CURRENT GENERAL KNOWLEDGE: FEBRUARY 2013 ABBREVIATIONS FAC: Fuel Adjustment Component. GOC: Global Ocean Commission.

NOFHC: Non-Operative Financial Holding Company. SARAL: Satellite with ARgos and ALtika. AWARDS Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development , 2011 The award has been conferred to Ms Ela Bhatt, founder of Self-Employed Womens Association of India (SEWA), for her lifetime achievements in comprehensively empowering women in India and elsewhere through grassroots entrepreneurship. The Prize carries a citation and a cash award of Rs. 25 lakh. Life Sciences Breakthrough Prize The first 11 winners of the Prize and their fields of research are: Cornelia I. Bargmann, genetics of neural circuits and behaviour; David Botstein, linking disease in humans using changes in DNA; Lewis C. Cantley, the discovery of proteins involved in cancer metabolism; Hans Clevers, molecular signalling in stem cells and cancer; Napoleone Ferrara, angiogenesis that led to therapies for cancer and eye diseases; Titia de Lange, how telomeres protect chromosomes and their role in genome instability in cancer; Eric Lander, genetics in human disease and analysis of genetic, physical and sequence maps of the human genome; Charles L. Sawyers, cancer genes and targeted therapy; Bert Vogelstein, cancer genomics and tumor suppressor genes; Robert Weinberg, characterization of human cancer genes; Shinya Yamanaka, induced pluripotent stem cells. All prize winners will be added to the selection committee for future Breakthrough Prizes. Going forward, there will be five winners each year. The Breakthrough Prize promises a transparent selection process. Anyone can nominate a candidate online for consideration and the $3 million prize. A group of Bay Area tech and investment luminaries have announced the multimillion-dollar competition for researchers to develop cures for the worlds toughest diseases and solve the life sciences most complicated problems. At a gathering in San Francisco, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sat alongside Art Levinson, chairman of both Apple and Genentech, Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of genetic mapping start-up23andMe, and investment guru Yuri Milner to announce the new $3 million Life Sciences Breakthrough Prize and name the first 11 winners. Tagore Award for Cultural Harmony Pandit Ravi Shankar is the first recipient of the award, which has been given to him in

recognition of his outstanding contribution to cultural harmony and universal values. The Tagore award has been established by government of India, celebrating 150th birth anniversary of Rabindra Nath Tagore. It carries an amount of Rs. one crore, a citation in a scroll, a plaque, as well as an exquisite traditional handicraft/handloom item. The award is open to all persons regardless of nationality, race, language, cast, creed or sex. 85th Annual Academy Awards (Oscar Awards) Achievement in Directing: Ang Lee, Life of Pi. Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role: Jennifer Lawrence, Silver Linings Playbook. Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lincoln. Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz, Django Unchained. Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role: Anne Hathaway, Les Miserables. Best Motion Picture: Argo. Best Animated Short Film: Paperman. Best Animated Feature Film: Brave. Achievement in Cinematography: Claudio Miranda, Life of Pi. Achievement in Visual Effects: Life of Pi. Achievement in Costume Design: Jacqueline Durran, Anna Karenina. Achievement in Makeup & Hairstyling: Les Miserables. Best Live-Action Short Film: Curfew. Best Documentary Short Subject: Inocente. Best Documentary Feature: Searching for a Sugar Man. Best Foreign-Language Film: Amour (Austria). Achievement in Sound Mixing: Les Miserables. Achievement in Sound Editing: Skyfall and Zero Dark Thirty Achievement in Film Editing: "Argo". Achievement in Production Direction: Lincoln. Original Score: Mychael Danna, Life of Pi. Original Song: Skyfall, Adele Adkins & Paul Epworth. Adapted Screenplay: Chris Terrio , Argo. Original Screenplay: Quentin Tarantino, Django Unchained. COMMISSION Global Ocean Commission Global Ocean commission (GOC) is a new initiative to restore health and productivity to the ocean. It is an independent body of international leaders and aims to reverse degradation of the ocean and restoring it to full health and productivity. The objective of GOC is to formulate politically and technically feasible short-, medium- and long-term recommendations to address four key issues facing the high seas: overfishing, large-scale loss of habitat and biodiversity, the lack of effective management and enforcement, deficiencies in high seas governance. GOC work will examine key threats, challenges, and changes to the ocean in the 21st

century, and identify priority issues. The Commission will begin by analysing threats to the global ocean, based on the latest and most rigorous evidence from science and economics. It will map out the implications of a business-as-usual approach. In this phase of its work, it will draw on the abundance of existing reports from world experts, but will also begin original research in partnership with other organisations. It will also review the effectiveness of the existing legal framework for the high seas in meeting the unique challenges and threats of the 21st century and beyond. GOC will engage with interested parties around the world, including groups of people with direct interests in ocean issues as well as the general public. It will also raise understanding among policymakers, economists and other groups, including the general public, of the implications should high seas issues not be reformed. The recommendations of GOC, regarding cost-effective, pragmatic and politically feasible reforms of high seas governance, management and enforcement, will be based on the evidence and testimonies before it, and present a reasonable prospect of resolving gaps and weaknesses that have been identified. DEFENCE Rudra helicopters to be inducted soon Paving the way for the Indian Army to get its first lot of armed helicopters, the indigenously produced armed helicopter Rudra has been accorded the initial operational clearance, marking an important milestone in military aviation history in the country. The Rudra is based on the platform of the advanced light helicopter (ALH) that is already in service in India. It has been code named ALH Mark IV and is produced by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). The helicopter derives its name from Rig vedic god for wind, storm and hunt. This will be the first time that the armed forces will be equipped with armed helicopters capable of fighting in the higher reaches of the Himalayas along the borders with China and parts of Pakistan. The induction of the Rudra will be an important milestone as the Indian inventory of armed helicopters, the Mi-35, currently has a flying ceiling of 10,000-12,000 feet. TheRudra, powered by a new Shakti engine that has been co-developed by French company Turbomeca, will fly up to an altitude of 20,000 feet. The Himalayas rise above this altitude along large parts of the India-China frontier. The weapons on board the chopper will include a M6-21 20 mm gun and 70 mm rockets with a range of 8 km. The chopper will also carry anti-tank guided missiles and the air-to-airmissiles, the first lot has been imported but will be produced here latter. Rudra is equipped with integrated sensors, weapons and electronic warfare suite using an upgraded version of the glass cockpit used in the Mk-III of the ALH. The Electronic Warfare

(EW) suite consists of missile approach warning system, laser and radar warning systems and automated sensors covering all envisaged threats. It also has automatic dispensation of countermeasures like chaff and fare dispensing systems. RESEARCH New 17-million-digit monster is largest known prime The largest known prime number has just shot up to 257,885,161 - 1, breaking a four-year dry spell in the search for new, ever-larger primes. Curtis Cooper at the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg made the find as part of the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (GIMPS), a distributed computing project designed to hunt for a particular kind of prime number first identified in the 17th century. All prime numbers can only be divided by themselves and 1. The rare Mersenne primes all have the form 2p - 1, where p is itself a prime number. The new prime, which has over 17 million digits, is only the 48th Mersenne prime ever found and the 14th discovered by GIMPS. The previous record holder, 243,112,609 - 1, which was also found by GIMPS in 2008, has just under 13 million digits. All of the top 10 largest known primes are Mersenne primes discovered by GIMPS. Until today, the most recent addition to the list was found in 2009, but it was smaller than the 2008 discovery. SPACE RESEARCH Curiosity Mars rovers takes first historic soil sample NASAs Curiosity Mars rover has finally drilled deep enough into a rock to acquire a powdered sample for analysis. The fine grey material from the 6cm-hole was sieved and inspected before being delivered to the robots onboard Chemin and Sam labs. This was a historic first in planetary explorationnever before has the interior of a rock on another world been probed in such a way. Drilling is absolutely central to the rovers mission in Gale Crater, a deep bowl sited on Mars equator. Curiosity is investigating whether past environments at this location could ever have supported life, and getting inside rocks to analyse their make-up will provide some of the most telling evidence. Curiosity has already seen plenty of evidence for past running water in Gale Crater and the results from the drill-hole analysis are expected to reveal further information about that wet history. Astronomers discover Moon-sized exo-planet called Kepler-37b Scientists have discovered an odd little planet that has set a new record for the smallest alien world ever discovered. According to the scientists, the exo-planet is about the same size as the Earths moon. The planet has been dubbed Kepler-37b.

The scientists involved in the discovery say that this is the first exo-planet ever discovered that is smaller than Mercury. The planet makes an orbit of its parent star every 13 days and has an insanely high surface temperature of about 800F. This planet was discovered along with two other larger planets orbiting the same parent star. The parent star is about 215 light years from Earth, it and its planets were discovered using the Kepler space telescope. The two larger planets have been called Kepler-37c and Kepler37d. The scientists say that all three of the planets in orbit around the star are likely uninhabitable, and are well inside the Earth-sun distance. PSLV-C20 puts SARAL and six other satellites into orbit On February 25, 2013, in a multiple launch mission, a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLVC20) put India-French satellite SARAL and six others into their precise orbits after its successful launch from the Sriharikota spaceport. This was the 22nd consecutive successful PSLV mission by the Indian Space Research organisation (ISRO). The other satellites to go into orbit one after the other were SAPPHIRE, NEOSSAT, AAUSAT, BRITE, UniBRITE and STRand, all from abroad. SARAL stands for Satellite for Argos-3 and Altika. While these two payloads are from French space agency CNES, a third payload, a solid state C-band transponder, is from the ISRO. All the three payloads were integrated into a satellite at the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore. SARAL is a unique satellite that will cater to the research community and it has practical applications as well. It will help in oceanographic studies. It will study the ocean currents and sea surface heights. While ARGOS-2 will collect the data, the Altikameter will measure the height of the sea surface. ARGOS provides scientists with a tool to increase their understanding of environment and helps industry comply with environmental protection regulations. SARAL will also help researchers to study the development of climate. It has practical applications in continental ice studies, coastal erosion, protection of biodiversity, study of marine animals migration and so on. The 148-kg SAPPHIRE and the 82-kg NEOSSAT are both from Canada. SAPPHIRE will look at space debris and other satellites in orbit. NEOSSA Near-Earth Object Surveillance Satellitehas a telescope for detecting and tracking asteroids, satellites and space debris. The 3-kg AAUSAT has been built by the students of Aalborg University, Denmark to receive automatic identification system signals from ships in the Arctic region. STRaND-1, from the UK, is a unique yet simple contraption. It comprises a smart-phone loaded with specific apps, stuck to a 30 cm x 10 cm cubesat. The Google Nexus phone has four apps that were selected based on a Facebook contest. One of the apps, Postcards from

space, will take pictures of the Earth based on unique public demands. Another app, 360, will provide photos on a map showing where they were taken. As the name suggests, Scream in space app will allow a chosen few to test how they would sound in the space. Based on the creativity of the videos, those chosen will be able to speak via phone and their voice will be recorded through a microphone in orbit. The app, iTesa will record the magnetic field of the phone in orbit. This will test the possibility of making calls from outer space in the future. The last app, The STRaND Data, will monitor the satellite telemetry of the smart-phone. The 3.5-kg STRaND satellite also has a 3D printed partan apparent first in space. UniBRITE and BRITE are the other satellites onboard. These microsatellites, weighing 14 kg each, will study the brightest stars by observing their temperature variations. Strand-1First Phonesat in space India has become the worlds first country to launch a smartphone into space, loaded with a number of experimental Apps, some serious and some just for fun. The British-built Strand-1 spacecraft, developed by scientists in Surrey, was sent into orbit from Sriharikota, using PSLV launcher, the spacecraft is an innovative 3U CubeSat, weighs 4.3 kg and is the worls first phonesat to go into orbit, as well as the first UK CubeSat to be launched. Developed by a team from the University of Surrey's Surrey Space Centre (SSC) and Surrey Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL), STRaND-1 is a training and demonstration mission, designed to test commercial off-the-shelf technologies in space. During the first phase of the mission, STRaND-1 will be controlled by the satellites attitude control system and a new high-speed linux-based CubeSat computer. During phase two the STRaND-1 team plans to switch many of the satellites in-orbit operations to the smartphone, a Google Nexus One which uses the Android operating system, thereby testing the capabilities of many standard smartphone components for a space environment. MISCELLANEOUS Param Yuva IIIndias fastest supercomputer Precise weather forecasting, faster tapping of natural resources in the sea and designing of customised drugs for individuals will now be possible using Param Yuva II, India's fastest supercomputer. Developed by the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC), Param Yuva II was inaugurated on February 8, 2013. The supercomputer has been upgraded to 524 teraflops, about 10 times faster than the present facility. With an investment of Rs 16 crore, it was developed in a record three months.

Param Yuva II will also give a boost to research in space and bioinformatics, among others. Developing research-based applications will take lesser time than before and complex problems will be solved in a simpler way. For instance, if it takes about 18 to 20 years to discover a new drug nowfrom designing to testingParam Yuva II will help reduce this time to 15 years. The supercomputer would also help in reducing the time-frame in weather predictions. If researchers currently collect satellite data to predict the conditions for a six-km region, the supercomputer could help cover a wider region, may be up to 10 km. About 300 people from the C-DAC team were involved in the making of the supercomputer, which also promises to be energy efficient with 35% reduction in energy consumption as compared to the earlier facility.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: FEBRUARY 2013 NATIONAL AFFAIRS Economic Survey, 2013 Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajans first ever Economic Survey was tabled in Parliament on February 27, 2013, by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. According to the Survey, WPI inflation is seen declining to 6.2-6.6 percent by March, which could create more room for rate cuts going ahead. It pegs growth at 6.1 and 6.6 percent in FY14. Though problem areas are recognised, the survey seems to provide a sense of optimism within the current macro-economic framework. Highlights:

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Presidential Elections in Cyprus Conservative leader Nicos Anastasiades won an overwhelming victory in Cyprus presidential runoff on February 24, 2013, boosting hopes he will quickly act on his pledge to seek a bailout deal with international lenders to prevent the countrys financial meltdown. Final election results showed Anastasiades took 57.5 percent of the vote, far ahead of his left-wing rival, the Communist-backed Stavros Malas, who finished with 42.5 percent. Cyprus has been caught in a financial crisis aggravated by the situation in Greece. The government is seeking international help because Cypriot banks suffered huge losses from Greeces sovereign debt restructuring. The island, which has been shut out of international financial markets since May 2011, needs about $22 billion in aid. Cyprus has been split into an internationally

FY13 GDP growth seen at 5%. Indian economy likely to grow at 6.1-6.7% in FY14. Growth downturn more or less over; economy looking up. WPI inflation may decline to 6.26.6% in March.

Food inflation mainly driven by cereal prices. Oil subsidy key fiscal risk; needs to be addressed. Need to up diesel, LPG prices in-line with global rates. Economic slowdown a wake-up call for stepping up reforms. Room to increase exports limited in short-term. Need to curb gold imports to cut current account deficit. Financial sector to be influenced by short-term/long-term factors. Fund flows to be influenced by risk perception of investors. Revival of investment in industry, infra key challenge. Industry growth still vulnerable to local, global factors. Impact of policy easing may not lead to inflation surge. Tax mop-up slippage can be lowered with additional efforts. Inflation expectation anchored around current inflation targets. Indias GDP growth seen around 5% in 2012-13. Indias GDP growth seen at 6.16.7% in 2013-14. India government target for fiscal deficit is 4.8 pct of GDP in 2013-14. India government target for fiscal deficit is 3 pct of GDP in 2016-17. Raising tax to GDP ratio to more than 11 pct seen as critical for sustaining fiscal consolidation. Recommends curbing gold imports to reign in current account deficit. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) flows need to be targeted towards long-term rupee instruments. Indias industrial output seen growing around 3% in 2012-13.

recognized Greek-speaking south and a breakaway Turkish Cypriot north since 1974, when Turkey invaded after a coup by supporters of union with Greece. Only the 545,000 eligible voters in the south could vote in the election. Many are believed to have cast blank ballots or abstained in protest. Anti-austerity vote delivers hung Parliament in Italy and troubles for eurozones economy Success in Italy for parties opposed to European Union-backed austerity policies delivered a hung Parliament on February 26, 2013, in the eurozones third-largest economy, raising the spectre of a prolonged period of political instability. In the elections held on February 24-25, Pier Luigi Bersanis centre-left bloc narrowly beat ex-PM Silvio Berlusconi in the lower House, but failed to secure a majority in the Senate. Control of both houses is needed to govern. A protest movement led by comedian Beppe Grillo won a quarter of the vote. The outcome of the election, which comes amid a deep recession and tough austerity measures, was so close that the margin of victory given in interior ministry figures was less than 1% in both houses of Parliament. Italians have had more than a year of technocratic government under Mario Monti. But his attempts to reduce spending caused widespread public resentment and his decision to head a centrist list in the Parliamentary elections attracted little more than 10% of the vote. Its almost certain that the inconclusive election result will herald renewed market

Union Budget 2013

On February 28, 2013, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram presented the Union Budget in the Parliament. While it was a job welldone on the fiscal front, the Budget failed strategically in certain critical areas and in comforting domestic equity markets. The Finance Minister met the fiscal deficit target for FY2013 RE with 5.2% (as % of GDP), as against the budget estimate of 5.3%, despite 18% increase in the subsidy burden in FY2013it is noteworthy to know that the progress is not only in terms of ratio of GDP but also in absolute terms. Fiscal deficit in absolute terms is up just by 1.4% in FY2013 RE over FY2013 BE and merely 1% over the actual fiscal deficit in FY2012, despite about 122% increase in petroleum subsidy alone. The government spent only 96% of budgeted expenditures in FY2013 RE and is committed to bring down fiscal imbalances significantly in FY2014. All four major deficit parameters viz., Fiscal Deficit (overall deficit), Revenue Deficit (overall deficit without accounting for borrowings), Effective Revenue Deficit (Revenue deficit excluding Capital assets creating Grants from Revenue account) and Primary Deficit (overall deficit excluding interest payments) are expected to come down. In absolute terms also Revenue Deficit, Effective Revenue Deficit and Primary Deficits are expected to fall by 2.9%, 23.1% and 15.9%, respectively. Only overall Fiscal Deficit is expected to go up marginally, by 4.1% in absolute terms. Subsidy bill is expected to be contained at 2% in FY2014 BE, as against 2.6% in FY2013 REin absolute terms projected to

pressure on the country. The conflicting and confused message sent by voters is bound to trigger further effects beyond the initial plunge on the Milan stock market and an overnight hike in bond yields. The reformist policies being pursued by Mr Montis outgoing technocratic government were standing between Rome and unaffordable borrowing costs. The Monti reforms were also underpinning the European Central Banks fragile grip on monetary stability throughout the currency area. Now that voters have rejected those very policies, the ECB may be forced to ride to Italys rescue. But even this is fraught with difficulty, because the ECB can only intervene and engage in its much-vaunted outright money transactions if the receiving country is still pushing through a programme of reforms. Germany would agree to nothing less. So the outcome of Italys election is a strong signal that the eurozone debt crisis is far from over. It could also be damaging for Ireland and Portugalthe two somewhat better-behaved members of the bailout programme. Both had hoped to take the exit at the end of 2013. This election result also illustrates that the longer the hardship lasts, the more voters may be drawn to populist policies. Some 57% of Italian voters plumped for parties that explicitly oppose austerity. Recent history suggests people are more likely to support austerity measures, if they can start to see tangible results in return for their sacrifice. Italy remains bureaucratic and highly State-regulated. A weak centreleft government, drawing on support from unions, may find it even harder to enact the

fall by 10.3%, not an impossible task considering commitment to raise diesel price periodically, implementation of Cash Transfer Scheme and possible fall in crude oil prices due to global slowdown. The Finance Minister earmarked Rs.33,000 crore for MNREG (welfare schemes) for FY2014 BE, same level as maintained in FY2013 RE. He has reduced number of Centrally Sponsored Schemes to 70 from 173, and also committed to review them every two years. The Plan expenditure is projected to grow by 29.4%, whereas Non-Plan expenditure to grow only by 10.8%. Revenue expenditure (mostly non-asset creating expenses) to grow 13.7%, as against 36.6% increase for Capital expenditures (mostly reduce liability or to create assets). The governments responsibility towards a good budget and its concern regarding the stressful situation for the corporate and individuals was also evident from the way the fresh tax burden was imposed. 10% surcharge has been imposed on super-rich (with annual income of more than Rs one crore) for one year. Tax on royalty and fees on foreign companies has been increased from 10% to 25%. Service tax has been imposed on AC restaurants. Excise duty on cigarettes has been increased by 18%. Service tax abatement rate has been reduced to 70%, from 75%,which means individual who buy a house worth more than Rs one crore have to shell out additionally Rs50,000. The overall tax revenues are expected to go up by 19.1% which is a comfortable growth target for the economy. On non-tax revenues the government is expecting a good growth of 32.8% on the back of increased surplus with the RBI to the tune of Rs 43,996.24

kind of reforms that stand any chance of improving productivity and competitiveness. Italys economy is still shrinking and its debt is forecast to rise to 128% of GDP by the end of 2013. Both the Silvio Berlusconi and Beppe Grillo political camps opposed some of the tax hikes and public spending cuts instituted by Mr Monti. Yet, even if some of these cuts were reversed, it seems doubtful that an economy that has hardly grown in two decades could be turned around anytime soon. Reversing the most recent reforms would also signal that the new government was unwilling or unable to deal with fundamental economic problems. This in itself could lead to spiralling bond yields and the flight of capital invested in Italy could resume. The only possible silver lining is that this latest popular backlash against Brusselsimposed austerity may force Germany and other EU partners to reconsider the pace of reforms. EU agrees to first ever bloc budget cut On February 8, 2013, European Union leaders agreed the first ever cut in the blocs budget after all-night talks driven by sharp differences over priorities for the next seven years. Pushed by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who said the EU could not increase spending while many of its members were forced to slash their national budgets, leaders agreed a cut of around three percent compared with the 2007-13 budget. Under the accord, 2014-20 actual spending, or payments in EU jargon, was set at 908.4 billion euros ($1.2 trillion), with an absolute ceiling of 960 billion euros for

crore for FY14, versus Rs 25,446.75 crore in FY13, a growth of 73% y-o-y. Other significant contribution to the non-tax revenues comes from the telecom auctions which were not completed in FY13 owing to the high price of the spectrum. The telecom auctions and license fees are expected to garner Rs. 40,847 crore in FY14E. The government was able to divest close to Rs. 24,000 crores in FY13 through successful OFS of various companies like NMDC, NTPC, etc. Buoyed by the sentiment in FY13 the government would continue to divest its holding in various public sector enterprises and has increased the divestment target of PSUs to Rs 40,000 crore. The Finance Minister also mentioned his intent to improve the tax to GDP ratio to the 2007-08 peak of 11.9%, from 5.5% (for direct taxes) and 4.4% for indirect taxes seen in 2011-12. Other significant measures for the benefit of economic growth and promoting foreign investments are: 15% deduction as investment allowance for the companies which buy plant and machinery worth more than Rs.100 cr; almost freezing defence outlays, a significant component of total expenditure, over FY2013BE; classifying foreign investments more than 10% in a company as FDIthis will promote more inflows from the FIIs; tax-free infra bonds limit raised to Rs 50,000 crore, from Rs 25,000 crore earlier. There were no significant measures to boost households financial savings, nor encouragement to the domestic investors in the form of abolishing, reducing short term capital gain tax or doing away with the STT, considering the fact that the retail investors

spending commitments to the budget. That is just one percent of the blocs gross domestic product (GDP) and is less than the figure of 973 billion euros that Cameron and allies such as the Netherlands had rejected in November. In the EU budget process, commitments refer to the maximum amount that can be allocated to programmes, while actual spending or payments is usually lower because projects are sometimes delayed or dropped. Originally, the European Commission had sought a 5.0 percent increase in commitments to 1.04 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion). The final agreement, however, is only part of the battle because there is another important hurdle to clearthe European Parliament must approve the budget, and lawmakers are in no mood for austerity. The heads of the four largest groups in Parliament, which is to vote on the budget in July, said they could not accept it in its current form as it would not help boost the struggling EU economy. Visit of Iranian President to Egypt On February 6, 2013, President of Iran Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, on the first visit to Cairo by an Iranian leader in more than three decades, called for a strategic alliance with Egypt and said he had offered the cashstrapped Arab State a loan, but drew a cool response. Ahmadinejad said outside forces were trying to prevent a rapprochement between the Middle Easts two most populous nations, at odds since Irans 1979 Islamic revolution and Egypts signing of a peace treaty with Israel in the same year. The two countries have not restored

are shying away from the domestic equity markets. No credible commitments have been made to contain current account deficits, nor have any substantial measures been proposed to promote the infrastructure outlays with help of private sector like allowing large banks to issue tax-free bonds, etc. Key features

diplomatic ties since Egypt overthrew its long term leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011, but its first Islamist president, Mohamed Mursi, gave Ahmadinejad a red-carpet welcome to a summit of Islamic nations. North Korea conducts Nuclear test On February 12, 2013, North Korea staged its most powerful nuclear test yet, claiming a breakthrough with a miniaturised device in a striking act of defiance to global powers, including its sole patron China. The communist State said it had staged its third test with a successful underground detonation, in a riposte to what it said was US hostility. Its claim of miniaturisation suggests that it is a step closer to fitting a nuclear warhead onto a ballistic missile. The third nuclear test by a defiant North today drew sharp condemnation from the international community, including the UN, the US, Japan as well as China, the reclusive nations only major ally. Analysts said the timing appeared to be an attention-grabbing calculation from a State well versed in provocative acts, coming just ahead of US President Barack Obamas State of the Union address at the start of his second term. North Koreas two previous tests in 2006 and 2009 had triggered waves of UN sanctions. DO YOU KNOW The Solicitor General (SG) is the second senior-most law officer of the country.

