April 1-14 current affairs

                                 NATIONAL UPDATES

India, Australia sign agreement to boost education ties
Despite the attacks on its student community in Australia, HRD minister Kapil Sibel signed an
agreement to boost educational cooperation In view of strengthening the bilateral relationship.
New Delhi wants to take the “relationship forward” with Canberra.
The aim of the ministerial statement is to strengthen what is already a solid partnership with the
Indian government and open up more avenues to share expertise in the education arena.
An India-Australia Education Council comprising experts from both countries will now be set
up. The relations between India and Australia had soured following several attacks on Indian
students Down Under. A travel advisory had also been issued to Indian students coming to
Australia.

15th National Census 2011, a Biometric census, exercise kicks off

 It is the 15th national census since 1872.

 Census in taken once in ten years
 President Pratibha Patil became the first person to participate in the decennial exercise.
 11-month exercise will enumerate the country's 1.2 billion population
 It has over 25 lakh enumerators working to capture the socio-economic and cultural
profile of
 Indians, will also seek information for the creation of the first-ever National Population
Register (NPR).
 NPR would also take the photographs and fingerprints of all persons over 15 years to
create biometric national database.
 The Census operation will cost around Rs 2,209 crore
 The creation of NPR is set to cost about Rs 3,539.24 crore.
 India will be the first democratic nation having got fingerprinted
 For the first time, information about the ownership of mobile phones, computers, internet,
and availability of treated and untreated drinking-water facility will be recorded.
 Entire exercise would be completed by March 5, 2011Results in mid-2011
 It is worth noting that first and last caste based census was taken in 1931

Herculean Process
Census enumerators will visit each household and gather information on forms, which will be
sent to data processing centres in 15 cities. Data processing will be done using a software called
Intelligent Character Recognition Software (ICR), which will scan the forms at high speed and
extract data automatically.
The NPR list will be sent to the Unique Identity Authority of India for eliminating duplicates and
issuing Unique ID numbers for every person. The trimmed database along with the UID number
will then be sent to the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner to form the
National Population Register. The first NPR cards would roll out by 2011-end.
Whole Story
Two forms will be given in each household. The first relates to the house listing and housing
census and will have 35 questions on building material, use of houses, drinking water,
availability and type of latrines, electricity, possession of assets etc.
The second form relates to the National Population Register and will outline name, gender, date
of birth, place of birth, marital status, name of father, name of mother, name of spouse, present
address, permanent address, occupation; nationality; educational qualification; relationship to
head of family.
Compulsory Excercise
A person who fails to cooperate can be fined or punished Information is confidential, not
accessible even to courts
Every household will be given an acknowledgment slip at the time of enumeration. 
Some stats 
12,000 tonnes Paper to be used, 64 crore No. of census forms, 50 lakh No. of instruction, 2.5
million No. of census officials, 7,000 No. of towns they will visit, 600,000 No. of villages they
will
visit.

Food Act may cost govt Rs 63k cr every year

As per the Tendulkar committee report, the below poverty line population would jump by nearly
10 crore from 27.5% to 37.2% of the population which translates into 8.32 crore families with
the base year of 2004-05. And the N C Saxena committee, appointed by the government to assess
BPL numbers, found nearly 50% of the total population to be poor which translates into nearly
11-11.5 crore BPL families.
If 35 kg of foodgrain a family and the Tendulkar committee estimate of 8.3 crore BPL
households could be the basis of the national food security Act, then the government’s bill adds
up to a staggering Rs 63,750 crore a year.
At 25 kg a BPL family, it is slightly less at Rs 54,200 crore, which is roughly the food subsidy
estimated in the 2010-11 budget by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee. But the budgeted figure
is provisional as last year the final bill came to Rs 72,200 crore due to rising cost of foodgrain
and higher procurement, a 65% hike over the previous fiscal.
It is now clear that the number of BPL families to be covered by NFSA and the quantum of
foodgrain is going to be increased after Sonia Gandhi wrote to PM Manmohan Singh pointing to
demands to make the proposed Act more inclusive. UPA-1’s farm loan waiver was initially
budgeted at Rs 60,000 crore and finally added up to Rs 72,000 crore.
If BPL cards issued by states are taken into account, the number totals 11.5 crore while
according to Planning Commission, it is 6.52 crore families. As NFSA will be centrally funded,
states are bound to push for an increase in BPL numbers.

 Tendulkar estimate for BPL families – 8.32 Cr

 Cost for 8.32 Cr BPL at 35 kg food grain - Rs 63,750 crore
 Cost for 8.32 Cr at 25 kg food grain - Rs 54,200 crore
 Amount of food grain required for them - 345 lakh tonnes for BPL and for APL 191 lakh tonnes

While NFSA may not accept the “nutritional” approach which wants pulses and edibile oil to be
included in the NFSA, it will still be left with the task of delivering 354 lakh tonnes of foodgrain
to beneficiaries.
Going by current figures, the bill for 35 kg a family is Rs 52,000 crore, for the N C Saxena
committee estimate of 50% of population being under the poverty line on basis of calorie intake
it is Rs 74,300 crore. Going by the Tendulkar committee estimates, just the BPL segment will
need 345 lakh tonnes.
If APL is retained, the total will be 536 lakh tonnes.

India, China sign pact on hotlineIndia and China signed an agreement to set up a hotline to
open up direct communication between their Prime Ministers, but appeared to continue to speak
in different languages on key issues that continue to challenge the bilateral relationship.
In talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Premier Wen Jiabao, External Affairs
Minister S.M. Krishna called for China to review its position on India's bid for a permanent seat
on the United Nations Security Council (UNSC). He also voiced India's concerns over Chinese
support to development projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the issuing of stapled visas to
Indian citizens from Jammu and Kashmir.

Education is fundamental right for kids aged 6-14 years

EDUCATION for children aged between 6 and 14 has finally become a fundamental right, with
the notification of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act. It will come
into force from April 1, 2010. 
What are its main features?
All children aged 6-14 years shall have the right to free, compulsory elementary education at a
neighbourhood school, No direct (school fees) or indirect cost (uniforms, textbooks, mid-day
meals, transportation), need be borne by the child or his/her parents to obtain this elementary
education The Thirteenth Finance Commission has provided for Rs 25,000 crore to states over
five years for the implementation of RTE. Central govt has approved an outlay of Rs.15000 cr
for 2010-11
Centre and state expenditure ratio would be 55:45. Private educational institutions would reserve
25% seats for children from weaker section of society.

Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010

The Cabinet approved a proposal to introduce the Prevention of Torture Bill, 2010 in Parliament.
The law is a step towards ratification of the UN convention against other cruel, inhuman
punishment and degrading treatment. India is a signatory to the Convention.

24th chief of the Indian Army

General Vijay Kumar Singh has been appointed as the new chief of 1.13-million strong Indian
army force.

SS Hussain is new Cidco chief

The new vicechairman and managing director of City and Industrial Development Corporation of
Maharashtra Limited (Cidco) is SS Hussain. An IAS officer of 1976 batch, Hussain took over the
post from G S Gill.

Failure of nuclear liability bill 2010

This bill has been considered detrimental to India's interests by all opposition parties. A harmful
piece of legislation meant to serve the interests of the United States and its nuclear industry. This
is also an outcome of the India-U.S. nuclear deal.
This Nuclear Liability Bill defines the financial and legal liabilities upon the involved parties viz.
manufacturers, operators and government in case a nuclear accident occurs. US companies will
be suppliers. Nuclear Power Corporation of India will act as an operator.
Bill seems to provide the freedom to suppliers in case of nuclear accident as the maximum
Financial Liability for supplier is the Rs. 2,087 crore equivalent of 300 million special drawing
rights (SDRs).
The operator's liability has been fixed at Rs. 500 crore. While the overall liability is capped at
Rs.2,200 crore. Bill enjoins the state to pay Rs 2,334 crore (300 million SDRs), in addition to Rs
500 crore by the operator straightaway to the victim. 
Attractive aspects:
Currently india’s nuclear energy market is of billions dollars approximately $175 billion.

Padma awards 2010

Padma Awards, the country’s highest civilian awards, are conferred in three categories, namely,
Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri. The awards are given in all disciplines/
fields of activities, viz. art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and
industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, etc. ‘Padma Vibhushan’ is
awarded for exceptional and distinguished service; ‘Padma Bhushan’ for distinguished service of
high order and ‘Padma Shri’ for distinguished service in any field. The awards are announced on
the occasion of Republic Day every year. This year the President has approved 130 awards
including 13 in the category of Foreigners/ NRIs/ PIOs. These comprise 6 Padma Vibhushan, 43
Padma Bhushan and 81 Padma Shri awards. There are 17 ladies among the awardees
KP SINGH, the head of DLF, India’s largest real estate company, founder chairman of Apollo
Hospitals Pratap C Reddy and New York-based hotelier Sant Singh Chatwal were among those
conferred with the prestigious Padma awards. music maestro and double Oscar winner Rahman
and actor Aamir Khan received their Padma Bhushan. cardiac surgeon Ramakant Panda, who
performed a ‘beating heart’ surgery on PM Manmohan Singh last year. Dashing Indian opening
batsman Virender Sehwag, Olympic bronzemedal winning boxer Vijender Singh and badminton
star Saina Nehwal were among the six sportspersons who received the Padma Shri.
Padma Vibhushan Awardees
1. Ebrahim Alkazi (Art) 2. Umayalpuram K. Sivaraman (Art) 3. Zohra Segal (Art)
4. Yaga Venugopal Reddy (Public Affairs) 5. Dr.Venkatraman Ramakrishnan (Science and
Engineering) 6. Prathap Chandra Reddy (Trade and Industry)
To read the complete list of awardees, have a look on Padma awards press release

Centre freezes 18 bank a/cs of terror recruiters

Government has invoked the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) to freeze 18 bank
accounts held by Indian Mujahideen’s terror recruiter from Pune, Mohsin Ismail Chowdhury,
and Manipuri insurgent outfit Kanglei Yawol Kanna Lup (KYKL) commander-in-chief (C-in-C)
Ningthoujam Rajen Singh across Ratnakar Bank, ICICI Bank and SBI.

