecraft orbitsbut can also reveal a lot about theinnards and the history of the moonitself — provided you know how toread those gravitational flutters.NASA is preparing to do just that,launching the GRAIL mission(Gravity Recovery and InteriorLaboratory) on a nine-month journeyto deepen our understanding ofEarth's closest neighbor.

The GRAIL spacecraft,which launched on Sept. 10, isactually two spacecraft, each aboutthe size of a washing machine.Named, prosaically enough, GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B, they were loftedaboard the same booster and thenreleased in space for separate butclosely coordinated flights to themoon.

A translunar journey typicallytakes less than three days, but theGRAIL ships will exceed that by just


25th nuclear power plantIndia is moving forward with nuclear power generation despite

worldwide concerns about the safety of civilian nuclear power electricitygeneration after the March disaster in Japan’s Fukushima complex.India recently began construction of its 25th atomic power plant andannounced to build four more indigenous 700 MW units than plannedearlier. The first pour of concrete for the 700 MW indigenous PressurizedHeavy Water Reactor (PHWR), the seventh nuclear plant at theRajasthan Atomic Power Station (RAPS), took place about 65 km fromKota. RAPS currently operate six PHWRs at the facility, five of whichare producing more than 1,180 MW, India’s largest nuclear powerelectrical generation from a single facility. The new complex will beRAPS’ seventh nuclear power plant built at the Rajasthan site. The700-megawatt PHWR was designed by NPCIL by scaling up the designof its 540-megawatt PHWRs operating at Tarapur since 2005. The newRAPS facility is expected to be completed by 2016.

a bit — not arriving until New Year'sEve in the case of GRAIL-A and NewYear's Day in the case of GRAIL-B.Rather than covering the 239,000-mi. (385,000 km) distance from theEarth to the moon in a straight, as-the-crow-flies shot, the ships willfollow a looping, 2.5-million-mi. (4million km) trajectory. The longerroute and slower speed allow thespacecraft to carry less fuel andensure that when they do arrive atthe moon they can be inserted intoorbit more precisely — and precisionis everything when it comes to theGRAILs.

During the three months theships will spend actively studying themoon — from early March to lateMay — they will maintain a distanceof 100 to 225 km (62 to 140 mi.),depending on what part of the lunaranatomy they're surveying. Atracking system aboard the ships willmeasure any change in rangebetween the two within a differenceof a few microns — or about the sizeof a red blood cell. And that shiftingdistance is exactly what thescientists will be looking for. Flyingover a mascon will be like drivingover a speed bump, jolting the twoships and causing them to shake abit relative to each other. The denserthe mass concentration — and thebigger the gravity jolt — the greaterthe degree of disruption will be.

"We'll use the moon's gravityto tell us what's inside the moon, allthe way down to the core," saysprincipal investigator Maria Zuber ofMIT.

NASA is prepared forglitches and false positives in thedata. No unmanned spacecraft haveever flown in such balletic tandemaround another world, and flightplanners will thus be refining theirnavigational skills in real time. Eventhe solar wind — the stream ofcharged particles that flow outwardfrom the sun — could disrupt thereadings. Indeed, one more reason

for the roundabout translunar routewas so that scientists could measurethe wind precisely and correct for itas the data is analyzed.

Assuming the missionachieves what it's designed toachieve, the GRAILs will do morethan reveal new insights about theinnards of the moon and the originsof the solar system. They will alsohelp NASA select promising sites forfuture lunar landings. Suchambitious future missions, of course,require both funding andprogrammatic clarity that arenowhere in evidence at the moment.But in the event policymakers everdo set their sights moonward again,GRAIL will help tell them preciselywhere to aim.

T.K. Anuradha,Pramodha Hegde &

K.S. AnuradhaFor the first time in the history

of the Indian Space ResearchOrganisation, three senior womenscientists monitored and carried outcrucial manoeuvres of thecommunication satellite GSAT-12which was launched on July 22,2011. Project Director of GSAT-12T.K. Anuradha, Mission DirectorPramodha Hegde and OperationsDirector K.S. Anuradha, who have

been with ISRO for over twodecades, were involved in crucialtasks undertaken before declaringthe satellite fully operational.

Oceansat-2 groundstation inaugurated in

HyderabadA state-of-the-art Oceansat-

2 ground station was inaugurated onSeptember 12 by Union MinisterVilasrao Deshmukh at the IndianNational Centre for OceanInformation Services (INCOIS) atHyderabad.

The Department of Spaceand INCOIS established the groundstation to receive and process datafrom Ocean Colour Monitor on-board the Indian Remote SensingSatellite Oceansat-2 in real time.

The Oceansat-2 groundstation, fitted with a 7.5 m diameterantenna, could cover an area of5,000 km diameter circle, coveringthe Bay of Bengal on the east andthe Arabian Sea on the west, a noteissued by INCOIS on the occasionsaid. The ground station consists ofvarious sub-systems like antennaand feed system, radio frequencyand tracking, base band,automation, modulation and de-modulation systems, direct archivaland quick—look browsing and


Oceansat data productiongeneration system.

INCOIS said, the 7.5 meterdiameter antenna system at the newground station could also be usedto receive data from satelliteslaunched by ISRO in the future studyof oceans.

The chlorophyll datareceived from OCM at the groundstation would be integrated with SeaSurface Temperature from NOAAsatellites for providing the PotentialFishing Zone (PFZ) advisoryservices.

The PFZ advisoriesgenerated by INCOIS usingOceansat-2 data advise fishermenon the optimal locations for fishing.

INCOIS said an estimated65,000 users regularly access thePFZ service, thereby benefiting by60-70 per cent reduction in searchtime for fish shoals and 2-3 timesincrease in net profit.

“The recent study, carriedout by National Council of AppliedEconomic Research, on the socio—economic benefits of PFZ advisoryservices and ocean state forecasts,has estimated the net annualbenefits to be in the range of Rs34,000 to Rs 50,000 crore due toscientific identification of PFZsbased on satellite information,”INCOIS said.

Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister N Kiran Kumar Reddy,ISRO chairman K Radhakrishnan,Secretary in the Ministry of EarthSciences Shailesh Nayak, Incoisdirector Satheesh Shenoi and otherofficials were present on theoccasion.

NASA launches twinsatellites bound for

moonTwin satellites blasted off

aboard a rocket September 10 on amission to unveil the inner secretsof the moon, the US space agencyNASA said.

The Grail spacecraft launchat 9.08 am aboard a Delta II rocketfrom an Air Force base adjacent toNASA’s facilities at Cape Canaveral,Florida.

The blastoff had beenpostponed twice due to bad weatheron September 8th and 9th.

The two small Grailspacecraft - which are about the sizeof washing machines - will fly information above the moon’s surfaceto map its gravity.

“Trying to understand howthe moon formed, and how itevolved over its history, is one of thethings we’re trying to address withthe Grail mission,” said researcherMaria Zuber of the MassachusettsInstitute of Technology.

By measuring variations ingravity across the moon’s surfaceover three months, scientists hopeto learn how the interior formed,which should also provide generalclues about how rocky planets form,Ms. Zuber said.

Atlantis ReturnsThe 135th, and final, space-shuttle mission was completed

recently with the safe return of Atlantis back to earth after makingresupplies to the International Space Station and deliver an experimentintended to help develop a refuelling system for telecommunicationssatellites. The STS-135 crew consisted of Commander Chris Ferguson,Pilot Doug Hurley, Mission Specialists Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim.They delivered more than 9,400 pounds of spare parts, spare equipmentand other supplies in the Raffaello multi-purpose logistics module -including 2,677 pounds of food - that will sustain space station operationsfor the next year. The 21- foot long, 15-foot diameter Raffaello broughtback nearly 5,700 pounds of unneeded materials from the station. Atlantiswill now become a museum piece, on display at the space centre. STS-135 was the 33rd and final flight for Atlantis, which spent 307 days inspace, orbited Earth 4,848 times and travelled 125,935,769 miles. Theend of the shuttle programme, which leaves America without the abilityto launch people into orbit for the first time since 1962, has been thesubject of much controversy between those who think manned spaceflight a waste of money and those who see space as the country’smanifest destiny and the final frontier of human exploration. Alternativesystems for launching humans, employing singleshot rockets, are underdevelopment by several American companies. In the meantime, Americanastronauts bound for the space station will have to hitch a lift with theRussians.


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DEFENCENod given to develop

Gujarat's DeesaAirport as air base

The Defence Ministry hasapproved a proposal to developDeesa Airport in North Gujarat as afull fledged air base, a top IAF officersaid.

"We had mooted thisproposal to the Defence Ministry,which has granted approval. Thefirst phase of the project will costover Rs 3,000 crore," said A K GogoiCommanding in Chief, SouthWestern Air Command (SWAC).

Considering the strategicimportance of the airport, it wasthought fit to develop a full-fledgedair base at Deesa, which is close tothe Pakistani border, he toldreporters after induction of 25squadron at IAF station in Vadodaraon Thursday.

The IAF base at Jodhpur willhave a permanent squadron of SU-30 fighter jets in the next couple ofyears, he said.

Two squadrons armed withAkash, the medium range surfaceto-air missile, are set to be deployedin Pune and Gwalior.

Six more squadrons will bedeployed for checking any threatfrom China, Gogoi said.

To a question on shortage ofaircraft, he said "IAF is expecting toexpand the fleet of its fighters after2012. This will lead to increase inthe number of squadrons."

"We are getting upgradedMIG aircraft from Russia. Five suchaircraft are expected to arrive soon,"he said.

"SWAC is in the process ofstrengthening surveillance byinducting a few state-of-the-artMedium Power Radars (MPRs),"Gogoi said. "The MPR has beendeveloped with a view to detect

small targets at ranges greater than300 km," Gogoi said.

Talking about 25 Squadron,popularly known as HimalayanEagle', he said it was formed on 1stMarch 1963 in the wake of 1962Chinese aggression in the NorthernSector.

The unit, equipped with AN-32 aircraft, has been adjudged thebest transport unit in the IAF threetimes.

Russia successfullytest-launches ballistic

missileRussia on August 27

successfully test launched its Bulavainter-continental ballistic missile toits maximum range of 8,000 km, ina boost to the country's defencecapabilities.

The missile was firedsuccessfully by the White sea-basedRussian nuclear submarine YuriDolgoruky, the Defence Ministrysaid.

The successful launch of theBulava came after a string ofsetbacks suffered by thisprogramme.

Only eight of its previous 15launches were officially declaredsuccessful.

"The regular launch of themissile was conducted at 7:20 amMoscow time from a submergedposition from the regular carrier inline with the state flight developmenttests at a maximum flight range ofthe missile," a defence ministryspokesman was quoted as sayingby Russian news agency RiaNovosti.

The missile successfullyreached its target in the PacificOcean in accordance with thenecessary shipping securitymeasures, the spokesman said.

The successful test of themissile was reported to PresidentDmitry Medvedev by the defenceminister Anatoly Serdyukov.

The Bulava, expected tobecome Russia's main navalstrategic missile, is capable ofcarrying 10 warheads with a rangeof 8,000 km.

The first test launch from theYuri Dolgoruky was conducted onJune 28, 2011. Before that themissiles were fired from thetyphoon-class Dmitry Donskoysubmarine.

The three-stage missile isspecifically designed for deploymenton Borey class nuclear submarines.

Project ‘SANGAM’A software project

‘SANGAM’ for defencepensioners has been launched.The project ‘SANGAM’ willprovide useful ManagementInformation System (MIS) to thefinancial planners in the Ministryof Defence. Project ‘SANGAM’ isa software which will facilitateissuance of corrigendum pensionpayment orders. This will addressthe demand from the ex-servicemen for issue of individualcorrigendum pension paymentorder consequent toimplementation ofrecommendations of SixthCentral Pay Commission (6thCPC). This software project isone step forward from the project‘SUVIGYA’ which was launchedin October last year on theoccasion of Defence AccountDepartment Day and is verypopular among defencepensioners. There are about 18lakh defence pensioners who willbe benefitted with the launch ofproject ‘SANGAM’ in the long run.It will also help in grievanceredressal of pensioners withregard to the correctness ofpayment of pension.


