31-12-05

Overseas Citizenship Certificates: The first overseas citizenship certificate will be handed over by the Prime Minister at the fourth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in Hyderabad on January 7. The overseas citizenship will enable a person to avail of all facilities in India except for voting rights, contesting elections and government jobs. There are some criteria for getting overseas citizenship, the main one being that the person should be a citizen of India as on January 26, 1950. He should thereafter have renounced Indian citizenship and migrated to another country to become a citizen of that country. This excludes those from Pakistan and Bangladesh. Family members too are eligible.

Sanskrit University: Gujarat's first Sanskrit University at Somnath will cater to the increased 'demand' for astrology, yoga, Vaastu Shastra and Sanskrit studies. The university may start its academic courses by June 2006. It will offer career-oriented certificate, diploma and postgraduate diploma courses. The Somnath Trust has donated the Junagadh Nawab's 70-acre Summer Palace to the university. The palace will be renovated at a cost of Rs. 4 million.

Most UCBs Are In Good Health: Following the scam at the Madhavpura Mercantile Cooperative Bank (MMCB), the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) at Ahmedabad was asked to survey the 'health' of Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs). Of the 246 UCBs which submitted a response to IIM's questionnaire, 205 were found to be making profits. This is a significant number because it helps to correct the impression that most UCBs are on the verge of closure. The profits range from marginal (Rs. 35,000) to large (Rs. 180 million).

Permanent Devotee Number: Along the lines of the Income Tax Department's Permanent Account Number (PAN), the devotees of Mumbai's Siddhi Vinayak temple may get a Permanent Devotee Number (PDN). The PDN will enable a devotee to book a slot for darshan and thus escape the queue. The temple attracts over 500,000 people on festival days. On paying a fee, a person will have his or her fingerprints scanned and saved on a computerized data base. Bartronics, a Hyderabad based company, is working to develop the system. The Vaishnodevi and Tirupati temples already have such a system in place.

16-12-05

Professional Firms: Three recently passed bills (to regulate cost accountants, chartered accountants and company secretaries) will allow foreign professionals to form partnerships with local partners if the self regulators of the professions in both the countries agree. This will allow domestic professionals to partner with foreign firms overseas. This provision is limited to forming partnerships, and does not extend to practising independently, which is a subject of trade talks under the World Trade Organisation. The ICAI is the self regulator for chartered accountants and the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) is the self-regulator for company secretaries. The bills also allow accounting professionals, company secretaries and lawyers to form multi-disciplinary partnerships to offer many services under the same roof. Accountants and company secretaries will also be allowed to advertise their services in a limited way.

Indian Diaspora Day: The government is considering setting up an exclusive university in India for Persons of Indian Origin (PIO). An announcement to this effect is likely to be made during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, or Indian Diaspora Day conclave, at Hyderabad (January 7-9). The event is likely to attract about 1,500 overseas delegates. The fourth Pravasi Bharatiya Divas will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. President Abdul Kalam will confer the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman to distinguished Indians based overseas at the event. Speakers at the event will include Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Sam Pitroda. Initiatives to be discussed at the meet include creation of special vehicles to facilitate overseas Indians' investments in India, a collaborative research institution, an e-based Indian Diaspora knowledge network and an electronic remittance gateway that to access remittances in desired banks within 24 hours. About 25 million Indians are based overseas in 110 countries.

Australian Scholarship Scheme: Top students from Asian countries, including India, will receive funding to study in Australian Universities under a government scholarship programme worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The scheme will be undertaken under Australia's 'Federal Government Scholarship Programme'. Over 200,000 students from East Asian countries including India are already studying in Australia. This scholarship programme is a new version of the Colombo Plan that brought 20,000 Asian students to Australia between 1951 and 1980. The programme also provides for Australian students to study in Asia.

Non-Metro Airports: The Airports Authority of India will borrow Rs. 50 billion in one or more tranches to build 35 non-metro airports. While the airports authority manages all the airports, it may sell a majority stake in the New Delhi and Mumbai airports to private bidders to fund their expansion.

College Elections: The Indian Supreme Court has constituted a committee headed by former Chief Election Commissioner James Lyngdoh to suggest guidelines to prevent undesired elements from contesting elections in colleges and universities. The committee will focus on avoiding criminalisation of campus polls, financial transparency in funding of candidates and the eligibility criteria for contestants.