Tax Administration Reforms Commissions to be set up. Relief to tax payers with income between Rs 2 lakh-5 lakh with tax credit of Rs 2,000. Surcharge of 10% on people with taxable income of Rs 1 crore or more. Education cess for all tax payers to continue at 3 per cent. Power sector tax holiday extended. TDS of one per cent on transaction of property over Rs 50 lakh. Not to be applicable to agriculture. Securities transaction tax on equity futures cut from 0.17 to 0.1 per cent Commodities transaction tax on nonagriculture future contracts at 0.01 per cent. E-filing of tax returns to be made mandatory for more sectors. Royalty tax hiked from 10% to 25%. Import duty on set-top boxes increased to 10% from 5% Duty on imported goods like motor vehicles, yatchs and motor cycles increased Excise duty on SUVs hiked to 30 per cent from 27 per cent. No duty on those used as taxi. All silver to attract excise of 4 per cent. Mobile phones priced over Rs 2,000 to attract 6 per cent duty. Service tax on all A/C restaurants

with over 2,000 sq ft. Voluntary Compliance Encouragement Scheme for Service Tax payers. Direct Taxes after changes will yield Rs 13,300 crore and indirect taxes Rs 4,700 crore. Rs 9,000 crore for balance CST compensation to the States. An additional sum of Rs 200 crore for women and child-welfare schemes to end discrimination. Nirbhaya Fund of Rs 1,000 crore for women and girl child related schemes. Rs 150 crore proposed for health scheme for old. Ayurveda, Unani, Homeopathy to be mainstreamed; stresses on care for elderly (geriatric care). Education to get Rs 65,867 crore, 17 per cent more than previous year. Mid-day meal scheme will get Rs 13,215 crore; Child development scheme to get Rs 17,700 crore, which is 11.2 per cent higher than previous year. Clean drinking water and sanitation to get over Rs 15,000 crore. MNREGS to get about Rs 33,000 crore. Pradhan Mantri Gramin Sadak Yojana II announced for Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Punjab and Rajasthan. States that have completed PMGSY will be eligible for PMGSY 2. Rural Development Schemes to get Rs 80,194 crore. Agriculture sector to get Rs 24,049 crore. Interest subvention schemeRs 1,000 crore for Eastern States growing rice. Allocation to agricultural ministry increased 22 per cent, to Rs 27,049

Airtel has announced the launch of their voice service, Apna Chaupal, that will provide information in regional languages on agriculture, devotion, jibs, health and education. World Cancer Day is observed on February 4. The 2013 theme focuses on item five of the World Cancer Declaration, adopted by the United Nations in 2011, which aspires to dispel damaging myths and misconceptions about the disease. From February 6, 2013, Indias biggest air show was held in Bangalore, with titans like Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Sukhoi etc. bringing their wares to Indias booming market. On February 7, 2013, the Union government sold a 9.5 per cent stake in NTPC and the auction was part of the governments drive to raise Rs 27,000 crore in 2012-13, from selling shares in profitable public sector. The government got approximately Rs 11,430 crore from the stake sale. The government has so far raised over Rs 10,000 crore from selling stakes in NMDC (Rs 6,000 crore), HCL (Rs 800 crore), National Buildings Construction Corporation (Rs 125 crore) and Oil India (Rs 3,113 crore). This was the third time that NTPC, Indias biggest power producer with a capacity of 36GW, hit the markets in the past decade. While the company made its market debut with a listing in 2004, it launched a follow-on public offer in February 2010. Indias per capita income, a gauge for measuring living standard, is estimated to have gone up 11.7 per cent to be Rs.

crore for 2013-14. Agricultural Research to get Rs 3,415 crore in 2013-14. Farmers Producers Organisations to get matching grant, and credit enhancement scheme Over and above food subsidy, Rs 10,000 crore set apart for food security Bill. Credit disbursement to farmers targeted at Rs 7 lakh crore in 201314. Budget 2013-14 proposes Rs 5,000 crore for NABARD to finance construction of warehouses, cold storage silos to store agriculture produce. RIDF corpus to be increased to Rs 20,000 crore, from Rs 19,000 crore. Infra Debt Fund to be encouraged to provide long term, low cost funds. Of the four IDFs registered, two have been launched. Scheme to allow cities and municipalities to take up waste to energy projects on PPP mode. Waste to energy projects undertaken by municipalities to get viability gap funding. Low cost finance for renewable energy projects. Life span for five years. Rs 800 crore for generationbased incentives for wind energy. Low interest bearing funds from National Clean Energy Fund to IREDA to lend for clean energy projects. New criteria to define backward regions: per capita, literacy and other human development indicators. Defence allocation increased to Rs 2,03,672 crore. Department of Space to get Rs 5,615 crore; Rs 6,275 crore allocated to the Ministry of Science and Technology; Atomic Energy to get Rs 5,880 crore.

68,747 (Rs 5728 per month), as compared to Rs. 61,564 during 201112, as per the Advance Estimate of National Income. The per capita income in real terms (at 2004-05 constant prices) during 2012-13 is likely to attain a level of Rs. 39,143, as compared to the first revised estimate for the year 2011-12 of Rs. 38,037. The gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) at current prices is estimated at Rs. 29.94 lakh crore in 2012-13 as against Rs. 27.49 lakh crore in 201112. However, at 2004-05 constant prices, the GFCF is estimated at Rs.19.44 lakh crore in 2012-13, as against Rs. 18.97 lakh crore in the previous fiscal. Government Final Consumption Expenditure (GFCE) registered an increase of 13.8 per cent and is estimated to be Rs. 11.87 lakh crore at current prices for 2012-13, against Rs. 10.43 lakh crore in 2011-12. Private Final Consumption Expenditure (PFCE) is estimated to have registered an increase of 12.8 per cent to Rs. 57.06 lakh crore at current prices, as against Rs. 50.56 lakh crore in the previous fiscal. In a major initiative to reach out to the people in the social media space, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, on February 7, 2013, launched the MyIndia Initiative-A Digital Volunteer Programme aimed at disseminating development messages across the social media platform by registering citizens as volunteers in an effort to contribute positively towards nation building.

An independent authority for the road transport sector has been proposed. About 3,000 km of roads to be awarded in the first six months of 2013-14. Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor proposed with Japanese funding support. Stating that five inland waterways have been declared as national, the river in Assam will be the sixth. Two new ports will be set upone in Sagar in West Bengal and another one in Andhra Pradesh. Tax free bonds in 2013-14 up to Rs 50,000 crore. Income limit for tax-savings under Rajiv Gandhi Equity Savings Scheme raised to Rs 12 lakh from Rs 10 lakh. Inflation-indexed bonds will be announced on June 1. First time home buyers, taking loan of up to Rs 25 lakh in FY 13-14, will get additional interest benefit of Rs 1 lakh. NELP will be reviewed to move from profit sharing to revenue sharing and gas pricing policy will be reviewed. SIDBI will get more funds to provide finance to MSMEs; corpus of Rs 500 crore proposed for SIDBI to set up credit guarantee fund. Rs 50 crore for apparel parks proposed. Funds provided to technology incubators located in educational institutes approved by DST, MSME to be counted as Corporate Social Responsibility. Women in handloom sector to get working capital and term loans at concessional interest of 6 per cent. Rs 50 crore for environment schemes for textile units; Rs 96 crore for Textile Ministry interest subvention.

C-DAC Pune launched Param Yuva II, the fastest supercomputer in India and 62nd fastest in the world, on February 8, 2013. This is the first supercomputer that has crossed 500 teraflops in computing power in the country. A Canadian astronaut has teamed up with Bare-naked Ladies lead singer Ed Robertson for the first ever original track to be written and recorded in space, 402 km above the Earth aboard the International Space Station. The pair wrote the song together before the collaboration was recorded via satellite at a studio in Toronto. The song, called I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing) focuses on the experience of a person in space missing his loved ones on the Earth below. Astronaut Chris Hadfield and Robertson began co-writing the song when Hadfield was still in training in Russia for his five-month mission on the ISS. Somebody That I Used to Know, by Australian artist Gotye, won Record of the Year at the Grammy Awards, 2013. The melodic heartbreak song, which featured New Zealand singer Kimbra, was one of 2012s biggest hits. Mumford & Sons won album of the year Grammy. Pandit Ravi Shankar received the Lifetime Achievement Grammy award, which was jointly accepted by his daughters, sitarist Anoushka Shankar and singer-songwriter Norah Jones. Pt Ravi Shankar also won the Best World Music Album Grammy for The Living Room Sessions Part 1, beating daughter Anoushka who was nominated in the same category for her

India's first public sector bank for women proposed with Rs 1,000 crore as initial capital. Rs 2,000 crore for urban housing fund to be set up by NHB. Private FM channels to reach 294 new cities, 839 new channels to be auctioned in 2013-14. All cities with over one lakh population will be covered by private channels. Central Sponsored Scheme to be restructured. Numbers to be brought down to 70 from 173. Over Rs 400 crore to make to make Post Offices IT-linked and provide real-time based banking services. Rs 250 crore to set up National Institute of Sports Coaching at Patiala. Insurance companies will be allowed to open branches in Tier two cities without IRDAs approval. LIC will be allowed to open branches in all towns with over population of 10,000. RSBY will cover auto-rickshaw pullers, taxi drivers, sanitation workers, rag pickers.

album Traveller. Ratan Tata is taking up a new role by joining hands with global leaders, including former Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin and WTO Director General Pascal Lamy, to launch the Global Ocean Commission (GOC). The GOC brings together eminent people from different parts of the world for a new initiative to restore health and productivity to the ocean. It is an independent body of international leaders and aims to reverse degradation of the ocean and restoring it to full health and productivity. One Billion Rising was a campaign held on February 14, 2013, to protest violence against women. One in every three women is raped or otherwise abused in her lifetime, according to the UN. Thats a billion women. A billion women violated is an atrocity, a billion women dancing is a revolution. That was the message behind the One Billion Rising movement conceived by American playwright Eve Ensler, inviting people to walk out, dance, rise up, and demand an end to the violence. According to the Open Budget Survey 2012, the transparency in the Indian budgetary system has improved marginally and is ranked 14th among 100 countries. India's open budget index (OBI) score improved from 67 in 2010 to 68 in 2012. The survey showed New Zealand, with an OBI score of 93, provided the most information on budget, followed by South Africa (90), the UK (88) and Sweden (84). ONGCs chartered-hired ultra-deep water drillship DDKG1 has set a world

Railway Budget 2013 Rail Budget 2013 was presented by Railway Minister P.K. Bansal on February 26, 2013. The highlights of the Railway Budget are:

Special coaches, called Anubhuti, equipped with luxurious services, to be introduced in select trains. A new train, Azadi Express to places linked with the freedom struggle to be introduced, fares to be concessional. Allocation of Rs 1,000 crore each made for Railway Land Development Authority and Railway Station Development Authority.

Common rail-bus ticket to be introduced for Katra-Vaishnodevi pilgrims. Railway energy management company to be set up to harness solar and wind energy. 1,000 crossings to be energised by solar power. 1.51 lakh vacancies to be filled up. Locomotive cabs to be airconditioned. India has joined China, Russia and the US as 1 billion-plus tonne freight carrier using Railways. By end of 2013-14, 1,500 km of contracts to be awarded for two dedicated rail corridors. Rs.1 lakh crore target set for publicprivate-partnership route. Free Wi-Fi to be provided on some trains. Rs.100 crore for improving stations in New Delhi. SMS alerts for passengers on reservation status. Next generation e-ticketing system by end of 2013. Corporate plan for 10 years to be drawn up. 10 per cent reservation in Railway Protection Force (RPF) for women. Six more Rail Neer bottling plants to be set up. Losses mounted from Rs.22,500 crore in 2011-12 to Rs.24,600 crore in 2012-13. 12th Plan railway size to be Rs 5.19 lakh crore, with gross budgetary support of Rs 1.94 lakh crore. 5.2 per cent growth in passenger traffic expected in 2013-14 Railway hopes to end 2013-14 with a balance of Rs 12,506 crore. Fall in accidents-per million accidents down from .41 to .13. Aim to eliminate 31,846 level

record for drilling well in deepest water depth by an offshore drilling rig. The rig DDKG1 drilled well NA7-1 in exploratory block KG-DWN-2004/1 in east coast India at a water depth of 3165 metres on January 23, 2013. Thereafter it successfully lowered and latched subsea (facilities) to drill further to target depth of 5625 metres. The rig, owned by Transocean, surpassed Transoceans own prior record, set in 2011 by DDKG2 working for Reliance Industries on the east coast. Nicolaus Copernicus, mathematician and astronomer, helped popularise the idea that Earth revolves around the Sun, instead of the other way round, as was commonly believed at that time. His 540th birth anniversary was celebrated on February 19, 2013. Indias first wildlife skywalk will come up in Maenam wildlife sanctuary in Sikkim. The State government had proposed to build a 22 kilometer ropeway from Maenam sanctuary to the skywalk, to be built beyond on the edge of Bhalleydhunga steep face with rain shelter and public conveniences. London elbowed its way past Hong Kong to regain the title as the worlds most expensive market in which to rent office space, while Rio de Janeiro jumped to the No. 3 spot from No. 8, according to a report by Cushman & Wakefield. Delhis Connaught Place is the fourth most expensive market for office space. World Wetlands Day is celebrated since 1997 every year on February 2 to mark the anniversary of the signing of

crossings. Dynamic fuel adjustment component to be introduced on freight rates from April 1, 2013, that will result in less than five per cent increase in rates. Identification of 104 stations for upgradation in places with more than one million population and of religious significance. 67 new express trains to be introduced; 27 passenger trains, 8 DEMUs. Rs 9000 crore investments expected, including Rs 3,800 crore in port connectivity and Rs 800 crore in iron ore mines connectivity. Indian Railway Institute for Financial Management to be set up at Secunderabad to train rail officers on a regular basis. Forged Wheel Factory at Rae Bareli in collaboration with Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited. Greenfield Mainline Electrical Multiple Units (MEMU) manufacturing facility at Bhilwara (Rajasthan) in collaboration with State Government and BHEL. Coach Manufacturing Unit in Sonepat District (Haryana) in collaboration with State Government. Midlife Rehabilitation Workshop at Kurnool (Andhra Pradesh) in collaboration with the State Government. Bikaner and Pratapgarh workshops to undertake POH of BG wagons. Workshop for repair and rehabilitation of motorized bogies at Misrod (Madhya Pradesh). Wagon maintenance workshop in Kalahandi (Odisha). Modern signalling equipment facility at Chandigarh through PPP route. Upgrading another 60 stations as

the Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention). February 28th is celebrated as National Science Day in India, commemorating the discovery of the Raman Effect by C.V. Raman. On February 25, 2013, in Jorhat, Assam, artistes played 315 types of musical instruments from across the world to make it to the Guinness Book of World Records. A large number of singers and musicians got together for the eventA Musical Journey for World Peace. The accompanying vocalists presented the biggest nonclassical symphony of its kind in the world. The earlier record of using the largest number of musical instruments in one such event was 181 at a musical concert in Japan. The event was organised by Mazumba Media and Entertainment and the music was composed by Rupam Jyoti Sharma, an engineer from Jorhat who is now based in California, USA. ISKCON (International Society of Krishna Consciousness) is planning to build the worlds largest vedic temple, the Chandrodaya Mandir, at Mayapur in the Nadia district of West Bengal, at an estimated investment of about $75 million. Finance Minister P Chidambaram, with his 2013 Budget speech, became the second minister to have presented eight Budgets in the history of independent India. Morarji Desai had presented 10 Budgets, of which two were interim Budgets. The Union Budget 2013 has proposed

Adarsh Stations in addition to 980 already selected. Centralized Catering Services Monitoring Cell set up with a toll free number (1800 111 321). Introduction of executive lounge at 7 more stations, namely, Bilaspur, Visakhapatnam, Patna, Nagpur, Agra, Jaipur and Bengaluru. Railway Energy Management Company to be set up to harness solar and wind energy. Railways freight loading traffic scaled down by 100 million tonnes from 1025 million tonnes because of economic slowdown. North-eastern State of Arunachal Pradesh will be added to the countrys railway map with the laying of the first track from Harmoti in Assam to Naharlagun in Arunachal Pradesh. The track is likely to be commissioned within 2013-14.

setting up of two portsone in Sagar, West Bengal and the other in Andhra Pradesh, which would increase the cargo handling capacity in the country. In addition, a new outer harbour will be developed in the VOC port (VO Chidambaram Port Trust, formerly Tuticorin Port at Thoothukkudi, Tamil Nadu) through the PPP. At present, there are 12 major ports in India. These are at: Mumbai, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), Kolkata (with Haldia), Chennai, Cochin, Paradip, New Mangalore, Marmagao, Ennore, Tuticorin, Kandla and Visakhapatanam. In order to remove the ambiguity that prevails on what is FDI and what is FII, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram proposed in Budget 2013 to follow the international practice and lay down a broad principle that, where an investor has a stake of 10 per cent or less in a company, it will be treated as FII and, where an investor has a stake of more than 10 per cent, it will be treated as FDI. India and the United Kingdom have signed an accord to strengthen collaboration in the field of earth sciences and help improve forecasts about climate-related phenomena. The Memorandum of Understanding has been inked between Natural Environment Research Council of the UK (NERC) and Earth System Science Organization, Ministry of Earth Sciences (ESSO-MoES).

Budget Estimates 2013-14 - Freight loading of 1047 MT, 40 MT more than 2012-13. - Passenger growth: 5.2 per cent. - Gross Traffic Receipts: Rs 1,43,742 cr, an increase of 18,062 cr over RE, 2012-13. - Ordinary Working Expenses: Rs 96,500 cr. - Appropriation to DRF at Rs 7,500 cr and to Pension Fund at Rs 22,000 cr. - Dividend payment estimated at Rs 6,249 cr. - Operating Ratio to be 87.8 per cent. - Fund Balances to exceed Rs 12,000 cr. Annual Plan 2013-14 - Highest ever plan outlay of RS 63,363 cr. - Gross Budgetary Support: Rs 26,000 cr - Railway Safety Fund: Rs 2,000 cr - Internal Resources: Rs 14,260 cr. - EBRMarket Borrowing: Rs 15,103 cr. - EBRPPP: Rs 6,000 cr. - 500 km new lines, 750 km doubling, 450

km gauge conversion targeted in 2013-14. - Loan of Rs 3,000 cr repaid fully. - 347 projects prioritized with assured funding. - A new fundDebt Service Fundset up to meet committed liabilities. - Target to create fund balance of Rs 30,000 cr in the terminal year of the 12th Plan. RBI allows for new banks to be opened Corporates, conglomerateswhether in the public or private sectorsas also NonBanking Financial Companies (NBFCs) can now apply for a banking licence using a Non-Operative Financial Holding Company (NOFHC) structure. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) issued final guidelines for new banks on February 22, 2013. It refrained from restricting entities that had a significant presence in the real estate and broking sectors from setting up a bank, although it had put in some caveats in the draft guidelines. RBI has stipulated that the new banks cannot have any exposurewhether credit or investments in debt or equityto the promoters, group entities or individuals associated with the promoter group or the NOFHC and will count on feedback from investigative and tax agencies to issue licences on a very selective basis. The NOFHC must hold a minimum of 40% of the paid-up equity capital of the bank for five years, with the stake being pared to 15% within 12 years. A minimum initial capital of Rs 500 crore is needed to set up a bank, and 25% of the branches need to be located in unbanked arees. RBI has also tightened foreign holdings in new banks by capping the aggregate stakes of non-resident Indians, FDI and FIIS at 49% for the first five years. Currently,

Business News Telecom major Bharti Airtel has bought the entire shareholding in the joint venture with Alcatel Lucent, called Alcatel Lucent Managed Network Service India, as part of a new business model to manage fixed line and broadband networks. US-based Computer maker Dell has announced it will take itself private in a $24.4 billion deal which is considered one of the most significant buyouts since the financial crisis. Dell has signed a definitive merger agreement under which the companys Founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Michael Dell would acquire Dell. Company stockholders would receive $13.65 in cash for each share of Dell common stock they hold. Private sector lender Kotak Mahindra has acquired the business loans portfolio of the Indian arm of Barclays. With this acquisition, Kotak will have 6000 customers with total loans outstanding of about Rs 700 crore . Indias second largest telecom operator, Vodafone India has tied up with loyalty programme Payback as its exclusive partner in the telecom category. The partnership will allow the Payback members redeem their points for every recharge at Vodafone as well as pay bills using the loyalty points earned. Sun Pharmaceutical's dream to buy all the outstanding shares in Israels Taro Pharma and take it private has turned sour. Taro and Sun have mutually agreed to terminate their merger agreement, announced in August 2012.

foreign direct investment of up to 74% is allowed in private banks. To prevent round-tripping and circular movement of funds in the banking group, RBI has said that the financial entities held by the NOFHC should not have any exposurecredit and investmentsto promoters or promoter-group entities or individuals associated with the promoter group or the NOFHC. The new banks would be governed by all the existing prudential norms including Basel II and priority sector rules, the RBI said. Major highlights:

The Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) has approved revised investment regulations for insurance companies, allowing them to increase their exposure in equity in a given company from 10% to a higher level of 12% and 15%, depending on the size of the controlled fund. Arvind Lifestyle Brands has acquired India operations of US-based Hanesbrands Inc and is aiming to generate Rs 500 crore revenue in next four years in the niche market. When Parle Products launched Parle-G in 1939 during the British rule, the firm considered it a responsibility to sell affordable biscuits to Indians. Today, the same value plank has helped the glucose biscuit brand become the first Indian FMCG brand to cross the Rs 5,000-crore mark in retail sales in a year. In 2012, Parle Products sold Rs 5,010 crore worth of its flagship glucose biscuit brand at retail price, besting the entire domestic sales of Dabur or Godrej products and selling three times more than Maggi noodles. On February 13, 2013, Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) cleared four foreign direct investment (FDI) proposals in single brand retailing, including that of Decathlon, Fossil Inc, French fashion brand Promod, crockery maker Le Creuset and sports giant Decathlon. The proposal of Le Creuset, Fossil Inc, and Decathlon were for 100 per cent FDI, while Promod sought entering the segment through a joint venture. Decathlon alone would bring in foreign equity worth Rs 700 crore, while Promod would bring about Rs 30 crore and the American high-end accessories

Private and public sector entities & NBFCs can apply. Minimum paid-up equity capital of Rs 500 crore required. No curbs on brokerages and real estate companies. NOFHC must cut stake in new bank to 15% in 12 years. Total foreign stake capped at 49% for first five years. NOFHC can hold up to 40% for up to 5 years. Banks must list within 3 years of starting operations.

