Current Affairs · PDF file15/12/2010 · A cache of U.S. diplomatic cables released...

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Current AffairsDecember 15

2010

Praveenhttp://indiancurrentaffairs.wordpress.com

12/15/2010




POLITICS AND THE NATION

CVC seeks details of all major contracts of ministries

The Central Vigilance Commission has asked all the ministries to give details

of all the works carried out by them during the past three months for its

scrutiny.

Official sources said that the anti-corruption watchdog has sought details of

civil and electrical works done by the ministries besides other contracts

valued at Rs two crore or above. All the ministries, mainly dealing with

Information Technology, Electronics and Telecommunications works, have

been directed to comply with its order.

The probity watchdog has specifically sought details of high-value projects,

payment details, contractor details, third party examination report and tender

documents in the past three months.

SC moved for cancellation of 2G spectrum licences

A public interest litigation (PIL) was filed in the Supreme Court yesterday

seeking cancellation of new telecom licences and 2G spectrum allocated by

the Department of Telecom when A Raja was Telecom Minister between 2008

and 2009.

The petition was filed by a group of civil societies, including the Centre for

Public Interest Litigation.

In their joint petition, the civil societies have alleged that the allocations,

made by the DoT during the reign of Telecom Minister A Raja, were marred

by "multiple illegalities, corruption and favouritism".

Special teams to locate 31 Indian Mujahideen men

In an offensive against cadres of Indian Mujahideen, the Government has

formed special teams to locate 31 most wanted men of the banned outfit,

whose list has been circulated to all states and union territories.



According to official sources, these special teams will make "concerted efforts"

to apprehend the absconding IM terrorists within the country and coordinate

with foreign countries where they are suspected to be holed in.

The Union Home Ministry prepared a complete set of the 31 absconding

Indian Mujahideen cadres and circulated it to all the states and union

territories for gaining more and more information about them.

The detailed dossiers about the IM militants along with photographs have also

been shared with a few Gulf countries as intelligence inputs suggested that

some of them were currently based there with Pakistani passports



WORLD AFFAIRS

Berlusconi survives confidence vote

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi narrowly survived a no-confidence vote

on Tuesday that left his centre-right government clinging to power and

provoked the most violent protests seen in Rome for years.

The result underlined Berlusconi's reputation as one of the great survivors of

Italian politics, but left him unable to ensure the stability of the government

at a time of major economic problems and a menacing euro zone debt crisis.

Though it is a positive outcome for Berlusconi given how things looked two

weeks ago, but the government will face severe difficulties passing its policies

with such a small and fractious majority according to analysts.

The no-confidence motion brought by the centre-left opposition was defeated

by 314 votes to 311.

Some of the most serious rioting Rome has seen in years broke out after the

vote, with dozens injured as protestors threw smoke bombs and firecrackers

and fought baton-wielding police in running street battles in the historic city

centre.

Islamabad rejects fears over its n-weapons

Pakistan yesterday insisted taht its nuclear weapons were fully safe and

secure and it would not accept any "discriminatory treatment" that

undermined its strategic deterrence.

A cache of U.S. diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks recently showed

widespread international concern about the safety of Pakistan's nuclear

arsenal. The cables said that the United States had been secretly trying to

convince Pakistan to allow it to remove the uranium because of fears the

nuclear material might be stolen or diverted, but Pakistan turned down the

request.

Pakistan's nuclear watchdog dismissed said that its security measures were

second to none. "These (safety measures) are fully compatible with

international best practices and global regimes -- and are acknowledged

internationally."



"As a nuclear weapon state, Pakistan is fully cognisant of its responsibilities,

and has established effective and robust command and control structures and

comprehensive export control and regulatory regimes," the Nuclear Command

Authority (NCA) said after a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Yusuf Raza

Gilani.

Pakistan, which tested its nuclear device in May 1998 days after similar tests

by rival India, is a major U.S. ally in the fight against al Qaeda and Taliban

but its western allies have repeatedly raised concerns over its stability.

Pakistan is pressing for a civilian nuclear agreement with the United States

similar to the U.S. agreement struck with India in 2008, but Washington has

been reluctant to do so partly because of concerns over the case of Pakistan's

top nuclear scientist, Abdul Qadeer Khan, who transferred nuclear secrets to

North Korea, Iran and Iraq.

In a thinly veiled reference to the U.S.-India nuclear deal, the NCA expressed

concerns over "policies and trends of selectivity, exceptionalism and

discrimination relating to strategic export control regimes".