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SUMMITS/CONFERENCES

5th India-EU Seminaron Employment and

Social Policy -Occupational Safety &

Health’The 5th India-EU seminar

on Employment and Social Policy -Occupational Safety & Health iscommencing on Monday 19th,2011at Symposia Hall, Indian Council ofAgricultural Research, NationalAgriculture Science Centre(NASC)Complex, Dev PrakashShastri Marg, New Delhi. The twoday seminar will be inaugurated andchaired by Union Minister forLabour & Employment ShriMallikarjun Kharge and be attendedby senior officials from the EuropeanCommission and from the membercountries of European Union.Ministers from some countries arealso likely to attend the seminar.The senior representatives fromWorkers’ organizations, Employers’Organisation and senior officersfrom of various State Governmentsand Central Ministries/Departmentsof Govt. of India will also beparticipating in the seminar.

The seminar will have foursessions spread over two days inwhich deliberations on the followingissues will be made :

“Overview of OSHInstitutional Framework in India andthe European Union”; “Effective and"Topical Issues in OccupationalHealth Management"

The seminar is in thesequence of a Joint Action Planentered in between India andEuropean Union (EU) to have apolicy dialogue and cooperation in

the fields of employment and socialpolicy. Accordingly, the Ministry ofLabour & Employment, Governmentof India has signed an Memorandumof Understanding (MOU) with theEuropean Commission tostrengthen dialogue and exchangeof views and information on issuesof common interests within the areaof employment and social policysuch as: skills, training andemployment, social security,occupational health and safety;workers’ participation inmanagement; and other relevantissues jointly identified. Thestructured dialogue consists ofexchanges of experience, bestpractice, views and information ontopics of common interest, trendsand policy developments related tothe above areas. As a part of thisstructured dialogue, it has beenagreed upon to organize a jointseminar on mutually identifiedissues every year. These seminarswill bring together EU and Indiagovernment experts, social partnerrepresentatives, academic expertsand other relevant stakeholders toexchange views, information,experience and best practice ontopics of common interest.

As a result, the first Seminaron Skills Development and trainingwas held on 27-28 November, 2006at New Delhi. The second seminaron social security and socialprotection was held on 17-18September, 2007 at Lisbon,Portugal. The third Seminar on“Employment Relations andResolution of Conflicts” wasorganized on 22nd & 23rdSeptember, 2008 at New Delhi. The4th India-EU Seminar on the `Skillsand Jobs’, with a particular focus onthe impact of the global crisis andrecovery was held in Brussels from5th to 6th July, 2010.

India Convenesmeeting of BRICS

Finance Ministers inWashington DC on

September 22, 2011The Union Finance

Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjeesaid that India is convening ameeting of BRICS FinanceMinisters in Washington DC onSeptember 22, 2011 on thesidelines of the Fund-Bank andG-20 Meetings. The FinanceMinister said that we wouldexplore the manner in whichBRICS could coordinate inaddressing the evolvingeconomic and financial situationin the various countries of theworld. The Finance Minister ShriMukherjee said that the objectiveof the meeting is to discuss ourconcerns regarding the currentstate of the Global Economy andour Policy Response. ShriMukherjee said that we willdiscuss the progress on the reportcommissioned by India on therole that BRICS can play in theglobal economy going forward,and also our role in theinternational financial institutionssuch as IMF and the World Bank.

Rio+20 UN meet tofocus on sustainable

buildingThe impact of the building

sector on climate change,sustainable construction and greenbuildings will have to be on the topof the agenda of the Rio+20 UnitedNations Conference on SustainableDevelopment, according to Mr ArabHoballah, Chief, SustainableConsumption and ProductionBranch, United NationsEnvironment Programme.

The world cannot afford tomiss this opportunity as the built-up


space accounts for one-third of theGreen House Gas emissionsglobally, and consumes nearly halfthe world's energy and resources.

At the Rio +20 UNconference to secure renewedpolitical commitment for sustainabledevelopment, the challenge ofcreating a sustainable buildingsector will have to be brought to thefore. The opportunity was missedout earlier and does not figure in theKyoto Protocol because of the lackof awareness two decades back onthis issue.

Addressing the InternationalGreen Building Conference 2011organised by the Building andConstruction Authority, a SingaporeGovernment body that regulatesreal estate development, he said, amultipronged approach is needed inthe form of multilateral agreements,economic and fiscal incentives andregulatory regimes.

Population growth andeconomic development are drivingthe demand for buildings with themajor growth regions being China,Asia, Latin America and Africa. By2030 more than 80 per cent of thepopulation will be living in citieswhere housing will be needed forthree billion people. The UNEPgreen economic report released inFebruary looks at the investmentsneeded to make the process ofdevelopment sustainable. Two of the11 chapters deal with buildings and

cities. These two also have a directimpact on most of the other sectorsthe report deals with – agriculture,forest, manufacturing, tourism,transport, water and energy.

Conference on PublicPrivate Partnership in

National HighwaysA Conference on “Public Pri-

vate Partnership (PPP) in NationalHighways: Challenges and Opportu-nities” organized by the Ministry ofRoad Transport & Highways with theassistance of the Planning Commis-sion concluded in New Delhi at Sep-tember 12. The one-day conferencewas inaugurated by the Prime Minis-ter, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The UnionMinister for Road Transport & High-ways, Dr. C. P. Joshi gave a broadoverview of the “Vision Ahead” of theMinistry and the Deputy Chairman ofPlanning Commission, Dr. MontekSingh Ahluwalia delivered the key-note address. The Ministers of Statefor RT&H, Shri Jitin Prasada and Dr.Tusharbhai A. Choudhary also ad-dressed the inaugural session.

Rabi Conference 2011The National Conference on

Agriculture for Rabi Campaign-2011will begin in New Delhi on Septem-ber 14. Strategy for the forthcomingrabi season will be deliberated uponand finalized during the two dayConference. Discussion on progressin sowing of crops during the cur-rent kharif season will also takeplace.

Kharif assessment and rabiplanning, possibility of additionalareas under boro/summer rice,pulses and wheat, procurement planfor ensuring timely supply of inputsto farmers and promotion of micro-nutrients are some of the importantissues on the agenda of the Con-ference. Centrally sponsored flag-ship schemes of the Ministry of Ag-riculture will also be discussed dur-ing the Conference.

The Conference will be inau-gurated by Shri Sharad Pawar, Min-ister of Agriculture and Food Pro-cessing Industries.

The Conference will be at-tended by Senior Officers of StateAgriculture Departments, expertsand representatives of the con-cerned ministries, scientists fromICAR, other research institutes andcrop directorates.

Twenty-Second WorldMining Congress

Twenty-Second WorldMining Congress and Expo was heldat Istanbul, Turkey between 11-16September 2011. World MiningCongress & Expo is a uniqueopportunity for companies andmanufactures to showcase theirlatest achievements and equipmenttechnologies to a wide audienceespecially tot h o s eofficials andspecia l is tsfrom all overthe world.


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ECONOMYGLOSSARY

India and Malaysia FTAThe free trade agreement

(FTA) between India and Malaysiahas come into force from July 1,2011. The Indian Government hasassured that sensitive sectors likeagriculture, fisheries, textiles,chemicals and automobiles havebeen given protection from importswithout duty or with significant cuts.India-Malaysia CECA is India’sfourth bilateral ComprehensiveEconomic Cooperation Agreement,after Singapore, South Korea andJapan. The India-Malaysia CECAalso facilitates cross-borderinvestments between the twocountries. It aims to promoteinvestments and create a liberal,facilitative, transparent andcompetitive investment regime. TheCECA creates an attractiveoperating environment for thebusiness communities of bothcountries to increase bilateral tradeand investment.

Benefits:1. This FTA is likely to provide

greater opportunity to Indianprofessionals professionals incommercially meaningfulsectors including accounting andauditing, architecture, urbanplanning, engineering services,medical and dental, nursing andpharmacy, Computer andRelated Services (CRS), andManagement ConsultingServices to have access to thekey South-East Asian nation andrender their services to them.

2. Besides that like basmati rice,mangoes, eggs, trucks,motorcycles and cottongarments, will attract lower or noduty in Malaysia with the

implementation of theComprehensive EconomicCooperation Agreement (CECA)and therefore would have betteraccess in Malaysian markets.

3. Further, the CCEA would facilitatetemporary movement ofbusiness people, includingcontractual service suppliersand independent professionalsin accounting, architecture,engineering services, medicaland dental, nursing andpharmacy, computer servicesand management consulting.

4. It has been expected that theagreement will also help boostcrossborder investmentbetween the two countries,which achieved bilateral trade ofUSD 10 billion in the fiscal yearof 2010-11, an increase of 26 percent from the previous year. Withthe implementation of thisagreement the bilateral trade islikely to touch US$15 billion by2015.

Cloud ComputingCloud computing is a

comprehensive solution thatdelivers IT as a service. It is anInternet-based computing solutionwhere shared resources areprovided like electricity distributedon the electrical grid. Computers inthe cloud are configured to worktogether and the variousapplications use the collectivecomputing power as if they arerunning on a single system. Theflexibility of cloud computing is afunction of the allocation ofresources on demand. Thisfacilitates the use of the system’scumulative resources, negating theneed to assign specific hardware toa task. Before cloud computing,websites and server-basedapplications were executed on aspecific system. With the advent ofcloud computing, resources areused as an aggregated virtual

computer. This amalgamatedconfiguration provides anenvironment where applicationsexecute independently withoutregard for any particularconfiguration. Thus Cloudcomputing is a paradigm for large-scale distributed computing thatmakes use of existing technologiessuch as virtualization, service-orientation, and grid computing. Itoffers a different way to acquire andmanage IT resources on a largescale. A simple example of cloudcomputing is webmail. The webmailprovider maintains the server spaceand provides access; the webmailuser just plugs a web address into abrowser and submits userinformation to access an account.

Benefits of the CloudComputing:(a) Reduced cost: Cloud computing

can reduce both capital expenseand operating expense costsbecause resources are onlyacquired when needed and areonly paid for when used.

(b) Refined usage of personnel:Using cloud computing freesvaluable personnel allowingthem to focus on delivering valuerather than maintaininghardware and software.

(c) Robust scalability: Cloudcomputing allows for immediatescaling, either up or down, at anytime without long-termcommitment.

Global economicgrowth to slow down

to 3.1% in 2011:UNCTAD

Projecting a slowdown inglobal economic growth in 2011 toaround 3 per cent, compared toalmost 4 per cent last year, a UNagency said developing economiescould be affected by recession indeveloped nations. "The pace ofglobal economic recovery has beenslowing down in 2011... This year,


world Gross Domestic Product(GDP) is expected to grow by 3.1per cent, compared to 3.9 per centin 2010," the United NationsConference on Trade andDevelopment said in a reportreleased.

It said the developingeconomies have sustained theirstrong growth path, despite therecent global downturn, mainly dueto domestic demand.

"However, they must facefinancial instability and speculativecapital flows generated in developedeconomies and would not be sparedby a new recession in the North,"UNCTAD's Trade and DevelopmentReport 2011 (TDR 2011) said.

Projecting a slowdown inglobal economic growth in 2011,UNCTAD said private demand aloneis not sufficient to maintainmomentum of recovery due to highunemployment and stagnant wagesin many countries.

While developing economiesare expected to regain the pre-crisisgrowth rate of 6 per cent this year,growth in developed economies isexpected to be between only 1.5-2per cent, it said.

Regarding South Asia, ofwhich India is a part, UNCTAD saidthe region is likely to be among thebest performers with a growth of 7per cent in 2011.

"Although growth indeveloping countries has becomemore and more dependent on theexpansion of domestic markets,these countries face significant

external risks because of economicweakness in the developedeconomies and a lack of significantreforms in international financialmarkets," UNCTAD said.

It said that emergingeconomies remain vulnerable totrade and financial shocks that couldstrongly affect volume of theirexports and the prices of primarycommodities, as happened in 2008.

The report said that growthin US is likely to remain low onaccount of low domestic demand,stagnating wages and employmentand low interest rates.

The debt crisis, along withspreading fiscal austerity, is alsoexpected to act as a drag on theglobal growth.

According to the TDR 2011,trade remains an area of concern,especially for the richer nations.

"In 2011, the volume ofinternational trade is expected toreturn to single-digit from 14 per centin 2010, particularly in developedeconomies. Recovery of trade hasbeen faster in developing than indeveloped economies," it said.

