Politics & the Nation
- The year that was...
- Take a look at this op-ed written by Kiran Karnik. It takes a good dig at us all collectively, especially the political system. A very interesting and scathing criticism of what we are. A must read.
- Is Manmohan Singh guilty?
- This question is popping up in discussions nowadays with unfailing regularity.
- The guns are now being trained on Mr. Manmohan Singh himself for failing to act against Raja. Excerpts from an op-ed that are worth our attention:
- We are repeatedly told by spokespersons of the country’s ruling party that Manmohan Singh’s integrity is above question. It is obviously not Manmohan Singh’s individual integrity that is being questioned, but his professional functioning as the Prime Minister! If the PM takes a solemn oath to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, his failure to act against a telecom minister who was perpetrating a major scam is a gross dereliction of duty!
- The PM’s prolonged failure to act is being attributed to realpolitik and coalition dharma by not just ruling party spokespersons but by the Nobel economics laureate Amartya Sen. When a soldier steps forward to defend the country, there are no guarantees even for his life. So, why should the nation’s leader — who takes the final decision on whether soldiers should fight a war — hesitate to crack down on a major scam merely because it could affect the stability of the coalition he is heading?
- Very uncomfortable questions eh?
- Bofors is resurrected by ITAT
- The ghost of Bofors scandal seems to be mustering for yet another onslaught on the Manmohan Singh government with the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT) naming Italian middleman Ottavio Quattrocchi as one of the beneficiaries of the kickbacks.
- According to an ITAT order dated December 31, 2010, “payments were made illegally as the government of India’s policy did not allow middleman in defence deals”. Quattrocchi and Win Chadha are accused of receiving 41 crore in illegal kickbacks in the Bofors gun purchase scandal of the mid-1980s.
- Take a look at the Bofors chronology of events here.
- Special scheme for SSIs planned to offset duty
- The government is likely to introduce a composition scheme for excise duty on SSIs in the forthcoming budget. Under the proposed composition scheme, a small scale manufacturer would be required to pay a much lower rate of duty (as low as 1% of the turnover) than the prevailing 12% Cenvat rate with a minimal compliance burden.
- Currently, small scale industries with an annual turnover of up to Rs. 1.5 crore are exempt from excise duty. But the GST proposes to bring down the exemption threshold for the levy of tax to Rs. 10 lakh.
- A manufacturing unit opting for the composition scheme will not be required to maintain records, but it will not get the facility of input tax credit.
- Experts say such a scheme will make the transition to GST easier.
- States have demanded that the Centre continue with the turnover threshold of Rs. 1.5 crore for its component in GST, but the Centre has been firm on keeping it common for both Central and state GST at Rs. 10 lakh.
- Manufacturing growth slows to 3-month low
- India's manufacturing sector expanded at a slower pace in December than in the previous month, indicating that growth may have peaked in October.
- Purchasing managers’ index (PMI), compiled by HSBC Holdings and Markit Economics, dropped to 56.7 in December from 58.4 in November.
- PMI is a survey-based compilation of manufacturing sentiment in 500 companies, and is considered a leading indicator of factory output.
- An index level above 50 indicates expansion, and higher the index above that threshold greater the growth. A reading of less than 50 indicates a contraction in manufacturing.
- Driven by manufacturing, industrial growth rose to 10.4% in October from 4.4% in September. But advance indicators seems to give a mixed signal for November.
- Get set to fork out more for glassful of milk
- India, home to the largest cattle population in the world, is facing the prospect of becoming dependent on milk imports with millions armed with new purchasing power joining the legion of milk drinkers.
- In 2009-10, NDDB had imported 30,000 tonnes of skimmed milk powder and 15,000 tonnes of butter oil to meet shortages, against the backdrop of rising milk prices.
- To meet the projected national demand of 180 million tonne by 2021-22, annual production has to be jacked up from the current 112 million tonne.
- India needs to boost productivity of its more than 280 million milch cattle from a lowly 1 kilo a day to bridge the current demand-supply gap of over 4%, which translates to around 3.5 million tonnes a year. Top milk-producing countries have a productivity level of 25kg/day per milch animal.
