Indian Current Affairs: 24.08.2007

With agitations picking up momentum against organized retail stores, the UP government said a big NO to stand alone retail stores coming up in the state. However, it said there is no bar for retail stores operating out of big malls.
UP is the second state to down shutters on organized retail, after Kerala.

This is based on IP telephony. Let’s take a look at the details.
MTNL is the first telco in the country to offer internet telephony where subscribers can enjoy the IP telephony even without possessing a PC.
How this is made possible runs like this: Subscribe to the broadband connection (for which rentals start as low as Rs. 199 per month). Then buy an analog telephone adaptor (ATA) from MTNL for Rs. 1500/-. The adaptor converts the fixed line phone signal into an IP call.
Those who have their own PCs can enjoy even a lesser tariff of 10 paise per minute. However, a call made from a PC to a landline or mobile abroad would cost a little over Rs. 1 per minute due to termination charges.

We have all studied in our history lessons that Shah Jahan built the Taj for his beloved wife Mumtaz Begum. Something more about this.
She seems to have died delivering their 14^th child in Burhanpur in Maharashtra. The queen’s body was buried there itself but was believed to have been recovered for transportation to Agra where it was reburied in a grave in the Taj Mahal complex for 12 years to be again shifted to her final resting place in the basement of the monument.

The IPI (Iran-Pakistan-India) pipeline is already facing uncertainties due to Iran’s intransigence on renegotiating an already concluded contract.
Now comes one more shock from Iran. IOC’s proposed joint venture with Iranian oil firm Petropars is heading for trouble. This project was for developing an LNG project in Iran through a joint venture. It appears most likely that it will be terminated as the validity of the MoU ends on October 31 and the Iranian side seems to be not moving an inch on the reminders sent by the IOC for taking the project forward.

This issue came to the fore when LIC and GIC nominee directors on the board of L&T received 20,000 shares at Rs. 35/- a share. This is steep discount to the ruling market price of the scrip. It is currently at Rs. 2,396/- per share. The nominee directors refused to transfer the shares to their respective companies. The two companies then approached the Mumbai High Court which granted a stay restraining the nominee directors from selling the shares.
Now, SEBI has approved changes to the rules governing grant of Esops, which will allow nominee directors to accept allotment of shares as a form of compensation. The norms envisage that allotment of shares to nominee directors would be contingent upon a tri-partite agreement being signed between the entity which nominates the director, the nominee director and the company in whose board the director serves.

About 14,000. There are 67 DRMs (Divisional Railway Managers) and 24 General Managers.

These instruments have been mentioned in the context of the unfolding sub-prime crisis.
In an ARM – Adjustable Rate Mortgage – for the initial years, the interest rate is fixed at a low level and thereafter linked to a benchmark, often with a premium. For example, the rate can be 2% for the first two years. Then from the 3 year, it becomes a rate which is equivalent to Libor + 300 basis points; which may translate to 8% if Libor is at 5%.
Alt-A loans are loans made on high value or high loan-to-value borrowers with otherwise good credit quality, or where documentation is non-standard or where properties are situated overseas.

The Jack Hills diamonds discovered in Australia about 2 years are considered so. They are found encased in Zircon, and are more than 4 bn years old.

Some important commissions that have gone into the education question in India and submitted their reports are:

Indian Current Affairs