India, South Africa trade can reach $15 billion by 2015: Pratibha Patil

President Pratibha Patil said she is confident that trade between India and South Africa will reach USD 15 billion by 2015 as the two have become important trading partners.

Patil and South African President Jacob Zuma appreciated businesses in both the countries for having reached the earlier target of USD 10 billion by 2012, a year ahead of the schedule.

Meanwhile, the two sides also called for various steps to facilitate business including easier visa regime for Indian ICT companies and greater transparency for South African businesses in the Indian market.

Minister of State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot, who is accompanying patil, called for a change in the South African visa regime to allow easier entry. He said Indian ICT companies consider Africa as an important market.

Japan closes last nuclear reactor in Tomari

Japan is switching off its last working nuclear reactor, as part of the safety drive since the March 2011 tsunami triggered a meltdown at the Fukushima plant.

The third reactor at the Tomari plant, in Hokkaido prefecture, is shutting down for routine maintenance.

It leaves Japan without energy from atomic power for the first time for more than 40 years.

Until last year, Japan got 30% of its power from nuclear energy.

Hundreds of people marched through Tokyo, waving banners to celebrate what they hope will be the end of nuclear power in Japan.

U.S.-Japan deal withdraws 9,000 Marines from Okinawa

Thousands of Marines and their families will be transferred off Okinawa under an agreement that will reduce the American military footprint in Japan, U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta said late Thursday.
Under the agreement, some 9,000 Marines belonging to the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force will be moved off Okinawa, with roughly half being reassigned to bases in Guam, according to a joint statement released by the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee.
"I am very pleased that, after many years, we have reached this important agreement and plan of action," Panetta said.

Government pension scheme for Indians abroad

The Indian government is promoting a new Pension and Life Insurance Fund (PILF) scheme in a bid to provide financial security to poor Indians working abroad.

Indian embassies have been told to help those wanting to subscribe to PILF, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi said here while launching the pilot scheme Tuesday.

Facebook IPO may increase Mark Zuckerberg's wealth by $18.6 billion

Facebook Inc's initial public offering will vastly increase the wealth of its 27-year-old co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, leaving him with over $1 billion in cash and stocks worth $17.6 billion.

In a filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Facebook said it will sell 337.41 million shares and the initial public offering (IPO) price will be between $28 and $35 per share.

At this range, the company will be valued at between $77 billion and $96 billion.

Zuckerberg, who held a total of 533.8 million shares, would sell 30.2 million shares garnering about $1.05 billion in cash at the high end of the range. His remaining 504 million shares will make him worth $17.6 billion if Facebook hits the top of its IPO range.

April 2012 Persons

JIM YONG KING- The World Bank on 16 April 2012 appointed Korean-born American health expert Jim Yong Kim as its new president. He succeeded Robert Zoellick as the head of World Bank.

NKP SALVE- Former BCCI president and former Union Minister and former BCCI president, NKP Salve passed away on 1 April 2012 in New Delhi. He had been the president of the BCCI when India won the World Cup in 1983. He had joined the central cabinet in 1982 under Indira leadership.

March 2012 Persons

Shyamala Gopinath-Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) on 29 March 2012 appointed Shyamala Gopinath as the Chairperson of the Advisory Board on Bank, Commercial and Financial Frauds. Gopinath, a former Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor, will hold the position for two years, effective from 26 March 2012. The Board is part of the organisational set-up of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is providing the required investigative and secretarial services, along with necessary funds, by the RBI.

Nansy Powell-The US Senate on 30 March 2012 confirmed career diplomat Nancy Powell as ambassador to India. The position had remained vacant for the past year following the resignation of Timothy Roemer. Powell had previously served as US envoy in Pakistan and Nepal and currently holds the prestigious rank of career ambassador.

