18.08.2007

• India moves to prevent airwave interference
• The Communications ministry has launched efforts to coordinate with other nations over satellites and terrestrial networks.
• This is significant because interference between different satellite networks can cause havoc with weather predictions and impact both broadcasting and telecommunications systems in the country.
• There is a body called the Radio Communication Bureau, which is part of the ITU – International Telecommunications Union. It plays a vital role in the management of the radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits. It keeps sending weekly circulars to all countries about spectrum allocations. Now, India is laying special emphasis on observing all the allocations through these circulars and is taking up with the ITU and also the respective countries which are having networks that interfere with its networks and communications systems.
• EMR waves from iPods can swing tempers
• Scientists say that EMR – electro magnetic radiation, can have deleterious effects on the health, due to excessive use of electronic devices like the iPods. Each type of human tissue has certain power to absorb frequency level and if that level exceeds, it does affect human health to a great extent. EMR aids in changing energy circulation and behaviour of blood cells in the human body.
• EMR typically includes – radio waves, microwaves, terahertz radiation, infrared radiation, visible light, ultraviolet radiation, X-rays and gamma rays.
• India may have a car that runs on compressed air by 2008
• Tatas are going to release their car which runs on compressed air as fuel. This is different from their pet project, the Rs. 1 lakh car.
• The cost of fuel refill will be about Rs. 90 and each refill is expected to deliver a distance of 150 to 200 km. They can deliver a maximum speed of up to 220 km per hour. These cars will be in the same price bank as the present Indica range i.e., about Rs. 3.5 lakh.
• They are expected to be totally pollution free.
• ECB curbs likely to hit lending to SMEs (Small and Medium Enterprises)
• This is expected to happen due to the possibility that bigger corporates will take longer time repay the loans taken by them from the domestic banks, in view of the curbs imposed on their ECB (External Commercial Borrowings) plans.
• Entities having investment in plant and machinery up to Rs. 10 crores are classified as SMEs by the public sector banks in accordance with the guidelines issued by the ministry of small scale industries.
• Nayak Committee guidelines prescribe that working capital needs of the SMEs have to be decided as 20% of the projected turnover based on the assumption of a three month operating cycle.
• Bio-dynamic coffee
• This is about adopting agricultural practices like:
• Planting seeds at a particular phase of the moon
• Identifying the pest cycle and pre-empting it by applying sprays made from naturally occurring matter like marigold.
• Paying equal wages for equal work – women and men are paid the same wages
• There are reportedly only two certified projects that produce bio-dynamic coffee in the world. One of them is in India at Poabs Organic group’s 350 acre Thuthampara Estate in Palakkad district of Kerala.
• R. Radhakrishna committee’s study on rural indebtedness
• It has identified two dimensions to this problem:
• An agricultural crisis because of low growth and declining productivity; and
• An agrarian crisis characterized by the rural population’s high dependence on farm income.
• Can you identify a couple of factors that contribute to the reinforcement of the caste system in India?
• By encouraging the formation of democratic participation along the lines of identity, caste is reinforced every time India goes to the polls.
• While Indian Constitution has outlawed untouchability and caste discrimination, it did not abolish caste itself.
• Expert-speak on the unfolding of the current world wide financial crisis
• Portraying the current problem arising out of the US sub-prime mortgage crisis, as a liquidity crisis is incorrect. There is a difference between crises of liquidity and crises of insolvency. Liquidity crises are those in which firms and individuals have a cashflow problem; interest rate cuts help them through the tough times. Insolvency crises are much more serious; slashing rates makes no difference when people are going bust. The LTCM collapse (during East Asian Crisis) was a liquidity crisis; but what is happening now is an insolvency crisis.
• Hundreds of thousands of households are insolvent, mortgage lenders are going belly-up, construction firms are going out of business, hedge funds that traded complex securities backed by sub-prime loans are going bankrupt.
• What could be the conclusion? This has the potential to be very serious indeed.