14-12-05

Oral Hepatitis B Vaccine: In what could be a totally new approach to tackling Hepatitis B, scientists at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, and Indian biotech company Transgene Biotek Ltd. claim to have developed the world's first oral vaccine for the disease. The scientists said that pre-clinical trials of the oral vaccine have shown it to be much more effective than injections. They are now preparing for the final phase of human trials which will be conducted simultaneously in India and Europe in January 2006. The development is extremely important because the cost will be substantially less since no syringes and vials will be needed. A similar breakthrough has been made in the case of insulin too.

Mobile PCO Booths: Physically challenged persons in Guwahati, Assam, will have the opportunity to run their own mobile PCOs. This self-employment scheme is being supported by the North-East Development Financial Institution(NEDFI) and the Vocational Rehabilitation Centre (VRD). Physically challenged young persons will be given tricycles equipped with mobile PCOs with STD and ISD facilities. This will enable them to earn money and be of great help to people living in remote and inaccessible areas where PCOs are not easily available. One mobile PCO 'van' will cost Rs. 17,000. The additional cost of the commercial sim card will be Rs. 100. The PCO device will have an antenna to catch the satellite signal. Sixty per cent of the daily collection will be paid to BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd.) and the beneficiaries will earn the remaining 40 per cent.

12-12-05

Bengaluru: To mark the launch of Karnataka's golden jubilee year - Suvarna Karnataka - on November 1, 2006, the city of Bangalore will be renamed Bengaluru, to its pre-colonial Kannada name. Maharashtra has already changed the name of Bombay to Mumbai, West Bengal made Calcutta into Kolkata and Tamil Nadu changed Madras to Chennai.

09-12-05

Emergency Contraceptive: E-Pill, an emergency contraceptive pill being promoted by the government, is supposed to be a safe and effective method of preventing unwanted pregnancies even five days after unprotected sex. The pill (Levonorgestrel) will now be available over the counter; a doctor's prescription will not be required. The pills (brand names: EC2, Pill 72, E-Pill, Norlevo) come in a pack of two which costs Rs. 25 to Rs. 30. Two pills have to be taken together as soon as possible within 72 to 120 hours. The e-pill helps in not conceiving; it should not be confused with the abortion pill. According to experts, it can prevent 90 % of pregnancies after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure. The pill is available free in government primary health centres.

07-12-05

Study & Work In Canada: Various provincial governments in Canada have now allowed off-campus work permits for international students. Earlier, students were restricted to work only on campus. Also, a new provision allows them to work in a field related to their study, outside Montreal, Toronto or Vancouver, for up to two years after graduation. The provinces are working out the details. Eligible students must obtain satisfactory grades to receive an off-campus work permit. The permit will be valid until the expiry date of the study permit. International students who have received scholarships from the Canadian International Development Agency, the Canadian Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan or the Government of Canada Awards Programme are not eligible for the off-campus work programme.

Internet User Base: A survey by the Internet And Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) reveals that the internet user base in India has jumped from 25 million in 2004-05 to 38.5 million in 2005-06. The forecast: 100 million by 2007-08. The number of cyber cafes was 18,000 in 2001; it is now 105,350.

05-12-05

India's Retail Sector: It looks as if organised retailing will create a large number of jobs in India, according to a study by Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Retail sales accounted for 10 % of the GDP in 2004, with a market size of $ 207 billion, and the sector is expected to create over two million new direct jobs within the next five years. Currently, most of the top management for big retail chains is being hired from overseas.

Private Schools: Indian parents increasingly seem to prefer private schools for their children. A National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) survey in 1992 found that less than 10 % of students in the 6-14 years age group were enrolled in private institutions. However, now 24 % of the 223 million children in this group are in private schools. The most important reason for this shift seems to be that these private schools promise that they are going to teach English. Other reasons for the shift away from government and government-aided schools: poor infrastructure, teacher absenteeism, low commitment, more distance for the child to travel to reach the school. Exceptions to this trend are West Bengal and Kerala, the states with the highest literacy levels in the country, where government-aided schools cover nearly 70 % of the children aged 6 to 14.

02-12-05

E-Tickets On Buses: The Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation (GSRTC) has begun a pilot project (in the Palanpur Division) to introduce electronic ticketing with the help of a handy electronic device carried by the bus conductor. The objective is to reduce malpractices and facilitate data collection on traffic patterns. The hand-held device weighs 650 grams and prints tickets on a special paper without using ink. The conductor returns his machine to supervisor at the end of his shift, and the data is transferred to computers.