- According to official data, milk production in India has been growing at a rate of 3.2 million tonnes annually in the last 15 years. Even this growth has been grossly uneven, with lower growth in key producer states such as UP, MP, Rajasthan, Punjab and Haryana.
- More than 90% of the milk output in the country is produced in rural areas.
- The Centre's recently formulated Rs. 1,73,000-crore National Dairy Plan seeks to boost cattle productivity to 65% by 2021-22.
- Unanswered questions in the Citibank fraud case
- Take a look at this graphic which while throwing us light on the details of the scam points to some relevant unanswered questions.
- Do you know anything about takeout financing?
- Know all about it in today’s ET in the classroom column. Good one.
- On social impact investing and their stock exchange
- Two men -- Pradeep Jethi and Mark Campanale -- are on a mission to promote social impact investing on a grand scale.
- The duo has promoted the Social Stock Exchange in London and hopes to take it live by 2012. It is a full-fledged commercial bourse like any other, except its doors will be open only to companies that value `larger social impact’ above own profitability.
- Impact investing—an emerging philosophy—uses philanthropic and risk capital and private sector expertise to solve the world’s biggest social and environmental challenges. Studies by firms like PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Monitor Group estimate the size of impact investing to grow from $50 billion now to $500 billion this decade. Large philanthropic institutions like the Rockefeller Foundation are exploring impact investing as an alternative to conventional `giving’. In India too, wealthy entrepreneurs like Shiv Nadar are reportedly exploring the possibilities of starting social impact investment funds.
- If their efforts click, the new exchange could do to social businesses what Nasdaq did to technology companies. Nasdaq helped hundreds of technology firms attract mainstream commercial risk capital. The Social Stock Exchange could help social entrepreneurs attract both commercial risk capital and philanthropic dollars that are now seeking out `impact investment’ opportunities.
- A social stock exchange could be the pipe linking billions of dollars of philanthropic capital with hundreds of social entrepreneurs who are working towards sustainable solutions for the world’s problems.
- This is likely to be the first such bourse in the world. Brazil and South Africa have `investment exchanges’ in which social enterprises are listed with a view to attracting investments. But neither enable trading in shares of such companies; the Social Stock Exchange will be the first that will. The only difference is that besides reporting financial performance, companies listing on this exchange will have to do a social audit and report some key indicators of social performance.
- A recent JPMorgan report said impact investing will increase to $400 billion to $1 trillion in the next decade for just three segments of the market and create a potential profit opportunity between $183 billion and $667 billion.
- Globally, investors are yet to warm up to the idea of a social exchange. The Brazilian Social and Environmental Stock Exchange launched in 2003 has facilitated investments of $5.5 million in 71 organisations as of 2008.
- Facebook is valued at $50 bn
- Facebook, the popular social networking site, has raised $500 million from Goldman Sachs and a Russian investor in a deal that values the company at $50 billion, according to people involved in the transaction. The deal makes Facebook now worth more than companies like eBay, Yahoo and Time Warner.
- The stake by Goldman Sachs, considered one of Wall Street’s savviest investors, signals the increasing might of Facebook, which has already been bearing down on giants like Google. The new money will give Facebook more firepower to steal away valuable employees, develop new products and possibly pursue acquisitions – all without being a publicly traded company. The investment may also allow earlier shareholders, including Facebook employees, to cash out at least some of their stakes.
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- Fondle or pet affectionately
- eg: But there are these increasingly everyday instances like, say, the case of an actress announcing the end of her marriage after being seen canoodling a retired star cricketer, and then …
- hogwash: Noun
- (informal) statements or beliefs that are untrue or make no sense
- dreg(s): Noun
- Sediment that has settled at the bottom of a liquid; A small amount of residue
- eg: Like the last dregs of stale coffee, the old year leaves a bitter aftertaste, …
- cavil: Noun
- An evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections;
- Verb: Raise trivial objections
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