29.05.2007

• Today I clarified something about capital account convertibility and current account convertibility. Take a look at it in our Discover It blog here.
• And don’t forget to take today’s quiz. I am really encouraged by the kind of response I am getting for this daily dose of 5 questions.
• Remember Nar Bahadur Bhandari?
• He was Sikkim’s Chief Minister from 1979 to 1994.
• He is in adverse news because he is convicted in a case of disproportionate assets to known sources of income.
• He is sentenced to 1 month jail and a fine of Rs. 5000/-. It is a 13 year old case.
• 18^th Law Commission Chief
• Justice AR Lakshmanan, retired judge of the Supreme Court has taken over as Chairman of the Law Commission yesterday.
• One important change that is worth noting about the Law Commission is that hitherto, its reports were treated as confidential. From this Commission onwards, the Centre has done away with the confidentiality clause relating to its reports. This will facilitate the Commission to publish its reports on various topics.
• International Cricket Council
• Its President Percy Sonn died recently of health problems.
• Indian power sector issues
• Open access: it is industry jargon for a system in which multiple suppliers can supply power to the same consumer using the self-same network of power lines. This is enshrined in the Electricity Act, but efforts to make it a reality are being stymied by the Electricity Boards and/or their successor PSU utilities.
• A standing group of power ministers to look into the issues affecting the power sector, is set up. With over Rs. 6 lakh crores investment needed during the 11^th Plan, there is a lot that the PM is looking at from this group, in taking the reforms in the power sector forward.
• Iron ore
• The country produced about 160 mn tonnes of iron ore during 2006-07. Over 95 mt of this was exported mostly to spot markets in China. More than 80% of these exports constitute iron ore fines.
• The mining industry says that as the exports constitute mostly of fines, which are not used by the domestic industry, there should be no restriction on the export of iron ore.
• Vanilla farming
• At one time, Vanilla was more costly than Gold. I am talking of Vanilla, that is used in ice-creams. In 2003, a kg of vanilla was going for $500, due to vanilla crop devastation in Madagascar, the major producer of the crop. That is when Indian farmers took to vanilla farming in a big way. Now those heady prices are gone and the price is hovering around $20 to $30 a kg.
• Vanilla flavour can also be given artificially to ice-creams and other food stuffs. Though the synthetic vanillin made out of coal tar or lignin (a waste product of paper industry) sells for around Rs. 800 a kg, compared to Rs. 1350 a kg of natural vanilla, the quantity of artificial vanilla required to bring about the flavour is very high. The ratio is about 7:1. That is the flavour given by 1 kg natural vanilla can be given only by 7 kgs of artificial vanilla.
• Bharat Nirman
• Under this program an amount of Rs. 48,000 crores is allocated only for laying an all-weather road network in rural areas.
• How strong is the impact of oil price on our balance of payments?
• Every $1 increase in price of crude oil entails an outflow of $700 mn foreign exchange.
• Some interesting arguments made on Muslim backwardness
• The primitive nature of their belief system and values immanent in Islam, through its prescriptive emphasis on religious education has purportedly rendered Muslims indifferent to modern education.
• Their largely backward occupational status also has led to their antipathy towards modern education.