NOVEMBER 9th NEWS: PERSONS IN NEWS: SUSHIT MUHNOT: Bank of Maharashtra has a new Chairman and Managing Director in Sushil Muhnot. Prior to this appointment, Muhnot was Chairman of Small Industries Development Bank of India since April 2012. Muhnot will assume charge as CMD of Bank of Maharashtra in Mumbai on 9th November. BANK OF MAHARASHTRA Bank of Maharashtra is a major bank of Maharashtra, India, registered on 16 September 1935 with an authorised capital of Rs 1 million. It commenced business on 8 February 1936. Head quarters-Pune Slogan-‘Ek parivar ek bank’ CHANDA KOCCHAR: Chanda Kochhar, ICICI Bank MD and CEO has been named as the most powerful businesswoman in India for the third consecutive year by Fortune Magazine. Shikha Sharma of Axis Bank and Aruna Jayanthi of Capgemini India have taken the second and third place in the Fortune list of 50 most powerful businesswomen ranking for 2013. Preetha Reddy, Managing Director of Apollo Hospital Enterprises, and Mallika Srinivasan, CEO of Tractors and Farm Equipment Limited (TAFE), have secured the fourth and fifth positions, respectively. In the Fortune list of 50 most powerful businesswomen, there are six new entrants -- Yasmine Hilton, chairperson Shell India; Vanitha Naraynan, MD, IBM India; Anita Dongre, founder, Anita Dongre; N Bhuvaneswari, vice chairman and MD, Heritage Foods; Ashu Suyash, CEO, L&T Investment Management and Awani Saglani Davda, CEO, Tata Starbucks India. The other women who figure in the top 10 of the Fortune Indias 50 most powerful businesswomen are: Shobhana Bhartia, chairperson, HT Media; Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, chairperson and MD, Biocon; Zia Mody, co-founder, AZB Partners; Vinita Bali, MD, Britannia Industries and Naina Lal Kidwai, country head, HSBC India. Others in the list included Ekta Kapoor of Balaji Telefilms, Chitra Ramkrishna of National Stock Exchange and Renu Sood Karnad of HDFC. Fortune Indias issued Indias 50 Most Powerful Women in Business, for the first time in 2011. POLITICAL CENTRE TO APPROACH SC ON CBI The Centre is gearing up to move the Supreme Court against the Gauhati High Court’s verdict that questioned the existence and powers of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), rendering it “unconstitutional”. But the CBI maintained the high court (HC) order did not stop it from registering First Information Reports (FIRs). “We are studying the order of the Gauhati High Court and will submit our opinion to the DoPT. We are definitely seeking urgent action,” Ranjit Sinha, CBI director, said. The investigative agency has been on a spree of filing cases against industrialists, politicians and bureaucrats in several cases, especially after the SC had in May called the CBI a “caged parrot” and “its master’s voice”, and criticised the government for interfering in its functioning. The HC had on 7th November said the CBI “cannot be treated as a ‘police force’ constituted under the DSPE (Delhi Special Police Establishment) Act”. It said the CBI was legally not a police force, and questioned the agency’s powers to investigate crimes, arrest suspects and file chargesheets. INDIA WITH OTHER NATIONS: TALKS BETWEEN INDIA AND KUWAIT ON INVESTMENT AND TRADE India and Kuwait on 8th November held talks in the areas of investment, trade, and security, and of joint ventures in the energy sector. As Kuwait holds over $350 billionin surplus funds and accounts for 10 per cent of India’s oil imports, talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah centred around these two aspects. As many as five pacts were signed in the presence of the two leaders. In his statement, Dr. Singh said the two leaders discussed the development of a more strategic partnership in the energy sector through long-term supply contracts and the establishment of upstream and downstream joint ventures in the petroleum and petrochemical sectors. An indication of the importance attached by India to these areas came from separate talks between the Kuwaiti leadership and Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma, besides a luncheon meeting with leading industrialists.India has proposed several specific projects for investments by the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. Dr. Singh noted that Sheikh Jaber’s response was encouraging. A delegation of the Kuwait Investment Authority is expected visit India to explore opportunities for investing in the country as part of the $350 billion fund which is growing by $25 billion annually. India expressed interest in a $100 billion Kuwaiti infrastructure renewal programme. The two leaders also discussed security cooperation and agreed to strengthen cooperation in counter-terrorism through institutionalised dialogue and training. KUWAIT Kuwait is an Arab country in Western Asia. Situated in the northeastern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the tip of the Persian Gulf, it shares borders with Iraq to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south. Its capital is Kuwait city. Currency is Kuwait Dinar. ECONOMY: MINISTRY WANTS TO GO AHEAD IN FDI PHARMA SECTOR The Commerce & Industry Ministry has decided to go ahead with its proposal to restrict foreign direct investment (FDI) in existing pharmaceutical ventures despite objections from the Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission. In its final note to be submitted to the Cabinet for approval soon, the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion will incorporate all objections raised on the proposal and give its comment. The DIPP wants to cap FDI in brownfield projects below 49 per cent in “critical” sectors such as oncology medicines and vaccines to ensure continued availability of generics (copies of off-patent medicines) at affordable prices. It also suggested that foreign investors be mandated to create at least 25 per cent additional capacity and generate additional employment in the critical pharma projects they invest in. The Finance Ministry and the Planning Commission are of the opinion that it was not good to reverse the existing FDI policy as it would serve as a disincentive for foreign investors. The current FDI policy allows 100 per cent foreign investment in the pharmaceutical sector. While investments in greenfield projects are automatic, those in brownfield or existing projects have to be routed through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). The Planning Commission, in its comments on the draft Cabinet note circulated by the DIPP, further argued that there was no evidence of rise in prices over the last few years under the existing policy. The DIPP, in an earlier note, had pointed out that most of