Ranganath Mishra Commission

The National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities, is better known as Ranganath
Mishra Commission. Ranganath Mishra Commission is an enquiry commission assigned by
Government of India to study and find solution for the minority status of India. The report was
conducted by National Commission for Religious and Linguistic Minorities. The report focused
on the issue of the report was submitted to the government on 21st may 2007.

Dantewada MassacreThe deadliest ever Maoist attack on security forces left 73 CRPF
personnel and a local policeman dead in the thick forests of Dantewada, Chhattisgarh. Home
ministry says CRPF team may have been trapped on basis of ‘wrong’ intelligence.
The inquiry will be conducted by one-member committee of retired IPS officer E N Rammohan.
It will submit its report in 15 days.

Repot “Shadows in the Cloud” reveals stealing sensitive data by China hackersAccording to
report ‘‘Shadows in the Cloud’’, conducted by researchers researchers based at the Munk School
of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto who tracked the cyber-espionage, Chinese hackers
have stolen classified documents from India’s security, defence and diplomatic establishment,
ranging from assessments of Maoist movements and the security situation in the North-East to
New Delhi’s ties with Russia and the Middle East. Researchers said the breaches involved Indian
embassy computers in Kabul, Moscow, Dubai and United Arab Emirates, and at the High
Commission of India in Abuja, Nigeria. Also compromised were computers used by the Indian
Military Engineer Services in Bengdubi, Kolkata, Bangalore and Jalandhar; the 21 Mountain
Artillery Brigade in Assam and three air force bases; and computers at two military colleges. The
report says the documents stolen included “sensitive information taken from a member of the
National Security Council Secretariat concerning secret assessments of India’s security situation
in the
states of Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura, as well as concerning the Naxalites and
Maoists.’’

First terror attack on J&K rail trackRailway tracks were hit for the first time in the valley as
suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba men blew up a part of the line near Avantipora station.

Inderlok-Mundka Metro line flagged offThe country’s first standard gauge railway line
reached the western end of Delhi between Inderlok and mundka has been launched. most metros
around the world run on standard gauge. Standard gauge rails measure 4.8 inches against the 5.6
inches of a broad gauge. Therefore, the tracks on the Inderlok to Mundka line will be narrower
and the trains on them will run faster.

Justice (Retd) B.P.Jeevan Reddy Committee

This commission was set up for the amendment in Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act
(AFSPA). And it had submitted its report in June, 2005.

Babu Jagjivan Ram 103rd Birth Anniversary

on April 5, 2010, Babu Jagjivan Ram was paid tribute on his 103rd anniversary. Babu Jagjivan
Ram (5 April 1908 – 6 July 1986), known popularly as Babuji was a freedom fighter and a social
reformer hailing from the backward classes of Bihar in India

Over 2,000 colleges across India flaunt expired ratings

Data provided by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) reveals that a
whopping 2,028 colleges across the country have not renewed their ratings. Maharashtra, which
used to take pride in having the maximum number of accredited institutes, is the largest
defaulter; it has 831 colleges that have not renewed their accreditation. It is followed by
Karanataka which has close to 300 institutes which continue to use expired NAAC ratings. Delhi
seems to have the best record with merely one university which is using expired ratings. But the
capital has the worst reputation; it has only one college and one university approaching the
accrediting body ever since NAAC was formed.
NAAC rules specify that ratings are valid only for five years and they expire at the end of that
term.
INSTITUTES ACROSS INDIA THAT HAVE DEFAULTED COLLEGES 2028,
UNIVERSITIES 67.
MAHARASHTRA BIGGEST CULPRIT The state has 831 colleges and 9 universities that
haven’t
renewed ratings

SIMBEX 2010 - naval war games between India and Singapore

It is the 17th edition of annual Singapore India Maritime Bilateral Exercise. has commenced on
April
03. The exercise is going on in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal. SIMBEX 2010 is
expected to
conclude on April 16.

Columbia Univ to have an Ambedkar Chair

Columbia University has instituted a Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Chair at its law school and two
Professor
Jagdish Bhagwati scholarships with support from the Indian government. The chair, at the
Columbia
University Law School in honour of Ambedkar, one of the university's alumni, has been
instituted to
mark the 120th birth anniversary of the chief architect of the Indian Constitution on April 14.

India takes up stapled visa issue with China

India conveyed its serious concerns to the Chinese leadership here over Beijing’s issuance of
stapled
visas to Kashmiris and plans to undertake projects in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). India do
not
accept the stapled visas on the passports of residents from Jammu and Kashmir.

Rahul named new JBT trustee

CONGRESS GENERAL SECRETARY Rahul Gandhi has been made one of the trustees of the
Jawahar
Bhavan Trust (JBT), which is involved in philanthropic activities and distributes scholarships
and
awards in the name of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru. The trust will also have two
other new members -- AICC treasurer Motilal Vora and Union minister Mukul Wasnik.
National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) to set up call centre for accidents
The ministry of road transport & highways to facilitate quick medical services for highway users
is
planning to set up a call centre which will act as a medium between medical authorities and
highway
users. Highways users can inform the call centre about any accident and even register their
complaints
about the construction and maintenance of the roads. National Highways Authority of India
(NHAI),
has set a stringent bidding process for the selection of the call centre operator. According to the
NHAI
bidding document, a company having at least 2,500 employees should have the experience of
running
call centres for at least three consecutive years preceding the bidding year, an average turnover
of
minimum Rs 100 crore during the three financial years and Rs 25 crore of its revenue should be
from
call centre operations. Initially, the around-the-clock call centre will have a capacity of 50 seats.
According to latest data from the National Crime Records Bureau, over 1.14 lakh people lost
their lives
on the national highways in 2007, against 1.05 lakh in 2006.
The government has already approved a draft Bill to set up the National Road Safety and Traffic
Management Board for improving safety provisions on the national highways. The Centre has
also
decided to create a National Road Safety Fund to give the board financial freedom to carry out
its
functions.

No more statues in Parliament

A decision has been taken to disallow further installation of statues and portraits in Parliament to
maintain its neat and spacious look. A high-powered committee of Parliament headed by Lok
Sabha
Speaker Meira Kumar has recommended that no more statues be installed in Parliament in
future.
The committee decided that only a symbolic unveiling of portraits would be allowed and after
that the
portrait would be handed over to Parliament library.

India, Pak war games at same time

The Indian Army will launch its month-long wargames in mid-April in the Thar Desert.
Codenamed
as 'Yodha Shakti’.
Pakistan will also conduct its 'Azm-e-Nau-III' (new resolve) exercise, described as its biggest
war
games in two decades, to train for a conventional war with India. The manoeuvres will be held
near
the border in the country's Punjab and Sindh provinces - close to Rajasthan's Thar Desert. Azm-
e-
Nau (New Resolve) 3 Exercise is aimed at training troops for the threat of a conventional war
with
India.

10th Mother Teresa International Award

Indian World Cup winning cricket captain Kapil Dev, former Davis Cupper Jaideep Mukerjea
and
Olympic hockey skipper Gurbux Singh will be among a host of luminaries from various fields to
receive the tenth Mother Teresa International Award. Ajit Wadekar, who led the national cricket
team to a historic overseas series win in West Indies and England in 1971, famed soccer striker
Tulsidas Balaram, popular singer Amit Kumar, Bengali stage and screen actress Sova Sen, and
noted
filmmaker Tarun Majumdar are also in the list of awardees.

By 2020 tobacco will be responsible for 13 per cent of all deaths in India
Tobacco smoking is killing one million Indians every year. But a simple rise in excise tax on
bidis and
cigarettes could reverse this deadly trend. According to report — Economics of Tobacco and
Tobacco
Taxation in India — released by two of its authors, Dr Govinda Rao of the National Institute for
Public
Finance and Policy and Dr Prabhat Jha of the Centre for Global Health Research, on Thursday
concluded that without strong action, over 51 million Indians alive today would die prematurely
from
tobacco consumption. The report points out that by 2020 more than 38.4 million beedi smokers
and
13.2 million cigarette smokers are likely to die prematurely due to smoking. Raising taxes on
cigarettes and bidis to internationally recommended levels would generate more than Rs 18,000
crore
annually in new government revenues that could be used to support efforts to reduce tobacco use
and
help bidi workers.

