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A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Obama
wins 50,000 jobs in 20 deals worth over $10 b
US President Barack Obama has
announced $10 billion in new trade deals with India. He was speaking in Mumbai
at the start of a 10-day Asian tour designed to boost US exports and create
jobs.
Mr Obama, who arrived here
on a three-day tour of the country, also announced that the US will lift export
controls on high technology products to India, to facilitate two-way trade
between both the countries.
Some of the deals expected
to contribute to this included:
� The sale by Boeing of 30 new 737 aircraft to private Indian airline SpiceJet.
The White House says this will help support over 12,000 US jobs.
� Preliminary agreement had been reached on the Indian purchase of 10 Boeing
C-17s military transport planes.
� The sale by GE of fighter 107 F414 jet engines to the Indian military.
� A separate deal with GE worth $500m (�309m) for the sale of six heavy duty gas
turbines and three steam turbines to India�s Reliance Energy Ltd.
� Harley-Davidson plans a new plant in India to assemble American-made
motorcycle kits.
� The White House said India had identified GE subsidiary GE Transportation,
based in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Electro-Motive Diesel, of LaGrange, Illinois, a
unit of Caterpillar Inc, as bidders to supply Indian railways with over 1,000 diesel
locomotives over 10 years
RBI
sets its face against pre-payment penalty
Banks are losing their
battle for penalty on home loan pre-payments as the Reserve Bank of India sees no case for
such a levy given that lenders don�t play a fair game with borrowers.
In a meeting with chief
executives of banks last week, RBI deputy governor KC Chakrabarty backed
the Competition Commissioner of India�s
stance that banks waive the clause on pre-payment
penalty in mortgage documents since it is anti-competitive, said two people
familiar with the discussions at the meet.
If implemented, this would
erode one of the key elements of easy profits for banks which charge as much as
2% of the loan amount in some cases.
In the two years since 2008
when the central bank cut policy rates more
than 5 percentage points, most banks did not pass on lower costs to existing
customers, but offered lower rates to new customers. Feeling short-changed by
bank practices, customers wanted to change their lenders, but stayed back due to
the usurious penalties. New borrowers were offered loans at 8% while existing
ones paid around 11%.
India
orders may create 7 lakh jobs in US in 10 years
Industry body CII on 7th
November, 2010 said sourcing of infrastructure equipment, nuclear
hardware and military aircraft from the US by India could create over seven lakh
jobs in America in the next ten years.
A CII survey of member
firms with operations in the US clearly shows that Indian business is now
engaged across a wide spectrum of sectors in America, and not just IT and ITeS.
The Report, �India � A
Growth Partner in the Indian Economy�, estimates that, �India
sourcing of US military and nuclear hardware and civilian aircraft could create
over 700,000 jobs in the US over the next ten years.
Adarsh
Scam leads Chavan to quit
The Congress high command
on Tuesday accepted Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan�s offer to resign
over the Adarsh Housing Society scam, pending
inquiry.
At a meeting with the high
command on October 30, Mr. Chavan offered to quit owning moral responsibility as
three of his relatives had flats in the Adarsh society.
On 9th November, 2010
morning, Mr. Chavan, accompanied by his wife and some senior Cabinet colleagues,
tendered his resignation to Governor K. Sankaranarayanan, who accepted it. He
will, however, continue as caretaker Chief Minister until the party appoints a
new candidate for the post.
Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told journalists here
that the Congress Legislature Party, which met late on 9th November 2010 night,
passed a one-line resolution authorising party president Sonia Gandhi to decide on the next
Chief Minister.
Kharif
food grain production to go up 6 pc to over 114 mn tone
India�s foodgrain production for this year�s
kharif season is estimated to go up by nearly 6 per cent to 114.63 million
tonnes, Parliament was informed on 9th November, 2010.
�As per the
first advance estimates for
Kharif 2010, the foodgrains production is estimated to be 114.63 million tonnes
against 103.84 million tonnes as per fourth advanceestimates for kharif 2009,�
Minister of state for Agriculture K V Thomas said in a
written reply to the Lok Sabha.
The minister said that in
view of higher procurement last year as well as this year, the stocks available
in the central pool are adequate to meet the requests of foodgrain under
public distribution system.
In a response to another query, Thomas said
rice production during the season is
estimated to be 80.4 million tonnes, against 75.9 million tonnes in 2009.
The production of pulses is
estimated to be 6 million tonnes as against 4.3 million tonnes last year, and of
sugar to go up to 324.91 million tonnes as against 277.75 million tonnes last
year.
Housing loans grow 20 pc to Rs 3.15 lakh cr last fiscal: RBI
The Reserve Bank of India has said that home loan disbursals raised by 20
percent to Rs 3.15 lakh crore in 2009-10 compared to the year-ago period,
primarily helped by lower interest rate.
In its report �Trend and
Progress of Banking in India 2009-10′, RBI said that while home advances rose,
loans for other retail segments such as auto, consumer durables and personal
purposes dropped in the last fiscal.
�The pickup in
housing loan growth was partly on account of low
interest rates that prevailed during most part of
2009-10 despite the fact that property prices, which had experienced a
correction in 2008-09 immediately following the crisis, showed a spurt during
2009-10,� the report said.
The housing loans in the
2008-09 fiscal stood at Rs 2.63 lakh crore, which marked a growth of just 4.1
percent as against the 2007-08 financial year.
In 2009-10 fiscal, consumer
durables� loan fell 44.2 percent to Rs 3,032 crore while auto loans declined 6.6
percent to Rs 78,346 crore as compared to the year-ago period, the report said.
Other personal loans decreased 3.5 percent to Rs 2.03
lakh crore last fiscal.
The credit card receivables also slipped
during the last fiscal to Rs 21,565 crore from Rs 29,941 crore in 2008-09
financial year.
Banks
increase exposure to capital markets
It takes robust technology,
sound risk management capabilities and aggressive employees for banks to do
business in the capital market segment, say market
experts and this is corroborated in RBI�s latest report on trends and progress
in banking for 2009-10.
The report observed that
bank credit to capital markets grew 22.1 per cent year on year to Rs 67,402
crore as of March 2010.
Private sector banks
clocked the highest percentage increase of 46.8 per cent when it came to capital
market lending.
It is interesting to note
that new generation private sector banks such HDFC, ICICI, Axis and the like grew this
business by a huge 55.9 per cent while their old generation counterparts such as
Karur Vysya, Lakshmi Vilas and City Union Bank reduced
their exposure by 8.1 per cent. PSU banks and foreign banks increased their
exposures to capital market by 12.7 and 8.1 per cent respectively.