Hotel Complex In Ahmedabad: The Luxembourg-based Capital Tree Group Ltd. Plans to set up Gujarat's largest deluxe hotel complex (at a cost of about Rs. 7500 million) in Ahmedabad. The multi-pronged project, which includes a 242-room hotel, may come up near the airport and on the banks of the Sabarmati river. This will be a joint venture with a local developer. The hotel is expected to be ready by 2008.

Research On Camel's Milk: Tests at the National Research Centre on Camels (NRCC) in Bikaner seem to suggest that camel's milk may be more nutritive than a cow's. It contains higher amounts of vitamin C and immunoglobulins. It may also help to treat Type I Diabetes. The trial results have been received by the Indian Council of Medical Research, which has now given a grant of Rs. 800,000 to the Bikaner Government Medical College to investigate whether camel's milk can treat any other disease.

28-11-05

Haldia Cricket Stadium: West Bengal's second major cricket stadium - after the 141-year-old Eden Gardens - will be built at Haldia, comes nearly 141 years after Eden came into being. The 35,000-seat capacity stadium will be part of a Rs. 600-million 40-acre international sports city complex of the Haldia Development Authority.

British Law Exam In India: Indian lawyers who want to become solicitors of the Supreme Court of England and Wales will no longer have to travel to that country for the eligibility examination - Qualified Lawyers Transfer Test (QLTT). Test centres will soon be opened in New Delhi and Mumbai. Without passing the QLTT, an Indian lawyer can practise only Indian law in England, but cannot take up matters reserved for solicitors. The tests will be conducted twice a year for a fee of about Rs. 22,000.

Stem Cell Research Centre: India's Department of Biotechnology is helping to set up a stem cell research centre at the Christian Medical College, Vellore. Costing Rs. 150 million, the center will focus on the use of bone-marrow and cord blood derived adult stem cells for the treatment of a variety of diseases. Care will be taken to ensure that these cells were processed according to international guidelines before human use.

Opportunities In Congo: The Congo government has invited Indians to invest in that country in agriculture, processed food industry, forests, energy, tourism, mining and pharmaceuticals. Congo has 22 million hectares of tropical forest and this was not fully exploited. Congo also offers investment opportunities in the petroleum sector; out of 14 million tonnes of production, 13 million tones are exported since its indigenous refining capacity is only one million tonnes. The country can produce 2000 MW of electricity, but only 100 MW is produced.

24-11-05

Put Your Face On A Stamp: You may be able to use your photograph in an Indian postage stamp by paying a little extra. The Department of Posts plans to offer a 'customised' stamp facility to celebrate 150 years of postal service. The software for the customised stamp is under trial. Such a facility, introduced in Australia in 1919, is now available in 38 countries. Conditions will apply, of course. For instance, wanted criminals will not be permitted to use this facility. The postal department also proposes to allow company logos on postal stationary.

Maps For The Lay Person: The National Institute of Design (NID) at Ahmedabad may set up an Institute for Digital Visualisation in Gandhinagar. Coordinating with the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Surveyor General of India, Dehradun, and the Survey Training Institute, Hyderabad, NID proposes to start a new course to blend technology with design and make maps very simple and vibrant. If physical and regional maps are made simpler and compact then lay persons masses will be able to use them in an effective manner for better information. NID also plans to introduce India's first postgraduate programme in Transportation and Automobile Design in January 2006. A special course in jewellery design is also being considered.

Vegetarian Cheese: Did you know that India is the world's largest producer of vegetarian cheese? India's Amul is now the biggest brand for vegetarian cheese. Vegetarian cheeses use rennet from either fungal or bacterial sources, unlike cheeses that use animal-derived rennet. Amul exports cheese to the Middle East, USA, Singapore, Hong Kong, and countries like Bhutan, Nepal and Sri Lanka. Its main customers abroad are NRIs.

23-11-05

Foreign Exchange Remittances: A World Bank study reveals that developing countries gain immensely when their workforce migrates and remits foreign exchange. Remittances, worldwide, were in excess of $ 232 billion in 2005. India received about 10 % of the amount ($ 21.7 billion). China was second ($ 21.3 billon), followed by Mexico ($ 18.1 billion), France ($ 12.7 billion), and the Philippines ($ 11.6 billion). Remittances through informal channels could add 50 % to the official estimate. Remittances are the largest source of external capital in many developing countries. NRI remittances account for over four times the foreign direct investment in India, at about $ 5 billion last year.

