23.12.2006

• David Bonderman
• He is the founding partner of TPG (Texas Pacific Group), a leading Private Investment firm.
• Just over 10% of India’s population owns a mobile phone. In US, about 70% own one.
• India’s sales tax collections on petroleum products
• States earned about Rs. 46,667 cr on petroleum products in 2005-06.
• The Centre is reportedly toying with the idea of making petroleum products “Declared Goods”. This means that states cannot levy more than 4% sales tax on them; thus reducing the price of petroleum products across the country.
• Alzheimer’s disease
• Is a progressive brain disorder that gradually destroys a person’s memory and ability to reason and make judgements.
• Justice KG Balakrishnan is the new Chief Justice of India
• He will be taking over office on January 14, 2007 from the outgoing CJI Justice Y.K. Sabharwal
• Bali bombing accused cleared
• Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Basheer accused of masterminding the Bali bombings in 2002 was cleared by Indonesia’s Supreme Court.
• The Bali bombings have killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.
• Director General of DRDO & Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister
• M. Natarajan
• World’s largest natural gas producers
• Russia and Iran. Iran has about 26 tcf of proven gas reserves.
• Viability gap funding limits
• The government provides up to 40% of project cost to enhance viability of the project on a case to case basis.
• Outward remittances by Indians
• Even though the government allows up to $25,000 per annum for an individual, the outward remittances in 2004-05 were only about $28.3 mln.
• About OTC drugs
• OTC = Over The Counter
• These are drugs which are included in Schedule K of Drugs and Cosmetics Act.
• Currently about 30 drugs are mentioned in this schedule.
• Currently these medicines can be sold by non-chemist shops only in villages with a population under 1,000. But it is proposed to allow them to sell everywhere.
• ILS
• Instrument Landing System
• This allows flights to land even in poor visibility conditions.
• The latest category III C ILS allows planes to land on auto-pilot. That is without any human intervention.
• The downside of this system is that it will function correctly only when there are no obstructions in the signal broadcast area.
• Should we travel to work?
• Questions Karuna Raman in an article in today’s ET. Let’s see how or why.
• Predictions of depletions of world resources have been proved wrong. The classic best seller “Limits to Growth” authored by Donella H. Meadows, Dennis L. Meadows, Jorgen Randers, and William W. Behrens III and commissioned by the Club of Rome, a global think tank predicted – that gold would run out by 1981, silver and mercury in 1985 and zinc in 1990. But it did not happen.
• A typical oil field yields only 20% of the reservoir, with close to 63% remaining buried in the earth even when the most advanced technologies are used.
• Fuel efficiencies in the automotive sector have increased by more than 60% in the past three decades.
• More than 80% of modern societies consume energy generated by oil, either in the form of electricity or as fuel for transport.
• As we have now tech infrastructure to bring job-related information to worker while allowing them to collaborate closely, the time is ripe to assess the need to travel to work.