09.10.2007

• R&R policy relating to SEZs
• We noted already the EGoM’s recommendations in respect of the Relief and Rehabilitation policy relating to SEZ land acquisitions.
• Now those recommendations are under consideration by the Cabinet. One more additional proposal that is made part of the policy is that the SEZs have to return 10% of the land acquired from farmers after development.
• Indo US nuclear deal
• It is generating lot of heat. The Congress President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi’s remarks that those opposing the nuclear deal are opposing progress and development, have irked the Left brigade. They appear to be headed for withdrawing support for the government.
• In the meantime, Mr. El Baradei, the IAEA Chief is on a visit to India to discuss various issues with India’s nuclear establishment. Though the government has clarified that no India-specific measures will be discussed with the IAEA Chief, the widespread belief is that India cannot be seen as staying away from taking the talks forward. It will be interesting to watch the developments.
• Indian e-commerce market
• The Indian consumer market is expected to touch Rs. 9,210 crores by the end of 2007-08 according to an IAMAI and IMRB study.
• Nobel Prize for Medicine
• The researchers who pioneered the creation of ‘designer mice’ to track the role of different genes in human development and disease have won the 2007 Nobel for Medicine.
• They are Mario Capecchi (USA), Martin Evans (UK) and Oliver Smithies (UK).
• The discovery by these scientists has led to the formation of a new branch of medicine know as “gene targeting”.
• Albert Lasker Award for Basic Medical Research
• It is perceived as the American version of the Nobel Prize for Medicine.
• Language lesson
• “Talk of general elections recrudesced and Brown did…” reads a sentence in today’s editorial in ET. What is meant by recrudesced?
• break: happen; "Report the news as it develops"; "These political movements recrudesce from time to time"
• erupt: become raw or open; "He broke out in hives"; "My skin breaks out when I eat strawberries"; "Such boils tend to recrudesce"
• World Bank’s India country director
• Ms. Isabel Guerrero
• For a good debate on organized retail refer this perspectives column that appeared in today’s ET. Worth a read once.
• If you want to really criticize something or somebody, I think you can take a leaf out of this criticism that appeared in the above debate. See how powerful it is!!
• In the absence of any comprehensive and empirical study of the entire issue, half truths and blatant untruths have been made to appear as truths by a motley group of a few habitually disruptive political parties and politicians, and a few characteristically obnoxious, perennially bile-spewing activists.
• Stabilization funds and Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF)
• Our FM favours the establishment of a SWF. But RBI governor YV Reddy seems to be not supportive of the idea.
• There is a subtle difference between a stabilization fund and a SWF:
• A stabilization fund is designed primarily to achieve medium term macroeconomic stabilization objectives, arising out of domestic economic and financial effects of volatility in export earnings.
• An SWF is a special purpose investment vehicle created to manage national savings to generate higher returns. It is usually carved out of the official reserves of the country.
• Dr. C. Rangarajan Committee
• It is going to look into the issue of recommending steps to revise the method of savings estimates. It will address the estimation of physical savings of households which at present is a residual figure and is not independently estimated.
• World record for solving the Rubik’s Cube
• It is 9.86 seconds. It is held by Thibaut Jacquinot of France since May, 2007.
• The game was invented by Erno Rubik, a Hungarian engineer in 1974.
• A grand finale to the Grand Prix in Formula One racing
• The F1 racing season will conclude with Brazilian Grand Prix. This is the first time since 1986 that three drivers are entering the fray with equal chances of winning the final Grand Prix.
• Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen are all having an equal chance of winning the Formula One driver’s title. Each Grand Prix win fetches 10 points. Now they are entering the last lap of the contest with 107, 103 and 100 points each. A win i.e., 10 points can make any one of them a winner.
• Cricket
• A win against Australia at last in Chandigarh. But unless we win the next match also, there won’t be any thrill left for watching the last ODI match.