Financial InclusionNecessary for

Inclusive GrowthFinancial inclusion is

necessary for inclusive growth. Toextend the reach of banking to thoseoutside the formal banking system,the Union Finance Minister ShriPranab Mukherjee in his BudgetSpeech 2010-11 had stated that the

Government has decided to provideappropriate banking facilities tohabitations having population inexcess of 2000 (as per 2001census) by March, 2012.Accordingly, 73,000 suchhabitations across the country havebeen identified and allocated toPublic Sector Banks, Regional RuralBanks, Private Sector Banks andCooperative Banks for extendingbanking services by using theservices of BusinessCorrespondents and other models,with appropriate technology back upby March, 2012.

According to Dr. RangarajanCommittee Report on FinancialInclusion (2008), the reach of ruralcooperatives in terms of number ofclients and accessibility is better butthe health of a very large populationof rural credit cooperatives hasdeteriorated significantly. RBIguidelines on KYC (Know YourCustomer) are similar to bothCommercial Banks and UrbanCooperative Banks.

Primary AgricultureCooperative Societies (PACS)affiliated to District CentralCooperative Banks and StateCooperative Banks were having adeposit base of Rs.26,245 crore ason 31.3.2009 that increased toRs.35,286 crore as on 31.3.2010registering an increase of 34.45%.The loans issued by such PrimarySocieties (PACS) were of the orderof Rs.58,787 crore as on 31.3.2009and Rs.74,938 crore as on31.3.2010 registering an increase27.47% over the previous year.

New set of coins andRs 10 notes

On July 8, 2011, FinanceMinister Pranab Mukherjeelaunched a new set of coins and Rs10 notes bearing the rupee symbol.With this India became the secondcountry after England to have itscurrency symbol printed on its notes.


Janani ShishuSuraksha Karyakaram

UPA chairperson SoniaGandhi recently unveiled theJanani-Shishu Suraksha Karyakram— an ambitious national healthcareprogramme aimed at providing freechild delivery and neonatal careservices across the country.Inaugurated at Mandikhera villagelocated in the relatively backwardand predominantly Muslim Haryanadistrict of Mewat, the scheme isexpected to bring safe medicalservices to more than one crore ruraland urban families every year. Thisscheme will give right to all pregnantwomen to have free delivery ingovernment health organisations. Itis here underlined that the ambitiousscheme of the Centre, to beimplemented under the NationalRural Health Mission (NRHM), hasbeen patterned on the HaryanaGovernment’s scheme “JananiSuraksha Yojana”, and would costRs 1100 crore per month. Under theprogramme, expecting motherswould get care and treatment,including medicines, food andtesting facilities free of cost in allgovernment hospitals anddispensaries, she said. They wouldalso be provided, if needed, bloodand transport facility to the hospitalfor delivery free of cost, and themother-child duo would betransported back home.

Rehabilitation of SexWorkers

The Central Government isimplementing ‘Ujjawala’, acomprehensive Scheme forprevention of trafficking and rescue,rehabilitation and reintegration ofvictims of trafficking for commercialsexual exploitation since 4th

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PROGRAMMES

Rural Business Hubs SchemeSince the inception of the Central Sector Scheme of Rural Busi-

ness Hubs (RBHs) in 2007-08, the Government has released a total ofRs. 540.45 lakh upto the period 2011-12 for the Scheme. Rs. 86.17lakhs was released for the period 2010-11. For the period 2011-12, 13.32lakhs has been released till date.

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been implementing a CentralSector Scheme of RBHs for promoting manufacturing of products usingraw materials / skills available in the rural areas. The scheme works ona 4P (Public-Private-Panchayat-Partnership) model and is applicable inall the BRGF districts and all the districts in the North-Eastern Region.Setting up of RBHs is primarily done through convergence of resourcesfrom various ongoing schemes. Assistance under the RBH Scheme isavailable for professional support services, training/skill developmentand for purchase of minor equipment. RBH is a demand driven schemeand, therefore, no targets can be fixed under the Scheme. There is noState-wise allocation of funds. The financial assistance is provided tothe Implementing Agencies in two installments keeping in view the vi-ability of their projects and proper utilization of the funds released.

December, 2007. The Minister ofState (I/C) for Women & ChildDevelopment Smt. Krishna Tirathstated in Lok Sabha that theScheme is envisaged for womenand children who are vulnerable totrafficking and those who are victimsof trafficking for commercial sexualexploitation. However, sex workerswho are voluntarily in the trade andwish to be rehabilitated, can alsoavail of rehabilitation servicesprovided under the UjjawalaScheme.

The Minister informed theHouse that under the Scheme, 76Protective and Rehabilitative Homeshave been sanctioned, in thecountry, which can accommodateupto 3800 beneficiaries. TheseRehabilitative Homes are givenfinancial support for providing theinmates basic amenities such asfood, clothing and shelter, medicalcare, legal aid, education in case thevictims are children as well as forundertaking vocational training andincome generation activities toprovide the victims with alternatelivelihood option.

Smt. Tirath said that acomprehensive study on ‘Girls andWomen in Prostitution’, conductedin 2004, which was sponsored bythe Ministry of Women and ChildDevelopment, had estimated thatthere were about 2.8 millionprostitutes in the country of which36% are children.

It is to be noted here that theHon’ble Supreme Court vide itsorder dated 14.2.2011 had askedthe State and Central Governmentsto prepare schemes for rehabilitationof sex workers in all cities in Indiaby giving them technical/vocationaltraining. Subsequently, vide orderdated 19.7.2011, the Hon’ble Courthas a Panel which will make suitablesuggestions to the Court on differentaspects including rehabilitation ofsex workers who wish to leave sexwork. The Court has asked thePanel to first take up the problemsof sex workers in the 4 metropolitancities i.e. Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbaiand Chennai. The Panel has metthree times to discuss the issuesbefore it.


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REPORTSGlobal Innovation

Index 2011India has continued to

deteriorate in the index as it hasslipped to 62nd position in the 2011edition of the Global InnovationIndex rankings from being 56th in2010 and 41st in 2009. India hasperformed poorly on the Input sideat ranked 87th: India is in the lastquintile on sub-pillars businessenvironment, elementary education,tertiary education, and knowledgeworkers. In the Innovation EfficiencyIndex, India however improved itsranking to 9th this year. It wasfollowed by Sri Lanka (82),Bangladesh (97), and Pakistan(105). The 2011 rankings were bythe leading international businessschool INSEAD and its knowledgepartners, Alcatel-Lucent, Booz &Company, the Confederation ofIndian Industry, and the WorldIntellectual Property Organisation(WIPO). Switzerland has beenregarded as ranked one ahead ofSweden, Singapore, Hong Kongand Finland. The other majorcountries are; US (7), China (29),Brazil (47) and Russia (56).

The Global Innovation Indexhas been computed as an averageof the scores across inputs pillars

(describing the enablingenvironment for innovation) andoutput pillars (measuring actualachievements in innovation). Itadded that five pillars constitute theInnovation Input Sub-Index:‘Institutions,’ ‘Human capital andresearch,’ ‘Infrastructure’, ‘Marketsophistication’ and ‘Businesssophistication’. The InnovationOutput Sub-Index is comprised twopillars: ‘Scientific outputs’ and‘Creative outputs’. The InnovationEfficiency Index, calculated as theratio of the two Sub-Indices,examines how economies leveragetheir enabling environments tostimulate innovation results.

World Trade Report2011

The WTO and preferentialtrade agreements: Fromco-existence to coher-ence:

The ever-growing number ofpreferential trade agreements(PTAs) is a prominent feature ofinternational trade. The World TradeReport 2011 describes the historicaldevelopment of PTAs and thecurrent landscape of agreements. Itexamines why PTAs areestablished, their economic effects,and the contents of the agreementsthemselves. Finally it considers theinteraction between PTAs and themultilateral trading system.According to the latest report of theWTO accumulated trade opening —at the multilateral, regional andunilateral level — has reduced thescope for offering preferential tariffsunder PTAs. As a result, only a smallfraction of global merchandise tradereceives preferences, andpreferential tariffs are becoming lessimportant in PTAs. The reporthighlights the fact that globalproduction networks have promotedthe emergence of these “deep”PTAs as good governance on a

range of regulatory areas is far moreimportant to these networks thanfurther reductions in already lowtariffs.

WTO projects that theworld trade will grow 6.5per cent by volume in2011:

The latest report of the WTOhas projected that the world tradewill grow by 6.5 percent this year,which is above the average ratebetween 1990 and 2008 of 6percent, but if fails short of last year’sdramatic rebound. The WTOmaintains that the growth inmerchandise trade in 2010 asmeasured by volume of exports was14.5 percent, revised up from itsprevious forecast of 13.5 percent.

UN MillenniumDevelopment Goals

ReportAccording to the UN

Millennium Development GoalsReport, as many as 320 millionpeople in India and China areexpected to come out of extremepoverty by 2015, while India’spoverty rate is projected to dropto 22%, from 55% in 1990. Thoseliving on less than $1.25 a day areconsidered extremely poor.


Developing country’ trade asmeasured by exports growth isprojected to grow by 9.5 percent,while that of developed countries isset to grow only 4.5 percent.

India is 10th top servicesexporter:

According to the latest reportof the WTO, India has achieved 10thrank in export of services worldwide,while emerged as the 20th biggestmerchandise exporter in 2010. Invalue terms last year, India exportedservices and merchandise worthUSD 110 billion and USD 216 billionrespectively. India’s goods exportswent up by 31 per cent in 2010,helping the country to expand itsmarket share to 1.4 per cent from 1.2per cent in 2009. According to thereport, China ranked first in terms ofmerchandise exports followed by theUS and Germany. In services export,the US is on the top slot followed byGermany and UK.

Asian DevelopmentBank Economic Report

2011The Asian Development

Bank (ADB) has released itseconomic report on Asianeconomies titled as ‘Asia 2050 -Realizing the Asian Century’, sayingthat by the year 2050, over 45 percent of the entire world’s grossdomestic product (GDP) will becontributed by seven Asian nations.According to the report, Asia’s risewill be led by China, India,Indonesia, Japan, the Republic ofKorea, Malaysia, and Thailand. Inthis exclusively prepared

comprehensive report, the AsianDevelopment Bank has referred tothese seven countries as the drivingengines for the re-emergence of theentire Asia. According to theestimates, around 3.1 billion totalpopulations were living in theseseven Asian nations in the year2010. This population makes 78 percent of the entire population livingin Asia. In 2010, these sevencountries were generating around $14.2 trillion gross domestic product.

World CompetitivenessRankings 2011India has slipped one rank,

to 32nd position in overallcompetitiveness among 59 nations,according to the latest ‘WorldCompetitiveness Rankings’,announced by the InternationalInstitute for ManagementDevelopment, Lausanne(Switzerland). The recovery offinancial markets pushed the USand Hong Kong to first place,followed by last year’s topper,Singapore, which fell to third spot.In 2010, the US and Hong Kongranked second and third,respectively. India’s neighbouringcompetitor, China, also slipped onerank, to 19th and Japan went up onerank to 26th slot. Though India’sranking is below the midway mark,it still did better than Indonesia (37)Philippines (41), Brazil (44) andRussia (49). Sharply different trendswere observed in India’s ranking infour major parameters.

UNEP Report 2011“Investing an additional

US$40 billion a year or 0.034 percent of global Gross DomesticProduct (GDP) in the forestry sectorcould halve deforestation rates by2030, increase rates of tree plantingby around 140 per cent by 2050, andcatalyse the creation of millions ofnew jobs,” says a new reportlaunched by the United Nations

Environment Programme (UNEP).The report, “Forests in a GreenEconomy: A Synthesis”, examinesthe role of forests in a greeneconomy, and provides policyrecommendations to adjust theforest sector in such a way that itcan effectively contribute tosustainable development andpoverty eradication.

The report further highlightsthat right kind of enabling policies,such as investment equivalent toabout 2/3 more than what is spenton the sector today, could help inremoving an extra 28 per cent ofcarbon from the atmosphere, thusplaying a key role in combatingclimate change. The report furtherhighlights that more than a billionpeople around the world depend onforests for incomes andemployment. Forests are also amajor source to provide nutrition anddiminish energy scarcity. Besides,forests serve as carbon sinks,regulate water cycles and contributeto the world biodiversity. Thus wecan convincingly say that economicprogress and human well-being aredependent on healthy forests.