State Elections Tripura: On February 28, 213, the Left Front retained power in Tripura for the fifth consecutive time, sweeping 50 of the 60 seats and leaving the Congress badly bruised with just 10 seats. The CPI-M bagged 49 seats while the Communist Party of India (CPI) won one seat. The Left has ruled Tripura since 1978 barring one term (198893). Manik Sarkar was re-elected as the Chief Minister. It was the best result for the Left since 1978,

when it won a record 56 seats. While the Congress managed to retain its 2008 tally of 10 seats, its ally the Indigenous Nationalist Party of Tripura (INPT) drew blank. The Trinamool Congress, which fielded 22 candidates in 2008, did not contest this time to prevent a split in non-Left votes. But even that did not help the Congress. Tripura had made history when a record 93.57 percent of the 2.3 million voters exercised their franchise February 14. Nagaland: The Nagaland Peoples Front (NPF) won 37 seats to retain control of the 60-member Assembly in Nagaland. The NPF is the main constituent of the ruling DAN government. Congress (I), the main opposition party, could win only eight seats. A partner in the DAN, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won one seat while the Janata Dal-United got one seat. Meghalaya: Congress (I) emerged as the single largest party securing 29 seats in the 60-member Assembly. Chief Minister Mukul Sangma retained his Ampati constituency for the fifth successive term. The electoral battle proved fatal for former Lok Sabha speaker P.A. Sangmas NPP as only two of its 32 candidates won. Centre notifies Cauvery Tribunal Award The Union Government as directed by the Supreme Court on February 19, 2013, notified the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and this is expected to set in motion another round of confrontation between the two riparian StatesKarnataka and Tamil Naduwhich have been in serious dispute for over three decades. The Supreme Court had accused the Centre of abdicating its duty by not notifying the

firm Fossil Inc plans over Rs 22 crore investment. Warren Buffetts Berkshire Hathaway Inc and 3G Capital will buy ketchup maker H.J. Heinz Co for $23.2 billion in cash. Heinz valued the deal at $28 billion, which it called the largest in food industry history. State-owned gas utility GAIL India Ltd has commissioned a Rs. 4,500 crore pipeline carrying gas from the just operationalised Dabhol LNG terminal into Bengaluru that promises to change the energy landscape of the region. The 1,000-km pipeline will feed industries at Belgaum, Dharwad, Gadag, Bellary, Davanagere, Chitradurga, Tumkuyr, Ramanagaram and Bengaluru who have till now been using costlier and polluting liquid fuels like naphtha and diesel as feedstock. RDA Holding Co, the US-based owner of magazine Readers Digest, once the staple of doctors offices and coffee tables, has filed for bankruptcy for the second time in less than four years, citing a greater-than-expected decline of the media industry. The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), Indias oldest exchange and S&P Dow Jones Indices have entered into a 50:50 joint venture partnership to manage all the BSE indices, barely a week after it was informed that the global index provider licensing agreement with NSE expired on January 31, 2013. The new partnership with BSE also allows S&P Dow Jones to have an operational hub now in India for implementing its Southasia growth strategy to support clients globally. S&P Dow Jones other global hubs are in Hong Kong, London and

six-year-old final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal and directed it to do so by February 20. The Union Government has also gazetted the notification which is mandatory. With the final award having been notified it is evident that the Union Government has to necessarily pave the way for the constitution of the Cauvery Management Board, under an Act of Parliament. The award prescribes the constitution of a board for the overall management of the Cauvery basin reservoirs in the two States which in a way will be a successor to the Cauvery River Authority presently functioning under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister. The award also orders the formation of a Cauvery Water Regulation Committee which will be a successor to the Cauvery Monitoring Committee. Both the board and the regulation committee are expected to function under the direct charge of the Central Water Commission although they will comprise of representatives of all the four riparian StatesKarnataka , Tamil Nadu, Kerala and the Puducherry. Gazetting of the final notification will result in the State government losing supervisory control over the four Cauvery basin reservoirsthe Krishnarajasagar , Hemavathi, Kabini and the Harangi reservoirs. In other words, Karnataka cannot exercise the option to release water to Tamil Nadu only after it had a sufficient storage in the reservoirs, particularly in the years of distress. Sexual Harassment Bill passed On February 26, 2013, Parliament passed the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Bill, with the Rajya Sabha

New York. BSE Sensex will now be known as S&P BSE Sensex. Apple has rolled out its media streaming device, Apple TV, in India at a starting price of Rs. 7,900. With the launch of Apple TV, the companys full portfolio of Apple products are finally available in India. Apple TV allows consumers to wirelessly stream media content from their iTunes account to their television. The device faces competition from Micromaxs Smart Stick and Akais Smart Box. BP Plc, Europes second biggest oil company, and Reliance Industries will invest US $5 billion in developing untapped gas reserves in the D6 block in the Krishna Godavari basin off Indias east coast as the partners attempt to reverse the fall in gas production. Info Edge India, owner of the countrys largest job website Naukri.com, has acquired a majority stake in online restaurant guide Zomato. Info Edges total investment in Zomato stands at Rs. 86 crore, and it now has a 57.9 per cent stake in the company. The Gujarat government and the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia (ERIA), Jakarta, Indonesia-based leading economic research institute, have decided to join hands for developing human resources in automobile manufacturing sector.

approving the legislation. It was approved by the Lok Sabha in September 2012. The Bill covers under its list of offences sexual remarks, demand for sexual favour, or any act of physical advance or an unwelcome touch. Internal complaint committee will be mandatory for organisations with 10 or more employees. Employers not adhering to the rules will face Rs 50,000 fine and stricter penalties for repeated violations. The law also provides for action against complainant under service rules for false or malicious complaint. Clients, customers, apprentice, daily wage workers entering the workplace are also covered. Visit of French President President of France Francois Hollande arrived in New Delhi on February 14, 2013. During his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, France and India reiterated their commitment to the early implementation of the Jaitapur nuclear power project and speedy conclusion of the over $10-billion deal for 126 Rafale fighter jets. Addressing a joint press conference with Manmohan Singh after delegation-level talks, Hollande said while France and India do not share the same kind of people or economy, they both share the same values and principles. On boosting economic relations, Hollande said France wants to have even more trade and in more fields with India. Manmohan Singh said India regards France as one of its most valued strategic partners and their relationship is defined by the breadth and diversity of our co-operations, as well as by the intensity of our dialogue.

Both sides also concluded negotiations on the short-range surface-to-air missile. The two countries had been discussing the surface-to-air missile, named maitri (friendship) for more than five years. Indias DRDO and Frances MBDA are likely to jointly develop this system. The system would be deployed by the IAF and the Navy. France and India also inked agreements in the railway sector, a cultural exchange programme, a letter of intent on intensification of cooperation in the fields of education, higher education and research and a statement of intent for long-term cooperation in space. Under the agreement for cooperation in the field of railways, France would assist India in the upgradation of railways stations, high speed corridors and the modernisation of the railway network. France also expressed anew its support to India for a permanent seat on the UN Security Council at the earliest and also becoming a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and other export control bodies. The two countries decided to establish an annual dialogue between their Finance Ministers to boost bilateral economic relationship. On Afghanistan, the two sides expressed commitment to the key principles for a peaceful inter-afghan dialogue: acceptance of the Afghan Constitution, renunciation to violence and breaking links with terrorism. Rail link between Tripura and Bangladesh approved On February 16, 2013, India and Bangladesh signed a pact which will enable Tripura become the second State of India to have a rail link with Bangladesh. At present,

West Bengal is the only State which is connected to Bangladesh. The MoU on the Agartala-Akhaura rail link was signed during the visit of External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to Bangladesh for the second Joint Consultative Commission meeting. Akhaura, prior to 1947, served as a major link between Chittagong port and Tripura. Agartala is now linked on the Indian Railways meter gauge rail network, which will shortly be converted to broad gauge. The linking of Akhaura and Agartala by rail was suggested in 1974 with the signing of a protocol between Bangladesh and India for cross traffic movement. It was revived during trade talks between India and Bangladesh in December 1998. In a joint communiqu issued during Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina's visit in January 2010, it was agreed that construction of the Akhaura-Agartala link would be financed by grant from India. The new line would be from Agartala to Gangasagar in Bangladesh. This would involve a double line from Gangasagar to Akhaura and additional loop lines at two stations in BangladeshGangasagar and Imambari. This link would also be vital for the TransAsian Railway Network, of which both India and Bangladesh are members. As part of TAR, India is already constructing a 350km rail link from Jiribam (India) to Moreh (Myanmar). Bangladesh can also benefit by using this connection. Visit of British Prime Minister On February 18, 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron came to India for a three-day official visit.

Among the agreements signed during the visit was an agreement to set up a joint task force to fight cyber crime, a move London hopes will help it safeguard the personal banking and mobile phone data of millions of Britons, much of which is stored on Indian servers. Prime Minister David Cameron led the biggest business delegation from the UK, and met members of the leading chambers, CII, FICCI and Assocham in Mumbai. Mr Cameron also announced the decision to give visas to Indian businessmen in one day. During his discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Mr Cameron was asked to help in ensuring an early conclusion of a fair, balanced and forward looking broadbased India-EU Trade and Investment Agreement, which will open new opportunities for trade and investment between the two countries. Mr Cameron also promised full cooperation with the investigation into alleged corruption in a helicopter deal, an issue which clouded his trip to New Delhi. Cameron has targeted a doubling of annual bilateral trade with India, from 11.5 billion pounds ($17.8 billion) in 2010 to 23 billion pounds by the time he faces re-election in 2015. He also stressed that there was no limit on the number of students who can study at British universities providing they have an offer and an English-language qualification. India and Britain also decided to commence negotiations on a bilateral civil nuclear cooperation agreement, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh announced at the media interaction after his talks with British Prime Minister David Cameron. Mr Singh also

thanked Britain for its support for Indias full membership of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) and other multilateral export control regimes. Mr Cameron said Britain was in favour of transferring high-technology to India. The two leaders also expressed interest in cooperation with regard to India in the Global centre for Nuclear Energy Partnership. Mr Manmohan Singh thanked Cameron for strong personal commitment to India this was his second visit since becoming Prime Minister in 2010. On February 20, David Cameron became the first serving British Prime Minister to voice regret for the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, one of the bloodiest episodes in colonial India where hundreds of civilians were killed in Amritsar in 1919. He expressed the regrets during his visit to Amritsar. Trilateral TalksIndia, US mull joint projects in Afghanistan On February 19, 2013, India, USA and Afghanistan held a trilateral dialogue in New Delhi to discuss the situation there and consider how they could jointly take up developmental projects and ensure stability in the war-ravaged nation. Y.K. Sinha, Additional Secretary in-charge of Afghanistan, led the Indian delegation while Afghan Deputy Foreign Minister Jawed Ludin and US Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert Blake led their respective delegations. The meeting is considered significant in diplomatic circles, in the backdrop of the drawdown by Western forces from the embattled nation in 2014. Both USA and India are concerned that Afghanistan should

not slip into the hands of extremist and radical forces after the drawdown. The meeting is also discussed ways to enhance cooperation to deal with common challenges and opportunities, including combating terrorism and violent extremism and increasing regional trade and investment. VVIP copter purchase scandal The arrest of the Giuseppe Orsi, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of aerospace giant Finmeccanica in Italy, on graft charges, on February 12, 2013, prompted Defence Minister A.K. Antony to order a CBI probe into Rs 3,500-crore helicopter deal with the manufacturer. India had placed an order of 12 copters for VVIP use with Augusta-Westland, a subsidiary of Finmeccanica. The multi-crore deal was signed in February 2010. The first lot, comprising three copters, was delivered in December 2012, while the remaining nine would be delivered in batches by March 2014. Future deliveries will depend on the outcome of the CBI probe and the Ministry of Defence could evoke the integrity clause to stall the deal while imposing penalties on the maker, top MoD sources said. The copters supplied by Augusta are to be a part of the IAFs Communication Squadron, which ferries the President, the Prime Minister and other VVIPs. So far, the Russian-built Mi-17 is used for VVIP duties. Giuseppe Orsi arrested on Monday in relation to a probe into international corruption. He is suspected of involvement in the payment of bribes regarding the sale of 12 helicopters by Finmeccanica's subsidiary Augusta-Westland to the Indian

government. Prosecutors suspect that around 50 million euros (Rs 362 crore approximately), about 10 per cent of the deal were ploughed back into kickbacks to ensure Augusta-Westland won the contract. The Italian firm had won the bid beating American chopper maker Sikorsky. Italian investigators have also alleged that business conglomerate Finmeccanica bribed S.P. Tyagi when he was chief of the Indian Air Force to swing the controversial AgustaWestland VVIP chopper deal in favour of the company. The allegation is made in a preliminary inquiry report of the suspected corruption in the Rs 3,546 crore deal filed by prosecutors in Italy. The deal had been under the scanner for more than a year now after Italian media reports suggested the arrest of two alleged middlemen in Europe for paying bribes to secure it. In December 2012, Defence Minister A.K. Antony told Parliament that there were allegations of bribery in a deal to procure VVIP helicopters from AugustaWestland, but no formal inquiry has been ordered into the case due to lack of specific information so far. If any wrongdoing is found in the case, suitable measures will be taken by the ministry, he had said. India slips on Human Rights Index India has been cited for deteriorating human rights situation by the foremost global watchdog of civil liberties, with New Delhi getting raked for abuses and mishandling cases ranging from the Maoist insurgence in central India to the protests against a nuclear power plant in Tamil Nadu. Human Rights Watch's 665-page world annual opus on the subject for 2012 also zeroed in on the rape of a Delhi medical

student that convulsed the nation and brought worldwide opprobrium, saying violence against women continued unabated in India with increased reports of sexual assault. The criticism came even as India's ambassador to Washington Nirupama Rao wrote on op-ed in the Wall Street Journal, promising that the government is determined to change our nations laws as well as the implementation of those lawsto prevent such heinous acts in the future. However, the report acknowledged that the government did make progress in some areas, including new legislation to protect children from sexual abuse and stronger support for international resolutions to protect human rights in other countries, notably Sri Lanka.

EVENTS; APPOINTMENTS; ETC.: FEBRUARY 2013 APPOINTED; ELECTED; Etc. Mukul Sangma: He has been re-elected as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya. Manik Sarkar: He has been re-elected as the Chief Minister of Tripura. Neiphiu Rio: He has been re-elected as Chief Minister of Nagaland. Mohan Parasaran: He has been appointed as the Solicitor-General of India. Ashok Kumar Mukerji: He has been appointed as Ambassador/Permanent Representative of India to the United Nations, replacing Hardeep Singh Puri. T.S. Vijayan: He has been appointed as the Chairman of the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). RESIGNED Rohinton F. Nariman: Solicitor General of India. Pope Benedict: Highest religious leader of the catholic Christians, he shocked the world on February 11, 2013 by saying he no longer had the mental and physical strength to cope with his ministry. He is the first pontiff to step down since the Middle Ages. The last Pope to resign willingly was Celestine V in 1294, after reigning for only five months; his resignation was

known as the great refusal and was condemned by the poet Dante in the Divine Comedy. Gregory XII had reluctantly abdicated in 1415 to end a dispute with a rival claimant to the papacy. Boiko Borisov: Prime Minister of Bulgaria, after nationwide protests against high electricity prices and austerity measures. DISTINGUISHED VISITORS Francois Hollande: President of France. During his two-day visit, he held talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other leaders on ways of enhancing the strategic partnership between the two countries. Jigmi Y. Thinley: Prime Minister of Bhutan. The visit led to strengthening, expanding and reinforcing the canvas of economic cooperation and bilateral engagement with Bhutan. David Cameron: Prime Minister of Britain. Ali Larijani: Speaker of Parliament (Majlis) of Iran. DIED Ronald Dworkin: One of Americas most liberal philosophers and constitutional law experts, celebrated for his belief in the idea of moral integrity. He was 81. EVENTS FEBRUARY 1The Union Cabinet decides to bring an ordinance to amend the criminal law with focus on crime against women, providing punishment up to the entire life of a convict in case of rape whose terminology has been expanded to sexual assault. There is provision for 20 year imprisonment for rape, and there will be provision sentence up to the convicts natural life in case of rape or gang-rape with grievous hurt. Among other amendments is the one making acid attack as a separate offence, carrying minimum punishment of 10 years which may go up to life. For use of force to outrage a womans modesty, the punishment has been enhanced from two to five years and for indecent gesture, punishment has been enhanced from one to three years. Rape that leads to death of the victim or leaving her in a vegetative will attract death penalty under the ordinance. 3President Pranab Mukherjee gives assent to promulgating the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance bringing into force a new law to check crime against women. 9Afzal Guru, the main accused in the Parliament attack case of December 13, 2001 is hanged in Delhis Tihar jail. Gurus arrest came soon after the attack and he was charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA) with waging war against the State being among other charges related to terrorism. 9MCX-SX, Indias new stock exchange, is inaugurated by Finance Minister P. Chidambaram in Mumbai. It had commenced operations in the Currency Derivatives (CD) segment on October 7, 2008. 1036 people are killed in the Railway station stampede in Allahabad.

11MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) begins live trading in equities and equity derivatives with its 40-stock index named SX40. MCX-SX is the third full-fledged equity bourse after BSE and NSE. The index is designed to measure the economic performance with better representation of various industries and sectors based on the ICB (industry classification benchmark), a global classification from the FTSE of the London bourse. The index allows fast entry for companies with better free float, market cap and liquidity. SX40 includes companies that have a minimum free float of 10 percent and is within the top 100 liquid companies. 12North Korea conducts an underground nuclear test. North Korea, which had been threatening a third nuclear test, had informed Beijing and Washington a day earlier of plans to undertake a test. The isolated State is banned under UN Security Council resolutions from developing nuclear and missile technology. 14Tripura witnesses a massive turnout of 93 per cent in peaceful polling for the 60-member State Assembly. 15A meteor burns up in a blinding fireball in parts of the Chelyabinsk region, 1,500 kilometers east of Russian capital Moscow, creating a shockwave that blows out windows and collapses some walls, leaving about 1,000 people injured. The space rock, weighing nearly 10 tons, streaks at 18 kilometres per second across a clear morning. The shock-wave rattles buildings, damages roofs and shatters windows, as super-heated fragments rain down. 15 An asteroid half the size of a football pitch, named 2012 DA14, makes the closest pass ever observed from Earth, some 28,000 kilometres above Indonesia. The asteroid was large enough to potentially devastate a large city if it struck Earth. 18The International Court of Arbitration at The Hague upholds Indias right to divert water from the Kishanganga hydroelectric project. Pakistan had been objecting to the construction of the hydroelectric project on the Kishanganga River in Kashmir, which is called Neelum upon entering Pakistan. The Kishanganga power plant, in Bandipora district of north Kashmir, is part of a run-of-the-river hydroelectric scheme that is designed to divert water from the Kishanganga River to a power plant in the Jhelum River basin. 21More than 15 people are killed in a series of explosions in Dilsukh Nagar bus stand area of Hyderabad. 23Meghalayas electorate defies a shutdown call to enthusiastically turn up in large numbers at polling booths in the Assembly elections. Nagaland also sees brisk balloting to elect its 60-member Assembly. More than 80 percent voting is recorded in both States. 28Violence breaks out in Bangladesh after 73-year-old Delwar Hossain Sayedee, vice-president of the Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), is sentenced to death by International Crimes Tribunal. MILESTONES

Serena Williams: She climbed back to the top of the world rankings in February 2013, becoming the oldest female player to hold the coveted position at 31. Azim Premji: Chairman of Wipro, he has become the first Indian to dedicate a majority of his wealth to philanthropy by signing up for the Giving Pledge. The billionaire founder of the IT company is scaling up efforts to improve the quality of the education system in India through the Azim Premji Foundation. The Giving Pledge was formed in 2010 to encourage the wealthiest in the US to give a part of their wealth towards philanthropic activities and is now widening the groups function outside the US to India and China. He has transferred 295.5 million equity shares, representing 12% of the total shares of Wipro Ltd, held by certain entities controlled by him, to an irrevocable trust. With this transfer (valued at about Rs 12,300 crore based on current market price), the trusts shareholding in Wipro will go up to about 19.93%. This trust will utilize the endowment to fund social, not-for-profit initiatives of the Azim Premji Foundation.

SPORTS NEWS IN BRIEF: FEBRUARY 2013 CRICKET World Cup (Women) Australia clinched their sixth Womens World Cup title after they comfortably defeated the West Indies by a huge margin of 114 runs in the final at the Brabourne Stadium. Needing 260 to win, the Caribbeans were bundled out for 145 runs in 43.1 overs, miserably failing to recover from Elysse Perrys early three-wicket burst. Irani Trophy Rest of India retained the Irani Cup by virtue of their first innings lead of 117 runs after their five-day game against the 40-time Ranji Trophy champions ended in a tame draw. Another record in Tendulkars basket Sachin Tendulkar, while playing in the Irani Trophy match between Mumbai and Rest of India, reached two milestonesfirst equalling Sunil Gavaskars record for the most first-class centuries (81). Tendulkar, though, has done it in fewer matches303 compared to Gavaskars 348. Then, when he moved from 100 to 104 he reached 25,000 runs in first-class cricket, becoming the second Indian batsman to reach 25,000 runs in first-class cricket after Gavaskar (25,834 runs). Australia-West Indies ODI Series Paceman Mitchell Starc (5 wickets for 20 runs) helped consign West Indies to their third lowest total (70 runs) in one-day internationals as Australias top order needed less than 10 overs to race to a nine-wicket victory in the first match.

Seamer Mitchell Starc grabbed a second successive five-wicket haul and George Bailey his maiden international century as Australia beat West Indies by 54 runs in the second ODI. Shane Watson celebrated his return to international cricket with a sparkling innings of 122 to drive Australia to a 39-run victory over West Indies in the third ODI. Opener Shane Watson top-scored with 76 as Australia continued to dominate West Indies during a convincing five-wicket victory in the fourth ODI. Adam Voges scored his maiden one-day international century as a depleted Australia secured a 5-0 series whitewash by beating West Indies by 17 runs in the final match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. South Africa-Pakistan Test Series Dale Steyn broke the back of Pakistans resistance with career-best match figures at the Wanderers as South Africa wrapped up a commanding 211-run victory in the first Test. In the process, AB de Villiers equalled the world record for dismissals by a wicketkeeper. He also became the first wicketkeeper to take 10 catches and score a hundred in a Test. Steyn ended with 11 for 60 in the Test. His match figures placed him fifth on the list of cheapest 11-wicket hauls in Test cricket, the best since Sir Richard Hadlee in 1976. Pakistan was bowled out for 49 runs in the first innings, their lowest total in Tests. Dale Steyn took 6 for 8, his 20th five-wicket haul in Tests, in an extraordinary, lethal display that gave South Africa a choke hold on the match. South Africa showed why they are the number one Test team in the world with a clinical performance on day four of the second Test, played at Cape Town, to clinch the series with a four-wicket victory. South Africa beat Pakistan by an innings and 18 runs in the third and final Test, for a 3-0 series whitewash. New Zealand-England ODI Series Brendon McCullum produced a match winning innings to guide New Zealand to a three-wicket victory over England in their first ODI. Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Jonathan Trott brought up confident half centuries as England beat New Zealand by eight wickets in the second ODI to level the threematch series at 1-1.

