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The Genesis October 2013-Issue-II
Big Stories
2013 NOBEL PRIZES 3
Multi Dimensional Index of Backwardness launched 6
Current Affairs
India 8
World 16
Sports 21
Business & Economy 25
Cyber buzz 31
Science & Technology 32
People
Faces: Tom Clancy 20
Business Biography: V. Prem Watsa 24
Knowledge Corners
Recent Books: ‘Gandhi Before India’, ‘Feeding India’ & ‘Solo’ 33
GD: ‚None of the above‛ option in elections 34
Crossword 36
Sudoku 38
Do you remember? 37
Corporate Knowledge Quiz 40
Face-off 52
2013 NOBEL PRIZES: 3
François Englert and Peter W. Higgs have won the Nobel Prize in Physics; Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt & Arieh Warshel in Chemistry; James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman & Thomas …
Faces: Tom Clancy: 20
Tom Clancy is best known for his espionage, military science and technological thrillers …
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2013 NOBEL PRIZES François Englert and Peter W. Higgs have won the Nobel Prize in Physics; Martin Karplus,
Michael Levitt & Arieh Warshel in Chemistry; James E. Rothman, Randy W. Schekman & Thomas
C. Südhof in Physiology or Medicine; Alice Munro in Literature; the Organization for the
Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in Peace and Eugene F. Fama, Lars Peter Hansen & Robert J.
Shiller in Economic Sciences
This year‘s Nobel Prize winners include scientists whose
research has led us closer to
the discovery of the ‗god
particle‘, a writer whose
mastery over the short story
has been acknowledged by
readers as well as critics and
an organisation whose efforts
in ridding the world of
chemicals weapons has been
rewarded.
PHYSICS: The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on
October 8, 2013 decided to award the Nobel Prize in
Physics for 2013 jointly to François Englert of Belgium
and Peter W. Higgs of United Kingdom ―for the
theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to
our understanding of the origin of mass of subatomic
particles, and which recently was confirmed through the
discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the
ATLAS and CMS experiments at CERN‘s Large Hadron
Collider‖
CHEMISTRY: The Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences on October 9, 2013 decided to award the Nobel
Prize in Chemistry for 2013 jointly to Martin Karplus,
Michael Levitt and Arieh Warshel of the US ―for the
development of multiscale models for complex chemical
systems‖.
PHYSIOLOGY/MEDICINE: The Nobel Assembly at
Karolinska Institutet on October 7, 2013 decided to award
the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013 was
awarded jointly to James E. Rothman, Randy W.
Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof ―for their discoveries
of machinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport
system in our cells‖.
LITERATURE: The Royal Swedish Academy of
Sciences on October 10, 2013 awarded The Nobel Prize
in Literature 2013 to Alice Munro ―master of the
contemporary short story‖.
PEACE: The Norwegian Nobel Committee on October
11, 2013 decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2013 is to
be awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of
Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its extensive efforts to
eliminate chemical weapons.
ECONOMIC SCIENCES: The Royal Swedish
Academy of Sciences on October 14, 2013 decided to
award The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic
Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2013 jointly to
Eugene F. Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert J. Shiller
―for their empirical analysis of asset prices‖.
Here is a look at the 2013 Nobel Prizes in detail:
PHYSICS
François Englert
and Peter W.
Higgs are jointly
awarded the
Nobel Prize in
Physics 2013 for
the theory of
how particles
acquire mass. In
1964, they
proposed the
theory independently of each other (Englert together with
his now deceased colleague Robert Brout). In 2012, their
ideas were confirmed by the discovery of a so called
Higgs particle at the CERN laboratory outside Geneva in
Switzerland.
The awarded theory is a central part of the Standard
Model of particle physics that describes how the world is
constructed. According to the Standard Model,
everything, from flowers and people to stars and planets,
consists of just a few building blocks: matter particles.
These particles are governed by forces mediated by force
particles that make sure everything works as it should.
The entire Standard Model also rests on the existence of a
special kind of particle: the Higgs particle. This particle
originates from an invisible field that fills up all space.
Even when the universe seems empty this field is there.
Without it, we would not exist, because it is from contact
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with the field that particles acquire mass. The theory
proposed by Englert and Higgs describes this process.
On 4 July 2012, at the CERN laboratory for particle
physics, the theory was confirmed by the discovery of a
Higgs particle. CERN‘s particle collider, LHC (Large
Hadron Collider), is probably the largest and the most
complex machine ever constructed by humans. Two
research groups of some 3,000 scientists each, ATLAS
and CMS, managed to extract the Higgs particle from
billions of particle collisions in the LHC.
Even though it is a great achievement to have found the
Higgs particle — the missing piece in the Standard Model
puzzle — the Standard Model is not the final piece in the
cosmic puzzle. One of the reasons for this is that the
Standard Model treats certain particles, neutrinos, as
being virtually massless, whereas recent studies show that
they actually do have mass. Another reason is that the
model only describes visible matter, which only accounts
for one fifth of all matter in the cosmos. To find the
mysterious dark matter is one of the objectives as
scientists continue the chase of unknown particles at
CERN.
Prize amount: SEK 8 million, to be shared equally
between the Laureates.
CHEMISTRY
Chemists used to create models of molecules using plastic
balls and sticks. Today, the modelling is carried out in
computers. In the 1970s, Martin Karplus, Michael Levitt
and Arieh Warshel laid the foundation for the powerful
programs that are used to understand and predict
chemical processes. Computer models mirroring real life
have become crucial for most advances made in
chemistry today.
Chemical reactions occur at lightning speed. In a fraction
of a millisecond, electrons jump from one atomic to the
other. Classical chemistry has a hard time keeping up; it
is virtually impossible to experimentally map every little
step in a chemical process. Aided by the methods now
awarded with the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, scientists let
computers unveil chemical processes, such as a catalyst‘s
purification of exhaust fumes or the photosynthesis in
green leaves.
The work of Karplus, Levitt and Warshel is ground-
breaking in that they managed to make Newton‘s
classical physics work side-by-side with the
fundamentally different quantum physics. Previously,
chemists had to choose to use either or. The strength of
classical physics was that calculations were simple and
could be used to model really large molecules. Its
weakness, it offered no way to simulate chemical
reactions. For that purpose, chemists instead had to use
quantum physics. But such calculations required
enormous computing power and could therefore only be
carried out for small molecules.
This year‘s Nobel Laureates in chemistry took the best
from both worlds and devised methods that use both
classical and quantum physics. For instance, in
simulations of how a drug couples to its target protein in
the body, the computer performs quantum theoretical
calculations on those atoms in the target protein that
interact with the drug. The rest of the large protein is
simulated using less demanding classical physics.
Today the computer is just as important a tool for
chemists as the test tube. Simulations are so realistic that
they predict the outcome of traditional experiments.
The Prize amount: SEK 8 million, to be shared equally
between the Laureates.
PHYSIOLOGY OR MEDICINE
The 2013 Nobel Prize honours three scientists who have
solved the mystery of how the cell organizes its transport
system. Each cell is a factory that produces and exports
molecules. For instance, insulin is manufactured and
released into the blood and signalling molecules called
neurotransmitters are sent from one nerve cell to another.
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These molecules are transported around the cell in small
packages called vesicles. The three Nobel Laureates have
discovered the molecular principles that govern how this
cargo is delivered to the right place at the right time in the
cell.
Randy Schekman discovered a set of genes that were
required for vesicle traffic. James Rothman unravelled
protein machinery that allows vesicles to fuse with their
targets to permit transfer of cargo. Thomas Südhof
revealed how signals instruct vesicles to release their
cargo with precision.
Through their discoveries, Rothman, Schekman and
Südhof have revealed the exquisitely precise control
system for the transport and delivery of cellular cargo.
Disturbances in this system have deleterious effects and
contribute to conditions such as neurological diseases,
diabetes, and immunological disorders.
LITERATURE
The Royal Swedish Academy,
called Alice Munro a ―master
of the contemporary short
story‖. The 82-year-old,
whose books include ‗Dear
Life‘ and ‗Dance of the
Happy Shades‘, is only the
13th
woman to win the prize
since its inception in 1901.
‖She has taken an art form,
the short story, which has
tended to come a little bit in
the shadow behind the novel,
and she has cultivated it almost to perfection,‘‘ said the
Swedish Academy while selecting Munro for the eight
million kronor award.
Munro, who began writing in her teenage years,
published her first story, ‗The Dimensions of a Shadow‘,
in 1950. She had been studying English at the University
of Western Ontario at the time.
‗Dance of the Happy Shades‘, published in 1968, was
Munro‘s first collection, and it went on to win Canada‘s
highest literary prize, the Governor General‘s Award.
In 2009, she won the Man Booker International Prize for
her entire body of work - but she downplayed her
achievements.
Often compared to the 19th
century Russian author Anton
Chekhov, she is known for writing about the human spirit
and a regular theme of her work is the dilemma faced by
young girls growing up and coming to terms with living
in a small town.
The Nobel academy praised her ―finely tuned storytelling,
which is characterised by clarity and psychological
realism‖. Most of her short stories take place in her native
southwest Ontario in Canada.
Her writing has brought her several awards. She won The
Commonwealth Writers‘ Prize, the National Book Critics
Circle prize for ‗Hateship, Friendship, Courtship,
Loveship, Marriage‘, and is a three-time winner of the
Governor General‘s prize.
Other notable books include ‗Lives of Girls and Women‘,
‗Who Do You Think You Are‘, ‗The Progress of Love‘
and ‗Runaway‘.
Several of her stories have also been adapted for the
screen, including ‗The Bear Came Over the Mountain‘,
which became ‗Away from Her‘, starring Julie Christie
and Gordon Pinsent. Munro revealed earlier this year that
her latest book, ‗Dear Life‘, published in 2012, would be
her last.
PEACE
Established in 1997, the Organization for the Prohibition
of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) is headquartered at The
Hague, Netherlands and has 189
countries as its members.
During World War One, chemical
weapons were used to a
considerable degree. The Geneva
Convention of 1925 prohibited the
use, but not the production or
storage, of chemical weapons.
During World War Two, chemical
means were employed in Hitler‘s
mass exterminations. Chemical
weapons have subsequently been put to use on numerous
occasions by both states and terrorists. In 1992-93 a
convention was drawn up prohibiting also the production
and storage of such weapons. It came into force in 1997.
Since then the OPCW has, through inspections,
destruction and by other means, sought the
implementation of the convention. 189 states have
acceded to the convention to date.
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The OPCW has been working to rid the world of
chemical weapons for the past 16 years. For the most
part, this task has been laborious and unheralded. A staff
of about 500, working from its headquarters at The
Hague, is charged with making sure that the 189
signatories to the Chemical Weapons Convention are
abiding by its terms. But it is only in recent weeks,
following the use of chemical weapons in Syria, that the
OPCW has become a household name. It is facing its
biggest challenge ever - to verify and destroy Syria‘s
entire chemical weapons programme by the middle of
next year. The Nobel committee clearly feels it needs all
the support it can get.
ECONOMIC SCIENCES
There is no way to predict the price of stocks and bonds
over the next few days or weeks. But it is quite possible
to foresee the broad course of these prices over longer
periods, such as the next three to five years. These
findings, which might seem both surprising and
contradictory, were made and analyzed by this year‘s
Laureates, Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert
Shiller.
Beginning in the 1960s, Eugene Fama and several
collaborators demonstrated that stock prices are
extremely difficult to predict in the short run, and that
new information is very quickly incorporated into prices.
These findings not only had a profound impact on
subsequent research but also changed market practice.
The emergence of so-called index funds in stock markets
all over the world is a prominent example.
If prices are nearly impossible to predict over days or
weeks, then shouldn‘t they be even harder to predict over
several years? The answer is no, as Robert Shiller
discovered in the early 1980s. He found that stock prices
fluctuate much more than corporate dividends, and that
the ratio of prices to dividends tends to fall when it is
high, and to increase when it is low. This pattern holds
not only for stocks, but also for bonds and other assets.
One approach interprets these findings in terms of the
response by rational investors to uncertainty in prices.
High future returns are then viewed as compensation for
holding risky assets during unusually risky times. Lars
Peter Hansen developed a statistical method that is
particularly well suited to testing rational theories of asset
pricing. Using this method, Hansen and other researchers
have found that modifications of these theories go a long
way toward explaining asset prices.
Another approach focuses on departures from rational
investor behaviour. So-called behavioural finance takes
into account institutional restrictions, such as borrowing
limits, which prevent smart investors from trading against
any mispricing in the market.
The Laureates have laid the foundation for the current
understanding of asset prices. It relies in part on
fluctuations in risk and risk attitudes, and in part on
behavioural biases and market frictions.
About the Nobel Prize
At the age of 17, Swedish Alfred Nobel spoke five
languages fluently. Nobel became an inventor and
businessman, and at the time of his
death on 10 December 1896, he had
355 patents worldwide – one of them
was the patent on dynamite.
Furthermore, he had started 87
companies all over the world.
According to his will, Alfred Nobel‘s
enormous fortune was to be used to
establish prizes to award those who had done their best to
benefit mankind in the fields of physics, chemistry,
medicine, literature and peace. The first Nobel Prizes
were awarded in 1901, five years after Nobel‘s death. In
1969, another prize was added ―The Sveriges Riksbank
Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel‖.
The Nobel Laureates are announced at the beginning of
October each year. A couple of months later, on 10
December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel‘s death, they
receive their prizes from the Swedish King – a Nobel
diploma, a medal, and 10 million Swedish crowns per
prize. All Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm,
Sweden, except for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is
awarded in Oslo, Norway. (When Alfred Nobel was
alive, Norway and Sweden were united under one
monarch, until 1905 when Norway became an
independent kingdom with its own king.)
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Multi Dimensional Index of Backwardness launched The Index is a new way of determining the backwardness of States for the purpose of deciding
how much each State should receive as its share of Central funds
Central fund allocations to individual States are very
often guided by political considerations. It leads to
complaints about discrimination, particularly from
Opposition-ruled States. Given this, it makes eminent
sense to have a non-discretionary formula for determining
resource transfers, which takes into account relative
backwardness even while rewarding performance.
The Report of the Raghuram Rajan Committee for
Evolving a Composite Development Index of States has
been submitted to the Finance Minister P. Chidambaram.
The Committee had been asked to suggest criteria for
identifying backwardness of States and also to
recommend how the criteria may be used to determine
devolution of funds from the Centre to the States.
The Rajan Committee has come-up with a Multi
dimensional Index of backwardness based on 10 equally-
weighted indicators such as monthly per capita
expenditure, education, health, poverty rate, female
literacy, percentage of SC/ST population and so on. It
said that States that score 0.6 and above on the Index may
be classified as ―Least Developed‖; States that score
below 0.6 and above 0.4 may be classified as ―Less
Developed‖; and States that score below 0.4 may be
classified as ―Relatively Developed‖.
The Finance Minister on September 26 said that the
Committee has proposed a general method for allocating
funds from the Centre to the States based on both a
State‘s development needs as well as its development
performance. The Committee has recommended that
each State may get a fixed basic allocation of 0.3 percent
of overall funds, to which will be added its share
stemming from need and performance to get its overall
share.
Implications
The formula, if accepted, would result in the four
BIMARU (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar
Pradesh) and three significantly tribal-populated
(Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Orissa) States getting over 60
per cent of the resources transferred by the Centre. This is
as against their existing share of below 40 per cent in
total Central assistance outside of tax devolutions. On the
other hand, the four Southern States plus Maharashtra
will see their combined share fall from nearly a quarter to
roughly 17 per cent. Those supporting the move say that
this is only fair as poorer States have less resource-raising
capacity and hence deserve to be supported more. This
has been opposed by better administered states.
Political compulsions
The report‘s categorisation of states has been viewed by
many as being essentially driven by political
compulsions. In particular, by creating the category ―least
developed‖ and putting Bihar into it, the government
seems to have conceded the Bihar government‘s demand
to be given special treatment. Of course, other states will
also benefit from this, which would help deflect the
criticism that this was merely pandering to Bihar Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar, but the enthusiasm with which
the report was greeted in Patna clearly indicates a
potential political dividend to the Congress party in its
efforts to put together a majority coalition after the 2014
general elections.
Any new method of disbursing funds would be politically
fraught because some States might lose while others gain
Implementing the new formula will require a lot of
political will, which the current regime cannot muster.
The new government after June 2014 is best placed to
examine the implementation of the new
recommendations.
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Current Affairs: India
7th Pay Commission announced
The government on September 25 announced constitution
of the Seventh Pay Commission to revise salary and
pension for its 80 lakh staff and pensioners. The
recommendations of the new Pay Commission, which
will be constituted shortly, will be implemented from
January 1, 2016.
The setting up of the Commission comes ahead of the
Assembly elections in 5 states including Delhi, Rajasthan
and Madhya Pradesh in November and the general
elections next year.
The government constitutes Pay Commission almost once
in every ten years to revise the pay scales of its
employees and often these are adopted by states after
some modification.
Normally, Central Pay Commissions are announced after
a gap of 10 years. The 6th Pay Commission was set up in
2006 but its recommendations were implemented on the
eve of the 2009 Lok Sabha election. As such, the 7th Pay
Commission should have been constituted in 2016 but
with the UPA‘s image being battered by a spate of
corruption scandals, the date has been advanced by two
years with a view to wooing almost 80 lakh Central
government employees and pensioners (and, of course,
their dependants). The fact that state governments
normally follow the Centre in hiking their employees‘
pay-scales clearly indicates the decision is part of the poll
sops opera being enacted by the UPA to cover a wider
swathe of population.
Indeed, pleasing an eight-million strong vote bank
appears to have taken precedence over the government‘s
commitment towards fiscal consolidation. The
recommendations of the sixth central pay commission
had derailed the fiscal consolidation programme from
2008 onwards, when its recommendations got
implemented. Consequently, the expenditure of both the
central and state governments increased, over a period of
three-four years, by an amount equivalent to almost one
per cent of the country‘s gross domestic product, or GDP.
The government‘s fiscal deficit had made healthy
progress in years prior to that - at four per cent of GDP in
2005-06, 3.3 per cent in 2006-07 and further down to 2.5
per cent in 2007-08. But the fiscal deficit shot up to six
per cent in 2008-09 and one of the reasons was the
implementation of the sixth central pay commission‘s
recommendations of higher pay along with arrears from
that year. So, the announcement that the seventh central
pay commission‘s recommendations could take effect
from 2016 also signals a premature abandonment of the
government‘s fiscal consolidation programme from that
year.
The politically expedient move to announce the
constitution of a new pay commission also skirts the
larger issue of the need to follow compensation policies
that are market-driven and merit-based. A large chunk of
government employees at the middle and lower rung
continues to enjoy salaries and allowances that are much
more than what their counterparts in the private sector
get. There are also questions about the total strength of
government employees. Excess staffing has been the
norm in most government departments.
Under the government set-up, there is tenure security,
retirement packages, housing, advances for purchase of
conveyance, etc. The government takes care of the
employee after the service period by providing him a
pension and medical benefits. All this adds up to a
sizeable package. However, adequate and timely
promotional avenues, based on the merits of the
individual, are lacking; so inefficient or lazy employees
also survive in government service. This is rarely the case
in the private sector where only efficient employees
survive - or at least thrive.
Aadhar not mandatory – SC
The government told the Supreme Court on September 23
that securing Aadhar cards
issued by the Unique
Identification Authority of India
(UIDAI) was optional and it has
not made it mandatory for the
citizens. The apex court was
hearing a batch of pleas against decisions of some states
to make Aadhar cards compulsory for a range of activities
including salary, provident fund disbursals and marriage
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and property registrations. The court ruled that no person
will be denied welfare benefits, various services and
subsidies for not possessing the Aadhar number and also
asked the government to ensure that the cards were not
issued to illegal migrants as it would legitimise their stay.
The order has come just as the UPA was trying to use the
benefits of Aadhar to its political advantage through the
Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme for cooking gas
subsidies, pensions and scholarships. Under DBT, the
government was building system of transferring welfare
payments directly into Aadhar-linked bank accounts of
beneficiaries.
