29.03.2007

• Rupee touches a 7 year high against the dollar
• It was trading at 43.01 against the dollar.
• Exporters are seen postponing their receivables.
• Supreme Court on sex
• The Court observed that unilateral decision to refuse intercourse for considerable period without there being any physical incapacity or valid reason may amount to mental cruelty.
• The Court was ruling in a case of divorce filed by a husband Samar Ghosh against his wife Jaya Ghosh.
• “The Da Vinci Code”
• This blockbuster novel was authored by Dan Brown.
• It is in news because Michael Baignet and Richard Leigh, authors of “The Holy Blood” and “The Holy Grail” have claimed that Dan Brown stole their ideas for writing his novel. They lost the case in the British Court of Appeal.
• While we grapple with inflation pressures, what does Japan grapple with?
• Deflationary pressures.
• The second largest economy of the world was faced with a core inflation (which excludes food items) of zero in January.
• India’s port capacity
• Non major ports in India have about 200 mn tonnes cpacity, while major ports have about 456 mn tonnes capacity.
• We have 187 non major ports in all. Of them only 61 handle cargo and have about 97 berths.
• About currency coins
• The one rupee coins in our country are made of steel.
• Two rupee and five rupee coins are made of copper nickel combine.
• Kolkata witnessed a sudden shortage of 2 rupee coins of late. The reason was that the intrinsic value (the value of the metal they have in them) of these coins is found to be much more than Rs. 2. Hence people start stashing the coins and melt them to sell the metal to get more value.
• This prompted the RBI to shift the production of these coins also to steel. As a precautionary measure, the RBI is thinking of shifting the Rs. 5 coins also to steel.
• ICPE
• International Conference for Promotion of Enterprises, is a UN initiative.
• A three day workshop and networking forum for banks is being held at Lubljana, Slovenia to enable Indian banks to have access to international guarantees for SME lending.
• On CPI(M)
• I think I can be accused of being a CPI(M) baiter; can’t I? But let me state that I am fair to every party. I treat every political party with equidistance.
• So, in support of my statement, I would like to bring your attention to an excellent piece written today by TK Arun. We have noted for quite some time that only CPI(M) is being bashed. Read his defence of the party in full here.
• What impressed me is his argument that it is the states with dominant communist presence that have made greater progress in realizing a democratic polity than most others. He cites four indicators to buttress his argument:
• Human development, which is a good indicator of dispersal of political power
• Land reforms
• Strength of local governments – panchayats and municipalities
• Status of marginal sections – minorities, scheduled castes and tribes
• On all these counts, Kerala leads the rest of the country. And West Bengal and Tripura are in top performers’ company.
• Good argument. Can’t find fault with. Let’s be fair. CPI(M) is as fallible as any other party in the country. Post Nandigram, it should stop taking the moral high ground and work in a constructive role with the entire polity. If it wants to highlight state excesses, it should also highlight the excesses against the state and the general populace. It cannot and should not take a lopsided view of the ‘march of communism’. Ultimately it is democracy which has to triumph, the space which is allowing it to operate in the first place.
• A very good article on gas availability and projections for our country
• “Gasping for Gas” is a well researched article that appeared in today’s ET. Read it in full here.
• Don’t miss out the data that is presented in the article.
• Against our power sector’s requirement of 61 MMSCMD (Million Metric Standard Cubic Meters per Day) of gas, there is a supply of only about 40 MMSCMD.
• Uncertainties about gas availability have forced us to plan for a meager 2,114 MW gas based power generation capacity addition during the 11^th plan.
• The total demand for all sectors wanting gas supply is pegged at 179 MMSCMD in 2007-08.
• Plant Load Factor
• Sorry, if I had been using some shortcuts (abbreviations) in my writings. Those who read my notings everyday, would have known most of them by now. Today we look at PLF. It is arrived at by calculating the actual power produced against the maximum possible, by a power plant.
• Normally we take pride whenever a plant reaches the highest PLF. This is not possible in all types of plants.
• Corporate jets
• What is the total number of airplanes that are there in India with all the carriers? We noted on 3^rd February, 2007 that there are about 280 civilian aircraft in the country.
• Do you know that our corporate India owns in all about 150 planes privately!! The number is expected to touch 450 by 2010.
• A corporate jet may cost anywhere between Rs. 25 crores to Rs. 300 crores.
• Major manufacturers of corporate jets are:
• Bombardier – Canada
• Embraer – Brazil
• Gulfstream, Cessna, Raytheon – US
• Dassault Aviation (manufactures Falcons) – France
• World record in 200 m butterfly swimming
• Michael Phelps has clocked 1.52:09 in the ongoing World Aquatic Championships at Melbourne, Australia.
• Incidentally, Mark Spitz is the world record holder of having won 7 gold medals in single Olympics.