Along with capital markets,
real estate and commodities, all classified by the RBI
as �sensitive sectors�, constitute one fifth of the total bank credit (19.6 per
cent in FY10), says the RBI data.
Commercial banks� exposure
to real estate went up 10.4 per cent to Rs 5,79,814 crore while exposure to
commodities was marginally positive at 1.5 per cent to
register Rs 911 crore.
Prithviraj Chavan is new Maharashtra Chief Minister
Prithviraj Chavan will be sworn in as the next Chief Minister of
Maharashtra on 11th November, 2010
ending 10 days of political uncertainty in the State.
The impasse was triggered
by Ashok Chavan�s �offer� on October 30 to quit over a real estate scam that has
since also placed the activities of a group of
former generals and top bureaucrats
under the scanner.
Mr. Prithviraj Chavan � as
he made the last rounds of
Parliament House on 10th November,
2010 of what has been his stomping ground since 1991, when he was first elected
as a Lok Sabha MP from Karad � told
journalists that his priority would be to bring in a �transparent
administration.� He, however, refused to comment on how he planned to
deal with the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
Sachin
appointed ambassador for 2011 World Cup
With exactly 100 days to
go, the ICC on 11th November, 2010 announced the appointment
of Indian batting legend Sachin Tendulkar as the official event
ambassador for the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011.
Throughout his long and
successful career to date, Tendulkar has
inspired hundreds of millions of cricket lovers around the world with
his personality, skill, temperament and love for the game.
Since making his debut for
India in 1989 at the tender age of 16, on the field he has scored more
international runs than anyone else in the history while also adhering
faithfully to the spirit of cricket.
Off the field he has always
carried himself as a true champion, making him a perfect role model and one of
the most recognisable and popular sportsmen of his generation.
In his role as
ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 ambassador he will be called upon to
promote and support a variety of ICC initiatives for the tournament, which is
the third biggest sporting event in the world and will take place in Bangladesh,
India and Sri Lanka from 19 February to 2 April next year.
US
joins India to set up global N-Centre in Haryana
The US joined hands with
India to set up a Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership for
research and development of secure and proliferation resistant reactor systems.
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India had announced at
the Nuclear Security Summit in April
in Washington to set up the Centre as part of its efforts to promote
non-proliferation.
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A Memorandum of Understanding for
coooperation in building the Centre was signed by Srikumar Banerjee,
Secretary, Department of Atomic Energy and Timothy Roemer,
the USAmbassador to India, on the sidelines of the talks
President Barack Obama held with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in
New Delhi.
Raja
ignored advice on 2G auction, says former DoT chief
Former top officials of the
Department of Telecom and the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
on 13th November, 2010 said the Communications and IT Minister, Mr A. Raja, had
ignored their advice for allocating 2G licences through
auction.
A former DoT Secretary, Mr
D.S. Mathur, said he had resisted Mr Raja�s attempts to grant licences without
an equitable and transparent policy.
�When Raja became the
Minister in May 2007, he called me and expressed his desire to award around 500
new licences. My response was that the same was not possible as there was not
enough spectrum,� Mr Mathur said.
Nor did Mr Mathur give the
nod to the decision by Mr Raja to advance the cut-off
date for processing the applications for licences, from October 1, 2007 to
September 25.
The former DoT chief said
that he along with other Members of the Telecom Commission, had proposed to the
Minister that the spectrum should be distributed through theauction route but
the same was ignored.
The Comptroller and
Auditor-General has slammed the Communications and IT Minister saying that he
had caused a loss of Rs 1.76 lakh crore to the Exchequer by following the
first-come, first- served policy. The CAG had also said that the licences issued
in 2008 were illegal and should be cancelled
Raghuram Rajan among world�s 7 most powerful economists
Renowned Indian-origin academician
Raghuram Rajan has been named alongside
US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben
Bernanke and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman among the seven most powerful
economists in the world, according to a compilation in
Forbes magazine by economist Nouriel
Roubini .
Forbes asked a group of
experts to pick seven influential individuals each from the world�s nearly seven
billion people for fields such as education, Hollywood, media, entrepreneurs,
economists, energy, philanthropists, bloggers, designers, feminists and fashion.
In the feminist category,
Indian environmentalist Vandana Shiva has been named as one of the seven most
powerful feminists in the world. Roubini, Harvard alumnus and
New York University professor who
predicted the global financial crisis, picked the world�s
most powerful economists.
His list of seven includes
US President Barack Obama�s chief
economic adviser Lawrence Summers , whose �views are always very influential,
regardless of whether or not he is in government,� Bernanke, the most powerful
central banker in the world and New York Times columnist Krugman, �a
strong and most articulate defender of Keynesian policies.�
Roubini said Raghuram Rajan,
Professor of Finance at the University of Chicago�s Booth School of Business,
was one of the earliest economists to point out the �distortions in bankers� and
traders� compensation and other serious flaws of Wall Street that led to the US
and global financial crisis.
Forbes
releases list of 7 most powerful rural Indians
Mansukhbhai Jagani,
Mansukhbhai Patel, Mansukhbhai Prajapati and Madanlal Kumawat, are among
Forbes� list of seven most powerful
rural Indian entrepreneurs, whose �inventions are changing lives� of the people
across the country.
IIM-Ahmedabad professor and
founder of India�s Honeybee Network Anil Gupta has selected the seven most
powerful rural Indian entrepreneurs for a compilation in
Forbes magazine.
�India�s villages have
become a hot bed of innovation, as its rural poor
develop inventions out of necessity. Several of the people on this list have no
more than an elementary school education,� Gupta says.
Jagani developed a
motorcycle-based tractor for India�s poor farmers, which is both cost effective
� costing roughly USD 318, and fuel efficient (it can plow an acre of land in 30
minutes with two liters of fuel).
A farmer, Patel invented a
cotton stripping machine that has significantly cut the cost of cotton farming
and revolutionised India�s cotton industry.
Prajapati, a potter,
invented a clay non-stick pan that costs Rs 100 and a clay
refrigerator that runs without electricity for those who cannot afford a
fridge or their electricity and maintenance costs, Gupta said.
Next on the list is Future
Group Chairman Kishore Biyani . Called the �Sam Walton
of India ,� Biyani�s company operates about three million square feet of retail
space in 25 Indian cities.
Coming in next is social
entrepreneur Anshu Gupta who founded GOONJ, a system that transfers
used clothing and household
goods from India�s rich to its poorest communities.