England completed a 2-1 series win by beating New Zealand by five wickets in the deciding ODI. India-Australia Test Series India defeated Australia by 8 wickets in the first Test, played at Chennai. The highlight of the match was the double century by M.S. Dhoni. Dhoni surpassed Sachin Tendulkar's record of highest individual Test score by an Indian captain en route his majestic 224. The India captain, however, fell eight runs short of equalling Andy Flowers highest individual score by a skipper232 against India. With this win, Dhoni went level with Saurav Ganguly as most successful Indian captain: 21 wins. FOOTBALL African Nations Cup Nigeria ended almost two decades without success and returned to their role as a continental heavyweight after edging Burkina Faso 1-0 to win the African Nations Cup. The Nations Cup victory was Nigerias third, following on previous success in 1980 and in 1994. They now play in the Confederation Cup in Brazil, where they will face Oceania champions Tahiti, South American champions Uruguay and world champions Spain. CURRENT AFFAIRS: MARCH 2013 NATIONAL AFFAIRS Current Account Deficit widens to a record high Indias current account deficit widened to a record high 6.7 per cent of GDP in the December 2102 quarter, driven by heavy oil and gold imports and muted exports. While robust inbound investments into equity and debt enabled India to fund the gap, these flows can be fickle and a sharp reversal could leave the balance of payments at risk. The current account deficit was $32.63 billion in the three months through December, compared with $22.3 billion in the September quarter and INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS ChinaChange of Guard On March , 2013, Chinas old guard led by President Hu Jintao bowed out of power after highlighting the communist giants rise as a world power during their decade long rule, paving the way for new leader Xi Jinping to assume charge of the worlds second largest economy. Premier Wen Jiabao, who along with Hu steered China for the last 10 years, made his final bow before the 3,000 strong National Peoples Congress (NPC) after presenting a lengthy work report listing out achievements of his

$20.16 billion in the December quarter of 2011. Economists had generally expected the deficit to be equivalent to just over 6 per cent of GDP. Current account deficit is the difference between a countrys total imports of goods, services and transfers and its total export of goods, services and transfers. In other words, it means that India is a net debtor to the rest of the world. Petroleum products are the biggest contributor to Indias import bill. A sharp surge in gold imports in the December quarter of 2012, due to the Diwali festival and preponed gold imports on expectation of an impending import duty hike, also contributed to the record deficit. India is the largest importer of gold, which is the second biggest import item after oil. Gold contributes around 10 per cent to the total import bill. The high current account deficit has kept the rupee under pressure. The rupee was the third worst performing currency in Asia in 2012, even though net inflows into Indian stocks were the highest in the region. It closed 2012 at 55.00 per dollar, having lost 3.3 percent of its value over the year. Robust inbound investments into equities and debt have enabled India to fund the gap. However, the quality of flows is concerning because of lower

era, especially the nations emergence as the worlds second largest economy, over taking Japan in 2011. Wens 29-page report mainly focused on achievements like creating vast infrastructure with dozens of airports, thousands of kilometres of roads and high speed trains, besides all round development. At the same time, the 70-yearold leader, who in 2012 refuted allegations of his family accumulating USD 2.7 billion assets, called for unwavering efforts to combat corruption, excessive concentration power and strengthening of political integrity. He also spoke about problems China faced, prominent of which is the unbalanced, uncoordinated and unsustainable development. The NPC formally elected 59year-old Xi Jinping as President and 57-year-old Li Keqiang as Premier. Uhuru Kenyatta is elected President of Kenya Deputy Prime Minister Uhuru Kenyatta has been declared the winner of Kenyas Presidential election, beating out his rival, Prime Minister Raila Odinga, to clinch a first-round victory. The victory, however, could complicate Kenyan foreign relations with Western nations, as he is to face trial at the International Criminal Court

FDI inflows, which are more stable in nature. Union Cabinet clears Bill for Timely Services The Union Cabinet has approved a Bill providing for time-bound delivery of services like pensions, passports, caste certificates, ration cards and tax refunds etc. The Right of Citizens for Time Bound Delivery of Goods and Services and Redressal of their Grievances Bill comes with a penalty of Rs 250 a day subject to a maximum of Rs 50,000 for default. The Bill will be enacted under the concurrent list, which means all States will have to offer the entire gamut of services listed by the Centres Citizens Charter, once the Bill is approved by the Parliament and signed by the President. Although many States offer time-bound delivery of certain services, the list is not as exhaustive as conceived by the Centre, in response to the Anna Hazare agitation. Provisions of the Bill allow a State or Central grievance redressal commission to refer a case for criminal investigation or inquiry by Lokpal if the panel concludes there is evidence of corruption in delayed dispensation of services. Public authorities required to

(ICC) in June 2013, for his alleged involvement in ethnic violence after an election in 2007. Kenyans endured an agonising four days waiting for results, during which the anxieties rose about the tallying process after electronic systems failed and were subsequently abandoned in favour of a manual count. With the manual count set to serve as a cross-check of results submitted electronically, party agents and civil society activists raised questions about the integrity of the process. Kenyan voters had defied widespread fears of violence on election day and thronged to polling stations in their millions, with many queuing for hours to cast their vote. Isolated incidents of violence that left at least 15 people dead marred an otherwise peaceful polling, which was widely commended by international and domestic observers. Kenyatta would be Kenyas fourth President since independence from Britain 50 years ago. His father, Jomo Kenyatta, was the first President and was in office for about 13 years. The new President faces a country suffering from underdevelopment and unemployment. Tribalism is also rife and is seen as a hurdle to

provide services include constitutional and statutory bodies, public-private partnerships, notified entities, government-funded NGOs, government companies and private firms offering services outsourced by government. Lok Sabha passes Anti-rape Bill On March 19, 2013, Lok Sabha passed a Bill which provides for natural life term or even death for repeat offenders of rape and other stringent punishment for various offences like stalking, voyeurism and acid attacks. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2013, brought against the backdrop of the country-wide outrage over Delhi gangrape, also makes it clear that the age of consent for sex would be 18 years. The Bill seeks to amend the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The Bill also provides that all hospitals shall immediately provide first aid and/or medical treatment free of cost to the victims of acid attack or rape, and failure to do so will attract punishment. It also has provisions for a minimum imprisonment of seven years which may extend to imprisonment for life and a fine for offender who is a police

overcome. This was Kenyas first election since the December 2007 Presidential run-off descended into ethnic bloodshed, in which at least 1,000 people died and hundreds of thousands were displaced. A coalition government had been formed several months later with international support, ending the violence. Chief Justice of Nepal takes over as PM to help end political crisis Nepals efforts at ending political stability took a new turn on March 13, 2013, with the countrys incumbent Chief Justice entrusted the task of heading the government, a move aimed at ending a political deadlock in a nation still recovering from a decade of civil war. Chief Justice Khil Raj Regmi was administered oath as Chief Executive of an interim election council by President Ram Baran Yadav, as part of a deal among four major political parties. The parties differed on details regarding ranks to be given to Maoists joining the army, the commission to investigate cases of human rights violations during the civil war and voters list. Regmis elevation, however, was opposed by sections within the major parties and by 23

officer, a public servant, a member of the armed forces or management or the staff of a hospital. The Bill also seeks to amend the Indian Evidence Act to allow a rape victim, if she is temporarily or permanently mentally or physically disabled, to record her statement before a Judicial Magistrate with the assistance of an interpreter or a special educator. It also has provisions to videograph the proceedings. Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission Report Seeking to create a new architecture in the financial sector regulatory set up, the report of government-appointed Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission (FSLRC), headed Justice B.N. Srikrishna, has proposed a Indian financial code Bill to create a unified financial regulator and limit the role of Reserve Bank of India to monetary management. Under the proposed regulatory architecture, Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI), Forward Markets Commission (FMC), Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA) and Pension Fund Regulatory & Development Authority (PFRDA) would be merged into a new unified agency. The Reserve Bank will, however, continue to exist with modified functions.

fringe parties that include the breakaway faction of the ruling Maoist party, who threatened to launch street protests against the decision. Cyprus secures bailout On March 25, 2013, Cyprus secured a package of rescue loans in tense, last-ditch negotiations, saving the country from a banking system collapse and bankruptcy. The cashstrapped island nation needed a 10 billion euro bailout ($13 billion) to recapitalize its ailing banks and keep the government afloat. Without an agreement, the European Central Bank had threatened to cut crucial emergency assistance to the countrys banks. Under the plan, Cyprus secondlargest bank, Laiki, will be restructured and holders of bank deposits of more than 100,000 euros will have to take losses. Human Development Report 2013 The 2013 Human Development Report The Rise of the South: Human Progress in a Diverse World was launched on March 14, 2013, in Mexico City, by President Enrique Pea Nieto of Mexico and UNDP Administrator Helen Clark. The 2013 Human Development Report examines the profound shift in global dynamics driven by the fast-rising new powers of the developing world and its long-term implications for human development.

In order to give effect to its recommendations, the Commission has come out with a draft Indian financial code Bill, containing 450 clauses and six schedules. The report, however, is marked by four dissenting notes by members P.J. Nayak, K.J. Udeshi, Y.H. Malegam and Jayanth R. Varma. They have differed with the recommendations of the panel on different issues. The commission proposes setting up of seven agencies Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Unified Financial Agency (UFA), Financial Sector Appellate Tribunal (FSAT), Resolution Corporation, Financial Redressal Agency, Public Debt Management Agency and Financial Sector Development Council (FSDC). It has also suggested that FSDC be given statutory framework. China unveils 5-point formula to improve ties Unveiling a five-point formula to improve relations with India, Chinas newly elected President Xi Jinping said the resolution of the boundary dispute between the two sides wont be easy and pending its final settlement peace and tranquillity should be maintained on the border without affecting the overall ties. 59-year-old Xi, who has taken over as the head of Communist

China has already overtaken Japan as the worlds second biggest economy while lifting hundreds of millions of its people out of poverty. India is reshaping its future with new entrepreneurial creativity and social policy innovation. Brazil is lifting its living standards through expanding international relationships and antipoverty programs that are emulated worldwide. But the "Rise of the South" analyzed in the Report is a much larger phenomenon: Turkey, Mexico, Thailand, South Africa, Indonesia and many other developing nations are also becoming leading actors on the world stage. The Report ranks Norway on the top with HDI value of 0.995, followed by Australia (0.938), USA (0.937), Netherlands (0.921) and Germany (0.920). India is ranked 136 with HDI value of 0.554. DR Congo (0.304) and Niger (0.304) are ranked 186, at the bottom of the ranking. The Report classifies the world into four broad segments: Very High Development (Norway, Australia, USA, Netherlands, Germany, Japan, South Korea, UK), High Development (Russia, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Mauritius, Brazil, Sri Lanka), Medium Development (China,

Party, President and military chief, sent clear signals of boosting bilateral relations with India. The first leader born after China's independence in 1949, Xi also spoke of the need for India and China to cooperate in multilateral forums to safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of developing countries. He said China sees its ties with India as one of the most important bilateral relationships. The border question is a complex issue left from history and solving the issue wont be easy. However, as long as we keep up friendly consultations, we can eventually arrive at a fair reasonable and mutually acceptable settlement he said. India asserts that the border dispute covered about 4,000 km, while China claims that it confined to about 2,000 km to the area of Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers as Southern Tibet. Unveiling his five proposals, Xi said that first China and India should maintain strategic communication and keep the bilateral relations on the right track. Second, we should harness each others comparative strengths and expand win-win

Thailand, Egypt, India, South Africa, Bhutan), and Low Development (Bangladesh, Pakistan, Nepal, Afghanistan, Niger). The 2013 Human Development Report identifies more than 40 countries in the developing world that have done better than had been expected in human development terms in recent decades, with their progress accelerating markedly over the past ten years. The Report analyzes the causes and consequences of these countries achievements and the challenges that they face today and in the coming decades. Each of these countries has its own unique history and has chosen its own distinct development pathway. The 2013 Human Development Report also identifies policies rooted in this new global reality that could promote greater progress throughout the world for decades to come. The Report calls for far better representation of the South in global governance systems and points to potential new sources of financing within the South for essential public goods. With fresh analytical insights and clear proposals for policy reforms, the Report helps chart a course for people in all regions to face shared human development challenges together, fairly and effectively.

cooperation in infrastructure, mutual investment and other areas, he said. Xi further added that India and China should strengthen cultural ties and constantly increase the mutually expanding friendship between the two countries. President Pranab Mukherjees visit to Bangladesh On March 3, 2013, Bangladesh rolled out the red carpet for President Pranab Mukherjee who arrived on a three-day State visit to boost bilateral ties amidst a general strike by fundamentalist Jamaat-e-Islami to protest the conviction of its three top leaders for 1971 war crimes. In an apparent fall out of the domestic political standoff over war crimes trial and consequent violence, Opposition leader and BNP chairperson Khaleda Zia cancelled her meeting with Mukherjee, casting a shadow on the Presidents maiden foreign visit since taking over the highest constitutional post. Soon after his arrival, President Mukherjee flew by a chopper to the national memorial at Savar, near Dhaka, and paid floral tributes to those who laid down their lives for the liberation of Bangladesh. By itself, the visit to Savar would have passed off as the usual curtain-raiser to any foreign dignitarys visit to Bangladesh, but its significance

Fourteen countries recorded impressive HDI gains of more than 2 percent annually since 2000in order of improvement, they are: Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Angola, Timor-Leste, Myanmar, Tanzania, Liberia, Burundi, Mali, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Niger. Most are low-HDI African countries, with many emerging from long periods of armed conflict. Yet, all have made significant recent progress in school attendance, life expectancy and per capita income growth, the data shows. Most countries in higher HDI brackets also recorded steady HDI gains since 2000, though at lower levels of absolute HDI improvement than the highest achievers in the low-HDI grouping. Hong Kong, Latvia, Republic of Korea, Singapore and Lithuania showed the greatest 12-year HDI improvement in the Very High Human Development quartile of countries in the HDI; Algeria, Kazakhstan, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba were the top five HDI improvers in the High Human Development countries; and Timor-Leste, Cambodia, Ghana, Lao Peoples Democratic Republic and Mongolia were the HDI growth leaders in the Medium Human Development grouping. When the HDI is adjusted for internal inequalities in health,

in the present circumstances was special as there was a renewed focus on the spirit and values symbolised by Bangladesh liberation war. Bangladesh conferred its second highest award, Bangladesh Muktijuddho Sanmanona ( Liberation War award), on President Pranab Mukherjee, for his valuable contribution to the countrys liberation war in 1971. On March 5, President Pranab Mukherjee and Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina jointly inaugurated the locomotives and wagons supplied under a $800 million line of credit extended by India, reflecting growing bilateral ties in infrastructure sector. Following the programme, President Mukherjee left for Narail on a private visit to the ancestral home of his in-laws. Later, he visited poet Rabindrantah Tagores house at Shilaidaha before wrapping up his three-day State visit to Bangladesh. India, Myanmar armies start joint border patrols India has joined hands with Myanmar to conduct joint patrolling along the 1,634 km border between the two countries. This is the first such tie-up by the Indian Army along any of Indias borders. The patrols are being conducted

education and income, some of the wealthiest nations fall sharply in the rankings: the United States falls from #3 to #16in the inequality-adjusted HDI, and South Korea descends from #12 to #28. Sweden, by contrast, rises from #7 to #4 when domestic HDI inequalities are taken into account. The 2013 Reports Statistical Annex also includes two experimental indices, the Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) and the Gender Inequality Index (GII). The GII is designed to measure gender inequalities as revealed by national data on reproductive health, womens empowerment and labour market participation. The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark top the GII, with the least gender inequality. The regions with the greatest gender inequality as measured by the GII are sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Arab States. The Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) examines factors at the household level that together provide a fuller portrait of poverty than income measurements alone. The MPI is not intended to be used for national rankings, due to significant differences among countries in available household survey data. In the 104 countries covered by the MPI, about 1.56 billion people are estimated to live in

in close coordination and are spread all along the border from the northern-most point in Arunachal Pradesh to the southern edge bordering Tripura. The terrain is rugged, forested and infested with wild animals. The proposal to coordinate patrolling along the border by the Myanmar and Indias armies was agreed upon by both countries at regional border committee (RBC) meeting, held on December 5-7, 2012. Since tribal affinities prevail on either side of the border, both countries on a reciprocal basis allow movement of people across the border into either territory up to a distance of 16 km. Though this facilitates the tribals, India has faced the rough end of the stick. Indian insurgent groups and terrorist groups have used the porous border to set up camps within Myanmar in league with extremists groups like the Kachins there. Illegal flow of drugs, contraband and weapons is undertaken by these outfits. Without the backing of real-time information that is available with Myanmar, it is not be possible to track down illegal trade and insurgent groups. The armies of both nations have had substantive relations since the early 1990s, largely due to geographical contiguity and the precarious security situation in

multidimensional poverty. The countries with the highest percentages of MPI poor are all in Africa: Ethiopia (87%), Liberia (84%), Mozambique (79%) and Sierra Leone (77%). Yet the largest absolute numbers of multi-dimensionally poor people live in South Asia, including 612 million in India alone. The Report also reviews key regional development trends, as shown by the HDI and other data: Arab States: The regions average HDI value of 0.652 is fourth out of the six developing country regions analysed in the Report, with Yemen achieving the fastest HDI growth since 2000 (1.66%). The region has the lowest employment-to population ratio (52.6%), well below the world average of 65.8%. East Asia and the Pacific: The region has an average HDI value of 0.683 and registered annual HDI value growth between 2000 and 2012 of 1.31%, with TimorLeste leading with 2.71%, followed by Myanmar at 2.23%. The East Asia-Pacific region has the highest employment-to population ratio (74.5%) in the developing world. Eastern Europe and Central Asia: The average HDI value of 0.771 is the highest of the six developing-country regions. Multi-dimensional poverty is

Indias Northern-Eastern States that border Myanmar. India and Myanmar also have a border trade agreement and have two operational border trade pointsMoreh-Tamu and Zowkhatar-Rhi. A third border trade point is proposed to be opened at AvakhungPansat/Somrai. India-Portugal ink social security pact On March 4, 2013, India signed a social security pact with Portugal and assured the European nation that New Delhi would remain compliant with the expectations of Portuguese system and judiciary on the issue of gangster Abu Salem. The social security agreement was signed by Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi and visiting Portuguese Foreign Minister Paulo de Sacadura Cabral Portas. The agreement is expected to hugely benefit Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) in Portugal as also Portuguese nationals living in India, mainly in Goa. Portugal is home to the third largest population of PIOs in Europe. Recent Indian immigrants and people who trace their ancestry back to India together constitute around 75,000. India Risk Survey The India Risk Survey 2013, conducted by leading corporate

minimal, but it has the second lowest employment-topopulation ratio (58.4%) of the six regions. Latin America and the Caribbean: The average HDI value of 0.741 is the second highest of the six regions, surpassed only by Eastern Europe and Central Asia average. Multi-dimensional poverty is relatively low, and overall life satisfaction, as measured by the Gallup World Poll, is 6.5 on a scale from 0 to 10, the highest of any region. South Asia: The average HDI value for the region of 0.558 is the second lowest in the world. Between 2000 and 2012, the region registered annual growth of 1.43% in HDI value, which is the highest of the regions. Afghanistan achieved the fastest growth (3.9%), followed by Pakistan (1.7%) and India (1.5%). Sub-Saharan Africa: The average HDI value of 0.475 is the lowest of any region, but the pace of improvement is rising. Between 2000 and 2012, the region registered average annual growth of 1.34 percent in HDI value, placing it second only to South Asia, with Sierra Leone (3.4%) and Ethiopia (3.1%) achieving the fastest HDI growth. The Human Development Index (HDI) was introduced in the first Human Development Report in

risk management firm Pinkerton, has found that while India is seen as one of the worlds most promising economies, it also faces some of the most dynamic risks. Traditionally, important parameters that attract investment into a country have been profitability, cost, infrastructure, freedom of doing business etc. However, of late, the factor of risk has evolved as one of the parameters impacting investment and operations, the survey said. Based on answers from over 500 respondents in various sectors of Indian business, such as manufacturing, technology, hospitality and financial services, the survey found strikes and civil unrest to be the number one risk facing industry. Close behind were threats from political and governance instability, cyber and information security and corruption, bribery and corporate frauds respectively. Respondents said natural disasters, terrorism and insurgency, workplace violence and sexual harassment were prominent, but less significant risks. The survey found that corruption had emerged as the fourth biggest risk in 2013, from not being considered a key threat one year earlier.

1990 as a composite measurement of development that challenged purely economic assessments of national progress. The HDI in the 2013 Report covers 187 countries and territories. Data constraints precluded HDI estimates for eight countries: Marshall Islands, Monaco, Nauru, the Peoples Democratic Republic of Korea, San Marino, Somalia, South Sudan and Tuvalu. HDI values and rankings as presented in the Reports Statistical Annex are calculated using the latest internationally comparable data for health, education and income. The HDI rankings and values in the 2013 Human Development Report cannot, therefore, be compared directly to HDI rankings and values published in previous Human Development Reports. UN Report on Water Security Stresses on water supplies aggravated by climate change are likely to cause more conflicts and water should be considered as vital to national security as defence, according to a United Nations report: Water Security and the Global Agenda. About 145 nations share river basins with their neighbours and need to promote cooperation over a resource likely to be disrupted by more frequent floods and heat-waves, says the report. The World Health Organization

DO YOU KNOW Pension Fund regulator PFRDA has chosen Staterun LIC as the default annuity service provider for subscribers exiting from New Pension System (NPS) and seeking withdrawal of accumulated pension wealth. PFRDA has empanelled seven Annuity Service Providers (ASPs) for providing annuity services to NPS subscribers. While subscribers are required to select an empanelled ASP along with an annuity scheme from those offered by the chosen ASP at the time of exiting from NPS, PFRDA has now decided to assist subscribers by providing a default option. Mukesh Ambani has retained the top spot among Indians on Forbes annual list of the worlds billionaires with an estimated worth of $21.5 billion. He is placed 22nd on a list headed by Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim. Indian-born steel baron Lakshmi Mittal was 41st with a net worth of $16.5 billion. Wipro chairman Azim Premji, who gave away $2.3 billion worth of shares in his company to his educationfocused foundation, made it to 91st on the list with a

estimates that each person needs between 50 and 100 litres of water a day to meet basic needs. Water for irrigation and food production constitutes one of the greatest pressures on freshwater resources. Agriculture accounts for 70% of global freshwater withdrawals (up to 90% in some fast-growing economies). Water supplies are under increasing stress from a population of more than 7 billion people, likely to reach 9 billion by 2050. Water-related diseases, from diarrhoea to malaria, kill about 3.5 million people every year, mostly in developing nations. Climate change could worsen the toll in some areas. Of the 783 million people worldwide without improved drinking water, there are 119 million in China; 97 million in India; 66 million in Nigeria; 36 million in DRC; and 15 million in Pakistan. The figures for sanitation are even bleaker. Those without improved sanitation in these countries are: India 814 million; China 477 million; Nigeria 109 million; Pakistan 91 million; and DRC 50 million. Among encouraging signs, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina had signed a deal in 2010 to cooperate and prevent conflicts over the Guarani

net worth of $11.2 billion. Indian-born retail magnate M.A.Yusuff Ali, who heads the Abu Dhabiheadquartered LuLu Group, was among the 210 newcomers on the 2013 Forbes billionaires list, joining the coveted club at number 974. Ranjan Pai, who heads the Manipal Education & Medical Group, also made his debut on the list at number 1107. President Pranab Mukherjee travelled to Port Louis on March 12, 2013 to be the chief guest at Mauritius National Day celebration. Indias longest elevated road (16.4 km), the Eastern Freeway Project (EFP), has been constructed in Mumbai). PANSTARRS was a Comet that was visible from Earth in the month of March 2013. It was discovered in June 2011 by astronomers using the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (or PANSTARRS). World Glaucoma Day is observed on March 12. Airports Council International (ACI), a global body of

Aquifer, which extends over more than 1 million square kilometres. UN-Water, which coordinates water programs within the United Nations system, claims that a single description of the problem will help global collaboration around water, one of the worlds most vital needs. Water security is defined by the report as the capacity of a population to safeguard sustainable access to adequate quantities of acceptable quality water for sustaining livelihoods, human well-being, and socioeconomic development, for ensuring protection against water-borne pollution and waterrelated disasters, and for preserving ecosystems in a climate of peace and political stability. This definition is a starting point, said Zafar Adeel, cochair of the UN water task force on water security. Food and water, as well as sanitation, are drawing attention as the United Nations prepares to write a new agenda for social and economic well-being. The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which came into effect at the turn of the century, expire in 2015. The United Nations announced in 2012 that the MDG for water was attained, but the sanitation target will not be met. The latest UN-Water report calls

airports, has adjudged Delhis Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport as second best after Seouls Incheon airport in the category of airports handling 25-40 million passengers per annum (MPPA) for their service quality for the year 2012. Mumbais Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport was adjudged the third best. The first Arctic Summit, organised by The Economist, was held in Oslo in March 2013. Climate change issues figured in the discussions, as much as the regions undiscovered natural resources, which many countries and oil companies are eyeing. Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd and the Rajasthan government entered into a pact for setting up a 9 mtpa (million tonnes per annum) capacity oil refinery-cumpetrochemical complex in Barmer district at an estimated cost of Rs. 37,230 crore. Punjab is planning Indias first rent-to-own housing scheme, aimed at migrant labourers and slum dwellers. Reserve Bank of India

for the still-evolving sustainable development goals to include a numerical target for water security. The report argues that water securitybecause of the broad definitionis something of an umbrella goal. In other words, if water is adequately addressed, success will cover other areas such as health, nutrition, environmental protection, and employment. Visit of Chinese Prime Minister to Russia On March 23, 2013, Russia and China agreed to significantly expand cooperation in the energy sector and boost bilateral trade to $150 billion in coming years, during the visit of Chinas new President Xi Jinping to Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin said the visit will have historic results and strengthen the strategic character of our relations. Russia will boost oil shipments to China by 10 million tons from the current level of 15 million tons a year, against a $10 billion Chinese loan. The two have also signed an agreement for the construction of an oil refinery and petrochemical factory in Tianjin, which will use Russian oil. Russias gas monopoly Gazprom signed an MoU for the supply of natural gas to China along a pipe to be built in Russias Far East. A 30-year