While the centre claims that Aadhar is enrolment in is
voluntary, some states think differently. In the national
capital, several welfare entitlements have been linked to
Aadhar. The
Delhi
government was
one of the first
states to make
Aadhar card
mandatory to
avail government
services. Not
only this, its
revenue
department had gone a step ahead and made the card
mandatory for getting married, selling or buying
properties or even getting pension and scholarships. But
there have been reports of elderly people being in a state
of panic on being refused monthly pension entitlements
like pension just because they do not have the Aadhar
numbers. States such as Maharashtra and Jharkhand, too,
have made it a must for availing pensions, scholarships
and to even register property.
The government will now have to continue non-Aadhar
based system of providing services alongside those linked
to Aadhar till it makes out a fool-proof case before the
court for making Aadhar mandatory. It will have to
explain the validity of a Planning Commission study that
the Aadhar-based DBS will save Rs. 50,000 crore from
the social sector spending of Rs. 2,00,000 crore annually.
A related question is how the government‘s DBT scheme
would be adopted to either provide an alternative to the
Aadhar or build a system which does away with the need
to link bank accounts to a unique identity. Otherwise, if
the court order finally prevails, the move to make
political capital out of Aadhar could end up a non-starter.
Voters get „NOTA‟ option
In a path-breaking judgement, the Supreme Court on
September 27, 2013 held that voters have a right to reject
all candidates contesting polls in a constituency by
pressing a button for negative vote.
The Election Commission
(EC) will now have to
provide an option for
negative voting in the
Electronic Voting
Machines and ballot
papers.
A bench headed by Chief
Justice P Sathasivam also
directed the EC to
undertake awareness
programmes on the
benefits of negative voting
saying there will be a ―systemic change‖ when people
start to express their disapproval of candidates. The court
also said that making people aware about this option of
―None of the above (NOTA)‖ in electronic voting
machines and ballot papers would enable dissatisfied
voters to turn up to express their view, preventing proxy
voting undertaken by ―unscrupulous elements‖ who
impersonate them.
Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath said in New
Delhi on October 4, 2013 that the Election Commission is
taking necessary steps to make available the ‗none of the
above‘ (NOTA) option for voters in the electronic voting
machines. Till now, this option is not available to voters
on ballot papers and EVMs. Voters so far had to register
their option of NOTA in a register under Rule 49-O of the
Conduct of Election Rules, thus compromising secrecy.
Below the name of the last candidate on the EVM, EC
will now provide a button for NOTA option for electors
who do not wish to vote for any of the candidates in the
fray in their constituency. (Also see GD: Page No: 34)
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Current Affairs: India Briefs
EC announces schedule for Assembly polls: The Election Commission announced the poll
schedule for five assembly polls in five states – Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi
and Mizoram – on October 4. Elections for Chhattisgarh would be held first and in two phases-on
November 11 and 19. Elections in Madhya Pradesh would be held on November 25. Elections in
Rajasthan would be held on December 1, while elections in Delhi and Mizoram would be held on
December 4. While announcing the polling dates, Chief Election Commissioner V.S. Sampath
declared that the Model Code of Conduct for elections in these five states comes into effect
immediately. The counting of votes for all five states would take place on December 8. No. of
constituencies: Delhi – 70; Chhattisgarh – 90; Madhya Pradesh – 230; Mizoram – 40; Rajasthan – 200.
Telangana gets final seal of approval: The Union Cabinet October 3 decided to go ahead with
creation of Telangana from out of Andhra Pradesh taking the first legal step for forming the 29th
state. The meeting of the Cabinet presided by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh also decided that
Hyderabad will be the joint capital of the two states for 10 years. A Group of Ministers (GoM) has
been set up to work out the modalities. The GoM will go into the issue of a special financial
disbursement that may be required from the central government for the residuary state of Andhra
Pradesh comprising Coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema, for building its capital and other
developmental needs. The new state will have a geographical area of 10 of the 23 districts of
undivided AP. Out of the 42 Lok Sabha seats and 294 Assembly seats in AP; Telangana is likely to have 17 Lok Sabha
seats and 119 Assembly seats.
Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan approved: The government announced the launch of the Rashtriya
Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) on October 3. It is a new centrally sponsored scheme
for higher education which will spread over two plan periods (12th and 13th). It will focus
on higher educational institutions at the state level. A total of 316 state public universities
and 13,024 colleges will be covered under RUSA. The key objectives of RUSA are to
improve access, equity and quality in higher education through planned development of
higher education at the state level. It is proposed to improve the Gross Enrolment Ratio
from 19% at present to 30% by 2020. It will help create new academic institutions, and
expand the existing institutions, that are self-reliant in terms of quality education and
professional management.
Health Ministry launches ads „Child‟ and „dhuan‟ to discourage smoking: Harmful
effects of passive smoking are the focus of the two new pictorial warnings to be launched by the
Health and Family Welfare Ministry on October 1. The two spots, ‗child‘ and ‗dhuan‘ (smoke)
— which have to be used on cigarette packs — are aimed to reinforce the government‘s
emphasis on passive smoking. The ads have been developed by the World Lung Foundation to
warn about the health costs of smoking and second-hand smoke, and of the penalties to be faced
for violating the smoke-free law. ‗Child‘ focuses on the health risks of smoking and passive
smoke, while ‗dhuan‘ models the behaviour expected of business managers, advocates, enforcement officials, smokers
and non-smokers.
Indigenous vaccine for Japanese Encephalitis launched: Health Minister
Ghulam Nabi Azad on October 4 launched the Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccine
JENVAC in New Delhi and termed it a major step by the country towards achieving
self-reliance in technological innovation. Till now, the vaccine was imported from
China and its availability was an issue. The vaccine has been jointly developed by
scientists of National Institute of Virology, Pune, Indian Council of Medical Research
(ICMR) and Bharat Biotech. Meanwhile the government has approved the setting up
of a Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences (CAPFILMS) in
Delhi.
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Programme to address maternal and child under-nutrition approved: The Union Cabinet
on September 24, 2013 approved the proposal for implementation of the multi-sectoral programme to
address the maternal and child under-nutrition in 200 high burden districts in the 12th five-year plan.
The programme‘s objectives are: prevention and reduction in child under-nutrition (underweight
prevalence in children under 3 years of age); and reduction in levels of anemia among young
children, adolescent girls and women.
Avahan India prevented over 6 lakh HIV infections – Lancet: The Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation-funded Avahan programme may have prevented over 6 lakh HIV
infections in India over 10 years, according to a report in Lancet Global Health on
September 30. The Avahan India AIDS Initiative was launched in 2003, as a large scale,
targeted intervention prevention programme and was implemented in high-risk states of
Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Manipur and Nagaland.
National Integration Council Meeting organised: The 16th
Meeting of the National Integration Council (NIC) was
organised in New Delhi on September 23. The meeting was convened by the government to discuss how to combat
communalism. The role of social media in fanning communal
violence was the focus of many speeches delivered. Referring to the
recent communal violence in Muzaffarnagar district of Uttar Pradesh
that left 48 dead, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said there were
cases in which fake videos were circulated, causing deeper divides
between communities. The 148-member National Integration
Council is headed by the PM. Union Ministers, Leaders of the
Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Chief Ministers of all states and Union Territories are members of the
NIC. Leaders of national and regional political parties, chairpersons of national commissions, eminent journalists, public
figures and representatives of business and women‘s organisations are also part of NIC.
President approves Land Acquisition Bill: President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the Right to Fair
Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and
Resettlement Bill- 2013. The Bill was passed in the recently-concluded Monsoon
Session of Parliament on September 27. The new Bill proposes that farmers and
landowners be paid up to four times the market value for land acquired in rural
areas, and two times the market value in urban areas. The other significant aspect
of the Bill is that the consent of 80 percent of landowners is needed for acquiring
land for private projects and of 70 percent landowners for public-private projects.
Bill to check encroachment of Wakf properties gets President‟s assent: A
bill which seeks to check rampant encroachment of Wakf properties and make them
commercially viable by extending their lease period from merely three years to 30 years
received the Presidential assent on September 24. The Wakf (Amendment) Bill, 2013
also makes encroachment on Wakf properties a cognisable and non-bailable offence
and provides for a maximum punishment of two years rigorous imprisonment. It will
also make the Wakf tribunals multi-member and give them additional powers of eviction and appeal.
Supreme Court gets 1st customized pin code: The Department of Posts on September 26 allotted a ‗Customized
Pin Code‘ to the Supreme Court of India. This dedicated Pin Code of the Supreme Court
is ‗110 201‘. Postal Index Number (PIN) or PIN Code is a 6 digit code of Post Office
numbering used by India Post. The PIN was introduced in 1972 in the country. There are
9 PIN regions in the country. The first 8 are geographical regions and the digit 9 is
reserved for the Army Postal Service. The first digit indicates one of the regions. The first
2 digits together indicate the sub region or one of the postal circles. The first 3 digits
together indicate a sorting / revenue district. The last 3 digits refer to the delivery Post
Office.
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UGC lists norms for tie-ups between Indian and foreign institutions: The University Grants Commission
(UGC) on September 25, 2013 put in public domain the UGC (Promotion and
Maintenance of Standards of Academic Collaborations between Indian and Foreign
Educational Institutes) Regulations 2012 that would allow Indian educational institutions
to enter into collaboration with foreign universities. Indian institutes with a grade not
less than B can enter into collaboration with foreign institutions which should
mandatorily have the highest grade of accreditation in its parent country. The Indian
educational institution shall have accreditation by National Assessment and
Accreditation Council. Technical institutes would not come under the purview of the
regulations while government institutes shall be exempted from accreditation for the purpose of these regulations.
Terrorists kill 12 in Jammu terror attack: Twelve people, including an army
officer, were killed in Jammu and Kashmir when heavily armed terrorists mounted a
brazen attack on a police station and commandeered a truck that barged into an army
camp in Jammu on September 26. The attack began when three heavily armed
militants stormed the Hira Nagar police station, which is barely seven km from the
Pakistan border, in Kathua district of Jammu region, killing four police personnel on
the spot. The militants then travelled around 18 km from Hira Nagar in a stolen truck
on the Pathankot-Jammu highway after which they entered the army officers‘ mess of
Samba Brigade where they fired indiscriminately, killing four army personnel, including a lieutenant colonel and three
other ranks.
Manmohan meets Sharif at the UN: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said
he remained optimistic about the future of the Indo-Pak relationship following his
meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif at the United Nations in New
York on September 29. Singh said he told Sharif that maintaining tranquility along
the Line of Control (LoC) is of utmost concern and importance to both countries to
ensure normal relations. The India-Pakistan relationship has been especially
stressed since August 6, when five Indian soldiers by were ambushed by Pakistani
troops in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir. Since then, there have been
multiple incidents of ceasefire violation along the LoC and militant attacks in Jammu and Kashmir have also increased.
NAMEXPO 2013 organised in Kochi: India‘s first-ever naval and maritime exposition
and conference, or NAMEXPO 2013, organised in Kochi from September 23 to 27 by the
Cochin Port Trust in partnership with Kerala government, the Indian Navy, Coast Guard as
well as Ministries of MSMEs, Earth Sciences and Shipping. Meanwhile the naval forces of
India and Oman organised their biennial naval exercise ―Naseem Al Bahr‖ 2013 aimed at
improving preparedness for tackling piracy in the Indian Ocean in September-October 2013.
Court asks private channels to share ad-free sports broadcast with Prasar Bharti: The Delhi High Court on
October 3 ruled that private channels owning rights of live television
broadcast of sporting events of national importance must share the
same with national broadcaster Prasar Bharati without any
commercials. The court made the observations while dismissing a
please by ESPN seeking a direction to Prasar Bharati not to insist on
the live signal of international cricket matches of India without any commercial.
Google to create 360-deg online view of 100 Indian monuments: Archaeological
Survey of India and Google India on October 3 joined hands to create 360- degree online
panoramic imagery of 100 ―nationally-important monuments‖ in the country like Taj
Mahal, Humayun‘s Tomb, Khajuraho and the Ajanta and Ellora caves, etc. The Qutub
Minar complex in New Delhi would be the first monument on which an application using
its ‗Street View Trekker‘ technology will be created by Google. The technology has been
used to create ―virtual walkthroughs‖ for sites like Eiffel Tower in France, Grand Canyon
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in the US, and Mt Fuji in Japan, among others. Google India and Ministry of Culture had earlier partnered on the
creation of virtual walkthroughs for the National Gallery of Modern Art (NGMA) and the National Museum in New
Delhi.
Incredible Himalayas campaign launched: To promote the
virgin peaks of Himalayas and attract both domestic and
international tourists during lean summer season, Ministry of
Tourism launched a new campaign titled ‗777 days of Incredible
Indian Himalayas‘ on World Tourism Day in New Delhi on
September 27. The Tourism Minister said the campaign aims to
attract more foreign tourists during the lean summer season, making
the Indian Himalayas a 365-day destination for the travellers. Also
launched were two new promotional films – ‗Greatest Show On Earth‘ and ‗Life Altering Journey on Himalayas‘ – along
with a map of the Himalayas.
India‟s fifth AC double decker train launched in MP: The AC Double Decker
train between Habibganj and Indore, the first ever such train service in the state of
Madhya Pradesh, was flagged off by the Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan
Chowdhury at Habibganj railway station in Bhopal on September 27. This LHB AC
Double Decker is the fifth such train in the country. In addition to this, four other trains
are already running between Jaipur-Delhi, Mumbai- Ahmedabad, Chennai-Bangalore
and Howrah-Dhanbad.
Minority welfare schemes “Seekho aur Kamao” and “Jiyo Parsi” launched:
Two new schemes namely ―Seekho aur Kamao (Learn & Earn)‖ and ―Jiyo Parsi‖ were
launched by the Ministry for Minority Affairs in New Delhi on September 23. ―Seekho
aur Kamao (Learn & Earn)‖ is a project for improving skills of minority trainees by
IL&FS Skill Development Corporation at five locations – Delhi, Kolkata, Shillong,
Barnala and Bengaluru. The Ministry also launched another scheme ―Jiyo Parsi‖ for
containing population decline of Parsis in India. It is a 100% central sector scheme.
Referring to the alarming total fertility rate of Parsis that has gone down below one,
Minorities Affairs Minister K. Rahman Khan said the government was very much
concerned about the declining trend of the Parsi population in the country.
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Awards announced: The prestigious Shanti Swarup
Bhatnagar Awards for 2013, recognising achievements of young scientists and
engineers, were announced in New Delhi on New Delhi on September 26. The prize is
named after the founder of Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and is
being awarded to eight scientists from seven disciplines. This year‘s awardees are: Dr
Sathees Chukkurumbal Raghavan in Biological Sciences, Dr Yamuna Krishnan in
Chemical Sciences, Dr Bikramjit Basu and Dr Suman Chakraborty in Engineering
Sciences, Dr Eknath Ghate in Mathematical Science, Dr Amol Dighe and Dr Vijay
Balakrishna Shenoy in Physical Sciences. There is no recipient in the category of
Earth, Atmosphere, Ocean & Planetary Sciences.
Raghuram Rajan gets Deutsche Bank award: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor
Raghuram Rajan on September 27, 2013 received the fifth Deutsche Bank prize for Financial
Economics 2013 in Frankfurt, in recognition of his ground-breaking research work which has
influenced financial and economic policies around the world. The academic prize is sponsored by
the Deutsche Bank Donation Fund and carries an endowment of euro 50,000. The Centre for
Financial Studies (CFS) awards the prize bi-annually in partnership with Goethe University
Frankfurt
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Bunker Roy wins „Clinton Global Citizens Award‟: India environmentalist Bunker Roy
and Pakistan‘s teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai were conferred with this year‘s of the
prestigious ‗Clinton Global Citizens Awards‘ in New York at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual
Meeting on September 26. Roy is the founder of the Barefoot College, which has been providing
solutions to problems in rural communities for more than 40 years. As a result of Barefoot‘s work,
one million litres of rainwater have been harvested to provide clean drinking water to over 239,000
school children in more than 1,300 communities worldwide.
Amrita Patel receives Agriculture Leadership Award 2013: Amrita Patel, chairperson, of
Anand-headquartered National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) which markets milk and milk
products under the Mother Dairy brand, was conferred with the Agriculture Leadership Award 2013 for
Lifetime Achievement in Ahmedabad on September 20. Agriculture Leadership Awards, instituted by
Agriculture Today, a national agriculture magazine recognises the leadership roles played by
individuals and institutions which are positively impacting the lives of farmers and rural masses.
Lalu gets five year imprisonment in fodder scam: Rashtriya
Janata Dal (RJD) President and ex- Chief Minister of Bihar Lalu Prasad
Yadav has been sentenced to five-year rigorous imprisonment in the
fodder scam case. The case involves fraudulent withdrawal of Rs. 37.7
crore from the Chaibasa (now in Jharkhand) treasury when Lalu was
heading the RJD government in undivided Bihar in the early 1990s. The
sentence immediately disqualifies him from Parliament and bars him from
elections for 11 years. Special CBI Judge Pravas Kumar Singh also
sentenced another former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, and others
lodged in the case at Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi under the
Prevention of Corruption Act on October 3. The conviction comes 16 years after the charges were framed in the case in
1997.
Rasheed Masood gets 4 years in jail, first MP to lose seat: 67-year-old Rajya Sabha MP
Rasheed Masood of Congress was on October 1 sentenced to four years in jail by a Delhi court in a
corruption case, becoming the first to lose his seat after a recent Supreme Court judgement removed
the immunity for convicted lawmakers. Special CBI Judge J P S Malik handed down the jail term to
Masood after holding him guilty of fraudulently nominating undeserving candidates to MBBS seats
allotted to Tripura in medical colleges across the country from the central pool as Health Minister in
the National Front government of 1990.
Vipassana guru S N Goenka passes away: S N Goenka, the former industrialist who started
and spread Vipassana meditation in India, passed away in Mumbai at the age of 89 on September
29. Born in Burma, Goenka shifted to India in 1969 and started a mediation centre at Igatpuri near
Nashik in 1976. Goenka was awarded Padma Bhushan for social work in 2012. Chief Minister
Prithviraj Chavan said the basic Vipassana course is benefiting students in government schools
across the state and the Maharashtra government has encouraged its employees to do the course.
Recent appointments: The Government appointed Justice Vangala Eswaraiah as the
Chairperson of the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) on September 19, 2013.
The Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) has re-elected Man Jit Singh of Multi Screen Media,
which runs channels like Sony Entertainment Television and SET Max, among others, as its
President for 2013-2014 at its meeting in Mumbai on September 26. The Indian Newspaper Society
(INS) on September 27 elected Ravindra Kumar, Editor of ‗The Statesman‘ newspaper as its
President for the year 2013-14 at its 74th AGM in Bangalore on September 27. Sanjay Govind
Dhande, former director of IIT Kanpur, was on September 25 appointed as a member of UGC soon
after the removal of activist Yogendra Yadav as a UGC member by the HRD Ministry.
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Recent Books: ‗The New Bihar: Rekindling Governance & development‘ by Nicholas Stern and N
K Singh; ‗Science and Technology in China: Implications and Lessons for India‘ by
Maharajakrishna Rasgotra; ‗Human Capitalism: How Economic Growth has Made us Smarter - and
More Unequal‘ by Brink Lindsey; ‗Pink Sari Revolution: A Tale of Women and Power in India‘ by
Amana Fontanella-Khan; ‗Beyond Diplomatic Dilemmas‘ by Surendra Kumar; ‗Shooting for a
Century: The India-Pakistan Conundrum‘ by Stephen P. Cohen; ‗Business & Community – The
Story of Corporate Social Responsibility in India‘ by Pushpa Sundar; ‗Underneath The Southern
Cross‘ by Michael Hussey; ‗Apocalypse Pakistan: An Anatomy of ‗the World‘s Most Dangerous
Nation‘ by Francesca Marino and Beniamino Natale; ‗Marriage Material‘ by Sathnam Sanghera
Important Days: National Voluntary Blood Donation day was observed on October 1. Indian Air Force Day was
observed on October 1.