France to provide Euro 70 m soft loan to IREDA

India and France have signed an agreement for providing Euro 70 million soft

loan to the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) for

promoting development of sustainable energy in the country.

The French Development Agency (AFD) and IREDA signed the Euro 70-million

(Rs 4225 million) long-term soft loan agreement on Friday, a French Embassy

release said here.

The agreement aims to help IREDA to finance or refinance renewable energy

investments as well as energy efficiency investments, and give further

impetus to IREDA's mandate to promote the development of sustainable

energy in India, it added.

Turkmenistan offers India lead role in TAPI

Turkmenistan has offered India a lead role in the international consortia that

will build a USD 7.6 billion pipeline to transport natural gas from the former

Soviet republic to its South Asian neighbours.



The offer was made by Turkmenistan President Gurbanguly

Berdimuhamedov when Indian Oil Minister Murli Deora called on him on the

sidelines of a summit meeting on Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India

(TAPI) gas pipeline in Ashgabat on December 11.

The Indian Petroleum Minister has conveyed that he will need a Cabinet

approval to take that kind of role.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is the Lead Development Partner of the

project which envisages supply of gas from Turkmenistan's South Yoloten-

Osman field.

UK to launch HMS Ambush, a biggest ever nuclear submarine

British Navy is all set to launch its biggest ever nuclear submarine that can

fire guided-missiles to pulverise an enemy more than 1,600km away.

The 'super-sub, called HMS Ambush, has a huge nuclear reactor that can

power a city the size of Southampton and it will never need refuelling.

The killer submarine, which is more complex than the US space shuttles and

able to circumnavigate the globe without surfacing, is also able to make

oxygen and fresh water from seawater to keep the 98 crew alive in time of

crisis.

The awesome 7,400-tonne sub is 291 foot long, the same length as a football

pitch, as wide as four double-decker buses and 12 storeys high.

A true titan of the deep, the 1.2-billion-pound warship will be launched at

Barrow-in-Furness in Cumbria tomorrow.

Court grants bail to WikiLeaks' Julian Assange

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, arrested in Britain on Swedish allegations

of sex misconduct, was granted bail by a British court yesterday for

�240,000,.

However, he was not released immediately as the prosecution was given two

hours to appeal against the bail. According to initial reports, strict conditions

including a requirement for Mr. Assange to wear an electronic tag were likely

to be imposed in the event of his release.



A large number of his supporters gathered in and outside Westminster

Magistrates Court burst into cheers as the verdict was delivered. Also present

in the court were several celebrities, including filmmaker Ken Loach and

Jemima Khan, wife of the former Pakistani cricketer, Imran Khan.

Assange asks his supporters to step up campaign

WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has reportedly issued a plea to his

supporters, who are calling for his release, to step up their campaign as he

accused Visa, Mastercard and Paypal of being instruments of US foreign

policy.

Assange in a message through his mother, said he was determined to fight

for the future of WikiLeaks. "My convictions are unfaltering. I remain true to

the ideals I have always expressed," he was quoted as saying by 'The Age'

from Wandsworth Prison in London.

"We now know that Visa, Mastercard and Paypal are instruments of US

foreign policy. It's not something we knew before. I am calling on the world

to protect my work and my people from these illegal and immoral acts," said

Assange.

'India may discuss Siachen if progress made in 26/11'

Indian interlocutors have demonstrated willingness to discuss the

demilitarisation of Siachen glacier and the resolution of the Sir Creek border

dispute if "reasonable" progress is made in prosecuting Pakistani suspects

linked to the Mumbai attacks, according to a report by The News daily.

The developments apparently occurred during a three-day Track-II diplomacy

meeting between Indian and Pakistani interlocutors held in Dubai during

December 3-6. Noted international experts too attended the meeting, said

report.

Indian participants acknowledged that the presence of troops on the Siachen

glacier played a key role in its melting, which is affected the agrarian

economy of Pakistan, the report claimed.

Experts of both countries will send to their governments their

recommendations on demilitarising the glacier and for joint watershed



management in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh to revive the degraded

environment, the report said.

What is Sir Creek?

The Sir Creek is a 96 km (60 mi) strip of water disputed between India and

Pakistan in the Rann of Kutch marshlands. The creek, which opens up into the

Arabian Sea, divides the Kutch region of the Indian state of Gujarat with the

Sindh province of Pakistan.

