Brief description and current status of the Upcoming financial legislative initiatives!!

With an eye to growth through economic reforms, the government hopes to introduce at least seven financial legislations that found mention in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's budget speech. Following is a brief description and current status of these bills:  * The Insurance Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2008: Currently, the percentage of foreign holding in insurance companies is capped at 26 percent. This bill raises this limit to 49 percent. It allows for nationalised general insurance companies to raise funds from the capital markets and allows entry of foreign re-insurers. In addition, the bill permits the policyholder to name the beneficiary, while allowing an insurer to decline such a transfer. The bill was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December 2008 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Finance in September 2009. The committee is yet to submit its report.  * Life Insurance Corporation (Amendment) Bill, 2009: It amends the LIC Act, 1956 and proposes an increase in the paid up equity capital of LIC to Rs.100 crore from Rs.5 crore so that it meets the capital requirements as specified by the Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA). Currently, the LIC Act provides for the central government to guarantee the entire amount assured by life insurance policies. The bill permits the central government to determine the extent of the guarantee. It was introduced in the Lok Sabha in July 2009 and was referred to the Standing Committee on Finance, which submitted its report in March 2010.    * The revised Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority Bill: It was first introduced in 2005. The authority was established in 2003 through an executive order but the bill makes it a statutory body. It establishes an authority to develop and regulate the new pension system (NPS), which provides old age income security for all individuals, including those in the unorganised sector and has been operationalised for new central government employees through a notification. It lapsed with the dissolution of the 14th Lok Sabha. The original bill had been examined by the Committee on Finance, which had submitted its report in July 2005.  * Banking Laws Amendment Bill, 2011: This bill seeks to address the capital raising capacity of banks and strengthen the regulatory powers of the Reserve Bank of India. It has been listed for introduction in the budget Session 2011.  * Bill on Factoring and Assignment of Receivables: The bill will create a separate legal framework for provisions of factoring services in the country in order to facilitate increased credit access to the industry. It will also provide for receivable management. This bill has been listed for introduction in the budget session.  * The State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks Laws) Amendment Bill, 2009: It seeks to amend the State Bank of Hyderabad Act, 1956 and the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959. It seeks to amend the acts to reflect the transfer of ownership of the State Bank from the Reserve Bank to the central government. The bill lapsed with the dissolution of the 14th Lok Sabha.  * Bills to amend RDBFI Act 1993 and SARFAESI Act 2002: These two bills seek to strengthen recovery mechanisms available to secured creditors. An additional objective would be to strengthen the securitisation and asset reconstruction market in the country. They are listed for introduction in the budget session. Other legislation that also found mention in Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's budget speech include the Companies Bill, 2009, Direct Taxes Code, 2010 and GST.  * The Companies Bill, 2009 seeks to replace the Companies Act 1956 to change the regulations governing corporate structures and redefine corporate relationships. The Companies Bill, 2008 was drafted along the same lines but lapsed with the dissolution of the 14th Lok Sabha. It provides for a single legal framework to comprehensively integrate principles of corporate governance and harmonise the company law framework. It was introduced in August 2009 and referred to the Standing Committee on Finance, which submitted its report in August 2010. The finance minister indicated that the proposed bill will be introduced in the Lok Sabha in the budget session.  * Direct Taxes Code, 2010: This bill replaces the Income Tax Act, 1961, and seeks to create a new direct taxes framework. The code changes the current income tax slabs for individuals and corporate entities. The bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha in August 2009. The Standing Committee on Finance examined the bill and is likely to table its report in the budget session. * GST: The bill will introduce a goods and services tax to be applicable in all states across the country. This will be done through an amendment to the constitution Source -- Sify News

‘Toy Story 3′ wins best animated feature film Oscar

“Toy Story 3″, the highest grosser of 2010, won the Oscar in the best animated feature film category at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards here.The movie, the third in the “Toy Story” series, made $1.1 billion at the box office - even more than films like Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland”, Christopher Nolan’s “Inception”, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One” and “Shrek Forever After”.

Directed by Lee Unkrich, the movie was nominated in four categories - best animated feature, best adapted screenplay, best original song, and best sound editing for this year’s Oscars.