„The Good Road‟ nominated as India‟s entry for Oscars: Gyan Correa‘s
debut Gujarati movie ‗The Good Road‘, a lost-and-found story of a small boy, was on
September 21, 2013 nominated as India‘s official entry at next year‘s Oscars in the
Best Foreign Film category. National award-winning ‗The Good Road‘ saw off strong
competition from films like ‗The Lunchbox‘, ‗Bhaag Milkha Bhaag‘, ‗English
Vinglish‘, Malayalam film ‗Celluloid‘ and Kamal Haasan‘s ‗Vishwaroopam‘. Gautam
Ghosh was Chairman of Oscar selection committee of Film Federation of India. ‗The
Good Road‘ had won the national award for the best Gujarati film.
State government schemes: The ‗Vidyasiri‘ programme that provides a stipend of Rs. 1500
per month for backward class students who chose to reside on their own instead of opting for
hostels was launched by Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in Bangalore on October 1. The
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on October 3 launched the ‗Yuvashree‘ scheme
under which a monthly dole of Rs 1,500 will be provided to the unemployed youth in the state.
Bannerjee also launched a scheme to prevent child marriage titled ‗Kanyashree‘ that provides
financial support to parents for getting their daughters educated till 18 years of age.
Kanhoji Angre Light House to become tourist attraction: The Kanhoji Angre lighthouse off
the Mumbai coast is all set to become a new tourist attraction. This announcement was made in
Mumbai on September 28, 2013. The Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Shipping have drawn up
plans to develop 15 light houses across the country, as places of tourist attractions. In the first phase,
the Kanhoji Angre Light house, named after the famous Maratha Admiral, the light house located at
the Dolphin Nose Point in Visakhapatnam and the one located at the Mamallapuram (Mahabalipuram)
near Chennai are being developed as pilot projects.
India tops global chart of remittances: India has topped the global chart of
remittances with a whopping USD 71 billion in remittances in 2013, according to a
revised World Bank forecast issued on October 2, 2013. As a percentage of GDP,
the top recipients of remittances, in 2012, were Tajikistan (48 percent), Kyrgyz
Republic (31 percent), Lesotho and Nepal (25 percent each) and Moldova (24
percent). ―These latest estimates show the power of remittances,‖ said Kaushik
Basu, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist of the World Bank. ―For a
country like Tajikistan they constitute half the GDP. For Bangladesh remittances provide vital protection against poverty.
Recent overseas appointments: Ruchira Kamboj was appointed as the next Permanent
Representative of India to UNESCO, Paris, with the rank of Ambassador on September 25. Vijay
Keshav Gokhale was on September 23 appointed as India‘s next Ambassador to Germany. Former
Indian foreign secretary Ranjan Mathai was on October 1 appointed as the next High
Commissioner to Britain.
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Current Affairs: World Briefs
US government shuts down over failure to pass budget: The vast machinery of the US government began
grinding to a halt on October 1, 2013 after hopes of passing a budget faded in the face of Republican opposition to
President Barack Obama‘s health care law. For the first time in 17 years,
Congress failed to agree on a new budget and refused to extend the current
one. Without the authority to spend money, the executive branch started
the process of suspending the many services the government provides but
essential services, such as social security and Medicare payments, would
continue. The US army would keep operating, even if pay packets are
suspended. But hundreds of thousands of workers at non-essential services,
from Pentagon employees to rangers in national parks, would be told to
take an unpaid holiday. How & Why of shutdown: While Obama‘s
Democratic Party has majority in the upper house (Senate), the lower
house (House of Representatives) is dominated by the opposition
Republican Party. Under the US system, Budget needs to be passed by both houses. The Republicans have called
Obama‘s health care law as wasteful and have made drastic reduction in expenditure under this law as a precondition for
supporting the budget. The Obama administration says the law is essential to provide coverage for the millions of US
citizens now uninsured.
Presidents of U.S. & Iran talk for first time since 1979: The United States and Iran took a historic step toward
ending more than three decades of estrangement on October 4, 2013 when
U.S. President Barack Obama and Iranian President Hassan Rouhani spoke
by phone and agreed to work on resolving global suspicions that Tehran is
trying to build a nuclear weapon. The last direct conversation between the
leaders of the two countries was in 1979 before the Iranian Revolution
toppled the pro-U.S. Shah. Obama said the long break ―underscores the
deep mistrust between our countries, but it also indicates the prospect of
moving beyond that difficult history.‖ Earlier, at a news conference in New
York, Rouhani linked the U.S. and Iran as ―great nations,‖ a remarkable
reversal from the anti-American rhetoric of his predecessors. Rouhani was in New York to attend the annual U.N.
General Assembly.
UNSC adopts resolution on dismantling Syrian chemical arsenal: The United
Nations Security Council on September 27 voted unanimously to adopt a resolution
aimed at getting rid of Syria‘s chemical weapons. The vote came after the Organization
for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), an international chemical watchdog,
agreed on a plan to destroy Syria‘s stockpile by mid-2014. The resolution has two legally
binding demands – Syria abandon its weapons stockpile, and chemical weapons experts
be given unfettered access. The OPCW said it had ―agreed on an accelerated programme
for achieving the complete elimination of Syria‘s chemical weapons by mid-2014‖.
Merkel clinches historic win in German elections: Chancellor Angela
Merkel captured a landslide victory in German elections on September 22 when her
Christian Democratic Union/Christian Social Union (CDU/CSU) won 41.5% vote
share and 311 seats (a gain of 72 seats over 2009) in the 630-member lower house
of Parliament, the Bundestag. The 59-year-old Merkel resoundingly clinched
another four-year stint at the helm Europe‘s top economy, and looked poised to
form a ―grand coalition‖ with her chief rivals, the SPD. The opposition Social
democratic Party (SPD) won 192 seats. The Left had 64 seats while the Greens got
63 seats. A physicist by training, Merkel is only the third person to win a third term
in Germany after Adenauer and Helmut Kohl.
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TNA wins landslide in Sri Lanka‟s Northern Provincial Council (NPC) polls: The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won a resounding victory in the elections for
Sri Lanka‘s Northern Provincial Council (NPC) election on September 22. An amalgam
of five Tamil political parties, the TNA cornered nearly 80 per cent of the votes to win
30 out of the total 38 seats. TNA‘s margin of victory points to an apparent erosion of
faith that the Tamils might have earlier had in the government that brought the bloody
war to an end.
UN adopts resolution to prevent illicit transfer of small arms: The UN
Security Council on September 26 adopted a resolution, urging cooperation and
information sharing among member states to combat the scourge of small arms and
light weapons. The UN pledged in the resolution that it is determined to continue to
take practical steps to prevent the illicit transfer and misuse of small arms and light
weapons. The resolution also demand that seized, confiscated or surrendered small
arms, light weapons and ammunition be recorded and disposed of in an appropriate manner.
G4 nations call for UNSC reforms: India and other G4 countries, Brazil,
Germany and Japan, all aspiring for permanent membership of the Security Council,
have called for intensifying efforts for urgent UN Security Council reforms ―to
better reflect geopolitical realities of the 21st century‖. In a joint statement issued
after a meeting of the foreign ministers of the G4 nations on the margins of the UN
General Assembly on September 26, 2013, they ―underscored that, almost 70 years
after the creation of the United Nations, reform of the Security Council is long
overdue‖. Currently only five countries – UK, USA, France, China and Russia are
permanent member of UNSC.
Maldives poll panel cancels election: Maldives Elections Commission on September 27, 2013 cancelled the second
round of voting for the presidential election, setting the stage for politically turbulent times for the
Indian Ocean island nation. Earlier the Maldives Supreme Court on September 23 indefinitely
postponed the second round runoff after a candidate, Gasim Ibrahim of the Jumhoory Party,
alleged fraud in voting. Ibrahim had finished third in the first round of voting by polling just some
3000 votes less than the second-placed Abdulla Yamin, who got 25.35 percent of the votes. The
pro-India Mohamad Nasheed, who was controversially ousted from power in 2012, obtained
45.45 percent of the votes to win the first round of voting. However, he failed to get a crucial 50
percent mandate that would have negated the need for a second round. Yamin and Nasheed were
scheduled to contest in the second round runoff on September 28.
Egypt bans Muslim Brotherhood: An Egyptian court on September 23 banned
the Muslim Brotherhood and ordered confiscation of its assets. The administrative
court in Cairo gave the ruling after it had been asked to review the Islamist group‘s
status as a non-governmental organisation. The military authorities have launched a
crackdown on the group since ousting President Mohammed Morsi on July 3. The
ruling is a deadly blow to the Islamist group which was already under pressure after
dozens of its senior leaders, including its general guide Mohammed Badie, were detained for inciting violence.
Scores dead in terrorist siege in Nairobi mall: Kenyan President Uhuru
Kenyatta on September 24 said security forces had defeated militants of Somalia-
based al-Shabaab group, holed up in the upscale Westgate shopping complex in
capital Nairobi, after a bruising four-day siege that claimed at least 72 lives. The
militants are said to have targeted Nairobi in retaliation for Kenyan troops‘
participation in multinational action against Islamist terrorists in neighbouring
Somalia.
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IPCC issues climate change warning: Human actions have been the dominant
cause of climate change, leading to the warming up of the atmosphere and oceans,
melting of snow & ice and the rise in the global mean sea level, said a new
assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on
September 27, 2013. The report said predicted temperatures would rise another 0.3
to 4.8 degrees Celsius this century and sea levels would rise between 26 and 82
centimetres by 2100. It also warned of a higher risk for heatwaves, floods and
droughts. The report projects that heatwaves are very likely to occur more frequently and last longer while wet regions
would receive more rainfall, and dry regions less.
IPCC report is an „alarm clock‟ moment: Christiana Figueres, Executive Secretary of the UN
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), said the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) report‘s release was ―an alarm clock moment for the world‖. IPCC co-chair
Rajendra Pachauri said the report provides important insights into the scientific basis of climate
change. It provides a firm foundation for considerations of the impacts of climate change on human
and natural systems and ways to meet the challenge of climate change. The IPCC report was
prepared by 209 lead authors and 50 review editors from 39 of the 195 member countries and more
than 600 contributing authors from 32 countries.
Quake kills 80 in Pakistan: Eighty people were killed when a 7.7-magnitude earthquake
hit South-Western Pakistan on September 24. With its epicentre 69 km from Awaran in
Balochistan province, the quake struck at 4.29 pm local time at a depth of 23 km. Tremors
were felt in Karachi, Hyderabad, Larkana and other towns and cities of Sindh province.
Balochistan is Pakistan‘s largest but least populated province. The military has a heavy
presence in the area because it is fighting a long-running separatist Baloch insurgency, and so
its troops were among the first to respond to the crisis.
Cambodian Parliament re-appoints Hun Sen as Premier: Cambodia‘s Parliament on
September 24 approved a new five-year term for Prime Minister Hun Sen following weeks of
political turmoil over his disputed election win. Though the opposition Cambodia National
Rescue Party (CNRP) did not take its seats, King Norodom Sihamoni asked Hun Sen‘s
Cambodian People‘s Party (CPP) to form a new cabinet. The CPP won 68 seats, against 55 for the
CNRP.
Mumbai is 2nd-most honest city in world: Mumbai is the
world‘s second-most honest city, a survey conducted by Reader‘s
Digest magazine has found. A test was carried out wherein ‗lost‘
wallets stuffed with 50 dollars in cash were dropped in cities around
the world. Readers Digest on September 26 said it tested the
honesty of hundreds of people in 16 countries by dropping wallets
and recording how many were returned. In Helsinki, 11 of the 12
wallets dropped around the city were returned, the best result.
Mumbai residents were the second-most-honest people, returning nine while residents in Lisbon were the least honest,
with only one person handing in the wallet
Switzerland leads in global energy ranking: Switzerland and a handful of countries in
Europe led the way in a global ranking today of energy efficiency, access to resources and
environmental sustainability. The report released on September 24 by the World Energy
Council, a London-based group that promotes sustainable power, considered three parameters:
how well they manage their energy supply, how accessible and affordable energy is across the
population, and how much of their power is derived from low-carbon renewables.
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World Space Week observed: World Space Week 2013 was observed from October 4 to 10,
2013 under the theme: ―Exploring Mars, Discovering Earth‖. While October 4 (1957) marks the
launch of the first human-made Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, thus opening the way for space
exploration; October 10 (1967) marks the signing of the Treaty on Principles Governing the
Activites of States in the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Spaces.
World Tourism Day observed: September 27 was celebrated as
the World Tourism Day (WTD) on 2013. Taleb Rifai, secretary-general of the UN World
Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), said tourism generated $1.07 trillion in revenue
worldwide last year. September 29, 2013 was observed as the World Heart Day. Every
year, heart-related diseases claim 17.3 million lives across the world with addiction to
tobacco, alcohol, obesity, unhealthy lifestyle and food habits being the major causes.
World Rhino Day: September 22 was observed as the World Rhino Day. Despite protective
laws, poaching continues, spurred by a large Oriental market for rhinoceros horn (valued as an
aphrodisiac) and blood. Captive-breeding programs offer the only hope for maintaining some
species until adequate protection can be provided in the wild. There are four rhino bearing
states in India - Assam, West Bengal, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Rhinoceroses have poor
eyesight but acute senses of hearing and smell and despite their bulk they are remarkably agile
and can attain a speed of about 45 kilometres per hour. All but the black rhinoceros are listed
as endangered in the Red Data Book, a compilation published by the International Union for
the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.
”Wadjda” is Saudi Arabia‟s first ever entry at Oscars: Saudi Arabia, where
cinemas are banned, is to compete for an Oscar for the first time next year with feminist
film ―Wadjda‖ directed by Haifaa al-Mansour, the country‘s Saudi Arabian Society for
Culture and Arts announced in Riyadh on September 15, 2013. The movie, competing
for the best foreign-language film, tells of a young girl‘s quest to own a bicycle in the
ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom where women are deprived of many rights, among
them driving. Meanwhile Pakistan on September 24 chose ‗Zinda Bhaag‘ as their first
film submission in over 5 decades for Oscar consideration in the ‗Foreign Language
Film Award‘ category at the 86th Academy Awards. The Lahore-set comedy, which is directed by
Farjad Nabi and Meenu Gaur, features Naseeruddin Shah and many Indian technicians.
Malala Yousafzai wins Amnesty award: Pakistani schoolgirl and education rights campaigner
Malala Yousafzai and American singer, human rights and social justice activist Harry Belafonte were
presented Amnesty International‘s Ambassador of Conscience Award for 2013 in Dublin, Ireland
September 17, 2013. The Award recognises individuals who have promoted and enhanced the cause
of human rights through their life and by example. India-born Salil Shetty is the Secretary General of
Amnesty International.
Indian chief priest of Pashupatinath Temple resigns: The Indian chief
priest of Nepal‘s fifth-century Pashupatinath Temple in Kathmandu submitted his
resignation on September 21, 2013 after 21 years of service for personal reasons.
Mahabaleshwor Bhatta, who hails from Tamil Nadu, had earlier resigned from
the post during the Maoist-led government in 2008, following controversy after
then Prime Minister Prachanda‘s move to replace him and the other Indian
priests with Nepali nationals. However, the decision was withdrawn and Bhatta
was reinstated. It is a centuries-old practice to appoint Indian nationals as priests
at the Pashupatinath Temple
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Faces
Tom Clancy: Master of the modern-day thriller The author who started off as an insurance agent, was known for writing meticulous thrillers focusing on political intrigue and military tactics and technology
Born in Maryland in
1947, Tom Clancy is
an American author
best known for his
espionage, military
science and
technological
thrillers. Clancy
worked as an
insurance broker
before writing his first
novel, The Hunt for
Red October, in 1984. Ten of Clancy‘s books earned No.
1 rankings on The New York Times‘ best-seller list. More
than 50 million copies of his books have been printed, and
four have been made into movies. Clancy died on October
1, 2013, at age 66.
Early life and „The Hunt for Red October‟
The famed novelist and lifelong military technology buff
was born Thomas Leo Clancy Jr. on April 12, 1947, in
Baltimore, Maryland. He attended Loyola Blakefield, a
Catholic, all-boys‘ school in Towson, Maryland, before
enrolling at Loyola College in Baltimore, where he
studied literature.
Clancy worked as an insurance broker before writing his
first novel, The Hunt for Red October, in 1984. The book,
which told the story of a Russian submarine crew‘s
defection, made The New York Times‘ best-seller list
after President Ronald Reagan openly praised it. Sean
Connery and Alec Baldwin brought the Cold War drama
to life in the big screen in 1990. Clancy‘s crafting of
plausible military scenarios in the novel was so realistic
that, almost immediately after its release, he became a
favorite of the United States military. Some of his books
even became required reading at U.S. military academies.
Clancy dined with presidents; admirals and generals
regularly gave him access to ships, subarines and aircraft;
and Pentagon officials provided him material for
upcoming projects.
Best-seller status continues
Tom Clancy would see 10 of his books earn No. 1
rankings on The New York Times‘ best-seller list during
his lifetime. In addition to The Hunt for Red October, his
published works include Red Storm Rising (1986), Patriot
Games (1987), Cardinal of the Kremlin (1988), Clear and
Present Danger (1989), The Sum of All Fears (1991),
Without Remorse (1993), Debt of Honor (1994),
Executive Orders (1996) and Rainbow Six (1998). More
than 50 million copies of Clancy‘s books have been
printed, and four have been adapted into major films: The
Hunt for Red October, Patriot Games, Clear and Present
Danger and The Sum of All Fears, which debuted on the
big screen in 1990, 1992, 1994 and 2002, respectively.
Other endeavors
In 1996, Clancy founded Red Storm Entertainment to
create and market multimedia computer games based on
his stories. Its first game, Politika, was released in
November 1997. (Red Storm Entertainment was later
purchased by French video game publisher Ubisoft
Entertainment.)
In February 1998, Clancy announced plans to purchase
the Minnesota Vikings at a price of nearly $200 million.
The deal ultimately fell through for undisclosed reasons,
however.
In 1999, Clancy partnered with Chuck Horner, general
and commander of the Desert Storm air offensive, to
write Every Man a Tiger, a real-life account of the Persian
Gulf War from the top commander‘s vantage point.
Later years and legacy
In 2002, Clancy was ranked No. 10 on Forbes‘ ―Celebrity
100‖ list of top income earners for that year.
Clancy died on October 1, 2013, in a Baltimore,
Maryland, hospital. He was 66 years old. At the time of
his death, the author‘s net worth was reported at nearly
$300 million. According to reports, prior to his death,
Clancy was working on a new novel, Command
Authority, which is slated for a December 2013 release.
―Nothing is as real as a dream. The world can change
around you, but your dream will not. Responsibilities
need not erase it. Duties need not obscure it. Because the
dream is within you, no one can take it away.‖ – Tom
Clancy
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Current Affairs: Sports
Mumbai Indians win CLT20
Sachin Tendulkar ended his limited-overs career with a
glittering trophy in hand as Mumbai Indians defeated Rajasthan
Royals (RR) by 33 runs in the final to claim its second
Champions League T20 crown, at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground
in New Delhi on October 6, 2013. Asked to bat first, Mumbai
set an imposing target of 203 and then stopped the Rahul
Dravid-led side at 169. Harbhajan Singh, whose three-wicket
burst — Ajinkya Rahane (65), Stuart Binny (10) and Cooper (4)
— in the 17th over took the game away from RR, was Man of
the Match for his 4 wickets for 32 runs. Score: Mumbai Indians
202 for 6 (Dwayne Smith 44, Glenn Maxwell 37, Pravin Tambe
2-19) beat Rajasthan Royals 169 (Rahane 65, Sanju Samson 60,
Harbhajan 4-32) by 33 runs
With scores of 9, 63*, 48, 59 and 44, the in-form Dwayne
Smith bagged the Man-of-the-Series award. Rahane won the
Golden Bat for scoring the most runs in the tournament (288) while 41-year-old off spinner Tambe bagged the Golden
Wicket for scalping the most wickets, 12.