ISRO’s cryogenic fuel mission fails

India’s effort at joining the elite club of space faring nations with indigenous cryogenic fuel
technology
hit a roadblock as the geo-synchornous satellite launch vehicle (GSLV-D3) carrying the geo-
stationary
experimental satellite (GSAT-4) ‘deviated’ from its path. The satellite was to have been put into
a
Geostationary orbit, 36,000 km above earth. GSLV was to place in orbit a satellite with
navigational
features and will be followed by three more which will be part of Geo Augmented Navigational
system
(GAGAN) aimed at enhancing satellite signals to the levels needed for a GPS programme. The
launch
will be the first part of a plan that eventually leads to an Indian regional navigational satellite
system
which is to be in place by 2014.
India is the sixth country to design and develop the cryogenic technology.
When the US prevented Russia from transferring its cryogenic technology to India in 1992,
the state-run ISRO embarked on a mission in 1994 to design and develop the cryo engine for
achieving
self-reliance in such complex technology at a cost of Rs 335-crore (Rs.3.35 billion) in 16 years.
India,
however, had imported seven cryo engines from Russia but used five to launch heavy satellites
(above
two-tonne class) in GSLV-Mark I and Mark-II rockets during the last decade.

India developing sub-sonic missile “Nirbhay”

India is developing a sub-sonic 1,000-km range cruise missile “Nirbhay” which is a long
range, subsonic Stealth cruise missile. The missile will have a range of 1000 km and will arm
three
services, the Indian Army, Indian Navy and the Indian Air Force. The Nirbhay will be able to be
launched from multiple platforms on land, sea and air.

Mid-term review of 11th Plan

According to the Appraisal document, India's targeted growth for the 11th Five Year Plan
(2007-12) may fall short of the earlier projected figure of 9 per cent impacted by the
slowdown in the past two years and the average rate of growth in the plan period could be a
little over 8 per cent. The economy would be well positioned for the transition to a growth
rate higher than 9 per cent in the 12th Plan period.
The Plan panel also approved a Rs.1, 350-crore for a crime tracking system, besides Rs.2,000
crore for
the modernisation of medical colleges across the country.
he agri sector will be the most challenging sector for policymakers in the remaining two years of
the
11th Plan. Infrastructure will be another key issue for policymakers. The mid term review is
likely to
recommend USD 1 trillion worth of investments during the 12th five year plan.

                           INTERNATIONAL UPDATES

Eugene Terre'Blanche murdered
In South Africa, White supremacist leader Eugene Terre’Blanche was murdered on his
Ventersdorp
farm in the North West.

2010 Nuclear Energy summit

The 2010 Nuclear Security Summit was held in Washington, D.C., on April 12 and 13, 2010.
The
Summit focused on how to better safeguard weapons-grade plutonium and uranium to
prevent nuclear terrorism.

Ellison highest paid CEO in US

Lawrence Ellison, the CEO of Oracle topped the list with compensation of $84.5 million, more
than
the next two highest-paid CEOs combined. Other highly-compensated executives in the study
included Boston Scientific Corp’s Ray Elliott with pay of $33.37 million, Occidental Petroleum
Corp’s
Ray Irani with $31.4 million, Hewlett-Packard’s Mark Hurd with $24.2 million, Anadarko
Petroleum
Corp’s James Hackett with $23.51 million, and P&G Co’s A G Lafley with $23.47 million. The
lowest
paid was Apple’sSteven Jobs, at $1.

A state of emergency in Kyrgyzstan

Anti-government unrest rocked the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyzstan’s president
Kurmanbek Bakiyev declared a state of emergency on Wednesday as thousands of protesters
demanded an end to his rule. Here’s a look at the crisis:
What triggered the turmoil?
 Bakiyev came into power after the Tulip Revolution, which overthrew the previous govt in
2005
 He has been accused of tightening grip on power, jailing opponents and failing to root out
corruption
 Opponents say he has installed relatives in key govt posts
Key location
 Kyrgyzstan is central to Western efforts to contain Islamist militancy from Afghanistan
 It embraced US campaign to root out Taliban & invited US forces to work from its territory
 Hosts both US and Russian military air bases

Rajapaksa’s alliance wins Lanka polls

Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ruling coalition has won a simple majority of seats in
parliament. Rajapaksa’s United People’s Freedom Alliance had won 120 seats out of 180
initially
decided for the 225-member parliament. The poll was the first since Rajapaksa declared victory
in
May in the war against Tamil Tigers, defeating the separatist Tamil Tigers and returning the
entire
island to government control after 25 years.

Women can’t be forced to wear burqa: Bangla court

Bangladesh court has barred educational institutions in the country against forcing women
teachers
for wearing a burqa or covering their head, saying it would amount to violation of their
fundamental
rights.

CERN research center tried to discover the truth of universe

European Centre for Nuclear research (CERN) research center has experiment in its Large
Hadron
Collider (LHC), the world’s biggest machine by slamming beams of particles at record collision
energy
of 7 TeV or seven million million electron.
The collisions create simulations on a tiny scale of the Big Bang, the primeval fireball 13.7
billion years
ago out of which the entire cosmos — galaxies, stars, planets and eventually life as well as the
universal laws of physics — emerged.
It is theorized that the collider will produce the Higgs boson, the observation of which could
confirm
the predictions and missing links in the Standard Model, and could explain how other elementary
particles acquire properties such as mass.
What is the big bang model?
According to the Big Bang model, the universe expanded from an extremely dense and hot state
and
continues to expand today. A common and useful analogy explains that space itself is expanding,
carrying galaxies with it, like raisins in a rising loaf of bread. General relativistic cosmologies,
however, do not actually ascribe any 'physicality' to space. For better understanding of our solar
system, look at this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1AXbpYndGc&feature=player_embedded#!

Russia and U.S. Sign Nuclear Arms Reduction Pact

US president Barack Obama and his Russian counterpart Dmitry Medvedev signed a new
Strategic
Arms Reduction Treaty (START) to shrink their nations’ nuclear arsenals, the biggest such pact
between the former Cold War foes in a generation. The treaty commits their nations to slash the
number of strategic nuclear warheads by one-third and more than halve the number of missiles,
submarines and bombers carrying them. The pact will shrink the limit of nuclear warheads to
1,550
per country over seven years, about a third less than the 2,200 currently permitted.
US and Russia, who together have 95% of the world’s nuclear weapons and this pact will cut
their
nuclear arsenal by 30% within seven years.
HISTORY OF NUKE TALKS
1991 US and Soviet Union sign the first Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START I). The treaty
bars
them from deploying over 6,000 nuclear warheads
1993 US and Russia sign START II. It stipulates that the US should reduce its deployed
warheads to
3,500 while Russia cut its arsenal to 3,000. The treaty bans the use of multiple-warheads on
ICBMs
2002 Russia withdraws from START II after US pulls out of the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty
2002 George W Bush and Vladimir Putin sign the Strategic Offensive Reductions Treaty
(SORT),
under which both countries slash arsenal to 1,700-2,200 nuclear warheads each. The treaty will
expire
on Dec 31, 2012
April 2009 Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev agree to work out a new agreement to replace
START I, which expires in Dec 2009. Despite negotiations, they fail to reach a new pact
2010 Negotiators engage in tough talks in Switzerland to hammer out a pact
Nuclear warheads Russia (2010) 2,600 US (2009) 2,252 After Pact (max) 1,550 each
DEPLOYED LAUNCHERS Russia (2010) 566 US (2009) 798 After Pact (max) 700 each

Polish President Lech Kaczynski died

President of Poland Lech Kaczynski has been killed in a plane crash at the age of 60.
As mayor of Warsaw, he twice banned gay parades
and spoke in support of reintroducing the death
penalty. He was elected as Poland's president in
2005 as candidate of the Law and Justice Party.
The Law and Justice party, which stresses the
traditional values of the Roman Catholic Church, was
founded by Mr Kaczynski and his twin brother,
Jaroslaw, in 2001.

China builds 'Peace' airport just 100 km from Mt Everest

China is all set to increase its influence in Tibet, with the building of another civil airport near
Mount
Everest. China has named it ‘Peace Airport’, apparently sending a message to Tibetan rebels or
to
India. The fifth civil airport in Tibet is expected to start operations in October. The $71.7-million
airport coming up in Xigaze (also called Shigatse) prefecture in Tibet, which shares borders with
Nepal, Bhutan and India, also appears to be a politico-cultural coup of sorts.
LECH KACZYNSKI
Born in Warsaw in 1949
Arrested under martial law in
1981
Elected Warsaw Mayor in 2002
Elected president in October 2005

                           ECONOMY, FINANCE & BUSINESS WATCH

Falling dollar raises total debt by 12%
India’s total debt rose by nearly 12% in the last year to touch $251 billion till December 2009.
This is an increase of $27.8 billion over the previous year’s $224.6 billion up to March 2009.
The nearly 40%  rise in external debt was on account of depreciation of the US dollar against
major international currencies. Valuation effect accounted for $9.9 billion of the total surge. This
implies that if the dollar had not depreciated against major currencies, the rise would have been
limited to $17 billion, according to a finance ministry note. Long-term debt increased by 14% or
$25 billion to $206 billion while short-term debt increased by 4% or $1.8 billion to $45 billion
compared to the end-March estimates of the same at $181 billion and $43.4 billion, respectively.
The debt-service ratio or the ratio of total debt service payments to current receipts worked out to
5% during April-December 2009 as against 4% for April-December 2008. The ratio of short-
term external debt to foreign exchange reserves decreased from 17% at end-March 2009 to
15.7% at end-December 2009.

