Thursday, 16th may, 2013

HEADLINES

• India gets observer status in Artic council
• IOC to take India back in olympic fold

NATIONAL NEWS

• India gets observer status in Arcitc council
  • ndia’s bid for observer status in the Arctic Council was successful on Wednesday along with that of five other countries — China, Italy, Japan, South Korea and Singapore — at a meeting in Kiruna, Sweden.
  • India would contribute its scientific expertise, particularly in polar research capabilities, to the work of the Arctic Council to support its objectives.
  • at the level of realpolitik, India will be looking at the opportunities for hydrocarbon exploration offered in the Arctic circle by joining hands with either of the five countries gearing up for the purpose — the US, Canada, Norway, Russia and Denmark.
  • When geography is considered Russia emerges as the most attractive partner. But for that to happen, India will have to take a firm political stand on the Lomonosov Ridge and the Mendeleev Ridge which Russia claims are an extension of its continental shelf. By supporting Moscow’s position, India could get access to the rich deposits and also utilise the North Sea Route
  • Though India has a research station there since 2008, the China has forged ahead in navigating the area with a three month sea voyage in an ice breaker, the first Asian ship to undertake that journey. China is now eyeing new and shorter sea routes, its Polar Research Institute having already made elaborate projections on container traffic and trade.
  • The 60,000 Inuit represented by Aqqaluk Lynge, chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council had appealed to countries like India to be more circumspect in their desire to drill for oil or minerals and demanded that the fate of the indigenous people should not be jeopardized. Already Greenland had given out over 100 mining leases which was a cause of concern for local people.

• North pole drifts east due to climate change
  • Around 2005, accelerated melting of polar ice sheet and mountain glaciers, together with rising sea level, caused the North Pole to drift towards east, marking an “abrupt departure” from the direction recorded over the past century. Accelerated rates of ice melting in Greenland and Antarctica have been observed since 2005-2006 and thus coincide with the abrupt change in polar shift.
  • “When mass is lost in one part of a spinning sphere, its spin axis will tilt directly towards the position of the loss,”
  • The melting ice has also increased the rate of drift from about two milliarcseconds (MAS) per year during the period 1982-2005 to about nine MAS per year post 2005
  • Atmospheric and terrestrial water storage changes have made only a “minor” contribution to the shift in Pole direction and rate.
  • Since earth monitoring using satellites has begun only during the last few years, there is no way of knowing the rate and amount of ice-sheet melting in the past. However, data on polar motion is available, thus making it possible to extrapolate the polar ice-sheet melting in the past.

• New landing permits to woo foreign tourists
  • Close on the heels of liberalising tourist visa on arrival (T-VoA) for people from 11 countries, foreign tourists arriving in groups will be provided collective landing permits as part of a plan to boost their arrivals.
  • Already, the Thiruvananthapuram international airport and the Cochin international airport had been designated as gateways to the country by the Union Government to grant T-VoA to increase tourist arrivals.
  • Foreign tourists in groups of four or more sponsored by the travel agencies approved by the Union Ministry of Tourism and with a pre-drawn itinerary will be provided a collective landing permit for a maximum of 60 days. Multiple entry facilities will also enable them to visit neighbouring countries.

OPINION/EDITORIALS

• Article on the Maldivian controversies
• A nice article on the to – do list for the new law minister
• Must read article on Rajiv awas yojana

BUSINESS

• Inflation indexed bonds to hit market
  • There’s now an alternative avenue for those who were in recent times going in for investment in gold as a hedge against inflation.
  • Inflation Index Bonds (IIBs), as instruments that will protect savings of poor and middle classes from inflation and incentivise household sector to save in financial instruments rather than buy gold
  • The bonds are being launched to discourage investments in gold as whopping imports of the yellow metal has been adversely impacting the country’s current account deficit (CAD), which had widened to a historic high of 6.7 per cent in the third quarter of 2012-13
  • However, the fact remains that while the IIBs are expected to attract those savings which were finding their way to gold investment, analysts feel that speculative investment may not get adequately curbed.This is for the simple reason that while the bonds will insulate the savings from the draconian tax of inflation, they would not provide any returns by way of additional profits as gold has provided during the last decade
  • The government has stated that that the Capital Indexed Bonds (CIBs) have a fixed real coupon rate and a nominal principal value that is adjusted against inflation. Periodic coupon payments are paid on adjusted principal. “Thus, CIBs provide inflation protection to both principal and coupon payment. At maturity, the adjusted principal or the face value, whichever is higher, will be paid.”
  • The IR (index ratio) will be computed by dividing reference index for the settlement date by reference index for the issue date, and the final inflation data based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) will be used for providing inflation protection.