Originally and locally it is called 'Baan Ganga'. Sir Creek is named after the

British representative. The long-standing dispute hinges in the actual

demarcation "from the mouth of Sir Creek to the top of Sir Creek, and from

the top of Sir Creek eastward to a point on the line designated on the

Western Terminus". From this point onwards, the boundary is unambiguously

fixed as defined by the Tribunal Award of 1968.

Dispute:

The dispute lies in the interpretation of the maritime boundary line between

Kutch and Sindh. Before India's independence, the provincial region was a

part of Bombay Presidency of British India. After India's independence in

1947, Sindh became a part of Pakistan while Kutch remained a part of India.



Pakistan lays claim to the entire creek as per paras 9 and 10 of the Bombay

Government Resolution of 1914 signed between then the Government of

Sindh and Rao Maharaj of Kutch.

The resolution, which demarcated the boundaries between the two territories,

included the creek as part of Sindh, thus setting the boundary as the eastern

flank of the creek. The boundary line, known as the "Green Line", is disputed

by India which maintains that it is an "indicative line", known as a "ribbon

line" in technical jargon.

India sticks to its position that the boundary lies mid-channel as depicted in

another map drawn in 1925, and implemented by the installation of mid-

channel pillars back in 1924.

India supports its stance by citing the Thalweg Doctrine in International

Law. The law states that river boundaries between two states may be, if the

two states agree, divided by the mid-channel. Though Pakistan does not

dispute the 1925 map, it maintains that the Doctrine is not applicable in this

case as it only applies to bodies of water that are navigable, which the Sir

Creek is not.

India rejects the Pakistani stance by maintaining the fact that the creek is

navigable in high tide, and that fishing trawlers use it to go out to sea.

Several cartographic surveys conducted have upheld the Indian claim.

Another point of concern for Pakistan is that Sir Creek has changed its course

considerably over the years.

If the boundary line is demarcated according to the Thalweg principle,

Pakistan stands to lose a considerable portion of the territory that was

historically part of the province of Sindh. Acceding to India's stance would

also result in the shifting of the land/sea terminus point several kilometres to

the detriment of Pakistan, leading in turn to a loss of several thousand square

kilometres of its Exclusive Economic Zone under the United Nations

Convention on Law of the Sea(UNCLOS).

In April 1965, a dispute there contributed to the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965,

when fighting broke out between India and Pakistan. Later the same year,

British Prime Minister Harold Wilson successfully persuaded both countries to

end hostilities and set up a tribunal to resolve the dispute. A verdict was

reached in 1968 which saw Pakistan getting 10% of its claim of 9,000 km�

(3,500 sq. miles).



The disputed region was at the center of international attention in 1999 after

MiG-21 fighter planes of the Indian Air Force shot down a Pakistani Navy

Breguet Atlantique surveillance aircraft over the Sir Creek on August 10,

1999, killing all 16 on board. India claimed that the plane had strayed into its

airspace, which was disputed by the Pakistani navy.

North Korea's Nuclear Programme

South Korea's foreign minister said on Tuesday authorities believed the North

had been secretly enriching uranium at new locations outside its main nuclear

site. Minister said the assumption was "based on what is still intelligence".

A Seoul daily, quoting an unidentified intelligence official, earlier said the

North was enriching uranium at three or four sites in addition to its main

nuclear facility in Yongbyon.

North Korean officials last month took foreign nuclear experts to what they

said was a uranium enrichment facility at Yongbyon. U.S. expert Sigfried

Hecker was said to have been "stunned" by the sophistication of the North's

programme after seeing hundreds of centrifuges. A uranium enrichment

programme would give Pyongyang a second way to obtain fissile material for

making atomic bombs.

Washington has believed since 2002 that Pyongyang has such a programme

but the apparent sophistication of its effort could ignite fresh debate over how

to deal with North Korea's unpredictable leadership and whether to resume

talks aimed at ending its nuclear ambitions. A senior Obama administration

official declined to say last month whether what the experts saw confirmed

the existence of a uranium enrichment programme.

Following is a look at the North's nuclear arms programme:

THE YONGBYON FACILITIES

The Yongbyon complex is at the heart of the North's plutonium weapons

programme. It consists of a five-megawatt reactor, whose construction began

in 1980, a fuel fabrication facility and a plutonium reprocessing plant, where

weapons-grade material is extracted from spent fuel rods.



