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Simplifying knowledge dissemination Major news stories

q Ambani brothers break the ice ............................................ 05
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Cover story
q FIFA world cup 2010 ............................................................ 09
Volume 8. Edition 12. June 2010

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 Take Quote

Dear friends, “In a day, when you don't come

across any problems – you can be
By the time this issue of Prep Talk reaches you, the FIFA event would have sure that you are travelling in a
begun. The world’s sights are set on South Africa, the nation that is hosting the wrong path.”
World Cup in football, a spectacular event which would be keenly watched by – Swami Vivekananda
millions round the world, with excitement, with thrill, with speculation and with
patriotism. “If you win you need not
explain.......But if you lose you
The organizers of the event, FIFA, an acronym of Federation International de should not be there to explain.”
Football Association, is an International governing body of association of football – Adolf Hitler
playing nations, which is in existence for over a century and has been organizing
World Cup events in the sport of football, ever since 1930. FIFA lays the rules and “Winning doesn't always mean
frames conditions for the conduct of this global event. Doesn’t the game of football being first, winning means you're
suggest something more profound beyond the nail biting moments of thrill that it doing better than you've done
provides, both for the vigorous participants and the viewing public? Just think of a before.”
group of skilled individuals teamed having a common goal, working out methods – Bonnie Blair
and strategies to surmount any hurdle, to outdo and outwit any opponent,
persevering and “stopping not till the goal is reached”. “Everyone thinks of changing the
world, but no one thinks of
The interpersonal skills, team dynamics, coordination and compatibility are in changing himself.”
their ascendance in the team that best performs and wins the event. There are well – Leo Tolstoy
laid instructions for each member of the team to comply, there is a high sense of
belongingness on the part of each member who represents his nation and the “If someone feels that they had
collective will to do the best percolates to each member to give out his best. never made a mistake in their life,
then it means they had never tried a
How do things come about constructively? Discipline is the undercurrent. If it new thing in their life.”
were not for discipline, teams wouldn’t be at their best and all one would witness – Albert Einstein
would be a medley of individuals, who though skilled and talented, would be
divergent from the common goal and objective. Personal considerations would ride “Believing everybody is dangerous;
over those of the team, the state and finally the nation. believing nobody is ver y
dangerous.”
I hope that the FIFA sponsored World Cup event would unfold before you the – Abraham Lincoln.
sight of players, all out to dazzle the spectators with their talents and skills in areas of
goal keeping, dribbling, defending, shooting, giving precise first time passes, "A life spent making mistakes is
heading, and much more! not only more honorable, but more
useful than a life spent doing
And I fervently wish that we take a cue from this wonderful brigade of players of nothing."
using our talents and skills in the best possible way. – George Bernard Shaw
Happy footballing!
“Coming together is a beginning.
Manish Saraf Keeping together is progress.
COO, PT education Working together is success”
– Henry Ford

PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 03

 Letters to the editor
Kasab gets death penalty in
26/11
The anxiously awaited verdict on
Kasab comes as a great reprieve to the
denizens of this country. It is an eye
opener for the terrorist organizations
harbouring sinister designs for India
and a pointer that India will not
tolerate terrorism on its soil. The
court has sent out a message that
terrorism has no place in a civilized
community.
That Kasab was given legal
assistance in an open trial despite his
gruesome crime underscores the
fairness and integrity of our legal
system. It is hoped that more such
perpetrators of crime are brought to
book and the death sentence
pronounced on Kasab does not go the
Afzal Guru way.
R ajshree Gupta, Indore
Harnessing the talent
The article ‘Harnessing the
Talent’ made interesting reading. It is
beyond doubt that today talent is
recognized as one of the keys to
organizational success. That’s
because having the right person with
the skills, experience and abilities an
organization needs is essential.
Putting that person in the right
position is equally important. Such a
person is one who makes good sense
of that individual’s strength, while
also allowing opportunity for
flexibility and team participation.
04 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
This position would also be one that is
strategically important to the
organization, yet one that also affords
opportunity for flexibility and team
participation. The alignment of these
rights yields high performance and we all
know that high performance of people
generates high organizational
performance or the right results.
Mahesh Y adav, Jaipur
Solar energy: The future fuel
The article was very informative and
brought many illuminating facts to the
fore. The increase in the amount of
harmful gases from the burning of fossil
fuels has led to an increase in global
warming of the earth.
This is why people are now turning to
alternative sources of renewable energy
that can be harnessed to provide for
the electricity and energy needs of
mankind. One such source of energy
is solar energy.Though solar energy is
available for free and aplenty around
the world, the costs associated with
setting up a solar energy unit proves to
be too expensive for everyone to use
solar energy to power their homes.
This is why scientists are looking
for new ways of harnessing this solar
energy so that it will be cheaper for
ever yone to use solar energy.
Scientists are now working on
developing light absorbing materials
that can be used in the production of
thin-layer photovoltaic (PV) cells.
These PV cells are used for converting
light energy into electricity.
Brajesh Shar ma, Bhopal
FEEDBACK !
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Us make it better.
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like to read regularly?
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How to improve?
Send feedback to:
preptalk@PTeducation.com
 Major news story

Ambani brothers break the ice

T he latest Ambani Brothers Battle is becoming a

politico-economical saga which has attracted the
media world over. The fight for gas supplies between
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Ltd and Anil's Reliance
Natural Resources Ltd has also put the government on a
defensive position. This is a complex issue which involves
India's Natural Gas Policy as well hinders the efforts to solve the
country's chronic energy shortage.

In a major development, the two Ambani brothers Mukesh

and Anil on May 23, decided to bury their differences and
create an environment of harmony, co-operation and
collaboration between their groups.

"All existing non-compete agreement between the two
groups executed in January 2006 cancelled," Mr Anil Ambani
group said in a statement. The harmony comes within a few days
of the Supreme Court declining to give any relief to younger
brother in the gas dispute. "A new, simpler non-compete
agreement executed limited to only gas-based power
generation. RIL (Mukesh) and RNRL (Anil) will expeditiously
negotiate gas supply arrangement as per the Supreme Court
order and hope to conclude negotiations very soon," it added.
The cancellation of the existing non-compete agreement
will provide enhanced operational and financial flexibility to
both groups and greater ability to participate in high growth
sectors such as oil and gas, petrochemical, telecom, power and
financial services, the Anil Ambani Group said.
These developments will eliminate any room for further
disputes between the two groups, on matters relating to the
scope and interpretation of the non-compete obligations, RIL
added. "RIL and Reliance Natural Resources (RNRL) will
expeditiously negotiate gas supply arrangements in accordance
with the orders of the Hon ble Supreme Court of India. We hope
to conclude these negotiations very soon, the RIL statement
further said.
What is the fight about?
Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries Limited agreed to sell
Anil Ambani's Reliance Natural Resources Limited 80 mmscmd
of gas from the Krishna-Godavari Basin for 17 years at $2.34 per
mmbtu - for its Dadri power plant.

However, RIL has agreed not to enter the gas-based power
generation business for the period up to March 2022. In an
identical statement, Reliance Industries said "RIL, led by Mr
Mukesh D. Ambani, and Reliance ADA Group companies,
Reliance Communications, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance
Natural Resources, and Reliance Capital, led by Mr Anil D.
Ambani, have approved and signed an agreement canceling all
existing non-compete arrangements entered between the two
groups in January 2006 pursuant to the scheme of reorganisation
of the Reliance Group and entered a new simpler, non-compete
Agreement with respect to only gas-based power generation.
With RIL not supplying the gas, RNRL went to court against
it for not implementing this as a part of a family MoU signed
when the empire was being carved up between the two brothers.
The Bombay high court ruled in June that RIL should supply
gas to RNRL at nearly half the price it had set in an interim order
in January.
With the government reacting strongly against the warring
brothers' stance over a national resource, it is now left to the
Supreme Court to decide the future course of action.

PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 05

 Following is a timeline of key dates in the Ambani rift.
July 2002: Dhirubhai Ambani, a school teacher's son and
founder of the Reliance business empire, dies. Mukesh Ambani
becomes Chairman and Managing Director of Reliance
Industries Ltd, and Anil Ambani is made Vice-Chairman.
2002: Natural gas was discovered in the Krishna Godavari
basin off India's eastern coast. Three companies - RIL, the
state-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and
Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) - discovered gas -
and some oil- in three different blocks. These companies are
investing $30bn to produce gas from
the Krishna Godavari basin.
RIL plans to spend $12 billion on
producing and transporting the gas
across the country while the state-
owned ONGC has announced a $3
billion investment.
The basin is likely to produce 120
million cubic metres per day (mcmd)
of gas.
This gas is four times more than ,
30% cheaper than the gas India
would have received through the
much-delayed Iran-Pakistan-India
pipeline.
Once the entire gas comes on
stream, it will have a huge impact on
the country's fertiliser and power
companies. Two Ambani brothers
had parted their ways exactly after 3
years.
In 2003, NTPC invited global firms to bid to supply it gas for
its Kawas-Gandahar power plants for 17 years. RIL bid the
lowest - $2.34 per mmbtu - and NTPC gave it a Letter of Intent
in June 2004. The ongoing dispute is based upon the contract of
RIL-RNRL which was based on this rate since it was also signed
in the same time period.
The only difference was that the RNRL contract was for 28
mmscmd of gas while the NTPC one was for 12 mmscmd.
(MMSCMD=Million Metric Standard Cubic Meter per Day)
RIL later objected to some of the clauses in the NTPC
tender and refused to supply the gas. NTPC went to court
against RIL. RNRL argues that since the contract was based on
the NTPC one, it was an arms-length one.
06 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
November 2004: the Feud between the siblings becomes
public.
June 2005 - Family reaches a settlement to split the Reliance
group in a deal brokered by their homemaker mother,
Kokilaben.
2006 - Formal split takes place, with Mukesh taking control
of flagship Reliance Industries, with interests in
petrochemicals, oil and gas exploration, refining and textiles. He
has since launched a retail venture. The Anil Dhirubhai Ambani
Group gets telecoms, power, entertainment and financial
ser vices. The Group includes
Reliance Communications Ltd,
Reliance Infrastructure Ltd, Reliance
Capital Ltd, Reliance Natural
Resources Ltd (RNRL) and Reliance
Power Ltd.
In a family pact vetted and
supervised by the brothers' mother in
2005, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance
Industries Limited (RIL) was to
supply 28 million cubic meters of gas
a day at $2.34 per million units
(MMBTU) to Anil Ambani's Reliance
Natural Resources Limited (RNRL)
for 17 years.
The above price of $2.34 per
million British Thermal Units was
44% lower than $4.20 per million
units set by the government in 2006
for all buyers of gas from the basin.
Anil Ambani has not accepted the
higher selling price set by the government, citing the 2005
agreement with his elder brother.
July 2008: Reliance Communications calls off merger talks
with South Africa's MTN after Mukesh makes a claim on the
shares of Anil's telecom firm.
15 June, 2009: RNRL won a case in the Bombay High Court,
asking his elder brother's company to honour the family
agreement. The Bombay high court has ruled that the family
MoU does not violate the PSC - that is, the ministry could not
cancel the RIL-RNRL agreement.
June 19, 2009: Reliance Natural files caveat in apex court
on gas price issue after Bombay High Court order upholds its
position on the gas price in its dispute with Reliance
Industries
 July 5, 2009: Reliance Industries makes government a party
in its petition

July 7, 2009: Apex court issues notice to Reliance Industries,

RNRL and the government on cross-appeals

July 17, 2009: Government asks court to make it a respondent

July 18, 2009: The government files a petition wanting

Ambani family pact that deals with gas supplies to be declared
null and void

July 19, 2009: Government says gas is its property

July 20, 2009: Supreme Court calls for counter-replies and

ANIL AMBANI* MUKESH AMBANI*
fixes Sep 1 as date of hearing
Financial services Oil, gas, petrochemicals
July 22, 2009: Prime Minister's Office wants oil ministry to
Telecom Textile explain why it has been accused by Anil Ambani group of siding
with Reliance Industries over gas dispute
Infrastructure Retail

Media & DTH SEZs, ports & gas terminals July 28-Aug 3, 2009: Anil Ambani lashes out at oil ministry for
allegedly favouring his elder brother. Matter also rocks
Power Life sciences & biotechnology parliament, where Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav
demands resignation of Petroleum Minister Murli Deora. But
Healthcare IPL Deora says gas does not belong to either Mukesh or Ambani, but
*Combined mkt cap Rs 1,08,792 cr *Combined mkt cap Rs 3,26,717 cr
(*as on May 21, 2010)
the government.
POSSIBLE OVERLAPS IN FUTURE
Aug 4, 2009: Oil regulator rejects Anil Ambani group's
Telecom charges of acts of omission and commission in allowing capital
expenditure of KGD6 gas to be hiked from $2.4 billion to $8.8
Financial services billion.
Power (non-gas)
Aug 28, 2009: Reliance Industries says NTPC was told gas
Infrastructure price of $2.34 was subject to government approval. Apex court
lists hearing for Oct 20
Media & Entertainment
Sep 14, 2009: Reliance Natural accuses Reliance Industries
June 23, 2009: Reliance Natural invites Reliance Industries of charging illegal marketing margins
for talks on high court judgement, but Reliance Industries says it
is studying the implication. Sep 15, 2009: Anil Ambani Group asks apex Court to make
NTPC a party to dispute
July 1, 2009: Reliance Industries says it will appeal to the
Supreme Court against high court ruling. Says supplies to Sep 24, 2009: NTPC signs pact with Reliance Industries to
Reliance Industries not possible at $2.34 per unit, as it is bound buy a part of natural gas, other than the quantity under dispute,
by government price of $4.20 per unit at $4.20 per unit.

July 3, 2009: Reliance Natural moves Supreme Court to make
gas supply from KGD6 binding on Reliance Industries.
July 4, 2009: RIL moves apex court challenging high court
orders saying the verdict erred in deciding the three terms -
quantity, tenure and price of gas supply
Oct 5, 2009: Reliance Industries says chairman Mukesh had
signed pact on natural gas with Anil Ambani Group in personal
capacity without approval from other board members
Oct 9, 2009: Anil Ambani threatens to sue oil regulator saying
he made false allegations against his group

PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 07

 Oct 11, 2009: Anil Ambani says two brothers can still sit
across the table and resolve matters amicably, but Reliance
Industries says only court can settle matters now.
Oct 20, 2009: A three-member bench, including Chief
Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, of the Supreme Court begins hearing
arguments in the case.
November 4, 2009: The hearing is disrupted when a judge
withdraws, citing potential conflict of interest as his daughter
worked at a firm that was a consultant to Reliance Industries.
November 5, 2009: A new three-member bench that also
includes the Chief Justice begins hearing arguments from
scratch.
November 5,- December 18, 2009: Reliance Industries
argues a private deal between the Ambani brothers cannot take
precedence over government policy, which determines who can
receive gas and at what price.
Reliance Natural, which claims otherwise, says the
government will not suffer a loss even if Reliance Industries sells
it the gas at the disputed price. The government stresses it does
not favour either side in the dispute.
December 18, 2009: Court finishes hearing the case and
reserves judgement.
May 7, 2010: The Supreme Court of India rules in favour of
Mukesh Ambani after a split vote. The apex court has rules that
the family Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the
two brothers is not binding and asks the brothers to renegotiate
the deal within 6 weeks.
It has also categorically said that as far as the authority over
natural gas is concerned, the government remains its sole
owner.
May 23: Both brothers agree to cancel all existing non-
compete pacts which the groups had signed in 2006. They enter
into a new and simpler non-compete pact only for gas-based
power generation.
It took a gentle nudge from the Supreme Court to signal an
end to the most publicised corporate war in India. Five years
after going public with ownership issues and more in India's
richest family, the Ambani brothers today took a big step towards
reconciliation of their feud that had made headlines and dragged
in several government functionaries.

Firefox 4: fast, powerful, and empowering

The next version of the Firefox browser, set for release by the end of the year, will pare down the software's menus and certain
user options while giving Web surfers more control over privacy.

Firefox 4 promises to let users better control relationships with websites by describing more simply what information is
gathered by cookies, which are files that store data on website visits.

In Firefox's current version, determining which websites are peering into users' Internet habits is a complex process involving
many menus and submenus. With the change, users will be able to see from a single menu what information websites are
gathering. Users will then have the option of deciding which cookies to allow and which to disable.

But Mozilla, the browser's creator, will also take away some user controls to make Firefox sleeker. That means taking out
buttons and menus that Mozilla says few people use anyway. Mozilla says the change won't just make websites load faster, it will
make them feel faster.

"The simpler an interface looks, the faster it will seem," Mike Beltzner, Firefox Director of development, said

Firefox said the browser will be made more stable, by requiring fewer add-on programs for additional functionality. The
program will use the new Web programming language, HTML5, which will allow videos and other multimedia content to play in
the browser without needing companion software such as Adobe System Inc.'s Flash.

Firefox is second to Microsoft Corp.'s market-dominant Internet Explorer browser in usage. Microsoft is also working on
an update. Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft's latest browser offering, will also support HTML5. An early version is already out for
testing.

08 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

 Cover story

FIFA World Cup 2010

11 June - 11 July 2010

WHATISFIFA?
Federation International de Football
Association, commonly known as FIFA is
the international governing body of
association of football. FIFA is an
association established under the Laws of
Switzerland. Its headquarters are located in
Zürich, Switzerland, and its current
President is Sepp Blatter. FIFA is
responsible for the organization and
governance of football's major international
tournaments, most notably the FIFA World
Cup, held since 1930.

FIFA has 208 member associations,

which is 16 more than the United Nations
and three more than the International Olympic Committee,
though five fewer than the International Association of Athletics
Federation.
The need for a single body to oversee the worldwide game
became apparent at the beginning of the 20th century with the
increasing popularity of international fixtures. FIFA was
founded in Paris on 21 May 1904; the French name and acronym
remain, even outside French-speaking countries. Its first
President was Robert Guérin.
FIFA presided over its first international competition in
1906, but this met with little approval or success. This, in
combination with economic factors, led to the swift replacement
of Guérin with Daniel Burley Woolfall from England, by now a
member association. The next tournament staged, the football
competition for the 1908 Olympics in London was more
successful, despite the presence of professional footballers,
contrary to the founding principles of FIFA.
Membership of FIFA expanded beyond Europe with the
application of South Africa in 1908, Argentina and Chile in 1912,
and Canada and the United States in 1913.
FIFA, however, foundered during World War I, with many
players sent off to war and the possibility of travel for
international fixtures severely limited. Post-war, following the
death of Woolfall, the organisation was run by Dutchman Carl
Hirschmann. It was saved from extinction, but at the cost of the
withdrawal of the Home Nations (of the United Kingdom), who
cited an unwillingness to participate in international
competitions with their recent World War enemies. The Home
Nations later resumed their membership.
FIFA's supreme body is the FIFA Congress, an assembly
made up of representatives from each affiliated member
association. The Congress assembles in ordinary session once
every year and, additionally, extraordinary sessions have been
held once a year since 1998. Only the Congress can pass changes
to FIFA's statutes.
Congress elects the President of FIFA, its General Secretary
and the other members of FIFA's Executive Committee. The
President and General Secretary are the main officeholders of
FIFA, and are in charge of its daily administration, carried out by
the General Secretariat, with its staff of approximately 280
members.

PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 09

 FIFA's Executive Committee, chaired by the President, is
the main decision-making body of the organization in the
intervals of Congress. FIFA's worldwide organisational
structure also consists of several other bodies, under authority
of the Executive Committee or created by Congress as standing
committees. Among those bodies are the Finance Committee,
the Disciplinary Committee, the Referees Committee, etc.

Apart from its worldwide institutions (presidency, Executive

Committee, Congress, etc.) there are confederations
recognised by FIFA which oversee the game in the different
continents and regions of the world. National associations, and
not the continental confederations, are members of FIFA.

The continental confederations are provided for in FIFA's

statutes. National associations must claim membership to both
FIFA and the confederation in which their nation is
geographically resident for their teams to qualify for entry to
FIFA's competitions (with a few geographic exceptions listed
below):
r AFC – Asian Football Confederation in Asia and Australia
r CAF – Confédération Africaine de Football in Africa
r CONCACAF – Confederation of North, Central American
and Caribbean Association Football in North America and
Central America
r CONMEBOL – Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol in
South America
r OFC – Oceania Football Confederation in Oceania
r UEFA – Union of European Football Associations in
Europe.
Nations straddling the traditional boundary between Europe
and Asia have generally had their choice of confederation. As a
result, a number of transcontinental nations including Russia,
Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia have chosen
teams; Curiously, FIFA has more member states than the
United Nations, as FIFA recognises several non-sovereign
entities as distinct nations, most notably the four Home Nations
within the United Kingdom. The FIFA World Rankings are
updated monthly and rank each team based on their
performance in international competitions, qualifiers, and
friendly matches. There is also a world ranking for women's
football, updated four times a year.
RECOGNITIONSANDAWARDS
FIFA awards, each year, the title of FIFA World Player of the
Year to the top men's and women's players of the year, as part of
its annual awards ceremony which also recognises team and
international football achievements.
In 1994, FIFA published the FIFA World Cup All-Time
Team.
In 2002, FIFA announced the FIFA Dream Team, an all-time
all-star team chosen by fans in a poll.
As part of its centennial celebrations in 2004, FIFA organised
a "Match of the Century" between France and Brazil

to become part of UEFA despite the bulk of their land area being
in Asia. Israel, although lying entirely within Asia, joined UEFA
in 1994, after decades of its football teams being boycotted by
many AFC countries. Kazakhstan moved from the AFC to UEFA
in 2002. Australia was the latest to move from the OFC to AFC in
January 2006.
Guyana and Suriname have always been CONCACAF
members despite being South American countries.
In total, FIFA recognises 208 national associations and their
associated men's national teams as well as 129 women's national
FIFAANTHEM
Since the 1994 FIFA World Cup, like the UEFA Champions
League, FIFA has adopted an anthem composed by the German
composer Franz Lambert. The FIFA Anthem is played at the
beginning of official FIFA sanctioned matches and tournaments
such as international friendlies, the FIFA World Cup, FIFA
Women's World Cup, FIFA U-20 World Cup, FIFA U-17 World
Cup, FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, FIFA Women's U-17
World Cup, FIFA Futsal World Cup, FIFA Beach Soccer World
Cup, and FIFA Club World Cup.

