31.01.2009

Politics & the Nation

• See what you should be prepared for even after logging an experience which could be the cynosure of all eyes!!
• Gujarat government's registrar of cooperatives is reported to have issued a notice to Verghese Kurien, India's milkman, withdrawing the facility of GCMMF provided car and personal staff.
• It is beyond doubt that Kurien has made great contribution to the cooperative movement in the country.  But even such people would not be immune from being targeted by petty politicking.
• The lesson is this:  some of you would surely be reaching such great heights as Kurien did.  Beware and be prepared for all such mud-slinging.  We have seen too many great figures being treated with contempt like this.
• What was the committee that has gone into the functioning of the IIMs?
• Remember the RC Bhargava committee?  Today there appeared a critique on its recommendations.  Very good one.  Read it here.

Finance & Economics

• RIL can sell natural gas from its KG basin find, says Court
• This is one corporate legal battle that we have followed extensively in our blogs, as its importance stems from the fact that at stake is the sale of largest natural gas find in India for almost 3 decades.  Not just that, the adversaries arouse common man's curiosity too, being India's prime corporate family.
• The Mumbai High Court is about to pass the final order in the case.  In the interim it has permitted RIL to sell the gas at government determined price of $4.2 per mmBtu.
• We have covered it so extensively that it is better that you spend some time searching for 'KG basin' 'RIL RNRL' or 'gas dispute' in our search box.  
• How can the withdrawing of outsourcing of work to India from the US harm both the countries?
• In a very well written piece Prabhat Kumar points out six solid reasons.  Well worth a read and good piece for us to keep.
• Fiscal deficit
• The country's fiscal deficit in the first nine months of the current fiscal rose to Rs 2,18,262 crore, which is more than one-and-a-half-times originally budgeted for the whole year.
  
• The government’s idea was to limit fiscal deficit to 2.5% of the GDP for the whole of the year, lower than 2.8% in the previous year.
  
• The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) had projected that fiscal deficit would shoot up from the target of 2.5% to 5.9% of GDP.  GDP is estimated at Rs 60,12,400 crore. 
  
• Sometimes tables give us a better picture than words, when we are studying such things as fiscal deficit.  Look at this table.

Entertainment

• VES awards:  Visual Effects Society awards
• These are popularly known as the Oscars of animation and visual effects industry.  
• Indian film industry has just bagged its first nomination at the prestigious awards for its full length animation 3D film—Roadside Romeo, co-produced by Yash Raj Films and Disney.  It has been nominated in the ‘Outstanding Animation in an Animated Motion Picture’ category alongside big Hollywood animation films such as Dreamworks’ Kungfu Panda and Disney’s Wall-E. 
  
• Tata Elxsi, the Bangalore-based VFX arm of the Tata Group, has done the entire animation for the film.
  
• Debutante director Jugal Hansraj, who has acted in YRF films such as Mohabbatein, has written and directed Roadside Romeo. 
  

Sport

• What is Super Bowl?
• If you read US news, you are sure to come across this phrase.  What is it about?  I ran a check on Wikipedia.  This is what it says:
• In professional American football, the Super Bowl is the championship game of the National Football League (NFL). The game and its ancillary festivities constitute Super Bowl Sunday. Over the years it has become the most-watched U.S. television broadcast of the year, and has become likened to a de facto U.S. national holiday.
  
• The winning team receives this Vince Lombardi Trophy.
• Since the game is now played on the first Sunday of February, it gets referred to as the Super Bowl Sunday.
• We can say that Super Bowl:US::Cricket:India.  Such is the madness with which this is followed there in the US.  Of course even basket ball and base ball also equally compete for mind space there.