Semi-final I: Ajinkya Rahane hit a resolute fifty and spinner Pravin Tambe scalped three crucial wickets as Rahul
Dravid led Rajasthan Royals notched up a 14-run victory over Chennai Super Kings (CSK) in the first semi-final at the
Sawai Mansingh stadium, Jaipur on October 4. Rajasthan made 159 for eight after they were sent into bat by CSK
skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni. The hosts then rode on a sensational spell of spin bowling by Player of the Match Pravin
Tambe (3/10) to restrict the Super Kings to 145 for eight. Score: Rajasthan Royals 159 for 8 (Rahane 70, Bravo 3-26)
beat Chennai Super Kings 145 for 8 (Ashwin 46, Tambe 3-10) by 14 runs.
Semi-final II: Rohit Sharma captained Mumbai Indians won the second semi-final when they beat Denesh Ramdin led
Trinidad and Tobago by six wickets at the Feroze Shah Kotla Stadium, New Delhi on October 5. After restricting T&T to
153, Mumbai chased down the target in 19.1 overs, with Man of the Match Dwayne Smith scoring yet another half-
century. Score: Trinidad & Tobago 153 for 5 (Lewis 62, Ottley 41*) lost to Mumbai Indians 157 for 4 (Smith 59, Narine
3-17) by six wickets
N. Srinivasan re-elected BCCI president: Narayanaswamy Srinivasan, 68, was unanimously re-elected as the
president of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for 2013-14 at its 84th
annual
general meeting (AGM) held in Chennai on September 29, 2013. The other office bearers
who were elected at the AGM included Sanjay Patel (honorary secretary), Anurag Thakur
(joint secretary), Anirudh Chaudhry (honorary treasurer), S P Bansal (vice-president - north
zone): Rajeev Shukla (vice-president - central zone) Shivlal Yadav (vice-president - south
zone), Ravi Savant (vice-president - west zone) and Chitrak Mitra (vice-president - east
zone).
Srinivasan will have to wait to take charge as BCCI President: N. Srinivasan will
not assume charge as BCCI President immediately because of a Supreme Court directive that
had restrained him from taking charge if elected. This was in response to a petition by the
Cricket Association of Bihar (CAB). The CAB had asked the court not to allow Srinivasan to contest for the president‘s
post on the ground that his son-in-law, Gurunath Meiyappan, who was the team principal of Indian Premier League (IPL)
franchise Chennai Super Kings, was charge-sheeted for betting in the sixth edition of the IPL Twenty20 tournament.
Chennai Super Kings is owned by India Cements, where Srinivasan is the vice-chairman.
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India Blue beats Delhi, clinches Salve Trophy: Yuvraj Singh-led India Blue
thwarted Virat Kohli-led Delhi‘s powerful batting order to win the NKP Salve
Challenger Trophy in the final played at the Holkar Stadium, Indore on September
29, 2013. Manish Pandey, 62 runs, was the top scorer for India Blue who made 274
runs for 9 wickets in their 50 overs. In reply, Delhi‘s innings folded at 224 in 44.4
overs, falling short by 50 runs, as Gautam Gambhir, Unmukt Chand and Virender
Sehwag succumbed to the seamers in the nascent stage of the chase.. India Blues‘
Bhuvneshwar Kumar was Player of the Match for his four wickets for 39 runs in 9
overs. The 50-ver a side tournament comprised Delhi, India Red and India Blue.
Afghanistan qualifies for Cricket WC 2015: In a fantastic display of grit and
determination, strife-torn Afghanistan on October 4 qualified for its maiden ICC World Cup
after defeating Kenya by seven wickets to finish second in the World Cricket League (WCL)
Championship in Sharjah. Deciding to field first after winning the toss, Afghanistan dismissed
Kenya for 93 in 43.3 overs and then achieved the target in 20.5 overs with seven wickets to
spare. The victory meant Afghanistan became the second non-test playing nation behind WCL
champion Ireland to qualify for the 2015 ICC World Cup jointly hosted by Australia and NZ.
New no-ball rule will comes in effect: The prestigious Marylebone Cricket Club in London released the 5th edition
of the 2000 Code which features some significant changes in cricket rule including
the most high profile change in new `No-ball rule` which comes into effect from on
October 1. According to the new law, from now on if a bowler breaks the wicket
during his delivery stride, it will be called `No Ball`. Other changes to the Laws
include limiting being out `Handled ball` to just the striker as he is playing the ball or
immediately after; any other illegal handling of the ball by either batsman will be
given out as Obstructing the field. The MCC also launched a new set of animations
aimed to help young players, novices and casual fans develop a greater understanding
of the Laws of Cricket especially misunderstood aspects of the Laws including LBW and running out
the non-striker.
Ex-IPL Chairman Lalit Modi banned for life by BCCI: Once a golden boy of Indian cricket,
former IPL Chairman and Commissioner Lalit Modi has been banned for life by the Board of Control
for Cricket in India (BCCI) from all its activities on charges of serious misconduct and indiscipline. The
ban was announced at the BCCI‘s Special General Meeting (SGM) in Chennai was on September 25.
Sochi Olympics‟ flame lit at Ancient Olympia: The flame for the Sochi 2014 Winter
Olympics was lit on September 29, 2013 at Ancient Olympia in Greece, the birthplace of the
Games in a special ceremony. The event concluded with the start of the torch relay, which is
scheduled to reach Sochi, the Russian city, February 7, 2014 for the opening ceremony of the XXII
Winter Olympic Games. The games will last till Feb 23. Under clear skies using the sun‘s rays and
a parabolic mirror Greek actress Ino Menegaki performing the role of an ancient High Priestess lit
the flame among the ruins of the 2,500-year-old Temple of ancient Greek mythology goddess Hera.
Sandeep Yadav bags India‟s first medal in Greco-Roman wrestling: Indian wrestler
Sandeep Tulsi Yadav scripted history by winning the first ever medal in the Greco Roman category
in 66 kg division as he beat Serbian Makismovic Aleksandar 4-0 to bag the bronze medal on the
concluding day of the World Championships in Budapest on September 22. Indian had earlier won
silver (Amit Kumar Dahiya in the 55kg) and bronze (Bajrang in 60kg) in freestyle category. It was
India‘s best show at a World Championship with a tally of three medals, one silver and two bronze
medals
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Saina wins Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year award: Olympic bronze medallist
Saina Nehwal was declared Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year while her mentor and India
coach Pulella Gopichand was given the Coach of the Year award for nurturing new crop of talented
young shuttlers. The event was organised by the sports magazine in Gurgaon on October 1 to honour
good performances of the year 2012. The 14 categories in which the awards were presented include
Young Player of the Year award, won by U-19 world cup winning captain Unmukt Chand, while
Athlete of the Year was presented to young India cricketer Virat Kohli. Rahul Dravid and VVS
Laxman were given the Lifetime Achievement Award for their contribution to the sport.
Sushil Kumar is „Gamechanger of the Year‟ at Sports Illustrated awards:
Wrestler Sushil Kumar, who won became the first Indian to win back-to-back individual
Olympic medals, was adjudged the ‗Gamechanger of the Year‘ at the Sports Illustrated
awards in Gurgaon on October 1 for bagging a silver medal at London Games. Team of the
Year award was given to India U-19 Cricket Team for winning country‘s third ICC Under-19
World Cup in Australia. Paralympic high jumper H N Girisha‘s silver medal winning effort
at Paralympic last year was awarded ‗Sporting moment of the Year‘. This is the fourth year of the India awards given by
international magazine Sports Illustrated.
China‟s Shiwen wins Women‟s Table Tennis World Cup: Chinese paddler Liu Shiwen
clinched her third women‘s table tennis World Cup after beating teammate Wu Yang in four sets
11-3, 11-7, 11-7, 11-2 at Kobe, Japan on September 23. Meanwhile, Singapore‘s Feng Tianwei
secured the third place after overcoming Hong Kong veteran Jiang Huajun in 11-6, 13-11, 12-10,
11-2.
Hou Yifan regains Women‟s World Chess title: Hou Yifan of China regained the women‘s world
chess championship, winning game 7 in the title-match win against Anna Ushenina of Ukraine in Taizhou,
China on September 20.Yifan, ranked No. 2 in the world, had also won games 1, 3 and 6 — the other
games were all drawn — to complete a 5.5-1.5 triumph, taking just seven out of the scheduled 10 games to
reclaim the crown.
Anand Amritraj appointed Davis Cup non-playing captain: Former Davis Cup player Anand Amritraj was on
September 21 appointed as the non-playing captain of the Davis Cup team by the All India Tennis
Association (AITA). Anand Amritraj and his brothers, Vijay Amritraj and Ashok Amritraj, were
among the first Indians to play in top-flight international tour tennis. In 1976, the Anand and Vijay
were semifinalists in the Wimbledon men‘s doubles. Anand was part of the Indian team for 1974
Davis Cup, which advanced to the finals of the tournament and then forfeited the championship to
South Africa as the Government of India decided to boycott the match in protest against South
Africa‘s apartheid policies and again reached the final in 1987 losing to Sweden.
Vettel coasts to Italian Grand Prix win: World champion Sebastian Vettel dominated in Monza
on September 8 to win the Italian Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver finished ahead of Ferrari‘s Fernando
Alonso.
Boxing legend Ken Norton passes away: Former boxing champion Ken Norton,
considered one of the greatest heavyweights of his era, died in Los Angeles on September 18 at
the age of 70. The fighter was best known for beating Muhammad Ali in 1973. Norton ended
his brilliant career with a record of 42 wins, seven losses, one draw and 33 knockouts. Norton
started boxing during his four year-stint in the United States Marine Corps, which he joined in
1963. In March 1973, Norton shocked the boxing world by winning a split decision over Ali at
the San Diego Sports Arena. He would go on to fight Ali twice more, losing both times.
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Business Biography
V. Prem Watsa: Bidding for BlackBerry While Watsa is known as a risk averse and highly skilled investor, a strong work ethic and a migrant background have also helped his meteoric rise.
India-born Canadian investor V. Prem Watsa is known to
keep a low profile but the
founder-Chairman & CEO of
Fairfax Financial Holdings
could not avert media
limelight when he launched a
public bid worth $4.7 billion,
through a Fairfax-led
consortium, to revive the
faltering Canadian smartphone
giant, BlackBerry.
Fairfax already owns about 10 per cent of BlackBerry and
its $4.7 billion offer (at $9 a share) is a testament to
Black-Berry‘s strong decline over the last few years. In
2008, when BlackBerry embodied the word smartphone,
the company enjoyed a stock market value of $83 billion.
Career
BlackBerry‘s downfall is in sharp contrast to Watsa‘s
own rags-to-riches fairytale. Born in 1950 in Hyderabad,
Watsa was orphaned as a child. Little else is known about
his formative years. Post schooling, Watsa got into and
graduated in chemical engineering from the Indian
Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras. Soon after, he
moved to Canada to pursue an MBA and attended the
University of Western Ontario.
Over the last 28 years, Watsa has made a name for
himself. He follows an investing strategy that focuses on
buying companies whose shares are undervalued by the
market but whose potential for growth and profits is
intact.
Along the way, Watsa also has some notable predictions
to his credit. Soon after founding Fairfax in 1985, he
predicted the US stock market crash of 1987, the Japanese
crash in the early 1990s and most recently, the US sub-
prime crisis.
Although Watsa has not been vocal about his India
connection, he has taken an active interest in the Indian
market as well as donated substantially to the IIT-Madras
alumni fund. In 2012, Fairfax bought 77 per cent of
Thomas Cook UK‘s Indian operations. Fairfax also has a
joint venture with ICICI Bank; today ICICI Lombard is
India‘s leading private non-life insurer.
What‟s the motive behind BlackBerry bid?
What Watsa sees in BlackBerry is not exactly clear. Some
allege that Watsa doesn‘t really intend to buy the
company, and announced the bid so close to BlackBerry‘s
dismal forecasts to stem the company‘s shares from
bleeding more than they already have. Over the past few
years, Fairfax has gradually increased its stake in
BlackBerry from 2% to 10%. Watsa has acknowledged
that the company paid an average of $17 for its
BlackBerry shares (now valued below $10). This gives
him an obvious interest in stalling the slide in
BlackBerry‘s shares. The company too, sensing the
opportunity to halt losses and the potential to start an
auction, quickly signed a letter of intent.
Watsa hit back at such allegations, insisting that, ―We
wouldn‘t put our name to such a high profile deal if we
didn‘t feel confident that at the end of the day our
diligence would be fine and we‘d be able to finance it...
Short term these things fluctuate... We never pay too
much attention to the marketplace.‖
Will Watsa succeed?
Still, Watsa needs to gather people to fund his bid, and so
far, not many have been forthcoming. Amidst all this
speculation, it is also unclear how the buyout would be
financed. Banks are reluctant to finance the deal,
considering BlackBerry‘s future prospects in a market
dominated by the likes of Samsung & Apple. But Watsa
will no doubt have much support from the Canadian
government that would rather see its once-prized gem
stay within the country, instead of being controlled by any
of the Chinese companies that may bid, especially given
the government‘s concerns for national security.
It will be interesting to see how the BlackBerry bid plays
out for Watsa. If his personal mantra ―work as hard as
you can, as though everything depended on you‖ is
anything to go by, then Fairfax is sure to have a winner on
its hands. But BlackBerry‘s revival is going to be slow
and possibly painful with many hurdles.‖
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Current Affairs: Economy
Regulatory reforms panel report
A committee, constituted by the Ministry of Corporate
Affairs, has
recommended a
transparent
mechanism for
appointing heads
of regulatory
authorities. ―The
appointment of
persons to head
regulatory organisations should be attempted in a far
more transparent manner,‖ said the committee headed by
former SEBI chairman M Damodaran on September 17.
The committee was set up for suggesting ways on
reforming regulatory environment for doing business in
India. It was set up in response to a World Bank that
report ranked India 132nd
in 2012 on the ease of doing
business, well below the other BRICS and most of the
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
countries.
The Damodaran-led committee consisted of ITC group
chairman Y.C. Deveshwar, ICICI Bank non-executive
chairman K.V. Kamath, Aditya Birla group chairman
Kumar Mangalam Birla and Mahindra group chairman
Anand Mahindra.
The committee has suggested a raft of measures including
simpler drafting of rules to avoid leaving room for
interpretations and greater autonomy to regulators.
Removing redundant regulations: ―Every
organisation engaged in writing regulations, or supporting
legislation, should have a Regulatory Review Authority
(RRA) to continuously examine the stock of existing
regulations and to weed out those that do not have any
continuing use,‖ the committee said. This was necessary
to have a better sense and understanding of the relevant
context. To facilitate resolution of bilateral commercial
matters, the committee has recommended that the
proposed RRA should institutionalise setting up of a
consent mechanism, where cases having no systemic
impact are dealt with in a summary manner. ―This would
help in dealing with large volume of systemically
unimportant matters,‖ the committee said.
Accountability to parliament: To make top
appointments transparent, the Damodaran Committee has
recommended that heads of regulatory bodies and their
board-level members be made accountable to Parliament.
This is the first time a committee has talked about making
regulatory bodies accountable to Parliament.
Manpower issues: The report says India‘s new
regulatory bodies, which, however, are inadequately
empowered and insufficiently manned. ―The committee is
of the strong view that, before setting up a new regulatory
organisation, adequate thought should go into the need
for such an organisation and the ability to man it
appropriately and vest it with functional autonomy.‖
Selection of heads: Referring to the contentious issue
of appointment, the committee says heads of regulatory
bodies should be appointed in a more transparent manner
than is the case now. The practice of inviting applications
from interested candidates and subjecting them to
interviews by a panel of persons familiar with the
organisation is the surest way to cause loss of public
confidence not only in the process but also in the
organisation. ―The entire process should be transparent
and should replicate the process followed in some
developed countries where the suitability of a candidate is
the subject of informed public discussions before
appointment. To appoint an applicant or a supplicant to
head a regulatory organisation is to ensure the sub-
optimal performance of the organisation and its resultant
loss of credibility.‖
Nuclear plants: No to US demands
The Indian government has ruled out any relaxation in
liability norms for US nuclear industry and stated that
nuclear power projects in the country would be subject to
Indian laws only.
A delegation of India‘s Department of Atomic Energy
(DAE) led by the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
chief R K Sinha was in Vienna to attend the International
Atomic Energy Agency‘s 57th
general conference from
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September 16 to 19. Sinha made a strong pitch for
nuclear energy considering limitations of fossil fuel. The
DAE however, in no uncertain terms told the US industry
delegation that the companies will have to meet the
Indian regulatory requirements.
Many global nuclear reactor supplier companies
including US and Indian companies have raised serious
objections
against
India‘s civil
nuclear
liability law
that has
provision for
huge
penalties on reactor supplier in case of accidents. US
companies have argued that maintenance of security and
safety is the responsibility of the reactor operator and not
the supplier.
More importantly, DAE touched upon the growing
protest against the nuclear energy in India and called
upon the US industry members that they will have to
address ideological opposition in this regard and also
safety related concerns and public awareness.
India‘s Nuclear Power Corporation Ltd has already
entered into a memorandum of understanding (MoU)
with Westinghouse to set up six reactors of 1,154 MW
each for proposed nuclear power project at Mithi Virdi in
Gujarat.
Besides, NPC has also inked MoU with GE-Hitachi for
the supply of six reactors of 1,350 MW each for the
proposed nuclear power project at Kovada in Andhra
Pradesh.
Also National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon on
September 20 dismissed reports of attempts to dilute the
liability clause in contracts proposed with US firms.
Menon‘s views assume significance in the context of a
huge controversy over media reports that the government
was trying to dilute the nuclear liability clause in deals
with American nuclear firms for buying reactors during
PM Manmohan Singh‘s forthcoming visit to Washington.
Terming the civil nuclear agreement of 2008 as the
symbol of transformed relationship between India and the
US, Menon said the two sides have resolved all
government-to-government permissions and
understandings required for enabling commercial
negotiations
Rural development report „12-13
Though overall poverty in India is reducing, it is
increasingly
becoming
concentrated
within certain
regions and
among some
social groups,
according to the
―India Rural
Development
Report 2012-13‖
released on September 26. The report was prepared by
IDFC Foundation in collaboration with the Centre for
Economic and Social Studies, IRMA, Anand and the
Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research,
Mumbai.
As many as 65% of the rural poor lived in seven states –
Jharkhand, Bihar, Assam, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Madhya
Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh – in 2011-12. These states,
along with Rajasthan, also fare worst on education levels,
child and maternal health and penetration of healthcare
services in rural areas. The report also reveals that only
18% of rural households have access to all three basic
services -- drinking water within the premises, sanitation
and electricity -- while 20% have none of these.
The report highlighted the need to develop new strategies
for farm livelihoods. It said income from farm livelihoods
is no longer sufficient for a household, especially for
smaller and marginal farmers who make up 85 percent of
farm holdings. There was a need to encourage new crop
models for them, and revive traditional crops like millets
that suit dry lands.
The report said non-farm income is becoming
increasingly important, with 43 percent of rural families
relying on non-farm employment as their major source of
income. Thus, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has
become more important. It has provided an average of 40-
50 days of employment per year to about 25 percent of all
rural households. The scheme holds considerably greater
potential, which can be unlocked by ensuring that good
quality assets are built, the report found.
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Economy Briefs
Jet-Etihad deal gets final government approval: The government on October 3 approved
the sale of a 24% stake in Jet Airways to Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways for a little over Rs
2,000 crore, marking the end of prolonged rounds of negotiations on the deal between
government agencies and the two airlines. This will be the biggest FDI in the country‘s aviation
sector. On October 1, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had cleared the deal in
its revised form after an assurance that Jet would not give controlling powers to the foreign
carrier. Jet and Etihad would have to take prior government permission for making any changes
in the shareholder agreement, commercial co-operation agreement, and shareholding patterns.
Jet promoter Naresh Goyal will hold 51% stake and Etihad 24% with 25% remaining with the public.
Scheme to sell mini LPG cylinders at petrol pumps launched: A scheme to
sell five-kg cooking gas cylinders in select petrol pumps owned-and-operated by IOC,
BPCL and HPCL was launched by Petroleum Minister Oil Minister Veerappa Moily
in Bangalore on October 5 and will be expanded to other cities in the country. This
facility will help migratory population such as students, IT professionals, BPO
employees and persons with odd duty timings as it would provide them the flexibility
to pick up cylinders and obtain subsequent refills at time of their choice as petrol
stations are open for longer hours.