World InvestmentReport 2011

The UNCTAD's WorldInvestment Report (WIR) 2011, theFDI inflow to India has taken anosedive. In this regard, Indiaposition has come down from eighthrank in 2009 to the 14th rank in thetop-20 league for global FDI inflows


in 2010. As per the report, India'sFDI inflows in 2008 stood at $42.5billion. This had come down to $35.6billion in 2009 and $24.64 billion in2010. India attracted FDI worth USD25 billion last year, much lower thanthe inflows of USD 36 billion seen in2009. Whereas United States with$228 billion has topped the list;China stood at 2nd position withinflows totalling $106 billion in 2010,and Brazil stood at 5th position withinflows at $48 billion during the lastyear. In fact, FDI inflows to South,East and South-East Asia rose 24per cent to $300 billion, nearly one-fourth of the global total of $1.24trillion in 2010. FDI to South Asiadeclined to $32 billion, reflecting a31 per cent slide in inflows to Indiaand a 14 per cent drop in flows toPakistan. By contrast, inflows toBangladesh, a rising low-costproduction location, increased bynearly 30 per cent to $913 million.FDI inflows in India stood at $ 9.42billion in 2010-11.

UN women Report2011

UN women has issued a newreport on women’s access to justiceworldwide, “Progress of the World’sWomen: In Pursuit of Justice”. Thereport focuses on women’s accessto justice in every country around the

world. The report is a global surveyof women’s access to justice –looking both at legislation passed bygovernments and the steps taken ornot taken to implement those laws.The “paradox” confronted by thereport is that despite the recent andrapid expansion of women’s legalentitlements, what is written in thestatute books does not alwaystranslate into real progress onequality and justice on the ground.The report looks at which countrieshave passed special legislation onwomen’s political rights andeconomic opportunities and onwomen’s reproductive health andrights. It looks at which countrieshave laws against domesticviolence, sexual harassment andmarital rape. It catalogues data ondevelopment indicators related towomen, and looks country-by-country at women’s participation inpolitics.

Major Highlights of theReport:(a) 139 nations guarantee gender

equality, 117 countries haveequal pay laws, and 115 coun-tries guarantee women’s equalproperty rights.

(b) Globally, 53 per cent of workingwomen are in vulnerable em-ployment and women are paidup to 30 per cent less than menin some countries.

(c) 125 countries outlaw domesticviolence, but 127 countries donot explicitly criminalise rapewithin marriage.

(d) Around the world, 603 millionwomen live in countries wheredomestic violence is not consid-ered a crime and more than 2.6billion live in countries wheremarital rape is not a criminal of-fence.

(e) 61 countries severely restrictwomen’s rights to abortion.

(f) 50 countries have a lower legal ageof marriage for women than formen.

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BANKING

SECTORMarginal StandingFacility Scheme

The Reserve Bank of India(RBI) has introduced a new MarginalStanding Facility (MSF) scheme,which was announced to be imple-mented in its Monetary Policy for theyear 2011-12. Under the new facil-ity, banks will borrow overnight upto 1 per cent of net demand and timeliabilities (NDTL) outstanding at theend of the second preceding fort-night. The MSF will be 100 basispoints above the repo rate – the rateat which banks borrow from RBI. Itneeds to be noted that the repo ratehas now become the only indepen-dent variable policy rate, marking ashift from earlier method of calibrat-ing various policy rates separately.The reverse repo rate — the rate atwhich RBI borrows – will be kept 100basis points lower than the repo rate.All scheduled commercial banksthat have current account and sub-sidiary general ledger (SGL) ac-count with RBI are eligible to par-ticipate in the MSF scheme.

RBI will receive requests fora minimum amount of Rs 10 millionand in multiples of Rs 10 millionthereafter. The central bank has theright to accept or reject partially orfully, the request for funds under thisfacility.

Marginal Standing Facilitywill curb inter-bank lend-ing volatility:

The Reserve Bank of India’snew Marginal Standing Facility isexpected to curb volatility in theovernight lending rates in thebanking system. The banks will useMarginal Standing Facility to borrowovernight money only when theyhave exhausted all other existing


channels like collateralizedborrowing and lending obligation(CBLO) and liquidity adjustmentfacility (LAF). Difference betweenLiquidity Adjustment Facility-RepoRate and Marginal

Standing Facility Rate: Banks can borrow from the

RBI under LAF-Repo Rate, whichstands at 7.25 per cent by pledginggovernment securities over andabove the statutory liquidity require-ment of 24 per cent. Though in caseof borrowing from the marginalstanding facility, banks can borrowfunds up to one per cent of their netdemand and time liabilities at 8.25per cent. However, it can be withinthe statutory liquidity ratio of 24 percent.

Merger of SBICommercial with SBI

The Union Cabinet hasapproved acquisition of the StateBank of India Commercial andInternational Bank Ltd. (SBICI BankLtd.) by State Bank of India (SBI), interms of sub-section (2) of section35 of the State Bank of India Act,1955. SBICI, with two branches inMumbai, is a wholly ownedsubsidiary of State Bank of India(SBI) and functions as a privatesector bank offering an array offinancial products and services. Theterms and conditions for theacquisition have been approved byboard of directors of both the banks

and also by the Reserve Bank ofIndia. It is hoped that the mergerwould help in eliminating the costinvolved in maintaining theadministrative structure of SBICI asboth the branches of SBICI wouldbe easily absorbed in the operationsof the main bank.

Significance of the merger bythe government: In the overallanalysis, continuation of SBICI in itspresent form would not create asustainable organization with aseparate niche, able to hold on itsown in the medium term. As anindependent Bank also, SBICI hashad to maintain a full-fledged,elaborate administrative setup toconform to regulatory requirements.The cost of maintaining such astructure is disproportionate to thelevel of operations of the SBICI. Theproposed merger would help ineliminating the cost involved inmaintaining the administrativestructure of SBICI as both thebranches of SBICI would be easilyabsorbed in the operations of themain Bank. While no presentbeneficiary of the State Bank of Indiawould be affected, the number ofbeneficiaries would be the clients ofSBI Commercial and InternationalBank Ltd. who will have access tothe bigger network of State Bank ofIndia.

SBICI:SBICI Bank Ltd. is a wholly

owned subsidiary of SBI, which wasset up in 1994 after taking over theIndian operations of the erstwhileBank of Credit and CommerceInternational Ltd. (BCCI), which wentinto liquidation in 1991. SBICI BankLtd. has only two branches, both inMumbai.

Self-Help GroupsThe RBI has allowed urban

cooperative banks (UCBs) to giveloans to selfhelp groups (SHGs).This decision by the RBI is definitelygoing to promote financial inclusion

in the nation in addition to expandthe scope of UCBs. If the reach ofthe UCBs is expanded, it will resultin promoting financial inclusion.According to the latest guidelines ofthe RBI, lending to SHGs and JLGs(Joint Liability Groups) would beconsidered as normal businessactivity of the bank. UCBs will berequired to frame a comprehensivepolicy on lending to SHGs and JLGs.The maximum amount of loan toSHGs should not exceed four timesof the savings of the group. Withregard to loans given to JLGs, theguidelines stated that the JLGs werenot obliged to keep deposits with thebank and hence the amount of loangranted to them would be based ontheir credit needs and the bank’sassessment of the creditrequirement.

Definition of Self-HelpGroup:

A Self-Help Group is a smallvoluntary association of poor peoplepreferably from the same socio-economic back drop. The micro-credit given to them makes hementerprising; it can be all womengroup, all-men group or even amixed group. However, it has beenthe experience that women’s groupsperform better in all the importantactivities of SHGs. In other wordswe can define the SHGs as a groupof micro entrepreneurs withhomogeneous social and economicbackground who voluntarily cometogether to save small amountsregularly and mutually agree tocontribute to a common fund to meettheir emergency needs.

Defining Joint LiabilityGroups:

A Joint Liability Group (JLG)is an informal group comprisingpreferably of 4 to 10 individualscoming together for the purposes ofavailing bank loan either singly orthrough the group mechanismagainst mutual guarantee. The JLG


members are expected to engagein similar type of economic activities.The management of the JLG is tobe kept simple with little or nofinancial administration within thegroup. JLGs can be formed primarilyconsisting of tenant farmers andsmall farmers cultivating landwithout possessing proper title oftheir land.

Foreign CurrencyConvertible Bonds

Foreign CurrencyConvertible Bonds are debtinstruments issued in a currencydifferent than the issuer’s domesticcurrency with an option to convertthem in common shares of theissuer company. It’s a quasi-debtinstrument to raise foreign currencyfunds at attractive rate. FCCB actslike a bond by making regularcoupon and principal payments; andalso gives the bondholder an optionto convert the bond into stock. Inother words we can say that, Foreigncurrency convertible bond (FCCB)is a convertible bond issued by acountry in a currency different thanits own currency. This is the powerfulinstrument by which the countryraises the money in the form of aforeign currency. The bond acts likeboth a debt and equity instrument.Like bonds it makes regular couponand principal payments, but thesebonds also give the bondholder theoption to convert the bond into stock.

Guidelines for issuingFCCBs in India:(a) Any company that requires to

raise the foreign funds by issuingFCCB, require prior permissionof the Department of EconomicAffairs, Ministry of Finance,Government of India.

(b) The company issuing the FCCBshould have the consistent trackrecord for a minimum period ofthree years.

(c) The Foreign CurrencyConvertible Bonds shall bedenominated in any freelyconvertible foreign currency andthe ordinary shares of an issuingcompany shall be denominatedin Indian rupees.

(d) The issuing company shoulddeliver the ordinary shares orbonds to a Domestic CustodianBank as per regulation. Thecustodian bank on the otherhand instructs the OverseasDepositary Bank to issue GlobalDepositary Receipt or Certificateto non-resident investors againstthe shares or bonds held by theDomestic Custodian Bank.

Advantages of FCCBs:(a) It is more stable and predictable

than domestic currency.(b) It gives issuers the ability to

access investment capitalavailable in foreign markets.

(c) Companies can use the processto break into foreign markets.

(d) The bond acts like both a debtand equity instrument. Likebonds it makes regular couponand principal payments, butthese bonds also give thebondholder the option to convertthe bond into stock.

(e) It is a low cost debt as theinterest rates given to FCCBonds are normally 30-50percent lower than the marketrate because of its equitycomponent.

(f) Conversion of bonds into stockstakes place at a premium priceto market price. Conversionprice is fixed when the bond isissued. So, lower dilution of thecompany stocks.

Some of the perceiveddisadvantages of FCCBs:(a) The exchange risk is more in

FCCBs as interest on bondwould be payable in foreigncurrency. Thus companies withlow debt equity ratios, large forex

earnings potential only opted forFCCBs.

(b) FCCBs mean creation of moredebt and a forex outgo in termsof interest which is in foreignexchange.

(c) In case of convertible bond theinterest rate is low (around 3-4per cent) but there is exchangerisk on interest as well asprincipal if the bonds are notconverted in to equity.

(d) If the stock price plummets,investors will not go forconversion but redemption. So,companies have to refinance tofulfill the redemption promisewhich can hit earnings.

(e) It remains as debt in the balancesheet until conversion.

FCRAThe central government

notified the Foreign ContributionRegulation Act, 2010 and it cameinto force from May, 1, 2011.

Salient Features of theAct:(a) Any association granted prior

permission or registered with theCentral Government underSection 6 or under the repealedFCRA, 1976, shall be deemedto have been granted priorpermission or registered, as thecase may be, under FCRA, 2010and such registration shall bevalid for a period of five yearsfrom the date on which the newAct has come into force.

(b) While the provisions of therepealed FCRA, 1976 havegenerally been retained, theFCRA, 2010 is an improvementover the repealed Act as morestringent provisions have beenmade in order to preventmisutilisation of the foreigncontribution received by theassociations.

(c) Any organization of a politicalnature and any association or


company engaged in theproduction and broadcast ofaudio or audio visual news orcurrent affairs programme havebeen placed in the categoryprohibited to accept foreigncontribution.

(d) A new provision has beenintroduced to the effect that noperson who receives foreigncontribution as per provisions ofthis Act, shall transfer to otherperson unless that person is alsoauthorized to receive foreigncontribution as per rules madeby the Central Government.

(e) Another new provision has beenmade to the effect that foreigncontribution shall be utilized forthe purpose for which it has beenreceived and such contributioncan be used for administrativeexpenses up to 50 per cent ofsuch contribution received in afinancial year.

