Indian Current Affairs: 31.05.2008

THE Indian economy grew at 9% in 2007-08, faster than the estimate of 8.7%, according to the Central Statistical Organisation. Agriculture was principally responsible for faster growth.
Economy-wide increase in prices last fiscal stood at 4.6%.
With the economy turning in a growth rate of 9% in 2007-08, the CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) for the last four years touched 8.9%. Growth averaged 9.3% over the last three years.
GDP at current market prices stood at Rs 47.13 lakh crore. The population in 2007-08 stood at 113.8 crore, which yields a per capita GDP of Rs 41,416, a little over $1,000 at 2007-08 exchange rates. Population growth rate has declined to 1.4%, as per the CSO’s estimates.
NNP, which is a national income measure more relevant for calculating per capita income, is Gross National Product less depreciation. NNP distributed over the entire population gives per capita income. This went up 12.3% to Rs 33,299 in 2007-08. At constant prices (1999-2000 prices), which is worked out after taking into account the erosion in purchasing power of rupee, the per capita income moved up to Rs 24,321 representing an increase of 7.8% during 2007-08.
GNP is GDP adjusted to exclude income accruing to foreigners and to include those bits of foreign country GDP that accrue to Indian nationals.

Look at how the Government of India and the RBI have come up with an unheard of scheme to bail out oil companies. While it will take some time for the effects of the scheme to seep in on the economy, it will surely keep all the economic / financial experts very busy offering their take on the subject in the coming weeks.
The scheme goes by the name special market operations. Look at the details here.
BTW remember the customs duties on crude and petro products? Duty on crude is 5% while on products i.e., petrol and diesel it is 7.5%.

Remember the recent turmoil in the corporate world, wherein some of the corporates took big bets on currency movements by buying currency derivative products from some of the banks and when they found that they ended up with humungous losses, they refused to pay the banks, citing some clause which says that the banks ought not to have sold the derivatives in the first place?
With this episode, the RBI has now laid down stricter provisioning norms for banks. This is going to have a three-way impact on the banks. Look at them here.
Some of you may find it too much to digest. Go easy. It is very important for those with economics and finance background.

It is presently at 1.2% and is worth $391 billion in 2007-08. India is targeting a 5% share in world trade by the year 2020.

Authorities responsible for managing a bus station in the Vallejo district of San Francisco have found a unique way of tackling crime in around the bus station and also the problem of loiterers. You know what they did? They played music and organized concerts. Reportedly the crime rate has come down by 50% and also there was a substantial drop in the number of loiterers.

Amid a jam-packed crowd and a galaxy of dignitaries led by BJP national president Rajnath Singh and Lok Sabha opposition leader LK Advani, 66-year-old Bookanakere Siddalingappa Yeddyurappa was administered the oath of office and secrecy by governor Rameshwar Thakur on the portals of Vidhana Soudha, the seat of power, on Friday.
Five out of the six independents, who have lent support to BJP’s BS Yeddyurappa to become Karnataka’s 26th chief minister, were inducted as cabinet ministers in the first full-fledged 30-member saffron ministry that came into being on Friday.

India, the world’s fastest growing telecom market, will now implement the international guidelines for minimising health hazards due to emissions from mobiles and base stations. After much deliberation, department of telecom’s policy-making arm, Telecom Commission (TC), has adopted the guidelines prescribed by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP)
ICNIRP guidelines prescribe permissible radiation levels for telecom installations, base stations, mobiles and handhelds. ICNIRP has two sets of limits, one for general public exposure and another for occupational exposure.
ICNIRP guidelines are already being followed in Spain, Germany, Australia, France, Japan and many other countries.
In India, nearly 270 million customers use cell phones and there are over 1,15,000 towers, which emit electromagnetic radiations.
For handsets, SAR (specific absorption rate) is an indication of the amount of radiation that is absorbed by the body while using a cell phone. The unit of SAR is watts per kilogram (w/kg) and the higher the SAR rating the more radiation absorbed.
Globally, cell phones cannot be officially sold without specifying SAR level. In the US, a mobile exceeding SAR level of 1.6 w/kg cannot be sold while in Europe, manufacturers must ensure that the maximum SAR level of a cell phone does not exceed 2w/kg, this being the safety limit fixed by the EU council.

With IIT results being released, the point made by Andhra Pradesh students is well taken.

They seem to have taken 2000+ seats out of a total of 5000 that are there for the taking. Excellent performance.
Should the others feel like Serena Williams? (Seeded 5^th, she lost in the third round of the French Open to Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik. Serena lost 4-6 4-6.) Nah. Success and failure are two sides of the same coin. Cheer up Serena. You have a lot of tennis left in you. So should all the others who may feel let down because of their poor performance in IIT entrance. The entrance exam is only one brief step (blip) in one’s career. There is a lot that remains to be achieved. Don’t let just one failure bother any one of you.

Indian Current Affairs