The site, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Pyongyang, also contains a 50-

megawatt reactor whose construction was suspended under a 1994 nuclear

deal with the United States. The reactor is nowhere near completion.

When fully operational, Yongbyon can produce enough fissile material for one

nuclear bomb a year, experts say. Yongbyon was being taken apart under a

disarmament-for-aid deal, but last year, in the face of U.S. hostility, the North

said it was restoring parts of the plant. Satellite images taken show increased

activity at the complex. There have been no signs, however, that the North

has restarted the reactor.

The North has also said it is building an experimental light-water reactor at

the site. It has tried to secure a light-water reactor for a number of years,

claiming such a project would be for peaceful energy purposes. The type of

reactor is considered relatively proliferation-resistant and unlikely to be

diverted for an arms programme.

URANIUM ENRICHMENT

North Korea last year said it was enriching uranium, giving it another path for

making atomic weapons. Uranium enrichment can be conducted away from

the prying eyes of satellites and the North can fuel it with its ample supplies

of natural uranium.

During their visit last month, experts said North Korean officials had told

them they had in operation 2,000 centrifuges, used in uranium enrichment.

But the foreign experts were unable to verify that.

The foreign experts said they were not able to establish whether the plant

was designed to produce only low-enriched uranium (LEU) needed to make

fuel for a power plant or the highly enriched uranium for bombs.

It is easier to design a nuclear bomb with highly enriched uranium (HEU) than

plutonium, but harder to make a nuclear warhead with HEU to mount on a

missile.

NUCLEAR TESTING



The North's first test in October 2006 produced a relatively low yield in its

explosive force, indicating problems with the bomb design or plutonium at its

core, experts said.

A second test, in 2009, was stronger, but experts believe it may have only

been about one-fifth to one-fourth as powerful as the plutonium bomb the

United States dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki in 1945.

NUCLEAR CAPABILITIES

U.S. officials said prior to the North's 2009 test it had produced about 50 kg

(110 lb) of plutonium, which proliferation experts said would be enough for

six to eight nuclear weapons. The North has since said it extracted more

fissile material from spent fuel rods. This could be enough for one more

bomb.

NUCLEAR WEAPONS

Even though it has exploded nuclear devices, North Korea has not shown it

has a working nuclear bomb.

Experts say they do not believe the North can miniaturise an atomic weapon

to place on a missile, but it is trying to develop such a warhead. It needs

more nuclear testing to build one.

North Korea's ageing fleet of Soviet-era bombers would also have difficulty

evading the advanced air forces of regional powers to deliver a nuclear bomb

outside the country.



BUSINESS/FINANCE/ECONOMICS

Govt to hike petrol prices, may follow with diesel

India's state-run oil retailers - Indian Oil Corp, Bharat Petroleum and

Hindustan Petroleum - will raise petrol prices starting Wednesday by the most

in six months and New Delhi also plans to lift diesel prices, possibly stoking

inflation and adding to the government's political woes.

Petrol prices are expected to raise by about 5.6 percent due to surging global

crude prices. This would be the steepest rise since June when India freed up

petrol prices.

A BPCL spokesman said it would raise petrol prices by 2.95 rupees (7 cents) a

litre from today while sources at IOC and HPCL said their firms would raise

prices by 2.96 rupees a litre from Thursday. The increases would help the

firms protect their margins with crude oil hovering close to $90 a barrel.

However, this would also complicate monetary policymaking by the Reserve

Bank of India, which is focused on stamping down inflation that remains

above its comfort zone of around 5 percent, but is constrained by problems

such as tight liquidity.

November headline inflation at 7.48 pct YoY

India's wholesale price index rose an annual 7.48 percent in November,

government data showed on Tuesday. The figure was lower than the annual

rise of 8.58 percent in October.

Inflation is heading in the right direction, and today's number is probably

enough to keep the RBI on hold this week, in line with comments made by

Governor Subbarao back in early November.

However, Subbarao also noted last week that inflation is still above his

"tolerance level" and recent PMI survey data also suggest that price pressures

may remain stubbornly high in the months ahead.

This suggest that the RBI's policy bias remains firmly in favour of more policy

tightening, and we continue to expect more rate hikes in the new year."

UK names nine electric cars, including Tata Vista, eligible for subsidy



The British government yesterday revealed the first nine electric vehicles that

will be eligible for their purchasers to receive subsidies of up to 5,000 pounds

($7,935) under a plan to promote low-carbon transport.