India
aims for double-digit economic growth
India is aiming to achieve double-digit economic growth within two years, as
the country�s recovery from the global downturn picks up
pace.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said he was
optimistic the economy should soon
return to the 9% growth it achieved before the downturn.
The challenge then is �to
cross the double-digit growth barrier in the coming
year or two�, he added.
The
Indian economy grew by 8.8% between April and June this year.
It is the second-fastest-growing economy in the world behind China.
�We are all witness to an
emerging new world order,� Mr Mukherjee said, which would lead to a �more
equitable arrangement for global prosperity.�
The finance minister�s comments come just
two days after the G20 meeting of the world�s leading
economies in South Korea.
The meeting was dominated
by discussions about global currency values, and how global trade imbalances
could be resolved, with emerging economies relying on exports and more developed
economies relying on domestic consumer consumption.
Telecommunications Minister Raja resigns from Union Cabinet
Ahead of an expected
statement in Parliament, Minister for
Communications and Information Technology A. Raja has
handed over his resignation to
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Sibal
given charge of Telecom Ministry
HRD
Minister Kapil Sibal was given
the additional charge of the Telecom Ministry by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
in a development that takes the portfolio away from DMK at least for the time
being.
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Sibal will hold the charge of the Ministry held by A Raja, who
resigned facing allegations of scam in 2G spectrum allocation.
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The arrangement is seen to be temporary in view
of the ongoing Parliament session when issues related to the ministry are to
be handled at the senior level, particularly at a time when the ministry is
facing allegations of corruption of huge magnitude.
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Sibal, a renowned lawyer-turned-politician, was a week earlier
given the additional charge of Ministries of Science and Technology and Earth
Sciences, which fell vacant after incumbent
Prithviraj Chavan was made Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
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In another decision, V Narayansamy, Minister of State for
Parliamentary Affairs, was given additional charge of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT),
which also fell vacant after Chavan�s departure.
Indirect tax collections grow 33% in October
Aided by strong show on the
customs duty front, the Centre�s indirect tax collections recorded a
robust 33.15 per cent increase in October 2010 to Rs 29,574 crore (Rs 22,211
crore). This collection performance was higher than the
indirect tax collections of Rs 26,476 crore in September this year.
The Centre�s customs duty
collections grew 61.36 per cent in October to Rs 12,120 crore (Rs 7,511 crore)
on the back of increased imports. Introduction of import duties on crude oil in
this year�s budget has also helped bolster customs duty collections.
In April-October period,
the Centre�s customs duty collections recorded 65.9 per cent increase to Rs
75,349 crore (Rs 45,418 crore).
On the excise duty front,
the collections in October grew 14.47 per cent to Rs 10,244 crore (Rs 8949
crore). In the first seven months of the current
fiscal, excise duty collections grew 36.2 per cent to Rs 71,078 crore (Rs 52,186
crore). This represents about 54 per cent of the budget target of Rs 1.32 lakh
crore for 2010-11.
The Centre�s
service tax collections in October
registered a 25.37 per cent increase to Rs 7,210 crore (Rs 5,751 crore). During
April-October , the service tax collections registered 16.9 per cent increase to
Rs 33,833 crore (Rs 28,942 crore), an official release said.
On an overall basis, the
Centre�s indirect tax collections recorded 42.4 per cent increase in
April-October to Rs 1,80,261 crore. This represents 57.5 per cent of the budget
estimate of Rs 3.15 lakh crore for 2010-11.
Black
money trail: India drained of Rs 20 Lakh crore
Black money �the popular moniker given
to the billions seeded by dirty deals and whisked away abroad from the taxman�s
prying eyes � has received much attention in recent
years.
A new study by an
international watchdog on the illicit flight of money
from the country, perhaps the first ever attempt at shedding light on a subject
steeped in secrecy, concludes that India has been drained of $462 billion (Rs
20,556,848,000,000 or over Rs 20 lakh crore) between 1948 and 2008.
The amount is nearly 40% of
India�s gross domestic product, and nearly 12
times the size of the estimated loss to the government because of the 2G spectrum scam .
The study has been authored
by Dev Kar, a lead economist with the US-based Global Financial Integrity, a
non-profit research body that has long crusaded against illegal capital flight.
Mr Kar, a former senior
economist with the International Monetary Fund, says
illicit financial flows out of India have grown at 11.5% a year, debunking a
popular notion that economic reforms that began nearly two decades ago had
tempered the creation and stashing away of blackmoney overseas.
If capital outflows were a
child of the independence era, the problem came of age in the years after the
reforms kicked in. Nearly 50% of the total illegal outflows occurred since 1991.
Around a third of themoney exited the country between 2000 and 2008
Mukesh
Ambani receives Global Vision Award
Billionaire businessman and
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has received the Global
Vision Award instituted by the Asia Society
for helping to promote understanding between Asians and Americans.
Speaking at the award
function in New York on Tuesday, Ambani said that India has come a long way from
being a third world county in the 1980s to become the world�s third most
important economy.
�In the 1980s, India was
viewed as a third world country and today India is the third most important
economy in the world. That has been truly a fantastic journey,� Ambani, who is
one of the richest people in the world, said.
India has the foundation for growth, Ambani said,
adding, �I think in the 21st century we are going to be fastest growing economy.
That is the story of India, which I am very fortunate to be part of�.
General Electric�s chairman
and chief executive officer Jeffrey Immelt
received the Global Leadership Award.
Scheme
for women agriculturists planned
The Union government intends to launch by
January end a scheme aimed at improving the status of women as agriculturists
and open up opportunities for their empowerment.
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The scheme, to be taken up by the Ministry of Rural Development, has been named
Mahila Kisan Sashaktikaran Pariyojana (MKSP). It will be launched as a
sub-component of the renamed, but yet to be launched, National Rural Livelihood Mission
(NRLM), which was earlier known as Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojna (SGSY).
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The scheme hopes to meet the needs of women farmers, who
predominantly come under the small and marginal farmer categories. Its
objective is to achieve socio-economic and technical empowerment of rural
woman farmers. A sum of Rs. 100 crore has been allocated for implementing
the MKSP in the initial stages.
Centre
to recruit 2100 agriculture graduates for extension services
Recognising that
agriculture extension services
is the weakest link in transferring technology and techniques to farmers, the
Centre has decided to recruit, in the next one year, more than 2100 farm
graduates dedicated to extension services across the country.
