2/17/2016
BRAIN TREE
CURRENT AFFAIRS & GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
1st November, 2009 to 15th November, 2009
1.
K. Radhakrishnan, Director, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, (VSSC), Thiruvananthapuram,
took over as Chairman of the ISRO from G. Madhavan Nair. Dr. Radhakrishnan also assumed
office as chairman of the Space Commission and Secretary of the Department of Space. From
2005 to 2008, he was the Director of the National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad which
has now been named the National Remote- Sensing Centre. During the tenure of Mr.
Madhavan Nair there were 25 successful launch vehicle and space craft missions. The high
point of his career was the ISRO putting in orbit chandrayaan-1, India’s first scientific mission
to the moon, on October 22nd , 2008. P.S. Veeraraghavan, a rocket technologist, took over as
Director, Vikra Sarabhai Space Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, from K. Radhakrishnan who has
been appointed Chairman, ISRO.
2.
The National University of Defence Technology ( NVDT) unveiled Chinas fastest
supercomputer Tianhe ( meaning, milky way ) it will in theory do more than one
quadrillion calculations per second ( one petaflop) at peak speed.
3.
The South Asia Foundation (SAF) organized a peace festival in Amritsar with artists from
Pakistan and India. The foundation is the brainchild of Madanjeet Singh, UNESCO Goodwill
Ambassador, who dreams of forming a rainbow coalition of eight countries of South AsiaAfghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.
4.
The Silent Valley National Park ( Kerala ), one of the few remaining rainforests in the country,
gets one of the highest- or even the highest average annual rainfall in the Western Ghats,
according to the data of the past 10 years.
5.
 The highest average annual rainfall received in the valley was 8,361.9 mm in 2001.
 The average annual rainfall of the Western Ghats ranges from 6,000 mm at the crest of
the ghats to as low as 600 mm in the valley portion.
 The world’s wettest place is Mawsynram in the Khasi hills of Meghalaya.
In a major thrust to the Disinvestment Programme, the Cabinet Committee on Economic
Affairs ( CCEA) decided that all listed Central Public Sector Enterprises would offload 10%
of their holding in the public domain and all unlisted profitable state –owned entities should
go public.
 At present, there are 48 listed state-run companies, and 200 others, including BSLL,
qualify for listing.
 The government has also decided that all unlisted PSEs, which have made profit in the
past 3 years and have a positive net worth, should get listed on stock exchanges.
6.
The RBI concluded the purchase of 200 tonnes of gold from the IMF at an estimated price of
around Rs. 31, 490 Cr ( $ 6.70 billion ) under the IMF’s limited gold sales programme.
 Under the Funds Articles of Agreement, all gold sales must be conducted at prices based
on market prices.
 This was done as part of the RBIs foreign exchange reserve management.
 India is the world’s biggest consumer of gold. China is the world biggest producer of
gold pushing US to second.
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2/17/2016
BRAIN TREE
CURRENT AFFAIRS & GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
1st November, 2009 to 15th November, 2009
7.
Ashok Chavan was sworn in CM of Maharashtra by Governor S.C. Jamir at the Raj Bhavan.
Chagan Bhujbal took the oath office and secrecy as Deputy CM. The newly formed council
has 38 ministers – 18 from the Congress and 20 from the NCP.
8.
Britain’s Hindu leaders have launched “Bhumi Project” to fight climate change. The plan
follows a conference of faith leaders organized by the Alliance of Religions
and
conservation, a charity set up by the Duke of Edinburgh to help religious groups develop
their own environmental programmes.
9.
Going ahead with its objective of extending the scope of the NREGS through convergence
with other departments, the Centre has accepted a number of recommendations of the State
governments as job works to be taken up under the scheme:
10.
 The scope of manual work has been enlarged.
 Construction of Community centres for social activities, school buildings, Panchayat
Bhavans e.t.c., aiming at creation of social infrastructure.
 As regards convergence, it has recommended taking up sanitation campaign with labour
component from the scheme and supported construction of houses under various
schemes as the Indira Awas Yojna, where the unskilled labour component and earth
work would be carried out under the NREGS fund as it would serve as a cushion to
escalation of cost.
 Similarly construction of houses for the Below Poverty Line ( BPL) families in rural areas
has been recommended by dovetailing with IAY and individual household latrines for
the BPL under the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC).
 To speed up rural electrification and take power to the lowest levels the department has
permitted erection of poles under the Rajiv Gandhi Rural Electrification programme.
Google Wave, was recently launched as one the ‘Google products’ on Internet. Google
Wave can be described as a communication / collaboration tool in which products like email, IM discussion board and Wiki are rolled into one. A great feature of ‘Google Wave’
is the extension facility that enables developers
across the world to enhance its
functionality. Extensions come in two forms – ‘gadgets’ and ‘robots’:
 A ‘gadget’ is nothing but a small application that can be integrated with a wave - like
the google maps gadget.
 ‘Robots’ are software based automated participants made for a specific purpose like IM
bots.
11.
IBM has announced the creation of a new Business Analytics Centre of Competency in
Bangalore as part of efforts of strengthen its capabilities in the fast growing are of
analytics and optimization.
12.
Cyclone ‘Phyan’ passed along the Mumbai and Konkan coast. The depression in the Arabian
sea gave way to a low pressure zone, accompanied by gusty winds.
13.
The Shipping Ministry has decide to set up a broad based committee, comprising various
agencies, for sharing into. On traffic, post and issues related to ship security.