Exports surge 34.8% to $16 bn in February

Exports went up in February 2010 for the fourth straight month to $16.09 billion, an impressive
growth of 34.8%. Imports maintained momentum growing by 66% to $25 billion

FDI incease by 15.4% in Feb

FDI rose 15.4% to $1.7 billion in February compared to $1.5 billion in the same month last year.
During April-February of this fiscal, the inflow declined to $24.6 billion, from $25.4 billion in
the same period last year. Government is considering to allow foreign investment in limited
liability partnerships (LLPs). However, the existing norms of calculating FDI (which came in
Dec 2009) on the basis of ownerships and not on the basis of proportionate holdings of foreign
entities in an Indian company through various layers will continue. Because of these norms,
ICICI Bank, in which foreign holding is almost 75% is considered as a foreign bank.
What is limited liability partnership?
LLP, a fast emerging form of business structure, is a hybrid of companies and partnership firms,
which allow unlimited number of partners in an entity but their liabilities are restricted to the
extent of the stakes held by them.
The government is yet to form guidelines for this structure.

Forex reserves dip by $1.15 bn to $277 bn

Country's foreign exchange reserves fell by $1.151 billion to $277.042 billion for the week
ended March 26, against $278.193 billion in the previous week. foreign currency assets
comprising dollars, pounds and euro, among others, dipped $1,090 million during the week.
While SDR (special drawing rights — the reserve currency with the International Monetary
Fund) and the reserve capital with IMF dipped by $48 million and $13 million, respectively.
ways and means advances (WMA) is a facility under which the government (state as well as the
Centre) can borrow from the central bank to meets its daily revenue mismatches.

Tax holiday ends in HP, Uttarakhand

Finance minister has put an end to the tax holiday regime from HP and uttarakhand. Henceforth,
new investments in these states will not be eligible for 100% excise duty holiday provided as a
part of the industrial development package for the upliftment of these industrially backward
states. However, all investments made till March 31, 2010 will continue to enjoy the benefit for
another 10 years.

GAIL to invest Rs 6,000 cr on 1,000-km pipelines in FY11

As part of plans to meet its target under the 11th Five-Year Plan of adding 5,000 km pipelines by
2013, public sector GAIL (India) will invest about Rs 6,000 crore in the next fiscal. The
company, which has earmarked a total of Rs 28,000 crore for the five-year period, will lay 1,000
km of natural gas pipelines across the country in 2010-11.

Banks get 2 more yrs to meet IFRS norms

THE government has given two more years to banks and nonbanking finance companies to align
their accounting practices with the international financial reporting standards (IFRS). The core
group of the ministry of corporate affairs extended the deadline to April 2013 at a meeting on
March 29.

External financial assets cross $100 b

INDIA’S net foreign currency liabilities or external financial assets as reflected in the net IIP
(International Assets — International Liabilities) released by RBI on Wednesday has crossed the
$100-billion mark. The data indicates that net liabilities increased by $ 21.2 billion to $117.1
billion in December 2009 from $96.0 billion as on September 2009. This the central bank
attributed mainly to the rise in net inflow of direct investment as well as the portfolio investment
in India. Total external financial assets increased by $7.0 billion to $385.9 billion as on
December 2009 over the previous quarter.

Rising credit growth key to greater profits

The credit growth has improved to 16% as on March 12, while the deposit growth remains
stagnant at 18%. So, the gap between the deposit and advances growth, which stood at around
8% in December, has narrowed down to 2%. How the difference between the credit and deposit
growth affects the banks:
When the credit growth stumbled to 10.5%, the deposit growth stood at 18.2% in Dec 2009 So,
banks had to pay interest on much higher base of deposits than the interest they were making on
their advances. This severely affected banks in December 2009 quarter, as most of them reported
flat net interest income (NII). Net interest income is the difference between interest earned and
interest expense.
Credit growth was a mere 10.5% year-on-year as on December 4, 2009 and deposit growth was
at 18.2%.

Food inflation up, RBI may take more steps

Higher prices of milk, fruits and pulses pushed food inflation to 17.7% for the week ended
March 27, fuelling expectations that the RBI may further tighten key rates in its annual monetary
policy on April 20. Food inflation in the previous week stood at 16.35%.

Financial inclusion drive

The ministry is considering a proposal to lower the weight for profitability in the points-based
evaluation of state-owned banks and introduce some extra points for financial inclusion efforts.
A total of 6,50,000 villages are covered under the programme. Out of the 600,000 habitations in
the country, only about 30,000 have a commercial bank branch. Just about 40% of the population
across the country have bank accounts. Banks will also be made more accountable for
performance of the regional rural banks they have sponsored. The 24 public sector banks have
sponsored 79 of these specialised rural banks.
Under the new guidelines, the net profit of the RRBs and their achievement in core banking
solutions may form a part of the performance valuation of the sponsoring commercial bank.
Performance of Regional Rural Banks will be taken under scanner to drive financial inclusion.
Lead bank in each district draw a roadmap by March 2010 for ensuring population of over 2,000
has access to financial services
One district in each state for 100% financial inclusion

RBI relaxes rules for asset classification, reduces banks’ bad loans
RBI has eased asset classification infrastructure and project loan guidelines, which in turn will
lower the amount of bad loans in the books of banks. Till now, a bank had to classify a project
loan as a ‘substandard’
asset if commercial operations did not start within six months of the completion of the project,
even if the company regularly serviced its loan. Similarly, in case of infrastructure loans, a bank
had to classify it as substandard if commercial operations did not start within two years of the
completion of the project even if it is being repaid.
RBI has increased the grace period for classifying them as standard assets provided the borrower
continue to pay.
For infrastructure projects, RBI has increased the grace period to a total of four years and for
project loans, RBI has extended the grace period to one year from six months from the original
date of commencement of commercial operations (DCCO).
The central bank has also increased the provisioning requirement on standard assets if banks
choose to extend the grace period in case of project and infrastructure loans. If the grace period is
six months from DCCO, the bank will have to provide standard provision of 0.40%, but if it
gives a grace period of one year, the standard provision would be 1%. In case of infrastructure
loans, if the grace period is two years, standard provision would be 0.40% and beyond two years
is 1%.

India, US launch financial partnership forumIndia and the US launched a joint financial and
economic partnership forum that would involve the two countries closely on designing a private
system capable of financing future innovations and leverage investments in infrastructure
development. Three key areas — macroeconomic policy, financial sector reforms and
infrastructure financing, will be examined and strengthened. India needs an investment of $600
billion in the next five years in infrastructure sector.

Govt takes out Rs 600cr from EIL

The government has taken out Rs 600 crore by way of special dividend and taxes from state-run
consultancy firm Engineers India Ltd (EIL). Of this, the government, which holds over 90%
equity received, Rs 507.65 crore plus a dividend tax of over Rs 96 crore.
Disinvestment from SAIL will fetch 16, 000 cr Government is disinvesting 10% of its stake in
SAIL which will raise 16, 000 cr in two tranches. As part of the proposal, SAIL will raise an
additional 10% of the paid-up equity and the government on its part will disinvest 10% of its
holding. After disinvesting, government holding will be limited to 69% approx and Public
shareholding will be 31%. As of now, public holding in the company stands at 14.2%.
The government had set a target of raising about Rs 40,000 crore this fiscal through
disinvestment, while last year it was Rs 25,000 crore.

United Spirits becomes world No. 2

United Spirits (USL), the flagship company of the Vijay Mallya-promoted UB Group, said on
Wednesday that it had crossed sales volume of 100 million cases in 2009-10, making it the
world's No 2 spirits company in volume terms. USL had dislodged Paris-headquartered Pernod
Ricard from that position. Diageo, the No 1 spirits company, is now only about 9 million cases
ahead of USL

Corporate Bharti, Zain sign definitive deal

INDIAN telco Bharti Airtel and the Zain Group of Kuwait have signed a definite agreement for
purchase of Zain’s African assets. The $10.7-billion deal was signed in Amsterdam, the base of
Zain’s African unit. With Zain Africa’s 42 million customers, Bharti Airtel will have 179 million
subscribers, making it the world’s fifth-largest mobile phone operator.

India Inc’s Jan-Mar M&A tally at $19 b

According to VCCEdge, the financial research platform of VCCircle, the value of merger and
acquisition (M&A) deals in India rose to $19.20 billion in the first quarter of this year, up from
$5.19
billion a year ago. The number of domestic transactions doubled from 39 deals worth $2.27
billion in Q1 of 2009 to 80 deals worth $4.06 billion in the same period of this year.
The top two deals in the first three months of this year were the $10.7-billion acquisition of
Zain’s African operations by Bharti Airtel, followed by the $1.8 billion acquisition of tower
assets of Aircel by GTL Infrastructure.

Govt bans fresh FDI in cigarette manufacturing

The government banned fresh foreign direct investment (FDI) in cigarette manufacturing. FDI
will be prohibited in the manufacture of cigarettes, whether it is for domestic consumption or for
exports.
 At present, three major global players — British American Tobacco (BAT), Japan Tobacco and
the Altria Group — have large investments in India. Banning of FDI will help well entrenched
cash rich company like ITC.

China March Trade Deficit Complicates Yuan Issue

For the first time in six years, China announced on Saturday that it has suffered a trade
deficit.With imports of commodities surging last month, China swung to a trade deficit of $7.24
billion in March from a surplus of $7.61 billion in February, according to figures issued by
China's Customs agency. Overall imports were up 66% from a year earlier in March, with
purchases of crude oil and copper at near-record levels in volume terms.

