Today,s news from The Hindu
Date April 13,2012
India agrees in principle to allow FDI from Pak
In a development that could open up gates for investments by businessmen and industries on both sides of the border and give a major fillip to bilateral trade, India on Friday said it had been decided "in principle’’ to allow foreign direct investment (FDI) from Pakistan into the country as part of the roadmap to enhance economic engagement between the two nations. Read more
India, Pakistan close to new visa agreement
Businessmen will be given multi-entry visas for more than a year with expanded access
In a development that is likely to bring cheer to
people on both sides of the border, Pakistan's Commerce Secretary Zafar
Mahmood on Thursday indicated that India and Pakistan would, in all
likelihood, announce a new liberal visa regime by next month to
facilitate easy movement of businessmen and give a fillip to trade.
Mr. Mahmood said there were
possibilities that businessmen from both countries would be given
multi-entry visas for more than one year with access to multiple cities.
While Mr. Mahmood did not spell out the specifics, officials said these
visa holders could be exempted from reporting to the police also.
OPINION
The schools are now open
Now that the Supreme Court has upheld the constitutional validity of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, the Centre and the States must do their utmost to provide eight years of good quality schooling to all children. The unsuccessful challenge to the Act, which went into effect on April 1, 2010, came from unaided private school managements who are required to set apart 25 per cent seats for poor children. Private schools that favoured a market-based approach to universalisation — relying on government education vouchers for the poor and filtered entry — failed to make convincing arguments. They are all within the ambit of the law, except for unaided private minority institutions. Rather than view this as a loss of prestige, they must sagaciously open their doors to students of all social strata, and help those from the weaker sections integrate with the others. Read more
Science and Technology
Why April 11 quake was caused by a strike-slip fault
Besides the subduction zone (where the Indian plate dives under the Burmese plate) that lies to the west of Indonesia, the Indian Ocean has a diffused seismicity zone. This zone lies to the west of the subduction zone.The east-west trending zone extends from 80 degree East longitude to around 93 degree East longitude (where the April 11, 2012 quake occurred). The length of the zone is around 1,300 km.Click here, for a PDF version of the graphic presentation on tsunami.There have been seven major earthquakes between 6 and 7.5 magnitude in this region during the last 25 years. The 8.6 magnitude quake of April 11 and the aftershock of 8.2 magnitude should now be added to this list. Read more
Why there was no tsunami
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) initially estimated Wednesday's
earthquake off the west coast of Northern Sumatra, at 8.9 magnitude. But
it was subsequently lowered to 8.7 and then to 8.6. Similarly, the
focus of the quake was first thought to be 33 km from the surface, but
was later changed to 22.9 km.
The signals from a high-magnitude quake flood the nearby earthquake
recording station, leading to an initial estimation of high magnitude.
Click here, for a PDF version of the graphic.
Explaining why tremors were felt in several Indian cities, R.K. Chadha,
Chief Scientist at the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI),
Hyderabad, said: “Tremors are felt at faraway locations due to surface
waves produced by an earthquake. Surface waves cause a lateral movement
of the particles in the earth's medium. The earth behaves like an
elastic medium when seismic waves are travelling.”
Business
Industrial growth slows to 4.1% in February
Showing persistent sluggishness in the economy, industrial growth slowed
to 4.1 per cent in February this year, mainly due to poor performance
of manufacturing sector and consumer goods segment.
Growth in factory output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), was higher at 6.7 per cent in February 2011. Read more
India's Exports cross $300 billion
Braving slowdown in the U.S. and Europe, India’s exports crossed $300
billion in 2011-12, but rising import bill pushed by high crude oil
prices and the country’s obsession with bullion sent the trade deficit
soaring to $185 billion. “I am happy to announce that India’s exports have
crossed USD 300 billion in the last financial year,” Commerce and
Industry Minister Anand Sharma said here.
However, he
also shared his concern over ballooning trade gap as imports shot up by
38 per cent to USD 485 billion for the last fiscal.Mr.
Sharma noted that target of $300 billion was achieved despite lower
export demand from traditional markets and Eurozone crisis as outbound
shipments grew in new markets of Latin America and Africa. Read more
भारती एयरटेल खरीदेगी और 4जी लाइसेंस
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