30.09.2007

• Is the Indian consumer happy with the services he is getting?
• Yes, says a study commissioned by ET. It is a good read. Study it here. But be warned, not all of you may like it. Those with management backgrounds will find it quite useful.
• High fliers likely to get own airport
• Private jet owners in India will soon be able to boast of their own airport and runways. Taking into consideration the recent increase in the number of private jet owners in the country, the government has decided to promote this new segment. This segment is what is called ‘general aviation.’
• WiTricity
• It is wireless electricity. We noted about it earlier also. Take a look here.
• The power source is kept at a distance of 2 meters from the bulb in this experiment.
• The word ‘witricity’ was coined back in 2005.
• Witricity exploits the coupling between electromagnetic resonant objects to transfer energy wirelessly between them.
• India’s Opium trade
• This is about the legal export trade. It is in red and the annual loss is kept at Rs. 20 crores. But why does India trade in Opium in the first place? Opium is the source for making alkaloids such as codeine phosphate, codeine sulphate, narcotine and morphine sulphate, which are needed for various life saving drugs.
• The finance ministry issues licenses to farmers to cultivate opium and also reserves the right to de-license if they can’t produce a pre-determined amount. At present there are about 65,000 opium cultivators in the country.
• The government exports about 500 tonnes of opium every year to US, Japan and UK. MP and Rajasthan are the major producers of opium in the country. The losses incurred by the Centre on account of this trade are attributed to the huge purchase tax imposed by the two states. The tax rate is 46% and 50% respectively.
• When did oxygen appear on Earth?
• Recent research suggests that Oxygen would have appeared on Earth for the first time about 50 to 100 mn years before the Great Oxidation Event. The latter is believed to have occurred about 2.3 to 2.4 bn years ago. Today oxygen makes up about 21% of the atmosphere. Before the Great Oxidation Event occurred it was methane and ammonia which composed the atmosphere on the Earth.