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The workers, whose job primarily would be to integrate research
and extension activities for farmers in every district, would be attached to
the Agricultural Technology Management
Agency (ATMA), a society of stakeholders in each district working towards
sustainable agricultural development.
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A major activity of the extension workers would be to spread
awareness and facilitate soil testing facility to check the nutrient
deficiency in a farmer�s field. Every farmer would be provided a soil-health
card much in the same manner as a ration card. The farmer will use the
soil-health card as a guide for nutrient application.
Indira
Gandhi 9th most powerful woman of the century
Indira Gandhi, world�s longest serving
woman Prime Minister, has been ranked
by the Time magazine as the 9th most powerful woman of
the past century, a list that also includes Mother Teresa.
The list of �25 Most
Powerful Women of the Past Century� is
topped by Jane Addams, an outspoken advocate for women�s suffrage, who was the
first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton is ranked sixth on the list.
Besides Gandhi and
Mother Teresa, who is ranked 22nd, no other woman from the
sub-continent figures in the Time magazine list
released on 20th November 2010.
When Gandhi was elected
Prime Minister in 1966, a TIME cover line had read, �Troubled India in a Woman�s
Hands�.
She served three
consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and was in the middle of her fourth term
from 1980 when she was assassinated in 1984.
By the time she was
assassinated, Gandhi was the world�s longest-serving woman Prime Minister, a
distinction she holds to this day, the magazine said.
The list of 25 also
includes Marie Curie, Madonna, Golda Meir, Angela Merkel, Eleanor Roosevelt,
Margaret Thatcher, Oprah Winfrey and Virginia Woolf.
NRIs
can now vote in India
The longstanding wish of
millions of non-resident Indians (NRIs) to be able to exercise their franchise
in India has come true, with the Centre issuing a notification to this effect.
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In the monsoon session, Parliament had
passed the Representation of People (Amendment) Bill, 2010, to allow NRIs to
vote in Indian elections.
Kiran
Kumar sworn in as CM
Andhra Pradesh Governor
E.S.L. Narasimhan (centre) Chief Minister K. Rosaiah (right) presents a bouquet
to his successor N. Kiran Kumar Reddy (left) during the swearing-in ceremony at
the Raj Bhavan in Hyderabad.
Nallari Kiran Kumar Reddy,
a YSR loyalist, was sworn-in as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, capping hectic
political developments that saw the exit of K Rosaiah from the post.
Army�s
Strategic Forces Command tests Agni-1
The Strategic Forces
Command of the Army fired Agni-1, the surface-to-surface missile, from the
Integrated Test Range (ITR) on
Wheeler Island, off Damra village on the Orissa
coast.
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The flight was successful with the missile travelling its full
range of 700 km. Fired at 10.20 a.m., the missile followed its trajectory
and reached the designated target area in the Bay of Bengal.
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Agni-1, which can carry nuclear warheads, is a product of the
Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
The Advanced Systems Laboratory (ASL),
a DRDO facility at Hyderabad, developed it. The Strategic Forces Command is
in charge of the nuclear delivery systems.
Nitish
Kumar sworn in as Bihar CM for second consecutive term
Janata Dal-United (JD-U)
leader Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief minister for a second
consecutive term,the oath of office administered by
Governor Devanand Konwar in the presence of thousands of people at the historic
Gandhi Maidan in Patna.
Oberoi
bagged �2010 Corporate Hotelier of the World� award
Oberoi Group Chairman P R
S Oberoi was awarded the �2010 Corporate Hotelier of the World� award by HOTELS
magazine in New York.
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In its 29th year, the annual �Hotelier
of the World� award winner is selected on the basis of votes cast by readers
of the magazine in more than 150 countries.
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The cover story of the November edition of HOTELS magazine refers
to Oberoi as "the founder father of modern luxury hospitality in India" and
credits him with growing the company "into one of the world�s most
prestigious luxury hotel groups".
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Recently, The Oberoi Vanyavilas hotel at Ranthambhore was ranked
the best hotel in the world in Travel + Leisure
magazine�s 2010 World�s Best Awards readers� poll.
Humanitarian Award to Bopanna-Qureshi pair
Their message of 'Stop
War Start Tennis' fetched Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani
partner Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Of The Year award
during the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
The two
players have been playing with the message of 'Stop War Start Tennis' for quite
some time on the Tour and in Grand Slams. Qureshi has received this award in the
past as well when he teamed up with Israel's Amir Hadad in 2002, it's a first
for Bopanna.
Humanitarian Award to
Bopanna-Qureshi pair is a post from
RIL
among world�s largest chemical firms
Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has
been ranked globally at the 20th position on the ICIS Top 100 Chemicals
Companies list. German major BASF topped the list.
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The companies were ranked on the basis of their
annual sales figures in the annual list released by ICIS Chemical
Business magazine. The ICIS is a global
information provider for the chemical and energy industries.
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Terming RIL and Chinese major PetroChina among the major climbers
on the list over the past decade, the report said the two companies could
take top rankings soon.
Sanjeev Tripathi likely to be next RAW chief
The government is
understood to have finalised the name of the next chief of the Research and
Analysis Wing (RAW). The external intelligence agency is most likely to be
headed by Sanjeev Tripathi, an officer of the RAW Allied
Services (RAS) cadre.
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Current chief K.C. Verma, is due to retire on January 31 next, and
is expected to be shifted to the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO)
as its chief. Mr. Tripathi, who retires on December 31, will secure a
two-year tenure, once his appointment is formally notified, according to
sources in the government.
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Mr. Tripathi originally belongs to the Uttar Pradesh cadre of the
1973 batch of the IPS, but was absorbed in the RAW.
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Considered a prot�g� of Ashok Chaturvedi, who served as the RAW
chief before Mr. Verma became the head of the
agency in the early 2009, Mr. Tripathi now heads the Aviation Research
Centre (ARC) of the RAW.
KPSC
exam pattern to change
The pattern of the
competitive examinations
conducted by the Karnataka Public Service Commission (KPSC) is all set undergo a
sea change after a long gap of four decades.
A sub-committee
constituted by the Commission is likely to table its report recommending the new
system in a couple of weeks and gazette notification is expected by January next
year.
Transparency
The new structure aims to
put an end to unnecessary delay in completing recruitment
process, reduce scope for political intervention in government appointments,
bring in more transparency, introduce corporate work culture and enable
candidates to equip themselves with latest administrative
skills such as e-governance.
The proposed structure
comprises limited number of subjects, negative marking system and restricted
ratio for mains and interviews. It eliminates optional subject system (at
present there are 30 subjects) and will have five papers, all compulsory.
