14.05.2007

• A very good article on Civils Prelims attempt; coming at the right time:
• Today’s Education Plus in The Hindu carries this article. Read it once. It gives you very sane advice.
• One notable point is that current affairs relating the period after March 15 are not likely to be asked. So watch out and concentrate only from March to March. That should be good enough. Don’t cover a period before March 2006.
• Smart City project in Kerala signed off
• Dubai based Technology and Media Free Zone Authority (TECOM) and Kerala government signed the agreement for this project.
• This project which was discussed during the earlier government’s tenure ran into rough weather when Achunandan’s ministry came to power.
• It is coming up in about 100 hectares near Kochi.
• It is expected to woo IT majors to Kerala.
• Tulu language
• Remember having read about this language in History? Krishnadevaraya times?
• That language is going to be recognized as a third language for students in Karnataka. It will be offered from 6^th Standard.
• Tennis
• Rafael Nadal (Spain) won the Rome Masters tournament by beating Fernando Gonzalez (Chile).
• Azlan Shah Hockey tournament
• Australia won the title by beating Malaysia. This is the 5^th time that the Australians are winning the Cup.
• India beat Korea to stand in the 3^rd place.
• Spanish Grand Prix
• Felipe Massa (Ferrari team) won this Grand Prix.
• Dayanidhi Maran quits Cabinet over rift with the DMK supremo Mr. Karunanidhi.
• His brother’s daily Dinakaran carried out a poll which revealed that Karunanidhi’s younger son Stalin is the preferred successor for Karunanidhi.
• Look what’s Mayawati doing!!!
• She has championed the cause of reservations for poor people among the upper castes also along with weaker sections. This is nothing short of a revolutionary stand!!!
• She went on to say that she welcomed any constitutional amendment that may be brought by the Centre in this regard and her government would take measures to help the economically weaker sections of all castes.
• I am sure this is going to catapult her into a different plane which is higher than what is she operating from thus far.
• No political party had the guts to air such views in recent times. We should wait and see how the other parties react to this.
• Entry of private players into building agricultural marketing infrastructure
• Chandigarh will witness the first private terminal market.
• A terminal market is usually a central site (hub), often in a metropolitan area that serves as an assembly and trading place for agricultural commodities. These markets are linked to a number of collection centres (spokes) and provide state-of-the-art facilities for grading, transportation, storage, domestic marketing and export. Under the new proposal, the government has asked states to invite private participation in terminal markets to provide state-of-the-art linkage to farmers for selling their produce at a better price. This would be the first big initiative of the government to tap private money for the creation of modern agriculture infrastructure in rural areas.
• Credit card loan defaults in India on the rise
• Remember the sub-prime lending market in the US that we were talking about recently?
• The credit card market in India is now facing a rise in default rate. As many as 13% of accounts are having overdue payments, as against 7% a year ago.