Indian Current Affairs: 15.01.2008

I noted for you the gist of an article written by James Wolfensohn about the emerging global world order in the context of globalization. Take a look at it in our Discover It blog.
Reliance Power IPO

Planned to raise Rs. 11,700 crores through the IPO, it is reportedly oversubscribed by 10.52 times on the very first day of its opening!!! Mindboggling isn’t it?

Move aside Reliance Power. It appears that BSNL is going to come out with the largest ever IPO in the history of India. It plans to offload about 10% stake to raise about Rs. 40,000 crores (over $10 bn)!!!

If the figures being talked about are anything to go by, this is going to be a reality sooner than expected.
The 2007 trade volume between the two countries is pegged at $38.5 bn. Though this is currently lower than the Indo-US trade, the trade with China is growing by over 50% per annum while that with the US is growing by about 20%.

During the ongoing official visit of our Prime Minister, both countries are reported to have signed 12 agreements on various aspects of cooperation between the two countries.

Tripura, Meghalaya and Nagaland are set to see elections to their state assemblies during February and March.
This will be followed by elections to 7 other states this year. They include: Karnataka, Delhi, Chattisgarh, MP, Rajasthan, J&K and Mizoram.
So we can expect lots of promises and gifts from the Central Government this year, as by May next the current term of the Lok Sabha is set to expire.

It has struck gas at a depth of 151 meters in a well that it planned to drill up to 2820 meters. It has notified the DGH about is awaiting official estimates of the quantum.
RIL is the sole operator of the block.

A sentence in today’s ET editorial reads thus: “…one of the accompanying Indian journalists used to get so maudlin when he was drunk that…”.
Madulin here means excessively sad or mournful.
Effusively or tearfully sentimental: “displayed an almost maudlin concern for the welfare of animals”

Currently individuals and non-corporate assesses do not have to include income from some sources while calculating their tax outgo. These include agricultural income, insurance receipts, long-term capital gains and dividends. They are spared of paying tax on such income.
But the government is thinking of coming out with a proposal whereby they have to disclose income from all such sources and deduct them from their computations of tax payments. This is expected to enable the establishment of an audit trail for effective tax mop up.
But the move could have political ramifications if the norm is applied to farm income.

The government has reportedly finalized the draft policy in this regard. Under the scheme, municipal bodies should extend financial incentives to customers opting for solar energy, while Ministry of New and Renewable Energy will facilitate local bodies in procuring equipment at the most affordable cost.
Municipalities will also get Centre’s help in setting up solar street lamps in towns, besides using the solar energy in other public places.
Currently the cost of producing 1 MW of solar energy is about Rs. 20 crores. In sharp contrast, thermal energy production costs about Rs. 5 crores per MW.

Indian oil retailers are currently mandated to mix ethanol with petrol up to 5% by volume. But they are not able to meet this mandate because of tax problems at the state level. Only 11 of the 21 states where such a mandate exists, have so far implemented the policy.
State regulations restrict transfer of ethanol from one state to another due to different taxes imposed by different states.
Therefore there are calls for making ethanol a ‘declared commodity’. This makes it mandatory for the states to levy tax at a rate which is not more than 4% on ethanol.

Indian Current Affairs