Aaron Sorkin won his first ever Oscar for adapted screenplay for “The Social Network”, while David Seidler walked away with the golden statuette for best writing, screenplay written directly for the screen for “The King’s Speech” Sunday at Hollywood’s Kodak Theatre.

“The King’s Speech” is about Britain’s King George VI who overcomes his stammering with the help of his speech therapist Lionel Logue.

Libya: Ready for civil war?

The uprising in Libya appears to be growing by the day, and represents the biggest challenge to leader Muammar Gaddafi since he took power in 1969.



The unrest has spread to the capital Tripoli for the first time since protests began and the second largest city of Benghazi is reportedly out of government control.

A major tribe in Libya was reported to have turned against Gaddafi, and a number of Libyan diplomats resigned their posts in protest for using force against demonstrators.

In the regime's first comment on the demonstrations, Seif al-Islam Gaddafi, Muammar Gaddafi's son, appeared on state television on Sunday night offering significant political reforms.

He says that his father will remain in power and is fully backed by the army. Seif al-Islam also vowed that the regime would "fight to the last bullet" against "seditious elements". He put only two choices in front of the people: Either to accept reforms or be ready for civil war.

As thousands of protesters call for Gaddafi to step down, what is behind these latest statements? Will the uprising turn into civil war?


Source-- Al Jazeera

Republic Day awards(2011)

Source--Star Majha

Tejas finally; Defence has much to offer India Inc

The ongoing induction of Tejas, India's indigenously designed and built light combat aircraft, marks a watershed moment for our military hardware capability. Reportedly, India will have a 200-strong fleet of the supersonic jet. The immediate gameplan is to replace the ageing Russian-made MiG-21 fleet, and increase the IAF's squadron strength with a potent strike force.

Present Status

Tejas - positioned as a fourth-generation fighter - developed by the state-run Aeronautical Defence Agency and manufactured by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd with multiple public-private partnerships, has been 27 years in the making. Its development cost has escalated to 6,000 crore, but it's a small fraction of the development costs for similar equipment abroad.

Features

The Indian Tejas is the world's smallest, light weight, multi-role combat aircraft designed to meet the requirements of Indian Air Force as its frontline multi-mission single-seat tactical aircraft to replace the MiG-21 series of aircraft. The delta wing configuration , with no tailplanes or foreplanes, features a single vertical fin. The Tejas is constructed of aluminium-lithium alloys, carbon-fibre composites, and titanium. Tejas integrates modern design concepts and the state-of-art technologies such as relaxed static stability, flyby-wire Flight Control System, Advanced Digital Cockpit, Multi-Mode Radar, Integrated Digital Avionics System, Advanced Composite Material Structures and a Flat Rated Engine.

Seven weapon stations provided on Tejas offer flexibility in the choice of weapons Tejas can carry in various mission roles. Provision of drop tanks and inflight refueling probe ensure extended range and flight endurance of demanding missions. Provisions for the growth of hardware and software in the avionics and flight control system, available in Tejas, ensure to maintain its effectiveness and advantages as a frontline fighter throughout its service life. For maintenance the aircraft has more than five hundred Line Replaceable Units (LRSs), each tested for performance and capability to meet the severe operational conditions to be encountered.

Units involved in its reasearch and production

Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) is the Principal Partner in the design and fabrication of Tejas and its integration leading to flight testing. The Tejas has been designed and developed by a consortium of five aircraft research, design, production and product support organizations pooled by the Bangalore-based Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA), under Department of Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO). Various international aircraft and system manufacturers are also participating in the program with supply of specific equipment, design consultancy and support. For example, GE Aircraft Engines provides the propulsion.

The Tejas is India's second attempt at an indigenous jet fighter design, following the somewhat unsatisfactory HF-24 Marut Ground Attack Fighter built in limited numbers by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited in the 1950s.

The light-weight Tejas, presently powered by American GE-F404 engine, has been developed from the scratch, putting India in the select club of nations, including U.S., Russia, France and Britain.

And by upgrading its stealth capability, it should be possible to catapult Tejas into the select fifth generation international club in the future. In parallel, we need to strategise synergy so that Tejas provides a strong uplift for Saras, the indigenous civil aircraft programme.