05-11-05

Nutritional Candy: Canada-based NGO Micronutrient Initiative (MI) and the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) will give millions of poor children (aged 3 to 6 years), who get food from school, a nutritional candy that will help make up their iron and vitamin deficiencies. The full-dose candy will contain 1,000 international units of Vitamin A, 14 mg of Iron, 20 mg of Vitamin C, 50 mg of Folic Acid and three mg of sugar. MI plans to add Zinc to the candy which will help improve the immunity system of these children. Over 14 million poor children from 12 states will be given the lemon-flavoured candy. The candy, with half a dose of Vitamin C, A, Folic Acid and Iron was tried on five million children initially in four states. Results showed that deficiencies came down substantially. The nutrition candy is a supplement, not a replacement for nutritional food. Vitamin A deficiency kills 330,000 children a year in India.

Egg For Diabetics: Punjab University has applied for a patent for an egg that is a dietary supplement for diabetics. Developed by Prof. S.K. Taneja of the department of zoology, the egg is claimed to reduce the absorption rate of nutrients and restore the mineral composition of body cells in diabetics so as to reduce the severity of the disease.

Indigenous Warship: At the Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers (GRSE), Kolkata, construction has begun of India's first indigenously built anti-submarine warship with stealth technology. It is a 25,000-tonne corvette armed with stealth-mounted guns. The structure of the ship will cut down noise drastically to prevent it from getting detected by enemy submarines. But it will be able to detect an enemy submarine from a distance and destroy it.

Cellphone Directories: India's intelligence agencies are suggesting that cellular operators must be compelled to publish directories of mobile-phone users. The idea is to deter terrorists who freely use mobile phones. If the cellular operators put the directory on their websites, it would be easier for the agencies to keep track of the users. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) feels that this violates the privacy of their 60 million customers.

Spending By Urban Indians: A 'Wallet Study' undertaken by IMRB International and the UK-based Henley Centre reveals that the emerging Indian consumer enjoys spending his money on entertainment and self-indulgence. The 'Wallet Monitor' studied the pattern of spending in the country's urban households and accessed 12,180 homes across 67 sample towns to collect the data. Some findings:

... The largest proportion of household expenses goes for groceries (32 %), and 13 % for payment to public utilities like electricity as well as for fuel and laundry.
... Personal grooming and entertainment account for 17 % of household expenditure.
... The average Mumbaikar spends 14 % on entertainment, the Bangalorean spends 13 %.
... The urban Indian saves and invests 10 % of his monthly income.
... Among the metros, Kolkata tops in spends on groceries (37 %), while Bangalore spends the least (20 %).
... In terms of investment, Delhi is the highest at 21 % while Chennai is the lowest at 5 %.
... As far as expenditure on personal grooming is concerned, Hyderabad leads at 10 %.
... Chennai spends the highest on children (11 %).

Test of  'Britishness': The United Kingdom has introduced a compulsory citizenship test for immigrants. The 45-minute test quizzes potential Britons on aspects related the country's society, history and culture. The British government feels that it is only right that naturalised British citizens meet some minimum requirements on English language proficiency, cultural awareness and knowledge of British government practices. The test will be followed by a formal citizenship ceremony. The number of people acquiring UK citizenship touched 141,000 in 2004.

17-10-05

Solar Refrigerator: About 80,000 villages have erratic electricity supply, or no supply at all. In such areas, the storage of temperature sensitive materials such as drugs and vaccines becomes difficult. The Sardar Patel Renewable Energy Research Institute (SPRERI) at Anand has developed a solar refrigerator for health units in such villages. Conventional refrigerators usually run on 230-volts AC power supply; the SPRERI unit runs on a DC compressor (imported from Germany) powered by solar cell operated batteries. This unit has 'a no-sun autonomy' of up to 4 days. The solar cells have a life of 20 to 30 years. The SPRERI refrigerator will be commercially available for about Rs. 100,000.

01-10-05

How To Pay For Online Buying: People have become used to ordering goods and services on the net, but one hurdle for many is the requirement to have a credit card and also feed in the 16-digit credit card number. India's postal department is attempting to solve the problem. It may soon launch a system through which orders can be placed online and payments can be made at the nearest post office. The goods will then be delivered at the customer's doorstep. The postal department can use the country's network of 154,000 post offices.

