20.05.2007

• With the President of India’s term scheduled to end in July, 2007 it is time we take a deeper look at the method and manner in which the President is elected. Take a look at the noting given in today’s Discover It blog here.
• Social entrepreneurship
• A social entrepreneur is one that values both the profit and the social potential of business.
• SVC – Social Venture Competition is a global contest where management students are encouraged to submit business plans for self-sustainable and socially relevant projects. The SVC movement began in UCLA, Berkeley in 1999 and today it has the Indian Business School as a partner and many IIMs as affiliates.
• More curbs on forex inflows to reign in inflation
• Every year, the government fixes the maximum interest rate at which a company can raise credit overseas. The interest rate ceilings have been lowered from 200 basis points (2%) above LIBOR (London Interbank Offer Rate) to 150 basis points above LIBOR for loans with a 3 to 5 year maturity. For debt with a maturity exceeding 5 years, the ceiling has been lowered from 350 basis points above LIBOR to 250 basis points above LIBOR.
• The new ceilings will be applicable to companies raising debt both under the automatic route as well as those raising it under the approval route.
• AERA
• Airport Economic Regulatory Authority is about to be set up by the Government with a view to ensure a level playing field for airport developers in the country.
• Controversial modified rice gets US regulator’s approval
• This rice will have protein often found in breast milk. This is among the first food crops containing genes that produce human protein to gain approval.
• The rice strains produce lysozyme, lactoferrin and human serum albumin, commonly found in breast milk, in their seeds. These are proteins with anti-bacterial, viral and fungal properties.
• The rice can be used to make drinks that can combat diarrhea and also help reverse anaemia.
• Fe fortified rice
• It is rice enriched with iron. It is a blend of premixed iron-fortified rice grains with ordinary rice. Ordinary rice grains are coated with iron in a suitable solvent and binder. A meal containing just onegrain of iron fortified rice mixed with 100 grains of normal rice can make a lot of difference to malnourished children in India. Intake of approximately 4 to 6 cups of cooked iron fortified rice will meet the daily iron requirement of the body.
• Parkour, the game
• It is a quasi-acrobatic sport described by critics around the world as urban-steeplechase aerobics. The sport was developed in suburban Paris during the 1980’s amongst a group of friends who used the architectural landscape as their playground. The most prominent of this group is David Belle who is considered one of the founders of the game.
• A traceur’s objective (as the exponents of Parkour are called) is to travel uninhibited by obstacles great or small, such as walls, rooftops, trees etc. Actions normally involve a series of moves including jumping, vaulting, leaping and balancing.
• What do we mean by growth has to be inclusive?
• For economic growth to be inclusive, it must minimally ‘trickle down’ to the poor. One of the following conditions must be met for the poor to find purchasing power in their hands:
• New employment must be generated in the organized sector
• The indirect employment effects (in the informal sector) of growth in the organized sector are substantial and are able to make up for the failure of the latter to create adequate employment
• As the gains of growth accrue largely to the rich, the government should be able and willing to redistribute a fraction of them to the poor, through an appropriate fiscal policy
• World snooker meet to be held in Goa
• The 2007 IBSF World Under-21 snooker championship will be held in Goa from August 22 to 31.