Indian Current Affairs: 07.03.2007

Organizations are turning to peer-to-peer learning methods to assimilate knowledge faster.
Companies like Dr. Reddy’s, Wipro and IBM are pioneering its adoption.
Employees share knowledge by either meeting in person in specially designated forums, meeting online or exchanging ideas through in-house technical journals.
Coordinating and exchanging ideas among thousands of employees at dispersed locations has become possible due to improved technology.

NASA keeps tracking asteroids which could possibly pose a threat to the Earth.
It appears that asteroids which are 3,300 ft in diameter, if they collide with Earth, could wipe out most life. It is theorized that an asteroid collision could have wiped out dinosaurs about 65 million years ago.

At present about 10% of the sugar mills’ output is being procured as levy sugar. Sugarcane fields within a 15 km radius of individual mills are reserved for supply of cane to the mills.
From April 1, 2007 the levy system in sugar may be put out of practice by the government.
Government is likely to do away with the minimum support price for cane to allow farmers to get a much better deal.
Growers may be allowed to do contract farming instead of being tied to just one mill through cane area reservation.
Release control mechanism which dictates how much sugar each mill can sell every month also is likely to be dismantled. But government may say how much sugar a mill can export.

It is a form of credit enhancement, which improves the credit-worthiness of the borrower and lowers the cost of borrowing.
Under this, someone will guarantee to pick up the tab in case the borrower defaults. Such guarantees are given by ‘monoline’ insurance companies.
Monoline means that the insurance company provides a specialized, single line of service, but provides comprehensively, covering all possible angles.

The budget imposed a 7% export duty on iron ore.
China accounts for 80% of India’s iron ore exports.
India is likely to produce over 16.5 crore (165 mn) tonnes of iron ore in 2006-07 with exports close to 10 crore (100 mn) tonnes.

Chairman is Shivajirao Giridhar Patil
It was formed over a year ago to study the impact of economic liberalization on the cooperative sector.
More than half the total farm lending comes from the cooperative sector. Of the rest, commercial banks contribute 15% while the balance is provided by private lenders who are not under any agency’s control.

What care should be taken to reduce the risk of failure in mergers and acquisitions?

In a very good article written today, Arun Maira gives four sound processes which can avert a failed ‘marriage’ in corporate sector.
The first is a co-created shared vision of success of the joint venture, whether it is jointly owned by the partners or a merger of the two.
The second requirement is clarity about the complimentary strengths of the partners that must be pulled in to the enterprise to achieve the vision.
The third requirement is a management team whose members are devoted to the venture’s success rather than representing the interests of the partners.
The fourth is a process that should be established along with the vision for periodically checking into the progress of integration on all fronts and not only on the operational and financial fronts.

It is accused of lacking transparency and stripping assets, often at the expense of jobs.
It is also charged with taking on too much debt to finance deals and enjoying lighter taxes as a result.

He visited India during 7^th Century AD and spent 16 years traveling across India in search of deeper knowledge of Buddhist doctrine.

Delimitation literally means the act or process of fixing limits or boundaries of territorial constituencies in a country or a province having a legislative body. The job of delimitation is assigned to a high power body. Such a body is known as Delimitation Commission or a Boundary Commission.
In India, such Delimitation Commissions have been constituted 4 times – in 1952 under the Delimitation Commission Act, 1952, in 1963 under Delimitation Commission Act, 1962, in 1973 under Delimitation Act, 1972 and in 2002 under Delimitation Act, 2002.
The Delimitation Commission in India is a high power body whose orders have the force of law and cannot be called in question before any court. These orders come into force on a date to be specified by the President of India in this behalf. The copies of its orders are laid before the House of the People and the State Legislative Assembly concerned, but no modifications are permissible therein by them.
For more info see their web site http://www.delimitation-india.com/index.asp.
It looks into aspects like natural barriers, geographical features, contiguity, better connectivity, communication, public convenience for undertaking the delimitation exercise.
The Commission is headed by Justice Kuldip Singh. The only other member of the Commission is the Chief Election Commission of India in his ex-officio capacity.

Mr. Balthazar Napoleon de Bourbon. His ancestry has been traced by an author to the first French King of Bourbon. He will take a DNA test in France or India to prove his links to the Bourbons.

Indian Current Affairs