(RBI) cut its short-term lending rate by 0.25 per cent on March 19, 2013, to spur growth and revive investment. RBI, however, sounded a note of caution on further easing of rates on account of high food inflation and current account deficit. The shortterm lending rate or the repo was reduced by 0.25 per cent to 7.5 per cent, making it the second consecutive cut in as many months. The Test of My Life, coauthored by Nishant Arora and Sharda Ugra, is an account of cricketer Yuvraj Singhs battle with cancer and his return to international cricket. World Forestry Day is observed on March 21. This day has been celebrated around the world for 30 years to remind communities of the importance of forests and the many benefits which we gain from them. The concept of having a World Forestry Day originated at the 23rd General Assembly of the European Confederation of Agriculture in 1971. Later that year, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation gave support to the idea, believing the event would

contract for the shipment of 38 billion cubic metres of gas a year will be signed before the end of 2013. BRICS Summit In a sign that the worlds five most influential non-Western countries have moved away from political rhetoric and a loose arrangement of meeting once a year, the BRICS countries, at their Fifth Summit, which ended in the port city of Durban, South Africa on March 27, 2013, decided to set up an infrastructure-oriented development bank, sought a Director General for the World Trade Organisation (WTO) from the developing world, set up a $100 billion fund for themselves to guard against currency fluctuation, and ruled out any other option but a negotiated solution for the Iran nuclear issue. In a gesture to India, BRICS reiterated the need for quickly completing talks on a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism, a concept first mooted by New Delhi. The Summit also displayed a distinct non-Western tendency by acknowledging the important role that State-owned enterprises played in their economies and resolving to encourage them to interact with each other. The BRICS Summit acknowledged the lacunae in

contribute a great deal to public awareness of the importance of forests, and agreed that it should be observed every year around the world. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), Indias biggest energy explorer, has announced discovery of three new oil assetstwo in KrishnaGodavari basin and the third in Agartala in Tripura. World Water Day is held annually on March 22 as a means of focusing attention on the importance of freshwater and advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources. Each year, World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater. In 2013, in reflection of the International Year of Water Cooperation, World Water Day was dedicated to the theme of cooperation around water and was coordinated by UNESCO, in collaboration with UNECE and UNDESA, on behalf of UN-Water. 2013 has been designated as the UN International Year of Water Cooperation. Good management of water is challenging due to some of

their functioning and resolved to set up a virtual secretariat to impart continuity and manageability to the large number of BRICS deliberations at various levels. Meeting a day before the fifth summit of the heads of State was to formally begin, Finance Ministers of the five countries thrashed out an agreement to establish a BRICS Development Bank on the lines of the World Bank. The idea of starting a bank was first mooted by BRICS countries during the New Delhi summit. The bank will cater to the infrastructural needs of the members of the group which accounts for 43% of the world's population. The bank and the Contingency Reserve Arrangement (CRA) provide a solid basis for greater cooperation among these countries whose economies are growing faster than the global average, and have the potential to influence decision-making on key international issues. China has agreed to contribute $41 billion for CRA, while India, Russia and Brazil have agreed to provide $18 billion each. South Africa will chip in with $5 billion. The CRA is supposed to buffer BRICS nations against any liquidity crisis. BRICS countries have a combined foreign exchange reserves of an estimated $4.4 trillion. The Durban summit also saw the launch of the BRICS Business

its unique characteristics: it is unevenly distributed in time and space, the hydrological cycle is highly complex and perturbations have multiple effects. Rapid urbanization, pollution and climate change threaten the resource while demands for water are increasing in order to satisfy the needs of a growing world population, for food production, energy, industrial and domestic uses. Water is a shared resource and its management needs to take into account a wide variety of conflicting interests. Promoting water cooperation implies an interdisciplinary approach, bringing in cultural, educational and scientific factors, as well as religious, ethical, social, political, legal, institutional and economic dimensions. Under the new rules, effective from April 1, 2013, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) can invest up to $25 billion in longterm government bonds, up from $15 billion. The cap on corporate bonds remains at the $51 billion, but separate limits on different types of corporate debt have been removed. India restricts foreign access to its debt markets because of

Council to promote engagement among business-persons of the member countries. The five BRICS countries together account for 26 per cent of the worlds geographic area, 43 per cent of the worlds population, 17 per cent of international trade and 25 per cent of global GDP in terms of purchasing power parity. The decision on the trade, business and financial fronts will see for the first time after the grouping was formed in 2009, a more time-bound and result-oriented agenda on the economic front. On the sidelines of the Summit, in the first-high level contact after the new Chinese leadership took over, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh met Chinese President Xi Jinping. All aspects of the relationship were discussed, except the South China issue. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh raised the issue of Beijings proposal to construct three dams across the Brahmaputra river on its side. India feels that the proposal would affect water flow to India, while China says it was just runof-the mill project that would not hold water. Notwithstanding pledges to take the bilateral relationship to a new level, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh sought a joint mechanism to assess the construction work on dams on Brahmaputra river in Tibet. China becomes worlds fifth

its reluctance to owe money to overseas investors, and has a complicated system of categories for debt as well as restrictions on which types of investors can bid for the debt. But, a record high current account deficitwhich hit 5.4 percent of the GDP in the quarter ending September 2012prompted the government to take steps to increase capital inflows into countrys debt and stock markets. World Tuberculosis Day is observed on March 24. The fifth Summit of the BRICS (Brazil, China, India, Russia and South Africa) countries was held in eThekwini, the South African name for Durban, on March 26, 2013. Sikkim Scouts is the Indian Armys newest infantry regiment, which the Army hopes to raise by 2015. Recruitment exclusively from amongst the local populace has started in the strategically vital mountainous northeastern State. India is ranked 20th in the list of worlds top real estate investment markets with investment volume of $3.4 billion in 2012,

largest arms exporter China has become the worlds fifth-largest arms exporter, its highest ranking since the Cold War, with Pakistan the main recipient, according to a respected Sweden-based think tank, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). China's volume of weapons exports between 2008 and 2012 rose 162 percent compared to the previous five year period, with its share of the global arms trade rising from 2 percent to 5 percent. China replaces Britain in the top five arms-dealing countries between 2008 and 2012, a group dominated by the United States and Russia, which accounted for 30 percent and 26 percent of weapons exports, SIPRI said. Germany and France ranked third and fourth on the arms exporter list. China followed only India in the acquisition of arms, though its reliance on imports is decreasing as it ramps up weapons production capabilities at home. Now the world's second-largest economy, China's rise has come with a new sense of military assertiveness, with a growing budget to develop modern warfare equipment including aircraft carriers and drones. SIPRI maintains a global arms transfers database base that

according to property consultant Cushman & Wakefields latest report. China was at the top position with investment of $304.1 billion, followed by US ($267.1 billion) and UK ($56.3 billion). Fifty years ago, in 1962, the first record of The Beatles was released. I Saw Her Standing There was the first song on the first Beatles record. The four from LiverpoolPaul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrisonhave enthralled millions of various ages over the ages. Their songs, such as Hard Days Night, Daytripper, While My Guitar Gently Weeps, to this day enthuse people. Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission is headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna. The Human Development Report, 2013, ranks Norway on the top with HDI value of 0.995, followed by Australia (0.938), USA (0.937), Netherlands (0.921) and Germany (0.920). India is ranked 136 with HDI value of 0.554. DR Congo (0.304) and Niger (0.304) are ranked 186, at the

tracks arms exports back to the 1950s. It averages data over five-year periods because arms sales vary by year.

Business News Infrastructure major GMR Group has decided to divest its 70 per cent stake in GMR Energy (Singapore) Pte (GMRE) to FPM Power for SGD 660 million (Rs 2,907 crore). The auction of secondgeneration CDMA spectrum ended on March 11, 2013, after three rounds, with lone bidder Sistema Shyam TeleServices (SSTL) bidding for eight circles. SSTL submitted bids worth Rs. 3,639 crore. While the firm, which offers services under the MTS brand, bid for the Delhi circle, it skipped the Mumbai, Maharashtra and UP East circles. The telecom company will be able to provide services in nine circles now, having retained the Rajasthan circle from the auction in 2012. Iraq has shortlisted Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) and six other firms for developing its Nasiriya oilfield and the construction of an associated 300,000 barrels per day refinery. In a deal that will help it gain more share in the

bottom of the ranking.

European market, Infosys announced that it has won a five-year deal from BMW Group for application basis infrastructure management services. Infosys will open a new delivery centre in Munich as part of its global service delivery team and cover services, such as maintenance and operations of the web infrastructure, content management, SAP Basis operations, IT for IT (the companys internal IT system) and the business intelligence systems of BMW Group. Kenichi Ayukawa has been appointed as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Maruti Suzuki. Nimbuzz provides a common platform to use VoIP calling services as well as instant messaging services via different client for free. According to the data revealed by the company it has its strongest user base in Asia with 37 million users in the Middle east and over 41 million in rest of Asia, including India. India by itself contributes to 25 percent of its global user base. M&M has launched an allelectric passenger car e2o. Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt made his maiden trip to India in

March 2013. The trip was part of an Asian itinerary that included the much publicised visit to Myanmar. During his visit, he visited the Bangalore office of Google, engaging with employees, including in a 32-minute address that was simultaneously webcast to employees in Hyderabad. He also attended a panel discussion in Delhi, hosted by NASSCOM by name of Catalysing Tech Start-ups in India. Domestic carriers will no longer need the governments permission to import aircraft as the Civil Aviation Ministry has reversed its policy and abolished the Aircraft Acquisition Committee (AAC) that had been scrutinising every purchase. On March 23, 2013, Cairn India began natural gas sales from the Raageshwari field in Rajasthan to a fertiliser plant in Gujarat. Cairn and its 30 per cent joint venture partner, Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), will initially produce about 0.15 million standard cubic meters per day of gas, which will go up to a maximum of 1 mmscmd by 2014. Besides, the joint venture has also started production from Aishwariya oilfield, third of the famous MBA (Mangala Bhagyam Aishwariya)

discoveries in the block. The field will initially add about 2,000 barrels per day to Rajasthan blocks current production of about 170,000 bpd. Mangala, the largest of the 25 oil and gas finds Cairn has made in the Barmer desert block, was put into production in August 2009 and is currently producing about 150,000 bpd. Bhagyam, the second biggest find in the area, began producing in 2012 and is currently doing about 20,000 bpd. Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and global outsourcing services firm Capgemini have been awarded contracts worth $43 million (about Rs 233 crore) each from Norway Post to operate and manage its applications. Kishore Biyani-led Future Group has agreed to sell 50 percent stake in its life insurance business, Future Generali General Insurance (FGGI) , to L&T Finance for around Rs 550-600 crore. This deal is part of Future Groups strategy to cut down its mounting debt and focus on the organised retail sector. Formed in 2007, Future Generali is a JV between Future Group and the Generali Group of Italy. The Future Group owns 74% stake in the company while the Italian insurer owns

26%the highest permissible under Indian laws.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: JANUARY 2013 NATIONAL AFFAIRS Union Cabinet clears Rs 12,517 cr infusion in State-run banks The Union cabinet has approved a plan to recapitalize State-owned banks by infusing Rs 12,517 crore in them to meet their capital adequacy norms and expand lending operations. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said about nine to ten State-owned banks will benefit from the capital infusion programme. The amount of capital infusion and the terms and conditions would be decided after consultation with each bank, he said, adding the exercise was aimed at helping them meet stricter Basel-III norms on capital adequacy which every bank is required to meet. The funds will be disbursed before March INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS WEF calls for golden triangle approach to tackle global woes On January 23, 2013, world business leaders attending the World Economic Forum annual meeting at Davos said there is a need for a golden triangle collaboration between governments, companies and the civil society to rejuvenate the global economy, create jobs and fight corruption. They also urged the economic movers and shakers attending the World Economic Forum meeting to join forces to chart a clear path for the way forward. The meeting, with participation of influential world leaders like British Prime Minister David Cameron, as well as Indian

2013 to the State-owned banks. The government had already earmarked the amount in the budget for the current fiscal. The recapitalization will ensure compliance to the regulatory norms on capital adequacy and will cater to the credit needs of productive sectors of the economy as well as to withstand the impact of stress in the economy. This will also support national and international operations of the state-owned banks and will also boost the confidence of investors and market sentiments. This additional availability of credit will cater to the credit needs of the economy and will also benefit employment oriented sectors, especially agriculture, micro & small enterprises, export, entrepreneurs in promotion of their economic activities which would, in turn, contribute substantially to the growth of the economy. The government has already injected about Rs 32,000 crore in the banks during the previous two financial years. In FY2011-12 State-owned banks had got Rs 12,000 crore for improving their capital adequacy ratio. Justice Verma Commissions Report On January 23, 2013, the three-member Commission, headed by former Chief Justice of India, Justice J.S. Verma, assigned to review laws for sexual crimes, submitted its report to the government. The panel was set up amid huge demonstrations by thousands of students who demanded tougher punishment for sexual offenders after the monstrous attack on 23-year-old Amanat (Not her real name). She died two weeks after she was allegedly raped by six different men who also assaulted her boyfriend and her with an iron rod. Making far reaching recommendations, the Justice Verma Committee report has

Ministers and businessmen, took place at a time when fiscal woes across continents and anaemic world economic growth were posing policy as well as political challenges. Setting the tone for the deliberations at this snowy resort town, Coca-Cola Company chairman and CEO Muhtar Kent, also cochair of the WEF meet, said that growth and job creation are going to be key for the global economy going forward. The call for collaborative efforts came against the backdrop of corruption issues coming to the fore in various countries, including India, where the role of companies, banks, the government as well as individuals have come under the scanner. Besides Cameron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, heads of World Bank, IMF and CEOs of many blue-chip firms were in attendance.

Business News Mahindra & Mahindra has forayed into the motorcycle segment with two 110 cc modelsCenturo and Pantero. Aiming to expand its presence in the agribusiness space, the Tata Group is now looking at launching chillies. Metaheli a biotech firm acquired by the group in 2010has developed a hybrid red chilli and the teams at Tata Chemicals and its subsidiary Rallis are studying the possibility of launching the cayenne pepper. Rallis would supply farm management products like seeds and pesticides to farmers in helping them cultivate the plant while Tata Chemicals would buy the chillies, package and market them under the I-

favoured comprehensive amendments to criminal laws, seeking minimum 20 years imprisonment for gang rape and life term for rape and murder, but refrained from prescribing death penalty. However, the three-member Committee, headed by former Chief Justice J.S. Verma and comprising a former High Court Chief Justice Leila Seth and jurist Gopal Subramanium, is not in favour of reducing the age of juveniles under the law. Nor did the Committee favour chemical castration of rapists, saying the Constitution of India does not permit mutilation of a human body. For detailed report CLICK HERE Lokpal BillKey Highlights of revised Bill On January 31, 2013, the Union Cabinet cleared the new revised Lokpal Bill with measures such as bringing the Central Bureau of Investigation under the Lokpal supervision and leaving the appointment of Lokayuktas to the States. The key highlights of the revised Bill are: The phrase connected with political parties to be replaced with affiliated with political parties. Fifth member of the Selection Committee (i.e. eminent jurist) to be nominated by the President on recommendation of the other four members of the Selection Committee, viz. Prime Minister, Speaker (Lok Sabha), Leader of Opposition (Lok Sabha) and Chief Justice of India. Government has decided to exempt only such bodies or authorities established, constituted or appointed by or under any Central or State or Provincial Act providing for administration of public religious or charitable trusts or endowments or societies for religious or charitable purposes registered under the Societies Registration Act.

Shakti brand. Bhavarlal Hiralal Jain, who founded Jain Irrigation Systems about three decades ago and also introduced micro irrigation and several other new technologies in Indias agro sector, is now working on a five-year plan to set up a university that would be dedicated to three hot topics in todays world: water management, food security and energy conservation. Sanjay Kapoor, CEO (India and South Asia) of Bharati Airtel, has resigned. Gopal Vittal, who rejoined Indias largest telecom operator in 2012 as group director, special projects, will take over as the head of its Indian operations with effect from March 1, 2013. Telecom equipment maker AlcatelLucent has won an eight-year contract valued at more than $1 billion to manage Reliance Communications mobile and fixed networks in east and south India. The FIPB has cleared Rs 10,000 crore investment proposal of Swedish furniture major IKEA to set up retail stores in the country with cafeterias. Chennai-based Apollo Hospitals Enterprise Ltd (AHEL) has inked a Rs 400 crore deal with Belgian medical device manufacturer Ion Beam Applications SA (IBA), to set up Apollo Proton Therapy Center, a proton therapy center for cancer treatment. The therapy focuses primarily on the cancer-affected area and it does not harm healthy tissues. Apollo plans to set up the facility by 2015 and offer the services for Rs 30 lakh per treatement.

Political parties exempt from the purview of the Lokpal Bill 2011, as they are already covered under the Representation of Peoples Act. Lokpal can order investigation against a public servant, in case a prima facie case exists, after calling for explanation from the public servant. Opportunity to be given to public servant to be heard. Lokpal to have power to grant sanction for prosecution of public servants. Amendments for strengthening CBI accepted, except the one which seeks approval of Lokpal for transfer of officers of CBI investigating cases referred by Lokpal. India-Bangladesh sign landmark extradition treaty On January 28, 2013, India and Bangladesh signed a liberalised visa agreement and a landmark extradition treaty that would pave the way for the deportation of jailed ULFA general secretary Anup Chetia and other wanted criminals. Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde signed the agreement with his Bangladeshi counterpart Mohiuddin Khan Alamgir at the end of their bilateral talks, held in Dhaka. The extradition treaty, however, would not be applicable for persons accused of offenses of political nature; only those with charges like murders, culpable homicide and other serious offenses would come under the purview of the deal. Offenders of small crimes, awarded with less than one year jail, will also not be wanted under the treaty. The new visa pact, named revised travel arrangement, will remove restrictions on visit of each other's businesspersons, students, patients, senior citizens above 65 years and children below 12 years on the lines of the liberalised visa regime between India and Pakistan. Under the student visa, a

Battery maker Exide Industries, the largest stakeholder in ING Vysya Life Insurance, which currently owns a 50% stake, has decided to acquire the remaining stake for Rs 550 crore. It will buy 26% stake from Dutch partner ING Insurance International, which is exiting the insurance business in India with this deal. It will also acquire 16.32% stake from Hemendra Kothari group and 7.68% from Enam group. The deal will value ING Vysya at Rs1,100 crore. SEBI has notified the SEBI (Investment Advisers) Regulations, 2013, wherein registration has been made compulsory for all financial advisors. Investment advice includes advice relating to investing in, purchasing, selling or otherwise dealing in securities or investment products, and advice on investment portfolio containing securities or investment products. Insurance agents, pension advisors, AMFI-registered mutual fund distributors, solicitors, chartered accountants, cost accountants, actuaries and fund managers do not need to register. Minimum qualifications to register are: postgraduate degree or diploma in finance or related fields; a minimum five years experience in financial products advice. In addition, all registered advisors have to obtain a certification from the National Institute of Securities Markets. Brookings Institution, a non-profit public policy organisation based in Washington DC, has announced it would open Brookings India to serve as a platform for public policy research and analysis. Vikram Singh Mehta, former Chairman of the Shell group of

person can avail one-year multiple entry travel document. India has also agreed to waive the 60-day cooling off period for second visit by a Bangladeshi national. The restriction is at present applicable to citizens of Pakistan, China and some other countries. DO YOU KNOW Gujarat has moved to the top of an economic freedom of States index for 2012, dislodging Tamil Nadu, which held the place in 2005 and 2009. Bihar continues to remain at the bottom of the list, though its scores improved significantly between 2009 and 2011 (the year on which the data used in the 2012 report is based). Madhya Pradesh moved up from the sixth position in 2009 to the third position in 2012, trading places with the more industrially and economically developed Andhra Pradesh. The Economic Freedom of the States of India 2012 is the third such report published by German think tank Friedrich Naumann Stiftung. Economic freedom is measured in terms of three broad headssize of government (measured by government revenue expenditure and administrative gross state domestic product (GSDP) and sundry state-level taxes as share of total GSDP, as well as share of government in organised employment), legal structure and security of property rights (using data on economic offences, crimes, completion of police investigations and court trials) and regulation of labour and business (measured by ratio of average wage to minimum wages, man-days lost in strikes and lockouts, implementation

companies, would be the chairman of Brookings India. The largest Indian media conglomerate, The Times of India group, has launched a new film awardthe times of india Film Awards (ToIFA), a global annual awards function which will directly take on International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA). Royal Philips Electronics NV, 50 years after unveiling the compact cassette for music mix-tapes, has agreed to sell its audio and video units to Japans Funai Electric Co for $202 million. Philips now wants to concentrate more on profitable cancer scanners and energy savings light bulbs. Research in Motion (RIM) has decided to change the name it has used since its inception in 1985 to BlackBerry. The Union government has given a goahead for selling a 10 percent stake in Oil India Ltd, which is expected to raise more than Rs 2,500 crore.

rate of industrial entrepreneurs memorandum, or IEMs, licence fees, power shortage, among other things). Brazilian biologist Andre Nemesio has named a species of Brazilian orchid bee Euglossa bazinga in honour of the clever, funny, nerd character Sheldon Cooper because the bee had tricked scientists for some time with its similarity to other species. India is now the second largest consumer and fastest growing retail destination of flowers in the world. India hosted the first standalone meeting of the National Security Advisers (NSAs) of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations that featured discussions on a range of global issues, including terrorism, cyber security and piracy. The Union Cabinet has approved the introduction of a Bill in the Parliament for declaring the 121-km LakhipurBhanga stretch of the Barak River as a national waterway. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved disinvestment of 10 per cent paid-up equity in Engineers India Ltd (EIL). The first international conference on innovations in food processing, value chain management and food safety was held in January 2013 at the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship & Management (NIFTEM), Kundli, Haryana. On the occasion of Swami Vivekanandas 150th birth anniversary,

on January 12, 2013, the Salt Lake Sports Stadium, Kolkata, was renamed Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Kriyangan. A three-day Patangotasav was organised by the Gujarat government on January 13-15, 2013, to promote tourism in the State. The Patangotasav was held on the occasion of Uttarayan which is celebrated as the day of kite-flying in Gujarat. Cheque Truncation System (CTS) aims to make cheque clearance more efficient and reduce the clearance time of cheques to one day, thereby trimming down the floating time considerably. India processes as many as 1.2 billions cheques annually. The implementation of CTS would drastically cut down the waiting period. The system will be implemented nationwide from April 1, 2013. According to the GEs annual Global Innovation Barometer report, 55 percent of business executives from the 25 markets regard the Indian environment for innovation as strongly innovation conducive. This puts the country in the 12th position of the country ranking based on this indicator. According to the report, policy environments in Germany, US and Japan are perceived as most innovation conducive. The import duty on gold has been hiked from 4 per cent to 6 per cent. Import duty on raw gold (bars and ores) has been increased to 5 percent from 2 percent. The move is aimed at curbing imports of the precious metals to check the widening current account

deficit. "The Skinning Tree" is the debut novel of 81-year-old sports journalist Srikumar Sen. It is about a boy struggling with the harsh realities of boarding school in pre-independence India. Like his protagonist Sabby, the author was also born in Calcutta (now Kolkata) before moving to England with his parents. Based on Sen's boyhood memories with characters, family history and imagination moulded to fit the story, the unpublished manuscript had won an award for debut South Asian authors in January 2012. Netherlands is one of only four euro zone countries to have retained the highest credit rating throughout the euro-zone crisis and has been one of the hardliners, along with Germany and Finland on the need for tough austerity in countries benefiting from euro zone supportGreece, Ireland, Portugal and Spain. The Justice J.S. Verma Commission was set-up to review current laws on aggravated sexual assault following the brutal gang rape of a young girl in Delhi on December 16, 2012. National Girl Child Day is observed on January 24. National Voters Day is observed on January 25. The Reserve Bank has hiked FII investment limits in government securities and corporate bonds by $5 billion each, taking the total cap in domestic debt to $75 billion, with a

view to bridging the current account deficit. Further liberalising the norms, the three-year lock-in period for foreign institutional investors (FIIs) purchasing government securities (GSecs) for the first time has been done away with. Punjab government has decided to name the Amritsar-Attari road as Swami Vivekanand Marg, to mark his 150th birth anniversary. On January 29, 2013, Reserve Bank of India announced a 25 basis point rate cut, and added a bonus by way of another 25 basis points cut in the cash reserve ratio to infuse more liquidity into the system for productive lending. The CRR cut would release Rs 18,000 crore into the banking system. This is the first repo rate cut RBI Governor Subbarao effected in nine months to spur a slowing economy. The repo rate now stands at 7.75 percent and CRR at 4 percent. HPCL and French oil major Total SA, through their equal joint venture with South Asia LPG (SALPG), have established a 60,000 million tonne capacity underground LPG storage facility in Vishakhapatnam. Now HPCL and Total SA are planning to set up their second LPG cavern in Mangalore. Indias gems and jewellery exports declined by 17.09 per cent in dollar terms and 4.65 per cent in rupee terms in 2012. Overall exports fell to $38.3 billion (Rs 2.05 lakh crore) in 2012. The focus of the 13th edition of the Delhi Sustainable Development

Summit (DSDS), held on January 31, 2013, was The Global Challenge of Resource Efficient Growth and Development. Witness to Blunder is a book written by Pakistani Army Colonel (retd) Ashfaq Hussain. In the book, he has exposed Pervez Musharraf and blamed him for the unwarranted aggression against India in 1999 and revealed that the former Army chief had himself crossed over the LoC. According to the book, the Kargil misadventure was masterminded by Major General Javed Hassan, General Mehmood and General Aziz. They made Musharraf agree to the plans which later lead to a limited conflict between India and Pakistan.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: DECEMBER 2012 NATIONAL AFFAIRS RBI inks currency swap agreement with Bank of Japan The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Bank of Japan (BoJ) have concluded a threeyear Bilateral Swap Arrangement (BSA) between India and Japan.The BSA, which was signed by RBI Governor D. Subbarao and BoJ Governor Masaaki Shirakawa, became effective as of December 4, 2012. The arrangement aims at addressing shortterm liquidity difficulties and supplementing the existing international financial arrangements, as one of the efforts in strengthening mutual cooperation between Japan and India. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS LDP is voted back to power in Japan The Liberal Democratic Party, which led Japan for most of the post-World War II era until it was dumped as the economy fizzled in 2009, won 294 seats in the 480-seat lower house of Parliament in December 16, 2012 elections. Shinzo Abe, who was Prime Minister from 2006-2007 has been elected as the new Prime Minister. Outgoing Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced his resignation, calling the election results severe and acknowledging his party failed to live up to the nations high expectations.