10 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

FIFAWORLDCUP2010
The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be the 19th FIFA World Cup,
the premier international football tournament. It is scheduled to
take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. The
2010 FIFA World Cup would be the culmination of a
qualification process that began in August 2007 and involved 204
of the 208 FIFA national teams. As such, it matches the 2008
Summer Olympics as the sports event with the most competing
nations.
This is the first time that the tournament has been hosted by
an African nation, after South Africa defeated Morocco and
Egypt in an all-African bidding process. This decision left the
Oceania Football Confederation as the only confederation yet to
host the FIFA World Cup. Italy is the defending champion, after
winning the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany. The draw
for the finals took place on 4 December, 2009 in Cape
Town.
Africa was chosen as the host for the 2010
World Cup as part of a policy to rotate the event
among football confederations (which was later
abandoned in October 2007).
During 2006 and 2007, rumours circulated in
various news sources that the 2010 World Cup
could be moved to another country. Some people,
including Franz Beckenbauer, Horst R. Schmidt and,
reportedly, some FIFA executives, expressed concern over
the planning, organisation, and pace of South Africa's
preparations. However, FIFA officials repeatedly expressed their
confidence in South Africa as host, stating that a contingency
plan existed only to cover natural catastrophes, as had been in
place at previous FIFA World Cups.
ECONOMICGROWTHBOOST
The government has said the World Cup should add about
0.5% to GDP this year. Analysts are not so optimistic. Forecasts
in a Reuters poll in May ranged from 0.1 to 0.7%, with a median
of 0.3. The treasury has said growth this year will likely be above
the 2.3% it forecast in February and closer to 3% after last year's
1.8% contraction. The tourism sector is expected to enjoy a
boost from the tournament for years to come. During the rugby
World Cup in 1995 tourism numbers shot up 60%, increasing by
13 and 7% respectively in the following two years.
GOVERNMENTSPENDINGFOREVENT
The government has spent about 40 billion rand ($5.17
billion) since 2006 – 07 on World Cup-related projects, with 11.7
billion going towards revamping of stadiums and 13.2 billion on
transport infrastructure. The funds came from the national
budget and helped to push the fiscal deficit in 2009-10 to 6.7% of
GDP. General government borrowing increased to 184.3 billion
rand in 2009-10 from 40.2 billion in 2008-09. The treasury's
expenditure excluded money spent sprucing up airports.
Airport Company South Africa has spent about 17 billion rand
since 2006 upgrading airports in Cape Town and Johannesburg
and building a new one in Durban. The spending also does not
include the 25 billion rand spent on building the country's
Gautrain rapid rail network which will link the airport to
Johannesburg and its financial hub Sandton and later
Johannesburg and the capital Pretoria.
MARKETIMPACT
Increased foreign exchange flows are seen
supporting the rand but only slightly. The
tournament comes as international markets are
jittery due to European debt problems so any
boost from increased foreign exchange
earnings will be overshadowed by worries
about the global economic recovery. On the
local bourse, wine, spirits and beer companies
such as Distel and SABMiller outperformed
the All-share index over the past year partly in
anticipation of a World Cup boost. Imperial,
which has a car rental business, has seen its price go
up by 60.5% in that period.
TOURISTNUMBERS,SPEND
South Africa expects about 3,70,000 foreign visitors during
the event, lower than initial estimates of 4,50,000. Visitors
should spend about 8.8 billion rand during the tournament and -
- together with spending by soccer's world governing body Fifa,
other officials and teams – the economy will receive a 13 billion
rand cash injection, accounting firm Grant Thornton wrote in a
study.
JOBCREATION
Construction ahead of the tournament created thousands of
jobs, most of which disappeared as the preparations wound up.
Employment in the sector fell 9.3% to 1.085 million in the first
quarter of 2010, compared with the same period last year.
QUALIFICATION
As the host nation, South Africa qualified automatically for
the tournament. Nonetheless South Africa participated in World
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 11
Cup qualifiers because the CAF qualifiers also served as the
qualifying tournament for the 2010 African Cup of Nations.
They were the first host since 1934 to participate in preliminary
qualifying. As happened in the previous tournament, the
defending champions were not given an automatic berth, and
Italy had to participate in qualification.
The qualification draw for the 2010 World Cup was held in
Durban, South Africa, on 25 November, 2007.
FIFAWORLDCUP2010GROUPS
32 teams qualified for the final tournament. For the group
matches, all the 32 teams participating in the 2010 FIFA world
cup have been grouped into eight groups (A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H).
Group A : South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay and France.
Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece.
Group C: England, USA, Algeria and Slovenia.
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana.
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan and Cameroon.
Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia
Group G: Brazil, Korea DPR, Côte d'Ivoire and Portugal
Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras and Chile.
This is the first World Cup that does
not include any teams that are qualifying
for the first time, although two of the
qualifiers (Slovakia and Serbia) have
previously appeared only as parts of
former competing nations. Slovakia was
previously part of Czechoslovakia, and
Serbia has competed as part of Yugoslavia
and Serbia and Montenegro. In both
cases FIFA considers these teams to have
retained the earlier nations' records.
Controversy surrounded final
qualification matches played between France and the Republic
of Ireland, Costa Rica and Uruguay and Egypt and Algeria in
November 2009.
In the second leg of the play-off between France and the
Republic of Ireland, French captain Thierry Henry, unseen by
the referee, illegally handled the ball in the lead up to the
winning goal, which saw France make the final 32 teams ahead of
Ireland. The incident spurred widespread debate on how
matches should be refereed at the highest level. FIFA rejected a
request from the Football Association of Ireland to replay the
match, whilst a widely reported later request by Ireland to be
included as an unprecedented 33rd World Cup entrant was later
withdrawn. Costa Rica complained over Uruguay's winning goal
12 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
in the CONMEBOL – CONCACAF playoff, whilst Egypt and
Algeria's final match was surrounded by reports of crowd
trouble.
In response to the incidents during qualification, and to a
match fixing controversy, on 2 December 2009 FIFA called for an
extraordinary general meeting of their Executive Committee.
After the meeting, FIFA announced that they would be setting
up an inquiry into technology and extra officials in the game, but
they did not announce the widely-expected move of fast-
tracking the introduction of goal-line referee's assistants,
already being trialled in the Europa League, and instead restated
that the competition in South Africa would be officiated as
before, with just one referee, two assistants, and a fourth official.
On the subject of fair play, FIFA President, Sepp Blatter said,
“I appeal to all the players and coaches to observe this fair play. In
2010 we want to prove that football is more than just kicking a
ball but has social and cultural values.....So we ask the players
'please observe fair play' so that they will be an example to the
rest of the world.”
PREPARATIONS
The Lukasrand Tower in Pretoria
sports a football which is appropriate in
view of the world cup hosted in the
country.
Five new stadiums have been built for
the tournament, and five of the existing
venues are to be upgraded. Construction
costs are expected to be Rand 8.4bn.
In addition to the stadiums being
built and upgraded, South Africa has
planned to improve its current public
transport infrastructure within the
various cities, with projects such as the Gautrain and the new
Bus Rapid Transit system (BRT) titled Rea Vaya.
The country has implemented special measures to ensure
the safety and security of local and international tourists
attending the matches in accordance with standard FIFA
requirements, including a temporary restriction of flight
operation in the airspace surrounding the stadiums.
The readiness of this African nation to host one of the biggest
events in a sports that is worshiped by millions has received
positive response from FIFA. FIFA has rated the readiness of
South Africa at eight on a scale of 10 with the hope that they would
be completely ready before the matches actually start.
PRIZEMONEYANDCLUBPAYMENTS
The total prize money on offer for the tournament was
confirmed by FIFA as $420 million, a 60 percent increase on the
2006 tournament. Before the tournament, each participating
team would receive $1 million, for preparation costs. Once at the
tournament, teams exiting at the group stage would receive $8
million. Thereafter, the prize money would be distributed as
follows:
Ø $9 million - Round of 16
Ø $18 million - Quarter-finals
Ø $20 million - Semi-finals
Ø $24 million - Runners up
Ø $30 million - Winners
In a first for the World Cup, there would also be payments
made by FIFA to the domestic clubs of the players representing
their national teams at the tournament. This would see a total of
€26 million being paid to domestic clubs, amounting to just over
€1,000 per player per day.
This was the result of an agreement reached in 2008 between
FIFA and European clubs to disband the G-14 group and drop
their claims for compensation dating back to 2005 over the
financial cost of injuries sustained to their players while on
international duty, such as that from Belgian club Charleroi S.C.
for injury to Morroco's Abdelmajid Oulmers in a friendly game
in 2004, and from English club Newcastle United for an injury to
England's Michael Owen in the 2006 World Cup.
OFFICIALSONG
The official song of the FIFA world cup "Waka Waka" would
be presented by the Colombian singer Shakira and the band
Freshlyground from South Africa, and would be sung in both
English and Spanish. The song is based upon a traditional
African soldiers' song named Zangalewa. Shakira and
Freshlyground are the performers of the song both during the
pre-tournament Kick-Off concert in Soweto on 10 June as well
as the final ceremony on 11 July.
CONTROVERSIES
As with many 'hallmark events' throughout the world, the
2010 FIFA World Cup has been connected to evictions which
many claim are meant to 'beautify the city', impress visiting
tourists, and hide shackdwellers. On 14 May 2009, the Durban-
based shack-dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo took
the KwaZulu-Natal government to court over their controversial
Elimination and Prevention of Re-Emergence of Slums Act,
meant to eliminate slums in South Africa and put homeless
shackdwellers in transit camps in time for the 2010 World
Cup.They have gained a lot of publicity for their efforts, even in
the international media. Abahlali baseMjondolo have threatened
to build shacks outside the Cape Town stadium to draw
attention to their situation.
Another prominent controversy surrounding preparations
for the World Cup is the N2 Gateway housing project in Cape
Town, which plans to remove over 20,000 residents from the Joe
Slovo Informal Settlement along the busy N2 Freeway and build
rental flats and bond-houses in its place in time for the 2010
World Cup. The residents would be moved to the poverty
stricken Delft township on the outskirts of the city and out of
sight from the N2 Freeway. There has been particular concern
about forced removals to the Blikkiesdorp camp in Delft and that
in Durban, children are being forcibly removed from the city
centre.
In July 2009, South Africa was
hit with rolling protests by poor
communities who demanded
access to basic services, jobs,
adequate housing and the
democratisation of ser vice
delivery. These protests have
been linked to the World Cup as
protesters complain that public
funds are being diverted away
from social issues to build
stadiums and upgrade airports.
Fears have been expressed that
the growing protests by shack dwellers could result in the
tournament being disrupted. Some grassroots social
movements have called for a boycott of the event.
HUMANRIGHTS
In April 2010, the Swiss Labour Assistance (SLA), launched
a petition to FIFA's President Joseph Blatter. The petition asks
FIFA to actively engage against exploitation and the violation of
human rights in the context of FIFA World Cups. The petition
will be handed over in June 2010.
There have been claims that the police have implemented a
de facto state of emergency by banning protests during the
event.
CRIMEANDSECURITY
Tournament organiser, Danny Jordaan dismissed concerns
that the terrorist attack on the Togo national team which took
place in Angola in January 2010, had any relevance to the security
arrangements for the World Cup.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 13
NON-FIFAEVENTS
In November 2009, it was reported that a rugby Test match
between the Springboks and France scheduled to take place in
Cape Town on 12 June 2010 would be moved to Europe due to
FIFA regulations banning other sport events in host cities
during the time of the World Cup. After negotiations between
the South African Rugby Union and members of the local
organising committee, it was announced that the Test will be
allowed to take place in Cape Town on the originally scheduled
date because no World Cup match is to be played in Cape Town
on that day, and the Test will be played at Newlands, which is not
a World Cup venue.
FIFATRADEMARKS
The South African low-fare airline Kulula.com were ordered
by FIFA to withdraw an advertisement that it claimed infringed
their trademarks. The advert, titled "The unofficial carrier of
the you-know-what", features soccer balls, vuvuzelas and the
National Flag of South Africa which FIFA claims when used in
conjunction with each other constitutes an infringement (of its
trademarks). Kulula.com disputed FIFA's claim, but later
announced that they would withdraw the specific advert whilst
continuing with the advertisement campaign.
MASCOT
The FIFA World Cup tournament,
from the year 1966, has always had a
'Mascot' representing it. From a lion to a
dog to an orange, the FIFA mascots have
always been a part of FIFA World Cup
competitions.
Zakumi, the leopard is the 'Official
Mascot of the 2010 World Cup'. He was 'born' on 16 June, 1994
and his name 'Zakumi' actually has meaning to it. 'ZA' is the ISO
3166-1 alpha-2 code for South Africa and 'kumi' literally
translates to ten in many South African languages. Zakumi has
green hair and wears a white t-shirt that says South Africa 2010
on it; he also sports a pair of green football shorts. Zakumi's gold
and green colors stand to represent the colors of the South
African national football team.
BROADCASTRIGHTSFEESISSUEINSINGAPORE
In Singapore, FIFA's broadcast rights fees for the 2010 FIFA
World Cup finals tournament have been described as
"exorbitant", with the organization having changed prices
according to what it perceived the country's TV operators were
willing to pay. When Singapore TV operators SingTel and
14 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
Starhub joined together to bid for the broadcast rights in late
2009, they were reportedly charged an initial SGD$40 million
(about USD$30 million). When the Singapore TV operators
refused to pay the initial sum quoted by FIFA, and as time
passed, Singapore was faced with the prospect of being one of
the few countries not to get match broadcasts from the 2010
FIFA World Cup.
With only about a month left before the tournament, FIFA
finally relented and reportedly reduced the fee to SGD$21
million (USD$15 million), which was then accepted by the
Singapore TV operators. This reduced fee was still significantly
higher than the fee that FIFA charged Starhub for the exclusive
rights to broadcast the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals tournament
in Germany which was reported to be SGD$15 million (US$11
million).
This increased fee for the 2010 World Cup tournament
broadcast rights resulted in the Singapore TV operators passing
on the cost to their subscribers who were then charged a special
fee of SGD$94 (US$68) in addition to existing contracts, to
watch the tournament's games. This high additional fee was the
most expensive in the region and angered Singapore football
fans who felt it was unfair when compared to countries in the
region that will either be broadcasting the matches free of
charge as in the case of Indonesia and Thailand; or at
significantly lower viewing fees at US$21 as in Malaysia and
US$38 in Hong Kong. This fee is also almost four times the
SGD$25 (USD$18) special fee that Starhub charged its
subscribers for viewing the 2006 FIFA World Cup finals matches
in Germany. As a result, many fans decided to protest against the
increased fees with a mass boycott of the 2010 FIFA World Cup
broadcast service by both operators.
FILMING
Sony technology will be used to film the tournament.
According to FIFA up to 25 of the matches will be captured using
3D cameras. Footage will be captured in 3D through Sony's
proprietary multi-image MPE-200 processors, which will be
housed in specially designed 3D outside broadcast trucks. It will
be supplying its flagship HDC-1500 cameras as well as its new
HDC-P1 unit, a compact, point-of-view (POV)-type camera
with a 2/3-inch lens. The 3D games will be produced for FIFA by
Host Broadcast Services.
CONCLUSION
FIFA 2010 will be a highly watched event that would not only
be eventful but could be good trendsetter for future sporting
events that promise to be spectacular with more countries of the
world taking part and individual players carving out a niche for
themselves.