Low-Cost Mobile Phone: Royal Philips Electronics is working on a low-cost mobile handset for India that may sell for Rs. 1,000. A similar product is available in China at about $25. With the chip set and software ready, talks are on with Indian companies for licensing). Philips also plans to introduce cost-efficient LCD TVs in the Indian market next year.

Giant Wakes Up: India's postal department has suffered a massive drop in revenue thanks to the increasing use of the Internet and courier services. However, it has a large and countrywide infrastructure and its huge workforce is trusted by the average Indian. With post offices in every part of the country (Gujarat alone has 9000 post offices) and thousands of employees (next only to the Railways and the Army), the department is now re-deploying its infrastructure to provide other services too. Some innovations:
Logistic Post Service: Started between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. Competes with private courier and cargo companies.
Retail Post: Post office premises may be used by private companies to sell their products on a commission.
Conducting Surveys: The department is using its postmen to carry out surveys for government and private firms. For instance, it conducted a survey to estimate cable TV connections in Ahmedabad. Cable television operators have to pay Rs. 6 per month per connection as entertainment tax. So there is a tendency to not fully report the number of connections. The Ahmedabad district collectorate assigned the job of finding out the actual number of cable connections in three areas of the city on a pilot basis to the Postal Department; this was after an apparently compromised survey carried out by a private agency. While the private agency threw up the figure of 7,000 connections, the Postal Department survey revealed that the figure was at least 30,000! The collectorate estimates that the district may have about 600,000 cable connections, whereas the private agencies report only 150,000. The Postal Department conducted the survey with the help of postmen. Postmen have access to households in all areas, and people trust them and do not hesitate in giving them any information.

India's Wealthy People: The National Council of Applied Economic Research recently conducted a survey on India's rich. Some of the findings:
... India has 20,000 crorepati households, half of them in Delhi and Mumbai.
... Kolkata has more crorepati households than Bangalore and Hyderabad put together.
... 180 households of every million households in Kolkata are crorepati compared with 113 for every million in Bangalore.
... Rural India has a larger crorepati density than urban India.
... In Haryana the number of rural households with annual incomes above Rs. 1 crore is more than the number of crorepati urban homes.
... 350 of every million households in small towns have a Rs. 1-crore-plus annual income, considerably higher than the proportion even in metros like Kolkata, Bangalore and Hyderabad.
... A quarter of all car loans are taken by households that do not live in India's 20 biggest cities.
... Delhi is the only metro where more than half of all homes have annual incomes above Rs. 200,000.
... Delhi's average annual household income at Rs. 279,000 is above Mumbai's Rs. 195,000, Chennai's Rs. 174,000 or Kolkata's Rs. 149,000.

Shopping Malls: The number of shopping malls in India may increase to 358 by the end of 2007, according to a study. There are now a total of 96 operational malls in India, with a total built-up area of 21.6 million sq ft. The number will rise to 158 malls by the end of the current year. The retail industry in India is currently estimated at $205 billion, it is likely to touch $8 billion by 2005 and $24 billion by 2010. The fast growing middle-class population, the rise in the women workforce and increasing consumerism are the major causes behind the demand in the retail sector.

Auto Research Institute: The Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, plans to set up an automobile research centre in partnership with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). It may be funded by a consortium of partners: Mahindra & Mahindra, Bajaj Auto, Bharat Forge and Tata Motors. It will be able to take up jobs in automobile engineering and design. CII is taking up the initiative to promote India as a global hub for the manufacture of auto components. There are many automobile units in Mumbai-Pune belt.

26-09-05

Incentives For Single Girl Child: In order to encourage population control and also correct the male-female sex ratio, the Indian government will waive fees and give scholarships to all girls from single-child families right up to the postgraduate level. This measure will apply from the next academic session in all non-professional courses. The scheme will include all families with a single girl child, irrespective of income groups. It will start from the senior school level, providing Rs. 800 per month as scholarship to the girl. Her fees too will be exempted. The scholarship will be raised to Rs. 1,000 per month for undergraduate courses and Rs. 2,000 per month for postgraduate courses. Students who get this scholarship will not be barred from other scholarships.

Two-Kid Norm For Candidates: When Gujarat's civic bodies go to the polls next month, those whose third child was born after March 23, 2005, will not be eligible to contest. This was the date when the two-child norm came into force. The nomination forms issued by the collectorate for the elections will have a clause barring those having more than two children from contesting the municipal polls.