                                                                       APPOINTMENTS
Austrian Gustav Baldauf is AI’s first COO
Loss-making national carrier Air India announced the appointment of Capt Gustav Baldauf as its
first
chief operating officer (COO) on Tuesday. The Austrian national will be the first expatriate in
the
management team of India’s flagship airline.

Srinija Srinivasan
President Obama has appointed Chandigarhborn Srinija Srinivasan, 40, one of the three co-
founders
of Yahoo! as a member of the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars.

                                                                              BOOKS
1. Songs of Blood and Sword – by Fatima Bhutto, niece of late Pakistani Prime Minister
Benazir Bhutto
2. The Immortals of Meluha – By Amish Tripathi
3. Becoming Indian – By Pavan K. Varma
4. The Museum Of Innocence – By Orhan Pamuk
5. India’s Foreign Policy : The democracy Dimension – By S D muni
6. On the Brink - By Hank Paulson
7. Solo –By Rana Dasgupta,
8. Maruti Story - How a Public Sector Company Put India on Wheels - By R C
Bhargava
9. The Difficulty of Being Good: On the Subtle Art of Dharma – By Gurcharan Das
10. Nixon, Indira and India – By Kalyani Shankar
11. The Veiled Suite - By Agha Shahid Ali
12. Empire of the Moghul: Brothers at War - By Alex Rutherford,
13. The Last Sunset – By Amarinder Singh
14. Victoria and Abdul – By : Shrabani Basu
15. Reforming Vaishno Devi – By Jagmohan
16. The Temple-Goers - By Aatish Taseer
17. The Palace of Illusions - By Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
18. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest – By Stieg Larsson,
19. Way to Go – By pamanyu Chatterjee,
20. True Blue - By David Baldacci
21. Coalition Politics In India – By C P Bhambhri

                                                                SPORTS NEWS

Golf
Karlberg seals the deal at SAIL Open
Richard Karlberg of Sweden closed with a superb six-under-par 66 for a winning aggregate of
20-
under-par 268 and beat joint overnight leader India's Shiv Kapur by five shots at the Delhi Golf
Club.

Grand Prix
Malaysian Grand Prix
Sebastian Vettel’s victories in Sunday’s Malaysian Grand Prix to register his first race win of the
Formula One season.

More Sports News

India finish fourth, Malaysia win Asian Rugby Sevens
Tournament being played at Delhi University North Campus grounds saw Malaysia emerge as
the
Champion of Asian Rugby Sevens championship defeating Sri lanka in the final.
Former England great Alec Bedser dies at 91
Former seam bowler Alec Bedser, who took 236 Test wickets in a glittering England career
spanning
51 matches, has died at the age of 91.

Sunil Kumar won silver in China Open

Former Commonwealth champion Sunil Kumar fought hard but had to settle for silver after
losing to
Olympic champion Zou Shiming in the finals of the AIBA 3 Star China Cup in Guiyang City.
South
Asian Games gold medallist Chhote Lal Yadav (57kg), Olympian Diwakar Prasad (60kg),
Kuldeep
Singh (75kg) and Jasveer Singh (81kg) were India’s bronze medallists in the tournament
featuring 102
boxers from 19 countries.

More Current Affairs

  THE SUN Behind the Clouds: Tibet’s Struggle for Freedom, a documentary ia executed
by Ritu Sarin and Tenzing Sonam
  The Central Vigilance Commission has asked the HRD ministry to fix responsibility for
the ‘wrongdoings’ in the Indian Council of Historical Research in the appointment of
consultants and hiring of lawyers.
  Solar-powered flight named “Solar Impulse” The plane has the wing span of an Airbus
A340, the weight of an average car, and is powered by some 12,000 solar cells.
  The annual salary of US president Barack Obama is $400,000 per annum.
  Nooria Haveliwala, a US citizen, which is accused of having killed a traffic policeman
and a driver while speeding under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs

                                          Abbreviations
NUEPA - National University for Educational Planning and Administration
AFSPA - Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act
NAAC - National Assessment and Accreditation Council
ICHR - Indian Council of Historical Research

                                         Important Days

National Days
World Health Day – April 7
National Maritime day – April 5
National Safe Motherhood Day – April 11
National Civil Servcies Day – April 21
National Panchayat Day – April 24
International Days
World Autism Day – April 3
World Health Day – April 7
World Heritage Day – April 18
Earth Day – April 22

April 15-30 Current Affairs

NATIONAL UPDATES
India's first indigenous stealth warship INS Shivalik commissioned

It's a ship that is designed to escape detection by normal radars and surveillance equipment. Special
aerodynamics, equipment and material used in designing and building these ships makes it very difficult
to monitor their movements. That's why they are called 'stealth frigates.'It's called the INS Shivalik, and
it's the first ship built by India designed to escape detection by normal radars and surveillance
equipment. 

India has entered into an elite club of eight nations that build stealth warships with the commissioning
of the first indigenous stealth frigate INS Shivalik, adding new fire power and muscle to its Navy.

Apart from India, only the US, Russia, UK, France, Sweden, Japan, Italy andChina have the capability to
build stealth warships of this size and class.

Biometric database of all criminals

The government has launched a project to have a biometric database of all criminals across the country.

 The project — Automated Fingerprint Identification Systems (AFIS) — is currently being implemented in
21 states and two Union Territories including Delhi and Puducherry under the ongoing Crime & Criminal
Tracking Network and System (CCTNS), which is aimed at inter-linking all 14,000 police stations and
1,300 prisons in the country by next year. Police stations in the selected states have started taking
fingerprints of all criminals and keeping them in a database, which could be used by various law
enforcement agencies across the country. 

• AFIS is currently being implemented in 21 states and two UTs 

• Every police station in the country is proposed to be provided with a fingerprint reader 

• For this, Rs 15,000 per police station has been earmarked 

• States where AFIS has been introduced include Andhra, Arunachal, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat,
Haryana, J&K, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland,
Orissa, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Bengal

Amitav Ghosh lands in controversy over Israeli literary award

Amitav Ghosh, known for his powerful and brilliant depictions of the brutality of colonial occupation and
notable for having declined the Commonwealth Award some years ago for its colonial associations, is
now in the eye of a storm over a literary award jointly shared by himself and Canadian author Margaret
Atwood.  The current controversy erupted when Ghosh was announced co-winner of the Dan David
award, a new and very rich literary prize awarded by the University of Tel Aviv. The prize money for the
category in which Ghosh won is $1 million, presumably to be shared by Atwood and he. Ghosh is the
third Indian to win the prize after chemist C.N.R. Rao (2005) and musician Zubin Mehta (2007).

17 members take oath in Rajya Sabha 

From lyricist Javed Akhtar, educationist Bhalchandra Mungekar and anthropologist Ram Dayal Munda to
hardcore politicians like A K Antony, Mani Shankar Aiyar and Ashwani Kumar, 17 new, re-elected and
nominated members took the oath in Rajya Sabha. Defence minister Antony (Kerala), sports minister M
S Gill (Punjab), Silvius Condpan (Assam), Ashwani Kumar (Punjab) and Naresh Gujral (Punjab) were
among the re-elected members. New members who took oath included Naznin Faruque (Assam), Bimla
Kashyap Sood (Himachal Pradesh), K N Balagopal and T N Seema (both Kerala), Avinash Rai Khanna
(Punjab), Jharna Das Baidya (Tripura) and Naresh Chandra Agarwal (UP).

UK allows Sikh docs to wear ‘karas’ 

The UK Health Department has relaxed its “no jewellery” rule for Sikh employees allowing them to wear
karas, as long as they can be moved up the arm during direct contact with patients. They have also
revised rules for Muslim doctors and nurses, allowing them to opt out of strict dress codes designed to
tackle the spread of deadly infection on grounds of religion. The decision comes days after Christian
nurse Shirley Chaplin lost her discrimination claim against the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital Trust,
which banned her from wearing a crucifix.

PM gave green signal to  girls scheme panel

PM Manmohan Singh has approved setting up a group of ministers (GoM) headed by home minister P
Chidambaram to address concerns raised by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on the
scheme to provide nutrition and education to adolescent girls. The scheme — Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for
Empowerment of Adolescent Girls — has been mooted by the ministry of women and child
development. The other ministers in the GoM include health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, labour
minister Mallikarjun Kharge, rural development minister C P Joshi, minister for social justice and
empowerment Mukul Wasnik, tribal affairs minister Kantilal Bhuria, WCD minister Krishna Tirath among
others. 

UP to set up special tiger protection force

 Uttar Pradesh government will shortly enact a law to constitute a special tiger protection force with its
office based at Dudhwa National Park in Lakhimpur Kheri district.  The force will be set up strictly under
Union environment and forest ministry’s guidelines. The ministry plans to create 11 STPF companies for
about a dozen of states including Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam
and Uttarakhand.  The move has come as a big relief for the forest officials with state having a 960-km
long border with Nepal. According to the 2007 census, the state’s tiger population was 109. The state
witnessed death of four tigers in 2007, five in 2008 and three in 2009. In 2010, one tiger died in
Kishanpur sanctuary.

Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor quits

Due to his alleged involvement in the Kochi IPL cricket franchise bid, Shashi Tharoor resigned from the
post. 

Amid mounting political pressure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh summoned the first-time Minister to
his residence after a meeting of the Congress Core Group, and asked him to step down.

