15.09.2007

• Quiz Contest Update: Friends, you have time only till Sunday (tomorrow i.e., 16^th September) evening to take part in the quiz contest. Take your chance. I will be announcing the winner on Monday morning. Follow the link on the right side bar for the details.
• Most popular Net activities in India
• Sending emails is the most popular activity undertaken by all.
• This is followed by searching for jobs, instant messaging, checking news, and music as the top five activities.
• The remaining slots in the top 10 activities are occupied by chatting, checking sports, e-greetings, online games and dating or friendship activities.
• On globalization
• Can you name a couple of books on globalization? Read anyone of them? Ever? If you don’t have the time to read them, I strongly suggest that you should at least read reviews on them.
• Take a look at one such book which is reviewed in today’s ET. It is about Nayan Chanda’s “Bound Together – How traders, preachers, adventurers and warriors shaped globalization”.
• Other notable people who wrote on globalization include: Thomas Friedman with his “The world is flat” and Joseph Stiglitz with his “Globalisation and Its Discontents”.
• Some snippets from the review on Nayan Chanda’s book:
• Steamship was introduced in 1780.
• India’s GDP was 25% of the world GDP in 1700 AD.
• The top 1% of American families hold more wealth than the bottom 90% combined.
• In China too, less than 0.5% of the households now own over 60% of the nation’s personal wealth.
• Can states borrow money as they feel? Or is there any limit to it?
• Under Article 293 of the Constitution there are some restrictions imposed on their borrowings.
• For the loans raised in India, the security that can be offered is the Consolidated Fund of the State concerned.
• The Central government may give loans to States or give guarantees to the loans raised by them. For this, the backing is the Consolidated Fund of India.
• States cannot borrow if there are pending loans, unless the consent of the Government of India is obtained.
• Now it is the turn of logistic parks from Railways
• Indian Railways is coming out with 20 such parks. They are based on the concept of ‘walk to work’ with office spaces, industrial clusters and hotel accommodation.
• They are likely to be located in the DMIC (Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor) and Railway’s eastern corridor (Delhi-Howrah).
• They will extend fiscal support for companys’ units, making them ideal to locate distribution centres due to fiscal incentives like VAT exemptions that are expected to be given.
• The unfolding events of the subprime crisis and some recommendations on handling them:
• The contraction of property and stock markets will undoubtedly dampen US household borrowing and demand, potentially triggering a downward spiral. If protection is sought through tariff and other trade-related measures, then the knock-on effects could have even more devastating consequences.
• Infusing liquidity by central bankers can only calm the financial markets for some time. But this will not by itself redress the fundamental problem behind the current turmoil. What is needed is a coordinated strategy to avoid recession and to return lasting stability to financial markets.
• The international financial architecture has overly emphasized strengthening governance in developing countries. It has totally ignored the systemic problems linked to unregulated private capital flows.
• Child deaths at record lows
• UNICEF said that child deaths have fallen to a record low of 9.7 mn per year for the first time since 1990 when 13.7 mn deaths were recorded.
• It credits this performance largely to campaigns to combat measles and malaria and promoting breast-feeding.
• Rahul Dravid resigns as captain of the Indian team
• He led India in 25 test matches and 79 ODIs. Of this India won 8 test matches and 42 ODIs.
• Dredging Corporation of India
• It got a new CMD in SS. Tripathi.
• Archaeological Survey of India
• Its Director General is A. Vaish
• An excellent editorial comment in The Hindu on the Ram Setu issue:
• That this overreaching statement and the outcry it sparked should ultimately prompt the government to re-examine the issue of the channel alignment is a reflection of the fragility of the secular, scientific ethos and of the highly charged times when communally oriented sections lie in wait to seize any issue that could appeal to religious sentiment.
• The overreaching statement referred to above is the one made in the affidavit filed by the Centre in the Supreme Court that literary texts “cannot be said to be the historical record to incontrovertibly prove the existence of characters or the occurrence of events” of the Ramayana.
• Japan’s lunar probe nearing launch
• After a four year delay, Japan’s space agency is preparing to launch SELENE (SELenological and Engineering Explorer) spacecraft. Hailed as the most ambitious project since the US Apollo programme, the probe will study the moon to understand its origins and aid future exploration.
• Take a look at what we noted on 25^th August on this in the context of Japan China rivalry in space exploration.
• Formula One racing world hit by spy scandal
• Formula One championship leaders McLaren have been found guilty of harnessing stolen technical secrets from Ferrari for the development of their MP4-22 car. But McLaren team boss Ron Dennis has rejected the notion that any aspect of Ferrari F2007 car design was incorporated into the design of McLaren’s MP4-22. After tyre maker Bridgestone became sole supplier for McLaren, the latter allegedly benefited from details of Ferrari’s brake-balancing mechanism and car set up.
• Ferrari contends that knowledge of their racing procedures – contained in a 780 page dossier – passed on to McLaren’s chief designer, must have filtered through to McLaren team.
• The World Motor Sport Council has imposed a fine of $100 mn on McLaren team. But the drivers – Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso escaped punishment, as they provided evidence in exchange for immunity. McLaren team has been thrown out of this year’s championships.