10-09-05

OTC Emergency Contraceptive Pill: Over-the-counter (OTC) sale of emergency contraceptive (EC) pills, which prevent pregnancy in case of unprotected sexual exposure, has now been permitted in India. This step makes the EC pill easily available to women. Pregnancy can be prevented in situations such as unprotected sexual exposure, contraceptive accident or forced sex. There was a need for emergency contraception because a lot of women in India die during unsafe abortions and a number of them go through unwanted pregnancies. These pills, which have been available on medical prescription since 2001, are to be taken within three days of sexual exposure. The method can prevent pregnancy in 95 per cent of cases. However, this is only a one-time method and is not a replacement for regular contraceptive methods.

India Among Favoured Destinations: The latest Conde Nast Readers' Travel Awards survey reveals that India is the fifth most favoured destination for overseas holidayers, the first four being New Zealand, Thailand, Australia and Italy. India was rated high highly for its hospitality facilities (spas and hotels), New Zealand for scenery, environmental friendliness and safety, Italy and France for food, USA for the variety of attractions and Sri Lanka as the 'best value for money'. None of the Indian cities was included in the list of Top 20 Cities.

09-09-05

Erasmus Mundus Scholarships: With the European Union extending the Erasmus Mundus Scholarships programme to India, 35 masters courses will be accessible to Indian students in the European Union. The first batch of 133 Indians will travel to different universities in Europe in October. The total number of scholarships under the programme every year is about 1,000. The Erasmus programme is intended to open up European academic centres of excellence to Indians as an attractive learning destination.

ABN Contracts For TCS & Infosys: Dutch banking giant ABN Amro handed out five-year contracts totalling $400 million to TCS ($ 260 million) and Infosys Technologies ($140 million). Both companies will develop, support and work on application enhancements for the bank in several countries. Patni Computer and Accenture have been selected by ABN Amro as preferred partners for application development. ABN Amro will reduce its IT staff from 5,000 full-timers to 1,800. About 2,000 will be transferred to IT vendors, mainly IBM. The bank expects savings of $335million per year from 2007.

Dress Code For Orissa's Colleges: Orissa will enforce a 'uniform dress code' in all colleges, thus becoming the first state in India to bar girls from wearing sleeveless tops, tight jeans, etc. About 500 government and state-funded colleges have been identified to introduce the dress code for students by February 2006. There are 1,900 colleges in the state with an estimated strength of 250,000 students. The dress code will apply to teachers too.

07-09-05

Migration To Ireland: The Irish government is considering a permanent migration system to select potential future citizens and workers. It may also introduce a scheme to allow temporary skilled labour migration based on sponsorship by employers. New legislation may also permit economic migration for the purpose of setting up businesses. By 2010 Ireland may need 420,000 new workers, many of which may be immigrants. In such a scenario, the emphasis is on attracting skilled persons to Ireland.

More Mobiles In Gujarat: It is projected that one out of every ten persons in Gujarat's population of 50 million will soon have a mobile telephone. Mobile services will be available in 600 towns and 15,000 villages. Already 4.18 million persons in Gujarat are hooked on to mobile phones. The higher penetration of 8.2 % in Gujarat (the national average is 5.5 %) is attributed to higher incomes and awareness. The six mobile operators - Hutch, Airtel, Idea, BSNL, Reliance Infocomm and Tata Teleservices - have increased their subscriber base to touch 4.18 million. The total for landlines is merely 3.13 million.

06-09-05

Step Into My Parlour: The Defence Research and Development Establishment (DRDE) at Gwalior have experimented with a formulation to attract mosquitoes to a specific place and then kill them and the larvae. Pheromone, a powerful sex attractant is sprayed on stagnant water to attract female mosquitoes. A larvicide, which is mixed with the pheromone, instantly kills the mosquitoes and the larvae. Defence scientists are also working on anti-malarial kits that may be able to reduce the cost of treatment.

New UAE Visa: United Arab Emirates has introduced the 'Mission Entry Permit' (MEP) system or Mission Visa for skilled professionals looking for temporary jobs in the Emirates. The MEP system will allow foreign professionals to spend six months in UAE for their work, after which they can apply for a job. This will help recruiters in the UAE who want to hire temporary foreign workers without breaking the law.