NREGA Better Implemented In Red Zones, Says Govt Report 

Maoists may be opposed to various development projects in their pockets of influence but they are not
opposed to the National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREGA) scheme — the government’s flagship
programme of providing jobs to rural poor — leading to its better implementation in Red zone. This
came to light when cabinet secretary K M Chandrasekhar reviewed the progress of the government’s
ongoing development programmes in 33 most Naxal-affected districts across states at the 11th meeting
of the task force comprising Union home secretary G K Pillai and secretaries of other ministries.

India to get $4.5 million US aid to fight terror 

Obama administration follows a request from India in the aftermath of the Mumbai attack and decided
to render the amount of $4.5 million to India for the fiscal 2011. 

SMS ban revoked within hours in J&K

A ban imposed by the central government on SMSes in Kashmir has been revoked within a matter of
hours, after Chief Minister Omar Abdullah protested strongly against it.

The Telecom Ministry had banned text messages for post-paid subscribers, or those who're billed
monthly for their cellphones by telecom operators.  The Department of Telecom had asked the state's
12 operators, including state-owned BSNL and other private players like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone
Essar, to withdraw text message service to their post-paid users in J&K altogether.

This is the second time since November that the government has issued and then withdrawn rules on
cellphone usage in Jammu and Kashmir.

India to set up Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership

During the nuclear energy summit in Washington, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced setting
up of a 'Global Centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership' for conducting research and development of
design systems that are secure, proliferation resistant and sustainable. Making the big-ticket
announcement, Mr Singh in a statement at the summit said the centre would be a state-of-the-art
facility with four schools dealing with different issues related to nuclear energy. The facility would be
based on international participation from IAEA and other interested foreign partners. The Centre will
consist of four schools dealing with advanced nuclear energy system studies, nuclear security, radiation
safety, and application of radioisotopes and radiation technology in the areas of healthcare, agriculture
and food.

Panel charge sheets Justice Sen

Justice Soumitra Sen, a sitting judge of the Calcutta High Court facing an impeachment motion, has been
served with a charge sheet by the inquiry panel set up the Rajya Sabha chairperson after it found, prima
facie, that allegations of financial irregularities could be made out against him. The panel, headed by
Justice B Sudershan Reddy, a judge of the Supreme Court, and comprising chief justice of Punjab and
Haryana High Court Justice Mukul Mudgal and noted jurist Fali S Nariman, went through the documents
relating to the scam alleged against Justice Sen. 

Tipu Sultan’s sword sells for record £500,000

A rare 200-year-old sword belonging to Tipu Sultan, the erstwhile ruler of Mysore, was auctioned for a
record £505,250 here, ten times than its estimated price. The Tipu Sultan collection, comprised of seven
lots, included weaponry and other rarities captured after the British stormed his palace in
Srirangapatnam in Mysore in May 1799. Earlier reports had said the sword, which went under the
hammer, was the one bought by Indian business tycoon Vijay Mallya in 2003.

India’s 1st blood bank for dogs opens in TN

Tamil Nadu has opened the country’s first blood bank for dogs. The facility, started by the Tamil Nadu
Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS) and whose inauguration coincided with World
Veterinary Day, holds out hope to owners of dogs who have found themselves in a fix when it came to
their pets requiring blood urgently. 

INTERNATIONAL UPDATES
Thailand PM, Abhisit Vejjajiva under tremendous pressure to step down

Thailand's Election Commission recommended the embattled ruling party be dissolved, potentially
handing victory to anti-government protesters who have demanded the Prime minister steps down. 

The ruling comes the same day that Thailand's influential Army Chief appeared to back a key demand of
the protesters, saying Parliament might need to be dissolved to resolve the country's violent political
standoff.
 Together, the comments by Gen Anupong Paochinda and the election body's decision could spell the
end of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's rule, which the protesters say is illegitimate. But his control of
security forces has increasingly been called into question over the past month as protesters repeatedly
marched through the capital. The commission found the Democrat Party — Thailand's oldest — guilty of
misusing campaign donations. The ruling will have to be endorsed by the Constitutional Court before the
party of Abhisit is disbanded.  

What is happening in Thailand?

Thailand's government has declared a state of emergency in the capital, Bangkok, in order to control
protesters demanding an early election. The "red shirt" protesters are mostly supporters of former
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and now lives in self-
imposed exile. They are confident of winning the next election. They see Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva
as a front for the establishment elite and military who came to power not through the ballot box but
through a parliamentary stitch-up in December 2008 when the courts dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling
party.

Who are the Red Shirts?

They are the supporters of an increasingly organised group known as the United Front for Democracy
against Dictatorship (UDD). The UDD is largely backed by the rural poor, loyal to Thaksin because of his
welfare and rural development policies while in office from 2001-2006. The latest rally has also shown
sizable support among the lower classes in Bangkok.

They back Thaksin despite his conviction for corruption after he was ousted. In February this year the
courts confiscated $1.4 billion of his assets, deemed to have been amassed through abuse of power.

Earthquake in China

A powerful earthquake on 13 april devastated China's remote north-western province of Qinghai, killing
400 people as it toppled houses, created cracks in dams and left over 10,000 injured, officials said.

The province of Qinghai is a remote region in northwest China; it borders Xinjiang to the northwest and
Tibet on its southwest. Qinghai-Tibet railway lines run through the province
The trembler measuring 7.1-magnitude on Richter Scale hit the province in the Qinghai Tibetan plateau
early today and almost flattened Jiegu township, where more than 85 per cent of the houses collapsed.

The quake's epicentre was located at 96.3 degrees east longitude and 33.3 degrees north latitude in
Longbao Town, 60 km southwest of Yushu's prefecture seat Gyegu Town. But the tremor was felt
strongly in Gyegu, said Xu Chuanjie, head of emergency rescue section at the provincial earthquake
bureau.

Gyegu, also known as Jiegu, is the seat of the Yushu prefecture government with a population of
100,000. 

More than 80% of the houses in Gyegu are made of wood and mud resulting in their large scale
destruction, sources said. The quake focus was 10 km below the earth's surface. 

4th IBSA Summit 2010

The 4th IBSA Summit was held on April 15th, 2010, in Brasilia. The Leaders highlighted that the three
countries’ commitment to democratic values, inclusive social development and multilateralism
constitutes the basis for their growing cooperation and close coordination on global issues. 

Origin of IBSA:  IBSA is a trilateral, developmental initiative between India, Brazil and South Africa to
promote South-South cooperation and exchange. The Heads of State and/or Government of the IBSA
countries met at the G-8 meeting for discussions that took place in Evian in 2003, and further following
ongoing trilateral consultations, the Foreign Ministers of the respective countries met in Brasilia on June
6, 2003. At this meeting between Ministers Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma from South Africa, Celso Amorim
from Brazil and Yashwant Sinha from India, the launching of the IBSA Dialogue Forum was formalized
through the adoption of the "Brasilia Declaration".

Global Governance: The Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to increase participation of developing
countries in the decision-making bodies of multilateral institutions. They also reiterated the urgent need
for the reform of the United Nations (UN) to render it more democratic and consistent with the
priorities of developing countries. They particularly emphasized that no reform of the United Nations
will be complete without a reform of the UN Security Council (UNSC), including an expansion in both
permanent and nonpermanent categories of its membership, with increased participation of developing
countries in both. Such reform is of the utmost importance for the UNSC to reflect geopolitical realities
and to have the representativeness and legitimacy it needs to face contemporary challenges. 

The Leaders stressed the need to reform the Bretton Woods Institutions in order to increase their
effectiveness and enhance their accountability, credibility and legitimacy. They stressed the importance
of increasing the role of developing countries in these institutions. 

Sustainable Development: The Leaders stressed the importance of promoting sustainable development.
They welcomed the resolution of the UN General Assembly to convene a Conference on Sustainable
Development (Rio+20) in Rio de Janeiro, in 2012. They called for a comprehensive preparatory process,
to ensure that the Rio+20 Conference can adequately address existing implementation deficits and
emerging issues in sustainable development, with a view to further strengthening international
cooperation in this field.

IBSA Satellites: The Leaders decided to the early development of satellites in the areas of space
weather, climate and earth observation. These satellites will address common challenges in climate
studies, agriculture and food security. The IBSA micro satellites aim to promote and strengthen space
programs amongst the three countries.

Disarmament and Non-Proliferation: The Leaders reaffirmed their commitment to the goal of complete
elimination of nuclear weapons in a comprehensive, universal, non-discriminatory and verifiable
manner. They underlined the need for reducing the role of nuclear weapons in strategic doctrines and
expressed their support for effective international agreements to assure non-nuclear weapon States
against the use or threat of use of nuclear weapons. The Leaders expressed support for an International
Convention Prohibiting the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Nuclear Weapons, leading
to their destruction.

Many issues like Trade, climate change, gender discrimination, Human rights, Intellectual property
rights,  internet governance, overhaul of international institutions, problems of middle east, global
financial and economic crisis, South-South cooperation were also discussed.

II BRIC Summit declares 2010 deadline for World Bank, IMF reform
BRIC Summit was held in Brasilia a day after IBSA Summit. 

The declaration issued by the BRIC nations, which account for about 40 percent of the world's
population, at a summit meeting here — their second since 2009 — shows a collective assertiveness in
world economic matters.

The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China on Thursday demanded the commitment to reform the
Bretton Woods financial institutions that the advanced economies made at Pittsburgh during the G-20
summit be completed by this year itself.  

The IMF and the World Bank urgently need to address their legitimacy deficits, We call for the voting
power reform of the World Bank to be fulfilled in the upcoming Spring Meetings, and expect the quota
reform of the IMF to be concluded by the G-20 Summit in November this year” the BRIC summit
declaration says.