Prelims & Mains
There will be one paper in
the preliminary round with 150 questions,
each carrying two marks. Half a mark will be deducted for each wrong answer.
The main examination comprises five
compulsory papers in three categories � Essay, Humanities and Science. Excluding
the Essay paper, other will have 20 units dealing with
varied issues instead of specific issues. The units in the papers are such that
candidate of any background will find it comfortable to study and answer.
There will be 40 questions
in the examination, two from each unit. But, it is compulsory to answer
questions from all 20 units. Each paper will be for 200 marks, each question
carrying 10 marks. Limited number of answer sheets will be given to candidates
for answering within the given space. Three different evaluators will evaluate
answer scripts.
Another feature is change
in the ratio for mains and interview. Instead of the 1:20 from
prelims to mains, it will be 1:5 and instead of 1:5 from mains to interview it
will be 1:3.
The Commission is planning
to invite applications for several posts early next year and candidates will
have to follow the new structure.
A.P.
Singh is new CBI chief
IPS officer Amar Pratap
Singh has been appointed the new Director of the Central Bureau of Investigation
for two years succeeding Ashwani Kumar.
-
The Appointments� Committee of the Cabinet headed by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared the name of 58-year-old
Singh, a 1974 batch IPS officer from Jharkhand cadre, for the post of the
new chief of the elite investigating agency.
-
Singh was serving as Special Director of the agency. He has also
held post of additional Director General in BSF and is a
recipient of Indian Police Medal and President�s
Police Medal.
Tata
Motors bags Rajiv Gandhi quality award
Automaker
Tata Motors Limited, Lucknow unit, has
bagged the Rajiv Gandhi National Quality Award for 2009 in the �Best of All�
category.
The award is instituted by
the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS). It
recognises Indian manufacturing and service
organisations that are at the forefront of the quality
movement in the country, a BIS release said.
The Lucknow unit of
Tata Motors Limited has won the �Best of All� awards for 2009, it said.
While Glaxosmithkline
Consumer Healthcare won an award in the large
scale manufacturing segment, Elin Appliances Private Ltd, was honoured in the
category of small scale manufacturing.
Quality Evaluation and
Systems Team Pvt Ltd won it in large scale service category and Karnataka State
Road Transport was given an award in the small scale service sector segment, it
said.
Rajiv
Awas Yojana for Urban poor
Of the projects sanctioned
under the JNNURM so far, an investment of around Rs. 36,000 crore is devoted to
the programmes for basic services to urban poor and the development of slums.
Construction of around 1.5 million houses for the poor
and slum dwellers has been approved.
A new scheme called the
Rajiv Awas Yojana has been announced
for slum dwellers and the urban poor, aimed at ushering in a slum-free India by
providing access to affordable housing for the urban
poor.�
Job
figure rises by 13 lakh in one year, IT/BPO top list
The overall employment
figure in the country rose by 12.96 lakh during the last one year with the IT/BPO
sector creating maximum jobs.
The figures were compiled
from quarterly surveys conducted by the
Labour Bureau (under the Labour and Employment Ministry) between
September 2009 and September 2010.
According to the survey,
the IT/BPO sector created 8.54 lakh jobs. The textiles sector was next with 1.52
lakh new jobs during this period. This was followed by the metals sector which
created 1.37 lakh jobs. The automobile sector generated 1.10 lakh
employment opportunities and the gems and jewellery
sector created 0.93 lakh jobs.
The quarterly surveys were
first carried immediately after the onset of the recession
in October 2008, which cost millions of people their jobs.
The latest quarterly survey
� eighth in the series � for the July-September period, has said employment in
the country has risen by 4.35 lakh.
The survey, which covered
eight sectors, said the textile sector led in job creation with 2.45 lakh new
jobs. This was followed by the IT/BPO sector where employment rose by 1.08 lakh.
Employment in the automobile and
metal industries rose by 0.29 lakh and 0.27 lakh respectively.
Overall employment in
export oriented units increased by 3.05 lakh whereas
in non-exporting units, it rose by 1.30 lakh.
Sensex drops 458 points
The
Bombay Stock Exchange recently fell by a total of 458 points. The reasons for
the underperformance of the Indian Equity market have been said to be the series
of scams that were unearthed from mid November. Just last month, CBI officials
discovered a bribe for loan scandal that involved several officials from
financial firms and a few state run banks. The 10.8% rise in industrial growth
since last month could not help and several indices ended with huge losses.
Major loses were mainly suffered by PSUs, realty, consumer durables and
healthcare.
Satyam Trial Case
The
examination of the first witness in the infamous multi crore Satyam Computer
accounting scam would begin from the first of November Additional Chief
Metropolitan Magistrate Court. CBI officials submitted a list of six witnesses
to the courts who were officials of a number of different banks. All ten accused
including company founder B Ramalinga Raju were present in court during the
hearing of the case. The DIG of police who operates under the department of CBI
said that the agency requested permission to set up LCD projectors and screens
in the court so that both parties could observe and take notes on all the
documents that would be brought up in court. Since cases in the Supreme Court
need to be resolved at the earliest, CBI officials submitted close to a thousand
documents to the court to speed up the prosecution. The bail of the owner of
company and the other 5 individuals associated has been rejected.
Baba Ramdev Temple under threat
An
anonymous letter was received at the Ramdev Baba temple in Jaisalmer that
contained threats to blow up the temple on November 9th. District Collector G S
Kushwaha received this letter by normal post. Following this letter security
around the temple and the surrounding complex was tightened by posting
additional number of policeman around the temple complex. Around 5 million
devotees are said to visit the temple every year.
Ashok Chavan�s fate
Disgraced
Chief Minister of Maharashtra Ashok Chauhan�s would be decided after the Diwali
holiday season, i.e. after November 8th said the Congress party. Recently Chief
Minister Ashok Chauhan�s name had come in the Adarsh Housing Society scam.
Following this allegation, Mr. Ashok Chauhan immediately offered to resign from
his post. No mention of either the Adarsh Housing Society scam or the
commonwealth Games fiasco was made by the Congress in its AICC session. Also
present at the meeting were Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, Common Wealth
Games Organizing Committee Chaiperson Suresh Kalmadi, Heavy Industries Minister
and former Maharashtra chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Maharashtra PCC
President Manikrao Thakre.