(f) No funds other than foreigncontribution shall be depositedin the FC account to beseparately maintained by theassociations etc. Every bankshall report to such authority, asmay be prescribed, the amountof foreign remittance received,sources and manner and otherparticulars.

(g) Provision has been made forinspection of accounts if theregistered person or person towhom prior permission has beengranted fails to furnish or theintimation given is not inaccordance with law.

(h) Any person contravening theprovisions of the Act shall bepunishable with imprisonmentfor a term which may extend tofive years or with fine or withboth.

Credit Default SwapCDS are a financial

instrument for swapping the risk ofdebt default. Credit default swaps

may be used for emerging marketbonds, mortgage backed securities,corporate bonds and localgovernment bond. The buyer of acredit default swap pays a premiumfor effectively insuring against a debtdefault. He receives a lump sumpayment if the debt instrument isdefaulted. The seller of a creditdefault swap receives monthlypayments from the buyer. If the debtinstrument defaults they have to paythe agreed amount to the buyer ofthe credit default swap. Process: ACDS contract involves the transferof the credit risk of municipal bonds,emerging market bonds, mortgage-backed securities, or corporate debtbetween two parties. It is similar toinsurance because it provides thebuyer of the contract, who oftenowns the underlying credit, withprotection against default, a creditrating downgrade, or anothernegative “credit event.” The seller ofthe contract assumes the credit riskthat the buyer does not wish toshoulder in exchange for a periodicprotection fee similar to aninsurance premium, and is obligatedto pay only if a negative credit eventoccurs. It is important to note thatthe CDS contract is not actually tiedto a bond, but instead references it.For this reason, the bond involvedin the transaction is called the“reference obligation.” A contractcan reference a single credit, ormultiple credits.

CDS have the followingtwo uses:

(a) Hedging: A CDS contract can be used

as a hedge or insurance policyagainst the default of a bond or loan.An individual or company that isexposed to a lot of credit risk canshift some of that risk by buyingprotection in a CDS contract. Thismay be preferable to selling thesecurity outright if the investor wantsto reduce exposure and not

eliminate it, avoid taking a tax hit, orjust eliminate exposure for a certainperiod of time.

(b) Speculation:The second use is for

speculators to “place their bets”about the credit quality of a particularreference entity. With the value ofthe CDS market, larger than thebonds and loans that the contractsreference, it is obvious thatspeculation has grown to be themost common function for a CDScontract. CDS provide a veryefficient way to take a view on thecredit of reference entity. An investorwith a positive view on the creditquality of a company can sellprotection and collect the paymentsthat go along with it rather thanspend a lot of money to load up onthe company’s bonds. An investorwith a negative view of thecompany’s credit can buy protectionfor a relatively small periodic fee andreceive a big payoff if the companydefaults on its bonds or has someother credit event. A CDS can alsoserve as a way to access maturityexposures that would otherwise beunavailable, access credit risk whenthe supply of bonds is limited, orinvest in foreign credits withoutcurrency risk.

Infrastructure DebtFunds

Infrastructure Debt Funds isa debt instrument being set up bythe finance ministry in order tochannelize long term funds intoinfrastructure projects which requirelong term stable capital investment.According to the structure laid outby the finance ministry, afterconsultations with stakeholders,infrastructure NBGCs, marketregulators and banks, an IDF couldeither be set up as a trust or as acompany. IDFs in India: Thegovernment of India has unveiledthe structure of infrastructure debt


funds (IDFs), allowing localinfrastructure developer’s access tomoney from insurance and pensionfunds from India and overseas, evenas bank lending to roads and powerprojects is constrained by limits setby the central bank. IDFs areexpected to provide long-term, low-cost debt for infrastructure projects.At present, banks are the mainsource of funding for these projects.Asset-liability mismatches and loanexposure limits to industries set bythe Reserve Bank of India (RBI)have made it difficult for banks toprovide long-term funding. It is hereunderscored that the IDF wasproposed by in Budget 2011-12. Theultimate aim of the IDFs is toaccelerate and enhance the flow ofdebt for funding the ambitiousprogramme of infrastructuredevelopment in the country. Therequirement of infrastructure in the12th Plan has been pegged at $1trillion. The IDF would help garnerresources from domestic and off-shore institutional investors,especially insurance and pensionfunds. Banks and financialinstitutions would be allowed tosponsor IDFs. In India the IDFscould be set up by NBFCs or banks,with a minimum capital of Rs 150crore. Such a fund would be allowedto raise resources through rupee ordollar denominated bonds ofminimum five year maturity. Thesebonds could be traded among thedomestic and foreign investors.Company based IDFs would beallowed to fund projects in public-private partnership (PPP) whichhave completed one year ofcommercial operations. Potentialinvestors in this category, include off-shore and domestic institutionalinvestors, high net worth individualsand non-resident Indians. If the IDFsare set up as a trust, the fund couldbe sponsored by a regulatedfinancial sector domestic entity. Itwould have to invest 90 per cent of

its assets in the debt securities ofinfrastructure companies or SPVsacross all infrastructure sectors.Minimum investment by trustbasedIDF would be Rs 1 crore with Rs 10lakh as minimum size of the unit.The credit risks associated withunderlying projects will be borne bythe investors and not by IDF, but incase of company-based IDF, thefund would bear the risk.123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890

COMMITTEESGN Bajpai committee

on NPSThe committee, headed by G

N Bajpai, former chairman of theSecurities and Exchange Board ofIndia, set up by the pensionregulator to suggest ways toenergise the national pensionscheme (NPS) has submitted itsreport. In this report, the committeehas proposed a complete change inits incentive and fee structures. Toenthuse points of presence (PoPs)to push the NPS, the committee hasrecommended that PoPs be allowedto charge an ad valorem rate of 0.5per cent of the subscription amountfrom subscribers.

The committee has furtherrecommended that the Pension

Fund Regulatory and DevelopmentAuthority (PFRDA) should considerbringing down the minimum annualsubscription of Rs 6,000 for the NPSto Rs 1,000 per year to expand itsreach and coverage. The committeeis of the opinion that the existingNPS architecture did not have a‘push factor’ and the absolute valueof incentives was flawed. It saidthere was a need to broadbase thenetwork of points-of presence orPoPs, which act as contact centresfor potential subscribers across thecountry.

Anup K PujariCommittee

The commerce ministry hasset up a committee to review thedeemed export scheme available tosuppliers of products to specifiedprojects. The committee headed byAnup K Pujari, the Director Generalfor Foreign Trade will re-examine thevery existence of the scheme andalso look up whether it is reflectingthe government policies properly.The committee also includesrepresentatives from the financeministry, Reserve Bank of India,Planning Commission and therevenue department. The committeeis expected to give its report withinthree months. Besides harmonizing

Cyber Law PanelConsidering the security threat of the country, the Cyber Law

Panel of India has recommended that none of the 15 mediums of digitalcommunication used in the country, including Gmail, BlackBerry, Nokia,and Skype, can be banned for posing security threats because theycannot be monitored by law enforcement agencies. And as a solution,there is a need to install a Central Monitoring System (CMS) which iscapable of intercepting any form of communication service offered withinthe country. Besides that the committee has recommended that Indiaraise its encryption levels from 40 bits to the US-standard 256 bits. Thecountry currently legally disallows encryption beyond 40 bits so that itssecurity agencies can monitor communications on the Internet. Moreover,the ultimate solution should involve intelligence agencies building upcapabilities indigenously to monitor and intercept these technologiesHome Ministry.


the customs notifications with thepolicy (on deemed export scheme),the committee has been asked toimprove the drafting of the policy asit exists today so that it is notamenable to multiple interpretations.The move follows the government’sattempt to check leakages so that ascheme is not open to misuse. TheDeemed exports are thosetransactions in which goodssupplied to the users do not leavethe country and payment for suchsupplies is received either in Indiancurrency or in foreign exchange.Supply of goods to exportorientedunits, software technology parks orto projects financed by multilateralagencies and to power projects andrefineries are treated as deemedexports at present. The benefitsinclude those available under exportpromotion schemes.

Isher AhluwaliaCommittee

Urban Infrastructure andServices in India A high-poweredexpert committee on UrbanInfrastructure under Isher Ahluwaliahas emphasized that India’seconomic growth momentumcannot be sustained if urbanisationis not actively facilitated nor canurban poverty be effectivelyaddressed if the needs of the urbanpoor are isolated from the broaderchallenges of managing

urbanisation. The committee hasalso projected an investmentrequirement of Rs. 39.2 lakh crorefor our cities and towns for 2012-32.The committee needs to becomplimented for the thoroughnesswith which it has gone about its work.

Ashok Chawla PanelThe Ashok Chawla panel has

recommended that water should beput on the Concurrent List from theState List of the Constitution. Onecan recall that the Prime Ministerhad appointed the panel, headed byAshok Chawla, an ex-financesecretary, to review exploitation ofscarce resources like water.

The panel said thatconsidering the recent imperatives,it has become necessary for theUnion Government to have moreeffective control over waterresources. In this regard, the panelhas advised the government to passa 'hortatory' legislation to regulateuse of water across the country,arguing groundwater can be heldand regulated as a 'public trust' bythe Centre. A hortatory legislation isa law that nudges and pushespeople towards a particular action -in this case, more sustainable useof water. Empowered by theEnvironment Protection Act, now theCentral Groundwater RegulatoryAuthority is the only leverage thatthe Centre enjoys. Though the Actis powerful, Union governmentshave always shied away fromintervening in a state subject.Further, the panel has alsorecommended that the governmentshould amend the Easement Act toremove 'water' from the definition ofprivate property under theConstitution. Besides, it hasrecommended reactivating the RiverBoards Act that has been lyingdormant.

Vijay Kelkarcommittee

The Maharashtragovernment has appointed a 14-member committee headed by the13th Finance CommissionChairman Vijay Kelkar to suggestmultiple instruments and measuresfor the removal of regionalimbalance in order to achieveinclusive growth. The committeewould decide indicators to assessdisparities in regional developmentof the state after taking intoconsiderations the stategovernment's direct investmentsand expenditure and alsoinvestments by the private sector inthe industrial sector. This is thesecond such committee, after onechaired by VM Dandekar hadsubmitted its report in 1984.

Rangarajan CommitteeThe committee, headed by

the Prime Minister's EconomicAdvisory Council chairman, CRangarajan, has stronglyrecommended to wipeout thedistinction between plan andnonplan expenditure. The end ofdistinction would bring simplicity andinstead of three columns at present,Plan, Non-Plan and total, there willbe only one column, i.e.,expenditure. And moreover, there isno place where such a distinction(Plan and non-Plan) is made. It is,however, not in favour ofreclassifying revenue and capitalexpenditure. The way revenueexpenditure (revenex) is classifiedin the Budget is considered obsoleteby many, as the method does notgive a true picture of the expense increating capital assets. It has beenargued that if the end-use of fundsis for capital creation, it should beclassified as capital expenditure(capex). For examples, aid to statesfor spending on infrastructuredevelopment is classified as

A Rahmani PanelNuclear Power

Corporation of India has set up acommittee under A Rahmani ofthe Bombay Natural HistorySociety to study on marineecology and bio-diversity in the 10kilometre area around theJaitapur site and to suggest thepossible impact of the 9,900-MWnuclear power park at Jaitapur onthe ecology and bio-diversity ofthe area.


revenex, though it is in the nature ofcapex. Infact, Plan expenditure isaimed to measure what is spent onproductive asset creation for thegovernment's programmes andflagship schemes. Non-Planexpenditure includes defenceexpenditure, subsidies anddevolution to states, forming a majorpart of total government spending.

Naresh ChandraCommittee

Amidst persisting securitythreats, the Government of India hasdecided to conduct an assessmentof the country’s defencepreparedness for which it hasconstituted a task force which willpursue recommendations made bythe Kargil Review Committee afterthe 1999 war (headed by strategicaffairs analyst, the late KSubrahmanyam). The 14 membertask force is headed by NareshChandra. The panel is expected tosubmit its report within 6 months.

