31.10.2006

Five wheeler to take on Tata’s Rs. 100,000 car
Costing as low as Rs. 60,000 it was developed by Harimohan Saini and his brother Manoj Saini from Rajasthan. It is a gearless vehicle and gives about 50 km per litre.

Indian youth
About 450 mln in India are estimated to be below 20 years of age.

Of this 105 mln individuals are in the age group of 15-19 years.

About 112 mln are in the age group 10-14 years.

Sale of Indian tractors to America
India manufactures tractors in the 45 hp range, while most other advanced countries have migrated to 75 hp and above range.

Hobby farming, lifestyle farming or weekend farming has caught up with people in America.

Instead of driving the heavy 75 hp machines, people find it easy to drive the 45 hp variety on their farm lands.

As a result there is demand for Indian made tractors, which are seeing a growth in exports of over 40% in the last couple of years.

Vizhinjam Port
The project essentially involves the setting up of a deep sea transshipment terminal on the international shipping route.

Two Chinese entities – Kaidi Electric Power Company and China Harbour Engineering Company – have competed in the bidding process.

But the National Security Advisor Mr. N.K. Narayanan has taken a strong objection to the participation of the Chinese companies on security grounds.

Muslims in India
Justice Sachar Committee was set up to figure out the educational, social and economic status of Muslims in India. It is yet to submit its report.

Share of Muslims in total population is about 15.4%, while their representation in government is only about 6.45.

Beauty contest method of deciding on spectrum allocation
The ‘beauty contest’ here refers to the submission of the bidders’ respective business plans and the government identifying which of the business plans are best suited for the country.

Kyoto protocol and world pollution
The world emissions rose to 17.9 bn tonnes in 2004 from 17.8 bn tonnes in 2003.

Damaging effects of increased emissions include: floods, erosion, heat waves and higher sea levels.

35 countries have joined the Kyoto Protocol. They agreed to cut their emission levels by 5% below the 1990 levels by 2008-12.

US pulled out of the protocol by saying that it would damage its economy and that it wrongly excluded the developing nations from it.

US is the world’s largest polluter.