the FDI that has come into the pharma sector in the country has come in brownfield pharma and if it is allowed to continue then the existing facilities in the country that produce cheap life-saving medicines would completely be taken over. It had also given a detailed presentation to Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on the issue recently, hoping to win him over. The Science & Technology Ministry, which has supported the DIPP’s move, has expressed concern that takeover of Indian pharmaceutical companies by foreign investors could lead to a waste of Government efforts, research and resources as many of these companies sourced their technologies from Government laboratories under the CSIR. The Health Ministry, too, supports the DIPP proposal to cap FDI in pharma. Despite objections raised by the DIPP, the FIPB has been steadily clearing FDI proposals in existing pharma projects. It recently approved US-based Mylan’s proposal to acquire Indian generic manufacturer Agilla for Rs 5,168 crore. INTERNATIONAL: U.S., ISRAEL LOSE UNESCO has suspended the voting rights of the United States and Israel, two years after both countries stopped paying dues to the U.N.s cultural arm in protest over its granting full membership to the Palestinians. The U.S. decision to cancel its funding in October 2011 was blamed on U.S. laws that prohibit funding to any U.N. agency that implies recognition of the Palestinians demands for their own state. Israel also pulled its funding, objecting to what it called unilateral attempts by the Palestinians to gain recognition of statehood. Both countries missed a 1100 GMT 8th November deadline to provide an official justification for non-payment and a plan to pay back missed dues, a UNESCO source told Reuters. That automatically triggered suspension of their voting rights. UNESCO, the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization, is responsible for designating World Heritage sites, promoting global education and supporting press freedom, among other tasks. The withdrawal of U.S. funding - which totalled about $240 million (£149,737,958.57), or some 22 percent of UNESCOs budget - has plunged it into a funding crisis and forced it to cut programs. UNESCO made no comment on the matter. The list of countries whose voting rights are suspended will be announced at a UNESCO meeting on Saturday, after which Director-General Irina Bokova is expected to issue a statement. The Palestinians have so far failed in their bid to become a full member of the U.N., but their UNESCO membership is seen as a potential first step towards U.N. recognition of statehood. The United States has characterized UNESCOs move as a misguided attempt to bypass the two-decade old peace process. Washington says only a resumption of peace talks ending in a treaty with Israel can result in Palestinian statehood. TYPHOON HAIYAN STIKES Typhoon Haiyan has hit the Philippines with winds of 195mph, with experts saying catastrophic damage will result from what is predicted to be the strongest tropical cyclone to make landfall in recorded history. Thousands of people have been evacuated and thousands more have fled their homes as the category five storm sent waves as high as 5m (15ft) ashore on the islands of Leyte and Samar in the central Philippines, overturning powerlines and leaving streets knee-deep in water. Haiyan – the Philippines 25th typhoon so far this year – is expected to barrel through the archipelago close to Cebu, the nations second-largest city and home to around 2.5 million people. With speeds at landfall of 195mph and gusts of up to 235mph, Haiyan is believed to be stronger than the worlds last strongest tropical cyclone, hurricane Camille, which was recorded in the US at 190mph in 1969. What is Typhoon? A typhoon is a violent tropical cyclone, in meteorological term, which is a low pressure system occurring in tropical oceans. The winds above the ground circulate around the center counterclockwise for a typhoon occurring in the northern hemisphere and clockwise for that occurring in the southern hemisphere. As for the origin of the name, typhoon is generally believed to be a phonetic derivation from the Cantonese pronunciation for windy. But according to the study of Professor Shao-hao Lin, it is probably a phonetic derivation from the Southern Fukienese pronunciation for phoon-ty (wind sieve). As Ding-mei Lu stated in his revised Taiwan County Annals, The so-called typhoon was a term used by native residents of Taiwan as symbolic description of the phenomenon of hurricanes storming around like a wind sieving the rain. The term was then phonetically transcribed into Chinese characters but misused in reverse order and later evolved into the term typhoon. As of today, the Southern Fukienese for typhoon is still pronounced like phoon-ty (wind sieve), which further solidifies Professor Lins argument. Aside from the digression of being either windy or wind sieving, typhoon is a violent tropical cyclone over the tropical Northwestern Pacific Ocean ANDHRA PRADESH: AP SIGNS PPAs FOR 142 Mw SOLAR POWER AP power utilities have entered into power purchase agreements (PPAs) with solar power developers for 147 Mw and issued letters of intent (LoIs) for another 142 Mw. The move comes after the state government decided to encourage private entrepreneurs to set up an installed capacity of 1,000 Mw in solar power late last year. A statement by the energy department said the Union Secretary complimented the authorities for eliciting a competitive rate of Rs 6.49 per unit payable to the developers. However, a relatively lower purchase price fixed afterwards dampened the excitement. In addition to this, a separate policy for the industries either for captive use or third party sale had been announced by the state and a set of clarifications were awaited from the state Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) to realise about 1,483 Mw of solar power under this policy, it said. ‘T’ BILL IN ASSEMBLY BY MONTH-END: DIGVIJAY AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh has said that the draft Bill on bifurcation will be sent to the AP Assembly by November end and introduced in Parliament during the winter session next month. AVS PASSED AWAY Film actor Amanchi Venkata Subrahmanyam (56), popularly known as AVS, died on 8th November. Debut film: Mister Pellam ( he got State government’s Nandi award for this film) Films produced: Uncle and Ori Ni Prema Bangaaram Kanu Films directed: Super Heroes, Ori Ni Prema Bangaaram Kaanu, Room Mates, Kothimooka
Posted on: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 12:20:29 +0000
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