On U.N. reform, Russia and China — both permanent members of the Security Council — baulked at
endorsing the specific demand India and Brazil have made for permanent seats. But the declaration
reaffirmed the need to make the world body more effective and representative.

The group is not expected to push for a new international reserve currency to rival the dollar, an idea
that was discussed at their last summit. As a major holder of U.S. Treasury bonds, China is not keen to
see the value of its investments diminish.

The BRIC leaders may have talks on bypassing the dollar by boosting inter-BRIC currency trade. 

Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula said a Chinese pledge to build a steel plant at a Brazilian port was also
likely and that it would be China's biggest investment ever in Latin America's largest economy.

Brazil, Russia and India appreciate the offer of China to host the III BRIC Summit in 2011.

For more read, visit II BRIC Joint Statement

China admits to Brahmaputra project

After several years of denying the existence of any river project on the Brahmaputra, China has finally
admitted to India that they are indeed building a hydropower project on the river. The admission, made
for the first time by Chinese officials to India during the recent visit by foreign minister S M Krishna to
Beijing, has brought a measure of transparency between the two countries, but also focused Indian
interest in China’s river activities, particularly Brahmaputra. Satellite pictures had picked up the
construction of a dam in Zangmu, in the Lhokha prefecture of Tibet, but even as late as 2009, China
denied that such a project was under way. China said it was constructing a hydropower project in
Zangmu — there will be four more — on the Brahmaputra. But this would not involve storage of water
and was a run-of-the-river project, all inside Chinese territory. The 510 mw project is being built by
Gezhouba, one of China’s biggest dambuilding companies. 

 India and China have no water-sharing agreements, so it will be a first when next week, Indian and
Chinese water experts ink an “implementation plan” to share hydrological data on the Sutlej and
Brahmaputra rivers. These agreements were signed in 2005 and 2008, but China had refused to share
anything because there was no “plan”. The first lot of data will flow from China to India later this year. 

Volcano eruption in Iceland

Presently, whole of world is partially affected by second huge volcanic eruption in Iceland within a
month period. This volcanic eruption is so strong that it has forced large numbers of airlines to ground
their flights leaving for Europe. The eruption is taking place under Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull glacier,
normally a popular hiking ground about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of the capital Reykjavik. Ash from
the volcano is drifting southeast toward the European continent, 

Iceland is a small European island nation situated in North Atlantic Ocean just above England. Population
of Iceland is slightly above 3 Lakh. 

Obama’s vision: Man on Mars in 30 yrs 

Scrapping the “Back to Moon” project of Nasa, US president Barack Obama gave a new mission to the
country’s civilian space programme agency — a manned mission to Mars in three decades and sending
astronauts to explore asteroids beyond the moon by 2025. 

In a speech at the Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, Obama announced to increase its budget by $6
billion in the next five years. 

El Nino makes March 2010 the hottest ever 

Global temperatures fuelled by El Nino seasonal warming last month chalked up the hottest March on
record, US weather monitors reported. Combined global land and ocean average surface temperature
for March 2010 was the warmest on record at 13.5°C, which is 0.77°C above the 20th century average of
12.7°C, it said. Average ocean temperatures were the hottest for any March since record-keeping began
in 1880, while the global land surface was the fourth warmest for any March on record.

UN report indicts Mush govt for Benazir’s assassination 

In a stunning 65-page report, a three member UN commission held Pakistan’s former government
headed by Pervez Musharraf responsible for not adequately protecting Benazir Bhutto. 

Among the positions taken by Bhutto that touched the establishments of  concerns was “her
independent position on the urgent need to improve relations with India, and its implications for the
Kashmir dispute, which the military had regarded as its policy domain”, the probe said. 

Economy, Banking & Finance

Sebi bans 14 insurers from issuing ULIP and soon after removes Ban but Puts Spanner in Fresh Plans 

The tiff between IRDA and Sebi on the regulation of ULIPs turned ugly when the Sebi on Friday, issued a
directive stating that 14 life insurance companies should stop selling ULIPs with immediate effect, till
they obtain the requisite certificate of registration from Sebi. 14 life insurance companies which are
banned, includes those belonging to Tatas, SBI, ICICI, HDFC and Reliance Anil Ambani group from raising
funds through unit linked schemes, a move on which insurance regulator feels that the firms should take
legal recourse. Sebi said that for the time being it was suspending the operative part of its Friday order
banning the 14 insurers from dealing in ULIPs. 

Row over ULIPS and ELSS:

ULIP is a unit linked investment plan, a product sold by life insurance companies. It is a hybrid product
serving dual need of insurance and investment. Whereas equity-linked savings schemes (ELSS)
comprises mainly mutual fund which is purely market linked and does not attach any life cover or
insurance.

While mutual funds face many restrictions, ULIPs face none. 

Last year, Sebi prohibited mutual funds to charge any fees from investors if they buy units of their
schemes directly from them. Earlier, funds used to pay certain amount to agents to push the products.
Now, agents have to charge it separately from the customer and funds do not pay any amount to
agents. That means, if an investor puts in Rs 10,000 in a scheme directly, he will get the units for his
entire amount. The Sebi order forced the funds not to give any incentive to push equity-linked schemes.
On the other hand, insurance companies give very high incentives to its agents (go up to 35%) to sell
ULIPs, which is a comparable to ELSS of mutual funds. And, up to 95% of premium paid by investors for
their ULIPs are invested in the stock market. Because of the high incentives, agents and other
distributing agencies are pushing ULIPs in the market very aggressively.

This can also be gauged from that fact that ULIPs constitute around 90% of the total portfolio of many
life insurance companies. During April-February 2009-10, insurance companies mobilized Rs 44,611
crore from 16.7 lakh investors. As against this, mutual funds could raise only Rs 3,514 crore in 2009-10
under ELSS. 

A substantial portion of premium collected under ULIPs goes to the stock market. Under ULIPs, for an
insurance cover of Rs 15 lakh, one has to pay Rs 1,50,000 for 10 years. Out of this, only Rs 3,000 is
deducted for giving life coverage, the rest is invested in the stock market. So, only 2% of the premium is
used to buy the life cover and the rest is used as investment. So, ULIPs should be subjected to regulation
similar to that of mutual funds, says Sebi.

Sebi is of the opinion that because it has an investment component, it is akin to a mutual fund
investment and hence needs to be regulated and registered with the market regulator. 

Industry posts 15.1% growth in February

with industrial growth at 15.1 per cent for the February  month, as measured by the index of industrial
production (IIP) data released here, it is lower than 16.7 per cent growth achieved in January this year
and a robust 17.6 per notched up in December last year. 

ADB pegs India’s growth at 8.2% in ’10 

The Asian Development Bank on Tuesday said India is poised for an economic growth of 8.2% in 2010
and 8.7 per cent in 2011. Although rising inflation would remain a concern in its report 'The Asian
Development Outlook 2010'.

RBI tightens loan securitisation rules for banks

RBI has revised guidelines on securitisation, wherein it has proposed that the seller of the loan should at
least hold the loan in its books for one year and retain a minimum 10% of the securitised amount if the
loan is with original maturity of two years. The revised draft guidelines also says if the loan is for two
years, the originator should hold the loan in its books for at least nine months and it should subscribe to
at least 5% of the securitised amount. The two-year period will start from the date of full disbursement
of loan or date of first instalment of loan if the loan is for two years. 
Securitisation, to put it simply, is one entity selling a part of its loans portfolio to another. Technically, it
is pooling together of loans into standard marketable bonds, which helps banks free more capital which
can then be used for its lending business. 

RBI has also made an effort to discourage securitisation of loans which have a poor credit rating. RBI has
set a 20% limit on the amount of amount of total securisation that the originator can take on its books.
In the revised guidelines, this 20% limit will also include the credit enhancement in a particular pool. So
far, the originator could hold up to 20% of the securitised amount but this did not include credit
enhancement. Since there is no limit of credit enhancement, the originator could better the credit rating
by setting aside a huge portion in the form of cash, FDs and guarantees. 

In case the originator exceeds 20% limit because of devolvement of underwritten securities, the excess
amount would be deducted from capital 50% from tier-I and 50% from tier-II capital. The tier-I (equity
and reserves) and tier-II (subordinate debt) capital is part of the capital that banks have to maintain. 

Inflation at 9.9% on broad price rise

Inflation touched a 17-month high of 9.9% in March spurred by an allround increase in prices. Annual
year-on-year inflation based on the wholesale price index stayed above the central bank’s year-end
projection for the third straight month. In January the Reserve Bank raised its wholesale price inflation
forecast to 8.5 % from 6.5 %. 

Infrastructure sector grows 7.2% in March

The infrastructure sector continues to grow at a healthy rate. In March, the six key sectors crude oil,
petroleum refinery, coal, electricity, cement and finished steel posted an annual growth of 7.2%,
boosting prospects of a robust overall industrial growth in the month. The six sectors had grown by 3.3%
in March 2009. These six industries, which have a combined weightage of 26.7% in the overall industrial
production index, showed a marked improvement in March — as against 4.7% in February 2010. For
2009-10, the infrastructure sector registered a growth of 5.5% against 3% in the same period last year. 