The BSA will enable both countries to swap their local currencies (i.e., either Japanese yen or Indian rupee) against US dollar for an amount up to $15 billion. In the past, both the countries had a similar arrangement for an amount up to $3 billion for a period of three years from June 2008 to June 2011. The enhancement of the BSA will further strengthen economic and financial cooperation between the two countries and accordingly contribute to ensuring financial market stability. State Elections Himachal Pradesh: Congress bounced back to power in the hill State, winning 36 out of the total 68 seats, while the ruling BJP had to contend with 26. As expected, the Independents put up a good show to bag five seats. The BJP breakaway group Himachal Lokhit Party, which had floated the Third Front with the CPM and the CPI, could just muster a solitary seat. The Congress, which had 23 members in the outgoing House, improved its tally by 13 seats, while the BJPs score came down to 26 from 41. The margin of victory was not very big but it was a creditable performance by the Congress, keeping in view the prevailing anti-party sentiment at the national level due to unfolding of various scams and measures like reduction in number of subsidised LPG cylinders. The political aware electorate maintained the three-decade old tradition of voting out the incumbent government and gave a clear verdict in favour of the Congress, throwing aside all the predictions of a hung House. The strong anti-incumbency factor against the Dhumal government more than neutralised the impact of national issues such

Economic issues, including plans to raise taxes and other measures to bolster Japans under-performing economy, were the top concerns among voters. Abe and his party stressed national security amid an ongoing dispute with China over a group of small uninhabited islands that both nations claim. That kind of tough talk resonated with some voters who feared their country is falling too far behind Chinas rising economic and military clout. This, however, could also deepen a rift between Tokyo and Beijing that has already begun to sour diplomatic ties and trade. Abe is known as a hawk on China relationswhich could mean more friction with Japans giant neighbour and key trading partner. During his previous tenure as Prime Minister, Abe had pursued a nationalistic agenda, pressing for more patriotic education and upgrading the defence agency to ministry status. The LDP wants to revise Japans pacifist constitution to strengthen its Self-Defence Forces and, breaching a postwar taboo, designate them as a military. It also proposes increasing Japans defence budget and allow Japanese troops to engage in collective self-defence operations with allies that are not directly related to Japans own defence. A dizzying array of more than 12 parties, including several news ones, contested, some with vague policy goals. The most significant new force is the right-leaning, populist Japan Restoration Party, which won 54 seats. The party is led by the bombastic nationalist former Tokyo Governor Shintaro Ishihara and lawyerturned Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto

as price rise, corruption and FDI on which the BJP was banking on. Gujarat: Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi led the Bharatiya Janata Party to a third consecutive win in the State Assembly elections, capturing 115 seats in the 182member House, short by two seats from his 2007 performance of 117 seats While it was a hat-trick for Modi, a record by any Chief Minister in the State so far, for the BJP it was the fifth straight win since 1995. The Congress which again failed to dislodge the BJP, ended with 61 seats along with its ally, the Nationalist Congress Party, two better than 59 it won in the last elections. The Gujarat Parivartan Party floated by the former Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel with the support of the disgruntled elements of the BJP to show Modi the exit door, ended up a cropper with only two seats. Doha Climate talks: India takes firm stand Indian delegation for the Doha Climate talks, led by special secretary M. Mehrishi, got the nod from the Union Cabinet to draw its strong red-lines at the Doha round of UN negotiations. The government ordered the Indian delegation at Doha to not enhance its pledge of reducing emissions intensity at Doha and reiterated that the three critical issues of equity, intellectual property and unilateral actions by governments remain steadfast on the table. The Cabinet has also approved the note which criticized EU for shifting the goal post yet again and resell the commitment to operationalise the Kyoto Protocols second commitment period. The delegates have been empowered to negotiate an unconditional approval of the protocols

polarizing figures with forceful leadership styles. Ishihara is another hawk on China, having stirred up the latest dispute with Beijing by proposing Tokyo buy the islands from their private Japanese owners and develop them. Deal with Senate in US fiscal cliff crisis On December 31, 2012, the White House reached an eleventh hour, New Years Eve accord with Senate Republicans to neutralize across-the-board tax increases and spending cuts in government programs that were due to take effect at midnight. The Senate moved the US economy back from the edge of a fiscal cliff on January 1, voting to avoid imminent tax hikes and spending cuts in a bipartisan deal that could still face stiff challenges in the House of Representatives. In a rare New Year's session, senators voted 89-8 to raise some taxes on the wealthy while making permanent low tax rates on the middle class that have been in place for a decade. But the measure did little to rein in huge annual budget deficits that have helped push the US debt to $16.4 trillion. Without legislation, economists in and out of government had warned of a possible new recession and spike in unemployment if the economy were allowed to fall over the so-called fiscal cliff of tax increases and spending cuts. Under the deal, taxes would remain steady for the middle class and rise at incomes over $400,000 for individuals and $450,000 for coupleslevels higher than President Barack Obama had campaigned for in his successful drive for a second term in office. Spending cuts totalling $24 billion over two months, aimed at the Pentagon and

second phase starting 2013. The formal approval from the government came at a time that the Doha talks had got log-jammed with the developed countries refusing to even discuss issues of value to the developing world, such as a timeline for delivering finance, adaptation, equity and unilateral actions under what is called the Long Term Cooperation Action (LCA) track. The track is to shut down in 2012 and the developing countries want to move the unresolved issues from the track to the future talks which the rich nations have blocked so far. The Cabinet orders, unlike previous years, came with no caveat or space for flexibility for the Indian delegation at Doha. They commanded the delegation to ensure the pending issues find homes in future negotiations. The Cabinet has also decided that any new obligation to reduce emissions through supplementary actions should only be undertaken in adherence to the existing UN climate conventions and on availability of funds and technologies. On the Durban Platform negotiations, the cabinet has approved that the Indian team secure a plan of work guided by the fifth IPCC review, the review of the convention itself, international consultation and analysis, international consultations, the biennial reports and updates and the national communications. Cheque signature mismatch may lead to criminal proceedings A person may face criminal proceedings if a cheque issued by him gets dishonoured on the ground that his signature does not match the specimen signature available with the bank.

domestic programs, would be deferred. That would allow the White House and lawmakers time to regroup before plunging very quickly into a new round of budget brinkmanship, certain to revolve around Republican calls to rein in the cost of the Medicare health program for the elderly and other government benefit programs. Officials also decided at the last minute to use the measure to prevent a $900 pay raise for lawmakers. If President Obama and Congress had failed to act, about $536 billion in tax increases, touching nearly all American workers, and about $110 billion in spending cuts, about 8 percent of the annual budgets for most federal departments, were scheduled to go into effect beginning in January. Much or all of the revenue to be raised through higher taxes on the wealthy would help hold down the amount paid to the Internal Revenue Service by the middle class. In addition to preventing higher rates for most, the agreement would retain existing breaks for families with children, for lowearning taxpayers and for those with a child in college. Also, the two sides agreed to prevent the alternative minimum tax from expanding to affect an estimated 28 million households for the first time in 2013, with an average increase of more than $3,000. The law originally was designed to make sure millionaires did not escape taxes, but inflation has gradually exposed more and more households with lower earnings to its impact. Rich nations alone cannot stop global warming: Report A report published by the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment and the Centre for Climate

A Supreme Court bench of Justices T.S. Thakur and Gyan Sudha Mishra set aside the verdict of Gujarat High Court which had held that criminal proceedings for dishonouring of cheque can be initiated only when the cheque is dishonoured because of lack of sufficient amount in the bank account and not in case where a cheque is returned due to mismatch of signature of account holder. Just as dishonour of a cheque on the ground that the account has been closed is a dishonour falling in the first contingency referred to in Section 138 of Negotiable Instrument Act, so also dishonour on the ground that the signatures do not match or that the image is not found, which too implies that the specimen signatures do not match the signatures on the cheque would constitute a dishonour within the meaning of Section 138 of the Act, the bench said. The Supreme Court, however, said that in such cases of dishonouring of cheques, the account holder must be given a notice and an opportunity to arrange the payments before initiation of criminal proceedings against him. Amendment to Competition Act On December 10, 2012, the Union government introduced a Bill in Parliament to amend the Competition Act that would confer powers on fair trade regulator Competition Commission of India (CCI)to vet all Merger and Acquisition deals and also authorise its Director General to carry out search and seizure activities. The DG is the investigating arm of the CCI that keeps a tab on anti-competitive practices in the marketplace. Currently, DG can search and seize only after authorisation from the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate,

Change Economics and Policy, co-authored by former World Bank chief economist Nicholas Stern, has warned that the poor nations must make haste to curb greenhouse gas emissions as even an impossible zeropercent pollution target for the developed world by 2030 wont stop calamitous climate change. The report was issued on the sidelines of UN climate talks in Doha, Qatar. The document says that while rich countries are responsible for the bulk of earthwarming gas emissions since the industrial age, the world could not afford to play the blame-game. All countries, rich and poor, were moving recklessly slow on reducing emissions. The latest round of notoriously tough UN climate talks has seen negotiators bickering in Doha over cash and commitments needed to curb greenhouse gas emissions even as the alarm is being raised anew about the perils the planet faces. Poor countries insist that Western nations sign up to deeper, more urgent cuts and commit to a new funding package from 2013 to help them cope with worsening drought, flood, storms and rising seas. For a reasonable chance at making the 2 degree Celsius target, greenhouse gas emissions must fall from about 50 billion tonnes per year now to less than 35 billion tonnes in 2030. Yet on current patterns, developing countries would probably spew out 37-38 billion tonnes in 2030, compared to rich country emissions of about 11-14 billion tonnesabout two thirds of the total. In 1990, the baseline from which the UN has set emission cuts for about 40 rich nations and the European Union, developing

Delhi. This is under Section 41(3) of the Competition Act, 2002. Other amendments include change in the definition of terms like turnover and group in competition related matter. The amendments also aim to bring down the time for the Commission to decide on combinations (M&A deals) to 180 days from the present 210 days. In a move to bring all voluntary mergers and acquisitions (M&As) under the CCI purview, changes as well as a new clause have been proposed in the Act. Constitution (117th Amendment) Bill On December 17, 2012, the Rajya Sabha passed with two-thirds majority the Constitution (117th Amendment) Bill to provide for reservation in promotions to the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and the Scheduled Tribes (STs). The historic legislation was adopted after a two-day debate with 194 members voting for it and 10 voting against it. The Bill, a major demand of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), was opposed by its main political rival, the Samajwadi Party (SP). Nine SP members and one Independent voted against the legislation. Forty members, including four Shiv Sena members, did not vote. Since the Bill sought to amend the Constitution, it needed to be passed with a two-thirds majority. However, in the end, it was a no contest, since the main Opposition partythe BJPagreed to support the Bill with some amendments. The Bill de-links the term efficiency of administration from the claims of SCs/STs for jobs and promotions, mentioned in

nations contribution was only about one third. China has since 1990 become the worlds biggest emitter of carbon dioxide, while India moved ahead of Russia in 2011 to become the worlds fourth-biggest polluter. Kyoto protocol extended at UN Climate talks On December 8, 2012, the two week long climate talks in Doha came to a close with 194 countries agreeing to implement a second phase of the Kyoto Protocol, from 2013 through 2020. The Doha round of talks mark the beginning of a transition to a new global climate change regime that will come into effect from 2020 and include within its ambit all countries. The outcome Doha Climate Gateway described as historic by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change executive secretary Christiana Figueres came 24 hours after the negotiations were supposed to come to a close. The delay was on account of countries like Poland, Russia, Ukraine and Belarus demanding use of the extra credit or assigned amount units commonly known as hot air that had been given to them in the first phase of the Protocol, to deal with the breakdown of their industrial structure due to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The hard decisions were put off, including how many major developing countries such as China and India will commit to cutting their greenhouse gas emissions, and to what extent the richest nations will assist vulnerable ones over the next decade. European Commissioner for Climate Action Connie Hedegaard hailed the fact that nearly 200 countries agreed on a framework for negotiating a pact over the next three years, which will take effect in 2020.

Article 335. It seeks to amend at least four articles of the Constitution to enable the government to provide quotas in promotions to SCs and STs, who constitute about 25 per cent of the countrys population. Article 335 of the Constitution states that the claims of SCs and STs must be balanced with maintaining efficiency in the administration. The Bill states the amendment will override the provision of Article 355. Companies Bill passed On December 18, 2012, Lok Sabha voted to replace Indias 56-year-old omnibus Companies Act with the Companies Bill, 2011, that brings the management of the corporate sector in line with global norms. It introduces concepts like responsible selfregulation with adequate disclosure and accountability, ushers in enhanced shareholders participation and provides for a single forum to approve mergers and acquisitions. The Bill further says that companies must ensure they spend at least 2 per cent of their net profit towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, a move that has drawn both criticism and appreciation from the stakeholders but one that promises to change the way CSR has been perceived so far. Apart from introducing concepts like one person company and making independent directors and company auditors more accountable, the Bill also seeks to keep a tab on remunerations for the board of directors and other executives of the companies to protect the interest of shareholders and workmen. The new legislation, which is a much shorter than the earlier one has also harmonised the

Rebecca Lefton, an international climate policy analyst at the Centre for American Progress, said the modest result of the talks meant countries would have to work in the near term to cut emissions in other ways, such as curbing methane, black carbon and other contributors to climate change. Developing countries pushed for the establishment of a loss and damage fund that would compensate them for the impact of extreme weather events. The United States resisted this idea, and in the end delegates called for institutional arrangements, such as an international mechanism to address the issue. On December 9, 2012, the last day of the Doha conference, poor countries won a historic recognition of the plight they face from the ravages of climate change, wringing a pledge from rich nations that they will receive funds to repair the loss and damage incurred. This was the first time developing countries received such assurances, and the first time the phrase loss and damage from climate change was enshrined in an international legal document. The US had strongly opposed the initial loss and damage proposals, which would have set up a new international institution to collect and disperse funds to vulnerable countries. US negotiators made certain that neither the word compensation, nor any other term connoting legal liability, was used, to avoid opening the floodgates to litigationinstead, the money will be judged as aid. Key questions remain unanswered, including whether funds devoted to loss and damage will come from existing

company law framework with sectoral regulations. It has 480 sections compared to over 600 sections in the 1956 Act. The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2012 On December 20, 2012, Parliament passed the The Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2012, seeking to expand the definition of terrorist act to include offences like counterfeiting of currency that threatens the country's economic security. The Bill also extends the period of ban on an organisation from two years to five years for which an association involved in terrorist acts, including terror financing, would be declared unlawful. The scope of punishment has been enlarged for raising funds likely to be used (in full or in part) to commit a terrorist act or for the benefit of terrorists the offence is now punishable irrespective of whether the funds have been raised from legitimate or illegitimate sources. Banking Bill passed by Lok Sabha On December 18, 2012, the Lok Sabha passed the Banking (Amendment) Bill, aimed at attracting more foreign investment into the banking industry in yet another move by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to open up Asia's third-largest economy. The Bill was passed after the government agreed to drop the contentious Forwards Markets Contract Clause, which proposed permitting banks to enter commodity futures trading. The Opposition had claimed that allowing banks to trade in commodity futures would lead to high-risk speculative trading, adding that the futures trading watchdogForward Markets Commission (FMC)lacks teeth to take action on a potential substantial loss for investors. The passage of the Bill was critical to the

humanitarian aid and disaster relief budgets. The US is one of the worlds biggest donor of humanitarian aid and disaster relief, from both public and private sources. It will be difficult to disentangle damage inflicted by climate change from other natural disasters. Another question is how the funds will be disbursed. Developing countries wanted a new institution, like a bank, but the US is set against that, preferring to use existing international institutions. These issues will have to be sorted out at 2013 climate conference, in Warsaw, where they will be bitterly contested. Governments also rescued the Kyoto protocol, the initial targets of which run out at the end 2012. The EU, Australia, Norway and a handful of other developed countries have agreed to take on new carbon-cutting targets under the treaty, running to 2020. A separate strand of the negotiations, set up to accommodate the US because of its refusal to ratify Kyoto, was closed. This will allow unified discussions to begin on a global climate treaty that would require both developed and developing countries to cut their emissions. The treaty is supposed to be signed in 2015, at a conference in Paris, and come into effect in 2020. The next three years of negotiations on the treaty will be the hardest in the 20-year history of climate change talks because the world has changed enormously since 1992, when the UN convention on climate change was signed, and 1997, when the Kyoto protocol enshrined a stark division between developed countries which were required to cut emissionand developing countries, which were not. China was classed then as a developing country, and although it still has about 60

government as it paves the way for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to issue new banking licenses to the private sector. The Competition Commission clause in the Banking Bill has also been modified. This allows the RBI to remain the banking regulator, while the Competition Commission of India (CCI) will regulate mergers and acquisitions. CCI will have the power to investigate and clear mergers and acquisitions in the banking sector, the Finance Minister said. The Bill also gives the RBI the power to supersede bank boards as well as to inspect the books of associates of banking company. It also provides for voting rights to investors in private sector banks commensurate with their shareholding. The cap on voting rights for investors in private sector lenders, such as HDFC Bank and ICICI Bank, will now rise to 26 per cent from 10 per cent, and to 10 per cent for government banks, such as State Bank of India, from just 1 per cent. The Bill also allows foreign banks to convert their Indian operations into local subsidiaries or transfer shareholding to a holding company of the bank without paying stamp duty. Foreign banks have long sought these changes which they say will encourage them to expand their operations in India. Under the current laws, overseas lenders, such as Citibank and Standard Chartered, have to pay 20-30 per cent tax as capital gains and stamp duty when transferring branches to a new legal entity. India-ASEAN Strategic Partnership The two-day India-ASEAN summit was held on December 20-21, 2012 at New Delhi. The ASEAN-India Vision Statement 2020, which commits both sides to great security cooperation, was adopted.

million people living in dire poverty, it is now the worlds biggest emitter and will soon overtake the US as the biggest economy. It has made clear its determination to hang on to its developing country status, and that the countries classed as developed in 1997 must continue to bear most of the burden for emissions cuts, and for providing funds to poor countries to help them cut emissions and cope with climate change. Tension escalates between China and Japan over Diaoyu/Senkaku Islands On December 13, 2012, flexing its muscles, China, for the first time, sent a marine surveillance plane to join its warships to monitor the disputed islands with Japan, forcing Tokyo to scramble eight F-15 fighter jets. In the East China Sea, these islands are claimed by China, Japan and Taiwan. Currently, these are being administered by Tokyo. The islands are known as Diaoyu in China and Senkaku by Japan. Ownership of these islands allows exclusive oil, mineral, and fishing rights. Till date, China had not seriously challenged Japan's administrative hold on the islands, though it all along claimed sovereignty over them. China termed Japans move provocative and said it would continue to make its presence felt around the islands. Besides Diaoyu/Senkaku islands, China has dispute on ownership of following islands in the South China sea: Dokdo/Takeshima: To the sea east of the Korean peninsula. Known as Dokdo in South Korea and Takeshima in Japan. The isletsinhabited by only three residents

Southeast Asian nations and India vowed to step up cooperation on maritime security, a move that comes amid tension with China in the potentially oil- and gas-rich South China Sea. In the vision statement, India and the 10member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) set their sights on a new strategic partnership that would bring closer political, security and economic cooperation. Significantly, they underlined the need for freedom of navigation, a contentious issue because of competing claims with Beijing over parts of the South China Sea, though there was no mention of China in their statement. The South China Sea has become Asias biggest potential military flashpoint as Beijings sovereignty claim over a huge, looping area has set it against Vietnam and the Philippines as the three countries race to tap possibly huge oil reserves. Malaysia and Brunei, also members of ASEAN, as well as Taiwan also claim parts of the sea. The vision statement comprises of three pillars, namely the ASEAN Political Security Community, the ASEAN Economic Community and the ASEAN Socio Cultural Community. The two sides also resolved to achieve a bilateral trade target of $100 billion by 2015. They also reaffirmed their commitment to complete the India-Myanmar-Thailand trilateral highway and its extension to Laos and Cambodia and a new highway project connecting India-Myanmar-Laos-VietnamCambodia as well as developing the Mekong-India economic corridor connecting Southeast Asia to South Asia. Although India has no territorial claim in the region, it is hungry for energy and is

lie within rich fishing grounds with possible natural gas deposits. Paracel Islands: A group of small islands on reefs in the South China Sea. The Paracels are surrounded by lucrative fishing grounds, as well as potential oil and gas reserves. China, Vietnam and Taiwan all have sovereignty claims. Beijing has occupied the islands since 1974. Spratly Islands: Located off the southern coast of the Philippines in the South China Sea. The Spratly Islands are occupied or claimed by China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Brunei. Scarborough Shoal: Claimed by China, Taiwan and the Philippines. Scarborough Shoal is a tiny rock outcrop some 200 km from the Philippine island of Luzon.

