Indian Current Affairs: 04.03.2008

For a change let me celebrate our cricket victory in the second one day international match of the tri-series tournament at Gabba. With this we won the series 2-0 against Australia.

India entered the finals of this tri-series only thrice earlier. 1986, 1992 and 2004. And on all those occasions it could not win.

The under-19 team which won the World Cup in Malaysia will now find itself flooded with offers from advertising industry.
Its skipper is Virat Kohli.

Scientists from the University of Ulster in Northern Ireland and UAE University have discovered a unique property of frog’s skin.
The skin of a South American frog is found to boost the production of insulin. It contains a peptide, a protein-building block that protects the frog from infection.
The diabetes that it can cure is Type II diabetes; the type which occurs because of lifestyle factors such as obesity and inability to produce adequate insulin by the body.

The government seems to be coming out with a special scheme for letting the private sector run government schools and hospitals besides setting up new ones. It is working on some extremely attractive norms for PPP (Public Private Partnership) in these two sectors.

It is likely to boost rural consumption demand now.
It is estimated that on an average a farmer (each one of the 4 crore farmers) will have a loan waiver of Rs. 12,500/-. Other farmers would get a cumulative loan waiver of Rs. 10,000 crores if they pay 75% of their outstanding loans upfront through the one time settlement scheme.
The farm loans overdue on December 31, 2007 and which remained unpaid until February 29, 2008 will be eligible for both loan waiver and the one time settlement schemes.
The target for farm credit in 2008-09 is set at Rs. 2.80 lakh crores.

Wagon makers will be allowed to supply wagons with their designs and go for high-axle load. This is expected to improve realizations because the new spacious design can carry a load of 2800 tonnes instead of the present 2300 tonnes. This is likely to reduce the per km cost of freight per tonne from 61 paise to 42 paise.

Is the CTT (Commodities Transaction Tax) that is proposed in the budget really that bad?

Being levied at 0.0017% the CTT it is argued will not be that bad at all.
For one, a similar hue and cry was raised when the STT (Securities Transaction Tax) was introduced back in 2004. But the fears about a sharp fall in trading volumes and consequent adverse effects on quality of price discovery proved misplaced.
Secondly, trading volumes are a function of economic growth and level of confidence in the market than the cost of transactions.

It is a very good editorial that appeared in The Hindu today. Recommend reading it once. Do so here. But some points for our reference:
About 3.3 bn people live in urban areas (globally) and by 2030 that would increase to 5 bn according to the UNFPA (UN Fund for Population Activities).
The level of urbanisation in India appears low. Urban India accounts for about 30% of the total population and its share is expected to rise to about 40% by 2030.
The challenges urbanisation poses include those relating to urban transport, infrastructure, housing and water.

It is the habit of looking at courts as a solution to any problem.
One classic case that can be referred to in this regard is the reference made to the Supreme Court in the Babri masjid demolition case.
On being asked for advice, the Supreme Court found that there is no legal point as such at the issue, and observed that the reference to it, of the question of temple having existed at the disputed site in Ayodhya, was superfluous, unnecessary and does not require to be answered.

It beat Tamilnadu by five wickets in the South Zone Ranji one-day cricket league.

Indian Current Affairs