LPG portability scheme launched: A scheme that will allow customers to change their gas
agencies was launched by Petroleum Minister Oil Minister Veerappa Moily on October 5.
Under the inter-company LPG portability scheme, a consumer can now opt for the distributor of
his choice within a cluster of LPG distributors in the vicinity. Meanwhile petrol price was cut by
Rs 3.05 per litre while diesel prices were raised by 50 paise a litre on September 30. While
petrol price cut has been made possible because of appreciation in rupee value against US dollar,
diesel rates are being hiked as per the practice of increase in rates by small
monthly doses to cover losses.
ADB lowers India‟s growth forecast for 2013-14: The Asian Development Bank (ADB)
lowered India‘s growth forecast for 2013-14 to 4.7% from 6% earlier in its Asian Development
Outlook 2013 released on October 2. Earlier the Prime Minister‘s Economic Advisory Council cut
the growth forecast for the current fiscal to 5.3% from 6.4% projected earlier. The Reserve Bank of
India has also lowered the growth projection for 2013-14 to 5.55.3% from its earlier estimate of
5.75%.
Import duty on gold, silver jewellery hiked to 15%: The government on September 17
increased the import duty on gold and silver jewellery to 15 per cent from 10 per cent. An official
statement said that an import duty differential between jewellery and the primary metal is needed
to protect millions of artisans who depend on the labour-intensive industry after the duty on gold
was increased in stages to 10 per cent on August 13. In the absence of any duty differential, there
was an apprehension that Indian jewellery makers would not be able to compete with cheaper
imports, particularly when majority of the imported jewellery is machine-made as compared to
handmade jewellery in India. Gold jewellery imported during 2012-13 stood at USD 5.04 billion.
Global Skills Summit organised: The sixth Global Skills Summit (GSS) was organised by FICCI in
New Delhi from September 4 to 6, 2013. The annual event was organised by FICCI in collaboration with
Ministry of Human Resource Development, Ministry of Labour and Employment and National Skill
Development Corporation (NSDC). New Zealand is the country partner this time for the Summit.
―Industry Leads‖ was the theme of the sixth GSS.
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Centre announces austerity measures: The Centre has banned government meetings in five-star hotels and air
travel in business class by most officials as part of a now-familiar austerity regimen that hopes to
save some money and send a larger message of pain-sharing action when the economy is not doing
well. ―In the context of the current fiscal situation, there is a need to continue to rationalise
expenditure and optimise available resources,‖ the finance ministry said on September 18. A memo
asked officers, except top officers, to travel economy class on domestic flights and restrict foreign
travel. The memo said that not more than one-third of the budget for any ministry should be spent in
the last quarter and not more than 15 per cent of the budget in March, the last month of the financial year.
CBI looking into NSEL irregularities – Finance Minister: The Forward Markets
Commission (FMC) and the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) are looking into alleged
irregularities at the commodity exchange National Spot Exchange Ltd (NSEL), Finance Minister
P Chidambaram said on September 26. NSEL, a part of the Jignesh Shah-led Financial
Technologies (FTIL) group, is grappling with a Rs 5,600 crore payment crisis after it had to
suspend trading on July 31 after a government directive. It has defaulted on six consecutive
weekly payments to its investors. NSEL was not a registered or recognised association under the
FMC. Chidambaram said investors who put in money in the exchange knew it was an unregulated
entity.
BSE, IICA to launch CSR Index: Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and the Indian Institution of Corporate Affairs
(IICA) have signed an agreement to collaborate on developing a corporate social responsibility
(CSR) index. The proposed CSR Index would assess impact and performance of companies listed
on the BSE in CSR activities. It would also look at the performance of companies in their
mandatory 2% CSR spend as per the new Companies Act as one of the important criterion. ―The
CSR Index will be driver for CSR practices for the corporates and an ideal option for investors to
put their money for responsible investment. Increasingly, more investors are considering CSR as
an important investment theme both globally as well as in domestic markets,‖ BSE Chairman R
Ramadorai said on September 23, 2013.
Unlisted companies allowed listing abroad: The government on September 26
allowed unlisted Indian companies to list on overseas markets without having to be publicly
traded on domestic exchanges. Funds raised abroad may be used for retiring foreign debt or
for overseas operations including acquisitions. However, if the funds raised are not used
abroad, they will have to be remitted to India within 15 days and parked in banks. At
present, Indian companies are not allowed to directly list in overseas markets without prior
or simultaneous listing in Indian markets.
GAAR to come into effect from April 1, 2016: The controversial GAAR provision, which seeks to check tax
avoidance by investors routing their funds through tax havens, will come into effect from
April 1, 2016, a government notification said on September 23. The provision of General Anti
Avoidance Rules (GAAR) will apply to entities availing tax benefit of at least Rs 3 crore. It
will apply to foreign institutional investors (FIIs) that have claimed benefits under any Double
Tax Avoidance Agreement (DTAA).
Investments exempted from GAAR: Investments made by a non-resident by way of
offshore derivative instruments or P-Notes through FIIs, will not be covered by the GAAR
provisions. Investments made before August 30, 2010, will not be scrutinised under GAAR, it
said, adding the provisions will apply to assessees that obtain tax benefits on or after April 1,
2015. The GAAR provisions were introduced in the 2012-13 Budget by then Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee to check tax avoidance and were to have come into effect from April 1,
2014. The proposal generated controversy, with investors getting apprehensive about
harassment by tax authorities.
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RBI directs banks to bear card fraud cost in absence of security features:
The RBI on September 27 said that banks will have to bear the cost of fraudulent card
transaction through point of sales that do not have prescribed security features. ―It has
been decided not to grant any further extension of time. Accordingly, banks not
complying with the requirements shall compensate loss, if any, incurred by the card
holder using card at POS (points of sale) terminals not adhering to the mandated
standards,‖ RBI said in a notification.
RBI bans 0% interest scheme for buying goods: The RBI on September
25 banned zero per cent interest rate scheme for purchase of consumer goods
through credit cards. The central bank has also said that no additional charges
can be levied on payment through debit cards. In the zero per cent EMI
(equated monthly installment) schemes offered on credit card outstandings, the
interest element is often camouflaged and passed on to customer in the form of
processing fee.
RBI tightens norms for lending against jewellery: The Reserve Bank of India has tightened
the screws on gold loan non-banking finance companies to protect borrowers against unfair practices
and check the unbridled growth of such NBFCs. The central bank has mandated that the gold the
NBFCs receive as collateral should be valued transparently and that this valuation should be based
on the average closing price of 22 carat gold in the preceding 30 days, as quoted by the Bombay
Bullion Association (BBA).
Coal mines to be auctioned by bidding: auction policy for private firms: Private companies will soon be able to bid
for coal mining licences for the first time ever through competitive bidding, the government announced on September 24.
The switch to auctions is aimed at bringing more transparency to a sector that has been mired in a corruption scandal over
mining rights potentially worth billions of dollars that hit Prime Minister Manmohan Singh‘s government last year. Coal
mining licences used to be allocated on recommendations of a panel of top bureaucrats across ministries until 2009.
Production in the country is much lower than requirement and user
industries like power have to resort to costlier imported coal.
Coal licenses for cement & steel companies: Competitive bidding
of explored coal blocks will be held for cement and steel companies as
these are deregulated sectors. The winning bidders will get up to two
years for exploration and five years for development of coal blocks. The
new policy also provides for relinquishment of the mining licence without
penalties, if the bidder has met targets.
Coal licenses for power companies: In power sector coal mining
licensees will be selected as per ―tariff-based bidding‖. The company
offering to sell electricity for the lowest tariff will get the mining license. The country relies on coal to fuel more than
half of its power generation, and its failure to mine coal quickly enough to meet fast-growing demand has exacerbated
chronic power shortages. Government-owned Coal India Ltd accounts for around 80
percent of the country‘s output but has missed production targets for years.
OVL blocks equity sale to Chinese firm: ONGC Videsh Ltd (OVL) has used its pre-
emptive right to block a Chinese company from acquiring a stake in the Brazilian
oilfields. The Brazilian state-owned Petrobras had planned to sell its 35 per cent state in
block BC 10 in the Campos Basin to the Chinese Sinochem group for $1.54 billion. OVL,
which has a 15 per cent stake in BC 10, along with Royal Dutch Shell, which owns 50 per
cent, invoked for the first time the first right of refusal or pre-emption option to buy out
Petrobras‘ share.
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India ranks 78th
on human capital index – WEF: India has been placed at a low 78th slot on a global Human
Capital Index, which ranks countries on the basis of economic potential of their labour force,
while Switzerland has topped the ranking. The list of 122 countries was released by Geneva-based
World Economic Forum (WEF) on October 1, 2013. While India has scored well on parameters
like workforce and employment, it has fared poorly for health and wellness of its labour force,
WEF said. Low scores on sanitation and hygiene, as also second-to-bottom rank on the health
gender gap indicator are some of the variables driving down the overall ranking for the country.
Among the top-ten, Switzerland is at the top while Yemen has been placed last at 122nd position.
About Human Capital Index: WEF said that its Human Capital Index is a new tool designed to
measure how countries manage human capital endowments and the countries have been ranked on the
basis of the long-term economic potential of their respective labour forces. The list measures
countries on their ability to develop and deploy healthy, educated and able workers through four
distinct pillars -- education, health and wellness, workforce and employment, and enabling
environment. According to the report, a nation‘s human capital endowment - productive skills and
capacities - can be a more important determinant of long-term economic success than virtually any other resource. ―The
key for the future of any country and any institution lies in the skills and talent of its people,‖ WEF Founder and
Executive Chairman, Klaus Schwab, said.
Rs 12,350 crore for National Food Security Mission in 12th Plan: To meet the
growing food demand, government on September 20 approved an allocation of Rs 12,350
crore for boosting foodgrains production by 25 million tonnes under the National Food
Security Mission (NFSM) during the 12th Five Year Plan. The NFSM was launched in
2007-08 with an outlay of Rs 4,882.48 crore for the 11th Five Year Plan (2007-12) and
succeeded in meeting its objective of raising foodgrains output by 20 million tonnes (MT).
Under the NFSM, rice output would be raised by 10 MT, wheat by 8 MT, pulses by 4 MT
and coarse cereals by 3 MT during the 12th Plan.
India gets „authorizing nation‟ status for IT products: India has been granted status as
‗authorizing nation‘ under the international Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement
(CCRA) to test and certify electronics and IT products with respect to cyber security. The
status of ‗authorizing nation‘ will enable India to test IT and electronics products and issue
certificates, which will be acceptable internationally. The recognition would also enable
investment in setting up infrastructure and labs in public and private sectors in India for testing
Electronics and IT products. So far India was having the status of ‗consuming nation‘ with respect to certification of
electronics and IT products.
Over 100 small airports to come up – PM: More than 100 small airports will be
developed across the country, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said on September 21 while
laying the foundation stone of the Kishangarh airport in Rajasthan. ―The world-famous shrine
of Sufi saint Khwaja Moinuddin Chisty and the temple town of Pushkar are major attractions
for people from across the world. Besides tourism, the airport will also help in development of
industries in the area,‖ Manmohan Singh said.
Crisis drives India to turn to Iran for oil: As its current account deficit widens and
the value of the rupee dwindles, India plans to increase crude oil imports from Iran so as to
save $8.5 billion in foreign exchange. New Delhi, which spent $144.29 billion for oil
imports last fiscal, pays Tehran in rupee, unlike other countries which require payment in
dollars. A proposal to this effect was sent by Petroleum Ministry to the Prime Minister in
September 2013. Yielding to sanctions imposed on Tehran by the U.S. and the European
Union so as to force it to roll back its nuclear programme, India slashed crude imports from Iran by 26.5 per cent during
2012-13, buying just 13.1 million tonnes, against 18.1 million tonnes in 2011-12.
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Cyber buzz
Google unveils „Hummingbird‟
Google has updated its core algorithm
that controls the answers we get to
queries on its search engine in a bid to
make them work better for longer,
more complex questions.
The update, code-named Hummingbird, is the biggest
change to the underpinnings of the world‘s leading search
engine since early 2010, when Google upgraded its
algorithm to one it called Caffeine. The announcement
was made on the occasion of its 15th
anniversary of
Google‘s founding on September 27.
Most people won‘t notice an overt difference to search
results. But with more people making more complex
queries, especially as they can increasingly speak their
searches into their smartphones, there‘s a need for new
mathematical formulas to handle them.
This update to the algorithm focuses more on ranking
sites for better relevance by tapping further into the
company‘s Knowledge Graph, its encyclopedia of 570
million concepts and relationships among them. (For
example, there‘s a Knowledge Graph ―card,‖ or
information box, for the Eiffel Tower, and Knowledge
Graph knows it‘s a tower, that it has a height, that it‘s in
Paris, etc., so Google can anticipate you might want to
know some of those facts.) Caffeine was more focused on
better indexing and crawling of sites to speed results.
Facebook‟s „editing‟ worries
A new feature allowing Facebook users to edit their status
updates may result in ―stitch-ups‖, experts
have warned. Previously, an update would
have to be deleted and reposted with any
changes, losing any comments or ―likes‖. But
the new capability, introduced to help users
correct spelling and grammatical errors, means
posts can be modified, and their content
changed. Facebook users who liked or interacted with the
original post are not notified of any changes made. The
social networking website explains that the update was
intended to help people address typos or auto-correct
errors. The editing facility comes after Facebook revealed
more than half its users accessed the site on mobile
phones, which are more prone to typing errors. Facebook
has not given any comment on the potential
vulnerabilities of the new feature. The freedom to edit
posts after they have been published raises some real
concerns. A like or a comment made on a previously
static piece of content is now open to misinterpretation - a
fact that many less informed users are unaware of.
Twitter launches emergency alerts
Twitter launched a system for emergency alerts which
can help spread critical information when other lines of
communication are
down. The popular
messaging service
on September 25
said its Twitter Alerts could be useful in natural disasters
or other emergencies when traditional channels may be
overloaded or unavailable. ―We know from our users how
important it is to be able to receive reliable information
during these times,‖ Twitter said in a blog post. ―Twitter
Alerts is a new way to get accurate and important
information when you need it most.‖ Twitter Alerts will
help users get important and accurate information from
credible organisations during emergencies, natural
disasters or moments when other communications
services aren‘t accessible. Users who sign up to receive
an account‘s Twitter Alerts will receive a notification
directly to their phone for tweets marked as alerts from
certain senders.
E-mail policy for govt. employees
The government on September 26 told the Delhi High
Court that a comprehensive e-mail policy will be formed
for official communication for government officers so
that the data is not transferred to a
server outside India. The Centre‘s
lawyer was answering to a court‘s
query about the government‘s stand in
response to a petition. The petitioner
alleged that government officials were
using social networking sites and e-
mail accounts such as gmail, hotmail and yahoo, whose
servers are outside the country, for official
communications instead of using the government server-
national informatics centre (nicnet.in). The petition said
that use of e-mail IDs whose servers are outside the
country and transfer of the country‘s official data is
violative of the Public Records Act. The petition also
sought a direction to ensure safety of the data of 50
million Indian users which was transferred ―to the US and
is being used for commercial gains in violation of the
right to privacy.‖
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Science & Technology
„Touchscreen‟ reality from Disney
Disney researchers have found a way for people to ―feel‖
the texture
of objects
seen on a
flat
touchscree
n. The
technique
involves
sending
tiny
vibrations
through the display that let people ―feel‖ the shallow
bumps, ridges and edges of an object.
The vibrations fooled fingers into believing they were
touching a textured surface, said the Disney researchers
who added that the vibration-generating algorithm should
be easy to add to existing touchscreen systems.
Developed at Disney‘s research lab in Pittsburgh, USA
the vibrational technique re-creates what happens when a
finger tip passes over a real bump.
―Our brain perceives the 3D bump on a surface mostly
from information that it receives via skin stretching,‖ said
the research group.
To fool the brain into thinking it is touching a real
feature, the vibrations imparted via the screen artificially
stretch the skin on a fingertip so a bump is felt even
though the touchscreen surface is smooth.
The researchers have developed an underlying algorithm
that can be used to generate textures found on a wide
variety of objects.
A video depicting the system in action shows people
feeling apples, jellyfish, pineapples, a fossilised trilobite
as well as the hills and valleys on a map.
The more pronounced the feature, the greater the
vibration is needed to mimic its feel.
The Disney team believes that the vibration system
should be more flexible than existing systems used to
give tactile feedback on touchscreens, which typically
used a library of canned effects.
Shape-shifting metals discovered
A new shape-changing metal crystal is reported in the
journal Nature, by
scientists at
University of
Minnesota. It is the
prototype of a new
family of smart
materials that could
be used in
applications ranging from space vehicles to electronics to
jet engines.
Called a ―martensite‖, the crystal has two different
arrangements of atoms, switching seamlessly between
them. It can change shape tens of thousands of times
when heated and cooled without degrading, unlike
existing technology.
Currently, martensite metals are made of an alloyed
mixture of nickel and titanium. They have the remarkable
ability to ―remember‖ their shape and even after being
bent will return to their original form. For this, they are
called ―shape memory‖ metals.
They have been used in spectacle frames and brassiere
wires, but also in surgery as frameworks for shaping
healing bones, and as ―stents‖ for holding heart arteries
open.
Martensite metals change shape when heated or cooled
through a certain temperature, when the atoms that make
up their structure rearrange themselves in a sudden
transformation. The transformation means that martensite
can be used in smart mechanisms that respond to
temperature change.
Examples include automatic windows-openers in
glasshouses, a means for automatically guiding solar
panels to point at the Sun on the Hubble Space Telescope,
and, very recently, a proposed use in the Boeing 787
Dreamliner to morph the trailing edge of the engine
cowling, making it quieter when it runs hot on take-off.‖
The pitfall of current martensites is that after repeated
shape changes, they build up stresses inside that degrade
them and eventually break them apart. The new alloy,
made of a mixture of zinc, gold and copper, changes back
and forth almost indefinitely with little internal damage,
opening up a new range of applications for these types of
―active materials‖.
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Recent Books
„Gandhi Before India‟, „Feeding India‟ & „Solo‟
„Gandhi Before India‟
This book by historian and author Ramachandra Guha on
the early formative years of
Mahatma Gandhi, was released
on October 1. The book throws
light on lesser known facts
about the man who went on to
become the Father of the
Nation. In 1893, when
Mohandas Gandhi set sail for
South Africa, he was a 23-year-
old briefless lawyer who had
failed to establish himself in
India. The two decades that he
spent in South Africa were to be the making of the
Mahatma. In this biography, Guha argues that Gandhi‘s
ideas were fundamentally shaped before his return to
India in 1915. ―It was during his years in England and
South Africa that he came to understand the nature of
imperialism and racism; and it was in South Africa that
he forged the philosophy and techniques that would
undermine and ultimately destroy the British Empire,‖
Guha says.
Based on a new material, and archival research in four
continents, the book presents a vivid portrait of Gandhi
and the world he lived in, a world of sharp contrasts
between the coastal culture of Gujarat, High Victorian
London, and colonial South Africa. It explores in rich
detail his experiments with dissident cults such as
Tolstoyans and vegetarians; his friendships with radical
Jews, heterodox Christians, and devout Muslims; his
enmities and rivalries; and his failures as a husband and
father.
The book tells the dramatic, profoundly moving story of
how the Mahatma inspired the devotion of thousands of
followers as he mobilised a cross-class and inter-religious
coalition, pledged to non-violence in their battle against a
brutally racist regime. Guha had previously looked at the
story of modern India in his 2007 book ―India after
Gandhi: The history of the world‘s largest democracy‖
„Feeding India‟
UPA‘s flagship Food Security Act is fine but a law alone
will not address related issues of nutrition, gender
security, new agricultural research and service delivery of
the welfare schemes, said authors of a book released on
September 26. ―Feeding India: Livelihoods, Entitlements
and Capabilities‖, co-authored by Bill Pritchard, Anu
Rammohan, Madhushree Sekher, S. Parasuraman, Chetan
Choithani, says that food security is one of the key global
challenges and lessons from India having a particular
significance worldwide. This is because not only does
India account for 25 percent of
world‘s malnourished people, it
provides a worrying case how rapid
economic growth may not provide
an assumed panacea to food
security. The book explains how
India‘s chronic food security
problem is a function of a distinctive
interaction of economic, political
and environmental processes.
