06.07.2007

• There was a good question on food subsidy administration in the shout-box. I answered in today’s Discover It blog. Take a look at it here.
• The third richest Indian
• KP Singh.
• He is the chief of DLF, the real estate company that came out with an IPO recently and was traded on the bourses yesterday.
• He went past Bharti’s Mittal and Wipro’s Premzi to claim the third slot after the Ambani brothers.
• Proposals under consideration for the exporters, consequent on the strengthening of the rupee
• Increase the drawback and DEPB rates by 5% to neutralize local duties and state levies which are not currently being refunded.
• Converting exchange earner’s foreign currency accounts to an interest-bearing instrument; and
• Reducing interest rates on packing credits.
• The proposal for reducing insurance premium for exporters by 10% has already been implemented.
• Yawning
• Many people think that yawning occurs when the person is feeling drowsy.
• But recent research suggests that it happens to cool the brain.
• India’s fusion energy ambitions
• It has participated with a contribution of about Rs. 2,500 crores in the fusion energy experiment that is currently on. The project is called ITER – International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor and is coming up at Cadarache in southern France.
• With this India is becoming the seventh member of an elite group of nations like China, the EU, US, Japan, South Korea and Russia.
• Natural resources database
• India is set to have its first ever natural resource data centre. This is coming up at Kolkata to promote sustainable use of land, water and biomass. The Centre will prepare a database on country’s natural resources and use the data for carrying out research on resource management.
• Pusa Basmati variety of rice
• Pusa Basmati I variety was released way back in 1989. It was developed by the Directorate of Rice Research of the ICAR under the leadership of EA Siddiq.
• A new variety Pusa Basmati is released to fight bacterial leaf blight.
• What is a ‘falling knife’ in real estate markets?
• Increases in borrowing costs that will eat into the revenue from buying and renting property. At the same time, declining prices of offices and malls in prime locations.
• Imagine what would happen to your hand if you try to catch a falling knife? It would cut your hand; isn’t it? That is what this economic phenomenon is trying to describe. Well, calling it an economic phenomenon may be too much; it’s a way of describing a situation.
• Russia to host Winter Olympics in 2014