23.08.2008

• Tata threatens to pull out of Singur
• The Trinamool chief, Ms. Mamata Banerjee has been demanding that Tatas should return 400 acres of land given to them by the West Bengal government. She announced an indefinite stir in Singur from August 24.
• It is in this context that Mr. Ratan Tata announced that, Tatas will not be loathe to moving out of Singur for the sake of their employees’ safety.
• This has made everybody sit up take notice. If Tata carries out his threat, that would be the saddest day for West Bengal and puts paid to the industrial future of the state.
• Language lesson: puts paid
• to terminate; to cancel (plans or expectations); to stop something once and for all
• Milk-run & just-in-time concepts
• Tata’s plant at Singur is based on two crucial concepts in manufacturing — the Japanese “just-in-time” concept and the internationally-accepted “milk-run” concept. Both these concepts underline that suppliers should remain attached (physically or logistically) to the mother plant, to keep the price of the final product under control.
• If Tatas’ threat is carried out, it will have a negative impact on the cost of Nano.
• NSG meet update: Indo US nuclear deal
• The Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) countries insisted on bringing the waiver document in conformity with the Hyde Act. With this, the Vienna session ended inconclusively on Friday. The NSG will reconvene once again on September 4 for another two-day session.
• Online video advertising makes a good start
• Online video advertising is slowly eating into the television marketing budget as generic and TV content goes online and the new medium benefits from its inherent advantages of RoI (Return on Investment) measurability, customisation and interactivity.
• Experts are of the view that with about 15-million broadband users, timespends are substantially moving in favour of the internet.
• With broadband prices becoming dirt cheap even in India, over the next three years, this medium is positioned to become around 10% of the TV market, opine experts.
• Online video advertising, currently estimated at Rs 60 crore, makes up for less than 1% of the annual TV ad spending of about Rs 7,000 crore.
• Now it is time for a coal regulator
• The government is set to decontrol pricing of coal, including coal from captive mines. Prime minister has approved the draft of the Coal Regulatory Authority Bill that entrusts responsibility of coal pricing to the regulator.
• The Bill holds the regulator responsible for determining “the price of coal, including coal from captive mines.” The Bill is expected to be introduced in the coming session of Parliament.
• The proposed regulatory authority will put in place a reasonable and transparent coal pricing mechanism and promote competition in the sector. It will also determine transfer pricing in respect of captive coal and lignite mines. Currently, most coal reserves are owned by the central government. It also operates and regulates the sector.
• Look at the important position that coal occupies in our energy mix.
• Difference between headline inflation and core inflation
• We have been reading about ‘headline inflation’ and ‘core inflation’ time and again. What is the difference between them?
• Headline inflation is a measure of the total inflation within an economy and is affected by areas of the market which may experience sudden inflationary spikes such as food or energy. As a result, headline inflation may not present an accurate picture of the current state of the economy.
• This differs from core inflation which excludes factors, such as food and energy costs. Actually factors which are subject to high volatility. These may differ from country to country.
• Some excellent commentary on how secularism should operate in the country
• Indian secularism should not be envisaged as a project of assimilation of minority groups into a majoritarian entity. Extremism has thrived on the perception of a communally charged polity excluding and even targeting smaller groups.
• Olympic motto
• “Citius, Altius, Fortius” (“Faster, Higher, Stronger”).
• India’s sports management by contrast is derisively referred to as “slower, lower, weaker.”
• On sovereign wealth funds
• We have time and again noted in our blogs about the need for a sovereign wealth fund for our country.
• Need a strong argument in favour of one for our country at this juncture? Read this article that appeared in today’s op-ed.
• Indian cities rank low in urban competitiveness
• An international team of researchers has just released a Global Urban Competitiveness Report, which takes stock of 500 cities around the world. New York has been found to be the most competitive city in the world, followed, in that order, by London, Tokyo, Paris and Washington, DC. No Indian city features in any of the seven corresponding top 20 lists, with a solitary exception: Mumbai comes in at number 15 on industrial structure.
• The cities of the world have been ranked according to seven parameters of competitiveness, such as enterprise competitiveness, industrial structure, human resources, business environment, living environment etc.
• Olympics
• Vijender Kumar loses to Cuba’s Emilio Correa Bayeaux in the men’s middleweight (75 kg) semifinal. Thus he sttles for a bronze.
• Bryan Clay claimed the title of ‘The World’s Best All Around Athlete’ when he won the decathlon title.