Business News Wipro Consumer Care and Lightning (WCCL) has acquired the Singapore-based FMCG company LD Waxson for $144 million (approximately Rs 790 crore). This is WCCLs second largest acquisition; it had acquired Unza, another Singaporebased FMCG brand, in 2007 for $246 million. WCCLs portfolio of national and international brands includes Santoor, Chandrika, Aramusk, Enchanteur, Yardley, and Woods of Windsor. The US-headquartered Sutherland Global Services, an international provider of business process and technology management services, has piped Genpact and others to the post to

exploring for oil and gas with Vietnam in an area contested by China. In future, it is expected to ship liquefied natural gas from Russia through the Malacca Straits. Twenty years after India launched a Look East diplomatic push to promote trade with a neglected neighbouring region, the relationship is finally beginning to gain traction. Annual trade has nearly doubled in four years and Indias growing economic clout makes it appealing as a balance to other Asian powers. Visit of Russian President Setting aside their differences over civil nuclear cooperation and Russian telecom giant Sistemas investment, India and Russia, on December 24, 2012, signed two key defence deals worth about Rs 25,000 crore for the supply of 42 new Su-30 MKI combat aircraft and 71 Mi-17V5 helicopters to this country. The two countries also inked other agreements in fields, such as space, trade and investment, science and technology, education and culture, reinforcing the strong dynamics of their time-tested friendship. The pacts were concluded following the 13th annual India-Russia Summit between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian President Vladimir Putin, during which the two leaders discussed the entire gamut of bilateral ties as well as global developments. Negotiations for the construction of Units 3 and 4 at Kudankulam also made good progress. Under one of the defence contracts, said to be worth around Rs 16,000 crores, for licence production of 42 Su-30 MKIs, Russia will deliver technical kits to the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) to assemble the

ink a Rs.1,000-crore all-cash deal to acquire Apollo Health Street Limited (AHS). An associate company of Apollo Hospitals Enterprises Ltd, AHS is a leading provider of healthcare business services and world-class health information technology (HIT)based solutions. Buoyed by a strong participation from foreign investors, the Union government managed to mop up Rs 6,000 crore from the sale of its 10% stake in the iron ore miner NMDC. Unlike the past two auctionsONGC in March and Hindustan Copper in November 2012State-run banks and LIC did not play a dominant role. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) bid for half the issue. Anil Ambanis Reliance Group and Chinas Dalian Wanda Group have announced a tie-up to develop real estate and movie theatre projects. The deal makes the company Indias largest trading partner with China. Tata Motors has appointed Cyrus P. Mistry as its Chairman with effect from December 28, 2012, after retirement of group chief Ratan N. Tata. K.P. Singh-led real estate major DLF has signed an agreement for effecting a sale of the luxury hotel chain Aman resorts to the hospitality propertys founder and Chairman Adrian Zecha for about USD 300 million (over Rs 1,600 crore). In an ASSOCHAM survey, CEOs of the world have rated the $100-billion Tata Group as Indias best-known global brand within and outside the country.

fighter jets. With this contract, the number of Su-30MKIs in the IAF would go up to 272 in next four-five years, with 170 of them already at present in the force. These multirole frontline aircraft could also be equipped with Indo-Russian joint venture BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles. Under the contract for 71 Mi-17V5 choppers, the IAF would get 59 helicopters from Russia while the remaining would be provided to paramilitary forces. Another significant pact was for a joint venture between Elcom Systems Private Ltd. and OAO Vertoleti Rassi of Russia for setting up a modern industrial facility for manufacturing of Russian models of helicopters (Ka- and Mi- brands). The Joint venture will serve as an industrial base for hi-tech rotorcraft products from Russia to India and shall contribute to the development of the domestic aerospace industry. On the trade front, the two countries expressed satisfaction at the substantial increase during 2011 and 2012 in bilateral trade and agreed to enhance efforts to achieve the target of $ 20 billion bilateral trade by 2015. DO YOU KNOW Five new species of freshwater fish called darters have been discovered in river drainages in eastern North America and named after four US Presidents (Including President Obama) and a Vice-President. Darters are the smallest members of the perch family, and are named after their ability to zip around, under and into rocks and sediment on the beds of clean, fastmoving waterways.

Eight Indian CEOs have made it to the list of 100 global chief executives, compiled by Harvard Business Review (HBR), with ITCs Y.C. Deveshwar and the late Subir Raha of ONGC finding a place in the top 20. Deveshwar was first among the Indian CEOs featured in this list, and cornered the seventh place overall. The other Indians on the list include Raha at 13th place, ahead of Reliance Industries Mukesh Ambani who was ranked 28th. Larsen & Toubros A.M. Naik was ranked 32nd, followed by BHELs A.K. Puri (38), Bharti Airtels Sunil Bharti Mittal (65), Jindal Steel & Powers Naveen Jindal (87) and Steel Authority of Indias V.S. Jain (89). The best-performing CEO over the past 17 years globally was Steve Jobs of Apple. Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com was at the second place. According to Grant Thornton's Global Dynamism Index (GDI), India is ranked at a low position of 40 among 50 economies in the world in terms of dynamism. The list is topped by Singapore, followed by Finland in the list, Sweden was ranked third, Israel (fourth), Austria (fifth), Australia (sixth), Switzerland (seventh), South Korea (eighth), Germany (ninth) and the United States (10th).

In just 48 hours, an entrepreneur has constructed a 10-floor building in Mohali, near Chandigarh. The work on the buildings construction started around 4.30pm on November29, 2012, and by Friday evening the building saw seven floors in place. The building has been named Instacon. The building used pre-fabricated material, including 200 tonnes of steel. The material used was manufactured in the past two months in a nearby factory. Austrias capital Vienna offers its residents the best quality of life of any city in the world, and Baghdad the worst, according to the latest global survey from consultant group Mercer. Canadian cities dominated rankings in the Americas region, with Vancouver at number five retaining the top spot and Honolulu at 28 the most pleasant U.S. urban centre. New Zealands Auckland at number three is still atop the Asia Pacific regions charts, while Dubai at 73 gets best marks in the Middle East and Africa. Bangalore ranks better than New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata amongst Indian cities in overall global quality of living index, according to a Mercer 2012 Quality of Living Survey. Mercer conducts this survey annually to help multinational companies and other organisations compensate employees fairly when placing them on international assignments. According to global ranking of best cities by infrastructure survey, conducted by Mercer, Singapore is at the top of the index, followed by Frankfurt and Munich. Copenhagen (4) and Dusseldorf (5) fill the next two

slots, while Hong Kong and London share sixth place. Port-au-Prince (221) ranks at the bottom of the list. The cost of aviation turbine fuel (ATF) across the country is likely to come down by up to 25 per cent as the Union government has decided to bring it under the purview of the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB). Bringing it under PNGRB will make the pricing of jet fuel transparent and also check cartelisation by oil companies. This will bring ATF prices in India at par with airports such as Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore among others. The government has also decided to push for bringing ATF under declared goods, which will bring down the sales tax on ATF immediately to 4 per cent from as high as 33 per cent. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi have been named among the top 20 most powerful persons in the world by Forbes magazine in its annual power rankings which placed US President Barack Obama as number one for a second year in a row. Indias richest businessman Reliance Industries Chairman Mukesh Ambani and Arcelor Mittal CEO Lakshmi Mittal also feature in the list that comprises 71 mighty heads of state, CEOs, entrepreneurs and philanthropists who truly run and shape the world of 7.1 billion people. The second most powerful person in the world also happens to be the most powerful woman, German chancellor 58-yearold Angela Merkel. The list also includes Russian President Vladimir Putin at number three, Microsoft co-

founder Bill Gates (4), GeneralSecretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping (9), Google cofounders Larry Page and Sergey Brin (20), Irans Supreme leader Ali Khamenei (21) UN chief Ban Ki-moon (30), North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (44) and former US President Bill Clinton (50). Ada Lovelace was called as the enchantress of numbers and is credited with creating the first ever program for an Analytical Engine. Her 197th birth anniversary was celebrated on December 10, 2012. She was the daughter of the famous poet Lord Byron. Her original name was Augusta Ada Byron, and on her marriage to William King she became Ada King. Later, her husband became an Earl and she became the Countess of Lovelace. Even though scholars are divided over her contribution to early computing, a computer language, Ada, is named after her. A medal is also awarded in her name by the British Computer Society. The Enforcement of Security Interest and Recovery of Debts Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2011, which was approved by the Lok Sabha on December 10, 2012, seeks to convert any part of debt into shares of defaulting company by the asset reconstruction Company (ARC). The Union Cabinet has approved the proposal to set up a National Investment Board (NIB) that would monitor and advise ministries on expediting projects with investments of Rs 1,000 crore. The NIB has been renamed and would formally be known

as the Cabinet Committee on Investments (CCI). It will be chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. A pair of NASA moon-mapping probes,Ebb and Flow, smashed themselves into a lunar mountain on December 18, 2012, ending a year-long mission. NASA has named the site where twin spacecraft impacted the moon in honour of late astronaut Sally K. Ride, first US woman in space. India is ranked as the decades 8th largest victim of illicit capital flight behind China, Mexico, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Russia, the Philippines, and Nigeria, respectively, in the report by Global Financial Integrity, a Washington-based research and advocacy organisation. Time magazine has named Barack Obama, President of USA, as Person of the Year. Foreign investment ceiling in Asset Reconstruction Companies (ARCs) has been increased to 74 percent from 49 percent, a move aimed at bringing more foreign expertise in the segment. However, the foreign investment in ARCs would need to comply with the FDI policy, including the one related with sectoral caps. Also, the total shareholding of an individual FII shall not exceed 10 percent of the total paidup capital. Further, foreign investment limit of 74 percent in ARC would be a combined limit of FDI and FII. With this change in the policy, the prohibition on investment by FII in ARCs has been removed. On December 26, 2012, China opened

worlds longest high-speed rail line. Trains will travel the 2,298 km route from Beijing to Canton at over 300 kph. The Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill is aimed at strengthening the regulatory powers of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and to further develop the banking sector in India. It is also aimed to enable the nationalized banks to raise capital by issue of preference shares/rights issue/issue of bonus shares.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: NOVEMBER 2012 NATIONAL AFFAIRS Life imprisonment implies a jail term for entire life: SC Life imprisonment implies a jail term for the convicts entire life, the Supreme Court has held, clearing a misconception on this sentence. It appears to us there is a misconception that a prisoner serving a life sentence has an indefeasible right to be released on completion of either fourteen years or twenty years imprisonment. The prisoner has no such right, a bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Madan B. Lokur said. The bench also clarified that under remission the appropriate government cannot reduce the period of sentence less than 14 years for a life convict. The apex court order also seeks to put an end INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Leadership change in China On November 15, 2012, Xi Jinping was crowned the new head of the ruling Communist Party of China (CPC) and the powerful military in a smooth transition to steer the world's second largest economy over the next decade, ending the 10-year reign of President Hu Jintao amid concerns over rampant corruption and widening richpoor divide. The 59-year-old Xi, who was the Vice President till now, will replace Hu as President in March, while Li Keqiang, 57, will succeed Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, capping years of jockeying within the CPC, the world's biggest political party which has monopolised power here since 1949. Xis elevation to party general secretary and chairman of the commission that oversees

to the practice of en-masse release of the convicts by various governments on festive occasions and said each release requires a case-by-case basis scrutiny. Select panel report on Lokpal Bill The Select Committee of the Rajya Sabha on the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill has recommended that the states must have Lokayuktas within one year from the date of the notification of the Central legislation, but that they should have the freedom to determine the nature and type of the institution of the anti-corruption ombudsman depending upon their requirements. The Bill, which has sharply divided political parties, was passed by the Lok Sabha during the winter session in 2011 but failed to get approval of the Upper House, primarily because of one of its provisions which makes it mandatory for the States to set up Lokayutas. The Department of Personnel and Training, which piloted the legislation, will now have to approach the Union Cabinet with the recommendations made by the committee for approval. A fresh Bill will then be introduced in the Rajya Sabha. Once it is approved by the Upper House, it will be sent to the Lok Sabha for approval in the amended form. Regarding the CBI, it suggested that the investigating agency should have a separate Director of Prosecution to be appointed on the recommendation of the CVC. The CBI Director should, however, remain the head of the organisation. Both the CBI Director and the Director of Prosecution should have a fixed term of two years. The Lokpal should have the power of superintendence over and direction to the CBI in the Lokpal-related cases.

the Peoples Liberation Army followed a week-long party congress that underlined the communists determination to remain firmly in power. Xi will lead a new seven-member collective leadership of technocrats: Li Keqiang, Prime Minister; Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang; Shanghai party secretary Yu Zhengsheng; propaganda chief Liu Yunshan; Vice-Premier Wang Qishan; and Tianjin party secretary Zhang Gaoli. Egypt erupts as the President turns dictatorial On November 24, 2012, Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi assured his supporters that the country was on a path of freedom and democracy, even as thousands of people staged rival rallies across the polarized nation to both support and oppose his move to assume sweeping powers. Morsis detractors dubbed him the new pharaoh , a day after he issued a declaration granting himself what many said were more powers than even the ousted dictator Hosni Mubarak. Thousands of his supporters and opponents took to streets to stage rival rallies across Egypt, leading to sporadic violence and burning down of offices belonging to the ruling Muslim Brotherhood. Morsis new powers are supposed to be temporary, to last for the transition period, and the decree will expire when a new constitution is approved by the middle of February 2013 . However his opponents see the move as endangering the gains of the popular uprising which ousted Mubaraks dictatorial regime. Political forces, including the Wafd Party, Tagammu Party, Constitution Party, Democratic Egyptian Party, Free Egyptians

The committee did not agree with the provision of the Bill that the selection committee for the appointment of the Chairman and members of the Lokpal could include an eminent person nominated by the President. It was of the view that this would make the panel heavily tilted in favour of the government. Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill cleared by Lok Sabha On November 29, 2012, Lok Sabha approved a Bill to enlarge the definition of money-laundering offences. The Bill, seeks to include activities like cheating, concealment, acquisition and use of proceeds of crime as criminal activities for the purpose of money laundering. Replying to discussion on the Prevention of Money Laundering (Amendment) Bill, 2011, Chidambaram said the changes in law would give signal to the international community about India's commitment to deal with the offences having wide international ramifications. The list of offences would include concealment, acquisition, possession and use of proceeds of crime as criminal activities. It also seeks to remove existing limit of Rs 5 lakh as fine under the Act. Visit of Canadian Prime Minister Prime Minister of Canada, Stephen Harper came on a State visit to India from November 6, 2012. Agreement on social security, besides MoUs on cooperation in information technology and electronics and for joint research and development cooperation in defence science and technology were signed during his meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. India and Canada also set a bilateral trade target of $15 billion by 2015, besides

Party and Popular Trend Party, the April 6 Youth Movement, the Revolutionary Youth Union, the Free Egyptian Movement, the No to Military Trials group and the Bring them for Trial campaign, announced participation in the protest against Morsis decision. Islamist forces, including the Muslim Brotherhood, Jamaa al-Islamiya , and Salafi Dawah, as well the Freedom and Justice Party, the Noor Party, Asala and Wasat are in support of the new constitutional declaration. Draft Constitution of Egypt finalized On November 30, 2012, an Islamist-led Assembly raced through approval of a new constitution for Egypt to end a crisis over President Mohamed Morsis expanded powers. Morsi said law decree halting court challenges to his decisions, which provoked demonstrations and violence from Egyptians fearing a new dictatorship less than two years after they ousted Hosni Mubarak, was for an exceptional stage. It will end as soon as the people vote on a constitution. The Assembly concluded the vote after a 19-hour session, approving all 234 articles including presidential powers, the status of Islam, the militarys role and the extent to which human rights will be respected in the post-Hosni Mubarak era. The final draft contains historic changes to Egypts system of government. For example, it limits to eight years the amount of time a President can serve. It also introduces a degree of oversight over the military establishmentthough not enough for critics.

agreeing to start a policy dialogue on financial sector to facilitate mutual understanding of developments in the area. They also concluded negotiations on a nuclear cooperation agreement that will take Ottawa one step closer to starting uranium exports to India. The agreement on social security pact aims to relieve their workers from double taxation. Under the agreement, workers on short-term contracts up to five years will not be required to make any social security contribution in Canada provided they continue to make social security payments in the country of their origin. It also provides for portability of contributions or moving the social security contribution at the time of relocation, and totalling the periods of contribution for determining eligibility to a benefit. A joint statement issued after the meeting between the Prime Ministers said, the two sides welcomed the progress being made in negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA). Both sides reaffirmed their desire to conclude it by the end of 2013. India has sought Canadian investments in infrastructure sector. Canada primarily exports vegetables, fertilisers, machinery and wood pulp, while its main imports from India are organic chemicals, knit and woven apparel, precious stones and metals, electronics and machinery. Visit of Afghan President On November 12, 2012, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai had extensive talks covering the entire spectrum of bilateral ties as well as the challenges confronting the region after which India and Afghanistan signed four MoUs in areas such as mines, fertilizers,

Once the Egyptians approve the constitution through a referendum, legislative powers will pass straight from President Morsi to the upper house of Parliament, in line with an article in the constitution. The draft injects new Islamic references into Egypts system of government but keeps in place an article defining the principles of sharia as the main source of legislation the same phrase found in the previous constitution. The President can declare war only with parliaments approval, but only after consulting a national defence council with a heavy military and security membership. That was not in the old constitution. Activists highlighted other flaws such as worrying articles pertaining to the rights of women and freedom of speech. There are some good pro-freedoms articles, but there are also catastrophic articles like one that prevents insults. This could be used against journalists criticizing the President or State officials, according to many human rights activists. A new parliamentary election cannot happen until the constitution is passed. Egypt has been without an elected legislature since the Islamist-dominated lower house was dissolved in June 2012, based on a court order. Palestine recognized by UN On November 29, 2012, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to recognise Palestine as a State, in the face of opposition from Israel and the US. The 193-member assembly voted 138 in favour of the plan, with only nine against and 41 abstentions.

youth affairs and small development projects. Ahead of Karzais visit, the Union Cabinet had cleared small development projects to the tune of Rs 540 crore in the war-ravaged country. With the draw-down of Western forces set to take place in 2014, India is deeply concerned about the evolving situation in Afghanistan. New Delhi does not want the power structure to again go into the hands of radicals and has, therefore, not shown much enthusiasm towards the Taliban integration process, apprehending that the exercise could be Pakistan-driven. The Afghan leadership, which has been appreciative of the development aid worth $2 billion already committed by India, has been nudging New Delhi to step up its role in the embattled nation in diverse fields. Recalling that India and Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership agreement last year, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said New Delhi had reaffirmed its commitment to deepen its cooperation with Afghanistan in accordance with the vision of the accord. India, China agree to cooperate in energy, railways, IT sectors On November 26, 2012, India and China signed four MoUs in the areas of energy efficiency, railways, planning and IT. The memorandums of understanding were signed during a day-long second India-China Strategic Economic Dialogue in New Delhi. The first agreement was signed between the Planning Commission and Chinese planning body National Development and Reforms Commission (NDRC) for undertaking joint studies in economic policy research and development planning.

The scale of the defeat represented a strong and public repudiation for Israel and the US, who find themselves out of step with the rest of the world. The vote marked a diplomatic breakthrough for Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and could help his standing after weeks in which he has been sidelined by Palestinian rivals Hamas in the Gaza conflict. Abbas, who flew from Ramallah, on the West Bank, to New York to address the General Assembly, said: The moment has arrived for the world to say clearly: enough of aggression, settlements and occupation. Several hundred people turned out in Yasser Arafat square in Ramallah on the West Bank, waving flags and singing along to nationalist music to mark the occasion. Israel and the US immediately condemned the resolution. The office of the Israeli Prime Minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, described Abbass speech as incitement and full of lies about Israel. Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, described the vote as unfortunate and counterproductive. Obama is re-elected President of USA On November 7, 2012, Barack Hussein Obama was re-elected President of the United States, beating a strong challenge by Republican contender Mitt Romney. Barack Obama confounded political logic by triumphing over a sluggish economy to win a second term in office. A gruelling and often unpleasant campaign yielded, in the end, a decisive victory, built on the strong foundations laid down months ago by his crack campaign team.

One MoU was signed to encourage cooperation between Indias Bureau of Energy Efficiency and the NDRC. Another MoU was inked between the Indian Railways and Chinas Ministry of Railways for enhancing technical cooperation in the railway sector. Another agreement was inked by IT industry body NASSCOM and China Software Industry Association (CSIA) for enhancing cooperation in IT and ITES sector. In private sector, MoUs were signed between Reliance Power and Guangdone Mingyang Wind Power Industry Group Co Ltd for a 2,500 MW renewable energy project, envisaging an investment of $ 3 billion with project financing from China Development Bank. Lanco Group has entered into an agreement with China Development Bank for financing $ 600 million Anpara Phase-II Power projects (4X660 MW). India-Japan sign rare earths pact Despite the postponement of the India-Japan annual summit, the two countries, on November 16, 2012, signed an agreement which will allow Tokyo to import rare earth mineralsimportant for Japans high-tech industryfrom India. Under the signed agreement, Japan will import over 4,000 tonnes of rare earth minerals a year from India. This is Japans second deal this month to diversify supply from China, for the metals used in mobile phones, hybrid cars to missile guidance systems. Japan is hoping that the deal with India will help reduce its reliance on China for rare earth minerals at a time when it is involved in a conflict with Beijing over the Senkaku islands. The two countries also signed a social

The economy, despite tepid growth rates and high unemployment, was not bad enough to doom Obama, and he finally received belated credit for halting the slide into a second Great Depression. Growing optimism about the economy and a big turnout of the core Democratic coalition sealed Obamas re-election victory. After years of bleak economic news, enough Americans now believe better days lie ahead for the US economy. The coalition of young, female and minority voters that propelled Obama to victory four years ago also turned out again, in huge numbers. Romney appeared to have overplayed his hand when it came to his central campaign argument that the US economy was in dire straits because of Obamas bungled fiscal stewardship. Romneys efforts to convince voters that Americas stubbornly high unemployment rate of 7.9 per cent was all Obamas fault backfired. US voters still seemed to blame former Republican President George W Bush for the country's economic problems rather than Obama. Point to be noted here is that no US President has won re-election with an unemployment rate of over 7.2 per cent since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936. In a twist of political history, Obama was helped by the embrace of his former Democratic antagonist, ex-president Bill Clinton, who buried the hatchet after Obamas defeat of his wife Hillary in the 2008 Democratic primary. Clinton, remembered for leading an era of economic prosperity, often made the case for Obama better than the President himself. The two Democratic giants now stand together in history as the only two Democrats to win a second term since World War II.

security pact. The deals, both of which were supposed to be signed during the nowcancelled trip of PM Manmohan Singh, were inked in Tokyo by Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba and Indias ambassador to Japan Deepa Wadhwa. E-security network ready The Union government is giving final touches to an elaborate cyber security infrastructure wherein the proposed overarching body, National Cyber Security Coordinator (NSCS), will act as the main edifice for securing cyber systems, supported by four pillars the National Technical Research Organization (NTRO) along with constituent National Critical Information and Infrastructure Protection Centre (NCIIPC ), the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In ) and the Ministry of Defence (MoD). While the CERT-In, located within the department of information technology, will take charge of assessing cyber threats and protecting systems in public as well as private sector, especially in crucial areas like civil aviation, power and oil refineries, the NTRO, along with NCIIPC, will devise strategies and technical solutions to protect critical infrastructure like atomic and space stations, intelligence /police systems and nuclear facilities. The MoD will be handling cyber security of defence systems at Army, Air Force and Navy installations, possibly through the defence intelligence agency (DIA) and the DRDO. NSCS, the umbrella body proposed for coordinating the efforts of the NTRO, CERTIn, NCIIPC and MoD, will ensure that there is no overlapping in jurisdiction and functioning of the four agencies. The delineation in work of these agencies is considered crucial to an effective cyber security plan.