Under the scheme, the government has pledged 43 million pounds ($68.24

million) until the end of March 2012 to help British motorists shift to low-

carbon vehicles. They will receive up to 5,000 pounds towards the purchase

of a low-carbon car from January 2011 to the end of March 2012.

Eligible vehicles are Mitsubishi's iMiEV, Daimler's smart fortwo electric drive,

Peugeot's iON, Citroen's CZero, the Nissan Leaf, the Tata Vista electric

vehicle; the Toyota Prius Plug-in, Vauxhall's Ampera and General Motors'

Chevrolet Volt.

OFCs – Other Financial Corporations

Revenue Secretary Sunil Mitra commenting on OFCs

“There was an unmistakable trend showing that the Indian private sector had

shifted away from bank deposits to OFCs (other financial corporations).”

The share of Indian OFC deposits increased from 36.4 per cent of total

deposits in 1995 to 54.2 per cent in 2009.

The increasing recourse to OFC deposits relative to the banking system was a

matter of concern, as currently over 60 per cent of global trade was handled

by MNCs.

Quoting a recently-released report of Global Financial Integrity, a

Washington-based think-tank, Mr. Mitra said that the report highlighted that

the share of illicit flows from India increased from 0.5 per cent of gross

domestic product (GDP) to 2.4 per cent over a four-year period beginning

2000, at a time when flows from China dropped.

What are OFCs?

OFCs, other than insurance corporations, pension funds and MFIs

a) corporations engaged in financial leasing;

b) corporations engaged in hire purchase and the provision of personal or

commercial finance;



c) corporations engaged in factoring;

d) security and derivative dealers (on own account);

e) specialised financial corporations such as venture and development capital

companies, export/import financing companies;

f) financial vehicle corporations, created to be holders of securitized assets;

g) financial intermediaries which receive deposits and/or close substitutes for

deposits from MFIs only;

h) holding corporations which only control and direct a group of subsidiaries

principally engaged in financial intermediation and/or in auxiliary financial activities,

but which are not financial corporations themselves

We request our members to throw more light on this, if they have any info.

Infosys wins Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise award

Indian IT major Infosys Technologies has been recognised as a winner of the

prestigious Global, Asian and Indian Most Admired Knowledge

Enterprises (MAKE) Awards for 2010, by Teleos, an independent research

firm based out of the UK, in association with The KNOW Network.

The 2010 MAKE Panels across the Global, Asian and Indian categories have

recognised Infosys as a leader in creating a corporate knowledge-driven

culture and a learning organisation, and transforming enterprise knowledge

into shareholder or stakeholder value, Infosys said.

This is the seventh year that Infosys has been ranked among the Global

MAKE winners, eighth time that it has bagged the Asian MAKE Award and

sixth time that it has won the Indian MAKE Award, it said.

Remember the other?

Wipro Technologies also inducted into the “2010 Global MAKE Hall of

Fame

On November 30th, Wipro Technologies, the global Consulting, System

Integration and Outsourcing business was announced that it has been

recognized as a winner of the Global MAKE (Most Admired Knowledge

Enterprises) Award 2010.



This was the 4th time that the Company had been recognized among the top

global organizations that are creating shareholder/stakeholder wealth by

transforming new as well as existing enterprise knowledge into superior

products, services or solutions. Wipro has also been inducted into the 2010

Global MAKE Hall of Fame.

In addition, Wipro also won the Asian MAKE Award this year on October

16th, thus earning the distinction of being the only Indian IT Company to win

the award eight times in a row.

The 20 Global MAKE Winners are chosen by a panel of Global Fortune 500

business executives and leading knowledge management and intellectual

capital experts after several rounds of consensus building on key knowledge

performance dimensions amongst the panel.



How Chinese and Indian economies stack up?

As Asia's growth titans China and India race to modernise and urbanise their

countries, ties between them could be increasingly tested as they compete to

realise their economic ambitions.

In both national and per capita income terms, the two countries were more or

less in a dead heat two decades ago, but a mixture of policy, demographics

and external factors has since catapulted China ahead.

Its economy is now nearly four times that of India's, and is widely

regarded by economists as the world's second biggest economy, compared

with India which was the eleventh biggest, according to World Bank figures

for 2009. But India's growth rate is now beginning to catch up to China's and

its younger population, if managed well, could provide the fuel for it to close



the gap in coming years.