Adjournment of Ajmer Dargah blast case
The
hearing of the Ajmer Gargah blast case was recently adjourned to November 8 by a
sessions court due to leave taken by the presiding judge. Over an 800 page
charge sheet was produced before the court of the Additional Chief Judge
Magistrate on the 22nd of October by the Rajasthan ATS. The five accused in the
case have alleged links with the radical Hindu group Abhinav Bharat. Only one
accused was brought to the court while the other two are being questioned about
the Hyderabad Mecca blast case. The accused have been booked under various
sections of the Indian Penal Code like conspiracy to murder, attempt to murder
and murder. Over one hundred and thirty witnesses have been cited by the
prosecution of the case.
Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee�s concern
The
finance minister of the country Pranab Mukherjee recently raised his fears over
the rising of inflation in the country. Minister Mukherjee said that the Reserve
Bank of India would take steps at its next monetary policy review to check
rising prices because of increased inflation. He further added that rising food
prices were solely the reason for this sudden inflation. Inflation for the month
of September was estimated to be close to 8.6% much above the acceptable rate of
5%. As said by Finance Minister Mukherjee, food prices had the highest amount of
inflation which in Mid October was estimated to be over 13%. Recently, Minister
Pranab Mukherjee was in talks with the Reserve Bank of India Governor over the
the possible rate hike action by the Central Bank. The global financial crisis,
which was worsened by the total collapse of financial firm Lehman Brothers, is
being said to be the reason behind the RBI�s recent reversal of its soft
monetary policy that it started back in September 2008. Adding to these has been
the sudden drop in industrial growth from 15.2% to 5.6%. To combat the
aforementioned rise in inflation, the Reserve Bank of India has hiked its key
short term lending and borrowing times several times this year.
Protest during Obama visit by Bhopal Gas tragedy victims
Victims
of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy are said to be planning to stage a protest at Jantar
Mantar on the 8th of November, during the time of US President Barrack Obama�s
visit to the capital. Several tonnes of the poisonous gas methyl iso-cyanide,
leaked from the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal in 1984, killing over 3000 people
the same night and causing the deaths of over 25000 people over the subsequent
years. Five different voluntary organizations working for the gas tragedy
victims recently held a press conference where they stated that they would be
requesting to President Obama to use his Presidential powers to bring the Union
Carbide Corporation to Indian Courts and be answerable to them. The verdict of
this case many years back had found seven top officials of this corporation to
be guilty but as these guilty persons were bailed out within minutes of the
verdict, many people till date question the justice imparted in the case. The
voluntary organizations further added that hundreds of people regularly fall
sick and die every month due to the long term poisonous effects of the leaked
gas on the soil and water. They further plan to ask President Obama for his help
as the US government has been largely unhelpful these last few years. The sit in
protest organized by the voluntary organizations is said to be comprised of over
5000 gas tragedy victims.
WikiLeaks: India to wait and watch
A day after whistle
blower WikiLeaks made public secret
U.S. diplomatic communications, it is a �very sensitive� issue and the govt
would like to �wait and work this out�. Minister of State for External Affairs
Preneet Kaur added.
-
Over three million cables were released
by the WikiLeaks documenting correspondence
between various U.S. embassies and consulates.
-
The U.S. had warned India and other key governments across the
world about the potentially embarrassing release of classified documents by
WikiLeaks which may harm American interests and create tension in its ties
with its �friends�.
Wikileaks�
latest release includes 3,038 cables from New Delhi.
2G
spectrum: Govt orders probe into Radia tape leaks
Ratan Tata on 29th
November, 2010, asked the Supreme Court to direct the
Union of India to stop further leaks of tapes containing his conversations with
corporate lobbyist Niira Radia, even as the government ordered a probe into the
leaked conversations.
The probe, which was
reported by ET on 29th November, 2010, tasks the Intelligence Bureau and Central Board
of Direct Taxes (CBDT)
with the responsibility of unearthing those responsible
for leaking tapes featuring Radia�s conversations with
her clients who include industrialists, politicians
and journalists.
In his writ petition, which
runs into less than 20 pages, Tata has argued that the tape leaks have affected
his reputation, and thereby the image of the eponymous soft-to-software group
headed by him. Tata Group, which has sales of $67.4 billion according to its
website, is India�s biggest with as many as 28 listed companies.
The selective leaks
containing purely private conversations between him and Radia hinted at foul
play�that the tapes were either �stolen� or given away unauthorized by an
official with an ulterior motive�the petitioner alleged.
New
role for Preity Zinta
Himachal Pradesh-born actor
Preity Zinta is all set to be the State tourism�s brand ambassador. She has been
in touch with the State tourism officers for sometime, and is understood to have
expressed willingness to act as the brand ambassador.
Officials
met the actor in Mumbai on Saturday to finalise the
modalities, sources said. A formal declaration to the
effect will be made after discussing various issues.
Oberoi bagged �2010 Corporate
Hotelier of the World� award
Oberoi Group Chairman P R
S Oberoi was awarded the �2010 Corporate Hotelier of
the World� award by HOTELS magazine in New York.
In its
29th year, the annual �Hotelier of the World� award winner is selected on the
basis of votes cast by readers of the magazine in more than 150 countries.
The cover
story of the November edition of HOTELS magazine refers to Oberoi as "the
founder father of modern luxury hospitality in India"
and credits him with growing the company "into one of the world�s most
prestigious luxury hotel groups".
Recently,
The Oberoi Vanyavilas hotel at Ranthambhore was ranked the
best hotel in the world in Travel + Leisure magazine�s 2010 World�s Best
Awards readers� poll.
Nitish
Kumar sworn in as Bihar CM for second consecutive term
Janata Dal-United (JD-U)
leader Nitish Kumar was sworn in as the Chief minister for a second consecutive
term,the oath of office administered by Governor Devanand Konwar in the
presence of thousands of people at the
historic Gandhi Maidan in Patna.
Kumar,
the trained engineer for whom the development mantra
spun magic, has his task cut out to further change the face of Bihar riding on a
massive mandate that has raised expectations.
Sibal
launches MNP from Haryana
India
on 25th November, 2010 ushered in Mobile Number Portability that will
allow cellphone users to switch operators without
changing numbers, with Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal launching
the service in Haryana.
The rest of India would get
to use MNP from January 20, next year.
The
consumer friendly service was mooted over two years ago and was planned
to be implemented by end of 2009.
However, implementation had
to be deferred several times owing to reasons ranging from lack of preparedness
of operators to delay in appointment of an agency to oversee MNP execution.
The customers will have to
pay a maximum of Rs.19 to the new operator for porting his number. However the
minimum stay period for a customer to retain the new operator will be three
months.