Challenges Ahead: Despite a decisive win, Obama must negotiate with a Republican majority in the House of Representatives to try to overcome the partisan gridlock that gripped Washington for much of his first term. His most immediate concern is the fiscal cliff of scheduled tax increases and spending cuts that could crush the US economic recovery if it kicks in at the start of 2013. Obama also faces challenges abroad, including the Wests nuclear standoff with Iran, the civil war in Syria, the winding down of the war in Afghanistan and dealing with an increasingly assertive China. The problems that dogged Obama in his first term, which cast a long shadow over his 2008 campaign message of hope and change, still confront him. He must tackle the $1 trillion annual deficits, rein in the $16 trillion national debt and overhaul expensive social programs. Obama has pledged to increase tax rates on Americans earning more than $250,000 as a part of his balanced approach to deficit reductionsomething Republicans still vow to resist. In order to garner Republican support for new revenues, the President might have to agree to reduce spending and shore up the entitlement programs that are the primary drivers of our debt. Greece gets relief On November 27, 2012, Greece won big breathing space with agreement to restart long-frozen Euro Zone loans from December and a first clear admission that a chunk of the countrys debt burden will need to be written off down the line. After 13 hours of talks in Brussels, the Euro Zone and the International Monetary Fund

First Reading Assessment Survey The first ever Reading Assessment Survey among the youth of India, conducted by National Book Trust and the National Institute of Applied Economic Research, reveals that only a quarter of literate Indian youths (one in four) aged 13 to 35 years are interested in reading anything other than textbooks; among the ones doing leisure reading, Punjabi is the least preferred of languages. Hindi is the most favoured for leisure readers who prefer fantasy novels the most and current affairs magazines the least. Following Hindi among the top 10 preferred languages for reading in the country are Marathi, Bengali, Kannada, Tamil, Malyalam and Gujarati. English is a distant seventh, followed by Oriya and Assamese. The survey reveals for the first time that a majority41.7% of literate Indian youth read fiction, with 18.5% picking up fantasy novels while only 6.5% going for the Mills and Boons kind of romance fiction. Science fiction interests barely 8.4% youngsters, who prefer classics (16.3%) and comics (17.5%) better. Data analysis also reveals that a lot of young Indians prefer reading philosophy and religion over news. Among the 23.8% nonfiction readers, biographies dominate with 31.4% readers; 30.3% read philosophy and 12% read religious books. Contrastingly, only 4.4% read news magazines. In all, the survey found that out of 332. 7 million literate youth in India, 83.4% were leisure readers (21% rural and 31% urban). Among readers, 24% are males and 27% are females.

agreed to unlock 43.7 billion euros ($56 billion) in loans and on the need to grant significant debt relief going forward for decades to come. Greece must still meet a series of agreed conditions but the decision will certainly reduce the uncertainty and strengthen confidence in Europe and in Greece, said European Central Bank President Mario Draghi. Starved of bailout financing since the summer, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras hailed the deal in Athens, while German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said the package would be presented to German lawmakers by the end of the week. Other member States will also have to obtain their parliaments approval for the deal. The results of the laborious negotiations according to IMF head Christine Lagarde are intended to see Greeces debt-to-GDP ratio fall from an estimated 144 per cent to 124 per cent come 2020, and substantially below 110 per cent of gross domestic product by 2022. There will be a mixture of techniques used to bring down Greeces debt burden. These will begin with a buyback by Greece of old debt that has fallen in value on commercial money markets as well as national central banks across the Euro Zone foregoing profits on holdings of Greek debt whose worth has slumped. Obama becomes first US President to visits Myanmar On November 19, 2012, Barack Obama became the first American President to visit Myanmar, using a six-hour trip to balance US praise for the governments progress in shaking off military rule with pressure to

In the NE, however, not only are reading percentages much higher than the national, even the rural urban divide disappears. NE is better than Maharashtra on reading even though Maharashtra is Indias topmost State on economic well-being. Largest block of non readers (87%) is in central States. DO YOU KNOW Cheque Truncation System (CTS) is a process that will give banks the freedom to avoid transporting a physical cheque from the presenting bank (where the cheque is deposited) to the drawee bank (where it is issued). As per the CTS, instead of a physical cheque, an electronic image of the cheque will be sent to the drawee bank. Of course, this image will have all the necessary information needed to process the cheque. Right from the nine-digit MICR code, the date of the cheque and the details of the presenting bank, like branch, etc. India is set to join talks for creating the worlds largest trade bloc, the Regional Comprehensive Partnership or RCEP, comprising ASEAN members, China, Japan and South Korea as its initial members. Nomura India has launched an index aimed at capturing the extent of surprise or gap in key economic data releases, with respect to market expectations. The Nomura Economic Surprises Index for India will be made up of key numbers such as GDP, IIP, purchasing managers index, bonds, currency and equity markets. With the world commemorating November 10 as Malala Day in

complete the process of democratic reform. Obama, greeted by enthusiastic crowds in the former capital, Yangon, met President Thein Sein, a former junta member who has spearheaded reforms since taking office in March 2011, and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. I recognise that this is just the first steps on what will be a long journey, but we think that a process of democratic reform and economic reform here in Myanmar... can lead to incredible development opportunities here, Obama said, using the country name preferred by the government and former junta, rather than Burma, which is used in the United States. Thein Sein, speaking in Burmese with an interpreter translating his remarks, responded that the two sides would move forward, based on mutual trust, respect and understanding. The trip to Myanmar highlighted what the White House has touted as a major foreign policy achievement, its success in pushing the countrys generals to enact changes that have unfolded with surprising speed over the past year. Obama met fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi, who led the struggle against military rule and is now a lawmaker, at the lakeside home where she spent years under house arrest. Addressing reporters afterwards, Suu Kyi thanked Obama for supporting the political reform process. East Asia Summit, 2012 The 7th East Asia Summit (EAS) was held at Peace Palace, Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on November 20, 2012. The meeting was chaired by Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo HUN SEN, Prime Minister of the

honour of Pakistani child activist Malala Yousafzai, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon extended his support to the young girl and her fight for education, describing her as the global symbol of every girls right to an education. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moons Special Envoy for Global Education, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said November 10, a month after Yousafzai was shot at by the Taliban for campaigning for girls education in Pakistan, has been declared Malala Day. Omnishambles has been chosen as word of the year by the Oxford English Dictionary after it was coined by a BBC TVs satirical political series to describe a badly mismanaged situation and gaffes. Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and writer Katherine Boo has won the US national book award for non-fiction, for Behind the Beautiful Forevers: Life, Death, and Hope in a Mumbai Undercity, which sheds light on the lives of Indias poor as well as government corruption. Fiscal cliff is a newly coined term in USA, referring to the effect of a number of laws which, if unchanged, could result in tax increases, spending cuts, and a corresponding reduction in the budget deficit beginning in 2013. These laws include tax increases due to the expiration of the so-called Bush tax cuts and across-the-board spending cuts under the Budget Control Act of 2011. The year-over-year changes for fiscal years 201213 include a 19.63% increase in tax revenue and 0.25%

Kingdom of Cambodia, and attended by the Leaders of ASEAN Member States, Prime Minister of Australia, Premier of the Peoples Republic of China, Prime Minister of India, Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister of New Zealand, President of the Republic of Korea, Foreign Minister, representing President Vladimir Putin, of Russia Federation President of the United States of America. The EAS Leaders discussed a wide range of issues, including the review and future direction of the EAS cooperation under six priority areas, namely, environment and energy, education, finance, global health issues and pandemic diseases, natural disaster mitigation and ASEAN connectivity. The Leaders also exchanged views on regional and international issues. The EAS Leaders adopted the Declaration of the 7th East Asia Summit on Regional Responses to Malaria Control and Addressing Resistance to Anti-malarial Medicines and the Phnom Penh Declaration of the East Asia Summit Development Initiative.

Business News Ratan Tata has stepped down as Chairman of Tata Power, Indias largest electricity producer in the private sector. Cyrus P. Mistry has been appointed as the new Chairman. The worlds biggest liquor maker, UKbased Diageo, has finalised the acquisition of a 53.4 per cent stake in Vijay Mallaya-controlled United Spirits Ltd, for Rs 11,166.5 crore. Diageos portfolio includes Baileys liqueur,

reduction in spending. The US Congressional Budget Office estimates that allowing certain laws on the books during 2012 to expire or take effect in 2013 (the baseline scenario) would cut the 2013 deficit approximately in half and significantly reduce the trajectory of future deficits and debt increases for the next decade and beyond. However, the 2013 deficit reduction would adversely impact the economy in the short-run. On the other hand, if Congress acts to extend current policies (the alternative scenario), deficits and debt will rise rapidly over the next decade and beyond, slowing the economy over the long run and dramatically increasing interest costs. Many experts have argued that the U.S. should avoid the fiscal cliff while taking steps to bring the long-term deficit and debt trajectory under control. For example, economist Paul Krugman recommended that the US focus on employment in the short-run, rather than the deficit. Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke emphasized the importance of balancing long-term deficit reduction with actions that would not slow the economy in the short-run. Charles Konigsburg, who directed the bi-partisan DomeniciRivlin deficit reduction panel, advocated avoiding the fiscal cliff while taking steps to reduce the budget deficit over time. He recommended the adoption of ideas from deficit panels such as Domenici-Rivlin and BowlesSimpson that accomplish these two goals. World Diabetics Day is observed on November 14. World Aids Day is observed on

Captian Morgan rum, Guinness stout, Johnie Walker whisky, Smirnoff vodka and Tanqueray gin. IndiaFirst, with a share capital of Rs. 475 crore, is Indias youngest life insurance firm and is promoted by two of Indias largest State-owned banks Bank of Baroda and Andhra Bank, along with Britains leading risk, wealth and investment company Legal & General. IT services giant Infosys has announced the launch of India in a Box, a new solution for its Japanese clients. The solution is based on industry-standard Microsoft Dynamics NAV. It enables Japanese companies to jumpstart their business operations in India by moving to an IT infrastructure in just eight weeks. The Union governments singlewindow body to clear foreign investment proposals, FIPB, has cleared Swedish furniture major Ikeas Rs 10,500-crore project, the largest FDI in single-brand retail so far. IKEA Group, which manufactures and sells home and office furnishing products, proposes to invest in single-brand retail trading in India through a 100 percent subsidiary. IKEAs proposes to set up 25 stores in India. The Union government has decided to retain the entire subscription of Rs 800 crore mopped up from divestment of a 5.58% equity stake in Hindustan Copper Ltd. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) had earlier approved disinvestment of 9.59% paidup equity capital of the company through offer for sale under the stock exchange mechanism.

December 1. Soft drink giant Pepsi has become the new title sponsors of the Indian Premier League (IPL) after it won the bid for title rights for five years, at a whopping Rs 396 crore sponsorship fee. Playing to Win is the autobiography of Saina Nehwal, Indias star badminton player. Punjabi film Anhey Ghorey Da Daan (Alms of the Blind Horse) has bagged the Golden Peacock award for the best film at the 43rd International Film Festival of India, held in Goa. This is the first Punjabi film to win the prestigious IFFI award. Kochi, Kerala, has become the first in India to get 1 gbps speed. This kind of internet connectivity is available only at two places in the worldthe Startup Village at Kansas City in US and the Startup Village in Kochi. The Kochi Startup Village is Indias first telecom incubator. It focuses primarily on student start-ups from college campuses. The worlds longest married couple is from India.107-year-old NRI Karam and his wife Katari Chand, 100, have lived in wedded bliss for 87 years. Their names will soon be included in the Guinness Book of World Records. India assumed the Presidency of the UN Security Council on November 1, 2012, ahead of the expiry of its twoyear term as a non-permanent member on December 31, 2012.

ONGC Videsh Ltd, the overseas arm of state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corp, has agreed to buy US energy major ConocoPhillipss 8.4 % stake in Kazakhstans Kashagan oilfields for about $5 billion (around Rs 30,000 crore). Ravi Narain, Managing Director and CEO of National Stock Exchange (NSE), Indias largest bourse by turnover, has decided to step down from the post with effect from April 1, 2013. He will be replaced by Chitra Ramkrishna, currently joint MD of NSE. British drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will invest around Rs 5,215 crore to increase its stake in its Indian consumer healthcare subsidiary, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH) to 75% through one of the largest share buybacks by an MNC. Product range of GSKCH includes Horlicks and Boost, along with medicines like Crocin, Eno and Iodex. Multiplex chain operator PVR has acquired a 69.3% stake of the promoters in Cinemax India in a bid to widen its presence in the country. Cinemax, which was owned by the Kanakia Group that has presence in real estate, education and hospitality sector, sold its entire promoters stake to PVR for Rs 395 crore.

CURRENT AFFAIRS: OCTOBER 2012 NATIONAL AFFAIRS 12th Five-Year Plan approved On October 5, 2012, the Union government approved the 12th Five-Year Plan (201217) document that aims to achieve annual average economic growth rate of 8.2 per cent, down from 9 per cent envisaged earlier, in view of fragile global recovery. The document will now be placed before the National Development Council (NDC), the apex decision making body, for the final approval. The NDC, headed by the Prime Minister with all Chief Ministers and Cabinet Ministers on board, is the final authority to approve the five-year long policy document. During the 11th Plan (2007-12), India recorded an average economic growth rate of 7.9 per cent. This, however, is lower than the 9 per cent targeted in 11th Plan. Besides other things, the 12th Plan seeks to achieve 4 per cent agriculture sector growth during 2012-17. The growth target for manufacturing sector has been pegged at 10 per cent. The total plan size has been estimated at Rs 47.7 lakh crore, 135 per cent more that for the 11th Plan (2007-12). As regards to poverty alleviation, the Commission aims to bring down the poverty ratio by 10 per cent. At present, 30 per cent of the population is below poverty line. INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS Scotland gears up for 2014 breakaway vote On October 15, 2012, Scotland set up a historic independence referendum after its leader and Britains PM finalised arrangements for a vote that could lead to the demise of its three-centuries-old union with England. Scotland's drive for sovereignty, led by its nationalist leader Alex Salmond, echoes separatist moves by other European regions such as Catalonia and Flanders which feel they could prosper as separate entities inside the European Union. Signed in the Scottish capital Edinburgh, the referendum agreement allows Scotland to ask its people in a 2014 vote whether their homeland should become an independent country or stay within the United Kingdom. One of the most contentious issues at stake is the ownership of an estimated 20 billion barrels of recoverable oil and gas reserves beneath the UK-controlled part of the North Sea. Britain is also worried about the future of its nuclear submarine fleet based in Scotland as Salmond says there would be no place for nuclear arms on Scotland's soil after independence. Moving the fleet elsewhere would be costly and time-consuming. Cameron, who did not

Five-year plan to slash fiscal deficit On October 29, 2012, Finance Minister P Chidambaram unveiled plans to reduce India's fiscal deficit to 3% of GDP in five years, demonstrating the governments intent to walk the talk on budgetary discipline amid hopes that his roadmap will serve as a cue for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut policy interest rates. Chidambarams plan draws from the recommendations that a committee headed by former finance secretary Vijay Kelkar had laid out in a recent report. It called for a heavy cut in subsidies, and controls on government expenditure. The five-year plan involves reining in the fiscal deficit to 5.3% of GDP in this fiscal year, 4.8% the next year and gradually narrowing it down to 3% by 2016-17. High subsidies have widened the governments fiscal deficit-shorthand for the amount of money that it borrows to fund its expenses-limiting its elbow room to spend on investing in infrastructure and development schemes to spin jobs and multiply income. Chidambaram said efforts will be made to avoid parking or idling of funds while ensuring that essential expenditure was not hurt. Experts said the roadmap was good in intent, but lacked detail. RBI Monetary Policy Review On October 30, 2012, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) left the key policy rate unchanged at eight per cent, defying pressure from the finance ministry to lower rates. The central bank, however, cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR), the portion of deposits banks have to maintain with it, to 4.25 per cent, freeing up Rs 17,500 crore of additional funds.

address reporters alongside Salmond, opposes Scotlands push for independence but agrees it is up to its people to determine their future in a vote. Many Scots themselves are unconvinced. Opinion polls show only between 30 and 40 percent of them are in favoura range that has changed little as negotiations have intensified. To convince doubters, Salmond is banking on his skill as an orator to tap into a centuriesold rivalry with England and show that independence would allow his country to pursue a more distinct left-leaning agenda than its southern neighbour. He has also won a major concession from London to allow Scotland to lower the voting age to 16 from Britains countrywide 18a coup for Salmond who believes that young people are more likely to vote in favour of independence.

DO YOU KNOW October 11, 2012 was observed as the first International Day of the Girl Child. On October 30, 2012, Reserve Bank of India reduced the cash reserve ratio (CRR)proportion of deposits that banks have to park with RBI) by 0.25 percentage points. RBI, however, kept the repo rateat which banks borrowunchanged at 8 percent. Following the CRR cut Rs 17,500 crore extra became available with Banks to lend. The 103-year-old Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is the only Indian institution to figure in the Global

In his second quarter monetary policy announcement, RBI Governor D Subbarao offered a ray of hope to the ministry and a disappointed corporate India by saying there was reasonable likelihood of policy easing in early 2013. Justifying his decision to hold rates, Subbarao said during tight liquidity conditions, a rate cut might not inspire banks to lower lending rates. We were very conscious of the fact that a rate cut will not help if liquidity is tight. Conversely, even if we are comfortable with liquidity, it will not help if rates are high. Hence, we had to carefully calibrate between the repo rate and the cash reserve ratio, he said. POLICY HIGHLIGHTS

Employability List 2012. The Bangalore-based research institute has moved up from rank 134 to 35. The list includes top-notch institutions like Harvard, Yale, Cambridge, Oxford and Stanford in its top 10. INDIAEX-2012 was the Indo-US submarine rescue exercise which was held in October 2012, off the coast of Mumbai. National Customer Care Day is observed on October 23. World Post Day is celebrated on October 9. The Union government is planning to create an Expressway Authority of India to formulate and implement a master plan to build 15,600 km of expressways at an estimated cost of Rs 156,000 crore. The government also proposed to set up a company National Expressways and Connectivity Corporation (NEXCOR)under the ministry of road transport, to speed up the development of the expressways. The C. Rangarajan committee has presented a road map of phased decontrol of the sugar industry by suggesting removal of the levy obligation, release mechanism and having a uniform, revenue-linked sugarcane price. It has also favoured a free import-export regime, with a duty of up to 10 per cent against the practice of a blanket ban or quantitative restriction. The committee has also recommended abolishing the 15/25 km distance criteria between two mills, doing away with the jute packaging

CRR cut by 25 bps to 4.25%, effective the fortnight beginning November 3, to keep liquidity comfortable and support growth No change in repo rate to anchor medium-term inflation expectations Bank rate stands unchanged at 9% GDP growth projection for 2012-13 revised down-wards to 5.8% from 6.5% in July WPI inflation projection for March 2013 raised to 7.5% from 7% indicated in July

India lags behind Pakistan, China in reducing hunger In another sign of the growing disconnect between economic growth and the upliftment of millions of citizens, a new report states that India ranks 65th out of 79 countries on a global hunger index. The country lags behind neighbouring Pakistan,

China, Sri Lanka in reducing hunger level. The results are particularly stark when one compares the growth of per capita income in the country with hunger levels. Indias per capita income doubled between 1995 and 2010, according to the World Bank. However, its score on the Global Hunger Index (GHI) worsened between 1996 and 2001. Minor improvements in the past decade have brought the 2012 score around the 1996 level. The report, titled Global Hunger Index 2012, released by three organisations, the International Food Policy Research Institute, Welt Hunger Hilfe and Concern Worldwide, states India has lagged behind in improving its GHI score despite economic growth. The index that reflects the multidimensional nature of hunger, accounts for child mortality, the proportion of undernourished people in the population and the percentage of children under the age of five who are underweight. The news comes despite successive governments having launched various nutrition schemes. But poor design, low coverage, and insufficient monitoring have turned them into multi-billion dollar leaky cauldrons. Among the regions, South Asia has the worst GHIworse than SubSaharan Africa. In Asia, Bangladesh ranks below India. Visit of Australian Prime Minister On October 17, 2012, during the visit of Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard, both countries decided to set aside past indifference and announced their decision to enter into civil nuclear cooperation by negotiating a safeguards agreement which

obligation and phasing out of sugarcane reservation area. The Zaranj-Delaram road, connecting Afghanistan with Iran, was built by India in 2008.

Business News Robert Iger-led Walt Disney has agreed to buy Lucasfilm and its Star Wars series in a $4 billion deal. IDBI Bank has cleared a proposal to merge Stock Holding Corporation of India (SHICL) with the bank. Two of English languages hottest publishing labels, Penguin and Random house, have decided to come together in a partnership to create the worlds biggest consumer publisher. Norwegian telecom firm Telenor has signed Lakshdeep Investments & Finance as a partner for Telewings Communications, its new venture in India. Lakshdeep is owned by Sudhir Valia, who holds around 1% stake in Sun Pharmaceuticals. Indian-American Rajat Gupta has been sentenced to two-years in jail on Insider Trading charges by a US Court. Rajat Gupta is former global head of McKinsey & Co. Infrastructure Financing and Project Development frim IL&FS is working on setting up a 4,000 MW power plant in Gujarat. It will be the single-largest generation power project of India.

will facilitate export of uranium to India. After official talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Australian PM Julia Gillard said this decision meant a lot to her personally as only last year, her Labour Party had overturned the ban on selling uranium to India. The actual supply of uranium, however, may take a couple of years as negotiations for the safeguards agreement are expected to be complex and lengthy. It is essential for Australia to sign such an agreement before it can start shipping uranium to any country. The two countries also signed four agreementsincluding one for student mobility and welfareand agreed to hold annual meetings at the summit level, either bilaterally or during multilateral events. It was also agreed to launch a ministeriallevel dialogue on energy security, establish a water technology partnership and start negotiations for an agreement for transfer of sentenced persons. The energy dialogue will be led by the Planning Commission deputy chairman and the Australian minister for resources and energy. The two countries are also developing wide-ranging cooperation in defence and security issues, including terrorism. They will also enhance maritime cooperation through more joint naval exercises. The two leaders reaffirmed the importance of reform of the UN, including the Security Council, to better reflect contemporary realities. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh warmly welcomed Australias continued support for India as a permanent member in a reformed United Nations Security Council.

RP Sanjiv Goenka Group has acquired a 34.5% stake in Firstsource Solutions Ltd. With this acquisition the group has ventured into the business process outsourcing (BPO) space. Sidecar investment is described as an investment strategy in which one investor allows a second investor to control where and how to invest the capital. The sidecar investment will usually be used when one of the parties lacks the ability or confidence to invest for themselves. The strategy will place trust in someone elses ability to gain profits. The word sidecar refers to a motorcycle sidecar; the person riding in the sidecar must place his or her trust in the driver's skills. This differs from coattail investing, where one investor mimics the moves of another. For example, suppose there are two individualsAlok, who is experienced in trading stock, and Vivek, who has a background in real estate. They decide to work together in a sidecar investing strategy. In this case, Alok would give Vivek money to invest in real estate on his behalf and Vivek would give Alok money to invest in stocks. This setup allows both Alok and Vivek to diversify their portfolios and benefit from one anothers expertise. L&T Finance Holdings Ltd has acquired FamilyCredit Ltd, an auto finance company, from its French parent for Rs 120 crore. Drug major Dr Reddys Laboratories (DRL) has acquired Dutch firm OctoPlus for Rs 192 crore. Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) has become first Indian company to raise debt in Singapore dollar. It has raised $326

The two leaders also welcomed ongoing cooperation through other regional bodies such as the ASEAN Regional Forum and the Asia Europe Meeting. Gillard reaffirmed Australias support for Indias membership of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum.

million through issue of bonds denominated in Singapore dollar. Telecom operator Bharti Airtel, chipset maker Qualcomm Inc. And device and telecom equipment maker Huawei Technologies have kicked-off a new phase in Indias 4G roadmap by launching Indias first multi-mode LTE TDD smartphone. The phone will work on 2G, 3G and 4G networks seamlessly. Japanese mobile operator Softbank Corp has decided to buy 70% of Sprint Nextel Corp, the third-largest US mobile carrier, for $20.1 billion. The deal gives Softbank an entry into the US market. On October 19, 2012, global leader Starbucks formally entered Indias frenetic cafe business with its first store opening in South Mumbais Horniman Circle. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board has allowed shoe firm Pavers England to set up Indias first 100% foreign-owned single-brand retail venture. Mahindra & Mahindra has launched Rexton SUV, its first product from its SsangYong stable. SsangYong is a South Korean car manufacturer which has been purchased by M&M. US weekly magazine Newsweek has decided to publish its last print edition on December 31, 2012 and move to an alldigital format in early 2013. The alldigital publication will be called Newsweek Global and will be subscription based.