India
158 KILLED IN AI PLANE CRASH
As many as 158 people died when an Air India Express
aircraft from Dubai to Mangalore
overshot the runway upon landing,
went down a ravine and burst into
flames in the worst air disaster in
the country in a decade. Among
the victims were 19 children and
four infants.
Eight people jumped out of the plane which broke open
when it hit the crash barrier at the runway. In New Delhi, the
Civil Aviation Minister, Mr Praful Patel, met the Prime Minister,
Dr Manmohan Singh, and offered to resign. Dr Singh turned
down the offer.
Air India Express Flight IX 812 landed at around 6.05 am on
May 22, and appeared to skid off the runway which sits upon a
‘tabletop’ on the Bajpe-Kenjar hill, about 20 km from the city,
and plunged into the forest some 100 metres below, the AI
Director, Mr Anup Srivastava said.
The wind was calm at the time of landing and visibility was
placed at 6 km. There were different reports on whether there
was rain at the time of landing.
The civil aviation minister, Mr Praful Patel, said the plane’s
commander, Capt. Zlatko Glusica, a British national of Serbian-
origin, had overshot the runway by 2,000 metres. Capt. Glusica,
53, had over 10,000 hours of flying and had carried out 19
landings at the Mangalore airport during the last two years,
officials said.
The co-pilot, Capt. H.S. Ahluwalia, was based in Mangalore
and had 3,650 hours of flying experience, of which 3,350 hours
were on Boeing 737s. He had landed at Mangalore more than 60
times. The pilots had last flown into Mangalore on May 17.
An Air India official said the aircraft, a Boeing 737-8000, was
two-and-a-half-year old and was airworthy. The runway had
seen 32,000 landings since 2006.
Current events
Family and friends waiting to welcome their dear ones were
shocked into silence when they heard the thud as the plane
landed but, instead of coming to a stop, saw it overshoot the
runway and disappear from view in a ball of fire. Sources said one
of the aircraft’s wings hit a concrete structure containing
navigation equipment at the end of the runway as it careened
over the edge.
Pradeep, a passenger, said he jumped off the plane when its
wing was lopped off at the end of the runway while seven others
said they jumped or were thrown clear after the plane crashed
into the valley. All 158 bodies, many charred beyond recognition,
were pulled from the debris and taken to the Government
Wenlock Hospital.
tututu
AGNI-5 ICBM TO BE A REALITY NEXT YEAR: DRDO CHIEF
India is on course to test fire the
over 5,000 km range nuclear-capable
Agni-5 missile next year and a
successful mission would put the
country in an elite club of nations with
Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile
(ICBM) capabilities.
"Work is progressing satisfactorily
in the development of Agni-5, which is
expected to become a reality next year.
With this, DRDO would have given
India a comprehensive indigenous
strategic capability, available with only a few nations of the
world," DRDO Chief V K Saraswat said at the National
Technology Day awards function in New Delhi. Agni-5 is the
country's most ambitious strategic missile.
Agni-5 will be the first canistered road-mobile ballistic
missile – with a range of over 5,000 km – in the country's military
arsenal, bringing possible targets in the whole of China and
Pakistan within striking range. The missile is likely to be tested
early next year.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 15
 Missiles which are capable of being launched from canisters
can be fired from multiple platforms and are easily transportable
by road. As a result, Agni-5 can reach every continent except
North and South America from various places across India.
Commenting on the Indian missile programme, Saraswat
said, “the success of Agni-3 and other tests have confirmed
India's strategic deterrence capability, which could not have
been possible without the preceding developmental efforts in
these programmes."
Agni-5 is similar to the Dongfeng-31A that created ripples
during China's National Day Military Parade in Beijing on
October 1 last. India's current long-range missile, the Agni-3, a
non-canisterised missile, can only be moved with difficulty from
one place to another.
The Agni-5 is specially tailored for road-mobility, according
to defence scientists.
With the canister having been successfully developed, all
India's future land-based strategic missiles are expected to be
canisterised as well.
tututu
13,104 CANDIDATES CLEAR IIT-JEE
A total of 13,104
candidates cleared the
prestigious IIT-Joint
Entrance Examination
2010 with Anumula
Jithendar Reddy from
Madras zone topping
the test.
These students will
be eligible for admission in 15 IITs, ISM Dhanbad and IT-BHU.
There are 9,509 seats in these institutions. Over 4.5 lakh
candidates had appeared in JEE-2010 which was conducted by
seven of the IITs on April 11.
The number of candidates who appeared in JEE-2010 is
nearly 18.3 per cent more than that in the previous year. Reddy,
who appeared in JEE from IIT Madras Zone, topped this year's
All India list of successful candidates, the IITs said in a release.
The test was conducted in seven zones. The IIT Bombay
zone produced maximum number of successful candidates with
3145 students figuring in the merit list followed by IIT Madras
(2619), IIT Delhi (2264), IIT Kharagpur (1481), IIT Kanpur
(1341), IIT Roorkee (1305) and IIT Guwahati (521).
16 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
While 1.13 lakh girls appeared in the test, 1476 qualified.
Aakanksha Tushar Sarda emerged the topper among girls with
an All India Rank of 18.
About 554 candidates in Hindi medium have qualified for
the entrance test which is a three fold rise over last year's 184.
tututu
34TH NATIONAL GAMES IN JHARKHAND FROM
9TH-22ND DECEMBER
After five postponements, the
Indian Olympic Association said the
34th National Games will be held from
9th-22nd December in Jharkhand.
The Games, originally scheduled to
be held in 2007, were first postponed
due to delay in infrastructure construction.
After another three postponement due to one reason or the
other, the Games were slated to be held in November-
December last year only to get postponed as the dates clashed
with the Assembly polls in the state.
State capital Ranchi will host 24 disciplines, including
athletics, badminton, shooting and aquatics. Dhanbad and
Jamshedpur will stage six and four disciplines respectively, an
IOA release said.
tututu
CBSE LAUNCHES CURRICULUM FOR SCHOOLS ABROAD
Giving an international face to Indian education, the Central
Board for Secondary Education (CBSE) launched an upgraded
international syllabus for its schools abroad.
The new curriculum, which focuses on the education needs
of Indian diaspora as well as local communities, was launched by
Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal at Indian
High School in Dubai, according to a official press release.
The curriculum which will be launched in 30 schools in nine
countries aims at carrying forward the basic strength of the
Indian system of education and promoting critical and creative
skills of the students.
Speaking at the function, Sibal emphasised the need for
quality education for all children, with learning being a
continuous and comprehensive process.
 'We need a globalised community of children. I hope that it
would grow and provide an alternative international curriculum
to the students, both of the Indian diaspora and to local citizens
in the countries,' he said.
The board aims to expand the curriculum to its other
schools abroad as well in a phased manner.
The syllabus has been designed keeping in view the
foundations of the National Curricular Framework (NCF 2005)
and the experience gathered by the board over the last seven
decades in imparting effective learning to millions of learners,
many of whom are now global citizens.
The earlier curriculum focused largely on issues related to
Indian interest which were proving a hurdle in expanding the
coverage to international students.
The CBSE at present has 74 schools abroad, 63 of them in
Gulf countries alone.
tututu
INDIA, TURKMENISTAN TO STEP UP ENGAGEMENT IN
GAS SECTOR
India and energy-rich
Turkmenistan decided to step
up engagement in a number of
areas, particularly trade and
hyrdrocarbons, and signed five
pacts, including one in the
economic field.
During the talks between
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Turkmenistan
President, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov, India proposed to
conduct a feasibility study on setting up a gas-based fertilizer
plant in Turkmenistan and the latter agreed to take it forward.
The leaders also hoped that discussions on the proposed
Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipeline
project would continue with a view to realising it early. Singh and
Berdimuhamedov agreed that terrorism was one of the main
threats to security and sustainable development of countries of
the world and decided to cooperate against it.
The Turkmenistan President condemned the Mumbai
attacks. After the wide-ranging talks that covered bilateral
matters and regional and international issues of mutual
concern, the two sides signed an agreement on Economic and
Trade Cooperation which the two leaders hoped would pave the
way for enhanced economic engagement.
They also signed a pact on Scientific and Technological
Cooperation, an Education Exchange Programme, an
Agreement on Exemption of Visas to Diplomatic Passport
holders and a Programme of Cooperation in the fields of
Culture, Art, Mass Media and Sports.
“The two leaders agreed on the existence of significant
potential in terms of increasing trade volumes between the two
countries,” a joint statement issued after the talks said.
Singh and Berdimuhamedov agreed that the governments
and the Chambers of Commerce and Industry need to take
necessary measures to strengthen bilateral trade and economic
cooperation.
A joint study by designated agencies of the two Governments
and Chambers of Commerce and Industry was recommended
with a view to identifying measures, which would deepen
economic engagement, the statement said.
The leaders expressed satisfaction on the ongoing
discussions between the oil/natural gas companies of India and
Turkmenistan under the framework of the Joint Working Group
on Hydrocarbons and hoped this would create conditions
necessary for mutually beneficial cooperation in the
hydrocarbon sector of Turkmenistan.
It was agreed that the Ministers on both sides responsible for
oil and gas will take forward ideas for intensifying joint efforts in
various projects in that sector.
tututu
16-YR-OLD BOY IS THE YOUNGEST INDIAN TO SCALE
EVEREST
Arjun Bajpayee a 16-year-old
Delhi school boy, on May 22, had
a brief tr yst with destiny
equalling the world record of
being the youngest to step atop
the world's highest peak 8,848
metre Mt Everest, only to have
his feat overturned hours later
by a 13-year-old American.
Bajpayee, became the youngest Indian to climb Everest early
this morning via the traditional South Col route in Nepal. He
equalled the record of a Nepalese Sherpa Temba Tsheri who also
climbed the peak when he was sixteen. But a few hours later, a
13-year-old Californian boy Jordan Romero broke his record by
climbing the peak from the tough North Eastern ridge route in
Tibet.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 17
 The Californian is on a quest to climb all the highest peaks in
the seven continents. The two youngsters could have had a tryst
atop the world's highest summit, but apparently missed each
other by a whisker, as Bajpayee after a short stay atop made his
way back for a descent.
Bajpayee climbed the peak in the company of Apa Sherpa 50,
who became the first man to climb the peak for the record 20th
time. The world record for the highest number of climbs on
Everest also earlier stood in his name.
Along with Bajpayee, also making it to the top was another
Indian woman Mamta Sodha who reached the summit four
hours after the young Indian.
Earlier on May 17, two other Indian climbers had reached
the summit.
tututu
BILL GATES SIGNS AGREEMENT WITH BIHAR TO BOOST
HEALTH STANDARDS
In a move to bolster Bihar's public
health standards, the State government
on May 12, signed a Memorandum of
Cooperation (MoC) with the Bill and
Melinda Gates Foundation.
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates,
who visited Bihar, signed the agreement in the presence of Chief
Minister Nitish Kumar with the objective of accelerating State-
wide improvements in maternal, newborn and child health.
Speaking to journalists at the event, Mr. Gates said Bihar
remained a priority as far as immunisation drives were
concerned, and stressed on the reduction of infant mortality
rates, full immunisation coverage and breast feeding.
Terming the MoC a “milestone,” he expressed satisfaction
at the progress in reducing the number of polio cases in the Kosi
belt areas, along with the strides being taken to improve
women's health in the State.
The Bihar government and the Foundation anticipate the
programmes and activities governed by the memorandum to
have a five-year duration, from 2010 to 2015.
According to the MoC, the Foundation will provide
technical, management and program design support via NGOs
in the areas of maternal, neonatal and child health; maternal and
child nutrition; vaccine-preventable diseases, tuberculosis,
pneumonia and Kala-azar, among others.
18 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
While the MoC applies to all 38 districts in Bihar, the
Foundation will initially start work in the nine districts of Patna,
Banka, Khagaria, Begusarai, Gopalganj, Saharsa, Samastipur,
and East and West Champaran.
tututu
PRESIDENT'S RULE IMPOSED IN JHARKHAND
President's rule was
imposed in Jharkhand on
June 1, two days after
Shibu Soren stepped
down as Chief Minister
and none of the three
major political parties in
the state showing
willingness to form an
alternate government.
The cabinet committee on political affairs chaired by Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh met to approve the imposition of
President's rule and put the legislative assembly in suspended
animation, official sources said. The decision came after
Governor M.O.H. Farooq sent a report on the political situation
in the state to the union home ministry.
Before sending the report, the governor summoned leaders
of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Congress and the
Jharkhand Vikas Morcha-Prajatantrik (JVM-P) to see if they
could form a government after Soren stepped down. The three
parties told Farooq they did not have the numbers to form an
alternative government.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Chief Minister had asked
for time till May 31 to prove majority after his government lost
support of the BJP. The governor in his report had pointed out
that no party was willing to form the government and
suggested that the state be put under a short spell of
President's rule.
The JMM-led five-month-old government was propped up
by the BJP with 18 members, the All Jharkhand Students Union
(AJSU) with five legislators and the Janata Dal-United's two
members. The Congress has 14 members, the JVM-P 11, and
the Rashtriya Janata Dal five legislators. There are also five
Independents.
The JMM-led government was reduced to minority after the
BJP withdrew support on May 24. Jharkhand was plunged into
political uncertainty when Soren voted against the BJP's cut
motions in parliament to favour the Congress-led United
Progressive Alliance government.
 PASSPORTS AT DOORSTEP IN 3 DAYS NOW
The govt is all set to issue regular
passports in three days and tatkal ones the
same day as Foreign Minister S M
Krishna will inaugurate four Passport
Seva Kendras which made this
possible in Karnataka as part of the
Passport Seva Project.
Government sources said 77
such centres will come up across the
country by the end of this financial year.
These centres will ensure issuance of
tatkal passports to applicants within hours.
The Passport Seva Project aims to issue passports in three
days as against the current 45 days.
The contract for implementing the Rs 1,000 crore project
was given to TCS in October 2008.
Passport Seva Project, based on a public-private partnership
model, aims to provide passport-related services to citizens in a
speedy, convenient and transparent manner.
In the new system, soon after the application is submitted,
the verification list will be forwarded to the district police chief.
The same day, it will be segregated station wise and will be
forwarded to the respective police stations.
tututu
GYANESHWARI DERAILMENT: DEATH TOLL MOUNTS TO 142
At least 142 passengers were
killed and more than 250 injured
in Mumbai-bound express train
derailment by Maoists.
South Eastern Railway
spokesman Soumitra Majumdar
said the train had 24 coaches.
After the explosion, 13 including 10 sleeper coaches,
derailed out of which five were hit by the goods train coming on
the opposite track.
The incident occurred at 1:30 am on May 28, when the train
was running between Khemasoli and Sardiya stations, about 135
km from Jhargram, South Eastern Railway officials said.
An unreserved coach, the pantry car and luggage van also
derailed.
A massive rescue and relief operation is continuing at the site
of railway mishap. Efforts are underway to clear the tracks and
restore normalcy on the route.
The Railways have arranged a special 15 coach train for
Kurla to accommodate the passengers of Howrah-Kurla
Gyaneshwari Express.
Anti-Maoist forces were at the spot and assisting the police
and rescue personnel in extricating the bodies from four badly
damaged sleeper coaches S-5, S-6, S-7 and S-8.
The state government would bear the treatment cost of the
injured passengers, Chief Minister's secretariat sources said.
This is the second Maoist attack on civilians within a month.
Naxals had blown up a civilian bus in Dantewada district of
Chhattisgarh on 17th May killing at least 36 people, including 12
Special Police Officers.
tututu
PM'S COUNCIL ON CLIMATE CHANGE APPROVES
NATIONAL WATER MISSION
The Prime Minister’s Council on
Climate Change, which met on May
28, approved in principle the National
Water Mission and suggested that its
basic approach should be to make
water conser vation a peoples’
movement in India.
The Prime Minister chairing the
Council highlighted the need to
create a general consciousness of the
need to use water in the most
sustainable manner. Ministers and other members of the
Council endorsed these views.
It was stated that the first step in this direction would be to
prepare a comprehensive water data base in the public domain
and assessing the impact of climate change on water.
It was also decided that water use efficiency should be raised
by 20% through the promotion of water- positive and water-
neutral technologies.
It was also felt that the Research and Development
requirements of the Mission should be focused upon.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 19
 The Ministers of Finance, Power, Water Resources, Non-
Conventional and Renewable Energy Resources, Urban
Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and
Minister (Independent Charge) Environment and Forest and
Members of the Council were present in the meeting.
tututu
DEEMED UNIVERSITIES UNHAPPY WITH THE NEW UGC
GUIDELINES
The new University Grants Commission
(UGC) guidelines, which bar the presidents
o f s p o n s o r i n g o rg a n i s a t i o n s f ro m
chancellorship of the deemed-to-be
universities established by them, have drawn
flak from educational trusts and societies.
As per the new UGC (Institutions
Deemed-to-be Universities) Regulations 2010, notified on May
21, the chancellor of a deemed university, appointed by the
sponsoring society or trust, will have to be an eminent
educationist or a distinguished public figure other than the
President of the sponsoring society or his/her relative. The
chancellor can be a member of neither the society nor the trust.
Conveying their reservations over this provision to Union
Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal, the
managements of several private institutions run by registered
societies and trusts and granted the ‘deemed-to-be university'
status by the UGC pointed out that it would be a disincentive to
philanthropic groups interested in setting up new educational
institutions when the country actually needed more.
Among those who have voiced their concern are the Birla
Institute of Technology and Sciences (BITS), Pilani; Manipal
University; Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT); and Symbiosis
University, Pune – all deemed universities under Section 3 of the
UGC Act.
While Symbiosis University, a registered society, has written
to Mr. Sibal, VIT and Manipal University, both registered as
trusts, and BITS, also a registered society, have conveyed their
reservations.
The new guidelines were issued with a view to plugging
deficiencies detected in the recent review of deemed
universities, which indicated that such institutions functioned
as family ‘fiefdoms.'
These institutions will not be granted the deemed university
status under the fresh guidelines, while the position of pro-
chancellors has been abolished.
20 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
The proposed deemed-to-be university will have to be
registered either as a non-profit society under the Societies
Registration Act or as a non-profit trust under the Public Trust
Act. The new guidelines also make it mandatory for an
institution to be in existence for at least 15 years before seeking
deemed university status, against the earlier 10 years, except
under the category of ‘De-novo Institutions' or Innovative
Universities.
To discourage single discipline colleges seeking deemed
university status in order to escape regulatory councils, the
diversity of programmes has been insisted upon.
There is also emphasis on the quality of research activity,
publications and scholarly works of a high standard as evidenced
by inclusions in an internationally recognised database.
tututu
ATTEMPT ON LIFE OF RAVISHANKAR
An unidentified gunman made an attempt on the life of Sri
Sri Ravishankar, Art of Living founder, on the premises of his
ashram in Bangalore on May 30.
The assailant missed the target and
injured one Vinay, who was standing near
the Guruji, police said. He was injured on
the thigh.
The incident occurred after the
culmination of a mega Satsang on the Art
of Living campus on Kanakapura Road,
in which about 8,000 people participated.
Police said the Guruji was safe.
Police suspect the miscreant used a 0.22 revolver. However,
neither the weapon nor the assailant was traced until midnight.
tututu
BCCI NOT TO SEND CRICKET TEAMS TO ASIAN GAMES
The BCCI announced that it will not send either the men's
or the women's cricket team for this year's Asian Games in China
where the game makes its debut in its Twenty20 format.
The 16th edition of the Games will be held in Guangzhou,
China from November 12 to 27 and the BCCI's decision means
loss of potential medals for the country. "We would not be able to
send our team, both men and women, for the Asian Games in
China because of international commitments," BCCI Chief
administrative officer Ratnakar Shetty told reporters.
 "We have communicated the same to the Indian Olympic
Association," he said. Cricket's debut at the Games was
approved at the Olympic Council of Asia's General Assembly in
Kuwait recently and May 31, was the last date to confirm
participation.
Indian men's team will have a busy time in November as they
host New Zealand for three Tests and five ODIs. This year's
Asian Games will feature 42 disciplines, 14 more than what takes
place in the Olympics. Countries which are expected to send
cricket teams for the Games include Pakistan, Sri Lanka and
Bangladesh.
tututu
INDIA'S COMBAT CHOPPER UNVEILED,
INDUCTION BY 2014
India's first indigenous
combat helicopter capable of
participating in anti-Naxal and
counter terrorism operations
took to the skies, marking its
first official flight at the HAL
airport in Bangalore.
The Light Combat Helicopter (LCH), designed and
developed indigenously by the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
(HAL) in four years since the project began in 2006, is likely to
be ready for induction by the Army and Air Force before 2014.
Witnessed by IAF Vice Chief Air Marshal, P.K. Barbora and the
defence production Secretary, Mr R.K. Singh, the 10-minute
flight display caught the attention of those present at the venue,
with the 5.8-tonne chopper showcasing its manoeuvrability and
stability, including one of the most difficult moves – reverse slide.
The Defence Minister, Mr A.K. Antony, and the IAF Chief
Air Chief Marshal P.V. Naik, did not attend the event in view of
the tragic air crash of a civilian flight in Mangalore which
claimed 158 lives.
"It is a red letter day for not only HAL, but the whole nation. I
am quite positive the aircraft will meet all IAF requirements in
this class of helicopters. The first display has been superb,"
Barbora said at a function soon after witnessing the maiden
flight of the LCH.
Barbora said very few countries around the world had the
capability to indigenise a helicopter of this class, but at the same
time cautioned HAL that it must learn from its past mistakes
and not repeat them.
He said though the helicopter was bulky and heavy, it was a
versatile aircraft and the problems with its weight would be
solved as years go by.
Mr Singh, in his address, said LCH was a "truly fine"
machine and the indigenous development of the helicopter had
both strategic and economic reasons.
He said it was important for a country to be independent of
other nations when it comes to its defence production and
research and development capabilities.
Moreover, import of weapons led to job creation in other
country, as India spent billions every year to equip its armed
forces.
"I would like to set a deadline of four years from now for the
LCH to be inducted into the armed forces and I feel it is a
reasonable time frame for HAL to achieve," he added.
The HAL Chairman, Mr Ashok Nayak, said the defence PSU
had already bagged an order for supplying 65 of these combat
helicopters to the IAF and the Army was showing keen interests
in buying a large number for its Army Aviation wing.
The IAF currently operates two squadrons of combat
helicopters comprising Russian-origin Mi-25s and Mi-35s.
tututu
PM NOMINATES NATIONAL ADVISORY COUNCIL
MEMBERS
The Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh nominated
members for the second National Advisory Council (NAC) that
will set the Government's its social agenda.
The list of the nominated persons includes Prof. M.S.
Swaminathan, MP, Dr. Ram Dayal Munda, MP, Prof. Narendra
Jadhav, Member, Planning Commission, Prof. Pramod Tandon,
VC, North-Eastern Hill University, Shillong, Dr. Jean Dreze, GB
Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad, Aruna Roy, Mazdoor
Kisan Shakti Sangatan, Rajsamand, Rajasthan, Madhav Gadgil,
Agharkar Research Institute, Pune, N.C. Saxena, Dr. A.K. Shiv
Kumar, Advisor, UNICEF, New Delhi, Deep Joshi, Anu Aga,
Thermax Ltd., Pune, Ms. Farah Naqvi, Harsh Mander, Ms Mirai
Chatterjee, Coordinator, SEWA, Ahmedabad.
NAC serves as an interface between the government and the
Congress party, which heads the ruling United Progressive
Alliance (UPA), and is chaired by Congress President and UPA
chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 21
Current events

World
FIRST WOMAN PRIME MINISTER VOWS UNITY IN
TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO
Kamla Persad-Bissessar of
Indian origin has been elected the
first woman Prime Minister of
Trinidad and Tobago after her
five-party coalition swept to
victory in snap elections in the
former British colony.
THAI FILM WINS CANNES TOP HONOUR
Thai film 'Uncle Boonmee
Who Can Recall His Past Lives',
a spooky tale of reincarnation by
39-year-old Apichatpong
Weerasethakul, won the Best
Picture Palm d'Or honour at the
63rd Cannes Film Festival in
Cannes.

A subdued Prime Minister
Patrick Manning conceded
defeat, as TV counts showed
almost the whole map of the
larger island of Trinidad turn the
coalition color of yellow, as well as
both seats in Tobago.
Indian music and traditional Caribbean beats rang out at a
victory party for Kamla Persad-Bissessar in the nation famed for
its carnival.
Persad-Bissessar's campaign tapped into voters' worries about
rising gang violence and corruption scandals in Port of Spain.
The 58-year-old also promised to increase pensions and
create a multi-million-dollar fund for sick children in a
campaign focused on change.
Politics have long been divided along lines of Indian or
African descent, the two majority ethnic groups.
Manning's People's National Movement (PNM) draws most
of its support from Afro-Trinidadians while the United National
Congress (UNC) of Persad-Bissessar largely relies on Indo-
Trinidadian backing.
The new coalition includes the multi-racial Congress of the
People, and the smaller National Joint Action Committee, the
Tobago Organization of the People and the Movement for Social
Justice.
The win is being considered a real upset by the critics as the
jury ignored strong favourite Xavier Beauvois' 'Of Gods and
Men', which details the massacre of Christian monks in a remote
Algerian village by Islamic extremists in the 1990s.
With Franco-Algerian ties forever on tenterhooks, the movie
provoked protests but managed to win festival's second most
important award, Grand Prize.
A special jury award went to a third film, Chadian Director
Mahamat-Saleh Haroun's Un homme qui crie (A Screaming
Man), a tragedy of parental betrayal.
The Best Actor Palme was shared by Spain's Javier Bardem in
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's 'Biutiful', and Italy's Elio
Germano in 'Our Life' by Daniele Luchetti.
The Tim Burton led jury, which also included India's
Shekhar Kapur, selected actress Juliette Binoche for the Best
Actress award. She plays an unhappy antiques dealer in Abbas
Kiarostami's first film set outside his native Iran, 'Certified
Copy'.
Former Bond villain Mathieu Amalric won the Best Director
prize for his debut 'On Tour'.
The film is the story of an impresario touring round France
with a bunch of blowsy burlesque dancers. South Korea's
'Poetry', by Lee Chang-Dong, an intensely poignant tale of a
grandmother and her angst over her grandson's crime, managed
to clinch the Best Screenplay Palm.

