29.01.2008

• Indo US nuclear deal: update on negotiations with IAEA
• Contrary to the government’s claim that the talks are proceeding smoothly, the Indian negotiators have so far failed to include certain provisions that are considered alien to an IAEA safeguards agreement. These provisions include an assurance of uninterrupted fuel supply and corrective measures in case there is a disruption.
• The US is reportedly waiting for the final safeguards agreement before approaching the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group). Most NSG countries have decided to come out with their positions only after India specific safeguards agreement is finalised.
• Two of the telecom’s important decision makers in India
• TRAI Chairman: Nripendra Misra
• Telecom Commission Chairman: Siddhartha Behura
• Government suspends manufacturing licences of four drug companies
• Remember the WHO (World Health Organization) report on our companies not following the good manufacturing practices?
• Now the Government suspended the licenses of Pasteur Institute of India, Haffkine Bio-Pharma Corp., BCG Vaccines and Central Research Institute.
• The suspension will continue till the companies make changes in line with the prescribed standards.
• The move is aimed at salvaging the repute of our vaccine exports.
• WHO hinted that India could be dropped from the list of vaccine sourcing nations.
• World’s biggest polluters are meeting in Hawaii
• The world’s biggest GHG (Greenhouse gas) emitters are sending delegates to a US sponsored meeting aimed at curbing climate change without stalling economic growth.
• Washington favours voluntary measures and ‘aspirational goals’ to limit climate change, aided by easier transfer of environmental technology.
• This is the second time that the group is being convened – the first time was in Washington in September last – and there has been some scepticism among environmentalists about the effectiveness of this process.
• Business expectation index
• The RBI prepares what is known as the Business Expectation Index. The index for January-March 2008 declined 2.5 percentage points over the previous quarter from 50.2% to 47.7%.
• The index is reportedly prepared after surveying over 1000 corporates.
• FIMMDA
• Fixed Income, Money Market and Derivatives Association.
• It is hosting its annual conference in Cairo this year.
• IMF Managing Director
• Dominique Strauss Kahn
• Can you give an example of IMF’s bias against developing countries?
• What could IMF have prescribed had the subprime crisis had its origins in some developing country? Or from a country that is not part of the North American and European economies? I am sure you would remember the prescriptions and lectures given for the East Asian countries during the 1998 East Asian currency crisis. But now that the subprime crisis originated because of a breakdown of credit and risk management practices and shortcoming in US financial regulation and supervision, look at what it is prescribing!!
• First priority is the restoration of normal function in financial markets, which means that the central banks should provide funding to interbank markets.
• It warned against excessive supervision that can exacerbate the crisis by calling for financial institutions to make balance sheet corrections on the asset side rather than securing capital.
• It felt that a slowdown could result in a decrease of the price of commodities, including oil, which would provide room for a more active monetary policy.
• These suggestions are what made the ET editorial comment that these policy prescriptions are like a nun endorsing a red light district.
• Why should not TRAI regulate mobile to landline tariffs?
• The differential pricing strategy adopted by our telecom companies is making the calls from cell phones to landlines costly. Hence these are subtly forcing users to call from cell phones to cell phones. This would ultimately bring down the market share of landline phones in the market. Hence TRAI is trying to mandate that there should be no such differential pricing.
• But the case against this is that, TRAI should be worried about competition in the market and not whether a particular technology survives or not. It should remain technology neutral.
• About India and China’s return to the world centre-stage
• It is a very good article that appeared in today’s ET. Take a look at it here.
• Though it makes a good reading, what struck me is the imbalance in the length of the period of the various ‘waves of evolution’. Perhaps people looking at the very same period sometime down the line – say in 3000 AD or 10000 AD will certainly notice a different set of ‘waves’.
• I think we should be cautious in identifying the ‘waves’ with such imbalances.
• But nevertheless it is a good read.
• The seven waves of evolution identified are:
• 40,000 BC: Language breakthrough. Language made its appearance.
• 5000 BC to 1500 AD: Agricultural revolution.
• 1500 AD to 1850 AD: Industrial revolution.
• 1850 to 1940 AD: Transport and telecom revolution.
• 1940 to 1975 AD: Computational and electro-chemical revolution.
• 1975 to 2002 AD: Network era.
• 2002 AD to present times: Knowledge and collaboration.
• Farm credit figures
• Farm credit target for 2006-07 (Rs. 1.75 lakh crores) was lower than the 2005-06 achievement of Rs. 1.80 lakh crores.
• 2006-07 achievement was Rs. 2.02 lakh crores.
• Tamiflu
• It is the preventive vaccine for bird flu. The US is willing to help India in offering technical support to contain bird flu by supplying this vaccine.
• The help offered by it includes: checking the availability of Tamiflu syrup for children from worldwide stocks; providing technical support for animal surveillance, and personnel protection equipment for rapid response teams in West Bengal.