Below are some statistics on how the two economies compare.

Gross domestic prodcut (GDP), at current prices for 1990, 2000, 2009

respectively

China $356.9 bln $1.20 trln $4.98 trln

India $317.5 bln $460.2 bln $1.31 trln

GDP per capita, at current prices for 1990, 2000, 2009 respectively

China $314 $949 $3,744



India $374 $453 $1,134

Annual GDP growth (percent) for 1990, 2000, 2009 respectively

China 3.8 8.4 9.1

India 5.5 4.0 7.7

Foreign direct investment inflows, at current prices for 1990, 2000, 2009

respectively

China $3.5 bln $38.4 bln $78.2 bln

India $236.7 mln $3.6 bln $34.6 bln

Net exports of goods and services as percentage of GDP for 1990, 2000, 2009

respectively

China 3 11 5

India -2 4 -5

Gross domestic investment as percentage of GDP for 1990, 2000, 2009

respectively

China 40 35 45

India 22 24 35

Developing nations agree tariff cut to boost trade

Led by Brazil and India, nearly a dozen developing countries will sign an

accord this week to cut tariff barriers and boost trade among themselves, a

senior Brazilian government official said on Monday.

Negotiations under the Global System of Trade Preferences among

Developing Countries were relaunched in 2005 in an attempt to diversify

developing countries' trade revenue and reduce their dependence on rich

countries.

Some important features

Around 43 countries are signatories to the original GSTP agreement from

1988, and 11 countries will sign the updated accord in southern Brazil this

week.



Under the deal, countries will cut applied tariffs by 20 percent on 70 percent

of their products.

The agreement covers fast-growth economies with combined gross domestic

product of around $5 trillion and nearly one-third of the world's population.

The other signatories are Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Indonesia, Malaysia,

South Korea, Morocco, Egypt and Cuba.

But the accord's ability to generate large new trade flows is likely to be

limited, as countries are granted significant exemptions and tariffs could

remain prohibitive if they were high to begin with. In addition, some countries

do not have proper trade ties or adequate infrastructure to act on the new

incentives.

Carbon trading schemes around the world

Companies and governments around the world are turning to emissions

trading as a weapon to fight climate change and join a global carbon market

worth $144 billion last year.

Under cap-and-trade schemes, companies or countries face a carbon limit. If

they exceed the limit they can buy allowances from others. They can also buy

carbon offsets from outside projects which avoid greenhouse gas emissions,

often from developing countries.

Following is a list of established and proposed schemes:

ESTABLISHED SCHEMES

1. Kyoto Protocol: Mandatory for 37 developed nations, excluding the United

States which never ratified the pact.

Launched: 2005

Covers: All six main greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4),

nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and

sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).)



Target: 5 percent average cut in 1990 emissions in 2008-2012 first phase.

How it works: Rich countries cut greenhouse gases at home or buy emissions rights

from one other -- if one country stays within its target it can sell the difference to

another emitting too much. Or they can buy carbon offsets from projects in

developing countries under Kyoto's clean development mechanism.

The present round of the Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012 and U.N. climate talks in

Mexico last week put off decisions on cutting emissions to next year.

2. European Union Emissions Trading Scheme:

Launched: 2005

Covers: Nearly half of all EU carbon emissions. Mandatory for all 27 EU members.

Target: 21 percent cut below 2005 levels by 2020

How it works: Member states allocate a quota of carbon emissions allowances to

11,000 industrial installations. Companies get most permits free now but many

electricity generators will have to pay for all these from 2013.

Companies can buy carbon offsets from developing countries if that works out

cheaper than cutting their own emissions

3. New Zealand emissions trading scheme

Launched: July 1, 2010. Mandatory.

Covers: Forestry started first. Electricity, industrial process emissions and transport

pollution were included from July. Waste to start in 2013. Agriculture to start 2015.

Target: The government has pledged to cut greenhouse gas emissions between 10

and 20 percent by 2020 on 1990 levels.

How it works: Emissions units are allocated based on an average of production

across each industry. From July 1, 2010, to January 1, 2013, emitters have the



option of paying a fixed price of NZ$25 per tonne of carbon, and will only have to

surrender 1 unit for every 2 units of emissions. Such assistance will be gradually

phased out.

4. Northeast U.S. states' Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)

Launched: January 2009

Covers: carbon from power plants in 10 northeast states. Allows offsets from five

different types of clean energy projects including capturing methane from landfills

and livestock manure.