What the crtics say !!!!

The operational flight of the Tejas, the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft, has been met with muted applause. New Delhi flags off the same 'Made in India' piece of defence equipment again and again. Every defence minister has declared the Arjun tank ready for deployment. The Tejas has passed its initial operational clearance and will hope to receive final operational clearance in the next 18 months. Even after that, much of its avionics and electronics will still have to be sorted out. The expectation is that it will be a pillar of the military system only a decade more from now. Another source of cynicism is the fact that chunks of the Tejas, including the engine, are imported.

There are many sound arguments as to why India should be spending billions to develop a Tejas fighter, an Arjun tank and a host of variously named missiles. They are not, however, the ones that are being touted in public. Self-reliance in defence, in the sense of being able to wholly manufacture all the key defence platforms, is a myth. It is simply impossible to master all the components and technologies, let alone pay for the research and development costs, of even a single fighter airplane. Even the US imports bits and pieces of its arsenal. Self-reliance in defence needs to be redefined. What it should mean is the development of homegrown manufacturing and technological abilities that ensure that India can be an essential part of various global defence supply chains. It is important that these capacities should have both civilian and defence spin-offs.

Self-reliance also means to be able to use diplomacy to become embedded in global security arrangements that ensure that no country will be in a position to sanction or deny India essential defence equipment. Both of these are feasible thanks to India's present economic stature. But they can only be accomplished if a mindset that treats foreign firms as a necessary evil and gives lip service to private Indian manufacturers is done away with. This will not be easy — the ministry of defence is seen as among New Delhi's more fossilised bureaucracies. India's defence equipment capability should be measured in terms of the quality of its machine tools industry, its precision engineering capability and its ability to generate the sort of software that lies at the heart of all modern defence equipment. If the best fighters around the world depend on even a single Indian component to perform, the country will have done more to ensure the safety of its arms supplies than any aircraft and tank photo opportunities.

No tomatoes for Pak, say Indian exporters

                                                                              

Amritsar: In reply to the termination of supply of onions to India by Pakistan, Indian exporters have decided to stop the supply of tomatoes and other vegetables to Pakistan. Pakistan earlier had stopped trucks bringing onions to India via Atari. Indian exporters say that by doing so Pakistan has broken the agreement and now they have no other option but to terminate supply of vegetables to Pakistan.

The general secretary of the Amritsar Exporters Chamber of Commerce, Rajesh Sethia, and the president of the Dry Fruit Commercial Association, Anil Mehra, said that India has been sending onion, tomato, green chilli, ginger etc to Pakistan and has been receiving items such as dry fruits through Atari.

Now since Pakistan has suddenly stopped supply of onions, as a retaliatory measure, Indian exporters have decided to stop supply of vegetables to Pakistan. All the businessmen have been informed about the decision.  

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is all set to embark on what may be called a 'science yatra' to Mumbai.

MUMBAI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is all set to embark on what may be called a 'science yatra' to Mumbai.

On January 6, three days after inaugurating the Indian Science Congress at Chennai, he will make a brief visit to Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) and visit some of the facilities in the city. His visit takes place against the backdrop of the controversy relating to nuclear liability and the protest against the construction of two new French-assisted atomic reactors at Jaitapur in Ratnagiri district.

The same evening he will present the annual Infosys Prize, which is awarded under the aegis of the Infosys Science Foundation-a not-for-profit trust set up in 2009 by the management of software giant. The award honours the achievements of scientists and researchers in five categories. Each award consists of a cash prize of Rs 50 lakh and a gold medal.

This year, the winners are: Ashutosh Sharma, IIT-Kanpur (engineering and computer sciences); Amita Baviskar, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi (social sciences-sociology); Nandini Sundar, School of Economics Delhi (social sciences, social anthropology); Sandip Trivedi, mathematics department, University of California (physical sciences) and Chandrashekhar Khare, mathematics department, University of California (mathematical sciences).

On January 7, the PM will inaugurate BARC's second power reactor fuel reprocessing plant at the Tarapur Atomic Power Station.

 

BARC officials said the centre built its power reactor fuel reprocessing plant (Prefre) at Tarapur during the mid-70s.