05.07.2007

• Do you feel that there is a need for encouraging our exporters in view of the strengthening rupee? As the rupee strengthens, the competitiveness of our Indian exports goes down. This is conventional wisdom. It is based on this that the government is acting and announcing a number of sops. Take a look at a counterpoint to this conventional wisdom. I noted it in Discover It blog. Follow this link.
• One sop that I came across in this regard was the ECGC nod for a 10% cut in insurance premium. Export Credit Guarantee Corporation has approved the proposal of slashing the insurance premium to be paid by the exporters by 10%.
• Do you see the Left’s face ‘red’ with angst?
• You should be. With reports surfacing about a lottery king’s contributions to the party!! The border between contributions and corruption is disappearing in thin air.
• The CPM’s mouthpiece in Kerala, the daily Desabhimani has reportedly accepted Rs. 2 crores from lottery king Santiago Martin. The Desabhimani management first admitted accepting the money as part of a bond issue and later retracted on the statement, saying that the money had been taken as advance against advertisements.
• There is no law in India on sexual harassment at work place
• I was under a mistaken impression that there is such a law. But a bill on the Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at the Workplace was framed in 2007. It is yet to be passed by the Parliament.
• In 1997, the Supreme Court gave a judgment, now called the Vishaka guidelines, which mandate that some rules be followed till a bill is passed in this regard.
• Hazardous waste disposal in India
• According to industry estimates, India generates about 5 mn tonnes of hazardous waste every year.
• The TSDFs (Treatment, storage and disposal facilities) operating in India have no more than a 2 mn tonne capacity.
• According to the hazardous waste management rules under the Environment Protection Act introduced in 1989, hazardous waste must be kept in storage after which it is to be treated at a TSDF facility. The extant guidelines say that the storage cannot be for more than 3 months. But in practice the storage is happening for a much longer period and also in the open spaces.
• The ‘impossible trinity’ and forex management
• Tighter monetary conditions can attract capital, putting pressure on the currency to rise, which become costly to control. This is known as ‘impossible trinity.’
• The trinity here is – fixed exchange rates, open capital accounts and discretion in monetary policy.
• In theory, fixing an exchange rate alongside an independent monetary policy can only work with capital controls. Not with open capital accounts.
• What is practiced by most of the Asian countries is termed as dealing with this ‘impossible trinity.’ They tightly manage their currencies while trying to run an independent monetary policy. This creates conflict.
• Countries with highest number of international tourists in 2005:
• France: 76 mn
• Spain: 55.6 mn
• USA: 49.4 mn
• China 46.8 mn
• Italy 36.5 mn
• Where does India stand? In 2006, it had 7.25 mn tourists.
• AP introduces reservations for Muslims again
• Based on the recommendation of Justice Dalva Subramanyam committee, it has done this. It has included 15 groups of Muslims in the list of castes eligible for reservation as BCs. This was done with a view to ensure that the overall quota of reservations does not cross the 50% mark.
• Tibet problem
• If you want to get a basic understanding of the Tibet problem, you shouldn’t miss today’s article in The Hindu written by N. Ram. Read it here.
• Homeland of the cat
• Household cats can be traced back to an area stretching from the eastern Mediterranean to the Gulf.
• The earliest archaeological evidence of domesticating the cat dates to 9,500 years ago.
• Wheelchair steered by tongue
• Two researchers of Indian origin working separately in Britain and US have come out with this.
• They are Ravi Vaidyanathan at the University of Southampton and Lalit Gupta of Southern Illinois University Carbondale.