22 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

 SIBAL LAUNCHES CBSE'S INTERNATIONAL
CURRICULUM
The Central Board of Secondary
Education (CBSE) launched its self-
designed international curriculum that
aims to compete with its western
counterparts to produce the global
citizen.
Human Resource Development
Minister, Kapil Sibal presided over the
worldwide launch of the CBSE-
international (CBSE-i) curriculum at Dubai's Indian High
School (IHS). The IHS will also become a global centre for
training teachers in the new curriculum under the guidelines of
the CBSE.
He said that CBSE's initiative was futuristic, and was a
reflection of India's ambitious drive to establish a vast pool of
skilled manpower that could become a significant driver of the
global economy.
“It is important to realise that the global community is going
to need quality human resources. That will be provided only by
countries where human resources are available,” Mr. Sibal said
in a conversation with media person. Because of its ample pool of
young people, India has the advantage of having a “demographic
dividend,” in comparison to “demographic deficit” that was
being felt in the rest of the world, he said.
JKJKJK
UN ASKS INDIA, PAK, ISRAEL TO JOIN NPT, CTBT
In a departure from tradition of not singling out countries by
name, the United Nations has asked India, Pakistan and Israel to
join NPT and CTBT without further delay and pre-conditions.
The UN's call to the three countries to join Nuclear non-
Proliferation Treaty and Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty
(CTBT) came at the end of the month-long 2010 NPT review
conference in New York on May 28.
While it was expected that the names would be dropped in
favour of a general statement calling for the universality of the
NPT, the final document produced at the conference specifically
called on India, Pakistan and Israel to accede to the treaty
without further delay and pre-conditions.
The 189 delegates to the conference also called on the "three
states, operating unsafeguarded nuclear facilities to reverse
clearly and urgently any policies to pursue any nuclear weapon
development or deployment and to refrain from any action which
would undermine regional peace and security," the final
document said.
The NPT Review Conference is held every five years to
assess the progress in reaching the goals set out in the 1970
treaty to disarm and stop the spread of nuclear weapons.
India, Pakistan and Israel did not attend the last meet and
have not signed the treaty. The last conference in 2005 had
ended in failure. In a section on South Asia in the text, the UN
urged India and Pakistan to place all nuclear facilities under the
safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
"The conference urges both states to strengthen their non-
proliferation export control measures over technologies,
material and equipment that can be used for the production of
nuclear weapons and their delivery systems," it said.
JKJKJK
BLAIR APPOINTED AS ‘GREEN ENERGY’ ADVISER
Former British Prime Minister,
Tony Blair will be a part-time adviser
on green energy to US venture capital
firm Khosla Ventures.
According to a BBC report, Blair
will provide strategic advice regarding
investments in environmentally
friendly or helpful technologies.
A company press release quoted Blair, as saying, "Solving the
climate crisis is more than just a political agenda item - it's an
urgent priority that requires innovation, creativity, and
ambition."
Company owner Vinod Khosla said, "Understanding local
and global politics is now important for us, techie nerds. This is
where our relationship with Tony Blair can really help us. Tony
understands far better than I ever will the political and
geopolitical forces, as well as organization behaviour and social
behaviour and change."
Blair is currently the special UN envoy for the Middle East
quartet, which comprises the United Nations, Russia, the
United States and the European Union. He also runs the Tony
Blair Faith Foundation.
The business, that started in 2004, specializes in
environmentally friendly technologies. These include solar,
wind and nuclear energy projects.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 23
 KISHANGANGA: PAK TO MOVE INTERNATIONAL COURT
Pakistan has served a legal notice to
India concerning the long pending
issue of construction of the
Kishaganga dam over the river Indus.
The notice has been sent by the
Water and Power Ministr y in
consultation with the Indus Water commission with an aim to
bring the issue before the World Bank’s court of arbitration.
The Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), inked between India and
Pakistan in 1960, provides appointment of a neutral expert by the
World Bank as a last option to resolve water related issues
between both the countries.
Pakistan has been blaming India for an unsporting attitude
during bilateral talks, which were initiated to resolve the
impending water dispute.
Pakistan has been opposing the construction of the
Kishanganga hydropower project on the Ganga River in
Kashmir, which is called Neelum upon entering Pakistan.
Pakistan has said that the diversion of the waters of the Neelum
is not allowed under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty, and it will face
a 27 per cent water deficit, when the project gets completed.
It also claims that India has almost completed a 22-kilometre
long tunnel to divert Kishanganga waters to Wullar Lake in
Jammu and Kashmir.
JKJKJK
SHUTTLE ATLANTIS COMPLETES ITS LAST MISSION
The space shuttle Atlantis
touched down on May 26, at Kennedy
Space Centre in Florida, bringing an
end to its last scheduled mission.
The landing marks the likely end
of Atlantis’ 25 years of space flight as
NASA retires the ageing space shuttle fleet.
Only two further missions, by the Endeavour and Discovery
shuttles, are planned by the US space agency NASA before those
vessels are also taken out of service. The last shuttle flight is set
for November.
During its 11-day mission, Atlantis had brought new Russian
research equipment and a docking module to the ISS in the
ongoing construction of the international station.
24 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
Astronauts carried out three spacewalks to exchange the
electrical batteries of the ISS and to install a new antenna.
Since its first flight in October 1985, Atlantis has made 32
flights and travelled more than 120 million miles.
Though NASA stressed throughout the mission that this
flight was like any other, ground crew admitted before blast-off
that it was a bittersweet time as the shuttle crew winds down.
Atlantis will not be mothballed right away, allowing NASA to
keep it on hand for a possible rescue mission.
“We'll turn this incredible machine over to the ground crew
to put it in the barn for a bit,” Commander Ken Ham said after
steering Atlantis to the runway.
The retirement of the shuttle fleet has long been planned,
but has come under increased scrutiny after President Barack
Obama cancelled Bush-era plans to return to moon in a next
generation spacecraft.
Obama has instead chosen to promote commercial
spaceflight to nearby destinations and to focus NASA on long-
term goals, such as reaching Mars.
JKJKJK
DAWOOD 3RD MOST WANTED
Mafia and India’s most wanted
fugitive Dawood Ibrahim, mastermind of
the 1993 Mumbai bombings, figures
third on the Forbes’ Most Wanted list
which has been topped by Osama Bin
Laden.
The list, carried in the latest edition of
the Forbes magazine, also has Mexico’s most powerful drug
trafficker Joaquin Guzman in No.2. The magazine, which has
been releasing a list of most wanted fugitives for the past three
years, pointed out that Dawood, who is believed to be hiding in
Pakistan, possibly had a hand in aiding LeT execute the 2008
Mumbai attacks and also shares smuggling routes with Al
Qaeda.
“Though the Pakistani government denies it, Ibrahim is
probably in Pakistan, where he has important ties with the
powerful intelligence service,” it said.
The article described Dawood as “the most wanted man in
India” who has for years led a 5,000-member criminal syndicate
known as D-Company.
VIENNA ON TOP, IN INDIA BENGALURU IS THE BEST CITY
Bengaluru is the best city in India offering the highest
quality of living. The capital city of Karnataka with rank of 140 is,
however, way below European cities of Vienna, Zurich and
Geneva, the top three cities in the worldwide rankings of cities
for the quality of living.
The Quality of Living Survey 2010 by Mercer, saw Indian
cities – New Delhi (63.8 points), Mumbai (63.6 points) and
Kolkata (63.2 points) – trailing Bengaluru (64.9 points) with
ranks of 143, 144 and 145 respectively. Chennai was at No. 153 in
the list of 221 cities.
The rankings in the survey
have been based on a point-
scoring index, ranked against
New York as the base city, with an
index score of 100. Vienna tops
the list with 108.6 points. New
York is in position 49 on the list.
Singapore at 28th spot with 103.5 points is the top-scoring
Asian city, followed by Tokyo at 40th spot with 101.4 points.
Shanghai is the best city in China with a score of 82 points and
rank of 105.
“Quality of living declined in a few countries in Asia between
the start of 2009 and 2010.
Increasing threats of violence and terrorism, coupled with
natural disasters such as earthquakes, typhoons and cyclones
have had a negative impact on the quality of living in Asian
cities,” Mr Slagin Parakatil, senior researcher at Mercer, said.
European cities dominate the top 25 cities in the index with
16 places. However, British cities are not doing as well - London
ranks at 39, Aberdeen 53, Birmingham 55 and Glasgow 57.
In the United States, the highest ranking entry is Honolulu
at 31, followed by San Francisco at position 32.
The ranking also identifies the cities with the best eco-
ranking based on water availability and drink-ability, waste
removal, quality of sewage systems, air pollution and traffic
congestion. Canadian city of Calgary is at the top of this index
with the score of 145.7 points. Honolulu has second place on the
list with 145.1 points and Ottawa and Helsinki are in joint third
with 139.9 points.
However, Indian cities did worse on this index, with
Bengaluru at 198 spot, Chennai at 202, New Delhi at 213,
Mumbai at 215 and Kolkata at 218 on the list of 221 cities.
INDIA AND CHINA SIGN THREE PACTS TO ENHANCE
BILATERAL COOPERATION
The President of India, Ms
Pratibha Patil, arrived on a six-
day trip to China on May 26, at a
time when the two Asian giants
are marking the 60th anniversary
of the establishment of
diplomatic relations that have
lately been scarred by distrust,
perceptional differences and
border tensions.
Chinese Premier, Wen Jiabao warmly welcomed Patil and
described her visit in Beijing as “significant” as it coincided with
the 60th year of establishment of Sino-India diplomatic ties.
Indian President signed three bilateral cooperation pacts
including two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) between
India and China. The agreements were signed after the Indian
President held talks with her Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao at
the Great Hall of The People in Chinese capital Beijing.
India's Foreign Secretary, Nirupama Rao and Chinese
Assistant Foreign Minister, Hu Zhengyue signed an agreement
streamlining the visa application formalities for airline staff of
the two countries.
India sought China’s support for its bid for a permanent seat
in the UN Security Council during a meeting between President
Pratibha Patil and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing.
China, which is one of the five veto-wielding members of the
powerful UN Security Council along with the US, UK, Russia
and France, has been saying that it supports India’s aspirations
to play an important role at the UN, but wants an overall reform
of the world body.
Patil and Wen also discussed bilateral issues, particularly
trade and commerce between the two countries.
President Patil also dedicated the first Indian-styled
Buddhist temple in China, situated in the famous White Horse
temple complex in Luoyang, to the people of this country,
describing it as a "testimony" of the friendship between the two
neighbours.
In her remarks, Patil said, “I am very much pleased to visit
you in China and I thank for the hospitality extended to me and
my delegation. Excellent arrangements have been made for the
visit and I thank you for that.” She also referred to Wen’s last visit
to India.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 25
 N KOREA SCRAPS PACT WITH S KOREA MILITARY AS
TEMPERS FLARE
North Korea scrapped a pact aimed at
preventing accidental armed clashes with
South Korea at their flashpoint border, as
tempers flared over the sinking of a warship.
Pyongyang's general staff also warned of
an immediate attack if the South's navy
violates the disputed Yellow Sea borderline,
and repeated threats to shut down a joint business project.
Elsewhere in the Yellow Sea, South Korea's navy staged an
anti-submarine exercise in its first show of strength since Seoul
publicly accused Pyongyang of torpedoing one of its warships on
26th March with the loss of 46 lives.
In Seoul, an estimated 10,000 protesters shouted "Kill our
enemy!" and whacked images of the North's leader Kim Jong-Il
with wooden bars.
The South has announced a series of reprisals including a
halt to trade. The North, which denies involvement, has
responded with angry rhetoric and an announcement that it is
cutting all ties with its neighbour.
Blasting the South's “confrontation maniacs, sycophants
and quislings”, the North's military said agreements on
forestalling accidental conflicts would be declared “completely
null and void”.
JKJKJK
SUDAN'S BESHIR VOWS DIALOGUE WITH WEST
DESPITE ICC WARRANT
Veteran Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir vowed to
engage with the West despite an International
Criminal Court warrant hanging over him, as
he was sworn in to a new five-year term.
Beshir, who last month won a multi-party
election 21 years after seizing power in a
military coup, also pledged to fight for
Sudanese unity as Africa's biggest country
heads to a referendum in January next year on
independence for the south.
Dressed in traditional white robes and turban, Beshir
addressed parliament in a ceremony attended by six African
heads of state or government, and low-level representation from
Western countries.
26 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
"I will personally strive to build up a dialogue, an objective
dialogue with Western states aimed at clearing the atmosphere,"
he said.
In March 2009, Beshir became the first sitting head of state
to be indicted by the ICC. He stands accused of war crimes and
crimes against humanity in Darfur.
The seven-year-old conflict in the vast western region
pitting the army and Arab militias against ethnic minority rebels
sparked US charges of genocide and Western anger that he
refused to cooperate with the International Criminal Court or
surrender wanted officials.
JKJKJK
CHINA, U.S. SIGN EIGHT GREEN TECHNOLOGY DEALS
China and the U.S. have signed
eight green energy deals to
enhance cooperation in the sector,
which experts believe will open
doors for imports of high-end
technology so far blocked by
Washington.
The eight deals include aviation bio fuel, distributed energy
systems using natural gas as fuel, smart meters and cellulosic
ethanol.
Neither side disclosed the financial details of the deals.
The agreements followed conclusion of high-level strategic
and economic dialogue between the two countries attended by
among others U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke.
As the world’s two largest energy consumers, China and the
US will also join hands for renewable energy development, said
Zhang Guobao, head of National Energy Administration (NEA),
adding that China will keep an open mind to develop the
renewable energy sector.
The two countries have big potential for collaboration in the
area, said Zhang.
“The US has advanced technology, and China has a huge
market.” The US and China will “take every angle” to ensure
their cooperation in energy and environment, said US
Ambassador to China Jon Huntsman.
The deals could set examples for global collaboration in
increasing energy efficiency and protecting environment, state
run China Daily quoted analysts as saying.
 A series of Chinese and U.S. companies are involved in the
eight deals.
The deals could also open up doors for high technology to
emerging economies like India as U.S. was keen to step up
exports in the sector to increase its earnings from exports which
in turn could also help create more jobs for Americans.
Analysts said Sino-US cooperation on green energy would
set a good example for other countries.
JKJKJK
U.S. HAS TO GO BACK TO BASIC AND FIX EDUCATION
SYSTEM
President Barack Obama said the U.S. has to “go back to
basics” and fix its education system if it has to continue to be
ahead in this highly competitive world as countries like India and
China are catching up fast with the developed world.
Obama said it is time that
Americans said to themselves that
they are ready to make a change on
behalf of the future of their children
and grandchildren.
"We know that if we want to build
a real future in an economy this
competitive with China and India and Brazil and other countries
on the rise, that we’re going to have to go back to basics,” Obama
said in his speech at a fund raiser held for Senator Barbara Boxer
in California.
“We’ve got to fix our education system. We’ve got to make
sure that every young person in America has a chance to go to
college,” the President said.
“We’ve got to make sure- and by the way, you may have
missed it during the health care debate, but we added billions of
dollars in funding to student loans by cutting out the financial
middlemen,” Obama said amidst several rounds of applause.
“Everybody knows that we are at an inflection point in our
history, that we’ve got a choice between going back to the same
status quo, except the status quo won’t work anymore.”
The President said the US will not be able to run an economy
based on “maxing out credit cards”, taking out home equity
loans and running up debt and the financial sector getting
exorbitant profits based on a bunch of financial shenanigans.
Obama said Americans should get ready to make a change on
behalf of the future.
"It won’t happen overnight. It won’t happen tomorrow. It
won’t happen next week,” he said.
He said Americans should start investing in clean energy
technology, solar, wind, biodiesel, hybrid plug-ins and making
buildings more efficient.
“We’re not going to eliminate that completely. But we are
over time going to undergo transition in ourselves and we will
become more energy efficient, which will be good for our
national security, it will be good for our economy, it will be good
for our environment, it will be good for our future,” Obama said.
JKJKJK
ISRAEL TO DEPLOY SUBMARINES WITH N-MISSILES IN
PERSIAN GULF
Israel is to deploy three submarines
equipped with nuclear cruise missiles
in the Persian Gulf, amid fears that
ballistic missiles developed by Iran
could be used to hit strategic sites in the
Jewish state, a media report said.
The newspaper was quoted by local media as saying that one
of the submarines has been sent over Israeli fears that ballistic
missiles developed by Iran, and in the possession of Syria and
Hezbollah, could be used to hit strategic sites in the Jewish state,
including air bases and missile launchers.
Dolphin, Tekuma, and Leviathan, all submarines of the 7th
navy Flotilla, have been reported to be frequenting the Gulf in
the past.
However, according to the newspaper report, this new
deployment is meant to ensure a permanent naval presence near
the Iranian coastline.
A flotilla officer told the British newspaper that the deployed
submarines were meant to act as a deterrent, gather intelligence
and potentially to land Mossad agents in the region.
The submarines could be used if Iran continues with its
nuclear programme to produce a bomb.
"The 1,500 km range of the submarines cruise missiles can
reach any target in Iran," a navy officer told the newspaper.
Iranian officials reportedly reacted strongly vowing to
retaliate. “Anyone who wishes to do an evil act in the Persian Gulf
will receive a forceful response from us," an Iranian Admiral told
the newspaper.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 27
 JAPAN PRIME MINISTER HATOYAMA RESIGNS
Japan's centre-left Prime
Minister Yukio Hatoyama resigned
on June 2, less than nine months
after taking power following a
landslide election win.
Hatoyama, who took office in
September, has seen his poll ratings
plummet from more than 70% to below 20% amid a row over an
unpopular US army base on the southern island of Okinawa.
Hatoyama initially promised to move the base off the island
but backtracked and decided to keep it there, caving in to
Washington but enraging Okinawans and his pacifist coalition
partners the Social Democrats.
The left-leaning group quit his three-party coalition,
weakening the government in the upper house ahead of July
elections, while Hatoyama's poll ratings plunged to a new low of
below 20 per cent.
A tearful Hatoyama made the announcement at a special
parliamentary meeting of lawmakers from his Democratic Party
of Japan (DPJ), telling them: "I will step down" while also vowing
to "create a new DPJ".
“The government's work has not reflected the public's
wishes,” the Premier said, adding that he had also asked party
heavyweight and secretary general Ichiro Ozawa to quit.
Ozawa has been embroiled in a funding scandal that has
seen three of his current and former aides indicted. Prosecutors
have also in the past questioned Ozawa and raided his offices.
Hatoyama, 63, named Ozawa's and his own funds problems
and the Okinawa issue as the two main reasons for his
resignation.
"I have caused trouble for the people of Okinawa," Hatoyama
said. "We will need to make efforts to move the US base outside
of Okinawa. But the result was that we could not deliver."
Hatoyama, who last summer ended more than half a century
of almost unbroken conservative rule, was Japan's fourth Prime
Minister in four years.
Tipped as the most likely successors was Deputy Prime
Minister and Finance Minister Naoto Kan, with Foreign
Minister Katsuya Okada and Transport Minister Seiji Maehara
also seen as possible contenders.
28 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
A Stanford-trained engineering scholar, Hatoyama has a
scholarly bent that often saw him criticised as lofty and out of
touch with the common people.
JKJKJK
U.N. IMPOSES SANCTIONS ON IRAN
The United Nations Security
Council (UNSC) has by a heavy
margin imposed a fourth round of
sanctions against Iran.
Of the 15 members in the
Council, 12 voted in favour of
sanctions. Turkey and Brazil
opposed the sanctions, while
Lebanon abstained.
Susan Rice, U.S. Ambassador
at the U.N., described the vote as
a “decisive” move against Iran's
nuclear programme.
“Iran has shunned opportunity after opportunity to verify the
peaceful nature of its nuclear programme,” she said.
However, Brazil and Turkey, both of whom had signed a
nuclear swap deal with Iran, warned that the latest sanctions
would impede diplomacy on Iran's atomic programme.
The new sanctions include provisions that prohibit Iran
from purchasing heavy weaponry of various types including
attack helicopter and missiles.
It recommends all countries to inspect cargo from Iran,
suspected of containing banned items at their ports and airports.
Banning licences of banks suspected of funding nuclear
activities is also part of the recommendations.
Besides, a travel ban and asset freezes for a number of
individuals, including senior nuclear officials and associated
firms is proposed.
While the full details of the response were still awaited,
diplomats familiar with the issue said that International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) head, Yukiya Amano conveyed to Iran, the
response of the three countries, the so-called Vienna group.
The Vienna group apparently wants some significant
changes to the Tehran document.

Business and economy
ECONOMY GROWS AT 8.6 PC IN Q4; 7.4 PC IN 2009-10
Driven by a robust performance
by the manufacturing sector, the
Indian economy grew by 8.4 percent
in the last quarter of 2009-10,
pushing up the overall growth to a
better-than expected 7.4 percent.
The manufacturing sector grew
by 16.3 percent in the fourth quarter
(January-March 2009-10) and 10.8 percent in the fiscal.
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew at 7.4 percent for
2009-10, higher than the February projection of 7.2 percent.
The Central Statistics Organisation (CSO) also revised
upwards the growth rates for Q2 and Q3 of 2009-10 on better-
than-expected performance by manufacturing, mining and
quarrying industries than first thought.
There was no decline in agriculture growth in 2009-10,
despite widespread drought and floods hitting the farm output.
According to the CSO data, the farm sector recorded a
growth rate of 0.2 percent contrary to expectations of negative
growth.
Following the global financial crisis, the GDP had
moderated to 6.7 percent in 2008-09 after recording a growth
rate of 9 percent in the three preceding years.
tututu
SAHARA WINS TEAM INDIA SPONSORSHIP RIGHTS
Sahara India Parivar bagged the sponsorship rights for the
Indian men's cricket team till December 31, 2013.
Sahara outbid Bharti Airtel for the right to sponsor Team
India.
Sahara bagged the rights for Rs 3.3 crores per match.
Current events
Sahara and Airtel had submitted
the eligibility documents and
security deposits and the bid was
submitted and thereafter, BCCI's
marketing committee decided the
new sponsor of Team India.
Sources said that Sahara will bid
only for the Indian team while Bharti will bid for the Indian team
(base price of Rs 2.5 crore per match), India-A team (base price:
Rs 25 lakh per match), Under-19 team (base price: Rs 25 lakh
per match) and the women's team (base price: Rs 10 lakh per
match).
If Bharti had won the bid, it could not have displayed its
Airtel logo during ICC events because of a clash of interest -
Reliance (another telecom company) is one of the ICC sponsors.
tututu
NARMADA PROJECT TO GET RS 7,000 CR CENTRAL
FUNDS FOR CANALS
The Planning Commission has approved
central funding to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore
for building canal network under Narmada
project in Gujarat, a senior official attached
with the project said.
The Commission approved the revised
cost estimation of Sardar Sarovar Project
after examining details of the cost benefit of the ambitious
project, which is described as the lifeline of Gujarat.
"After examining the details submitted by us, the Planning
Commission has approved the revised estimation, which will
help us in accessing funds to the tune of Rs 7,000 crore for
building canals across the state," a senior official of Sardar
Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) said.
Under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme, a
Central govt. sch., funds will be provided to create irrigation
facilities in drought prone areas in the country, he added.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 29
 According to SSNNL officials, availability of funds from the
Centre will help expedite the canal works.
So far, less than 30 per cent of canals have been built.
"Since funds will not be a problem now, we will be able to
acquire the required lands for constructing canals in the
command area," the official said.
Around 41,000 hectare land will be required to complete the
canal network, involving branch canals, minor canals, sub-
minor canals and distributaries which will take the water to the
fields from the main canal, he added.
The SSNNL will now acquire the required lands at market
price from farmers, who were earlier not willing to provide their
lands because of 'faulty acquisition' procedure, the official said.
tututu
MAHINDRA TO BUY 55.2 PCT STAKE IN REVA
The Mahindra Group announced that its flagship Mahindra
and Mahindra has entered into an agreement with the
Bangalore-based REVA Electric Car Company to acquire a 55.2
per cent stake in the company, which is the largest manufacturer
of electric cars in India.
The company is to be renamed
Mahindra REVA Electric Vehicle
Company Ltd. Mahindra &
Mahindra strengthened its position
in the electric vehicles (EV) domain
with this acquisition.
The acquisition is to be made through a combination of
equity purchase from the REVA promoters and a fresh equity
infusion of about Rs. 45 crore (about $10 million).
As a result of the deal, the Mahindra REVA board has been
reconstituted under the Chairmanship of Pawan Goenka,
President, Automotive and Farm Equipment Sectors, Mahindra
& Mahindra. The new board includes five nominees from
Mahindra & Mahindra, two from the Maini family, who are the
promoters of REVA, and one from AEV LLC, California, which
was a co-founder of REVA.
An independent Director will be added to the board
subsequently. Chetan Maini, Vice-Chairman and Chief
Technology Officer, REVA, will be Chief of Technology &
Strategy. Mr. Goenka said the deal marks “a key strategic
acquisition for Mahindra in its march towards sustainable
mobility.”
30 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
He said the two entities “have brought together
complementary strengths.” Mahindra's “vehicle engineering
expertise, global distribution network, sourcing clout and
financing support,” had the potential to provide “market
penetration” for REVA vehicles, he said. “Mahindra,” he said,
“would also benefit from REVA's EV technology for its own
products.”
Mahindra, he said, was also developing an electric version of
its mini-truck, Maxximo. Mahindra REVA's EV technology will
be adapted for these and other Mahindra vehicles. Access to
strong EV technology “will strengthen Mahindra's other current
sustainability initiatives,” he added.
Mr. Chetan Maini, said since REVA recognised that the EV
market was bound to grow significantly, “We realised we needed
the resources and experience of a major automotive manufacturer
like Mahindra.”
The investment by Mahindra would enable the company “to
scale, innovate and accelerate and to deliver better products to
more customers in more places,” he said.
tututu
GOOGLE, SONY, INTEL JOIN ON WEB TELEVISION
PROJECT
Google Inc, Intel Corp and Sony
Corp unveiled "Google TV" in the
latest effort to marry the Web to
television and reach into the $70
billion TV advertising market.
The attempt to bring the Internet
into living rooms has challenged
virtually every major player in the technology and consumer
electronics industry for years, from Apple Inc to Microsoft Corp.
For Google, television represents an attractive market in
which to expand its Internet advertising business, which
generated the bulk of its $23.7 billion in 2009 revenue.
Executives demonstrated how Google TV will work. A
Google search box pops up directly on the screen, allowing
surfing through broadcasting channels as well as the Internet.
Searches can be typed on input devices resembling a tablet-like
gadget.
For Sony, whose dominance in electronics has been eroded
by the likes of Samsung Electronics, the effort helps it get ahead
of rivals in developing a new generation of devices.
 "Video should be consumed on the biggest, best and
brightest screen in the house. And that's a TV. It's not a PC or a
phone or anything else in between," said Google project Senior
Product Manager Rishi Chandra.
Best Buy Co Inc will sell devices and DISH Network TV will
integrate into Google TV. Chief Executives from those
companies, as well as Google, Sony, Intel and Adobe Systems
Inc, all went on stage at Google's developers conference for the
announcement.
tututu
CENTRE MULLS RS 50,000 CR FUND TO BOOST CORE
SECTOR
The Planning Commission has
proposed to set up a mega fund with
seed money of Rs 50,000 crore to
facilitate investment of over Rs 45 lakh
crore in the infrastructure sector
during the 12th Plan (2012-17).
“The commission has
recommended to create a fund with
seed money of Rs 50,000 crore to finance infrastructure projects
in the country particularly in 12th Plan period,” an official said.
“The panel has also constituted a committee, which would
be headed by HDFC Chairman, Mr Deepak Parekh, to look into
funding of the infrastructure sector projects. The committee
would submit its report to the Planning Commission,” he said.
The government will seek funding from multilateral lending
agencies like the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank,
financial institutions, insurance companies and pension funds
for the dedicated fund.
As part of the exercise to step up infrastructure sector
funding, the government will also fix annual targets for
ministries like road, railways, power and telecom, and would
monitor implementation of the projects.
“In a bid to boost infrastructure development, besides
setting annual targets, the government would make provision for
periodically monitoring such projects to ensure desirable
growth of the sector,” the official said.
The decision to set up an effective mechanism to ensure
sustainable investment in the infrastructure sector was taken at
a meeting of the Planning Commission headed by its Deputy
Chairman, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia.
During the meeting, it was pointed out that infrastructure
development, failed to gain momentum in the past 6-7 years
despite government efforts and after setting up of a task force
under the Prime Minister.
tututu
NTPC-BHEL JV MULLS TECHNOLOGY TIE-UP WITH
GLOBAL CO
NTPC-BHEL Power
Projects Ltd (NBBPL)
said it is exploring the
possibility of a technology
tie-up with a foreign
player, which may be
offered a minority stake in
the company.
The move is aimed at bringing Indian power equipment
manufacturing at par with international companies through the
induction of modern technology.
"There is always a possibility of a third partner, whenever the
need arises we would take a call. We are exploring the possibility
for technological tie-up with a foreign company," told NBPPL
Chairman, C P Singh.
He said, “It (technology tie-up) may or may not be an equity
partnership.”
NTPC-BHEL Power Projects Private Ltd is a 50:50 JV firm
formed between NTPC and BHEL on 28th April, 2008, for
carrying out Engineering, Procurement and Construction
(EPC) contracts, besides the manufacture and supply of
equipment for power plants.
"There is always a shortage of power equipment
manufacturing units in the country," Singh said, adding that the
JV would augment power generation capacity addition in the
country.
The company currently has an order book of about Rs 450
crore. It is targeting an order book of Rs 7,000 crore by the end of
the current fiscal.
At present, NBPPL is working on the 100-MW Namrup
Power Station in Assam and the 726-MW combined cycle power
plant being set up by ONGC Tripura Power Corporation at
Palatana, in Tripura.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 31
 It will also take up execution of the 500-MW Singrauli WAL-MART TAKES US HELP TO ENTER INDIAN RETAIL
thermal power plant and the 600-MW thermal power plant of
Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation Ltd The world’s largest retailer
(APGENCO) at Rayalseema. Wal-Mart has solicited support
from the US government for
NBPPL falls under the administrative control of the entering the multi-billion
Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Industries. dollar Indian retail market,
where foreign investment
The Ministry of Power has set a target for adding 78,000 MW norms are posing hurdles to its
of power generation capacity during the current XI Five-Year
entry.
Plan Period (2007-12).
The US-based Wal-Mart Stores, one of the world’s top
This is likely to translate into immense business
revenue grossers with over $400 billion of total annual sales and
opportunities for equipment- manufacturing companies like
present in 15 countries, is lobbying hard with lawmakers in
NBPPL.
Washington to help it expand into India, possibly through
bilateral talks between the related authorities of the two
tututu
countries.