Over
1.97 cr households given jobs under NREGA: Govt
More than 1.79 crore
households across the country have been provided employment under the Mahatma
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)
this year, the Government said.
As of 30th June, a total of
179,43,189 families in the country have been provided
employment under MGNREGS scheme.
According to the sate-wise
data presented by the Minister, Andhra Pradesh tops the list of states
where most number of families were given employment this year, followed by
Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
While a total of 48,04,559
households in Andhra Pradesh have benefited from the
scheme, 25,01,792 families in Rajasthan, 22,055,89 in West Bengal
and 19,959,50 families in Uttar Pradesh were given job opportunities this year.
Indira
Gandhi 9th most powerful woman of the century
Indira Gandhi, world�s longest serving
woman Prime Minister, has been ranked by the Time magazine as the 9th most
powerful woman of the past century, a list that also includes Mother Teresa.
The list of �25 Most
Powerful Women of the Past Century� is
topped by Jane Addams, an outspoken advocate for women�s suffrage, who was the
first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton is ranked sixth on the
list.
Besides Gandhi and
Mother Teresa, who is ranked 22nd, no other woman from the
sub-continent figures in the Time magazine list released on 20th November 2010.
When Gandhi was elected
Prime Minister in 1966, a TIME cover line had read, �Troubled India in a Woman�s
Hands�.
She served three
consecutive terms from 1966 to 1977 and was in the middle of her fourth term
from 1980 when she was assassinated in 1984.
By the time she was
assassinated, Gandhi was the world�s longest-serving woman Prime Minister, a
distinction she holds to this day, the magazine said.
The list of 25 also
includes Marie Curie, Madonna, Golda Meir, Angela Merkel, Eleanor Roosevelt,
Margaret Thatcher, Oprah Winfrey and Virginia Woolf.
Centre
to recruit 2100 agriculture graduates for extension services
Recognising that
agriculture
extension services is the weakest link in transferring technology and techniques
to farmers,
the Centre has decided to recruit, in the next one year, more than 2100 farm
graduates dedicated to extension services across the country.
The
workers, whose job primarily would be to integrate research and extension
activities for farmers in every district, would be
attached to the Agricultural Technology Management Agency (ATMA), a society of
stakeholders in each district working towards sustainable agricultural
development.
A major
activity of the extension workers would be to spread awareness and facilitate
soil testing facility to check the nutrient deficiency in a farmer�s field.
Every farmer would be provided a soil-health card much in the same manner as a
ration card. The farmer will use the soil-health card as a guide for nutrient
application.
Mukesh
Ambani receives Global Vision Award
Billionaire businessman and
Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani has received the Global
Vision Award instituted by the Asia Society
for helping to promote understanding between Asians and Americans.
Speaking at the award
function in New York on Tuesday, Ambani said that India has come a long way from
being a third world county in the 1980s to become the
world�s third most important economy.
�In the 1980s, India was
viewed as a third world country and today India is the third most important
economy in the world. That has been truly a fantastic journey,� Ambani, who is
one of the richest people in the world, said.
India has the foundation for growth, Ambani said, adding, �I think in the
21st century we are going to be fastest growing
economy. That is the story of India, which I am very
fortunate to be part of�.
General Electric�s chairman
and chief executive officer Jeffrey Immelt r
Black
money trail: India drained of Rs 20 Lakh crore
Black money �the popular moniker given
to the billions seeded by dirty deals and whisked away abroad from the taxman�s
prying eyes � has received much attention in recent years.
A new study by an
international watchdog on the illicit flight of money from the country, perhaps
the first ever attempt at shedding light on a subject steeped in secrecy,
concludes that India has been drained of $462 billion
(Rs 20,556,848,000,000 or over Rs 20 lakh crore) between 1948 and 2008.
The amount is nearly 40% of
India�s gross domestic product, and nearly 12 times the size of the estimated
loss to the government because of the 2G spectrum scam .
The study has been authored
by Dev Kar, a lead economist with the US-based
Global Financial Integrity, a
non-profit research body that has long crusaded against illegal capital flight.
Mr Kar, a former senior
economist with the International Monetary Fund, says
illicit financial flows out of India have grown at 11.5% a year, debunking a
popular notion that economic reforms that began nearly two decades ago had
tempered the creation and stashing away of black money overseas.
If capital outflows were a
child of the independence era, the problem came of age in the years after the
reforms kicked in. Nearly 50% of the total illegal outflows occurred since 1991.
Around a third of the money exited the country between 2000 and 2008.
Sibal
given charge of Telecom Ministry
HRD Minister Kapil Sibal
was given the additional charge of the Telecom Ministry by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh in a development that takes the portfolio away from
DMK at least for the time
being.
Sibal
will hold the charge of the Ministry held by A Raja, who resigned facing
allegations of scam in 2G spectrum allocation.
The
arrangement is seen to be temporary in view of the ongoing Parliament session
when issues related to the ministry are to be handled at the
senior level, particularly at a time when the ministry is facing
allegations of corruption of huge magnitude.
Sibal, a
renowned lawyer-turned-politician, was a week earlier given the additional
charge of Ministries of Science and Technology and
Earth Sciences, which fell vacant after incumbent
Prithviraj Chavan was made Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
In
another decision, V Narayansamy, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs,
was given additional charge of Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT), which
also fell vacant after Chavan�s departure.
Highlights of Economic Outlook 2010-11
Economy to grow at
8.5 per cent in 2010-11 and 9.0 % in 2011-12
o
Agriculture grew at 0.2% in 2009-10. Projected to grow at 4.5% in 2010-11
and 4.0% in 2011-12.
o Industry grew at 9.3% in
2009-10. Projected to grow at 9.7% in 2010-11 and 10.3 % in 2011-12.
o Services grew at 8.5% in
2009-10. Projected to grow at 8.9% in 2010-11 and 9.8% in 2011-12.
� Slow recovery in
global economic and financial situation
� Rising domestic Savings
and Investment chief engines of growth
o Investment rate is
expected to be 37% in 2010-11 and 38.4% in 2011-12.
o Domestic
savings rate is expected to be over 34% in 2010-11 and
close to 36% in 2011-12.
� Current Account
deficit estimated at 2.7% of
GDP in 2010-11 and 2.9% of GDP in 2011-12
o Merchandise trade deficit
projected to be $ 137.8 billion or 9% of the GDP in 2010-11 and $160 billion or
9.3% of GDP in 2011-12.
o Invisibles trade surplus
projected to be $ 96 billion or 6.3% of the GDP in 2010-11 and $109.7 billion or
6.4% in 2011-12.