Around 40 percent of the food requirement of the poor
comes from various social safety schemes. The authors
agreed that lack of governance rather than right policies
and funds, was a limiting factor behind the poor impact of
social welfare schemes in India. The book is an outcome
of collaborative research between TISS, the University of
Sydney and the University of Western Australia.
„Solo‟
Flanked by vintage sports cars and glamorous flight
attendants, author William Boyd on September 25
unveiled the new James Bond
novel ―Solo‖ in which he opts for a
1960s settings for 007‘s exploits.
Boyd said the novel, adorned with
a dust cover pierced through with
six ‗bullet holes‘, was the
culmination of a lifelong passion
for the original books about the
dashing British secret agent,
penned by Ian Fleming. ―Solo‖
steps away from the cinema
incarnation of Bond – currently played by the muscular
Daniel Craig – and portrays 007 as a veteran agent sent to
single-handedly stop a civil war in the fictional West
African nation of Zanzarim in 1969. The plot also takes
Bond to Washington, where he discovers a complicated
web of geopolitical intrigue, and to a host of cities around
the world. Boyd is the latest big-name author to take on a
Bond novel. The last two were penned by Sebastian
Faulks (―Devil May Care‖, in 2008) and Jeffery Deaver
(―Carte Blanche‖, in 2011).
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Group Discussion
“None of the above” option for voters is a significant electoral reform
FOR
The decision by the Supreme Court to allow voters the
option to indicate a preference for none of the candidates
featuring on a ballot paper by clicking on a ―none of the
above‖ (NOTA) button can be seen as a step forward
towards an ever more legitimate and accountable electoral
system.
In a vibrant democracy, the voter must be given an
opportunity to choose ‗none of the above‘ (NOTA)
button, which will indeed compel the political parties to
nominate a sound candidate. According to the Supreme
Court ―Such an option gives the voter the right to express
his disapproval with the kind of candidates that are being
put up by the political parties. When political parties will
realise that a large number of people are expressing their
disapproval with the candidates being put up by them,
gradually there will be a systemic change and the political
parties will be forced to accept the will of the people and
field candidates who are known for their integrity.‖
No candidate should be declared elected if ‗NOTA‘ gets
most votes and a fresh election should be organised.
The ―right to reject‖ political candidates has long been a
desired objective of elements in civil society, and was a
major secondary ambition of the anti-corruption agitation
led by Anna Hazare and Arvind Kejriwal.
The ‗NOTA‘ verdict also addresses an inconsistency in
the previous set-up. For a voter, the secrecy of her action
is guaranteed by the Constitution. Currently, if a voter
wishes to reject all the candidates, then she is required to
ask for a form and fill it up. This is not only cumbersome
but also constrains the right to a secret ballot. In urban
areas, secrecy doesn‘t matter but in rural areas it does.
NOTA is surely a better option than the more stringent
‗right to recall‘ practiced in a few small countries such as
Switzerland where citizens can force a parliamentarian to
face recall vote if a minimum percentage of voters‘
support is obtained in a signature campaign. In India, the
right to recall could prove even more counter-productive.
Mustering the minimum support in a signature campaign
to trigger the referendum would not be difficult. But then,
the election calendar which is already fairly packed would
become a day-to-day event: A signature campaign in
some constituency or the other, on top of by-elections on
the death or resignation of candidates, would always be
going on, keeping the Election Commission more than
busy.
AGAINST
The The ‗NOTA‘ judgment is not going to result in any
substantial electoral reform. Also, it will not affect the
selection of candidates by political parties. It is nothing
more than a fashionable suggestion emanating from
armchair intellectuals.
Elections are held to elect the representatives of the
people. The process of NOTA goes contrary to the
electoral process of the country. In the current climate,
where people say all the candidates are tainted, if the
suggestion of NOTA is accepted by all the voters all over
the country, then the result will be that no one will get
elected. It defeats the purpose of holding elections. It may
make democracy impossible to function and we may face
a situation of anarchy.
‗NOTA‘ does not serve any purpose but needlessly
complicates the task of Election Commission. Those not
wanting to vote for any candidate are unlikely to visiting
a polling booth, stand in a queue and then vote NOTA.
They would rather stay at home. Also, even in the current
system, a form can be filled with the returning officer if a
voter wants to put on record that he wishes to vote for no
one. Why then ‗NOTA‘?
The Court believes that the right to vote is meaningless
unless voters are allowed to say they aren‘t enamoured of
any of the candidates in the fray. As a result, their
selection of candidates will reflect more seriousness. This
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is because voters who do not bestir themselves to vote
would now exercise their franchise, albeit negative.
Impressive though this logic may be, it is not as if we are
going to see a sudden surge of voters coming out in
droves and thronging the voting booths, enamoured by the
new power in their hands. The current voter apathy is not
necessarily out of disillusionment with candidates; it is
also born of laziness. Compulsory voting could be a better
way of improving voter participation in the polling
process.
At present, under the Representation of the People Act,
the returning officer is duty-bound to declare the
candidate who secures the maximum
number of votes as the winner. ‗NOTA‘
is not a candidate. Under the present law
there can be no re-poll. This issue would
have to go back to Parliament.
There are other difficulties that might
also arise. For instance, in Naxalite-
dominated areas people could be forced
to exercise the NOTA option. They
could be coerced into pressing the
NOTA button by those who are
ideologically opposed to democracy.
This is an issue that needs to be carefully debated and
discussed.
There are other complex issues generated by ‗NOTA‘.
How many times will elections be held if NOTA is
always more than the dominant candidate? How long will
the Election Commission keep the model code of conduct
(MCC) in operation? If a candidate is defeated by NOTA,
can he or she contest again?
Studies have shown that voters are paid money before the
election, the sale of liquor increases, etc. Then, in spite of
the election laws, voters are ferried to the polling booth
by political parties. Most often, voters end up voting for
caste or community vote banks. Under such
circumstances, it is naive to believe that voting is based
on ideology, principles or merit of the candidate. ‗NOTA‘
is unlikely to make any difference to the current state of
elections in this country.
A recent study of poll
results of Parliament and
state Assemblies found
that on an average, 70
per cent of all those
elected had more votes
cast against them, than
for them. NOTA will
further worsen voter
cynicism about elections.
‗NOTA‘ is another
instance of the judiciary trespassing into the domain of
the executive. Parliament makes laws and courts to
examine them for their constitutional validity. Both have
to remain within their jurisdictional limit, otherwise, a
conflict arises. If the court starts taking over legislative
work then, it is overreaching its powers.
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Mind Games: Crossword (Answers on page No: 39)
ACROSS
1. Capital of Rajasthan (6)
4. Akbar‘s grandfather (5)
7 & 47 across: He bagged a 2.4
million dollar contract with the
Kolkata Knight Riders (6.7)
13. Swindle or double-cross
(3,4)
14. Place where there‘s a
spring (3)
15. Withdraw, fall back or
rescind (7)
16. Liver secretion or ill-
temper? (4)
17. Assoc in App Science (3)
18. One of top 16 at
Wimbledon, e.g. (4)
21. Avoid humiliation, preserve
esteem? (4,4)
23. Thick slice of bread (8)
27. Where a trapped person
finds himself? (2, 1, 6)
29. Carnivorous arthropod with
segmented body (9)
31. The passing of a bill into
law (9)
32. The____: on the eve of
should we say? (3, 6)
33. Sad, pitiful or lamentable
(8)
37. An area for graves or tombs
(8)
42. How Mrs Hubbard found
the cupboard (4)
ACROSS
43. Also know as in short? (1, 1, 1)
44. A mark left after an injury has healed? (4)
47. See 7
48. Air Pollution Index (3)
ACROSS
49. Undistinguished descendants of the great (7)
50. Ex-India all-rounder Salim _ (6)
51. Adorn with precious stones (5)
52. Feeling concern or interest about (6)
DOWN
1. Delayed bodily effects due to long journey by plane? (3.3)
2. Sacred painting, mosaic, etc. in an orthodox church (4)
3. Put to use or make use of (7)
5. Alleviate, diminish or ease (7)
6. Collected or piled up (7)
8. Simple and natural? (7)
9. Abound or surround in great numbers (4)
10. More friendly, informally speaking? (6)
11. An excessive accumulation of serous fluid (6)
12. Played quickly (music) (6)
19. Palindromic Indian language (9)
20. Person or thing one particularly dislikes? (4,5)
22. Madras city as it is now called (7)
24. Barred as born a year or two too soon? (7)
DOWN
25. Dried, evaporated or ventilated? (5)
26. Yellow fever bug (5)
28. Frequently (3)
30. In-flight entertainment (3)
34. Pagan (7)
35. Not belonging to us? (6)
36. Travesty (7)
37. A highly poisonous substance (7)
38. Great numbers – or religious ceremonies? (6)
39. Russian empress (7)
40. Implored or beseeched (6)
41. Oh my _feet: my legs are paining a lot? (6)
45. Mid-East VIP (4)
46. Lines or curves satisfying a given geometric condition (4)
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Do you remember?
(Answers on page No: 39)
1. What will be the equity stake of Tata Sons in the
airline joint venture with Singapore Airlines
announced in September 2013 (33%/49%/51%/74%)?
2. Which airport will be the operational hub of the airline
JV between Tata Sons and Singapore Airlines
announced in September 2013
(Delhi/Mumbai/Chennai/Kolkata)?
3. Who will be the two Tata Group nominees in the
three-member board of Tata Sons-Singapore Airlines
joint venture announced in September 2013?
4. India‘s first commercial flight was from ________to
Mumbai on October 15, 1932.
5. Who was the pilot in India‘s first commercial flight on
October 15, 1932 and which was the aircraft used?
6. Which was the only Indian airline to have earned
profit in 2012-13?
7. Punjabi film ‗Qissa‘ won the NETPAC Award for
Best Asian Film at the Toronto International Film
Festival in Sept 2013. Abbreviation NETPAC expands
as:
8. Which was the Best Film award winning film at the
Ladakh International Film Festival (LIFF) in
September 2013?
9. Which Delhi-based NGO was conferred with the
National Communal Harmony Award by the President
on September 20, 2013?
10. Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskars were presented by the
Sangeet Natak Akademi (SNA) in New Delhi in
September 2013. Who is the Chairperson of SNA?
11. When was the International Literacy Day observed
recently?
12. Which awards were given by the President of India on
International Literacy Day recently?
13. Which is the highest-ranked Indian institution in the
‗QS World University Rankings‘ released in
September 2013?
14. The first ―Engineers Conclave 2013‖ was organised in
New Delhi on September 17, 2013 jointly by the
Indian National Academy Engineering (INAE) and
______.
15. Who was sacked from the University Grants
Commission (UGC) for being a member of Aam
Aadmi Party (AAP) in September 2013?
16. The Supreme Court has struck down the clause in new
Representation of the People Act that provided MPs
and MLAs immunity from immediate disqualification
upon conviction. Who is the first MP to lose his Rajya
sabha seat in September 2013 after the Court verdict?
17. Which World Heritage Site in Delhi was inaugurated
after the completion of a restoration project aided by
The Aga Khan Trust for Culture in September 2013?
18. Which 10th
century sculpture, stolen from a
Bundelkhand temple in 1980s and returned by France
in 2008, was on display at New Delhi‘s National
Museum recently?
19. What is the full range of Agni-V missile that was test-
fired successfully on September 15, 2013?
20. Who conducted ―Exercise Eklavya‖ in September
2013?
21. What is the first initiative of the Ministry of Women &
Child Welfare under the Nirbhaya Fund for protection
of vulnerable women named?
22. Who is the author of ‗Pandora‘s Daughters‘?
23. The government announced the setting up of an
independent society for ―transforming livelihoods and
lives of rural households, with an emphasis on
women‖ in tribal areas in September 2013. What is the
society named?
24. India‘s refusal to sign which international treaty has
been a stumbling block in civilian nuclear cooperation
with Japan?
25. Where was the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
(SCO) Heads of State Summit organised in September
2013?
26. When was the 19th
International Day for the
Preservation of the Ozone Layer observed recently?
27. International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone
Layer commemorates the signing of the ___Protocol
on the Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer.
28. The 11th
APPU Congress was organised in New Delhi
in September 2013. APPU stands for:
29. Achim Steiner is the head of which UN agency?
30. Who is the Supreme leader of Iran? Ayatollah Ali
31. Which industrial complex on the North-South Korea
border was opened recently?
32. World‘s highest civilian airport was opened in which
province of China in September 2013?
33. Phiblex was the military exercise organised between
the US and which Asian country in South China Sea in
September 2013?
34. Ben Bernanke is the Chairman of US _________.
35. A recording of whose speeches delivered in 1947 was
handed over by All India Radio to Pakistan in
September 2013?
36. On whose book was the 2003 movie ‗Escape From
Taliban‘ based?
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37. Who was crowned Miss World in Bali on September
28, 2013?
38. 21-year old Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola of Nigeria was
crowned Miss _______ World in Jakarta on September
19, 2013.
39. 24-year old Nina Davuluri was in news for winning
which beauty contest in Atlantic City, New Jersey on
September 15, 2013?
40. Which UNESCO award was won by India‘s Saakshar
Bharat Mission on International Literacy day recently?
41. What is the Parliament in Norway called?
42. Which are the top-three countries in terms of highest
per capita income in 2012 as per IMF assessment?
43. Who was the partner of Leander Paes in his Men‘s
Doubles title win at the US Open in September 2013?
44. Who won the Men‘s and Women‘s Singles titles at the
US Open tennis in September 2013?
45. Which two nations reached the Davis Cup final in
September 2013?
46. Who was elected as the ninth President of the
International Olympic Committee (IOC) in Buenos
Aires in September 2013?
47. The new President of the International Olympic
Committee (IOC) is a former gold medal winner in
which event at the Olympics
(Weightlifting/Shooting/Fencing/Judo)?
48. Who won the South Asian Football Federation (SAFF)
Championship in Kathmandu on September 11, 2013?
49. Which was the first movie to use Dolby System in
1971?
50. Ray Dolby worked at ____ Corporation founded by
Alexander Poniatoff before starting his own company.
51. SEBI has the authority to regulate any money pooling
scheme worth Rs ______crore or more and attach
assets in cases of non-compliance under the Ordinance
promulgated in September 2013.
52. Forward Markets Commission (FMC) has been shifted
from _______ Ministry to the Finance Ministry from
September 2013.
53. SFIO is:
54. Who is the Chairman of Economic Advisory Council
to the Prime Minister?
55. Which petroleum is building a 9 MMTPA greenfield
refinery cum petrochemical complex in Rajasthan?
56. Which institute is being jointly set up by Institute of
Company Secretaries of India, the Institute of Cost
Accountants of India, the Institute of Chartered
Accountants of India in Ajmer, Rajasthan?
57. Who are the heads of the Institute of Company
Secretaries of India, the Institute of Cost Accountants
of India and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of
India?
58. What are demand liabilities of banks?
59. What are time liabilities of banks?
60. An increase in Repo rate __________
(encourages/discourages) banks to borrow from the
RBI.
61. A reduction in Cash Reserve Ratio __________
(increases/decreases) the amount of funds available
with the banks for lending.
62. Who is the Chairperson of the Expert Committee
constituted to examine the current monetary policy
framework of the Reserve Bank of India and
recommend what needs to be done to revise and
strengthen it with a view to, inter alia, making it
transparent and predictable?
63. Who is the author of Bihar Breakthrough released in
September 2013?
Mind Games: Sudoku (Answers on page No: 39)
SUDOKU I
SUDOKU II
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39
Do you remember? Answers
1. 51%
2. Delhi
3. Prasad Menon & Mukund Rajan
4. Karachi
5. JRD Tata, Puss Moth
6. IndiGo
7. Network for the Promotion of Asian
Cinema
8. ‗Oass‘
9. The Foundation for Amity &
National Solidarity
10. Leela Samson
11. September 8, 2013
12. Saakshar Bharat awards
13. IIT Delhi
14. DRDO
15. Yogendra Yadav
16. Rasheed Masood of Congress
17. Humayun‘s Tomb
18. Vrishanana Yogini sculpture
19. 5,000 km
20. Indian Air Force (IAF)
21. Shubh
22. Kalyani Shankar
23. Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation
24. Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty
25. Bishkek
26. September 16, 2013
27. Montreal
28. Asian Pacific Postal Union
29. UN Environment Programme
30. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
31. Kaesong
32. Sichuan
33. The Philippines
34. Federal Reserve
35. Muhammad Ali Jinnah
36. Sushmita Banerjee
37. Megan Young
38. Muslimah
39. Miss America
40. King Sejong Literacy Prize
41. Storting
42. Luxembourg, Qatar & Norway
43. Radek Stepanek of Czech Republic
44. Rafael Nadal & Serena Williams
45. Czech Republic and Serbia
46. Thomas Bach of Germany
47. Fencing
48. Afghanistan
49. ‗A Clockwork Orange‘
50. Ampex
51. 100
52. Consumers Affairs
53. Serious Fraud Investigation Office
54. C. Rangarajan
55. HPCL
56. Centre of Excellence and Ethics
57. S. N. Ananthasubramanian, Suresh
Chandra Mohanty & Subodh
Agrawal
58. Savings and current account
deposits
59. All time bound deposits like fixed
deposits
60. Discourages
61. Increases
62. Urjit Patel, Deputy Governor, RBI
63. Rajesh Chakrabarti
Mind Games: Answers
CROSSWORD
SUDOKU I
SUDOKU II
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Corporate Knowledge Quiz Directions for Qs. 1 – 50: Choose the correct answer from the four options (Answers on page No: 42)
1. Which of the following was chosen as the ‗most
valuable brand‘ in the world in 2013 by Interbrand‘s Best
Global Brands report released in September 2013?
a) Apple b) Coca-Cola
c) Google d) IBM
2. Which Indian kitchen appliances company has signed
Aishwarya Rai, Abhishek Bachchan as its brand
ambassadors in September 2013?
a) Sunflame b) TTK Prestige
c) Inalsa Appliances d) Maharaja Appliances
3. Which aircraft manufacturer has dragged the Indian
government to international arbitration after its contract
to sell AgustaWestland helicopters was scrapped on
charges of corruption?
a) Lockheed Martin b) Finmeccanica
c) Boeing d) Dassault
4. Which country‘s citizens enjoy visa-free entry into the
largest number of countries (173) according to the
International Air Transport Association (IATA)?
a) USA b) Singapore
c) Australia d) United Kingdom
5. Which of the following was named world‘s top
university by the Times Higher Education Global
Ranking for the third year in a row in October 2013?
a) Massachusetts Institute of Technology
b) California Institute of Technology
c) Harvard University
d) Oxford University
6. BES stands for BlackBerry ________
a) Engineering Service b) Entertainment Service
c) Enterprise Service d) Ethernet Service
7. Which town in Gujarat was in news in September 2013
for getting GI (Geographical Indication) recognition for
its unique Patola fabric?
a) Bharuch b) Jamnagar
c) Patan d) Surendranagar
8. Which is the only Indian brand in the continent‘s top
ten brands by the African Business magazine in October
2013?
a) Tata b) Airtel
c) Godrej d) Mahindra
9. Electric car e2o is a product of which corporate group?
a) Tata b) Hinduja
c) CK Birla d) Mahindra
10. The World Gold Council (WGC) is headquartered in:
a) UK b) USA
c) Dubai d) Belgium
11. Who among the following Bollywood actors has
become the face of infotainment channel National
Geographic in September 2013?
a) Ajay Devgan b) Hrithik Roshan
c) Salman Khan d) John Abraham
12. Who among the following is the owner of popular
apparel brands such as Zara and Massimo Dutti?
