13.05.2007

• How much does our CAG spend to audit our nation?
• Rs. 12,782 crores was spent by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India in 2005-06 to compile his reports.
• Most of the reports are routine observations about accounting lapses and hence not taken very seriously by the Centre and the States.
• What is required is exhaustive system audits which can either prevent or bring to light instances of fraud in time.
• UP Politics
• It will be quite some time till UP politics will fade away from nation’s radar.
• Dalits comprise 21% of the electorate in UP.
• This is the 4^th time that Mayawati is occupying the Chief Ministership of the State. The first time was in 1993 along with Samajwadi Party. Second time in 1997 in an alliance with BJP. The third time also was with BJP in 2002.
• There are a number of non-traditional ways of banking. Let’s take a look at some of the components of the ‘other’ banking system that have found a place, not in India, but in the US:
• Pawn lending
• Installment lending
• Rent to own
• Remittance
• Pay day lending
• In-house dealer auto financing
• Check cashing
• I think the names make the concept pretty clear.
• PE ratios and stock markets
• The average Price Earning (PE) multiple of top 10 Indian companies is at about 21 in contrast to 14 that is seen in the US. This implies that the investors have a higher level of growth expectations in comparison to the investors in US.
• Livestock census in India
• Take a look at the gist of the 17^th Livestock Census that was released in January 2005 here.
• According to this, the livestock population in India is about 485 million, out of which about 283 mn are bovines. The bovine population consists of 161 mn indigenous cattle, 25 mn crossbred cattle and 98 mn buffaloes.
• The first Indian woman to conquer Mt. Everest twice
• Mrs. Santosh Yadav from Haryana. She is the recipient of Rajiv Gandhi Excellence award and Padmashri.
• New cancer treatment
• Australian scientists have developed a new method of administering cancer medicines. The method uses nanotechnology and directly administers the medicine to the cancerous cells without flooding the body with toxic chemicals.
• As many of you may be aware, cancer drugs have two major side effects – hair loss and nausea, as the medicines act on the whole body.
• LED lighting to reduce GHG emissions
• LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes) usually emit red or green light. But a scientific breakthrough in 1990’s paved the way for the production of white light.
• LEDs use less power than standard incandescent bulbs. Hence they have become common in flashlights.
• California and Canada have decided to ban the sale of incandescent bulbs by 2012.
• The country that used paper currency the first time
• It is China. It was about 600 AD.
• Cricket
• Do you remember the TATA Steel byline -- “We also make steel” ?
• The campaign of the 1990’s by TATAs to emphasis that they did many other things other making steel was on a triumphant note.
• But, as I was reading about our win against Bangladesh in the ongoing tour, I wondered whether we should invent a byline like – “We also win… err at times.”
• Somehow I am not able to celebrate Gautam Gambhir’s century or our win against the Bangladesh team. Sorry for letting you cricket fans down. Should I celebrate this inconsistency? Or am I being very prejudiced? I don’t know.