Sania Moves Ahead Of Sehwag: Tennis star Sania Mirza's endorsement fee is now over Rs. 15 million, per endorsement, per deal, annually. Among sportspersons, that takes her ahead of Sehwag and Ganguly, and alongside Rahul Dravid. She is still far behind Sachin Tendulkar, who still makes Rs. 60 million per endorsement.

Madhapar's NRI Deposits: Madhapar village in Gujarat's Kutch district is considered to be among Asia's richest villages - it has deposits of Rs. 18 billion in its banks. Its population is only 15,000, so the deposit per person is Rs. 1.2 million. This is the result of foreign remittances by Madhapar's NRIs in Africa, the Gulf countries, UK and USA. Ten nationalised bank branches in the village have Rs. 9 billion in deposits, and the remaining Rs. 9 billion are with post office accounts.

27-08-05

Capsicum In Kutch: Girija Sharan, a professor at Indian Institute of Management (Ahmedabad) recently won the World Bank's Global Development Marketplace award (prize money $150,000) in recognition of his innovative approach to doubling agriculture yield in spite of using only half the required amount of water. In Kothara village of arid Kutch, a greenhouse cooled by his 'earth tube heat exchanger' (ETHE) yields tomatoes and capsicum, which this area had not grown earlier. Sharan's 'Arid Area Greenhouse' project was the winner among 2,600 projects submitted from 38 countries. The technology developed by him works under adverse conditions: extreme heat, low rains, poor quality of water and salt affected soil. Developing the greenhouse, along with the ETHE, costs Rs. 1,000 per square metre; with the yield and water saving, the investment can be recovered in about 50 months. And two crops a year can be cultivated, a feat hitherto impossible in this district.

26-08-05

Helmets From September: The Gujarat government has issued a notification making it mandatory for two-wheeler riders to wear ISI-marked helmets from September 1, 2005. Women and children below 12 years, travelling as pillion riders, have been exempted. There are 5 million two-wheelers in the state; nearly 10 million helmets will be needed to enforce the order. Violators will be fined Rs. 50, and the may increase the penalty to Rs. 500.

Payment In Dollars: The Reserve Bank of India has said that there is no instruction in force that makes it obligatory for non-residents to make payments in foreign exchange to hotels. Any insistence on payment in foreign exchange is not consistent with the current foreign exchange regulations. A large number of government undertakings that regulate tourist traffic in historic monuments insist on foreigners paying in dollars (at the Taj Mahal a foreigner pays much more than an Indian resident). Also, many healthcare service providers have separate tariffs for foreigners. The RBI statement does not mention what help is available to the tourist who is forced to pay in dollars.

01-08-05

08-04-05

Students Design Voting System: Three students of the PVG college of Engineering & Technology at Pune have designed ‘Vote India’, a new electoral system for the country. They have already filed for a patent for their design and plan to demonstrate its use in June 2005. They have filed for specifics and not the concept. They want to create a voter list based on biometric authentication (fingerprinting, iris scan or both). The thumb prints or iris scans will be collected by mobile vans and stored centrally. Using both wired and wireless technologies, this database will be accessed at any of the regular polling booths or mobile vans or kiosks set up at convenient public places. Instead of pressing the button, voters will select their candidate with a mouse. The system can reach the remotest locations and also connect voters away on holiday or work. The same database can be used for Lok Sabha, municipal or co-operative elections. The students are confident it will work. Six hundred million iris scans or fingerprints will be needed.

Marriage Statistics: Census 2001 data reveals some sad facts:
... 6.4 million Indians below 18 are married.
... Going by the legal marriageable age (18 for females and 21 for males), 4.9 million females and 6.9 million males married underage.
... As many as 130,000 girls under 18 are widowed and another 56,000 have been divorced or separated.
... Among men under 21, 90,000 have lost their wives and more than 75,000 have seen their marriages break up.
... Among those enumerated as married at the time of the Census, women outnumbered men by about 5 million. Since monogamous marriages would mean exactly the same number of married men and women, this is obvious evidence of polygamy. There could be up to 10 million Indian women living in bigamous marriages.
... In Rajasthan roughly one in every 18 people below the legal age of marriage is already married. Only 1 in 123 people below the legal age is married in Kerala.

Nokia’s India Plant: Mobile phone maker Nokia will set up its first Indian manufacturing unit near Chennai at a cost of $125 million. At present Nokia’s nine plants worldwide turn out 200 million handsets a year. The Chennai plant, with a capacity of 15 to 20 million phones per year, will be spread over 210 acres. India currently has 53 million mobile connections and this figure is expected to rise to 200 million over the next four years.