February 2012 Persons

Whitney Houston -Singer and actress died ,on 11 February 2012 in a Beverly Hills hotel room California. She was the winner of six Grammy Awards including record of the year for “ I Will Always Love You “ and album of the year for The Bodyguard. Houston was the only artist to have seven consecutive No. 1 singles on Billboard magazine’s pop chart.

Anthony Shadid -New York Times’ forign correspondent and a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, died in eastern Syria on 16 February 2012 after having suffered a severe asthma attack. He has been covered nearly two decades of Middle East conflict and turmoil.At the time of his death, Shadid was on a reporting inside Syria.

Akhlaq Mohammad Khan -Renowned Urdu poet and noted lyricist of Umrao Jaan, passed away in Aligarh on 13 February 2012. Khan who wrote under the pen name Shahryar had received the Jnanpith Award for 2008.

January 2012 Persons

C. Jagannatha Rao- Senior congress leader and former Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh died of a heart attack in Secunderabad on 23 January 2012. Jagannatha Rao served as deputy Chief Minister in the Cabinet of Bhavanam Venkatram in 1982.

Laura Dekker- the 16 year old dutch girl, on 21 January 2012 became the youngest sailor to complete a solo circumnavigation of the world.

Siddharth Varadarajan –succeded N. Ram as the Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of The Hindu, Business Line , Frontline , and Sportstar.

April 2012 Science and Technology

India on 26 April 2012 launched its first indigenous all-weather Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-1). The satellite, whose images will facilitate agriculture and disaster management, was launched successfully on board the PSLV-C19 from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh. The newly launched satellite can capture images of the earth during day and night as well as in cloudy conditions. Besides use in the agriculture sector, RISAT-1 could also be used to keep round-the-clock vigil on the country's borders, but this satellite would not be used for defence applications as RISAT-2, primarily a spy spacecraft, is already doing that job. The RISAT – 1 Launch is the 20th successive successful flight of PSLV. India in April 2009 had launched an imported Radar Imaging Satellite (RISAT-2) with all weather capability. The satellite was bought from Israel for 110 million dollar largely for surveillance purposes.

March 2012 Science and Technology

A NASA spacecraft, Messenger in the last week of March 2012 discovered further evidence for the existence of water ice at Mercury's poles. NASA’s previous work revealed patches near Mercury's poles that strongly reflect radar, a characteristic of ice. Messenger is only the second spacecraft, after Mariner 10 in the 1970s, to have visited the Mercury, which is the innermost planet in Solar system. The National Green Tribunal on 30 March 2012 suspended the environmental clearance granted to Posco's mega steel project in Orissa in January 2011. The tribunal comprising Justice C V Ramulu and D. K. Agarwal held that the clearance given to Posco's mega steel project in Jagatsinghpur district of Orissa will remain suspended till the environment ministry reviews it afresh.

February 2012 Science and Technology

Researchers at the Harvard Smithsonian centre for Astrophysics discovered that the planet GJ1214b was largely covered in water. They used Hubble Space Telescope to discover the water on planet. GJ1214b was discovered in 2009 by the ground-based MEarth Project. GJ1214b was described as a super-Earth.

India's indigenously developed micro-light pilot-less target aircraft(PTA) Lakshya-1 was successfully test flown from the Integrated Test Range at Chandipur near Balasore on 8 February 2012. Lakshya , a sub-sonic, re-usable aerial target system is remote controlled from the ground and designed to impart training to both air borne and air defence pilots. The PTA has been developed by India’s Aeronautic Development Establishment (ADE), Bangalore to perform discreet aerial reconnaissance of battle field and target acquisition.

A new study claimed that the theory proposed by Charles Darwin on life's origin was correct. Darwin proposed that the life originated on land in a pond and not in the oceans. The study held by the researchers at the Osnabruck university in Germany found that the first primitive cells might have originated in pools of condensed vapour. This was caused by underground hot water.The scientists discovered that the oceans did not contain the best balance of ingredients to support life.

