21.04.2007

• Jet Airways finally takes over Air Sahara
• The merger talks initiated sometime in 2006, which have fallen through later on, were finally concluded and the merger took place finally.
• The ultimate price paid is Rs. 1900 crores.
• Ever heard of NIXI?
• It is National Internet Exchange of India.
• It was set up in 2003 by the Department of Information Technology to ensure that all domestic traffic be routed within the country.
• But this purpose has not been fully served as only 27 ISPs (Internet Service Providers) out of 135 operational ISPs have joined NIXI nodes at four places. This implies that a majority of domestic traffic is still not routed through NIXI, but is re-routed in the country from abroad.
• Maharaja Duleep Singh’s marble bust auctioned for a record sum
• A marble bust of the last king of Punjab was auctioned for ₤1.7 mn at Bonhams, the world’s oldest and largest auctioneer of the fine art and antiques in London.
• Duleep Singh was born to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the great warrior king of the Sikhs. At the age of 11 he was removed from his kingdom by British after the Anglo-Sikh wars and exiled to Britain. There he became a favourite of Queen Victoria for handsomeness, graceful and dignified manner.
• Sea levels and humanity
• Nearly 25% of the world’s population lives below 100 ft above sea level.
• Sea levels are rising about 1 to 2 mm each year.
• Drug price control
• Drug manufacturers are required to get the price of drugs approved by NPPA for brands that contain one or more of the 74 key ingredients classified as scheduled drugs.
• Many brands in the market, which contain price-controlled substances, do not sport government approved prices although they are supposed to do so.
• India tops global services growth
• According to a WTO report, though India tops the global services growth, the country’s import growth in commercial services has outpaced exports in 2006.
• Biggest steamship in the world
• “Liberty of the Seas”, a cruise ship of the Royal Caribbean is the world’s biggest steamship. It can embark up to 3,600 passengers and 1,400 crew members.
• World Bank and IMF chiefs
• There is an informal arrangement between the US and the EU wherein the US gets to nominate the World Bank chief and the EU nominates the IMF chief. Their nominations are virtually the appointments for these bodies.
• An excellent comment on our Election Commission
• Ever since the redoubtable TN Seshan transformed the Election Commission from a pliant poodle of the government of the day to an Alsatian guarding the sanctity of the democratic process, the Commission has gained acceptance as a non-partisan body.
• About Indo-US nuclear deal
• There is a good article today on this by Uday Bhaskar. His argument is that India’s composite national interests in relation to the July 2005 agreement cannot be reduced to a unifocal and hypothetical exigency about the right to carry out a nuclear test at a future date.
• It is a well reasoned article and is worth reading at least once. Do so here. It is by reading such articles that we can hope to get a fair view of any complicated issue. Reading just news articles will not necessarily give us all the insight that is required into articulating our views – especially during interviews.
• Sport
• Rogerer Federer has achieved a rare feat in Tennis history by notching up his 500^th win against David Ferrer in the Monte Carlo quarter-finals.