Target: 10 percent cut below 2009 levels by 2018

5. Japan: Tokyo metropolitan trading scheme

Launched: April 2010

Covers: Around 1,400 top emitters

How it works: Tokyo city sets emissions limits for large factories and offices to

meet by using technology like solar panels and advanced fuel-saving devices.

Target: Japan aims to cut emissions by 25 percent by 2020 from 1990 levels. The

government hopes to pass a climate bill in parliament early next year that would

include a national trading scheme, starting 2013 at the earliest. Details are still being

debated.

Japan is also pushing ahead with a bilateral offsets scheme by promoting emissions

reduction projects in developing countries.

PROPOSED

India: Perform, Achieve and Trade system.

Launch: April, 2011. Trading from 2014.

A mandatory energy efficiency trading scheme covering more than 700 companies in

nine sectors responsible for 65 percent of India's industrial energy consumption.



How will it work? Details are being finalized but, based on historical performance,

annual efficiency targets will be allocated to firms according to individual baselines or

performance bands. Firms that beat their targets will be credited for their reductions.

Those that don't will pay a penalty or buy credits from firms that are more efficient.

Target: India has pledged a 20-25 percent reduction in emissions intensity from

2005 levels by 2020.

Other proposed systems

Australia: Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme (CPRS)

Californian climate change law

Western Climate Initiative (WCI)

South Korea emissions trading scheme

Taiwan.



SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

NASA’s Voyager 1 nearing edge of solar system

NASA's long-running Voyager 1 spacecraft is barreling its way toward the

edge of the solar system.

Since 2004, the unmanned probe has been exploring a region of space where

solar wind, a stream of charged particles spewing from the sun at 1 million

miles (1.6 million kilometres) per hour slows abruptly and crashes into the

thin gas between stars.

NASA said yesterday that recent readings show the average outward speed of

the solar wind has slowed to zero, meaning the spacecraft is nearing ever

closer to the solar system's edge to a boundary known as the heliopause.

ICRISAT to promote agricultural innovation

India-based International Crops Research Institute for Semi Arid

Tropics (ICRISAT), based in Hyderabad, has mapped out a new strategy to

self-sustain the development of drylands that are usually propped up by

external aid for economic growth.

Anchored on the concept of "Inclusive market-oriented development"

(IMOD), the new strategy with the goal 'to end poverty and not just alleviate

it', will help dry land farmers improve their produce through agricultural

innovations and better access to markets and other support services.

IMOD is the moving spirit of ICRISAT's new strategic plan to 2020 that was

launched during its 38th anniversary celebrations this week.

Unveiling the new strategy with Prof M S Swaminathan, ICRISAT Director

General William Dar said, "Our strategy draws poor dryland communities

into the mainstream to reap the benefits of development" to pursue this

pathway to prosperity.

US firm interested in DRDO's explosive detection kit

An American firm has shown keen interest in the explosive detection kit

(EDK) developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation



(DRDO) and an agreement for transferring technology is likely to be signed

soon.

The EDK, developed by the DRDO's Pune-based High Energy Materials

Research Laboratory (HEMRL), comes packed in a box the size of a vanity

case, which contains four reagents capable of detecting even traces of

explosives.

“The American firm is soon to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding

(MoU) with the DRDO, which has patented its EDK," a Defence Ministry

release said. The Americans have their own ED kits but the foreign technology

has certain drawbacks. For example, they lack confirmatory test.



ENTERTAINMENT

A.R. Rahman gets Golden Globe nod for '127 Hours'

Indian music’s genius A.R. Rahman garnered his second Golden Globe

nomination in three years yesterday for his score in British filmmaker Danny

Boyle's "127 Hours".

Rahman, 44, had won the Golden Globe and two Academy Awards for his

score in Boyle's film "Slumdog Millionaire" (2008).

"127 Hours", based on the true story of mountaineer Aron Ralston, is also up

for the "Best Screenplay" and "Best Actor" honours in nominations announced

on Tuesday.

The Golden Globe awards will be handed out on Jan 16 in Beverly Hills. The

Golden Globe Awards are given out by the Hollywood Foreign Press

Association. They are closely watched for clues as to which films might vie for

the Oscars, the world's top movie awards given out by the Academy of Motion

Picture Arts and Sciences.


Current Affairs · PDF file15/12/2010 · A cache of U.S. diplomatic cables released...

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