Indian Current Affairs: 04.10.2007

It is the mechanism through which the RBI sucks out the excess liquidity in the money market that results out of its intervention in the foreign exchange market.
MSS bonds’ ceiling is at Rs. 1,50,000 crore a year. If the RBI needs to intervene more to control the rupee rate, it may need to approach the government to hike this ceiling.

Anand Mohan, a former MP from Bihar was sentenced to death by a court for inciting a mob to kill the District Magistrate of Gopalganj, G. Krishnaiah in December 1994. Krishnaiah died on the spot in the attack then.
The MP’s wife Lovely Anand and a few others also received varying sentences.
The officer was lynched by the mob which was accompanying the funeral procession of Chotan Shukla, the underworld don who a day earlier was gunned down by his rivals. The lynching incident occurred near Khabra (Muzzafarpur).

Ibrahim Gambari. He held a few rounds of talks with the military junta and the pro-democracy leader Ms. Aung San Suu Kyi in the wake of recent pro-democracy protests and the military junta’s ruthless suppression of the same. He is expected to submit his report to the UN Secretary General shortly.

At present there are two foreign players in the cash and carry segment operating in India. They are: Metro and Shoprite.
Now the anti-retail forces have targeted them. Their argument is that by definition, a wholesaler should sell in bulk to a retailer, who can then sell to consumers. But these cash and carry giants are selling to B2B customers like hotels, restaurants and canteens, who are end consumers. They should not be allowed to sell to such customers.
Don’t ask me what is “cash and carry”, refer to it here. Incidentally 100% FDI in retail is allowed only in cash and carry segment.

The number of millionaire households globally has grown by 14% in 2006. They now control a third of the estimated $100 trillion in wealth. They total 9.6 mn in number.

Read Alan Greenspan’s book? I think we all need to. See the way the stock market is experiencing turbulence. We need all the wisdom that the book can bring. Let’s learn a couple of phrases along the way.
Market Timing is a technique used by investors or money managers who believe they can predict when the market will change course.
Remorse buying is buying stocks with a feeling that they have lost out in the rally to date.
A shrewd investor never times the market nor does he indulge in remorse buying.

We have heard about this in recent times. Virgin Galactic, a Richard Branson promoted company is into this. And India’s Santosh George Kulangara from Kerala is one of the first to buy a ticket to space through this company. But what exactly is the space flight that this company offers?
It will be a business jet and will carry about 3 passengers apart from the pilot. It will climb to an altitude of 40,000 feet within 15 minutes and then does a vertical climb with the help of a rocket engine that will be ignited then. After reaching about 100 km from the earth, passengers will face weightlessness for about 4 minutes before the descent to earth begins. The entire journey is expected to take about an hour.

The renegade nuclear country has agreed to disable its main nuclear reactor and declare all its nuclear programmes. It will do this under US supervision.
The talks began in 2003 but failed to stop North Korea from nuclear testing in October 2006.

It will be awarded to Ben Green, Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University, England.
This annual prize was launched in 2005 for outstanding contributions to areas on mathematics influenced by the Indian genius Srinivasa Ramanujan. The age limit has been set at 32 years because Ramanujan achieved so much in his brief life of 32 years.
This is a $10,000 prize.

It is a cylinder cast 118 years ago in platinum and iridium.
Proposals are under consideration to redraft the standard as this has been losing mass. It has lost about 50 micrograms, when last checked.

The 45^th version is to start in Mumbai from 6^th October.
This is a cricket match that is played between last season’s Ranji Trophy winners, Mumbai and Rest of India. For a list of other trophies related to cricket follow this link.

The Cup has been named after Zal Irani, treasurer of BCCI from 1928 to 1946 and from 1948 to 1962, a record 32 years.
It began in 1959-60 and was not held for two years in 1961 and 1962.

It is interesting to know how power is produced through this process.
Sea water and fresh water are separated by a membrane. The sea water draws fresh water through the membrane. This results in increased pressure on the sea water side. The increased pressure is used to produce power with a turbine.

Indian Current Affairs