TELCOS PAY RS 67,719 CRORE TOWARDS 3G The company is lobbying with the US Congress members as
SPECTRUM FEE also the departments of commerce, trade and treasury, among
others, to put forward its case on issues like “discussions on
All nine telecom players, including state-owned BSNL and India and foreign direct investment”, and “enhanced access for
MTNL, have paid Rs. 67,719 crore to investment in China and India.”
the government as fee for 3G
spectrum. While seven players – Bharti tututu
Airtel, Reliance Communication,
Vodafone Essar, Aircel, Idea Cellular, NOW WITHDRAW 1 LAKH AT ATMS, SHOP FOR 1.25
Tata Teleservices and S Tel – had
bagged spectrum in e-auction, BSNL LAKH A DAY
and MTNL got the radio waves earlier
and their share was decided as per the Bank customers can soon
amount reached at the completion of the bidding process. withdraw up to Rs one lakh in a
single day from ATM machines,
Bharti Airtel paid the highest Rs. 12,295.46 crore for 3G and can shop for even a higher
spectrum for 13 circles, followed by Vodafone Rs. 11,617.86 crore amount of Rs 1.25 lakh with
for nine circles, Reliance Communication Rs. 8,585.04 crore for their debit cards.
13 circles, Tata Teleservices paid Rs. 5,864.29 crore for nine nine
circles and Idea Cellular paid Rs. 5,768.59 crore for 11 circles. Also, as much as Rs three
lakh can be transferred in a day
Similarly, Aircel and S Tel have paid their respective bid to another account through
amounts for the telecom circles won. BSNL has paid Rs. ATMs as also over phone.
10,186.56 crore for the pan-India radio waves, except for Delhi
and Mumbai where MTNL has the spectrum and it paid Rs. The enhanced limits for ATM withdrawals, debit card
6,564 crore to the government. swiping and fund transfers would save the consumers from
running to bank branches, that too within banking hours, for
Winning bid amount of each circle varies, with highest being such large transactions.
that of Delhi and Mumbai at Rs. 3,316.93 crore and Rs. 3,247.07
crore respectively, while the least being that of Jammu and Currently, the maximum the customers of most of the banks
Kashmir at Rs. 30.30 crore. can withdraw through ATMs is Rs 50,000 in a day.

Among other private operators, Idea Cellular, Tatas, Aircel While HDFC Bank is allowing these enhanced banking
and STel have also paid their respective bid amount to the limits to its customers with effect from June 1, other banks
Department of Telecom (DoT). might soon follow suit.

32 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

 The ATM withdrawal limit for HDFC Bank Imperia Gold
Debit Cards now stands increased to Rs 1 lakh, and that for
shopping to Rs 1.25 lakh, from Rs 50,000 per day. Besides, the
ATM card and shopping limit for Easy Shop Regular
International/ Maestro/ NRO Debit Cards would stand
increased to Rs 25,000 and Rs 40,000 from Rs 15,000 and 25,000
respectively.
The bank is currently in the process of informing its
customers about these enhanced debit card limits. Given the
competitive nature of the banking business, other banks would
have to soon follow HDFC Bank in increasing their own card
limits for ATM withdrawals, shopping and fund transfers, a
senior official at a rival bank said.
Also the holders of Kid's Advantage Debit Cards can
withdraw and shop for Rs 2,500 in a single day, higher from Rs
1,500 and Rs 1,000 currently.
Further, Women debit Card holders will get to withdraw Rs
25,000 from ATMs from Rs 20,000. Also customers can shop for
up to Rs 40,000 crore with debit cards, from the present Rs
30,000.
The above revised limit is not applicable to the card holders
whose current limit are different from the ones stated above and
will continue to enjoy their requested/ offered limits as
sanctioned before, HDFC said.
tututu
BIRLA TO SET UP RS. 4,000 CRORE IT PARK IN KERALA
The Kerala government has
given an approval to the Aditya Birla
Group to establish a Rs. 4,000 crore
IT and Biotech Knowledge Park
and a branch of Birla Institute of
Technology (BITS) at Kozhikode.
The branch of BITS would be
established on 320 acres at Mavoor in the outskirts of
Kozhikode.
The state government has given an approval after
considering the proposal. "Now the Birlas have to submit a
detailed project report for final clearances," said T
Balakrishnan, Additional Chief Secretary and Secretary for
Industries, Kerala.
The Knowledge Park will use nano-technology,
biotechnology and related cutting-edge research and
development (R&D), knowledge process management, besides
advanced information technology (IT) services and will house
non polluting projects.
"The project will be among the first for manufacturing and
commodity products that will drive Aditya Birla Group's foray
into industries related to future technologies," said an Executive
of the Birla Group.
"The project would create direct employment for over
100,000 professionals and indirect employment for 300,000
people," said Elamaram Kareem, Kerala industries and
Commerce Minister.
The Aditya Birla Group outlined a plan for the IT and
Biotech Knowledge Park and took the suggestion of the
government quite seriously about setting up non polluting
projects at the site of the factory which was closed in 2001 as it
faced a competition from imported fibre and an environmental
agitation for polluting the Chaliyar river.
The site on which a defunct pulp and fibre unit was owned by
Gwalior Rayons (now Grasim), the former government led by
the Congress had suggested the Birlas to either set up another
industry or return the land to the state government, in order to
revive the fortunes of Gwalior Rayons.
Incase the management failed to develop an alternative
project, the revenue department had also decided to take the
land back, invoking provisions of the Land Reforms Act. The
Birla Group had filed a case against the government on the land
issue in the high court.
Now the Kerala government hopes that Birlas would settle
the legal issue out of court, with the clearance given for the
project, said Balakrishnan. Sources said the ruling Left
Democratic Front (LDF), which completed four years in power,
has included the proposal for final approval within a year before
completion of its five-year term.
tututu
IRDA TO STREAMLINE ULIP SCHEMES
The Insurance Regulator y and
Development Authority (IRDA), to further
streamline the system governing the unit
linked insurance plans (ULIPs), proposed to
do away with wide variance in charges
imposed by insurers for surrendering these
securities-linked products.
Most insurers, however, are following
best global practices in ULIPs, said IRDA, which is now in a
tussle with the market watchdog SEBI over their regulation.
The regulator also proposed various uniform norms that should
beadoptedbyinsurersforclosingthepoliciesorrevivingthem.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 33
 As per the draft, there would be no charges for surrendering
a policy with a maturity of under ten years, if the policyholder
surrenders his/her policy after six years.
For a policy with a maturity of over ten years, there would be
no charges if surrendered from the seventh year.
The IRDA also imposed maximum limits that insurers could
charge from policyholders, if they surrender their policies
before the sixth year, in case the policy has under ten years of
maturity.
If the surrender is before the seventh year of a policy with
over ten years maturity, there are ceilings prescribed on the
charges as well, IRDA said.
tututu
COFFEE EXPORT JUMPS BY 50 PC IN JAN-MAY 2010
The country's coffee export
surged by 50 per cent to 1,29,815
tonnes in the first five months of this
year buoyed by higher domestic
supplies, according to the Coffee
Board of India. But the export
realisation of the commodity was
lower by 7.25 per cent at Rs 1,00,311
per tonne during January-May of the
current year, compared to Rs
1,08,161 per tonne in the same period last year, the Coffee Board
data showed.
India, Asia's third-largest producer, had exported 86,654
tonnes of coffee in the corresponding period last year. "The
shipments so far have risen sharply to 1,29,815 tonnes because
of increased coffee availability following better production this
year," a Coffee Board official told PTI. "Another major factor
boosting Indian coffee exports is growing coffee consumption in
the global market.
“The global demand is seen growing at two per cent per
annum,” he said. The country's coffee output has increased to
2.89 lakh tonnes in the 2009-10 crop year (October-September),
as against 2.62 lakh tonnes in the previous two years, he added.
According to data released by the apex body for promotion
and marketing of the crop, robusta exports rose by 41 per cent at
69,128 tonnes in the January-May period of 2010, against 48,696
tonnes in the same period last year. Arabica shipments jumped
by 39 per cent at 26,272 tonnes from 18,924 tonnes whereas the
re-export of processed coffee rose to 34,265 tonnes from 18,929
tonnes in the review period.
34 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
Companies such as Tata Coffee, Nestle and NKG Jayanti
Coffee Pvt shipped most of their products to Italy (37,994
tonnes), Russia (15,924 tonnes) and Germany (11,431 tonnes).
tututu
TISHMAN SPEYER OPENS ITS FIRST IT PARK IN INDIA
Tishman Speyer, one of the world's leading
developers of real estate, unveiled its first
property in Asia, commissioning the first
phase of the Waverock IT Park.
The US-based developer also launched
the second phase of the project, a joint venture between
Tishman and ICICI Ventures, which has come up at a special
economic zone at Nanakramguda, Gachibowli, an IT district on
the city's outskirts. Comprising two phases, Waverock has come
up on 12 acres of land for providing 2.46 million square feet IT
office space to provide employment opportunity to 25,000
people.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, K. Rosaiah commissioned
the first phase, comprising 700,000 square feet with 10 floors to
seat 7,000 professionals. The first phase, built at a cost of Rs.600
crore, began partial operations in February.
Waverock phase II is estimated to cost Rs 700 crore. When
completed, it will provide 1.65 million square feet office space. It
will be developed in three sub-phases and will be 15-19 storey-
high with a total area of 650,000 square feet each.
TCS has begun its operations in Waverock while Accenture
and Invesco will start their offices shortly. Tishman had signed a
memorandum of understanding with the Andhra Pradesh
government in 2006 to build the facility. ICICI Ventures is 50
percent partner in the joint venture. Company officials said 80
per cent of the phase I capacity at Waverock was committed.
"This is the first building our company has finished in Asia,"
said Jerry Speyer, Chairman and Co-chief executive, Tishman
Speyer. India is the 11th country where Tishaman has launched
operations. Tishman, which raises and manages private equity
funds for real estate across the world, currently, has $50 billion of
assets under management.
Rosaiah said Hyderabad had made a mark in the world IT
map with manpower and world-class IT infrastructure. He said
the state aimed to achieve IT export turnover of Rs.70,000 crore
and additional direct IT employment generation of 125,000 by
2015. The IT export turnover from the state in 2009 was
Rs.32,500 crore. There are over 1,200 companies providing
employment to 251,786 people.
 INDIA'S EXPORTS UP 36.2 PER CENT IN APRIL
India's exports rose 36.2
percent to $16.9 billion in April
for the sixth straight month
after 13 consecutive months of
decline, official data released
on June 1, showed.
The exports were $12.4
billion in April a year ago. The
exports were higher due to
increased demand for gems
and jewellery, textiles, petroleum and engineering products. But
the outbound shipments were well below what India exported
two years ago.
Trade experts attribute the jump in exports in the last few
months mainly to a low base effect. Low base effect makes a
small increase appear large when the numbers in the
comparable period a year ago are too low.
Also, there are concerns that the ongoing debt crisis in the
euro-zone could dampen demand. "If the European debt crisis
spreads, there could be a problem. The EU is an important
destination for our exports," a commerce ministry official said.
Federation of Indian Export Organisations (FIEO) Director,
General Ajay Sahai said the government should constantly
review developments in the euro-zone to take timely action, if
required.
During April 2010, the country's imports grew by 43.3
percent to $27.3 billion against $19 billion in the year-ago period,
data released by the commerce ministry showed. It was mainly
on account of growth in manufacturing and increase in domestic
demand.
With this, the trade deficit surged to $10.4 billion against
$6.6 billion last year.
The oil imports grew by 70.5 percent to $8 billion in April
2010 against $4.7 billion in the corresponding period last year
and non-oil imports increased by 34.3 percent to $19.2 billion
from $14.3 billion in April 2009.
In the financial year 2009-10, exports dropped 4.7 percent to
$176.5 billion mainly due to the global meltdown which had hurt
demand.
The exports were in the red for 13 successive months,
starting October 2008. They started turning positive in
November 2009.
The Indian government has set a target of $200 billion-worth
merchandise exports for 2010-11 and wants to double the
exports by 2014.
"If the (European) crisis does not extend beyond Greece,
then we are well on our way to achieve the $200 billion export
target set for the year," Sahai said.
tututu
FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES COMFORTABLE, SAYS
RBI GOVERNOR
RBI Governor, D Subbarao said
the country's foreign exchange
reserves are "quite comfortable" and
there is no threat to it from the euro
zone crisis.
"Our foreign exchange reserves
are quite comfortable and are being
managed efficiently with help from
experts," he said while talking to
media on the sidelines of a function in
Pune.
Subbarao said the flight to dollar being witnessed following
the euro zone crisis is a "natural reaction" when there is an
uncertainty.
"It is shifting to safety and the path of natural reaction in
financial markets," the RBI Governor said, adding India need
not be overly concerned about the development.
On inflation, Subbarao said it was not at a "peak level" but still
at a "higher level" than what the apex bank would like it to be,
adding that it would be taken into account along with growth
while formulating the monetary policy.
Reacting to the just released figures of GDP growth, he said
it was "quite encouraging but not surprising" and recalled that
the bank in its annual policy statement had anticipated GDP
growth of 7.5 per cent for 2009-2010.
Earlier, Subbarao inaugurated the RBI Archives Museum in
the premises of a College of Agriculture Banking in Pune and
described it as a "treasure trove" in India's economic history.
He also said the Central bank would soon announce its
Archival and Record Management policy to manage transition
from paper to digital infrastructure.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 35
 I-T DEPT TO OPEN AAYAKAR SEWA KENDRAS IN NINE
MORE CITIES
By the end of this fiscal,
income tax payers will be able to
get all their problems relating to
filing of returns and obtaining of
refunds, among others, addressed
at nine more help centres.
The Income Tax Department
has decided to set up help centres at 12 cities, including Kolkata,
Coimbatore and Surat, to address the problems of tax payers.
At present, help centres exist at three places in the country.
The centres, called Aayakar Sewa Kendras, are currently located
in Pune, Chandigarh and Kochi.
"We are planning to extend Aayakar Sewa Kendras to 12
cities, including Ludhiana, Kolkata and Indore, in the current
fiscal," a finance ministry official said.
The centres would also be set up at Bhubaneswar, Guwahati,
Surat, Ahmedabad, Udaipur and Coimbatore.
A one-stop shop for taxpayers to obtain the services of the
Income Tax department, the kendras help redress the
complaints of taxpayers and prevent similar grievances in the
future. The centre addresses almost all I-T related queries,
including returns and refunds, the official said.
At present, over 3.5 crore people come under the income tax
net in the country.
tututu
TATA MOTORS INAUGURATES NANO FACTORY AT
GUJARAT'S SANAND
Tata Motors inaugurated Nano's manufacturing facility,
nearly two years after it was forced to shift the plant out of West
Bengal over a land row.
The new plant at Sanand was inaugurated by Gujarat Chief
Minister Narendra Modi and Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata,
who seven years ago dreamt of making an affordable family car
for the common man.
“When I came here first on an industry visit invited by
Gujarat Chief Minister, I was told that if it (the Nano plant) is
not in Gujarat, I will be a stupid.”
36 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
"I am no longer stupid after investing on the plant in
Gujarat," Tata said while inaugurating the plant.
Spread over about
1,100 acres, the plant in
Sanand has been created
at an investment of about
Rs 2,000 crore.
Speaking on the
occasion, Modi said: "The
revolution brought by
Ford in the early 20th
century with its small car
is being replicated now by Ratan Tata with his Nano."
Every middle-class family's dream to own a car is being
fulfilled at Sanand with the inauguration of the Nano plant, he
added.
Ratan Tata's dream of making a car costing only Rs 1 lakh
crore had to face challenges – both technical and political – ever
since it was conceived in 2003.
At a time when input costs were soaring, keeping the cost of
production of a comfortable mini car powered by a 623cc engine
giving a competitive mileage, was a challenge big enough for the
engineers of Tata Motors.
While Tatas were able to overcome it, the group was unable to
beat political challenge from Trinamool Congress and had to
shift manufacturing base from the original location at Singur in
West Bengal to Sanand in Gujarat in October 2008. Tatas, by
then, had already put over Rs 1,000 crore in Singur.
It delayed not only the original plans for the commercial
launch of Nano by about five months, but also affected its
availability.
Till the time the Sanand facility was ready, the company went
ahead with limited production of Nano – touted as the world's
cheapest car with a factory gate price of Rs 1,00,000 (little over
USD 2,000) – from Pantnagar in Himachal Pradesh.
Bookings for the car opened in April 2009 and deliveries
began in July that year. It has so far delivered over 35,000 units.
However, only the first 1,00,000 customers are assured of getting
the car at an ex-factory price of Rs 1,00,000.
The Sanand facility has the capacity to manufacture 2.5 lakh
units annually, which can subsequently be increased to 5 lakh
units per annum. Pilot commercial production of Nano at
Sanand has already begun.

David Cameron
D avid Cameron has become the Prime
Minister of Britain in May 2010 and is
the youngest Prime Minister of
Britain in 200 years.
David William Donald Cameron was born
on 9 October 1966 in London, England. He is
the son of stockbroker Ian Cameron and Mary
Fleur Mont. He spent the first three years of his
life in Kensington and Chelsea before the
family moved to an old rectory near Newbury, in Berkshire. He
had what he describes as a "happy childhood", with his brother
Alec and sisters Tania and Clare. His father Ian is a former
Director of estate agent John D Wood and stockbrokers
Panmure, where Mr Cameron's grandfather and great
grandfather worked.
But the new Tory leader gains his political lineage from his
mother's side of the family, whose ancestral home was Wasing, in
Berkshire. His great, great, great grandfather, William Mount,
was Conservative MP for the Isle of Wight in the 19th Century.
Mr Cameron's great, great grandfather also called William
Mount, sat for Newbury, before passing the seat on to his son Sir
William Mount, the first baronet and David Cameron's great
grandfather.
He attended Heatherdown Preparatory School before
moving onto Eton College. After leaving Eton with three "A
Grade" A Levels, he studied at the University of Oxford,
studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE). Cameron
graduated in 1998 with a first class honours degree.
After graduating from university, Cameron worked for the
Conservative Research Department between 1988 and 1992. In
1991, Cameron worked on briefing Prime Minister John Major
for his bi-weekly "Prime Minister's Questions" sessions. After
the Conservative Party's success in 1992, Cameron was
promoted to work as Special Advisor to the Chancellor of the
Exchequer, Norman Lamont.
When Lamont was sacked after coming out of favour of John
Major, Cameron went to work for the Home Secretary, Michael
Howard. In September 1993, Cameron applied to go on the
Conservative Central Office's list of Parliamentary candidates.
Profile
In mid 1994, David left his role as Special
Adviser and started to work as the Directory of
Corporate Affairs at Carlton Communications.
And after that having been approved for the
candidates’ list he began looking for seat. David
was reported to have missed out on selection
for Ashford in December 1994 after failing to
get to the selection meeting due to train delays.
Then in 1996 he was selected for Stafford, and
in 1996 Conservative Party conference David
called tax cuts in the coming budget. Stafford had a swing as the
national swing. David Kidney portrayed David Cameron as the
right wing Tory. The swing made it one of the many seats to fall
to Labour and David Kidney had a majority of more than 4,000.
Then on 4th April, 2000 David Cameron was selected as
prospective candidate for Witney in Oxfordshire that was his
party’s safe seat but its sitting MP Shaun Woodward had joined
the Labour Party. David won with 1.9% swing to the
Conservatives with a majority of approximately 8000.
Then he served as a member of the Common Home Affairs
Select Committee. David Cameron determinedly attempted to
increase his public profile. In mid 2002 David along with George
Osborne was invited by Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith
to coach him on PM’s Questions in November 2002.
In June 2003, Cameron was made a shadow minister in the
Privy Council Office, working as a deputy to Eric Forth. He also
became Vice-Chairman of the Conservative Party, under
Michael Howard. Following the resignation of Howard after the
Labour victory in May 2004. Cameron announced he would
stand for the post of party leader and on 6 December 2005, after a
lengthy election process, he was officially announced to be the
Leader of the Conservative Party.
With his influential friends and blue-blooded heritage, Mr
Cameron has been criticised for not being in touch with
ordinary people.
But his easy manner and confidence in front of the television
cameras allows him to appear - if not exactly classless - then
certainly not the upper-crust figure his background might
suggest.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 37
Guestroom
Modelling on role models
Lt. Col P. Deogirikar (Retd.)
Life is far too complicated. Demands for quick decisions are made almost every day. If only we had a role-model who
would simplify this complexity! If only we could blindly follow that idol! There might be old timers alive today who
will, in case of an emergency (not connected with Mrs. Indira Gandhi!), get the first thought, "What would have
Gandhi done in such a situation?" and take action accordingly. We will not discuss the relevance-of Gandhiji today but
the relevance of a role model today. Read on.....
O ne of the questions we have been asking the candidates
during interviews has been "Who is your role model?"
The next question would be why. And the answers to
this series of questions are expected to give many clues about
that person. Note that the person is made to tell about the
personality traits that his/her role model has. Obviously, he/she
may feel that he/she has the same traits or would like to acquire
those.
But when a candidate takes a deep breath, gives a smile
triumphantly and declares, "Mahatma Gandhi" or "Mother
Teresa" (if a lady), I know that I am in for some fun. For these
names are generally coined just to impress the interviewer. He
may know about Gandhi only what has been shown in "Lage
Raho Munnabhai" and only thing she may know about Teresa is
that she worked for the poor. No books, biographies would have
been read.
Fun aside, what is this role-model? Someone on whom you
would like to model your life on. So, the very basic requirement is
that you must know as much as feasible about that person. If you
have not read every word written on him/her, you would not even
know about your idol. The second stage would be that you try
and ape that person.
Okay, let those 'show-offs' rest. Suppose you are more honest
and say an "Amitabh Bachhan", or a "Sach1n Tendulkar",
"Hrithik Roshan". Then another set of questions arise. Here is
how I could make you uncomfortable.
Amitabh Bachhan - If he happens to be your idol, how
many of his known traits or acts do you follow? Getting
impressed is something different. You may mimic his famous
dialogues, but do you have the patience of sitting for 3-4 hours
daily for a special ('Pa’) makeup? Anywhere close to it? You may
keep the 'french' beard he does but do you have the punctuality
he has?
38 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
Sachin Tendulkar - 'Sachin', Sachin' you might shout in
the IPL match but do you have his commitment towards
profession? Yours might be academics at this moment. You
might shout hoarse that he should be a part of our twenty-twenty
world cup, but do you volunteer yourself to arrange a
management event in your college?
Hrithik Roshan - You may dress like him, may even have his
mannerisms, but what about the body? Do you even at attempt to
get those rippling muscles? Do you even know that he used to
stammer in his early childhood?
Why today's youth, we oldies were no good. Have another
example. I had an acquaintance who was a great fan of film actor
Rajkmar, and would mouth his famous dialogues. But he was a
hypochondriac. Someone visiting him had to make the mistake
of just asking, "How are you?", and he would have to listen to a
long list of the medical problems the gentleman was facing.
Little did he bother to note that his role model, Rajkumar, died
because of some incurable disease with very few persons even
knowing about his disease!
Are we governed by our 'selective perception' - we don't see
reality. We see what we like to see and Call it reality? If so, are we
scared of the hard work and, like an electric current, find the easy
way?
Okay, forget about the heroes/heroines worship in society, do
we not get impressed by our parents? But do we have to only take
the not-so-good things from them?
Like should a boy only pick up the smoking vice from his dad
and not how hard his father worked in life? In our colony there is
an old man who passes his son's house (which is nearby) at
around 6.45 every morning and shouts asking him to get up.
Good, only the son is aged 40 years! I hope this young (?) son
views "Wake up Sid" and transforms!
 Or should a teenaged girl only pick up a fight with her
mother on the TV remote in the evening and comfortably forget
the hard work the lady puts in for the entire family all day? It is
advocated that we should take good things from others and
ignore the bad ones. Are we doing entirely the opposite? Ideally,
we are to find a ‘Ram’ in ‘Ravan’, or find a ‘Ravan’ in ‘Ram’?
I have seen teachers who were very good. They had
knowledge and were willing to help the students outside the
class too. Only thing, they did not have was good verbal
communication skill. Did we make good of their offerings? No,
Sir, we only cracked jokes on their English (e.g. telling a girl,
"Meet me behind the class!")! Do we only enjoy at someone's
expanse? Do we thrive on negative ideas? Thoughts? Mind you,
that is where the negativity starts. You would have heard this
famous one –
Watch your thought, as your thoughts become words.
Watch your word, as your words become action.
Watch your action, as your actions become your habit.
Watch your habit, as your habits becomes your character.
Watch your character, as your character becomes your
destiny!
So, unless we arrest this negative thought in the beginning,
we are playing with fire and could harm ourselves.
I sincerely hope you get a beacon to show you the path in your
career and your life. Whoever it is, hope you will be careful while
naming the role-model in the next interview. Especially if I
happen to be the interviewer!