a) Amancio Ortega b) Ingvar Kamprad
c) Carlos Slim d) Reed Hastings
13. Online payment service PayPal is owned by:
a) Visa b) eBay
c) MasterCard d) Amazon
14. Lloyd‘s List is a specialist publication on which form
of transportation business?
a) Roads b) Railways
c) Air cargo d) Shipping
15. Which continent has the highest number of
millionaires according to the world wealth report released
in Sept 2013 by Capgemini & Royal Bank of Canada?
a) Asia b) Europe
c) Australia d) North America
16. India-born Canadian entrepreneur Prem Watsa was in
news in September 2013 for a deal to buy which of the
following well-known technology brands?
a) Cisco b) Oracle
c) Motorola d) BlackBerry
17. Who owns the shaving brand Gillette?
a) Henkel b) Proctor & Gamble
c) Unilever d) Colgate Palmolive
18. Which of the following hosted the 10th Global HR
Summit organised in Gurgaon in September 2013?
a) FMS b) IIPM
c) Amity d) IBS
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19. Which of the following has named Priyanka Chopra
as the most dangerous celebrity in Indian cyberspace in
September 2013?
a) NASSCOM b) McAfee
c) Google d) Facebook
20. Who has launched Cafe Cuba beverage in Sept 2013?
a) Coca Cola b) Nestle
c) PepsiCo d) Parle Agro
21. Which Indian IT company has launched the first all-
female business process outsourcing (BPO) centre in
Saudi Arabia in September 2013?
a) TCS b) Genpact
c) Infosys d) Cognizant
22. Anthony Lake is the head of which agency of the
United Nations?
a) UNESCO b) UNICEF
c) UNCTAD d) UNWTO
23. Which Indian IT company acquired Equinox
Consulting, a financial services company in France, in
October 2013?
a) TCS b) Genpact
c) Infosys d) Cognizant
24. Which of the following launched the Khadi Mark in
New Delhi on September 30, 2013?
a) Biba b) Fabindia
c) Gurjari d) Government of India
25. Hudl tab computer has been launched by which MNC
retailing company?
a) Tesco b) Metro
c) Walmart d) Carrefour
26. Which of the following has launched a paper-based
mosquito repellent called ‗Good Knight Fast Card‘?
a) P&G b) Henkel
c) Godrej d) Reckitt Benckiser
27. Which film production company is owned by Rakesh
a) Roshan?
b) Filmkraft c) Vishesh Films
c) Eros International d) Mukta Arts
28. Who is the highest paid corporate in India in 2012-13
with a pay package of Rs 56.25 crore?
a) Savitri Jindal b) Indu Jain
c) Kiran Mazumdar Shaw d) Kavery Maran
29. Arun Bhatia is a leading investor in which of the
following airlines?
a) IndiGo b) GoAir
c) Tata-SIA d) AirAsia India
30. Libero from Swedish firm SCA Hygiene is a leading
brand of:
a) Talc b) Diapers
c) Deodorant d) Insect repellent
31. Which is the brand owned by Beiersdorf AG?
a) Vaseline b) Garnier
c) Ponds d) Nivea
32. Which corporate group has forayed into the retailing
of solar-power based home appliances under brand
‗Ekosol‘?
a) L&T b) Tata
c) Mahindra d) Godrej
33. What was Videocon Mobile Services rebranded as in
September 2013?
a) Videocom b) Videocon Talk
c) Videcon Telecom d) Videocon Cellular
34. Which of the following is the only Indian corporate
group among Asia‘s 10 best companies for leadership by
global consultancy firm Hay Group in September 2013?
a) L&T b) Tata
c) Mahindra d) Godrej
35. Which business family is the promoter of tractor
manufacturer Escorts Ltd?
a) Nanda b) Mittal
c) Firodia d) Singhania
36. Ravindra Pisharody, new Chairman of the Audit
Bureau of Circulation (ABC), is associated with which of
the following corporate groups?
a) Tata b) Wadia
c) Mahindra d) Godrej
37. Which of the following pairs of media professionals
and their companies is matched correctly?
a) Sunil Lulla – Times Global Broadcasting Company
b) Ashish Kumar Bagga – News 24 Broadcast India
c) Anurradha Prasad – Independent News Services
d) Rajat Sharma – TV Today Network
38. Which corporate group has forayed into engineering
education in collaboration with the France-based Ecole
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42
Centrale and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University,
Hyderabad in September 2013?
a) L&T b) Tata
c) Mahindra d) Godrej
39. ‗London Whale‘ is a trading scandal associated with
which leading US financial services firm?
a) JPMorgan b) Citigroup
c) Bloomberg d) Goldman Sachs
40. Arthur Levinson is the Chairman of:
a) Apple b) Google
c) Microsoft d) General Electric
41. WelcomHotel Sheraton, Fortune and
WelcomHeritage are hotels run by:
a) ITC b) Oberoi
c) Taj d) Hilton
42. Airtel has been signed as the sponsor of I-League
_____ tournament for 2013-14 in September 2013.
a) Hockey b) Football
c) Cricket d) Basketball
43. Which of the following has forayed into the male-
grooming segment with the launch of OxyLife Men
Crème Bleach in September 2013?
a) Marico b) Emami
c) Dabur d) Ozone Ayurvedics
44. Who is the richest American according to the annual
Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans list released in
September 2013?
a) Tim Cook b) Bill Gates
c) Mark Zuckerberg d) Warren Buffett
45. How many institutions from India are among the top
20 management institutes of the world, as per the
Financial Times (FT) Global Rankings survey releases in
September 2013?
a) 0 b) 1
c) 2 d) 3
46. Whose first acquisition in India in cosmetics business
is Mumbai-based Cheryl‘s Cosmeceuticals in September
2013?
a) P&G b) L‘Oreal
c) Body Shop d) Johnson & Johnson
47. Galaxy Note 3 smartphone, priced at Rs.49,900, was
launched in India in September 2013. It is based on which
operating system?
a) Windows Mobile b) Symbian
c) iOS 7 d) Android
48. Bump is a file-sharing application acquired by:
a) Microsoft b) Google
c) Facebook d) Yahoo!
49. Which of the following launched the scooter Jupiter
in September 2013?
a) TVS b) Mahindra2Wheelers
c) Hero MotoCorp d) Bajaj Auto
50. Asia Index is a joint venture launched by
_________and S&P Dow Jones in September 2013.
a) NSE b) MCX
c) BSE d) CRISIL
General Knowledge Quiz: Answer Key
1. a 2. b 3. b 4. d 5. b 6. c 7. c 8. b 9. d 10. a
11. d 12. a 13. b 14. d 15. d 16. d 17. b 18. c 19. b 20. d
21. a 22. b 23. d 24. d 25. a 26. c 27. b 28. d 29. d 30. b
31. d 32. c 33. c 34. b 35. a 36. a 37. a 38. c 39. a 40. a
41. a 42. b 43. c 44. b 45. c 46. b 47. d 48. b 49. a 50. c
Detailed Answers on next page
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General Knowledge quiz: Detailed Answers
Answer 1: Technology giant Apple has been chosen as the world‘s ‗most valuable brand‘ for 2013 by Interbrand‘s Best
Global Brands report on September 30, 2013. Last year the top position went to
soft-drink manufacturer Coca-Cola, which slipped down to the third position this
year. It was the first time in 13 years that Coca-Cola lost out to Apple as the Best
Global Brands. Apple was followed by search giant Google on number two position
while IBM featured on fourth position, which till last year secured the third
position. The report said that social media giant Facebook made to 52nd
position
from 69 last year and it is also the site‘s first year on the list, while the sinking
smartphone company BlackBerry was wiped out of the list. The top ten companies who made it to the ‗most valued
brands‘ list include: 1. Apple 2. Google 3. Coca-Cola 4. IBM 5. Microsoft 6. General Electric 7. McDonald‘s 8. Samsung
9. Intel 10.Toyota.
Answer 2: Kitchen appliances manufacturer TTK Prestige, part of the Rs 2,500 crore TTK
Group, has roped in Bollywood star couple – Aishwarya Rai Bachchan and Abhishek
Bachchan – as their brand ambassadors. Prestige is re-introducing the line ―Jo biwi se kare
pyaar, woh Prestige se kaise kare inkaar‖ in an advertising campaign with the celebrity
couple, the company said in a statement on September 30, 2013. TTK Prestige offers various
kitchen utility products ranging from pressure cookers, non-stick cookwares and gas stoves
to electrical appliances and kitchen tools. It has 487 Prestige Smart Kitchen outlets in 238 towns across the country.
Answer 3: AgustaWestland has invoked arbitration over a scandal-tainted deal to sell helicopters to the government,
according to a statement on October 4, 2013 from the unit of Italy‘s
Finmeccanica. In February 2013, India froze payments on the 560 million
euro contract to supply 12 helicopters after the deal became mired in
allegations of bribery and the then-CEO of Finmeccanica was arrested by
Italian police for allegedly paying bribes to secure the deal. Italy and India
are separately investigating allegations that AgustaWestland paid bribes to
win the 2010 deal for the helicopters to be used for transporting VVIPS in India. AgustaWestland denies the allegations.
Answer 4: British citizens enjoy the widest range of visa-free travel in the world, able to
visit 173 countries with just a passport, while Indians get visa-free or visa-on-arrival access
in 52 countries. The UK citizens are on a par with those from Finland and Sweden for visa-
free access, according to Henley & Partners Visa Restriction Index on October 4, 2013.
Nine of the top ten in the index are European Union countries, with the tenth being the US.
India is 74th on the list while Afghanistan is at the bottom of the table with only 28
countries allowing entry without visa. According to passport information from the
International Air Transport Association (IATA), 52 countries and territories provide visa-
free or visa-on-arrival access to holders of Indian passports. Twenty-eight countries and territories around the world are
accessible visa-free.
Answer 5: The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) has again been named the world‘s top university by the
Times Higher Education Global Ranking. It is the third year in a row that the British organisation
ranked Caltech first among the top 200 universities around the world on October 3, 2013. Caltech is
followed by Harvard University, Oxford University, Stanford University, and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology round out the next four top institutes in the 2013-2014 rankings. Thirteen
performance indicators, including research (worth 30 percent of a school‘s overall ranking score),
teaching (30 percent), citations (30 percent), international outlook (which includes the total numbers
of international students and faculty), the ratio of scholarly papers with international collaborators
(7.5 percent), and industry income (a measure of innovation worth 2.5 percent), make up the data of the ranking. Located
in Pasadena, southern California, Caltech is a private research university with about 2,200 students on its rolls.
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Answer 6: Struggling smartphone-maker BlackBerry on October 3, 2013 said it has received NATO approval to use its
BlackBerry Enterprise Service 10 (BES10) and BB10 smartphones for classified
communications up to a ―restricted‖ level. The approval for classified communications,
just months after debut, is testament to thoroughness of its design and BlackBerry‘s
commitment to its defence and government customers, said BlackBerry in a statement.
The certification allows agencies in all 28 North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)
member states across North America and Europe to use BlackBerry 10 smartphones in
the office or in the field. It provides assurance to security-conscious organisations,
including government agencies, companies in regulated industries and other firms dealing with sensitive information, that
data handled by BlackBerry 10 smartphones is strongly secured and encrypted.
Answer 7: ‗Patan Patola‘, a double-sided saree from Gujarat, has got recognition
from Geographical Indication (GI) Registry, said Chinnaraja G. Naidu, Assistant
Registrar of Trade Marks and Geographical Indications on September 30, 2013. The
Patan Double Ikat Patola Weavers‘ Association, Patan district, Gujarat, had filed an
application before the Registry of GI for registration of its products under the name of
‗Patan Patola.‘ Given the extreme complexity and time consuming process, very few
weavers continue the practice. Those who have continued, do so mostly out of sheer
passion for their work. For preparing a patola, skilled labour, precision, calculation
and patience are of utmost importance. At the end of the day, it is not possible to weave more than 8-9 inches of the
cloth.
Answer 8: Sunil Bharti Mittal-promoted Airtel is the only telecom company from India featuring on the list of top ten
global brands admired most in Africa, according to a survey. Airtel was placed at ninth on the list, beating Japanese car
manufacturer Honda, the survey conducted by the African Business Awards said in
Johannesburg on October 3, 2013. The list was headed by US-based Coca Cola, and
dominated by other US and European brands, the only other Asian brands were
Japan‘s Toyota and Samsung Electronics of Korea. The brand valuation is based on
estimated proportion of revenue that the parent company attributes to the brand on
the African continent. Airtel is India‘s largest telecom company with 192.22 million
subscribers as of August-end. The African Business Awards were launched by
African Business magazine. The full list is: 1. Coca Cola-US, 2. Shell-Netherlands
3. Samsung-South Korea 4. Vodafone-UK 5. Nike-US 6. Toyota- Japan 7. McDonald‘s-US 8. Pepsi Cola-US 9. Airtel-
India 10. Honda-Japan
Answer 9: Mahindra Reva, part of the $16.2 billion Mahindra Group, on September 25, 2013, announced a partnership
with cab rental firm Carzonrent. Under the
partnership, Carzonrent will offer Mahindra‘s
electric car e2o for self drive in the three cities at a
rate of Rs. 800 for 24 hours, from October 1, 2013.
The three cities are New Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore. The service will be gradually expanded in all metropolitan cities.
Induction of e2o into the self-drive fleet has been undertaken to capture the huge potentially untapped organised self
drive market and make it cost-effective for the consumers.
Answer 10: The World Gold Council (WGC), on September 25, 2013, said it had elected
Randall Oliphant as its new Chairman, succeeding Ian Telfer, who steps down from the board.
The WGC is the market development organisation for the gold industry working within the
investment, jewellery and technology sectors, as well as engaging in government affairs, whilst
stimulating and sustaining demand for gold. Based in the UK, with operations in India, the Far
East, Europe and the US, the World Gold Council is an association whose 23 members comprise
the world‘s leading gold mining companies.
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Answer 11: Actor-producer John Abraham has become the face of infotainment channel National Geographic. The 40-
year-old actor on September 27, 2013 also launched a new campaign ‗Unlock‘ with the channel. National Geographic
Society is an American scientific society founded (1888) in Washington, D.C.,
by a small group of eminent explorers and scientists ―for the increase and
diffusion of geographic knowledge.‖ With more than nine million members in
the mid-1990s, the organization is the world‘s largest scientific and educational
society. Although overseen by 24-person board, the society has been guided by a
member of the Grosvenor family almost since its inception. In addition to the
National Geographic Magazine, the society publishes books and atlases, issues weekly bulletins to educators, librarians,
and students, and operates a news service. In one of its most successful endeavours, the society has created hundreds of
documentary programs for television.
Answer 12: India on September 27, 2013 approved a proposal by Spain‘s Inditex S.A., the world‘s largest clothing
retailer and the owner of the Zara brand, to sell its Massimo Dutti line of
clothing, apparel, footwear and other products. India had rejected an
application by Inditex unit Zara Holdings BV to sell the more upscale brand
through a joint venture with Tata Group‘s retail arm, Trent Ltd., in July
2012. But the Foreign Investment Promotion Board on September 27
cleared the proposal. Inditex is a Spanish multinational clothing company
headquartered in Galicia, Spain. It is made up of almost a hundred
companies dealing in activities related to textile design, production and
distribution. Amancio Ortega, Spain‘s richest man, and the world‘s third richest man, is the founder and current largest
shareholder.
Answer 13: Online shopping site eBay on September 27, 2013 purchased online
payment firm Braintree for 800 million dollars in a bid to boost its PayPal unit‘s
presence on mobile devices. Despite PayPal being dominant in the online payment
platform, it faces competition from firms such as Chicago-based Braintree, whose
Venmo app lets consumers make payments on smartphones and tablets. About 40
percent of eBay‘s revenues come from PayPal, which has 120 million users. The deal
between eBay and Braintree makes reasonable sense strategically as it expands PayPal‘s distribution and removes a
competitor.
Answer 14: Lloyd‘s List, the specialist publication that has served the shipping industry for 280 years, is to become
fully digital, it announced in London on September 25, 2013.
―Lloyd‘s List -- the leading news, analysis and data source for the
global shipping industry -- is set to become a totally digital
publication by 20th December 2013,‖ it said in a statement.
Lloyd‘s List began in 1734 as a notice pinned to the wall of a
coffee shop in London, offering trusted shipping news and information to the customers.
Answer 15: Some 300,000 people joined Asia‘s millionaire ranks last year, according to a world wealth report released
on September 25, 2013 by Capgemini and Royal Bank of Canada, which also found that the region slipped behind a
rebounding North America. The survey found that the number of Asian millionaires grew 9.4 per cent in 2012 to 3.68
million people, up from 3.37 million the
year before. Economic growth, strong
stock markets, rising property prices and
the region‘s high savings rates helped
boost fortunes. The report defines wealthy
as those with at least USD 1 million in
liquid assets. It covered 10 Asian countries and territories including China, Japan, Australia and South Korea. Asia was
surpassed only by North America, where the millionaire population grew 11.5 per cent to 3.73 million.
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Answer 16: Hyderabad-born IITian Prem Watsa, who has come to the rescue of floundering
mobile company BlackBerry, has been variously described as ―Canada‘s Warren Buffett‖, and
―billionaire king of lost causes‖. Watsa, 61, chairman and chief executive of Toronto-based Fairfax
Financial, was in news in September for his $4.7-billion deal to buy BlackBerry. Watsa‘s
―investment acumen in Canada is nearly unrivalled‖, said Canada‘s Global News noting that ―he‘s
earned the title ‗Canada‘s Warren Buffet‘ by making profits from bets on companies and market
trends that looked ill-advised at the time, but later turned out to be shrewd decisions‖. Hyderabad-
born Watsa completed his bachelor‘s degree in chemical engineering from the Indian Institute of
Technology in 1971. Fairfax was born in 1987 after Watsa took over Markel Financial Holdings
Ltd. and renamed it.
Answer 17: The world‘s largest household products maker, Procter & Gamble (P&G), will
soon be the sole promoter of shaving-products maker Gillette India, with the Saroj Poddar-
led Poddar Heritage group (Poddars), the domestic promoters, set to relinquish control for a
severance package. The Poddars, the founding partners of Gillette India who currently hold a
12.86 per cent stake in the company, valued at around Rs 950 crore, will yield control after
payment of an undisclosed sum from P&G. (September 27, 2013)
Answer 18: Amity International Business School organised its 10th Global HR Summit on the
theme ―Mining Human Potential and Managing Global Challenges for Creating Next Generation
Organisations‖ at Noida, Uttar Pradesh on September 26-27, 2013. During the two days conference
renowned professionals, leading HR experts across multiple sectors, Academicians from leading
educational institutions and Stalwarts from multiple domains deliberated on issues in the area of
Human Resource Management.
Answer 19: Actress Priyanka Chopra has topped the list of the most dangerous celebrities in the Indian cyberspace this
year followed by Bollywood superstars Shah
Rukh Khan and Salman Khan, according to a
study. Priyanka knocked off Sunny Leone, who
topped the list last year but dropped to the ninth
position this time, in the study by security
software maker McAfee released on September
24, 2013. Kareena Kapoor and Akshay Kumar
were in the top five in the study which highlights
how cybercriminals use celebrities to take
advantage of fans seeking more information
about their idols. This year, searching for a
celebrity‘s name, with search terms like ―wall
paper‖, ―videos‖ and ―nude pictures‖ resulted in the highest instances of malware-laden sites. Chopra, showed 79
infected search results, while Shah Rukh was at the second spot with 75 malicious sites, Salman ranked third, with 68
infected sites.
Answer 20: Fast moving consumer goods major Parle Agro on September 24, 2013 re-
entered the Rs.15,000 crore carbonated soft drinks (CSD) segment with the launch of Cafe
Cuba. Parle had exited the carbonated beverage segment 20 years ago when it sold off
brands like Thums Up and Limca to Coca Cola. Prakash Chauhan, chairman and
managing director, said that the new drink which is currently available in 250 ml cans,
priced at Rs.20 and blends flavour of roasted coffee beans with strong carbonated fizz.
Apple also markets beverages like Frooti, Appy, Grappo Fizz and Saint Juice, mineral water
brand Bailey, confectionary brands ButterCup and Mintrox, snack brand Hippo. Prakash
Chauhan‘s brother Ramesh runs Bisleri International.
