Indian Current Affairs: 07.06.2008

There is an expanding middle class of 250 to 300 million people in need of varied banking services.
Commercial banks’ deposits were at Rs 30,75,224 crore on March 14, 2008.
The bank credit is growing at 30% per annum and retail credit is expected to grow to Rs 575,000 crore by 2010.
Presently, total number of banking branches and ATMs in India is about 75,000 and 35,000 respectively.
The number of banking branches is still meagre for our population as more than 16,000 people are dependent on a single branch.
While 60% of our population has access to banks, only 15% out of this has loan accounts and 70% farmers have no access to formal sources of credit.
The above is an excerpt from an article on how our banks should try to expand their services and reach. Look at it here. Worth a read. It is articles like these that will update us on what is read by us in books like The India Year Book.

Perhaps you remember what we noted about the policy of encouraging ‘general aviation’ in the country sometime back in September 2007.

Today there is an excellent criticism of that policy in ET’s op-ed. A very good piece. Can’t afford to miss it.
I am not in full agreement with the author on the conclusion. But then what is a debate about? Read the piece here.
My take on the issue:

The super elite have anyway lived a life of seclusion (or secession as he calls it) since long. But, did it prevent them from building the behemoths that they did and generating wealth for themselves and for the country over the years? They get to know the needs of the masses through other means than from being mere co-passengers either in trains or in flights.
There is an underlying presupposition that the middle or the lower classes have a ‘thing’ for rubbing shoulders with the super elite. I don’t think that is correct. It is a bit insulting for these classes to be painted like that. They are independent and have their own self respect; they don’t suffer from such a mindset. They are not dying to rub shoulders with the super elite.
The fear that the policy inculcates a me-too fever; especially among the politicians making them far removed from the masses, is unfounded. It need not inculcate anything afresh; it is already there. Look at the way the top politicos travel in chartered or borrowed flights and helicopters for their private visits! They have different methods of keeping a tab on the pulse of the masses. Avoiding travel by chartered flights or private jets certainly will not take them closer to the masses.
Lastly, about land being acquired for this ‘public purpose.’ Let the government be clear right from the beginning. No agricultural land to be acquired for building such helipads or airports. It will not hurt our agriculture or farmers.

So, there is no point in feeling so strongly about private jets and private airports. Those who can afford can be allowed to have them. Let them be. Let us mind our business.

What is the amount of investment needed for meeting UN recommendation on emissions?

A UN-network of scientists concluded last year that emissions have to be cut by at least half by 2050 to avoid an increase in world temperatures of between 3.6 and 4.2 degrees above pre-18th century levels.
Scientists say temperature increases beyond that could trigger devastating effects, such as widespread loss of species, famines and droughts, and swamping of heavily populated coastal areas by rising oceans.
THE world needs to invest $45 trillion in energy in coming decades, build some 1,400 nuclear power plants and vastly expand wind power in order to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, according to an energy study released Friday.

Oil has touched $137 per barrel.
Papers say this is seen after a Morgan Stanley analyst predicted prices could hit $150 by the Fourth of July.
Unless governments sit up and become more sanguine about the oil economy, they will continue to bleed their exchequers. I think now it makes lot of sense to look at the nuclear and non-conventional energy sources as viable alternatives. Perhaps it may be worthwhile spending all the extra money that is needed to safeguard nuclear power plants and realize that nuclear power is after all affordable. Similarly the high per MW costs that are usually seen in non-conventional energy, may no longer be so unviable or costly as they used to appear.

Israel says that only an attack on Iran’s nuclear installations will be effective

AN ISRAELI attack on Iranian nuclear sites looks “unavoidable” given the apparent failure of sanctions to deny Tehran technology with bomb-making potential, one of prime minister Ehud Olmert’s deputies said on Friday.
Israeli planes destroyed Iraq’s nuclear reactor in 1981. A similar Israeli sortie over Syria last September razed what the US administration said was a nascent nuclear reactor built with North Korean help.

Big retailers are experimenting with a host of newer methods — IT solutions, RFID, factory visits for customers, monitoring surveillance system footage, point-of-sales system and appointing trained researchers for front line sales positions — to tap consumer behaviour. Such data is used to improve the store layout, merchandise range and service quality, all of which ultimately translate into improved sales.

One of the best pieces that I ever came across on this subject appeared in today’s ET. It is a must read. Do so here.

THE Centre’s food subsidy bill is likely to go up by around Rs 350-400 crore, back-of-the-envelope calculations by the government suggest. This is thanks to the record wheat and rice output and a substantial increase in the volume of foodgrains procured this season. Food subsidy for 2007-08 (revised estimate) was pegged at Rs 31,546 crore including 1.8 million tonne of high priced wheat imports. The budget estimate for 2008-09 is Rs 32,667 crore.

Indian Current Affairs