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2/17/2016
BRAIN TREE
CURRENT AFFAIRS & GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
1st November, 2009 to 15th November, 2009
14.
15.
16.
The United States House of Representatives recently passed the Affordable Health Care for
America Act. The bill which is expected to cost $ 1.1 trillion over 10 years, constitutes the
greatest reform of U.S. Health care since 1965 ( in 1985 Medicare, a tax funded payer system
for those aged 65 or over and those with particular medical conditions, was created as part
of the Johnson administration ‘Great society’ programme). If passed it will extend health
cover to 96% of legally resident Americans:
 This, it will do by widening the federally funded Medicare system to include the 36
million Americans who currently cannot afford health insurance or whose employers
do not provide it.
 The law- paid will be able to buy subsidized insurance or get cover from a government
plan.
 Employers will have to provide insurance or pay a payroll tax of up to 8%.
 Significantly, insurers will be
banned
from rejecting those with pre-existing
conditions and from dropping those whose needs increase, age limits will also be
abolished.
India and South Africa mutually agreed to widen the export basket and to work closely for
the early conclusion of India –South African Customs Union ( SACU), Preferential Trade
Agreement ( PTA) and the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA).
 This was decided between the Union Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma
and the Minister of International relations and cooperation of South Africa, Maite KnoanaMashabane.
 Anand Sharma said that India had identified South Africa and other African nations as
the priority destinations under the diversified market scheme and Indian exporters were
being encouraged to tap these potential markets.
 Bilateral trade touched $ 7.41 billion in 2008-09.
o India’s imports from South Africa stood at $ 5.44 bn during this period and India’s
exports to South Africa were $ 1.97 bn.
o Indian investment
were about $3 bn with many projects
still
under
implementation.
‘Brazil’ has decided to impose a 2% tax on portfolio inflow. The move is aimed at arresting
sharp appreciation of its currency, the real which since the beginning of the year has gained
36% against the dollar, undermining Brazils export competitiveness.




In 1998, during Asian currency crisis, Malaysia also imposed controls to curb
currency speculation that had a devastating effect on neighbours.
‘Chile’ ( most successful of Latin American economies ) kept a portion of its foreign
investment flows in an interest free account with its Central bank for a fixed period.
The intention behind such controls is to keep a check on footloose global capital that,
given both its large volumes and propensity to move in and out of a country in a
matter of seconds, threatens macroeconomic management. Over the medium-term, if
properly implemented, these curbs could help governments prevent asset bubbles.
The intellectual basis for the tax is found in the work of the influential U.S.
economist and Nobel prize winner, ‘James Tobin’, who in the early 1970’s proposed
a small tax even as low as 0.1% - on foreign exchange transactions to
reduce volatility in the markets. Recently, G-20 has asked the IMF to examine such
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2/17/2016
BRAIN TREE
CURRENT AFFAIRS & GENERAL KNOWLEDGE
1st November, 2009 to 15th November, 2009
17.
proposals. Well endowed with natural resources, Brazil is having a commodity
boom and is among the first countries to come out of recession.
An important milestone in the path towards the Goods and Services Tax ( GST) has been
reached, with the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers deciding on a three tier
duty structure for the goods component.
 These will be a low rate for goods of mass consumption, a standard rate for most
other items and a premium rate for a small category of items.
18.
19.
 In the budget it was announced that in effect these would be two sets of GST one
for the goods, and the other for the services, levied at two levels. These two would be
mutually exclusive and operate across value chain.
Challenges of Implementing GST:
 It is at the state level that the introduction of the new tax which will replace the
state-level Value Added Tax (VAT) that came into being in 2005, is going to be
challenging. The two issues that dominate are in the areas of i) compensating the
states for possible revenue losses ii) Revamping the legal architecture.
 A multiple duty structure raises problems of classification and revenue leakages.
 States have to tackle with pressure groups for exemption or for levy at a lower rate.
The total set of Greenhouse Gas (GHG); carbon-di-oxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone;
emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product is
commonly called ‘carbon footprint’. This is often expressed as tonnes of carbon-di-oxide
equivalent (tCO2e). Virtually all human activities cause GHG emission, agriculture, industrial
production, deforestation, burning of any fuel, transport as well as disposal of waste. To
calculate a reliable carbon footprint it is mandatory to follow a structured process to identify,
classify and quantify all possible sources of GHG emissions thoroughly. Typically there are
three major categories of GHG emissions:  Direct emissions that result from activities that
are controlled by the organization / individual.  Emissions from the use of electricity.
 Indirect emissions from the use of products and services.
Bhilwara in Rajasthan was in the news recently due to the social audit conducted their to
assess the effectiveness of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee
Scheme. The Bhilwara social audit experiment draws its strength from the NREGA audits
conducted in Andhra Pradesh. Andhra Pradesh was the first State in India to institutionalize
social audit by means of a Social Audit Directorate. Since then, the state government has
gone a further step with a committed budget for social auditing and provisions to host audit
results on its NREGA website. Experts feel that such social audits create awareness among
the poor beneficiaries whose slowly and surely learn to hold the programme managers to
account.
DISCLAIMER
The information presented above has been collected from a variety of sources. Brain Tree
exercises due care and caution in collecting the data before publication. Inspite of this, if any
omission, inaccuracy or printing errors occur with regard to the data, Brain Tree will not be
held responsible or liable.
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