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Answer 21: India‘s TCS, GE launch female BPO centre in Saudi
Arabia: India‘s Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) in partnership
with GE and Saudi Aramco on September 24, 2013 launched first
all-female business process outsourcing (BPO) centre in Saudi
Arabia that will create nearly 3,000 jobs in the Gulf kingdom. The
centre, in Dhahran, headquarters of Saudi Aramco, will be staffed
by Saudi women with TCS and GE owning 76 percent and 24 percent equity respectively in the new venture, which will
initially serve Saudi Aramco and GE as anchor clients.
Answer 22: To help the government in its efforts to improve the chances of survival, development and growth of
children in India, the IKEA Foundation has contributed Euro 60 million for
UNICEF‘s programmes, the UNICEF said on September 23, 2013. The IKEA
Foundation is UNICEF‘s biggest corporate donor globally. Since 2002,
UNICEF programmes funded by the IKEA Foundation have impacted the lives
of over 74 million people living in 15 states in India. ―Five million infants and
five million mothers in marginalised communities can receive better access to
health, nutrition, water and sanitation services and 7 million more children can
continue to go to school and receive a quality education,‖ said Anthony Lake, UNICEF Executive
Director.
Answer 23: Francisco D‘souza-led Cognizant Technology Solutions on October 2, 2013 said it has
acquired Equinox Consulting, a financial services company in France. About 160 consulting
professionals from Equinox will join Cognizant. Equinox provides consulting services in
investment banking, asset management, retail banking, insurance and specialised financial services.
Founded in 2004, the company has regulatory expertise spanning Basel III and Solvency II. It also
has expertise in strategy consulting, organisation and operations management, change management
and HR consulting.
Answer 24: To give a distinct identity to khadi promoted by Mahatma Gandhi to counter Western fabric, President
Pranab Mukherjee launched the Khadi Mark in New Delhi on September 30,
2013. The launch of Khadi Mark will ensure that no textile can now be sold or
otherwise traded by any person or institution as Khadi in any form or manner
without it bearing a Khadi Mark tag, sticker or label, the Ministry of Small and
Medium Enterprises said. ―The mark is expected to provide a much-needed
identity to khadi as an assurance of purity and genuineness to customers to
boost sales. This is part of the ongoing reform measures in the sector to keep up
with the changing times,‖ the Ministry said in a release. The MSME Ministry in
July notified the Khadi Mark Regulations 2013 to ensure the genuineness of
khadi — hand spun and hand woven, containing natural fibres
(cotton/wool/silk) produced in India. K. H. Muniyappa, MSME Minister, said
khadi worth Rs 762 crore was produced in 2012-13. He said under the Khadi
Reform Development Programme, direct assistance was given to 300 existing khadi institutions.
Answer 25: Tesco is hoping to make tablet computers accessible to a broader range
of people with the launch of its Hudl tablet computer on September 24, 2013.
Tesco‘s new 7in Android tablet is family-focused, with kid-friendly features and a
beginner‘s guide to Android built in. Offering a low-cost alternative to Google‘s
£199 Nexus 7 and Amazon‘s recently price-cut £119 Kindle Fire HD, Tesco is
aiming the £119 Hudl at people who wouldn‘t ordinarily think of buying a tablet
computer. The Hudl comes pre-loaded with access to Tesco‘s shopping sites and
digital services such as music and video streaming.
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Answer 26: Godrej Consumer Products has created a new market with its new paper
format mosquito repellent. This new product is called Good Knight Fast Card and is
nothing more than a slip of paper that burns for three minutes but is effective for
nearly four hours. It consumes no electricity and is smoke-free, which makes it
different from all other mosquito repellents in the market so far. The product has
been priced at an attractive Re 1/per use and comes in a pack of 10 cards. Mosquito
coils from Godrej Consumer are priced at Rs 2.50 a piece. (September 24, 2013).
Godrej Consumer‘s research and development team in India and Indonesia has
developed this product. The product has already been launched in Indonesia under the brand name Hit Paper Magic.
Answer 27: As the release date for the latest installment in the Krissh series grows near, the
makers of the film are pulling out all stops to promote it in unusual ways. This time around,
Graphic India and Filmkraft Productions (the producer of Krissh 3) have collaborated to
launch an original digital comic series and comic magazine called ―Krrish: Menace of the
Monkey Men.‖ The story features the original adventure of Krrish written and illustrated by
comic book creators -- Tom De Falco, Ron Frenz and Sal Buscema -- who have worked on
leading comic book characters such as Spider-Man, Superman and Thor among others.
Filmkraft Productions has been founded by acclaimed producer and Director, Rakesh
Roshan.
Answer 28: Sun TV promoters Kalanithi Maran and his wife Kavery were the top paid corporates
in India in 2012-13 with a package of Rs 56.25 crore each among the listed companies, replacing
Jindal Steel‘s Naveen Jindal who is at third position this year with Rs 54.98 crore package. Aditya
Birla group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla, who was paid Rs 49.62 crore by his five listed firms
together, was at the fourth position. Hero MotoCorp‘s father-son trio, Brijmohan Lall Munjal (Rs
32.72 crore), Pawan Munjal (Rs 32.80 crore) and Sunil Kant Munjal (Rs 31.51 crore), occupy the
next three positions in the top 10 highest paid executives list. The pay packages include salary,
perquisites, commissions, profit-linked incentives, sitting fees and other benefits. The data has been
taken from the annual reports of the companies that have so far been published. Mukesh Ambani,
once the country‘s highest-paid executive, is at 16th position with a remuneration of Rs 15 crore,
which has remained unchanged for the fifth consecutive year now. (September 22, 2013)
Answer 29: Malaysian low cost brand AirAsia cleared another hurdle for launching its domestic
airline in India. The civil aviation ministry on September 20, 2013 granted a no objection clearance to
AirAsia for launch of operations. Now the airline will have to apply to the Directorate General of
Civil Aviation for an operator permit. AirAsia India which will be based in Chennai is co-owned
AirAsia (49%), Tata group (30 percent) and Delhi based industrialist Arun Bhatia‘s Telestra
Tradeplace (21%).
Answer 30: Companies such as Procter & Gamble, Kimberly Clarke and Unicharm,
key companies in the Rs 4,000-crore baby diaper market in India, will now have to
contend with one more competitor in Swedish firm SCA Hygiene. The world‘s
second-largest baby diaper maker is launching its brand Libero in the country. Libero
competes in most markets across the world with P&G‘s Pampers, Kimberly Clarke‘s
Huggies and Unicharm‘s Mamy Poko Pants.
Answer 31: Skincare brand Nivea India, affiliate of Beiersdorf AG, on
September 13, 2013 launched a new campaign for its men fresh active deodorant.
The campaign features Bollywood actor Arjun Rampal who is the face of Nivea
Men. The company also launched a new campaign for its ‗Nivea Fruity Shine Lip
Care‘ lip balm collection, titled ‗Kiss and Make up‘.
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Answer 32: The Anand Mahindra-promoted Mahindra group on September 13, 2013 announced
its entry into retailing of solar power based home appliances, meant primarily for the rural markets.
The group has coined a new brand tag ‗Mahindra Ekosol‘ for its solar products business with five
product lines — lanterns, home lighting systems, inverters, water pumps and street lighting
systems.
Answer 33: Videocon Mobile Services, a subsidiary of Videocon Industries, on September
19, 2013 rebranded itself as Videcon Telecom. The company roped in Punjabi actor and
singer Gippy Grewal as its brand ambassador and also unveiled a new logo which replaces
text ‗mobile services‘ in its old logo with Telecom in white and green box. The company in
November 2012 auctions won spectrum in six circles for Rs 2,221.44 crore and operates in
four circles of Punjab, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, at present. It aims to add
about 60 lakh subscribers in 2013-14. The company had over 22 lakh customers at the end of
May 2013.
Answer 34: Salt-to-software conglomerate Tata Group has moved up one place and is now ranked fourth among Asia‘s
10 best companies for leadership, says a survey by global consultancy firm Hay Group on September 19, 2013. Tata
Group is the only Indian entity which has managed to find a place in the list of ten best companies for leadership in Asia.
The Indian corporate major has been ranked at the fifth position among ten best
companies for leadership in Asia list, which was topped by Samsung Group
followed by Toyota Motors and Unilever at the second and third position,
respectively. Others in the top 10 in Asia include Petronas, General Electric, IBM,
Sony, Coca-Cola and DHL International. According to Hay Group, the Best
Companies for Leadership (BCL) globally are strategic in developing and
motivating leaders throughout the organisation to do their best. Among the global
best leadership companies, Procter & Gamble topped the list, followed by
Microsoft, General Electric and Coca-Cola. In comparison, Asia‘s Best Companies for Leadership exhibit a profound
ability to maintain the balance between their ability to explore (innovate) and exploit existing marketing strengths to
achieve business excellence in tough times. The report further noted that best companies for leadership report higher
usage rates of web-based leadership modules, classroom-based leadership training, and mentoring.
Answer 35: Tractor maker Escorts Ltd on September 19, 2013 said it has appointed Nikhil
Nanda as Managing Director of the company. ―The Board of Directors unanimously believed that
it was time for Nikhil to shoulder larger responsibilities given the ambitious targets that the
company has set,‖ Escorts Chairman Rajan Nanda said.
Answer 36: The Audit Bureau of Circulation (ABC) on September 20,
2013 elected Ravindra Pisharody, Executive Director at Tata Motors as its chairman while M
Venkatesh of HT Media was elected as the deputy chairman for 2013-14. The Audit Bureau of
Circulation, set up in 1948, audits the circulations of major publications, including newspapers
and magazines in India. The council also elected 14 other members to the management council
representing advertisers, advertising agencies and publishers.
Answer 37: The News Broadcasters Association (NBA) on September 20, 2013 appointed KVL
Narayan Rao, Executive Vice Chairperson of NDTV group, as its President for the year 2013-
14. Other members on the NBA board for 2013-14 include Rajat Sharma, Chairman of
Independent News Services Pvt Ltd; Sunil Lulla, MD and CEO of Times Global Broadcasting
Company Ltd; Alok Agrawal, CEO of Zee News Ltd; Ashish Kumar Bagga, Director of TV
Today Network, and Anurradha Prasad, Chairperson and MD, News 24 Broadcast India Ltd.
NBA presently has 24 leading media broadcasters as its members, representing 51 news and
current affairs channels.
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Answer 38: The Mahindra Group has marked its entry into the technical education space by
setting up an engineering institution in Hyderabad. Mahindra École Centrale has been set up in
collaboration with the France-based Ecole Centrale and Jawaharlal Nehru Technological
University-Hyderabad. According to Tech Mahindra executive vice chairman Vineet Nayyar on
September 20, 2013, the institute would facilitate extensive industry-university collaboration to
generate global soft-skilled tech managers, which for India is quite important to maintain global
edge. The institute also aims to bring the upfront industry managerial practices close to practising
engineering graduates.
Answer 39: JPMorgan Chase & Co., the US‘ largest bank by assets, has agreed to pay $920 million to the US and
British regulators to settle violations connected with a derivatives trading scandal. The failure of the bank‘s internal
controls on transactions by a former Britain-based trader, who came to
be known as the ―London whale‖ because of his team‘s massive
derivatives bets, led to a trading loss of roughly $6 billion in 2012. The
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) said on September 19,
2013 it had charged JPM with ―mis-stating financial results and
lacking effective internal controls to detect and prevent its traders from
fraudulently overvaluing investments to conceal hundreds of millions of dollars in trading losses.‖
Answer 40: Google said it had teamed up with Apple‘s chairman to launch a new company that
will attempt to significantly increase the human lifespan. Calico will use biotechnology to tackle
major illnesses and ageing, the search giant announced on September 17, 2013. The new company
will be led by Arthur Levinson, who as well as being chairman of Apple and biotech firm
Genentech, holds a PhD in biochemistry from Princeton and is also a member of the Biotech Hall of
Fame. Announcing the creation of Calico, Google chief executive Larry Page said: ―Illness and
ageing affect all our families... from the decreased mobility and mental agility that comes with age,
to life-threatening diseases that exact a terrible physical and emotional toll on individuals and
families.
Answer 41: ITC Ltd on September 16, 2013 said it has entered into an agreement to manage
five hotels owned by West Asia-based Indian businessman Ravi Pillai. As part of the agreement
with RP Group Hotels and Resorts, ITC will manage the properties under the upmarket
WelcomHotel and mid-market Fortune brands. Two properties in Kerala and Calicut will
operate as WelcomHotel Raviz. The other three — two in Dubai and one in Calicut — will
operate as Fortune Raviz. Raviz is the hotel brand of RP Group. ITC operates more than 90
hotels through four brands — ITC Hotels, WelcomHotel, Fortune and WelcomHeritage.
Answer 42: I-League got its title sponsor on September 20, 2013 with the Airtel being roped in for the 2013-14 edition
of the tournament. All India Football Federation (AIFF) I-League started on
September 21. There are 15 teams in the I-League, India‘s top-level football
league. During the course of a season (from October to May) each club plays
the others twice, once at their home stadium and once at that of their
opponents, for a total of 28 games. Teams receive three points for a win and
one point for a draw. No points are awarded for a loss. Teams are ranked by
total points. At the end of each season, the club with the most points is crowned champion. The
current champions are Churchill Brothers, who won the title during the 2012–13 Season.
Answer 43: DELHI: FMCG firm Dabur India on September 18, 2013 said it has entered the
male grooming market with the launch of OxyLife Men Creme Bleach and a male professional
facial bleach, targeting the men‘s beauty salon and parlour market. Brands marketed by Dabur
include Dabur Amla, Dabur Chyawanprash, Vatika, Réal, Dabur Red Toothpaste, Dabur Lal
Dant Manjan, Babool, Hajmola, Dabur Honey, Glucose, Fem and Odonil.
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Answer 44: The richest 400 Americans are significantly richer in 2013 than they were last
year. The annual Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans list released in New York on September
17, 2013 was topped by Bill Gates, who at 57 has a net worth of $72 billion. He was
followed by Warren Buffett with $58.5 billion.
Answer 45: Country‘s premier business school, Indian
Institute of Management Calcutta (IIM-C) clinched the 19th rank among the top 20
management institutes of the world, as per the Financial Times (FT) Global Rankings
survey. IIM Calcutta and IIM Ahmedabad are the two institutions from India to feature
in this ranking released on a release said on September 16, 2013.
Answer 46: L‘Oreal, the French cosmetics major, on September 20, 2013,
announced the acquisition of Mumbai-based Cheryl‘s Cosmeceuticals, a professional
skincare products and treatment company. L‘Oreal India did not reveal the size of the
acquisition. Cheryl‘s Cosmeceuticals has a turnover of Rs. 20 crore, and reaches
10,000 salons across India. L‘Oreal‘s professional products division has three
brands—L‘Oreal Professional, Matrix and Kerastase. L‘Oreal intends to retain the
Cheryl‘s brand name.
Answer 47: Note 3, Galaxy Gear: Korean mobile maker Samsung, on September 17, 2013,
announced the launch of its Galaxy Note 3 smartphone, priced at Rs.49,900, as well as its
Galaxy Gear smart watch, which has been priced at Rs.22,900, in the domestic market. The
Note 3, which is the most expensive device from the handset manufacturer‘s stable, is
powered by the Android operating system, and comes with a 5.7 inch screen along with a 13
megapixel camera.
Answer 48: Google on September 17, 2013 acquired file-sharing app developer Bump for
undisclosed financial terms. Bump CEO David Lieb said that the company‘s apps, which also
include a photo sharing service, Flock, will keep working for now. The app, launched more than
four years ago, allows users to share files by bumping devices together.
Answer 49: With the festive season just round the corner, automobile companies are stepping on the gas in terms of
promotions and launches. The latest in that lineup is Venu Srinivasan-led TVS Motor Company
which has just rolled out a model in the rapidly growing scooter segment called TVS Jupiter on
September 18, 2013 at an ex-showroom price of Rs 46,354. Jupiter is the latest in the company‘s
―new wave of feature rich‖ products. For instance it features the TVS patented Econometer
which guides riders in both ‗Eco Mode‘ and ‗Power Mode‘ which helps the rider to manage and
achieve highest possible fuel efficiency from TVS Jupiter. TVS currently sells around 35,000
units of its Wego scooters per month and with the addition of Jupiter, expects the sales number
is expected to go up to 50,000 units by December end.
Answer 50: Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) and S&P Dow Jones on September 16, 2013 announced a joint venture
company, Asia Index, to provide an array of indices enabling global and domestic investors to
participate in South Asia‘s vibrant economies. The 50:50 partnership would bring together
BSE‘s closely-watched India index suite, which includes the Sensex, with S&P Dow Jones
Indices‘ 115 years of experience in publishing transparent and independent global benchmarks.
―It (Asia Index) will bring additional focus to our efforts to serve investors and develop new
business in an area of tremendous potential in India and the entire South Asia geography,‖ BSE
MD and CEO Ashish Kumar Chauhan said. S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC, a subsidiary of
The McGraw-Hill Companies, is the world‘s largest, global resource for index-based concepts,
data and research. BSE is Asia‘s oldest stock exchange and home to the iconic Sensex index - a
leading indicator of Indian equity market performance.
Endeavor Careers – Dream … Endeavor… Achieve
www.endeavorcareers.com October 2013-Issue-II THE GENESIS
52
Face-off
―It is about when we make an investment;
we need to know what our tax equations
are. We do not want to have the goal posts
changed.‖
– Ron Somers, President, US India
Business Council (USIBC), saying there
needs to be ―clarity and predictability‖ on
issues of policy and taxation in India
―When Indian economy was growing at the
rate of eight to nine per cent, I think
everybody was quite happy. Even when
there were defects in our policies, they were
overlooked, and when the economy slows
down, people try to find faults and excuses.‖
– Manmohan Singh, PM, on US concerns
―I welcome the judgement. If not
immediately, it will eventually improve the
quality of candidates fielded by political
parties.‖
– T. S. Krishnamurthy, former Chief
Election Commissioner, on the Supreme
Court verdict giving voters right to reject
candidates fighting elections
―I don‘t think this is the way to address
democracy because when you exercise your
franchise you have to cast your vote in
favour of a candidate. And if you don‘t
choose any candidate ... How are you going
to improve the election and polity.‖
– Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, CMD, Biocon
―This is a landmark judgement. As you
sow, so you shall reap.‖
– Kirti Azad, former cricketer & BJP
leader
―Sad that he is found guilty, he has been
framed, sure he‘ll provide evidences &
prove his innocence.‖
– Digvijay Singh, ex-MP CM & senior
Congress leader defending convicted RJD
supremo Lalu Prasad Yadav
―There was no need to bring an ordinance
from the backdoor to protect convicted
lawmakers from immediate
disqualification.‖
– Nitish Kumar, Bihar CM, on the
ordinance aimed at protecting convicted
lawmakers
―One should be given the chance to file an
appeal. Why is there the system of appellate
courts then?‖
– Somnath Chatterjee, former Lok Sabha
Speaker, against immediate disqualification
for convicted MPs and MLAs
+
―You might not agree with the selection,
that‘s your prerogative. But to
continuously and recklessly make
comments and innuendos about it is really
not done.‖
– Supran Sen, Secretary General, Film
Federation of India (FFI), on ‗Lunchbox‘
Director Ritesh Batra‘s criticism of the FFI
jury for selecting ‗Good Earth‘ as India‘s
entry to Oscars
―Sir, please use your good offices to give us
a transparent, objective process with a public
and not a secret jury. It is a direct and
humble request, not a criticism.‖
– Ritesh Batra, responding to Sen
―It is really sad that they banned the person
who created the league but people who are
fixing matches are being protected by the
BCCI members.‖
– Lalit Modi, former IPL Commissioner,
after the BCCI imposed a life ban on him
―Everybody today attended the meeting and
voted in favour. There was not a single
dissent vote.‖
– Rajiv Shukla, Rajya Sabha MP and
former BCCI vice-president, on BCCI‘s
Special Meeting that banned Modi