Indian Current Affairs: 04.12.2007

In its current form the bill covers only those workers who are living below the poverty line. This will thus cover only 26 crore workers. There are 40 crore workers in the unorganized sector constituting more than 94% of country’s total workforce.
Hence the Left parties have ensured that the bill is taken back to the drawing board by not allowing it to pass the muster of the parliamentary standing committee looking into it.

Compact Fluorescent Lamps help save energy and the cause of environment conservation.
A CFL that replaces an incandescent lamp can save up to 8.21 units per month.
While regular lamps last for 1000 hours, CFLs could last for 6000 to 8000 hours.
A 20 watt CFL would emit around the same amount of light as a 100 watt bulb.
New generation CFLs last for an average of 3 years and provide a saving of 80% in energy consumed.
While CFLs are significantly costlier than incandescent bulbs, the additional investment typically pays back in less than 3 to 4 months through savings on electricity bills.
Looks like an excerpt from an elementary school physics text book? But the above are from a research undertaken by TERI. The findings are too important to be ignored.

We have noted about this sometime back in our notings. 06.05.2007, 18.04.2007, 28.03.2007 & 17.03.2007.
The last budget allowed pass-through status under Section 10(23FB) of the IT Act, only to VC funds (Venture Capital funds) investing in nine sectors. The funds operating in power sector, which used to get pass-through status till last fiscal, lost this facility. The status was allowed only for VC funds investing in biotechnology, information technology, nano-technology, seed research and development, R & D of new chemical entities, dairy industry, poultry industry etc.
But with a view to ensure adequate funds for the power sector, the government is thinking of restoring this pass-through status to VC funds operating in the power sector. This may happen in the ensuing budget.

We have noted time and again about deepening of the corporate bond market. Type “corporate bond” in the search box of the blog and it will take you to all the posts where we have noted about this.
SEBI is considering allowing corporates to issue bonds after obtaining ratings from a single rating agency and may also allow a disclosure-based regime.
At present the guidelines require that the debt instruments issued through a public/rights issue shall be of at least investment grade. In a disclosure based regime, it should be left to the investor to decide whether or not to invest in a non-investment grade debt instrument.
Corporate debt accounts for as much as 25 to 30 percent of GDP in countries like UK and the UK. In our country is very meager.

In today’s centre page article, an excellent graphic appeared. It is very educative. Take a look.
From the 90’s onwards, it is the emerging market economies that are showing a consistent upward trend. Europe’s has remained flat or declining, while that of Japan’s has been declining. From the beginning of the 21^st century the US economy has been on a downward hill.
Another excerpt worth our attention includes:

THE US economy’s natural market dynamism is best illustrated by the massive churn in its labour market. What analysts tend to focus on is the net number of new jobs added every month, which in recent times has averaged around 200,000. However, the more telling statistic is that over four million people leave their jobs in a single month in the US while nearly 4.5 million new jobs are added. In effect, 3% of the 135 million strong labour force is turned over every month — a staggering number.

Take a look at today’s article by Kendra Okonski of International Policy Network. We have been consistently fed on the argument that emission cuts are the solution. But read his article in full and you will find a strong argument in favour of adaptation.
Remember Darwin’s theory? At one time it struck me too, but I was rather shy of suggesting it. Had you seen Kevin Costner’s movie “Water World” you would understand what I mean. People develop gills to breathe in a catastrophic world filled with water.
Similarly adaptations – natural and man-made will ensure that the side effects of emissions are handled in ‘their own’ way.
Read on the full article here.

The assumption that someone who makes something that releases GHGs into the atmosphere – the producer – ought to be penalized, not the consumer.
However, India and China for example, are making products for western consumption. Then according the polluter-pays principle, the manufacturers are the polluter and not the people who are consuming. To punish those countries for making the products that consumers in the north want to consume doesn’t sound exactly fair; does it? So asks Yvo De Boer.
Yvo De Boer who? You should be kidding. He is the Executive Secretary (Chief) of UNFCCC.

It is providing news media not just with access to the battlefield but actually including them in with troops.
It has, however, subjected journalists to some severe restrictions, a certain degree of prior-restraint, and cultivated a narrow, fragmented view of the war, raising issues of professional freedom and responsibility.

Indian Current Affairs