Along with reviewing theentire security systems, the taskforce will suggest ways to implementrecommendations made by theKargil report to suit the country’srequirements in present scenario.With the growing arms of terrorismthe security challenges in the nationhave changed dramatically. Thechanging times have necessitatedlooking at the national securitysituation in the light of challengesranging from cyber security toenergy security.123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890123456789012345678901234567890121234567890

INTERNATIONAL

AFFAIRSIndia and Israel

Decided to EnhanceTourism Cooperation

India and Israel havedecided to enhance cooperation in

Tourism Sector. This was decidedat a meeting between StasMisezhnikov, Tourism Minister ofIsrael and Union Tourism Minister,Subodh Kant Sahai held in NewDelhi on 5 September 2011.Welcoming the visiting dignitary,Sahai said both the countries canexplore the possibilities ofcooperation in wellness, spiritualand religious tourism. The IsraeliMinister said hoteliers of his countryare interested to set up hotels inIndia. He also requested for moreflights between India and Israel. StasMisezhnikov invited Sahai to visitIsrael.

Both the countries havedecided to consider exchangingexperience in destinationmanagement and promotion.Manpower development will beanother area of cooperationbetween India and Israel. Exchangeprogramme for teachers, students,and exchange of information onteaching modules will be consideredby the two countries.

Tour operators and travelagents of both the countries willinteract with each other in order topromote two-way tourism betweenIndia and Israel. The possibilities forpromoting package tours in either ofthe countries will also be exploredby the travel trade of two countries.

Tourist traffic from Israel toIndia was 40581 in 2009, which roseto 43539 in the year 2010. Anagreement between India and Israelon cooperation in the field of tourismwas signed in New Delhi in May,1993. Both the countries haverectified this agreement.

India Tourism Office locatedin Frankfurt is responsible forpromoting India as a touristdestination in the Israeli market.India Tourism Office participates inInternational Mediterranean TourismMarket (IMTM) which is held in TelAviv to showcase India’s tourismdestinations and products to the tour

operators and consumers of Israel.India is known in Israel as an ancientnation with strong cultural traditionsand in popular Israeli perceptionIndia is an attractive, alternativetourist destination.

India and Turkey toCooperate in Coal

SectorSriprakash Jaiswal, Minister

of Coal, Government of India metMr. Taner YILDIZ, Minister forEnergy and Natural Resources,Government of Turkey and otherofficials on the sidelines of the 22ndWorld Mining Congress inauguralsession on 12th September 2011 atIstanbul, Turkey. Shri jaiswal isleading an Indian delegation thereto participate in World MiningCongress.

Both the Ministers discussedabout the energy situation in the twocountries, particularly the field ofcoal mining. India’s Coal Ministeroffered technical cooperation todevelop coal and lignite depositsand coal washing in Turkey. Turkey’sEnergy Minister evinced keeninterest for technical cooperationwith India in coal mining and cleancoal technologies. He said thatTurkey is planning to set up some15000 MW coal based powergeneration plants and requestedIndian companies to participate inthe tenders. Both the ministersagreed for future cooperation in coalrelated areas.

Rare Persian celestialglobe up for auction

A rare 18th century Persianglobe, one of only 200 suchastronomical instruments availablein the world is up for grabs in theBonhams upcoming Indian andIslamic art sale.

The finely engraved celestialtreasure from the Zand dynastypassed down through a privateEnglish family, contains the position


One in six Americans living below povertyline: Census

One in six Americans are now living below poverty line, theCensus Bureau said in a report, reflecting the adverse impact of eco-nomic crisis on common man.

"The nation's official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 per cent, upfrom 14.3 per cent in 2009 - the third consecutive annual increase inthe poverty rate," Census Bureau said in its report. "There were 46.2million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009 - thefourth consecutive annual increase and the largest number in the 52years for which poverty estimates have been published," it said. Thesefindings are contained in the report 'Income, Poverty, and Health Insur-ance Coverage in the United States: 2010.'

The government defines the poverty line as income of USD22,314 (about Rs 10 lakh) a year for a family of four and USD 11,139(about Rs 5 lakh) for individual. Census Bureau said, the number ofpeople without health insurance coverage rose from 49.0 million in2009 to 49.9 million in 2010, while the percentage without coverage -16.3 per cent was not statistically different from the rate in 2009.

Since 2007, the year before the most recent recession, realmedian household income has declined 6.4 per cent and is 7.1 percent below the median household income peak that occurred prior tothe 2001 recession in 1999.

The percentages are not statistically different from each an-other, the Census Bureau said. The poverty rate increased for childrenyounger than 18 (from 20.7 per cent in 2009 to 22.0 per cent in 2010)and people 18 to 64 (from 12.9 per cent in 2009 to 13.7 per cent in2010), while it was not statistically different for people 65 and older (9.0per cent), it said. Similar to the patterns observed for the poverty ratein 2010, the number of people in poverty increased for children youngerthan 18 (15.5 million in 2009 to 16.4 million in 2010) and people 18 to64 (24.7 million in 2009 to 26.3 million in 2010) and was not statisticallydifferent for people 65 and older (3.5 million), the Census Bureau said.

Among race groups, real median income declined for white andblack households between 2009 and 2010, while changes for Asianand Hispanic-origin households were not statistically different. Realmedian income for each race and Hispanic-origin group has not yetrecovered to the pre-2001 recession all-time highs, the report said.

The Census Bureau said there has been considerable impactof the economic crisis on the people in Washington. Median house-hold income declined the first full year following the December 2007 toJune 2009 recession, as well as in the first full year following threeother recessions (March 2001 to November 2001, January 1980 toJuly 1980 and December 1969 to November 1970).

However, household income increased the first full year follow-ing the November 1973 to March 1975 recession, and the changesfollowing the July 1990 to March 1991 and July 1981 to November1982 recessions were not statistically significant, it said. The povertyrate and the number of people in poverty increased in the first calendaryear following the end of the last three recessions.

For the recessions that ended in 1961 and 1975, the povertyrate decreased in the next full calendar year, it said.

of 83 stars and their Persian namesas well as the Persian names for theNorth and South Poles.

"The rare and uniquecelestial globe is estimated to fetchbetween 40,000 to 96,000 poundsat the next sale of Indian and Islamicart on October 4 in New Bond Streetin London," according to an officialof the auction house.

The globe dated 1776 AD,the only known dated examplesecurely attributable to the Zandperiod is an important addition to thesmall surviving group of Persiancelestial globes.

"The use of gold and the veryfine script indicate the possibility thatthis globe was made for the Zandruler Mohammed Karim Khan Zand(1751-1794)," says the auctionhouse.

The Zand period isremarkable for its short length andhigh artistic productivity.

Spanning only 44 years, andan incredible seven rulers, it was aperiod of relative peace andeconomic growth when manyterritories previously lost to theOttomans were recaptured.

The British established atrading post in the port of Busehr,extending the influence of the BritishEast India company in Iran.

The art of this era produceda distinct school of painting, fineenamel work and calligraphy.

Celestial globes were usedprimarily for solving problems inastronomy.

Although known to havebeen used in antiquity, the form ofthe celestial globe came into beingin the Islamic world.

The globe depicts variousconstellations in the northern andthe southern hemisphere.

Only 200 instruments remainin private and museum collectionworldwide, the earliest dating to the11th century.

The globe up for auction


features labelled stars such as thePole star, the back of the Lion, threestars in the tail of Ursa major, Sirrahin Pegasus, the knee of the Archeramong others.

Also included in theupcoming Bonhams auction is aPersian manuscript illustrated witheleven miniatures in the Kashmiristyle.

The manuscript on cream-coloured paper which was accordingto the auction house formerly in thecollection of Lady George Scott, wifeof the youngest son of the Duke ofBuccleuch and Queensberry hasbeen estimated to sell between1,200 pounds and 1,500 pounds.

A 16th century Iznik brassflask from a private Belgiancollection is also being offered onsale.

The flask estimated to sellbetween 60,000- 80,000 pounds issourced from the family of the manwhose company was commissionedto build the Heliopolis Palace hotelin Egypt which later became thePresidential Palace of the recently -deposed Egyptian Prime MinisterHosni Mubarak.

Manmohan SinghVisited Bangladesh to

Sign the HistoricProtocol on Land

Boundary AgreementPrime Minister of India,

Manmohan Singh visitedBangladesh on 6-7 September2011. During his visit, India andBangladesh signed severalagreements including the HistoricProtocol on Land BoundaryAgreement. India and Bangladeshalso signed the frameworkagreement on cooperation fordevelopment.

During this visit, India andBangladesh decided to set up a jointcommission led by the Minister ofForeign and External Affairs fromboth sides to coordinate and

Roman gladiator school remains discovered inAustria

A team of archaeologists has ‘sensationally’ discovered the ruinsof a Roman gladiator school on theoutskirts of the Austrian capitalVienna.

The find is one of the 100hundred schools that the Romansbuilt to train the fighters before theygot involved in a brutal combat witheach other. The group from theLudwig Ludwig Boltzmann Institutefor Archaeological Prospection and Virtual Archaeology in Viennadiscovered the school, which contains sleeping cells, a bathing area anda training hall with heated floors and a cemetery.

The school, which is the only one of its type to have beendiscovered outside Italy, has been mapped by the use of groundpenetrating radar, but the ruins still remain underground.

According to officials, the find can compete the famous LudusMagnus — the largest of the gladiatorial training schools in Rome — inits structure.

Radar scans show that outside the walls of the school, whatarchaeologists believe was a cemetery for those killed during training.

"This is a world sensation, in the true meaning of the word,” theDaily Mail quoted lower Austrian provincial Governor Erwin Proell assaying. The team now hopes to unearth a wealth of artefacts, includingbody armour, weapons, eating utensils and money from the site wherewarriors trained and lived 2,000 years ago.

oversee implementation of variousinitiatives being taken under theframework agreement. In a 65-pointjoint statement issued at the end ofthe Prime Minister ManmohanSingh's two-day visit to Bangladesh,the two nations underscored theneed for concluding and extraditiontreaty between the two countriesexpeditiously.

Typhoon TalasA typhoon that pummelled

western Japan left at least 20 peopledead and more than 50 missing,reports said on Sunday, after swollenrivers swept away buildings andlandslides crushed houses.

One of the victims drownedafter flood waters gushed into his carand streets were submerged inscenes that rekindled memories ofthe March 11 tsunami disaster.

Thousands of people were leftstranded.

Typhoon Talas, which madelandfall on Saturday and is one ofthe deadliest in recent years, packedgusts of up to 108 kilometres (68miles) per hour as it cut across theisland of Shikoku and the mainisland of Honshu.

The government set up anemergency task force as the numberof victims looked set to grow andlandslides and damaged roadshampered relief efforts. InWakayama prefecture, 12 peoplewere killed and 29 were missing.

One man drowned after floodwaters surged into his car, andanother man was killed after alandslide hit his house, the localgovernment said. In Naraprefecture's Totsukawa village, anoverflowing river washed away


apartments, leaving at least twopeople dead and seven missing, thelocal government said.

In the Kansai region andelsewhere up to 30,000 people wereevacuated, according to the fire anddisaster management agency.

Television footage showedmassive landslides crushingwooden houses in mountainouscommunities, with muddy watersubmerging streets and washingaway wooden debris and cars.

A tally by the Kyodo newsagency showed at least 20 peoplehad been killed, more than 50 weremissing and 3,600 were left strandedby landslides and collapsed bridges.

India, South Korea N-deal

On July 25, 2011, Indiasigned a “historic” civil nuclearcooperation agreement with SouthKorea, paving the way for thepossibility of Seoul exporting itsatomic power plants.

The agreement, signed aftersummit talks between PresidentPratibha Patil and her South Koreancounterpart Lee Myung-bak,provides legal ground for SouthKorea’s participation in atomicpower plant construction projects inIndia.

South Korea has nowbecome the ninth country which hadsigned nuclear agreement with Indiaafter it got the waiver from theNuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) in2008. The other countries are theUS, France, Russia, Canada,Mongolia, Kazakhstan, Argentinaand Namibia.

India and South Korea haddecided to start talks on civil nuclearcooperation during a meetingbetween Prime Minister ManmohanSingh and Lee on the sidelines ofthe ASEAN Summit in Hanoi inOctober 2010.

Besides the agreement onnuclear cooperation, the two sides

also signed a memorandum ofunderstanding on media exchangesand another agreement on

administrative arrangements toprovide social security to peopleworking in India and Korea.

India-US Strategic DialogueThe India-US strategic dialogue was held in New Delhi on July

18, 2011, during the visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. A jointstatement issued after the strategic dialogue said the two sides covereda wide range of bilateral issues as well as global developments duringthe four-hour talks.

