Indian Current Affairs: 16.03.2007

Gas Authority of India’s 5,800 km pipeline has a transmission capacity of 130 MMSCMD (Million Metric Standard Cubic Meters per Day). It is presently being used only to about 52 to 53% capacity due to supply constraints.
GAIL has entered into an agreement with RIL (Reliance Industries Limited) to make use of the availability of the excess capacity. This works for the mutual benefit of the two companies.

The government finally veered away from doubling the airport charges for peak periods.
Instead it has reduced the off-peak rates by about half.
The government directed the airlines that the congestion surcharge being levied by them would have to be withdrawn. Industry response for this measure is that DGCA should confine its role to overseeing safety of planes and airports, training of personnel and other such regulatory issues, rather than guiding about prices. This they feel is interference by the government in their commercial decisions.

The ATE (Appellate Tribunal for Electricity) has directed the Electricity Regulatory Commissions in the country to fix the base price on which the generators could add a maximum of up to 4% while selling electricity to a trader or intermediary, to prevent exploitation of consumers.
The PTC (Power Trading Corporation) has challenged this order of the ATE in the Supreme Court. Its argument is that the trading market for electricity in the country is at a nascent stage, where about 2% of the total generation of electricity (around 13.5 bn units out of around 670 bn units) is traded on prices determined by the market forces of demand and supply. Fixing trading margins would give a jolt to the emerging trading market.

At present there are only about 80 to 90 small industries service groups across the country. This shows that there is inadequate training available for the unemployed youth to set up their ventures.
The ministry will now increase the number of small industrial service groups such that at least 500 to 1000 youths are trained annually in all the 90 districts identified as key minority areas.

Very effective editorial comment on CPI(M)’s politics in the wake of Nandigram police firing which killed 14 people

The party has been sustaining its cadre network by dispensing patronage. This is the reason why the cadre finds it difficult to yield to popular pressure, and give up its forcible control over areas in the state. An all-pervasive political culture of coercive violence, which precludes any attempt to evolve consensus through dialogue, has been its inevitable result. The government’s failure to engage the Nandigram protestors in negotiations, and its decision to send a 5000 strong police force to deal with them as if they were occupier-enemies, are symptoms of this crisis of democratic politics. In fact, that is precisely why the question of development in West Bengal has come to be posed as an opposition – between agriculture and industry – and not in more inclusive terms of sustainable income growth and full employment.

Set up a company through IIFCL (India Infrastructure Finance Corporation Limited) being the sole contributor of funds, to invest in creation of infrastructure outside India, to supplement India’s infrastructure needs or help in sourcing raw material for domestic development.
Creation of an overseas credit insurance company to raise capital overseas and use its balance sheet strength to provide credit insurance to Indian companies raising funds abroad and thereby lower their borrowing costs.

RH Patil committee’s recommendations to be implemented in full. These recommendation include:

Consolidation of debt market regulation, removal of tax deduction at source, and uniformity in stamp duty on debt instruments.

Relaxation in rules relating to private placement to allow 50 qualified institutional investors to subscribe to a privately-held bond issue.
Bonds and Loans should be given a level playing field. The requirement of bonds to be marked-to-market should be done away with as it is not there for loans.

Allow insurance companies to invest in core sector bonds with lower than AA rating.
Bring about a uniform definition of infrastructure.

It called for rolling back some of the stringent norms of RBI on securitization.

Naxals killed 55 police people and salva judum activists in the early hours yesterday in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh.

Fernando Alonso the previous two time winning driver, has joined the McLaren team. In 2004 and 2006, he won while working with Renault.

Indian Current Affairs