� Capital Flows can
be readily absorbed by financing needs of the high growth of the Indian Economy.
o Against the level of $53.6 billion in 2009-10, the capital inflows projected
to be $ 73 billion for 2010-11 and $91 billion for 2011-12.
o Accretion to reserves was
$13.4 billion in 2009-10. Projected to be $30.9 billion in 2010-11 and $39.8
billion in 2011-12.
�
Inflation rate projected at 6.5 % by March 2011 due to
expected normal monsoon combined with the base effect.
o The provisional headline inflation was above 10% in June 2010.
o Controlling high
inflation rate essential for sustainable growth in medium term.
o Available food stocks
must be released to have a dampening effect on prices.
Monetary Policy to
complete the process of exit and operate with bias toward tightening.
o Credit off take picked
up. Strong growth rate in the 1st quarter of 2010-11.
o Fund flow from
capital market to commercial sector quite strong. Bond
issuance growth relatively higher than issuance of equity.
o Liquidity conditions are
taut enough for monetary policy signals to be
appropriately transmitted to the financial sector. A bias toward tightening is
necessary.
o
Exchange rate variations will remain within acceptable range.
� Exit from the
expansionary fiscal policy not only feasible but also necessary
o High buoyancy in direct
and indirect tax collections. Telecom auctions and decontrol of the
petroleum products prices to provide additional cushion.
o Fiscal deficit outturn
may be lower than the budgeted consolidated fiscal deficit of 8.4% of GDP for
2010-11.
o
Revenue Deficit as a ratio of GDP expected to decline from 6.3% in
2009-10 to 4.6% in 2010-11.
o Operationalization of
Goods and Services Tax (GST) should be
a priority.
o Budgeted level of Fiscal
Deficit and Revenue Deficit still beyond comfort zone.
o Need to rationalize the
food and fertilizer subsidies.
� To sustain a
growth rate of 9.0 per cent, focus is required on:
o Containing inflation
o Improving farm
productivity
o Closing the large
physical infrastructure deficit, especially in the power sector
India
orders may create 7 lakh jobs in US in 10 years
Industry body CII on 7th
November, 2010 said sourcing of infrastructure equipment, nuclear
hardware and military aircraft from the US by India could create over seven lakh
jobs in America in the next ten years.
A CII survey of member
firms with operations in the US clearly shows that Indian business is now
engaged across a wide spectrum of sectors in America, and not just IT and ITeS.
The Report, �India � A
Growth Partner in the Indian Economy�, estimates that,
�India sourcing of US military and nuclear hardware and
civilian aircraft could create over 700,000 jobs in the US over the next
ten years.
Sonia
among 10 most powerful in world: Forbes
Congress president Sonia
Gandhi has been ranked ninth in the list of world�s most powerful people by the
Forbes magazine, which put Chinese President Hu Jintao on the top. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh occupied the 18th place.
�Despite Italian birth,
foreign religion (Roman Catholic) and political reluctance, Gandhi wields
unequalled influence over one billion Indians,� Forbes said.
It said she was �recently
elected to a record fourth term as head of India�s ruling Congress party,
cementing (the) status as true heiress to the
Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty�.
The other Indians who made
it to the list released Wednesday are Manmohan Singh (18th), telecom mogul Sunil
Mittal (44) and industrialist Ratan Tata (61).
Describing him as �brainy
Sikh economist�, Forbes said that Manmohan Singh was widely praised �as India�s
bet prime minister� since Jawaharlal Nehru, the country�s first prime minister.
�But Gandhi remains the
real power behind the nuclear-tipped throne,� it said.
Tibetan
spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who has lived in India in self-imposed exile
since fleeing his homeland in 1959, occupied the 39th place. TheTibetan
government-in-exile is based in Dharamsala, India.
China�s Hu was named the world�s most powerful person, ahead of even US
President Barack Obama, who topped last year�s rankings. Obama is now just
behind Hu.
The top 10 also includes
Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz al Saud (3), Russian Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin (4), Pope Benedict XVI (5), German
Chancellor Angela Merkel (6), British Prime Minister David Cameron (7), US
Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke (8) and
Microsoft founder Bill Gates (10).
Tendulkar is the Bradman of today: British media
�Let us just say that
Tendulkar is the Bradman of today � less hypnotic but scarcely less phenomenal�,
according to cricket writer John Woodcock , who reckons the Indian icon has
every chance of making his 50th Test century this week.
In his column for �The
Times�, Woodcock paid rich tributes to Tendulkar for his �insatiable� hunger to
score runs and said comparing him to Bradman did not diminish the legendary
Australian and his achievements.
There is every chance that
Tendulkar will make his 50th Test hundred this week, against New Zealand, in
itself an amazing achievement. But if Bradman had played the same number of Test
innings (Tendulkar has played 280 to Bradman�s 80), he would have finished with
something like 100 hundred, given the rate at which he scored them.
Tendulkar, who just needs one more century to record
an amazing feat of 50 Test tons, has been in red-hot form from the beginning of
this year when India toured Bangladesh. His appetite for runs and centuries has
only increased with advancing years.
The 37-year-old champion
cricketer has accumulated a staggering 1270 runs from his last nine Tests (15
innings), embellished by six three-figure knocks that includes two double
hundreds, for a Bradmanesque average of 97.69, a feat that fetched him this
year�s ICC Cricketer of the Year honour.
Indian
students won Singapore edition of the Tata Campus Quiz
Two students from India
have won the Singapore edition of the Tata Crucible Campus Quiz and will
participate in the
international
final to be held in India early next year.
Abhishek
Kumar from Delhi and Nabil Rasheed from Chennai won the quiz contest which had
100 teams participating from different Singapore universities.
Abhishek
and Nabil, both pursuing business studies at the
Singapore Management University (SMU), won a prize of SGD 7000 (USD 541), a
trophy each, and they will be doing an internship at one of the Tata Group of
companies, Tata said in a statement.
Singaporean students Ivan Chang Weilong and Abbas Ali Mohamed Irshad, also from
SMU, won the second prize of SGD 3000 (USD 231).
The quiz
was conducted by India�s Giri Balasubramanium, popularly known as �Pick Brain�.
The quiz
covered a wide range of subjects from business houses to brands, business
history to people and products, business principles to the fundamentals of
business economics and creation of wealth to architects of industries.
Tata has
been hosting the Singapore quiz since 2007 in recognition of the city state�s
status as an international financial centre and an international education hub.