The two countries also signed a MoU to promote closer coopera-tion and the timely exchange of information between the organisations oftheir respective governments responsible for cyber security.

Defence, security and counter-terrorism were high on the agendasince the dialogue. The dialogue, which was originally scheduled to beheld in April, was postponed to July in view of the developments in NorthAfrica and the Assembly elections in India. There were apprehensionsthat it could be deferred yet again after the July 13 explosions in Mumbaibut Clinton decided to stick to the schedule.

On the issue of terrorism, Clinton was quite forthright in tellingPakistan that it was in its own interest to deal with violent extremism.“Pakistan is a key ally in the fight against terrorism. We have made itclear to Islamabad that terrorism threatens Pakistan itself… bombings inmosques, markets, police stations and government buildings. Pakistanmust act on its own behalf to protect its territorial integrity and sover-eignty.”

In a clear reference to the US raid that found and killed OsamaBin Laden in Abbottabad in early May, she said: “We want mutual recog-nition that we cannot tolerate a safe haven for terrorists anywhere. Whenwe know the location of terrorists whose intentions are clear, we need towork together. We do not believe there are any terrorists who should begiven a safe haven or free pass by any government."

On the civil nuclear cooperation, Clinton, while reassuringWashington’s commitment to the 123 agreement, wanted India to signthe Convention on Supplementary Compensation (CSC) for nuclear dam-ages with the IAEA before the end of the year.

The main problem for US operators is a clause in the Indian lawthat makes the suppliers of reactors liable for 80 years for any accidentat a plant. Private US nuclear firms are unwilling to sign up, mainly be-cause they are unable to find insurance to cover them for potentiallycrippling claims for damages.

However, differences continued to plague the two sides on thecivil nuclear deal though Clinton expressed the Obama’s administrationcommitment to implementing the accord in letter and spirit, notwithstand-ing the recent decision of the Nuclear Suppliers’ Group (NSG) to denyaccess to enrichment and reprocessing (ENR) technologies to countrieswhich are not signatories to the NPT.

But one major positive that emerged from the strategic dialoguefrom India’s perspective was Washington’s commitment to New Delhithat the process of reconciliation with the Taliban in Afghanistan wouldbe Afghan-led and Afghan-driven, and not dictated by Pakistan or anyother country.


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NATIONAL

AFFAIRS

IIDEM LaunchedThe Election Commission of

India has launched the India Inter-national Institute of Democracy andElection Management. It is an ad-vanced resource centre of learning,research, training and extension forparticipatory democracy and elec-tion management.

IIDEM has fourcomponents: (a) Training and Capacity Develop-

ment.(b) Voter Education and Civic Par-

ticipation(c) Research, Innovation and Docu-

mentation.(d) International Projects and Tech-

nical Collaboration.

What the institute intendsto promote:

The Institute will be a na-tional and international hub for ex-change of good practices in electionmanagement. The Institute is beingdeveloped in collaboration with theGovernment of India, United Na-tions, the Commonwealth and inter-governmental organizations likeSweden based International Insti-tute of Democracy and ElectoralAssistance (IDEA). The Institute willmake efforts to enhance the poten-tial and capacity of the ElectionCommission so that it carries out itsfunctions in more effective and pro-fessional manner. It carries the goalof meticulous, accurate, voterfriendly implementation of electionprocesses by committed, compe-tent, credible and skilled managersand associated groups. The institutewill strive to promote democraticvalues and practices, promotingawareness among voters.

NationalEnvironmentalAppraisal and

Monitoring AuthorityThe Government of India

recently announced the setting upof the National EnvironmentalAppraisal and Monitoring Authority,a professional, science basedautonomous body, as part of effortsto bring in institutional reforms andto improve environmentalgovernance in India. Onceappraised by NEAMA, theenvironment related projects wouldbe sent with a recommendation tothe Minister of Environment andForests for approval. NEAMA will bea full-time body of professionals forenvironmental appraisals againstthe current system of appraisalsdone by environmental committeesthat are ad hoc and meet once in amonth. It will maintain its ownrealtime and time-series databaseson pollution loads across thecountry. The body will also ensurecompliance with the conditionsimposed on new projects that aregranted environmental clearance.

480 Districts Coveredunder NFSM

Four hundred eighty districtsof 18 States are covered underNational Food Security Mission(NFSM). NFSM-Rice is beingimplemented in 142 districts of 15States, NFSM-Wheat in 142 districtsof 9 States and NFSM-Pulses isunder implementation in 468districts of 16 States.

The districts under NFSMare identified based on certaincriteria. For NFSM-Rice, thosedistricts are identified which havemore than 50,000 ha area under riceand productivity is less than theState’s average; for NFSM-Wheatthe districts in which irrigationcoverage under wheat is more than50% and productivity is less than

Most urbanizedStates in India,

Punjab, Kerala andKarnataka are now among themost urbanized States in India,having more than 35 per cent oftheir population living in urbanareas. Uttar Pradesh has themaximum number of its peopleliving in rural areas; 55.5 crorepeople in UP live in rural areas.Mumbai tops the list of placeshaving maximum number ofpeople in urban area at 5 crore.

State’s average are identified. Thedistricts for implementation ofNFSM-Pulses are selected basedon existing large area under pulses,potential for area expansion throughinter-cropping and utilization of ricefallows. Later, from the year 2010-11, the Pulses component ofIntegrated Scheme for Oilseeds,Pulses, Oilpalm & Maize (ISOPOM)was merged under NFSM-Pulses tocover 100% area in the NFSM-Pulses districts.

The Ministry of Agriculturehad received requests from someStates, including Gujarat and UttarPradesh for inclusion of newdistricts/replacement of existingdistricts. The districts that fulfilled thecriteria were included under theprogramme.

India’s first carboncredit deal

World Bank recently signedan agreement with HimachalPradesh government for what istipped to be the world’s largest andIndia’s first clean developmentmechanism (CDM) project. Underthe Emission Reduction PurchaseAgreement, the World Bank will buycarbon credits from the new forestsbeing developed on degraded landsunder a watershed managementprogramme. The agreement would


Assam GovernmentDecided to have

Brand Names for theFamous Muga and

Eri SilksIn Assam, the state gov-

ernment has taken an initiative tohave brand names for the fa-mous Muga and Eri silks. Themain purpose of the move is topromote the indigenous yarn ina more systematic way within andoutside the country.

The state handloom andsericulture department hopesthat, with a brand name, productsmade from muga and eri can beexported to across the globe witha higher price. Eri and muga arehousehold names of silk in theregion. North- East producesaround 95 percent of Eri, of whichAssam has 50 percent shares.The state also produces about 86per cent of Muga. The use of boththe silks reflects the culture andtradition of Assamese societyand occupies a unique place inthe socio-economic life of thepeople of the state.

be in force till December 2018. Theproject would impact an area of4,003.07 hectares.

CommonwealthExpress

The CommonwealthExpress Train showcasingachievements by Department ofInformation Technology (DIT) in thefield of ICT and e-Governance waslaunched on 24th June, 2010 andended its journey on 14th Oct. 2010.

The CommonwealthExpress, the exhibition train on thetheme of information technology andsports, run jointly by DIT, Ministry ofCommunications and InformationTechnology and Railway SportsPromotion Board (RSPB), Ministryof Railways was flagged off on 24thJune 2010. It ended its journey on14th October 2010, covering 49unique halts across the nation.

In the train, the IT part wasexhibited in 6 coaches by DIT andthe sports part was exhibited in 5coaches by RSPB. DIT exhibitedand demonstrated capability ingeneral, the work done in thecountry in the area of informationand communications technology,and the initiatives carried out by theDIT affiliated entities in the fields ofe-governance, infrastructure,technology relevant to rural India,language interfacing technology etc.At the end of the journey, thecumulative football (visitor count) forabout 100 days of exhibition wasapproximately 7.35 lakhs.

The cost incurred forCommonwealth Express Train byDIT is Rs 3,77,26,899/-.

Total SanitationCoverage in theCountry will be

Completed by 2017The Government today

reiterated to have total sanitationcoverage in the country by the year2017. The sanitation coverage in

rural areas of the country was 21.9per cent as per census 2001, butwith the effective implementation ofTotal Sanitation Campaign, itscoverage in the rural areas hasincreased to approximately 73 percent as of July 2011. The TotalSanitation Campaign (TSC), acomprehensive programme wasstarted in the year 1999 to ensuresanitation facilities in rural areas withthe main objective of eradicating thepractice of open defecation andensuring clean environment. It isproject based programme takingdistrict as a unit operated in ademand driven mode and atpresent, is being implemented in607 rural districts of the country. Themain components under theprogramme are incentives forIndividual Household Latrines(IHHL), School Sanitation andHygiene Education (SSHE),assistance for Community SanitaryComplex (CSC), Anganwadi toiletsand Solid and Liquid WasteManagement (SLWM).

High PerformanceComputing System at

IITM, PuneThere is no decline in rainfall

during 2011 so far in the country. Thecountry received 716.0mm rain asa whole monsoon rainfall till 31stAugust 2011 is marginally higherthan the seasonal quantum of713.4mm.

Although, the rainfallquantum received for the country asa whole during the period 1st June– 10th August, 2011 was -4%, thedecline was made up fully by the endof August 2011, due to theprevalence of active monsoonrainfall conditions.

Continuous R & D efforts aremade to understand spatial andtemporal variability of monsoonrainfall.

Due to the year-to-yearvariability and the associated within

the season variability of monsoonrainfall, the areas of excess anddeficient rainfall vary from year toyear. Department has Launched ahigh-priority Programme to addressthe Science issues of Global andRegional Climate Change with a wellequipped state-of-the-art Center forClimate Change Research (CCCR)at Indian Institute of TropicalMeteorology (IITM), Pune for inter-disciplinary research and training inthe area of science of climatechange. Prioritized R & D efforts areinitiated to comprehensivelyunderstand the causes for theaforementioned changes in thesouthwest monsoon rainfall and toimprove the rainfall predictions in alltime scales.


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SPORTSUS OPEN 2011

WINNERS

MEN'S SINGLES:Top-ranked Novak Djokovic

returned brilliantly and swattedwinners from all angles to beatdefending champion Rafael Nadal6-2, 6-4, 6-7 (3), 6-1 on Mondaynight and earn his first U.S. Opentitle and third Grand Slam trophy of2011.

Djokovic improved to 64 winsfrom 66 matches with 10 tournamenttitles in a simply spectacular year,one of the greatest in the history ofmen’s tennis -- or any sport, for thatmatter. Against No. 2 Nadal,Djokovic is 6-0, all in finals -- threeon hard courts, including Monday;two on clay; and one on grass atWimbledon in July. Djokovic alsowon the Australian Open in January,and is only the sixth man in the 40-plus years of the Open era to collectthree major titles in a single season.

WOMEN'S SINGLES:Samantha Stosur pulled off

one of the biggest shocks in thehistory of women’s Grand Slam

tennis finals by comprehensivelyoutplaying a frustrated SerenaWilliams and claiming the U.S. Opentitle with a 6-2, 6-3 win on September11. Stosur claimed her first GrandSlam singles title and became onlythe second Australian to win the U.S.Open crown by dominating a matchwhich she was widely expected tolose to the home favourite.

Williams lost her composure,arguing with the chair umpire afterbeing docked a point for shoutingout in the midst of a rally. It wasreminiscent of the ugly tirade againsta line judge two years ago.

The overwhelming favouritefor the match, Williams suffered onlyher second ever loss in a GrandSlam final to someone other thansister Venus; she was beaten byMaria Sharapova in the 2004Wimbledon decider.

India Wins AsianChampions Trophyhockey tournament

Goalkeeper S. Sreejeshstole the limelight with two crucialsaves as India defeated Pakistan 4-2 in the penalty shoot-out in a nerve-wrecking final to clinch the inauguralAsian Champions Trophy hockeytournament on September 11.

The high-voltage summitclash was marred by Pakistancoach's unwarranted action of

Current championsEvent Champion Runner-up

Men's Singles Novak Djokovic Spain Rafael NadalWomen's Singles Samantha Stosur Serena WilliamsMen's Doubles Jurgen Melzer Mariusz Fyrstenberg

Philipp Petzschner Marcin MatkowskiWomen's Doubles Liezel Huber Vania King

Lisa Raymond Yaroslava ShvedovaMixed Doubles Melanie Oudin Gisela Dulko

Jack Sock Eduardo Schwank

constantly abusing Indian playersfrom the roof of the stadium.Whenever there was aninfringement from the Indian side, heabused liberally.

