Indian Current Affairs: 20.10.2007

Dr. SS Badrinath. He was awarded the ET’s Corporate Citizen of the Year award.
If you read about him, I am sure you will agree that he is one of a kind and deserves no less than a Magsaysay or a Nobel.

“His admirers gave Mr. Singh extra points for his chutzpah and …” reads a sentence. What is chutzpah?
“The regimes managers were of the view that he was just flying off the handle.” What is meant by ‘flying off the handle’?

It is for a full ban on PNs. It says that the government is not allowing the RBI to do so by not accepting the Tarapore committee’s recommendation in this regard.

In a bid to tell the world that it is for constitutional reform, the military junta of Myanmar has announced the formation of a panel to draft the country’s long-delayed constitution.
But it did not say when the committee would be drafting the constitution. It says that it will make democratic reforms only according to its own seven-step plan.
Last month the junta brutally stamped out pro-democracy demonstrations, detaining thousands of protestors and leaving about 200 dead.
The UN’s interlocutor for this issue Mr. Ibrahim Gambari is on a six nation visit to find a solution.

The CMD of Air India, V. Tulasidas said that no formal agreement was entered into with Star Alliance as of now and that discussions were going on.

Presently, only stores in villages where the population is less than 1000 can sell non-prescription drugs – otherwise known as OTC (Over The Counter) medicines. These medicines can be sold by a shop even without a retail chemist’s license. Such medicines usually are antacids, laxatives, calcium tablets and other household remedies.
The government is now finalizing a new one-time registration system for these vendors. The idea is to prevent spurious drugs from entering the retail chain.
In many countries there are lists of OTC medicines. But in India, all drugs outside a list of prescription drugs are deemed to be OTC.

Canadian scientists have developed a new HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) screening test which is reportedly more effective than the present pap smear test.

Today is being observed as World Osteoporosis Day.
1 in 3 women and 1 in 5 men over the age of 50 years experience osteoporotic fractures.
Osteoporosis is the thinning and weakening of bones that leads to their breaking even with minimum force.

But the consumer price index is ruling at 7% as of August. And in spite of the international crude prices ruling well above the $90 per barrel mark, we have not yet accounted for this rise in our inflation calculus.

Its in-situ combustion technology, which it has developed in Mehsana research centre, enables heavy crude recovery. In this technology crude can be combusted well below 900 meters. This enhances the potential oil recovery to over 40% from around 30%.

In spite of the new North East industrial policy announcement and there being a dedicated ministry for the development of the North East of the country, we all know that there is some deficiency in the country’s efforts at making the people of the North East feel at home.
Today’s ET editorial comes out with a radically different idea. It says that the linguistic division of states has accentuated conventional ethnic rivalries by abetting competitive identity politics, while undermining traditional socio-economic linkages. It suggests that the North Eastern ethnicities should be allowed to be integrated across the borders (of India, China and Myanmar) to enable them to build trust among themselves and share prosperity.
Any takers for this idea?

Brain has two reward centres – the ventral tegmental area and the nucleus accumbens. These areas are part of the reward circuit of the brain and are known to be involved in fear conditioning.
When the neurons in these areas fire rapidly and release a nerve growth factor called BDNF (brain derived neurotrophic factor) the individual will have poor stress coping skills.

Headed by MM Punchhi, this is the successor commission for the Sarkaria Commission.
It has now issued a public notice calling for suggestions and comments on various terms of reference. Do you think you have any to contribute? Please do so.

What is making the Islamic jehadi groups turn against Pakistan, the very creator of these groups?

Powerful elements within the ISI are opposed to General Musharaff’s war against terrorism.
General Musharraf is seen as a master of half measures, doing just enough to avoid international opprobrium without alienating the military’s traditional allies among Islamists.
With his troops engaged in a fight with Taliban, the General does not have the resources for a confrontation with the tens of thousands of cadre organizations such as the Lashkar.

The UN declared 2008 as the year of the potato.
“The celebration of the International Year of the Potato will raise awareness of the importance of the potato - and of agriculture in general - in addressing issues of global concern, including hunger, poverty and threats to the environment.” Says its official site.

While preparing your quiz for today, I came across this very good link about India’s mathematicians. Worth a look. Look at it here.
I am trying a new feature. This is about making our blogs’ content available through mobile phones. Look at the image titled “Get Mobile Version” on the top in the right side bar of our blogs. On clicking this image:

It shows you the URL of the mobile blog. For eg., in the case of Indian Current Affairs it is: http://feedm8.com/indiancurrentaffairs. Either you can enter this URL directly in your phone browser or you can enter your phone number to get the URL through SMS.
For this to work your mobile should be internet enabled and you should have subscribed to the internet service through your mobile phone service provider. Test it and do let me know.

Indian Current Affairs