DRDO on 10 February 2012 conducted a successful test launch of the interceptor missile. DRDO’s Air Defence Missile AAD-05 successfully hit the ballistic missile and destroyed it at a height of 15 kms off the Coast of Orissa near the Wheelers Island.

Astronomers found the fourth habitable planet outside our solar system called GJ667C. The planet is 22 light years from Earth. The newly found planet is rocky in nature. It orbits its star every 28.15 days.

January 2012 Science & Technology

The prestigious 99th Indian Science Congress was inaugurated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at KIIT University Bhuwaneswar, Odisa. Noted scientist Geetha Bali, vice chancellor of Karnataka State Women's University, will preside over the event, being held on the theme of 'Science and Technology for Inclusive Innovation - Role of Women'. KIIT University and National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER) are jointly hosting the event, which will also feature the Children’s Science Congress and Women Science Congress. Former president APJ Abdul Kalam will inaugurate the Children’s Science Congress, while Nirupama Rao, India’s ambassador to United States of America, will inaugurate the Women’s Science Congress. Prime Minister announced that 2010-20 decade would be declared as ‘Decade of Innovation”.

April 2012 Economic Affairs

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on 27 April 2012 lowered India’s growth projection to 6.9 per cent for 2012. The multilateral agency in January projected Indian economy to grow to by 7 per cent for 2012. The slashed growth projection is broadly attributed to the country’s poor performance on the front of economic reforms and slowing investment.

Standard & Poor's downgraded credit rating outlook for India to negative from stable on 25 April 2012. The cut in credit rating is the reflection of India's widening fiscal and current account deficits. India’s fiscal deficit widened to 5.9% of gross domestic product in the fiscal year 2011-12, which is higher than the government's target of 4.6%. The country is performing equally bad on the front of foreign institutional investment as it witnessed a sharp decline in the FII over the past few months. India has drawn nearly 171.8 million dollar FII so far in April 2012 against more than 5 billion dollar in February 2012.The credit rating downgrading indicates that the government will now have to contemplate seriously over the long-pending economic reforms and push them through as soon as possible.

March 2012 Economic Affairs

The R B I on 26 March 2012 restructured the fair practices code (FPC) to be adopted by non-banking finance companies (NBFCs) while doing lending business. The guidelines issued by the central bank covered general principles on adequate disclosures on the terms and conditions of a loan and also adopting a non-coercive recovery method. The modified FPC is required to be put in place by all NBFCs with the approval of their boards within one month from the date of issue of this circular (26 March 2012). Also RBI directed that the FPC should be published on the web-site of the company for public information. The NBFCs were directed not to resort to undue harassment such as persistently bothering the borrowers at odd hours and use of muscle power with respect to loan recovery. In 2006, the RBI had issued FPC norms for all NBFCs to be adopted by them while doing the lending business

February 2012 Economic Affairs

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) panel on priority sector lending headed by M. V. Nair, Chairman, Union Bank of India ,on 21 February 2012 proposed increment in the target (priority sector) for foreign banks to 40% of net bank credit from the current level of 32 per cent with sub-targets of 15 per cent for exports and 15 per cent for the MSE sector. The target of domestic scheduled commercial banks for lending to the priority sector is to be retained at 40 per cent of net bank credit.

January 2012 Economic Affairs

The Union government on 31 January 2012 revised the economic growth rate for 2010-2011 financial year to 8.4 percent in comparison to the previous estimate of 8.5 percent.The Indian economy, Asia’s third-largest slowed in recent quarters due to the impact of the global slowdown, high inflation and high interest rates.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 24 January 2012 cut the cash reserve ratio (CRR) by 50 basis points from 6 per cent to 5.5 percent with effect from 28 January 2012. RBI thus released Rs 32000 crore to banks. The RBI kept the repo rate unchanged at 8.50 per cent for the second consecutive time after raising it 13 times between March 2010 and October 2011. It also kept Reverse Repo Rate unchanged.