Rajpal Singh, DanishMujtaba, Yuvraj Walmiki andSarvanjit Singh scored for India inthe penalty shootout whileMuhammad Rizwan and WaseemAhmed sounded the board forPakistan after both the sides werelocked goalless in the regular andextra time.

Malaysia bags bronzeA last-minute goal by Firhan

Ashari helped Malaysia beat Japanand clinch the bronze medal. Justwhen it seemed that the matchwould go into extra-time, Malaysiamoved in from the right flank and thecross found Ashari on top of thecircle. He tapped the ball to his leftand, with a powerful reverse shot,beat the Japanese goalkeeper.

South Korea avoided thewooden spoon beating host China2-1 in the play-offs for the 5th-6thspot.


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CURRENT AFFAIRS PRACTICE QUESTIONS

1. RBI increased the savings bankrate from 3.5 percent to…………….percent?1) 52) 4.53) 44) 105) 5Answer: (3)

2. With in how many days thewrong debited amounts must bereimbursed or else the bank hasto pay Rs. 100 per day as perthe new order of Reserve Bankof India?1) 12 days2) 14 days3) 7days4) 8 days5) 30 daysAnswer: (3)

3. .......... received the infuse ofRs.1740 crore under therecapitalization package toshore up bank’s equity capital?1) Indian bank2) Axis Bank3) Oriental Bank of Commerce4) Indian Overseas Bank5) Canara BankAnswer: (3)

4. Reliance Communications gotthe second installment of $ 400million from ...........1) World Bank2) IMF3) China Development Bank4) IDA5) IFCAnswer: (3)

5. Which international monetaryorganization came forward to lit12,000 villages by providingelectricity. It granted the loanworth of $ 120 million?1) IFC2) UNO3) ADB4) IBRD5) IDAAnswer: (3)

6. Acting Managing Director ofInternational Monetary Fund( IMF) is ...........?1) John Lipsky2) Robert Zoellick3) Vineeth Verman4) Lakshmi Venkatachalam5) None of theseAnswer: (1)

7. If there is an inflationary trend inthe country, the bankingproducts lead to the ............?1) Decreasing trend2) Constant trend3) Zero trend4) Increasing trend5) there is no relation betweeninflation and banking productspricing.Answer: (4)

8. Among the following banks,which one is the Public SectorBank, but not nationalizedbanks?1) IDBI bank2) Allahabad bank3) Union bank of India4) Central Bank of India

5) Bank of MaharastraAnswer: (1)

9. Which among the following bankwas merged with State Bank ofIndia in 2010?1) State Bank of Hyderabad2) State Bank of Travancore3) State Bank of Indore4) State Bank of Patiala5) State Bank of MysoreAnswer: (3)

10. Hawala transaction means...........?1) The transaction done in thebank2) The transaction done in thebank through proper channel ofthe government of India3) a mode of transferring offunds out of India or into thecountry, by passing official andlegal channels4) Indian mode of keeping themoney in the savings account5) None of theseAnswer: (3)

11. Maharatna Status given toONGC, IOC, SAIL and NTPC.The norms to brand anycompany as Maharatnachanged on 17 March 2011. Pickup the wrong one?1) They should have annualturnover of Rs.20,000 crore inthe last three years.2) The company must have anaverage annual net worth of Rs.10,000 crore in the last threeyears in a row.3) The company must be startedleast 40 years back.


4) The company must get theaverage profit of Rs. 2500 crore.5) None of theseAnswer: (3)

12. The biggest single day jumpregistering 623.10 points sinceMay 2009 occurred in BombayStock Exchange sensex. Thisevent occurred on…….?1) 11th March 20112) 1st January 20113) 3rd January 20114) 2nd April 20115) 1st March 2011Answer: (5)

13. Tummalapalle, Kadapa District,Andhra Pradesh came in tonews as the deposits of...........mines found?1) Thorium2) Radium3) Molybdenum4) Manganese5) UraniumAnswer: (5)

14. Sulabh International providesthe costeffective andenvironment friendly technologyin the providing toilets in the...........?1) NAM2) ASEM3) APEC4) ASEAN5) SAARCAnswer: (4)

15. The Award list is given. Pick upwrong one?1) Man Booker Internationalprize winner Philip Roth( American author)2) Jawaharlal NehruInternational UnderstandingAward got by GermanChancellor Angela Merkel

3) C.K.Naidu life achievementaward got by Salim Durani, thefamous test cricketer4) Rajkumar Award got by Sarojadevi5) None of theseAnswer: (5)

16. Deodhar Trophy won by ...........?1) South Zone2) East Zone3) West Zone4) North Zone5) Central ZoneAnswer: (4)

17. “Exchange Control Manual” isthe publication of…in the contextof foreign exchange1) Finance Minister2) Department of Commerce3) Foreign Trade PromotionBoard4) SEBI5) Reserve Bank of IndiaAnswer: (5)

18. ........... called the chiefCoordinator of the rural credit inIndia?1) RBI2) Co-operative banks3) NABARD4) SBI5) RRBAnswer: (3)

19. ........... Committee submitted thereport to prime minister of Indiaon Consumer Affairs insisted toban the futures trading in theessential commodities?1) Kiran Kumar Reddy2) Sivaraj Singh Chouhan3) Narendra Modi4) Ashok Gehlat5) Prudveeraj ChouhanAnswer: (3)

20. BASEL committee recognizesthree risks. They are ...........?1) Market Risk, Operational Risk

and Cash Risk2) Market Risk, Operational Riskand Credit Risk3) Lending Risk, OperationalRisk and Payments Risk4) Floating Risk, Payment Risk,Credit Risk5) None of theseAnswer: (2)

21. Financial Inclusion do notinclude ...........?1) Every Indian must hold a bankaccount2) Reaching of Banking servicesto the door steps the commonpeople even in rural areas3) Business Correspondents willbe appointed by the bank todeliver the banking services inrural areas4) Opening of No frill accounts5) Opening of satellite banks,door step banking etcAnswer: (1)

22. Which Bank is set to open theoverseas branches inMozambique, Bhutan, HongKong, Dubai and Sri Lanka in thecoming days?1) State Bank of India2) Indian Bank3) Central Bank of India4) Syndicate Bank5) Indian Overseas BankAnswer: (3)

23. Pure Banking nothing Else is thepunch line of ...........?1) S.B.I2) S.B.H3) Allahabad Bank4) Syndicate Bank5) IDBIAnswer: (1)

24. The paper currency does notbare the signature of RBIgovernor is ……?1) 10 rupee


2) 20 rupee3) 50 rupee4) 100 rupee5) 1 rupeeAnswer: (5)

25. “Apple Advance Scheme”launched in ....?1) Jammu and Kashmir2) Haryana3) Uttarakhand4) Andhra Pradesh5) Arunachal PradeshAnswer: (1)

26. ........... is not the part of the RBImonetary and Credit Policy?1)Repo rate2) Cash Reserve Ratio3) Reverse Repo Rate4) Foreign Exchange Rate5) All of the aboveAnswer: (4)

27. The last journey of ...........returned to Cape Canaveral onMarch 9, 2011?1) Columbia2) Ariana3) Messenger4) Apollo5) DiscoveryAnswer: (5)

28. The Abbreviation list is given.Pick up wrong one?1) ODA- Overseas DevelopmentAssistance2) LPD- Landing Platform Docks3) EMMRC -EducationalMultimedia Research Centre4) CRAR -Capital to RiskWeighted Assets Ratio5) NSDC -National Skill DealingCouncilAnswer: (5)

29. India’s wild tiger population wasincreased by ........... percent inthe last 4 years. 2010 censustelling the tiger population was1706?

1) 182) 243) 104) 125) 20Answer: (4)

30. ...... express run by railwaysconnect state capitals andimportant towns within the state?1) Kavi Guru2) Vivek3) Matrubhumi4) Karmabhomi5) Rajya RaniAnswer: (5)

31. A high-level Committee headedby the Chairman of ........... toexamine ways of strengtheninglaws to curb generation of“illegal” wealth?1) Central board of Direct Taxes2) State bank of India3) IRDA4) SEBI5) FICCIAnswer: (1)

32. Distribution of subsidizedsanitary napkins to adolescentgirls in the age group of ...........years in rural India start on 1August 2011?1) 8 -122) 10 -143) 15 -184) 10 -195) 18 -21Answer: (4)

33. ........... allowed the womenemployee for 2 years leaveduring their entire service periodfor children’s proper care?1) Uttarakhand2) Andhra Pradesh3) Goa4) Tamilnadu5) BiharAnswer: (1)

34. Which state distributed 2 crorehealth cards to School childrenfor regular check-up andtreatment for them? It will become in to effect from 22 March2011, on the eve of the stateformation day.1) Andhra Pradesh2) West Bengal3) Bihar4) Karnataka5) GoaAnswer: (3)

35. May day list given. Pick up wrongone?1) International Labour day -May 12) World Asthma day - May 23) International Energy day -May 44) Red Cross day - May 85) Mohter ’s day - May 2ndSundayAnswer: (3)

36. Extraordinary InternationalEnergy Forum meeting was heldin….February 2011?1) Doha2) Moscow3) Oslo3) Dubai5) RiyadhAnswer: (5)

37. Sixth BASIC ministerial meetingon Climate Change heldin………?1) Bejing2) Durban3) Johannesburg4) New Delhi5) BrasiliaAnswer: (4)

38. G-8 countries list is given. Pickup the not one among them?1) U.K2) Australia3) Canada


4) Russia5) FranceAnswer: (2)

39. ........... government banned thebartan system which allows theupper caste people to extractwork from barbers andwashermen during familyoccasions?1) Meghalaya2) Odisha3) Andhra Pradesh4) Assam5) MaharastraAnswer: (2)

40. ‘Sanchar Shakti’ is a schemebenefit ........... a value addedservice through mobilehandsets?1) health workers2) Doctors3) Lawyers4) Women SHG5) Sports personsAnswer: (4)

41. An individual can not open anaccount in ....?1) RBI2) Commercial Bank3) C0-operative Bank4) Foreign bank5) Private BankAnswer: (1)

42. On 7 March 2011, SupremeCourt allowed ?1) Aggressive euthanasia2) Active euthanasia3) Violent euthanasia4) Vibrant euthanasia5) Passive euthanasiaAnswer: (5)

43. Planned expenditure excessover the income iscalled……….?1) Deficit Financing2) Scarce Financing

3) Float Financing4) Meter Financing5) None of theseAnswer: (1)

44. Aim to introduce the KYCguidelines is?1) to block black money andmoney laundering2) to know the number ofcustomers3) to share the information in thecomputers4) to know the authority of theperson to deposit5) all of aboveAnswer: (1)

45. The Government of India has setup Price Stabilisation Fund forfour commodities. Which of thefollowing is NOT covered by thescheme ?1) Tobacco2) Coffee3) Rubber4) Tea5) JuteAnswer: (5)

46. The organizing committee ofFIFA World Cup announced thename of the country selected tohost the event to be organizedin 2014. Who is the host chosenfor the same ?1) Russia2) Venzeula3) Bolivia4) Peru5) BrazilAnswer: (5)

47. Who among the following is theauthor of the book :'Half a life'?1) Mark Tully2) Deepak Chopra3) Chetan Bhagat4) Ved Mehta5) V.S. NeipaulAnswer: (5)

48. In which one of the followingstates, village level marketingplatform has been set up for thefirst time in the country?1) Haryana2) Maharashtra3) Gujarath4) Bihar5) KeralaAnswer: (3)

49. With which one of the followingsports, the name of ParupalliKashyap is associated?1) Chess2) Tennis3) Badminton4) Athletics5) None of theseAnswer: (3)

50. While passing the Finance Billthe Finance Minister agreed towith draw the controversial'misery tax' on healthcare fromthe tax proposals. What did this'misery tax relate to?1) Expenditure tax for luxurytreatment2) Service tax on air conditionedhospitals and diagnostics3) Sales tax on expensivehealthcare4) GST on costly hospital andmedical treatment5) None of theseAnswer: (2)

Integrated solidwaste management

programmePunjab has become the

first State in India to start anintegrated solid wastemanagement programme in theentire State.


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