Indian Current Affairs: 20.09.2009

Politics & the Nation

Many of you are aspiring Civil Servants. Some of you already are. There is a very good lesson for both of you in today's article on why biscuit companies are selling sugar.

Or rather, why they are forced to sell sugar; by government diktats. Learn from these experiences, don't ever be responsible for taking such decisions in your career. Read on ...

Finance & Economy

State venture Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation received approval for its field development plan entailing an investment to the tune of $1.7 billion for KG 8 from the Director General of Hydrocarbon. GSPC which also has approval for 2 TCF find in KG Basin is now aiming to start commercial gas production by December 2011 from KG – 8, 15, 17 and 28 wells.
GSPC will use the Reliance’s existing pipeline network to evacuate gas from KG basin. GSPC will produce 120 million standard cubic feet of gas per day to begin with. Duirng the first 12 years, it is expected to maintain gas production at 200-300 million standard cubic feet of gas per day.

One time or the other you would have come across the phrase "Private Placement" in our notings. What exactly is "private placement"

Let us not re-invent the wheel and simply follow what is stated in today's ET Guide Book column on the subject. A very well written piece. Read it here.

Archaeology

A big dolmen with four petroglyphs that portray men with tridents and a wheel with spokes has been found at Kollur, near Tirukoilur, 35 km from Villupuram in Tamil Nadu.
The discovery was made by K.T. Gandhirajan, who specialises in art history, when he led a team to that area.
Petroglyphs are engravings made with a tool.
This is the second time that a dolmen with petroglyphs has been found in Tamil Nadu. The earlier discovery in the Nilgiris district was also made by Mr. Gandhirajan. But it was a circular dolmen with a petroglyph on the slab wall (The Hindu, May 24, 2009).
If interested in more details, read the full story here.

Technology Trends

It refers to any video of higher resolution than standard definition (SD) video. HD TV resolution is 1080 or 720 lines which means higher resolution, while regular digital TV is 480 or 525 lines.
Now it is the HD video technology that is making waves in the digital still camera space.

M$ filed suits against ‘malvertisers’
Malvertising is the term used to describe online advertising and works by camouflaging malicious code as harmless online advertisements. M$ sued five companies that used malvertisements to distribute malicious software or present deceptive websites that peddled scareware to unsuspecting Internet users.

These are mark up languages. The search for protecting home based computers / networks from cyber attacks, has led to the development of these languages. Take a look at this news report. You will understand the terms well.

Language Lessons

You will not find the definition / meaning for this phrase in any conventional dictionary. Green mile refers to the stretch of green linoleum to the electric chair in a jail. If you had seen the movie "The Green Mile" you would understand it instantaneously.
The Green Mile is a 1999 American drama film directed by Frank Darabont and adapted by him from the 1996 Stephen King novel of the same name. The film stars Tom Hanks as Paul Edgecomb and Michael Clarke Duncan as John Coffey.
The film is primarily about Paul and his life as a corrections officer on Death Row in the 1930s. The movie is told in flashback by the protagonist in a nursing home and follows a string of supernatural events upon the arrival of John, a man convicted, but not guilty, of murder. His domain was called the "Green Mile" because the condemned prisoners walking to their execution are said to be walking "the last mile"; here it is on a stretch of green linoleum to the electric chair.
Eg: If manufacturers are to be believed, the conventional video camera is already walking the green mile.

A prehistoric megalithic tomb typically having two large upright stones and a capstone

Indian Current Affairs