March 2, 2010

March 2, 2010

Ø       Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday reiterated that all problems between India and Pakistan could be resolved through meaningful bilateral dialogue if only Pakistan took a more reasonable attitude to deal with terrorist elements that targeted India.

Ø       Shimoga and Hassan cities witnessed widespread violence on Monday following protests by Muslim organisations against the publication of an article in the Sunday magazine section of a Kannada daily.

·         The article is a translation of an essay by Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on wearing of the burka by Muslim women.

·         Shimoga was by far the worst affected.

·         The protests spiralled out of control, resulting in the death of two persons, one of them in police firing.

·         Several persons were injured and there was large-scale destruction of property in different parts of the city.

·         Article 144 was imposed on the different parts under threat.

Ø       In the wake of Friday’s bomb blasts in Kabul, India has sent a team of investigators to the Afghan capital. National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon will pay a visit there on March 5 to discuss the security of Indians in Afghanistan.

·         The team, including officials of Home and Defence Ministries, has joined its Afghan counterpart in probing the attack in which Indians engaged in developmental and reconstruction works in that country were targeted.

·         Afghanistan has set up a five-member team to investigate the incident.

Ø       US Volte-face - In December, the conference decided that a Long-term Cooperative Action (LCA) text would be worked out and presented for adoption at the next summit. The U.S. was party to that decision.

·         However, in its submission to the U.N. last week, the U.S. claims that “it was not agreed that the LCA texts would be the basis of any future negotiation.” Instead, it wants the Copenhagen Accord, a political agreement which was not even adopted at the summit, to be the basis of future negotiations.

·         Indian negotiators say the submissions by various countries to the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change outline the key battle lines being drawn as the talks resume in April.

·         The U.S. attempt to sneak in the word “scrutiny” was thwarted by India.

Ø       The long-pending deal to finalise the price tag on aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya (Admiral Gorshkov) could soon be taken up by the government as the Defence Ministry prepares to take the case to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS).

·         With Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin scheduled to visit India early this month, the Defence Ministry has forwarded relevant papers for clearance by the Finance Ministry.

·         The Centre had finalised a price was announced last year during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Russia, but the negotiations concluded towards the end of December 2009.

·         The contract negotiation committee gave its final verdict on the acquisition of the aircraft carrier, which is currently undergoing repairs and refit at the Sevmash shipyard in Russia.

·         The initial agreement of $974 million went up to $1.5 billion to include 16 MiG-29K aircraft for the carrier. The Russians increased the demand from $2.2 billion to $2.9 billion, even as the Comptroller and Auditor-General made critical observations regarding the deal.

·         One of the reasons for price escalation was the cost of sea trials, which, according to the report, was originally contracted at $27 million but shot up to $522 million. The trials themselves are expected to take approximately 35 months against the planned 19 months.

·         The delivery of the ship is scheduled for December 2012.

Ø       An official statement says that more than 700 people have been killed in the recent earthquakes in Chile,

Ø       A storm, called Xynthia, has claimed over 60 lives in Europe.

·         The weather bureau and radio stations across France had posted warnings on Saturday of gale force winds and a storm to come.

·         Winds at 160 km per hour combined with unusually high tides pounded small, unprotected fishing villages and seaside tourist havens

·         It also battered Belgium, Portugal, Spain and parts of Germany. The death toll across Europe was 60 although a dozen persons are still missing and feared dead.

Ø       Tens of thousands of Turks took to the streets on Sunday in support of an ongoing investigation related to a 2003 coup plot and to create awareness against military takeovers of democratically-elected governments in their country.

Ø       Impact of budget 2010 on gold and jewellery sector

·         In the budget, import duty on gold and platinum has been increased from Rs. 200 to Rs. 300 per 10 gram and on silver from Rs. 1,000 to Rs, 1,500 a kg.

·         However, the basic customs duty on rhodium (used for white gold) has been cut from 10 per cent to 2 per cent.

·         To encourage domestic gold refining capacity, basic customs duty on gold ore and concentrate has been reduced from 2 per cent ad valorem to a specific duty of Rs. 140 per 10 gram of gold content with exemption from special additional duty.

·         The excise duty on refined gold from such ore/concentrate has been reduced from 8 per cent to a specific duty of Rs. 280 per 10 gram.

·         This industry, which is on a recovery mode has achieved $25 billion in exports in 2008-09. One area where the budget could have helped the industry was by lowering the rate of presumptive profit under benign tax procedure.

·         The 2 per cent of subvention not being extended to the industry would hurt the sector as the cost of manufacturing would increase as compared to the competitors in other countries, thus affecting exports.

·         The gems and jewellery sector welcomed the measures announced to ensure continued growth of special economic zones (SEZs) to draw investments and boost exports and employment.

Ø       British insurer Prudential PLC on Monday said it would buy the Asian unit of U.S. insurance company AIG in a deal worth $35.5 billion.

·         Prudential will pay $25 billion in cash, including $20 billion from a rights issue, and $10.5 billion in new shares and other securities to acquire AIA Group Ltd.

·         The combined group will be the leading life insurer in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Thailand and the Philippines, with the leading foreign life insurance business in China and India.

·         Prudential said it expected to complete the acquisition in the third quarter, subject to approval from regulators and shareholders.

·         The insurer has received aid packages with a total value of $182.5 billion from the government. In return for that financial support, the government received an 80 per cent stake in AIG.