17-03-05

Foodgrain Leakage: The Planning Commission's programme evaluation division has realised that in 2003-04 over 50 % of the foodgrain for persons below the poverty line may in fact have been pilfered along the way. Thus, Rs. 41.23 billion of subsidy for the Targeted Public Distribution Scheme (TPDS) went down the drain. The commission surveyed 3,600 households in 18 states. The maximum leakages were in Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. More than 20 % of the people above the poverty line were getting benefits meant for the poor in states like Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu.

Land Record Computerisation: West Bengal’s land and land reforms department has begun a massive digitisation project to speed up its land management system and make it as simple and fast as in Japan. It will computerize all land records in the state - 36.7 million plots in 42,000 villages, covering 89,000 square kms. The Union rural development ministry has been requested to provide Rs. 200 million for the project. Computerisation has already been done of all text records in land deeds, including size of plots, their value, the pattern of ownership, the type of land and its use. Some 66,000 sheets, which map the entire state with an accuracy ratio of 1:2,960, will be scanned and vectorised.

Billionaire’s Club: In the Forbes list of the world's billionaires India ranks 8th in terms of the number of billionaires and 9th in terms of the total wealth of the super rich. However, the average Indian billionaire's wealth is equivalent to almost 9 million times the country's per capita GDP. The average Norwegian billionaire's wealth is only about 42,000 times his country's per capita GDP and for most of western Europe, the figure is either in tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands. Outside the OECD, only Russia (27 billionaires) and Hong Kong (15) have more in the billion club than India. India has the lowest per capita GDP ($571) of all the countries in the list, Indonesia and Philippines being the only others with per capita GDPs of under $1,000. Norway has a per capita GDP of $49,000.

Crorepati Cars: With India getting to be the second fastest growing car market in Asia, Ford's Premier Automotive Group (PAG) is bringing the Jaguar to the country. The list of crorepati cars - cars that cost over Rs. 10 million - will grow; it includes Mercedes Maybach, Bentley Arngae R, Continental GT Coupe, BMW, Rolls Royce, and Ferrari. Ford is identifying potential dealers for the Jaguar. The car is likely to be available by end 2005.

15-03-05

Indians in London: Indian-owned businesses account for five per cent of the city's economy. This information is contained in a report titled ‘Indian Communities in London' released by Think London, an inward investment agency for the city. One in every ten people in London originates from the Indian subcontinent. London attracts half of all Indian investment into Europe. More Indian corporates are listed on the London Stock Exchange than the entire NYSE and NASDAQ combined. These include the State Bank of India, Bajaj Auto, Gail (India), Reliance Energy, Raymond, Ashok Leyland, ACC and East India Hotels. London has been a popular destination for Indians since the beginning of the 17th century. Currently home to 173,000 nationals from India, London accounts for over a third of the resident Indian population in the UK. With the British born people of Indian origin included, this figure jumps to 437,000, accounting for six per cent of London's population. Flight routes from India to London are UK's busiest, with over 60 flights a week to and from nine Indian cities. Nearly 4000 of 16000 students from India in the UK are currently studying in London.

14-03-05

ATIRA Develops Chitosan: Ahmedabad Textile Industry Research Association (ATIRA) has developed a compound - Chitosan - that stops bleeding within seconds and heals wounds faster under a project sponsored by Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO). ATIRA made Chitosan from the shells of prawns, crabs and other crustaceous animals. It plans to use the material to make a bandage that heals wounds faster than conventional bandages. Chitosan has been known to have antibacterial and anti-fungal properties and bandages coated with it block protein sequencing of bacteria and stops its growth. Similar work is also on in other countries (Chitosan was approved by the US Army some time back). Five kg of shells yield only 50 gms of Chitosan since 80 per cent of the shell composition is water that evaporates when heated.

Unusual Legal Victory: How’s this for a legal victory? Sculptor Amarnath Sehgal has sold many of his sculptures to the Government of India and his work adorns many public places. He recently complained to the court that the government did not adequately look after some of his work. He sued the government for destroying his works of art and demanded compensation. The government maintained that because it had paid him for his work it was the owner and free to do what it wanted with the pieces. Believe it or not, the government argument was not accepted and Sehgal was awarded compensation.

09-03-05