ITC Sonar first hotel to earn carbon credits

ITC Hotels has set a precedence by possibly becoming the first hospitality chain in the world to have
earned carbon credits. Its luxury property, ITC Sonar in Kolkata, which switched to energy efficient CFL
bulbs as part of its energy saving drive, has been issued 1,996 carbon credits per annum for a period of
10 years. The project has been registered as a clean development mechanism project (CDM) at the
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). 
The carbon credits earned by the hotel through its energy efficiency process can be capitalised to add to
its revenues. One carbon credit is equivalent to reduction of one tonne of carbon-di-oxide. 

UID gets new name with ‘Aadhaar’ 

Government’s ambitious UID project was on renamed ‘Aadhaar’ and its new logo unveiled with
chairman Nandan Nilekani underscoring that the scheme would lay the foundation for effectively
delivering services especially to the poor. Nilekani, chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India,
said Aadhaar translates into a ‘foundation’ or ‘support’ and the project, aiming to give a 16-digit number
to all citizens of the country starting from February next year, will now be known by the new name. 

CBDT notifies the valuation rules for gifts

The Central Board of Direct Taxes has notified the valuation rules for gifts over Rs 50,000, and these will
come into effect retrospectively from October 1, 2009. The transaction value of warrants, preference
shares and other such instruments transferred to another individual or a company will now have to be
certified by a category-I merchant banker according to CBDT’s new fair market value (FMV) norms for
gifts.

Gifts from a relative for a marriage, under will or by way of inheritance, from any local authority, or from
any fund or trust are exempted from tax. Spouses, siblings, and any lineal ascendant or descendant are
defined as relatives under the Income-Tax Act.

According to the latest notification, the FMV of jewellery, archeological collections, drawings, paintings,
sculptures or works of art shall be the price which they would fetch if sold in the open market on the
valuationdate. For jewellery or artistic works bought on the valuation date from a registered dealer, its
invoice shall be the FMV. If jewellery or art is received by any other mode and it’s the value exceeds Rs
50,000, the taxpayer will have to get the report of a registered valuer regarding the price it would fetch
if sold in the open market on the valuation date.

For shares and securities of listed companies, the FMV will be that recorded on any reconised stock
exchange. If these quoted shares and securities are transacted other than through recognised stock
exchanges, their FMV shall be their lowest price quoted on the exchange on the valuation date. In the
case of unlisted shares, book value will be the benchmark.

MCX scores as CCI probes NSE

THE Competition Commission of India (CCI) has ordered an investigation into the alleged misuse of
dominant position by the National Stock Exchange, the country’s largest bourse. CCI was set up last year
to investigate unfair practices and abuse of market leadership. The regulator was acting on a complaint
by the MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX), which alleged that NSE was indulging in unfair practices by
waiving the transaction fee on currency derivatives.  The development is likely to worsen relations
between the NSE, the undisputed leader in stock and derivatives trading, and MCX-SX, the upstart which
is trying to make headway in the nascent market for currency derivatives. 

Direct tax collections miss FY10 target by Rs 12,000 cr 

Finance Bill goes through with minor sops to some

FINANCE minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget proposals with the biggest deficit reduction in nearly two
decades were passed barring token concessions to housing, air travel, planters and healthcare. 

INDIRECT TAX 

Service tax on air travel capped at Rs 100 for domestic and Rs 500 for international; travel to North-East
exempt 

Service tax on construction to be levied on a lower 25% of gross value against 33% earlier. Overall
incidence down to 2.5% from 3.3% 

Low-cost housing, Skill Development Initiative Scheme not to attract service tax 

Relief package for coffee growers A Rs 241-cr fresh coffee debt relief package, specifically for small
growers 

DIRECT TAX 

New hospitals of more than 100 beds to get investment-linked tax benefits 

Slum development housing projects to get investment-linked tax incentives. 

Conversion from a corporate structure to a limited liability partnership not taxing Lower service tax on
construction

FOOD INFLATION AT 17.2% 

Headline inflation rose to 9.9% in March and food inflation showed marginal cooling at 17.22% for the
week ended April 3 from 17.70% in the previous week. 

PAN is mandatory 
Government has been making Permanent account number (PAN) mandatory for all financial
transactions. Why it is necessary to have PAN card. Give a look at it:

If the interest income on a fixed deposit is in excess of 10,000 a year, banks deduct tax at source at the
rate of 10%. But under the new provisions of the Finance (No 2) Act, 2009, effective April 1, 2010, if the
depositor submits only Form 15 H and doesn't declare PAN, the tax deduction would be 20%.

Permanent Account Number (PAN) is a 10-digit alphanumeric number issued by an Assessing Officer of
the Income Tax Department and is needed while conducting any kind of financial transaction in India, be
it only paying the Income Tax. The applicant receives the PAN mentioned in a laminated plastic card.
One can avail of only one PAN. Having more than one PAN is against the law.

New index to measure retail inflation next year

THE government will release new retail inflation indices for rural and urban India in February next year,
as it looks to improve the accuracy of figures for informed decision making. Two indices will have 2004-
05 as the base year. 

DEATHS

Rajasthan Governor Prabha Rau dead 

Rajasthan Governor Prabha Rau passed away. She had been a former PCC president and four-time
minister in Maharashtra.

Radhakrishnan, CPM veteran, passes away 

Veteran CPM leader Varkala Radhakrishnan died. Radhakrishnan began his career in 1952 as a village
council head of Varkala in the suburbs of Thiruvananthapuram. He was a member of the Kerala
Assembly from 1980 to 1996. Between 1987 and 1991, he was the assembly speaker. Since 1998, he
represented the Chiryankeezhu Lok Sabha constituency in Thiruvananthapuram district and was
popularly known as "annan".  

AWARDS

Kohli wins EU inventor award

Sanjai Kohli and his partner Steven Chen have won the European Inventor Award 2010 in the category of
inventors from non-European countries. The award has been instituted by the European Patent Office
(EPO) and the European Commission, and is into its fifth year. 

Sports
Augusta Masters Tournament 2010

Golfer Phil Mickelson became the winner of Augusta Masters Tournament 2010. On the other hand,
after a break of five months and dealing with injury and problems in his personal life, Tiger Woods
finished the tournament at the fourth place. Here is the list of winners:

Phil Mickelson was winner, 

Lee Westwood was at second spot, 

Kim at third spot, 

Tiger at fourth place, 

Choi was fifth, 

Couples was at sixth spot, 

Watney at seventh, 

Yang at eighth, 

Mahan at ninth place,

Barnes at tenth spot,

and Poulter got the last position on the leader board.

Indian Tennis League by December

The All India Tennis Association (AITA) has dreamed up a new concept — to create a league called Indian
Tennis League (ITL) to generate greater popularity for tennis. Inspired by the IPL’s transformative power
when it comes to the shorter version of cricket. The inaugural Indian Tennis League (ITL) slots two weeks
in December starting this year on the Indian tennis calendar. For starters, five franchise-based teams will
slug it out in 20 ties played on a home-away basis for a place in the final. The inaugural Indian Tennis
League (ITL) slots two weeks in December starting this year on the Indian tennis calendar. For starters,
five franchise-based teams will slug it out in 20 ties played on a home-away basis for a place in the final.
The franchises will handle all financial aspects of their players, in addition to carrying out the the
necessary infrastructure upgrades in their respective cities as per the required standards. The AITA will
handle all the nitty-gritties of conducting the league.

The ITL will be overlooked by a six-member executive committee headed by Khanna, who’s even open to
the AITA coming under the purview of the Right To Information (RTI) Act. To add to the transparency, no
committee member has the privilege of owning a franchisee.

Chennai Super Kings won IPL

Chennai Super Kings were crowned Indian Premier League 3 champions after thumping Mumbai Indians
by 22 runs. 

WISPA Indian Challenger squash tournament

Dipika Pallikal defeated Emma Beddoes of England 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 11-6 to win the WISPA Indian
Challenger squash tournament at Calcutta Racket Club squash courts. it was her first WISPA title. 

Bodybuilding

Manipur's popular body builder Khundrakpam Pradipkumar won a silver medal in the 50th Senior
National Bodybuilding Championship which concludes in Goa on Sunday. Pradipkumar’s placing is truly a
feat as the 39-year-old has been living with HIV for a decade now. 

The first position goes to Ramnath of the host state.

IMPORTANT DAYS

Earth Day - April 22

World Health Day – April 7

Banks Annual Accounts Closure (India) - April 1

Nisha said...
Hey Hii Sudhir and all aspirants,

I am posting some of the growth projections pls correct me if i am wrong or do add on

whichever is being left...

Some Projections at one place

# 'Asian Development Outlook 2010' which is ADB's annual flagship publication has
pegged India's growth rate 8.2 per cent in 2010 and 8.7 per cent in 2011. The annual
inflation projects are 5% in 2010 and 5.5% in 2011.

#IMF's April 2010 World Economic Outlook (WEO) has projected Indian Economy
Growth of 8.8%.

# FICCI projection- 8.4% for 2010-11

# CII growth projection for 2010-11 is 7.5%-8.5%

## The revised GDP data have been released by the CSO and Indian Economy has grown
7.4% for 2009-10.

# World Bank projection for 10-11 is 7.5%

# Morgan Stanley raised its forecast for India’s economic growth to 8.5% in 2010-11
from 8% earlier, citing a pick-up in domestic consumption

# India's economy will grow at 7.5 percent in the 2010-11 fiscal beginning April 1 and
will increase by 8 percent in the year after that. This is the latest projection of Hans
Timmer, director of the World Bank's Development Prospects Group.

July 19, 2010 10:31 AM