Bank Punch line / Tag line

1. Hum Hai Na: ICICI
2. Good People To Grow With: Indian Overseas Bank
3. With You All The Way: State Bank Of India
4. Tradition Of Trust: Allahabad Bank
5. Trusted Family Bank: Dena Bank
6. Good People To Bank With: Union Bank Of India
7. World's Local Bank: HSBC
8. We Understand Your World: HDFC
9. Much More To Do With YOU In Focus: Andhra Bank
10. A Friend You Can Bank Upon: Vijaya Bank
11. Together We Prosper: Bank Of Rajasthan
12. Your Perfect Banking Partner: Federal Bank
13. Taking Banking Technology To The Common Man: Indian Bank
14. Experience Our Expertise: Yes Bank
15. Build A Better Life Around Us: Central Bank Of India
16. Serving To Empower: J & K Bank
17. The Changing Face Of Prosperity: Lakshami Vilas Bank
18. Where Every Individual Is Committed: Oreintal Bank Of Commerce
19. Aao Soche Bada: IDBI
20. A Faithful & Friendly Financial Partner: Syndicate Bank
21. Relationships Beyond Banking: Bank Of India
22. Honours Your Trust: UCO Bank
23. Smart Way To Bank: Karur Vaisya Bank
24. A Passion To Perform: Deutche Bank
25. Experience Next Generation Banking: South Indian Bank
26. The Name You Can Bank Upon: Punjab National Bank

PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 39

PT Panorama
How to deliver and delight
customers
THE NEW SPIRIT AT WORK
A question that occupies the minds of managers, executives
and officials of a business organisation concerns customers and
patrons. Delighting the customers through proper delivery has
become the catch - phrase of many organizations trying to
reorient themselves around customers. Paying attention to
customers has become the sphere of importance of leaders and
employees, although neither is committed to doing full justice to
it and each seems to be indulged in blaming the other.
Paying attention to customers is possible under four
conditions that can be created, and three best practices that can
be used to bring about the desired results.
CREATING CONDITIONS FOR CHANGE:
For an organization to become truly customer-centric, the
way to go about is not that easy, as this is complex, challenging
and requires time. It involves changing the culture of the
organization, and not just merely introducing a new programme,
training customer-contact personnel to smile over the phone or
conducting a few customer focus groups.
Organizations that have succeeded in assisting their
employees in committing to the new direction of bringing in a
personal change and thereby bringing the customer into focus at
all level of their working have created four action points arising
out of common sense. These are meant to :
1. articulate and promote the new direction.
2. ensure that each employee knows what is expected.
3. ensure that each employee has the skills to do what is
expected.
4. motivate each employee to do what is expected.
WAYS OF ACHIEVING
Articulate and promote the new direction:
Bairn and Company did a study on CEOs that was concerned
with ensuring that their employees aligned with the company's
polices, when performing. It was found that 10% ensured that
40 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
their employees aligned with the company's strategy, although
85% of them felt that they handled strategy development well.
This was shown with strategy execution dropping off to 40%.
Vision and value statement should be clear enough to
direct the organization:
Many organisations have vision and
value statements that seem to
matter little in day to day operations
and decisions. Lest they should be
thought of in terms of window
dressing, it would be beneficial to
assess to what extent adopted
vision and values are truly guiding
the company.
All employees should be aware of the organizations's
strategy:
Strangely, the organisation's strategy is thought of to be so
confidential that employees do not come to know of it, even
though they are the people who have to make it happen. One
should take a clue from Sam Walters who did not exclude even
part-time employees of Wal-Mart from receiving the store's vital
performance information.
Promoting the new direction (strategy) in an active
manner:
It requires a lot of effort to sell the organisation's vision and
value statement to employees. Sometimes it is challenging. John
Gillespie, CEO of Sydney Electricity, felt this was the hardest
job, which would not have been achieved by just sending e-mails
to all employees. He had to sell the vision, continually repeating
with enthusiasm, over and over again with his employees, at
every meeting. No wonder, Sydney Electricity won Australia's
national quality award.
Ensure that each employee knows what is expected:
Gallup organization, in a study that covered 400
organisations, 80000 managers and over one million employees,
concluded that any organization succeeds when its employees
know what is expected of them.
 Effective ways of ensuring this would be to:
Use the chain of command to discuss and explain what
is expected / use the hierarchy to communicate new
decisions:
This can be worked out with the manager talking to
employees in small groups, explaining to them about the present
situation, change in strategy and finally what they should do, how
they should work, and other expectations. Other matters like
personal, training and organizational support can be discussed,
so as to ensure their readiness and retention. Moreover, by
creating the picture of an appropriate new behaviour, it can be
ensured that employees adapt to it readily and make it a part of
their daily routine.
Make the employees appreciate the value of customer
relationship:
This can be achieved by making employees create a
line-of- sight map between them and customers.
Employees can work on this simple yet powerful
exercise, starting with their location in the
organization and creating a visual trail direct to
customers. While most of the employees might
not have direct contact with customers, they have
internal customers within the organization.
Employees would soon realise that any gap in the
internal customers would be troublesone for
external customers. In this way, they would realise
the value and importance of customer
relationship.
Give the right type of recognition to early adopters:
Early adopters can be identified. They can be publicly
praised for their sincere efforts to change changing their
behavior in order that the organizations strategy works. Such a
step would help in weakening or annulling the influence of
fence-sitters, who do little and only complain about the
development, and help in influencing and inspiring other
employees from peer success.
Ensure that each employee has the skills to do what is
expected:
Managers should ensure, and not just assume, that
employees have the skills to go about working towards the
required change and accomplishing the desired goals. An
effective way to go about would be to
r Conduct internal best practices research by identifying
critical competencies. In other worlds, identify best job
performers in each job category and compare them with
those counterparts who perform marginally. Managers can
come out with training exercises that would develop these
skills.
r Conduct a strategic training audit, which, though, being a
simple process would be rewarding. Against critical
competencies that are required for each job in the
organization, the contribution of the related training
programme to its development can be evaluated on a scale
of 1 to 5.
r Employees can themselves be trainers, making training
part of their job, instead of leaving the development of
competencies to company's trainers.
Motivate each employee to do what is expected:
This is the most difficult part for managers. Managers would
have to go beyond the conventional and the existing reward and
compensation system.
Ensure employee participation:
Participative management is an effective tool. In the present
context, employees can be asked to come out with opinions,
seeking their involvement to create the vision and values,
eliciting their suggestions on strategic issues,
involving them to create new processes, giving them
full authority to solve problems without the need to
observe the protocol.
Bring to light the face of the customer:
in addition to the voice of the customer, which is
a critical determinant. For this, appropriate metrics
based on customer behaviour and feedbacks are
needed, which can be personalized. One way of
going about is videotaping focus groups and sharing
the result with each employee. Meditronics is the
organization that has kept employees focused on its real
purpose. Doctors, patients and their families come into the
organization and share their account of how they survived.
Induce fun in work:
Employees are prone to undergo stress caused by
seriousness and outright fear arising out of down sizing,
mergers, stock price descent, increased working hours or an
excessive focus on quarterly earnings. As a result, fun is absent
in work done and stress – related absenteeism is on the rise.
Managers would do well in restoring the element of fun in work.
Conclusion:
The change that an organization wishes to bring about in its
culture is not a simple task. The managers need to change
themselves to being customer-centric. By creating the four
conditions, managers would succeed in giving rise to the
understanding on the part of each and every employee of what
needs to be done, harnessing the employee skills towards this
end, and finally motivating the employee to come out with the
best shot. The employee-customer relationship would be long-
standing and symbiotic.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 41
Brand icon
Apple Inc.
pple Inc. designs, manufactures, and markets personal
A computers, software, networking solutions, and
peripherals, including a line of portable digital music
players. Apple's product family includes the Macintosh line of
desktop and notebook computers, the iPod digital music player,
the Mac OS X operating system, the iTunes Music Store, the
Xserve G5 server, and Xserve RAID storage products. The
company's products are sold online, through third-party
wholesalers, and through its own chain of stores. Apple owns
approximately 125 retail stores in the United States, as well as
stores in Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom.
Apple was founded in April 1976 by Steve Wozniak, then 26
years old, and Steve Jobs, 21, both college dropouts. Their
partnership began several years earlier when Wozniak, a
talented, self-taught electronics engineer, began
building boxes that allowed him to make long-
distance phone calls for free. The pair sold
several hundred such boxes.
Apple's professional marketing
team placed the Apple II in retail
stores, and by June 1977, annual sales
reached $1 million. It was the first
microcomputer to use color graphics,
with a television set as the screen. In
addition, the Apple II expansion slot
made it more versatile than competing
computers.
The earliest Apple IIs read and stored
information on cassette tapes, which were
unreliable and slow. By 1978 Wozniak had
invented the Apple Disk II, at the time the fastest and cheapest
disk drive offered by any computer manufacturer. The Disk II
made possible the development of software for the Apple II.
The introduction of Apple II, with a user manual, at a
consumer electronics show signaled that Apple was expanding
beyond the hobbyist market to make its computers consumer
items. By the end of 1978, Apple was one of the fastest-growing
companies in the United States, with its products carried by
over 100 dealers.
42 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
In 1979 Apple introduced the Apple II+ with far more
memory than the Apple II and an easier startup system, and the
Silentype, the company's first printer. VisiCalc, the first
spreadsheet for microcomputers, was also released that year. Its
popularity helped to sell many Apple IIs. By the end of the year
sales were up 400 percent from 1978, at over 35,000 computers.
Apple Fortran, introduced in March 1980, led to the further
development of software, particularly technical and educational
applications.
In December 1980, Apple went public. Its offering of 4.6
million shares at $22 each sold out within minutes. A
second offering of 2.6 million shares quickly sold
out in May 1981.
The Apple III was well received when it was
released in September 1980 at $3,495, and
many predicted it would achieve its goal of
breaking into the office market dominated
by IBM. However, the Apple III was
released without adequate testing, and
many units proved to be defective. Production
was halted and the problems were fixed, but
the Apple III never sold as well as the Apple II.
It was discontinuedin April 1984.
Despite the problems with Apple III,
the company forged ahead, tripling its
1981 research and development budget
to $21 million, releasing 40 new software
programs, opening European offices, and
putting out its first hard disk. By January 1982,
650,000 Apple computers had been sold
worldwide. In December 1982, Apple became the first personal
computercompany to reach $1 billion in annual sales.
The next year, Apple lost its position as chief supplier of
personal computers in Europe to IBM, and tried to challenge
IBM in the business market with the Lisa computer. Lisa
introduced the mouse, a hand-controlled pointer, and displayed
pictures on the computer screen that substituted for keyboard
commands.
 Unfortunately, the Lisa did not sell as well as Apple had
hoped. Apple was having difficulty designing the elaborate
software to link together a number of Lisas and was finding it
hard to break IBM's hold on the business market. Apple's
earnings went down and its stock plummeted to $35, half of its
sale price in 1982.
With the failure of the Lisa, the Macintosh was seen as the
future of the company. Launched with a television commercial
in January 1984, the Macintosh was unveiled soon after, with a
price tag of $2,495 and a new 3-inch disk drive that was faster
than the 5 1/4-inch drives used in other machines, including the
Apple II.
Apple sold 70,000 Macintosh computers in the first 100 days.
In September 1984 a new Macintosh was released with more
memory and two disk drives. Jobs were convinced that anyone
who tried the Macintosh would buy it. A national advertisement
offered people the chance to take a Macintosh home for 24
hours, and over 200,000 people did so. At the same time, Apple
sold its two millionth Apple II. Over the next six months Apple
released numerous products for the Macintosh, including a
laser printer and a hard drive.
Despite these successes,Macintoshsales temporarilyfell off
after a promising start, and the company was troubled by
internal problems. Infighting between divisions continued, and
poor inventory tracking led to overproduction.
The Macintosh personal computer finally moved Apple into
the business office market. Corporations saw its ease of use as a
distinct advantage. It was far cheaper than the Lisa and had the
necessary software to link office computers. In 1986 and 1987
Apple produced three new Macintosh personal computers with
improved memory and power.
By 1988, over one million Macintosh computers had been
sold, with 70 percent of sales to corporations. Software was
created that allowed the Macintosh to be connected to IBM-
based systems. Apple grew rapidly; income for 1988 topped $400
million on sales of $4.07 billion, up from income of $217 million
on sales of $1.9 billion in 1986. Apple had 5,500 employees in
1986 and over 14,600 by the early 1990s.
In 1988, Apple management had expected a worldwide
shortage of memory chips to worsen. They bought millions
when prices were high, only to have the shortage end and prices
fall soon after. Apple ordered sharp price increases for the
Macintosh line just before the Christmas buying season, and
consumersbought the less expensiveApple line or other brands.
In early 1989, Apple released significantly enhanced
versions of the two upper-endMacintoshcomputers,the SE and
the Macintosh II, primarily to compete for the office market. At
the same time IBM marketed a new operating system that
mimicked the Macintosh's ease of use. In May 1989 Apple
announced plans for its new operating system, System 7, which
would be available to users the next year and allow Macintoshes
to run tasks on more than one program simultaneously.
Apple was reorganized in August 1988 into four operating
divisions: Apple USA, Apple Europe, Apple Pacific, and Apple
Products. Dissatisfied with the changes, many longtime Apple
executives left. In July 1990, Robert Puette, former head of
Hewlett-Packard's personal computer business, became head of
the Apple USA division. Sculley saw the reorganization as an
attempt to create fewer layers of managementwithin Apple, thus
encouraging innovation among staff. Analysts credit Sculley
with expanding Apple from a consumer and education computer
company to a business computer company, one of the biggest
and fastest-growing corporationsin the United States.
Apple entered the 1990s well aware that the conditions that
made the company an industry giant in the previous decade had
changed dramatically. Management recognized that for Apple to
succeed in the future, corporate strategies would have to be
reexamined. Apple had soared through the 1980s on the backs of
its large, expensive computers, which earned the company a
committed,yet relatively small following.
Apple's turnaround was confirmed in the first years of the
21st century, as the company strode toward its 30th anniversary
exuding an unprecedented degree of strength. At the heart of
the company's surging growth was a digital music player
branded as iPod. Introduced in late 2001, the device featured five
gigabytes (GB) of storage, enabling the user to store
approximately 1,000 songs on a player that was smaller than a
deck of playing cards. Retailing for $399, the iPod represented
another example of Apple's skill in designing an elegant and
functional product, a product that became one of the most
sought after consumer electronics items during the first half of
the decade.
Succeeding generations of iPods hit the market and scored
resounding success, driving the company's financial growth. A
10 GB model was introduced in mid-2002, followed by the iPod
Mini, iPod Shuffle, and iPod Nano, together representing a
massive new source of revenue for the company. The fifth
generation of the iPod debuted in 2005, a device available in a 30
GB or 60 GB model that was capable of storing and playing video
files. By the time the video iPod arrived in stores, Apple derived
roughly 35 percent of its revenue from iPods. Between 2001 and
2005, thanks primarily to the popularity of iPods, the company's
sales nearly tripled, increasing from $5.3 billion to $13.9 billion.
Apple controlled more than 75 percent of the $2.5 billion digital
audio player market in the United States.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 43
PT Panorama
Self-managed Teams:
Empowering everyone in a team
Introduction
Procter & Gamble kept self-managed teams a commercial
secret for years. Hundreds of companies have tried to make them.
Self-managed teams (SMT), often called Self-managed
work teams (SMT), have acquired a momentum of their own.
More than half of the largest companies in the United States
now have them.
Such arrangements are not for the faint-hearted. They
represent a switch from the boss-worker relationship to a
collaborative approach. Once the self-managed idea gets under
way everything tends to be challenged, from supervision to
setting wages, from existing production targets to persistent
hierarchies.
In principle these apparently leaderless teams are simple to
understand. You empower everyone in a team to take
responsibility. Instead of a supervisor or some distracted middle
manager directing events, the team runs itself. Well, that's the
theory. Now for the reality.
44 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
How to Create Successful Self-Managed Teams
Be committed and practical
Creating a self-managed team is a marathon, not a sprint.
You stand a better chance of succeeding with an entirely new
team than you do with a long-standing one. Managers who have
introduced the self-managed principle usually say it's a time-
consuming business that needs careful nurturing.
Self-management demands a new mindset, one where you
stop thinking in terms of managing per se and focus on
empowering or motivating. If you're fond of command and
control as a management style, self-managed teams are
definitely not for you.
So what exactly is a self-managed team? Broadly, it's a work
group of around 5 to 15 people sharing responsibility for a task. It
could be building a car or processing insurance claims. The
assumption is that the members possess the skills and authority
to supervise themselves. An important feature is that everyone
tends to learn all the tasks required. In this it differs from the
traditional team, in which jobs are broken into smaller elements,
each assigned to an individual with specialist skills. When self-
management works, productivity rises above conventional teams
by anything from 10 to 20%. In addition, employee satisfaction
increases and employee turnover falls.
A particular challenge that this work arrangement poses for
Western cultures is our passion for independence, self-
sufficiency, and competitiveness.
Understand the team cycle
To make self-managed teams succeed you need to know
some principles of groups and how they reach peak
performance.
Whenever someone leaves or joins, in effect you have a new
group. A fresh effort needs to go into rebuilding relationships,
clarifying working arrangements, establishing trust, and going
through some or all of the development cycle. Teams switch
between various stages of development as they encounter new
issues.
 There are different views concerning the evolution of
successful teams, but most tend to follow the same pattern. The
one that is used most frequently and perhaps most clearly
defines the development of teams is the four stages of team
development: forming, storming, norming, and performing.
1. Forming – the team is a collection of individuals that
are just starting to form a single unit. The ice is carefully being
broken, people are introducing, themselves and are generally
quiet, themselves and are getting the measure quiet, of others in
the team.
2. Storming – conflict starts to emerge as people display
their attitudes and set boundaries. This is an inevitable phase as
people get to know others in the team and find their own identity.
3. Norming – norms are
developed as people understand
each other's strengths, weaknesses,
and patterns of other’s behaviour.
The group functions as a team and
tasks are accomplished. Often teams
settle at this level.
4. Performing – the team
starts excelling and performing at its
very best. This largely results from a
steady accumulation of trust, respect,
and understanding, combined with a
common sense of purpose and some
successes.
To these four stages can be added a fifth – reforming – which
refers to the process of renewing and reinvigorating the team,
perhaps after failures, difficulties, or major changes.
Visit a self-directed team
If you like the idea of self-directed teams, visit some existing
ones to gain a practical feel for the challenges you will inevitably
encounter. For example, self-management implies that no one is
really in charge, when in reality this is seldom true. Invariably
there is someone providing leadership.
Understand and resolve problem areas
Mature teams can handle responsibilities that once kept the
traditional line manager in business.
Many teams resist self-management, particularly when it's
imposed by senior management. Employees, comfortable with
conventional line management and having no desire to take on
extra responsibility, can be intransigent. It's essential to offer
them clear benefits and plan a structured process of
education.
Problems also arise when responsibilities are unclear. With a
line management system it's easy to pass an issue upwards. The
self-managed team needs to clarify what each person does and
where different jurisdictions begin and end.
As with any team, there's always a danger that the views of the
most vocal will prevail. People who feel their opinions are
unheard may become resentful or start withdrawing their
commitment to the project. Early on, it's important to invest
time developing communication skills and establishing best
practice for conducting meetings and making decisions. Great
rewards will come from that initial investment.
Sustain momentum
Newly created self-managed teams, driven by initial
enthusiasm, often produce quick results. Many problems
emerge later once the excitement has
worn off and performance begins to
slide. Now the team faces the same
challenge as any long-term group. It
needs to focus on creating and
maintaining self-motivation or
creating a rota of people responsible
for continually revitalising the team.
How long it takes before the team
is truly self-managing may depend on
factors outside the team's own
control; such factors influence teams
no matter how they are managed. For
example, in a US survey of 400
organisations about half complained
of inadequate resources, just under half said they had no or low
rewards, and a similar proportion reported lack of decision-
making authority.
Ensure that teams are empowered to make
appropriate decisions
The issue of decision-making reflects the difficulties many
long-serving managers experience in adapting to self-
management. First, they must learn to let go and trust people.
Second, they may need to transform their style into a supportive
and facilitative approach and learn to allow decisions to emerge
naturally. Third, they need to respond to mistakes and crises by
turning them into genuine learning opportunities rather than an
excuse to punish or even grab back decision-making control.
As companies increasingly rely on talent, brainwork, and
virtual teams that hardly even meet, self-management has many
attractions. The lessons so far are that self-managed teams can
be highly productive and extremely satisfying to work in.
Paradoxically, though, it takes particularly good management to
allow them to succeed and reach their full potential.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 45

Five Myths about Self-managed Teams
r They don't need managers. They need managing through
coaching, facilitation, and other forms of support.
r They don't need leaders. Leadership is essential and is
often shared ingeniously across the group.
r They make leaders powerless. Leaders must exercise
power differently and rely more on influence than authority.
r They're cheap. They cost more in the short term and have
high set-up costs such as training and troubleshooting.
r They're quickly established. They can take years to get
right, needing constant refinement.
Mini-case
When mining machinery manufacturer Boart Longyear
opted for self-managed teams, it had to learn the hard way. Team
preparation involved at least 60 hours of training on topics such
as interpersonal skills, leadership, group decision-making, and
running meetings.
Despite the careful investment in team and individual
development, no single person emerged as the informal leader.
The result was delay in decision-making. One of the greatest
sources of frustration was that employees felt comfortable only
when they were told what to do. When they hit a problem their
first reaction was to demand help from a supervisor. The
benefits were:
r Individual team members really pulled their weight,
because they didn't want to appear to be underperforming.
46 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
r Former supervisors shifted roles. They became resource
providers rather than rationers and spent their time
obtaining information and securing resources.
r Productivity rose by around 10 to 15 %.
MAKING IT HAPPEN
r Stop thinking in terms of managing and focus on
empowering.
r Visit some existing self-directed teams to gain a practical
feel for the realities (like the need for leadership) that you
will inevitably encounter.
r To overcome resistance to self-management, offer
employees clear benefits and education.
r Be sure to clarify what each person in the self-managed
team does and where jurisdiction begins and ends.
r Invest time in developing communication skills and
establishing best practice for conducting meetings and
taking decisions.
r Respond to mistakes and crises by turning these into
genuine learning opportunities rather than an excuse to
punish or even grab back control.
Conclusion
Self-managed teams and team-based working have
developed into the normal way of structuring organisations and
undertaking tasks, yet it is a difficult and complex aspect of
leadership and is usually developed through experience. When
developing a high performing, self-managed team it is valuable
to have an understanding of:
1. the benefits of team building – what it can achieve and
what the leader should be striving for
2. team roles and dynamics – how teams work and achieve
their greatest success
3. the key stages of team development – what they are and
how to support the team in each stage
4. the features of a successful team and team leader
5. how to avoid potential problems and pitfalls
Team building is a continuing process requiring energy,
commitment, feedback, and review. Factors affecting the team
change constantly, and the team needs to have the leadership
and support that breeds flexibility and confidence.
India Yamaha Motor Pvt. Ltd. recently unveiled its new
motorcycle, YBR 110 (pronounced as YBR One ten) in the
Indian market. YBR 110 comes with a decent yet stylish design
and is targeted at middle income class people who want to have
a stylish and comfortable commuter bike. YBR 110 is priced at
Rs. 41,000/- (Ex-Showroom, Delhi) .

Sarosh Homi Kapadia
Chief Justice of India
J ustice Sarosh Homi Kapadia,
the senior-most judge of the
Supreme Court was appointed
as the next Chief Justice of India on
May 12, 2010. He is the thirty-
eighth Chief Justice of India.
Justice Kapadia's Warrant of
Appointment, was signed by
President Pratibha Patil.
As per norms laid down under
the Memorandum of Procedure
which governs appointment of
members of the higher judiciary,
Justice K. G. Balakrishnan had
earlier this month recommended
the name of Kapadia to succeed
him as the CJI.
Justice Sarosh Homi Kapadia, B.A. (Hons.), LL.B. was
born in Mumbai on 29th September 1947 in a lower middle-
class Parsi family from the Khetwadi-Girgaum region. His
father was a clerk in a defence establishment, his mother a
homemaker. Kapadia completed his BA and LLB and
immediately began working. S. H. Kapadia is married to
Shahnaz and has two sons.
Sarosh Homi Kapadia, Chief Justice of India, has few
interests other than the law. One of them is going for walks. As a
young man, Kapadia used to drag his younger brother (now a
retired banker) all over Mumbai for walks that would, almost
invariably, end at Narayan Dabholkar Road, the breezy avenue off
Napean Sea Road where high court judges have their
apartments. The two brothers would look at the buildings and
young Sarosh would say: “One day, the name on that nameplate
will be mine”. His wish was granted in October 1991, when he
was made a judge of the Bombay High Court.
The story of how he reached there is nothing less than
remarkable. He started his career as a class IV employee and the
only asset he possessed was integrity. He joined Gagrat & Co, a
law firm as a clerk and later, went to work for firebrand and
highly respected labour lawyer Feroze Damania.
Profile
The young Sarosh may not have
been rich but what he did possess was
ambition and determination to
become a judge. He became counsel
for the income tax department in
1974, aged 27. He also appeared for
the then Bombay Municipal
Corporation in matters concerning
rateable value and octroi. He
represented the Maharashtra
government and several public sector
undertakings (PSUs) until he was
appointed a high court judge. As a
judge of the Bombay High Court, he
decided matters ranging from
environmental to banking, M&As,
industrial disputes, tax and so on, but
developed a reputation for his
expertise on commercial and tax law.
The best thing that ever happened to him was the stock scam
of 1999 involving broker Ketan Parekh. He was appointed judge
of the special court established under the Trial of Offences
Relating to Transaction in Securities Act in 1999. He played an
important role in the proceedings of the Joint Parliamentary
Committee constituted to investigate the stock scam.
On August 5, 2003, he was appointed Chief Justice of the
Uttarakhand High Court and in December that year, he was
elevated to the Supreme Court, thus serving only a very short
tenure as Chief Justice of a high court.
In the Supreme Court, Kapadia delivered some landmark
judgements which included a decision relating to succession of
property in April 30, 2005 in which he ruled out the possibility of
conducting the DNA test.
He was part of the three-member Bench that decided
income tax case of Rashtriya Janata Dal Chief Lalu Prasad. The
verdict went in favour of Prasad but Justice Kapadia gave a
dissenting judgement saying the income tax department should
have filed an appeal against the Income Tax Appellate Tribunal
(ITAT) order.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 47
English Grammar

Fun with Grammar

E nglish grammar is the body of rules describing the

properties of the English language. A
language is such that its elements
must be combined according to certain
patterns. This article is concerned with
Word classes and phrase classes

Seven major word classes are described here. These

are: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, preposition,
conjunction, and determiner. The first six
(and restricted to) morphology, the are traditionally referred to as "parts of
building blocks of language; and speech." There are minor word classes,
syntax, the construction of such as interjections, but these do not fit
meaningful phrases, clauses and into the clause and sentence structure of
sentences with the use of English.
morphemes and words.
Open and closed classes
The grammar of any
language is commonly Open word classes allow new
approached in two different members; closed word classes
ways: descriptive, usually seldom do. Nouns such as
based on a systematic analysis "celebutante," (a celebrity who
of a large text corpus and frequents the fashion
describing grammatical circles)" and "mentee," (a
structures thereupon; and person advised by a
prescriptive, which attempts to mentor) and adverbs such
use the identified rules of a given as "24/7" ("I am working on
language as a tool to govern the it 24/7") are relatively new
linguistic behaviour of speakers. words; nouns and adverbs
Prescriptive grammar further are therefore open classes.
concerns itself with several open
disputes in English grammar, often representing changes in Word classes and grammatical forms
usage over time. This article predominantly concerns itself with
descriptive grammar. A word can sometimes belong to several word classes. The
class version of a word is called a "lexeme."
There are a number of historical, social and regional variations
of the English language. For example, British English and For example, the word "run" is usually a verb, but it can also
American English have several lexical differences; however, the be a noun ("It is a ten mile run to Tipperary."); these are two
grammatical differences are not equally conspicuous, and will be different lexemes. Further, the same lexeme may be inflected to
mentioned only when appropriate. Further, the many dialects of express different grammatical categories: for example, as a verb
English have divergences from the grammar described here; they lexeme, "run" has several forms such as "runs," "ran," and
are only cursorily mentioned. This article describes a generalized "running." Words in one class can sometimes be derived from
present-day Standard English, the form of speech found in types those in another and new words be created. The noun
of public discourse including broadcasting, education, "aerobics," for example, has recently given rise to the adjective
entertainment, government, and news reporting. Standard "aerobicized" ("the aerobicized bodies of Beverly Hills
English includes both formal and informal speech. celebutantes.

48 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

 Phrase classes
Words combine to form phrases which themselves can take
on the attributes of a word class. These classes are called phrase
classes. The phrase: "The ancient pulse of germ and birth"
functions as a noun in the sentence: "The ancient pulse of germ
and birth was shrunken hard and dry." (Thomas Hardy, The
Darkling Thrush) It is therefore a noun phrase. Other phrase
classes are: verb phrases, adjective phrases, adverb phrases,
prepositional phrases, and determiner phrases.
Nouns and determiners
Nouns form the largest word class. According to
Carter and McCarthy, they denote "classes and
categories of things in the world, including people,
animals, inanimate things, places, events, qualities
and states." Consequently, the words, "Mandela,"
"jaguar," "mansion," "volcano," "Timbuktoo,"
"blockade," "mercy," and "liquid" are all nouns.
Nouns are not commonly identified by their
form; however, some common suffixes such as
"-age" ("shrinkage"), "-hood" ("sisterhood"), "-
ism" ("journalism"), "-ist" ("lyricist"), "-ment"
("adornment"), "-ship" ("companionship"), "-
tude" ("latitude"), and so forth, are usually
identifiers of nouns. There are exceptions, of
course: "assuage" and "disparage" are verbs;
"augment" is a verb, "lament" can be a verb;
and "worship" is a verb. Nouns can also be
created by conversion of verbs or adjectives.
Examples include the nouns in: "a boring
talk," "a five-week run," "the long caress,"
"the utter disdain," and so forth.
Number, gender, type, and
syntactic features.
Nouns have singular and plural forms. Many plural forms
have -s or -es endings (dog/dogs, referee/referees,
bush/bushes), but by no means all (woman/women, axis/axes,
medium/media). Unlike some other languages, in English,
nouns do not have grammatical gender. However, many nouns
can refer to masculine or feminine animate objects
(mother/father, tiger/tigress, alumnus/alumna, male/female).
Nouns can be classified semantically, i.e. by their meanings:
common nouns ("sugar," "maple," "syrup," "wood"), proper
nouns ("Cyrus," "China"), concrete nouns ("book," "laptop"),
and abstract nouns ("heat," "prejudice"). Alternatively, they can
be distinguished grammatically: count nouns ("clock," "city,"
"colour") and non-count nouns ("milk," "decor," "foliage").
Nouns have several syntactic features that can aid in their
identification. Nouns (example: common noun "cat") may be
modified by adjectives ("the beautiful Angora cat"), preceded by
determiners ("the beautiful Angora cat"), or pre-modified by
other nouns ("the beautiful Angora cat").
Noun phrases
Noun phrases are phrases that function grammatically as
nouns within sentences. In addition, nouns serve as "heads," or
main words of noun phrases.
Verbs
Verbs form the second largest word class after nouns.
According to Carter and McCarthy, verbs denote "actions,
events, processes, and states." Consequently, "smile,"
"stab," "climb," "confront," "liquefy," "wake," "reflect"
are all verbs. Some examples of verb endings, which
while not dead giveaways, are often associated,
include: "-ate" ("formulate"), "-iate"
("inebriate"), "-ify" ("electrify"), and "-ize"
("sermonize"). There are exceptions, of
course: "chocolate" is a noun, "immediate" is
an adjective, "prize" can be a noun, and
"maize" is a noun. Prefixes can also be used to
create new verbs. Examples are: "un-"
("unmask"), "out-" ("outlast"), "over-"
("overtake"), and "under-" ("undervalue").
Regular and irregular verbs
A verb is said to be regular if its base
form does not change when inflections
are added to create new forms. An
example is: base form: climb; present
form: climb; -s form: climbs; -ing form:
climbing; past form: climbed; -ed
participle: climbed. Irregular verbs are
ones in which the base form changes; the
endings corresponding to each form are not always unique.
Type and characteristics
Verbs come in three grammatical types: lexical, auxiliary, and
modal. Lexical verbs form an open class which includes most
verbs (state, action, processes, and events). For example, "dive,"
"soar," "swoon," "revive," "breathe," "choke," "lament,"
"celebrate," "consider," "ignore" are all lexical verbs. Auxiliary
verbs form a closed class consisting of only three members: be,
do, and have. Although auxiliary verbs are lexical verbs as well,
their main function is to add information to other lexical verbs.
This information indicates (a) aspect (progressive, perfect), (b)
passive voice, and (c) clause type (interrogative, negative).
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 49
 Modal verbs also form a closed class which consists of the
core modals ("can," "could," "shall," "should," "will," "would,"
"may," "might," "must"), semi-modals ("dare," "need," "ought to,"
"used to"), and modal expressions ("be able to," "have to").
Modals add information to lexical verbs about degrees of
certainty and necessity.
Adjectives
According to Carter and McCarthy, "Adjectives describe
properties, qualities, and states attributed to a noun or a
pronoun." As was the case with nouns and verbs, the class of
adjectives cannot be identified by the forms of its constituents.
However, adjectives are commonly formed by adding the some
suffixes to nouns. Examples: "-al" ("habitual,"
"multidimensional," "visceral"), "-ful" ("blissful," "pitiful,"
"woeful"), "-ic" ("atomic," "gigantic," "pedantic"), "-ish"
("impish," "peckish," "youngish"), "-ous" ("fabulous,"
"hazardous").
As with nouns and verbs, there are exceptions: "homosexual"
can be a noun, "earful" is a noun, "anesthetic" can be a noun,
"brandish" is a verb. Adjectives can also be formed from other
adjectives through the addition of a suffix or more commonly a
prefix: weakish, implacable, disloyal, irredeemable, unforeseen.
A number of adjectives are formed by adding "a" as a prefix to a
verb: "adrift," "astride," "awry.”
Adjective phrases
An adjective phrase may consist of just one adjective, or a
single adjective which has been modified or complemented.
Adverbs
Adverbs, according to Carter and McCarthy, are a class of
words "which perform a wide range of functions. Adverbs are
especially important for indicating time, manner, place, degree,
and frequency of an event, action, or process." They typically
modify verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs. Adjectives and
adverbs are often derived from the same word. A majority of
adverbs are formed by adding to "-ly" ending to their
corresponding adjective form.
Conjunctions
According to Carter and McCarthy, "Conjunctions express a
variety of logical relations between phrases, clauses and
sentences." There are two kinds of conjunctions: coordinating
conjunctions and subordinating conjunctions.
Coordinating
Coordinating conjunctions link "elements of equal
grammatical status." Elements in questions may vary from a
prefix to an entire sentence.
Subordinating conjunctions
Subordinating conjunction relate only clauses to one
another. They make the clause associated with them into a
subordinate clause. Some common subordinating conjunctions
in English are: (of time) after, before, since, until, when, while;
(cause and effect): because, since, now that, as, in order that, so;
(opposition): although, though, even though, whereas, while;
(condition): if, unless, only if, whether or not, whether or no,
even if, in case (that), and so forth.

Earth Day
Earth Day was started by Senator Gaylord Nelson and the idea for a day celebrating the earth was first thought of in 1962.
Senator Nelson thought that a day was needed to honor the earth and that the earth needed more of a place in politics.

It was in 1962 that Senator Nelson convinced President John F. Kennedy to go on a tour of the United States that would act as a
conservation tour, and he embarked on this five-day tour in September 1963. Senator Nelson did not consider the tour a success
but it was the beginning of an idea for Earth Day.

Earth Day was first celebrated on April 22, 1970 in the United States. Across the United States, 20 million people and
thousands of local schools and communities participated in the first Earth Day. The huge turnout for the first Earth Day made it
the largest organized celebration in the history of the United States. Earth Day’s success helped influence the government of the
United States to create stronger laws to protect the environment.

22nd April 2010 is the 40th anniversary of the Earth Day. With over 20 thousand partners and organisation in 190 countries,
more than one billion people participated in Earth Day activities and made it the largest secular civic event in the world.

Ever since, 22nd April has been used to focus on the Earth' environmental challenges such as climate change, pollution and
water quality and an overall appreciation of our land and environment.

50 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010


Asian Paints
A sian Paints is India’s largest and Asia's third largest paint
company today, with a turnover of Rs. 44.04 billion
(around USD 1.1 billion). The company has an enviable
reputation in the corporate world for professionalism, fast track
growth and building shareholder equity.
The company has come a long way
since its small beginnings in 1942. Four
f r i e n d s C h a m p a k l a l H . C h o k s e y,
Chimanlal N. Choksi, Suryakant C. Dani
and Arvind R. Vakil get together to
manufacture paint in a garage at Foras
Road, Mumbai. They name their company
'The Asian Oil & Paint Company', a name that they picked
randomly from a telephone directory. It was converted into a
public limited company in 1973. The Company manufactures a
wide range of surface coatings catering to different end-uses. It
also manufactures vinyl pyridine latex used in the manufacture
of rubber tyres. The company expanded its products range,
developed its own technology, set up a distribution network
penetrating in smaller towns and ploughed back a large part of
earnings into creation of new facilities. Later in the year 1965 the
name was changed from Asian Oil and Paint Company Pvt. Ltd.
to Asian Paints (India) Pvt. Ltd.
Asian Paints operates in 22 countries across the world. It has
manufacturing facilities in each of these countries and is the
largest paint company in ten overseas markets. Asian Paints
operates in five regions across the world viz. South Asia,
Southeast Asia, South Pacific, Middle East and Caribbean
region through the five corporate brands viz. Asian Paints,
Berger International, SCIB Paints, Apco Coatings and
Taubmans. All these ventures are doing well and have a strong
hold in their respective markets. APL has its presence in almost
all the segment through its brands Royale in the premium
segment. Apcolite in the mid segment, Gattu, Tractor, Utsav and
3-mango in the lower segment.
The company has five manufacturing units which are
located at Mumbai, Ankleshwar, Patancheru, Kasna and
Sriperambdur. Each plant is headed by the Factory Manager.
Bhandup plant is the oldest plant with an installed capacity of
30000 Tonnes per annum. All plants are also awarded with ISO
9000 & ISO 14000 certification.
Brand icon
Asian Paints has won many awards & recognitions which
includes rating under “200 best under a billion” by Forbes global
in 2002, “Best small company in India” by Asia Money in 2002,
“Golden peacock” national quality award by union labour
ministry, “Best supply chain” award by i2 solutions, “Golden
peacock environment management award”, “Five star rating” by
British safety council in 2003 & 2005.
The Bhandup plant in Mumbai is reportedly the largest
single paint factory in the country and one of the most up-to-
date with sophisticated machinery and equipment for
manufacturing a wide range of paints and other products
besides adequate resin manufacturing capacity to meet its
entire requirements.
The Company undertook to set up a third paint unit at
Patancheru, a notified backward area near Hyderabad, for the
manufacture of 15,000 MT of paints and enamels. A letter of
Intent was obtained for setting up a fourth paint plant in Uttar
Pradesh with a capacity of 23,000 tonnes per annum of paints,
varnishes and enamels and 65,000 tonnes per annum of
synthetic resins (for captive consumption).
The Company entered a collaboration agreement with
Nippon Paints Co. Ltd., Japan, to obtain technical know-how to
manufacture powder coating and coil coatings under an
exclusive licence. Necessary manufacturing facilities for the
powder coatings with a capacity of 300 MT were installed and
commissioned at Kasna plant during 1992-93.
Forbes Global magazine USA ranked Asian Paints among the
200 Best Small Companies in the World for 2002 - 2003 and
presented the 'Best under a Billion' award, to the company. Asian
Paints is the only paint company in the world to receive this
recognition.
One of the country's leading business magazine "Business
Today" in Feb 2001 ranked Asian Paints as the Ninth Best
Employer. It has been recognized by “Economic Times” as well.
Asian Paints has harnessed the powers of state-of-the-art
supply chain system using cutting edge technology to integrate
all its plants, regional distribution centres, outside processing
centres and branches in India.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 51
 Business Trivia
r Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose was the
President of a trade union for eight years
of Tata Steel.
r Golden Era of 3-6-3 is the principle of good
banking. Get money at 3%, lend it at 6%
and get back to the golf club at 3 pm.
r Before it became a part of Hindustan Lever, Brooke Bond
India acquired Karnataka Scooters Ltd in the early 1980s.
r E Jerome McCarthy developed the concept of the 4Ps
(product, pricing, promotion and placement) of
marketing in 1960. Philip Kotler then included it in his
book Marketing Management.
r Dirty Laundry, Laughing Stock, Dead Frog and
Englishman are brand names of wines from Spain.
r Big Mother is the term used to describe the use of modern
geolocation wireless and video technologies by parents to
constantly track the activities of a child.
r Sanjiv Bikhchandani promoted Info Edge is the owner of
Naukri.com, 99acres.com (real estate portal) and
Jeevansathi.com (matrimonial website).
r Anupam Mittal is the Chairman and Managing Director
of People Interactive, which runs the Shaadi.com portal.
r On May 1, 1969, Jerry Sanders and seven friends founded
Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).
r Nihar, Manjal, Camelia, Aromatic, Mediker and Oil of
Malabar are all brands owned by Marico that are
acquisitions.
r William Willett (1856 –1915) is the inventor of daylight
saving time concept. In 1907 William published a
pamphlet 'The Waste of Daylight' in which he proposed
that the clocks should be advanced by 80 minutes in the
summer.
52 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
r Hitachi was founded by Namihei
Odaira as a repair shop of a mining
company.
r NASA's 'World Wind' is a Geobrowser similar to Google
Earth.
r Barista was founded in 1997 by Ravi Deol and Sandeep
Vyas and is now owned by Italy's Lavazza.
r Royal Enfield is the sole manufacturer of 500cc bikes in
India. It makes the Bullet 350, the Bullet Electra, the
Bullet Electra 5S, the Thunderbird and the Machismo 500.
r Fantanas are a group of four 'spokesmodels' created to
promote Coca-Cola's Fanta brand in the US, different
versions of which have appeared since 2002.
r Good to the last drop was the phrase used by Theodore
Roosevelt to describe the taste of Maxwell House coffee
served to him in 1907. General Foods, which acquired the
brand in the 1920s, made wide use of the slogan.
r Hygienic Research Institute (HRI) is the owner of hair
dye and colour brands Super Vasmol and Streax.
r YKK in the zipper company's abbreviated name stands for
Yoshida Kogyo Kabushikkaisha.
r The name Unilever is an amalgam of two diverse cultures
and businesses. Lever is the British part (fabric and
personal wash products) while Margarine Uni was the
European half (vegetable oils).
r Burger King introduced the WHOPPER sandwich in
1957.
r Jacobs, Maxwell House and Carte Noire are among the
coffee brands of Kraft Foods.
r Delhi's Harpal Singh was the first customer of Maruti
Udyog Ltd.
r Best Buy Co. Inc. is a specialty retailer
of consumer electronics in the United
States and Canada accounting for 19%
of the market. It also operates in
Mexico, China, Turkey and the United
Kingdom. The company's subsidiaries
include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales,
and, in Canada operates under both the Best Buy and
Future Shop label.
r Tokyo Shibaura Electric co is better known as Aiwa.
r “R” in Maruti Suzuki's small car Wagon-R stands for
Recreation.
r Richemont, world's most prestigious and widely
recognised luxury goods brands, through its Vendôme
Group subsidiary, owns a broad portfolio of some of the
world's leading luxury goods brands. These include
Cartier, Alfred Dunhill, Montblanc and Lancel as well as
the prestigious Swiss watch manufacturers Piaget,
Baume & Mercier and Vacheron Constantin.
r Silver Searph, Silver Dawn, Silver Ghost, Silver Shadow,
Silver Spirit and Silver Spur are all different models of car
from Rolls-Royce.
r Getting its name from a character in George Orwell's 1984,
The TV Reality Show–Big Brother was first created by
Dutch production company Endemol.
r Omega Speedmaster Professional Chronograph is
the only watch to be flight-qualified for all manned space
missions by the American and Russian space agencies.
r METRO Cash & Carry is an international self-service
wholesale retailer. It operates across Europe and in some
countries of Asia and Northern Africa. It is the largest sales
division of the German trade and retail giant METRO AG.
r ‘Managing Across Borders–The Transnational Solution' is
the book by Christopher Bartlett and Sumantra
Ghoshal.
r Taka (Bangladesh) derives its name from the Sanskrit
word for “stamped coin”.
r The Experience Economy–'Work is Theatre & Every
Business a Stage' is a book by Joseph Pine II and James
Gilmore.
r Motorola's first product was a car radio.
r The LEGO company was founded
by Ole Kirk Christiansen in
Billund, Denmark, in 1916. Today it
has over 9,000 employees
worldwide. The Danish words Leg
(alloy) and Godt (well) were put together to make "LEGO."
Later, it was discovered that in Latin, the term "Lego"
means “I put together”or “I assemble.”
r The Hudson's Bay Company, abbreviated HBC, is the
oldest commercial corporation in North America and
one of the oldest in the world. The company was
incorporated by British royal charter in 1670. It was at one
time the largest landowner in the world, with Rupert's
Land being over 15% of North America.
r When Lifebuoy soap was first introduced in 1897, it was
called Lifebudy soap.
r While Parryware brand was founded in 1952, its origins
date back to 1908 when the company decided to make acid-
resistant ceramic jars for the sulphuric acid it was
manufacturing at its Ranipet plant in Tamil Nadu.
r Captain Morgan is a brand of rum produced by Diageo.
It is named after the 17th-century Caribbean privateer
from Wales, Sir Henry Morgan. Captain Morgan's slogan
is “Got a little Captain in You?” In 1944,the Seagram
Company started producing rum under the name Captain
Morgan Rum Company.
r Apollo Tyres founder Raunaq Singh Kanwar, an
entrepreneur from Lahore, in 1978, bought a licence to
manufacture tyres from a family that was desperate to sell.
The Kanwar family decided to add Apollo tyres to their
flagship company Bharat Steel Tubes.
r Norwich Union is the biggest insurance company in the
UK. It is part of the Aviva group, itself created by a merger
of Norwich Union and CGU plc in 2000. Aviva announced
that the Norwich Union brand would disappear over a
period of two years. Norwich Union was founded in 1797 in
Norwich, when 36-year-old merchant and banker Thomas
Bignold formed the “Norwich Union Society for the
Insurance of Houses, Stock and Merchandise from Fire”.
r The first mobile phone to enable internet connectivity and
wireless email, the Nokia Communicator, was released
in 1996, creating a new category of expensive phones called
smartphones. In 1999 the first mobile internet service was
launched by NTT DoCoMo in Japan under the i-Mode
service.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 53
 General knowledge
1. Which country won the Thomas Cup title for Badminton in 8. Who is India s most wanted man suspected of having
2010? organized the 1993 Mumbai bombings and figures third on
(1) Indonesia the Forbes Most Wanted Fugitives list?
(2) Malaysia (1) Dawood Ibrahim
(3) China (2) Chhota Shakeel
(4) India (3) Tiger Memon
(4) Abu Salem
2. Who won the Madrid Masters men s tournament in 2010?
(1) Roger Federer 9. Who was the 11th Vice-President of India who passed away
(2) Rafael Nadal recently on May 14, 2010?
(3) Andy Murray (1) Kocheril Raman Narayanan
(4) Robin Soderling (2) Ramaswamy Venkataraman
(3) Shankar Dayal Sharma
3. Which country won the World Twenty-20 cricket final? (4) Bhairon Singh Shekhawat
(1) England
(2) Australia 10. Which Company has started a BPO in Srinagar starting
(3) Sri Lanka reverse migration of Kashmir?
(4) South Africa (1) Essar Group-run Aegis
(2) Hinduja TMT
(3) NIIT SmartServe
4. Who is CEO of Yahoo?
(4) HCL-Tech BPO
(1) Steve Ballmer
(2) Samuel J. Palmisano
11. Who received the 27th Niwano Peace Foundation award on
(3) Carol Bartz
May 13, 2010?
(4) Paul S. Otellini
(1) Dharma Master Cheng Yen
(2) Nandita Das
5. Which Indian IT Company is associated with FIFA World (3) Dr. Priscilla Elworthy
Cup 2010 as one of the sponsors? (4) Ms. Ela Ramesh Bhatt
(1) TCS (2) Infosys
(3) CTS (4) Mahindra Satyam 12. Who is the Union minister who has offered to resign for his
controversial remarks against the home ministry for
6. Name the volcano whose dense cloud of drifting volcanic allegedly stalling some Chinese imports?
ash is causing many European airports to shut down for (1) P. Chidambaram
days and affecting air traffic worldwide. (2) Jairam Ramesh
(1) Esjufjöll (3) Kamal nath
(2) Lýsuhóll (4) S M Krishna
(3) Kerlingarfjöll
(4) Eyjafjallajokul 13. What is the real name of character artist Sambha from
super hit film of all times Sholey who passed away
7. Who is the new Director of BARC? recently?
(1) Prof. S. Banerjee (1) Viju Khote
(2) Prof. R. K. Bhandari (2) Jalal Agha
(3) RK Sinha (3) Satyen Kappu
(4) Prof. R. Balasubramanian (4) Mac Mohan

54 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

14. What is the name of the panel that is being setup to look 22. According to the latest population Census, the state with
into Telangana issue? the least population density is
(1) Kirit Parikh committee (1) Sikkim
(2) Soli Sorabjee Committee (2) Mizoram
(3) Srikrishna committee (3) Andaman & Nicobar Islands
(4) Subhash Ranjan committee (4) Arunachal Pradesh

15. Who is the new IPL Commissioner? 23. The number of Union Territories in India is
(1) Rizwan Cheema (1) 5 (2) 6
(2) Chirayu Amin (3) 7 (4) 8
(3) Sharad Pawar
(4) Jagmohan Dalmiya 24. The maximum duration for which the President s office
can remain vacant is
16. Who is the new British Prime Minister? (1) 1 month
(1) Nick Clegg (2) 2 months
(2) David Cameron (3) 3 months
(3) Gordon Brown (4) 6 months
(4) Andrew Brown
25. Which of the following represents the minimum age
17. Who is the new Chief Justice of India? required to become a member of the Rajya Sabha?
(1) R. C. Lahoti (1) 25 years
(2) Y. K. Sabharwal (2) 30 years
(3) K. G. Balakrishnan (3) 35 years
(4) S H Kapadia (4) There is no age limit as such

18. This disease is caused by the deficiency of protein. Can you 26. Which of the following represents the percentage
identify it from the given options? contribution of the agriculture sector to the Growth
(1) Goitre D o m e s t i c Pr o d u c t o f t h e I n d i a n E c o n o m y
(2) Kwashiorkar (approximately)?
(3) Hypokalemia (1) 15%
(4) Dermatosis (2) 17%
(3) 21%
19. Pacific Ocean, which is the earth s largest ocean, (4) 30%
represents the percentage area (approximately) of the
earth covered by it 27. Sakyamuni is another name of
(1) 25% (2) 35% (1) Mahavir
(3) 40% (4) 45% (2) Buddha
(3) Lord Shiva
20. This place is the wettest place on earth. Can you identify it (4) Lord Vishnu
from the given options?
(1) Mount Waialeale 28. The last amendment to the Preamble of the Constitution of
(2) Cherapoonji India was carried out in the year
(3) Mawsynram (1) 1958
(4) None of these (2) 1962
(3) 1976
21. The work for which French Nobleman Baron Pierre de (4) 1978
Coubertin is known for, is
(1) He was the founder of Scouts movement 29. Which of the following is not a primary activity?
(2) He was the founder of Amnesty International (1) Fishing
(3) He was the founder of Red Cross Society (2) Mining
(4) He was responsible for the revival of modern Olympic (3) Agriculture
games. (4) Banking

PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 55

30. How many Bharat Ratna awardees have won the Nobel 39. We all know very well that the largest planet of the solar
Prize till date? system is Jupiter. Can you identify the name of the second
(1) 1 (2) 2 largest planet of the solar system?
(3) 3 (4) 4 (1) Earth
(2) Saturn
31. Who discovered Ultrasound? (3) Uranus
(1) Ian Donald (4) Venus
(2) Roger Bacon
(3) J.P. Merril 40. The Andes mountain range is in
(4) Joseph Lister (1) North America
(2) South America
32. Maltimadhava is the famous creation of which of the (3) Europe
following personalities? (4) Australia
(1) Kalidas
(2) Bharat Muni 41. The world s rarest element on earth is
(3) Bhavabhuti (1) Palladium
(4) Vishnu Sharma (2) Astatine
(3) Radium
33. The number of non-permanent members of the UN (4) None of these
Security Council is
(1) 5 (2) 10 42. Which of the following is the densest planet of the solar
(3) 15 (4) 20 system?
(1) Earth
34. Which of the following is not a recipient of Bharat Ratna? (2) Saturn
(1) Aruna Asaf Ali (3) Jupiter
(2) PV Kane (4) Mercury
(3) DK Karve
(4) MGK Menon 43. Which of the following is not based on the banks of river
Danube?
35. Which of the following is not matched properly? (1) Vienna
(1) Dibru Saikhowa - Assam (2) Belgrade
(2) Dehang Debang - Mizoram (3) Budapest
(3) Norkek - Meghalaya (4) Warsaw
(4) Pachmarhi - Madhya Pradesh
44. Which of the following cases highlighted that total
36. The first cotton mill of India was set up at ....... reservation in the govt. jobs cannot exceed 50% of total?
(1) Surat (1) T.A. Pai case
(2) Mumbai (2) Minerva Mills case
(3) Kanpur (3) Keshvanand Bharti case
(4) Ahmedabad (4) Indira Sawhney case

37. Which Indian city is also known as the School capital of 45. Ngultrum is the name of the currency of
India ? (1) Chile
(1) Lucknow (2) Bhutan
(2) New Delhi (3) Botswana
(3) Dehradun (4) Bulgaria
(4) Ajmer
46. International Committee of Red Cross has won the Nobel
38. Reserve Bank of India was nationalized in Peace Prize for record . times.
(1) 1949 (1) Three
(2) 1952 (2) Four
(3) 1955 (3) Five
(4) 1964 (4) Six

56 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

47. Poise is the unit of 56. The first Indian state where the President s rule was
(1) Pressure imposed in the year 1951 was ..........
(2) Viscosity (1) Uttar Pradesh
(3) Luminous intensity (2) Rajasthan
(4) Inductance (3) Punjab
(4) Orissa
48. This personality is credited with the invention of Electro
cardiogram (ECG). Can you identify the personality from 57. Which of the following Indian states has the lowest sex ratio
the given options? (number of females per thousand males)?
(1) Ian Donald (1) West Bengal
(2) A. Laveran (2) Haryana
(3) Willem Einthoven (3) Punjab
(4) C.Sholes (4) Uttar Pradesh

49. Time Machine is the name of a famous work of 58. Which of the following is not a work of Salman Rushdie?
(1) Carl Segan (1) Moor s Last Sigh
(2) H.G. Wells (2) Midnight s Children
(3) Alvin Tofler (3) Shalimar The Clown
(4) Arthur C. Clarke (4) The Piano Teacher

50. Jakob Von Vexkull was the founder of 59. International Labor Day is celebrated on . every
(1) Booker Prize year.
(2) Pulitzer Prize (1) August 1
(3) Right Livelihood Award (2) March 1
(4) Templeton Prize (3) September 1
(4) May 1
51. Which of the following chemical elements is used for the
bleaching process? 60. Who is credited with the construction of the Grand Trunk
(1) Fluorine road?
(2) Bromine (1) Tipu Sultan
(3) Chlorine (2) Mohammed bin- Tughlaq
(4) Xenon (3) Shershah Suri
(4) Jehangir
52. Cirrhosis is a disease which affects the
(1) Brain (2) Liver 61. Which of the following is also known as Silicon valley of
(3) Kidney (4) Lungs India ?
(1) Hyderabad
53. Which of the following is the capital of Ireland? (2) Bangalore
(1) Dublin (3) Chennai
(2) Istanbul (4) Noida
(3) Amsterdam
(4) Berne 62. This personality is also considered as the Father of
computers. Can you name him from the given options?
54. Where would you find the Indian Textile Institute? (1) Blaise Pascal
(1) Surat (2) Kanpur (2) Alan M. Turing
(3) Pune (4) Mysore (3) Charles Babbage
(4) None of these
55. Which of the following is the least populous union territory
of India? 63. Peace Palace is the official headquarters of
(1) Pondicherry (1) WHO
(2) Lakshadweep (2) FAO
(3) Dadra and Nagar Haveli (3) ICJ
(4) Andaman & Nicobar Islands (4) IBRD

PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 57

64. Find the odd one out. 71. Consider the following statements:
(1) DOS 1. INS Sindhughosh is an aircraft carrier
(2) WINDOWS 2. INS Viraat is a submarine
(3) LINUX Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(4) LISP (1) 1 only
(2) 2 only
65. Which of the following is the capital of the land of midnight (3) Both 1 and 2
sun ? (4) Neither 1 nor 2
(1) Vienna
(2) Oslo 72. Consider the following statements:
(3) Helsinki 1. The Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices
(4) Prague recommends the Minimum Support Prices for 32
crops
66. Christiana is the former name of which of the following 2. The Union Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and
cities? Public Distribution has launched the National Food
(1) Copenhagen Security Mission
(2) Oslo
(3) Ottawa Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(4) Berlin (1) 1 only
(2) 2 only
67. Who among the following Presidents of India served as the (3) Both 1 and 2
Secretary General of the Non-Aligned Movement for some (4) Neither 1 nor 2
period?
(1) Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan 73. In India, ports are categorized as major and non-major
(2) Varahagiri Venkatagiri ports. Which one of the following is a non-major port?
(3) Giani Zail Singh (1) Kochi (Cochin)
(4) Dr. Shanker Dayal Sharma (2) Dahej
(3) Paradip
68. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer (4) New Mangalore
Person Organization
A. Anil Agarwal i. Gujarat Heavy 74. Among other things, which one of the following was the
Chemicals Ltd. purpose for which the Deepak Parekh Committee was
B. Gautam H. Singhania ii. Raymond Ltd. constituted?
C. Sanjay Dalmia iii. Vedanta Resources (1) To study the current socio-economic conditions of
D. Venugopal Dhoot iv. Videocon Group certain minority communities
(2) To suggest measures for financing the development
A B C D of infrastructure
(1) iii i ii iv (3) To frame a policy on the production of genetically
(2) iv i ii iii modified organisms
(3) iii ii i iv (4) To suggest measure to reduce the fiscal deficit in the
(4) iv ii i iii Union Budget

69. In India, which of the following states has the largest inland 75. The brothers Umakanth and Ramakanth Gundecha are
saline wetland? (1) Dhrupad vocalists
(1) Gujarat (2) Kathak dancers
(2) Haryana (3) Sarod maestros
(3) Madhya Pradesh (4) Tabla players
(4) Rajasthan
76. In which state is the Buddhist site Tabo Monastery
70. Which one of the following pairs is not correctly matched? located?
(1) Japan Nikkei (1) Arunachal Pradesh
(2) Singapore Shcomp (2) Himachal Pradesh
(3) UK FTSE (3) Sikkim
(4) USA Nasdaq (4) Uttarakhand

58 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

77. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer 83. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer
Famous person Well-known for Famous person Well-known as
A. Mandakini Amte i. Theatre director A. Anna Hazare i. Lawyer
B. Neelam Mansingh B. Deepak Parekh ii. Banker
Chowdhry ii. Social service and C. GVK Reddy iii. Gandhian and social
community activist
leadership D. Harish Salve iv. Industrialist
C. Romila Thapar iii. Dance
D. Vanashree Rao iv. History writing A B C D
(1) i ii iv iii
A B C D (2) i iv ii iii
(1) ii i iv iii (3) iii ii iv i
(2) ii iv i iii (4) iii iv ii I
(3) iii i iv ii
(4) iii iv I ii 84. Match List I with List II and select the correct answer
Famous person Well-known as
78. With reference to Stree Shakti Puraskar, for which one of A. Amrita Sher-Gil i. Dancer
the following is "Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Award" given? B. Bhimsen Joshi ii. Painter
(1) Administrative skills C. Rukmini Devi Arundale iii. Poet
(2) Achievements in scientific research D. Suryakant Tripathi Nirala iv. Singer
(3) Achievements in sports and games
(4) Courage and valour A B C D
(1) ii i iv iii
79. With which one of the following has the B.K. Chaturvedi (2) ii iv i iii
Committee dealt? (3) iii i iv ii
(1) Review of Centre-State relations (4) iii iv I ii
(2) Review of Delimitation Act
(3) Tax reforms and measures to increase revenues 85. With reference to the schemes launched by the Union
(4) Price reforms in the oil sector Government, consider the following statements:
1. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare launched the
80. Mahamastakabhisheka, a great religious event, is Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana
associated with and done for whom of the following? 2. Minstry of Textiles launched the Rajiv Gandhi Shilpi
(1) Bahubali Swasthya Bima Yojana
(2) Buddha Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(3) Mahavir (1) 1 only
(4) Nataraja (2) 2 only
(3) Both 1 and 2
81. Consider the following pairs: (4) Neither 1 nor 2
Tradition State
1. Gatka, a traditional martial art Kerala 86. Consider the following pairs:
2. Madhubani, a traditional painting Bihar Persons Sport
3. Singhey Khababs Sindhu Darshan 1. Anand Pawar Chess
Festival J&K 2. Akhil Kumar Boxing
Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched? 3. Shiv Shankar Prasad Chowrasia Golf
(1) 1 and 2 only
(2) 3 only Which of the pairs given above is/are correctly matched?
(3) 2 and 3 only (1) 1 and 2 only
(4) 1, 2 and 3 (2) 2 and 3 only
(3) 3 only
82. The famous Trimurti sculpture is at (4) 1, 2 and 3
(1) Mahabalipuram
(2) Elephanta 87. Who killed the Sikh Guru Arjun Dev
(3) Badami (1) Akbar (2) Jahangir
(4) Vijayawada (3) Babar (4) None of these

PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 59

88. Match List I with List II and select the correct 95. Which of the following Indian Sports Team is also known as
Book Author The Bhangra Boys ?
A. In Custody i. Amartya Sen (1) Cricket Team
B. Sea of Poppies ii. Amitav Ghosh (2) Hockey Team
C. The Argumentative Indian iii. Anita Desai (3) Kabaddi Team
D. Unaccustomed Earth iv. Jhumpa Lahiri (4) Football Team

A B C D 96. Which among the following international Pen brand had

(1) iv i ii iii released the controversial "Mahatma Gandhi Limited
(2) iv ii i iii Edition" of Pens?
(3) iii ii i iv (1) Meisterstück
(4) iii i ii iv (2) Montblanc
(3) Parker Pen Company
89. Among the following, who are the Agaria community? (4) Luxor
(1) A traditional toddy tappers community of Andhra
Pradesh 97. What is the maximum punishment as per IT act 2000 for
(2) A traditional fishing community of Maharashtra sending unsolicited emails and spam?
(3) A traditional silk-weaving community of Kerala (1) 1 year
(4) A traditional salt pan workers community of Gujarat (2) 2 years
(3) 3 years
90. How many medals did India win in the Commonwealth (4) 4 years
Games in Manchester in the year 2002?
(1) 52 (2) 62 98. In the centrally sponsored AUWSP scheme, W stands
(3) 72 (4) 82 for ..........?
(1) Women
91. Development as Freedom is a book written by whom (2) Workers
among the following? (3) Water
(1) Amartya Sen (4) Wildlife
(2) Pankaj Mishra
(3) T.S.Krishna 99. Which of the following President of India was the only
(4) Shobha De person to be elected unopposed?
(1) 4th President
92. As per a recent survey conducted by Hong Kong Shanghai (2) 5th President
Banking Corporation (HSBC), which among the following (3) 6th President
is world's Most Confident Market? (4) 7th President
(1) India
(2) China 100. Who among the following is known to set up municipal
(3) UAE institutions at work in India in 1882?
(4) Vietnam (1) Lord Lytton
(2) Lord Ripon
93. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat who recently died was Chief (3) Lord Lansdowne
Minister of Rajasthan . (4) Lord Mayo
(1) Once
(2) Twice 101. Which among the following language comes under 8th
(3) Thrice schedule of Indian Constitution?
(4) Four times (1) Bhojpuri
(2) Mizo
94. What is the total number of branches (approximately) of (3) Rajasthani
ICICI Bank as of May 2010? (4) Dogari
(1) 1500
(2) 2000 102. In which year was Bombay Plan presented?
(3) 3000 (1) 1934 (2) 1938
(4) 5000 (3) 1944 (4) 1950

60 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

103. Which of the following Five year Plans set the lowest growth 111. Which among the following is the world's largest mobile
target? operator having largest subscriber base in the world?
(1) First (1) China Mobile
(2) Second (2) Vodafone
(3) Third (3) América Móvil
(4) Fourth (4) Orange

104. What is the 11th plan target of increasing forest and tree 112. Which of the following is the venue of the Nuclear Security
cover? Summit in April 2010?
(1) 2% (2) 3% (1) Geneva
(3) 4% (4) 5% (2) Paris
(3) Washington
105. Article 280 of the Indian Constitution deals with (4) London
constitution of which of the following commissions?
(1) Law commission 113. As per accepted recommendations of the Thirteenth
(2) Election commission Finance Commission, the State s share has been fixed at
(3) Finance Commission 32% of the net proceeds of sharable Central Taxes. Which
(4) Farmers Commission among the following state gets the maximum share?
(1) Uttar Pradesh
106. Which among the following is a correct impact of Dear (2) Madhya Pradesh
Money? (3) Maharastra
(1) Borrowings become cheap (4) Gujarat
(2) Borrowings become expensive
(3) Borrowings become either cheap or expensive
114. In which of the following states is Pagladiya Multipurpose
(4) There is no impact of Dear Money on Borrowings
Dam project located?
(1) West Bengal
107. Bring out the incorrectly matched pair:
(2) Bihar
(1) National legislative assembly of Spain - Cortes
(3) Uttar Pradesh
(2) Parliament of Norway - Storting
(4) Assam
(3) National Assembly of Bhutan - Gyelyong Tshogdu
(4) All Matched Correctly
115. Recently, Right to Education Act came into force in India.
108. Recently the exercise of census 2011 has taken off from As per UNESCO's 'Education for All Global Monitoring
April 1, 2010. During the history of Independent India, Report 2010', how many countries in the world have
which of the following states have been excluded in a constitutional provisions for free and non-discriminatory
census? education for all?
(1) Jammu & Kashmir (1) 98
(2) Jammu & Kashmir and Assam (2) 114
(3) Jammu & Kashmir and Sikkim (3) 111
(4) No state has been left in any census (4) 135

109. Which among the following committee was appointed by 116. With which of the following countries, India has recently
the Supreme Court of India to study PDS (Public finalized a $2.2 billion deal to upgrade her fleet of Mirage
Distribution System) reform? 2000 fighters?
(1) Arjun Sengupta committee (1) Israel
(2) N.C. Saxena committee (2) Russia
(3) Justice Wadhwa committee (3) France
(4) Suresh Tendulkar Committee (4) US

110. Since when the Targeted Public Distribution System has 117. Which among the following has been selected as
been in operation in India? consultant to Unique Identification Authority of India ?
(1) 1995 (1) Tata Consultancy Services
(2) 1997 (2) Ernst & Young
(3) 1999 (3) Boston Consulting Group
(4) 2000 (4) McKinsey & Company

PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 61

118. Which among the following is the primary source of 126. Law Commission of India is a .?
revenue for Bhutan? (1) Constitutional Body
(1) Handicrafts (2) Advisory Body
(2) Tourism (3) Departmental committee
(3) Exports (4) Non statutory Body
(4) Electricity Sale
127. Where were the last Commonwealth games held?
119. Who among the following is the author of The new age of (1) Kua Lalumpur
innovation ? (2) Melbourne
(1) Richard Branson (3) Manchester
(2) Jessie Paul (4) Auckland
(3) C K Prahalad
(4) Hank Paulson 128. Which among the following countries is the world s leading
producer of synthetic industrial diamond?
120. Montek Singh Ahluwalia is India's Deputy Chairman of (1) United states
Planning Commission. He is serving on this position for .... (2) Congo
(1) First term (3) China
(2) Second term (4) South Africa
(3) Third Term
(4) Fourth Term 129. India holds number 1 status in the production of which of
the following metals?
121. How much amount has been earmarked for Mahila Kisan (1) Copper
Sashaktikaran Pariyojana in the Union Budget 2010-11? (2) Iron
(1) Rs. 100 Crore (3) Mica
(2) Rs. 200 Crore (4) Lead
(3) Rs. 300 Crore
(4) Rs. 400 Crore 130. At which of the following places in Uttarakhand , Mahatma
Gandhi stayed for many days during India's Freedom
122. Which of the following state government confers Shikhar Struggle?
Samman? (1) Mussoorie
(1) New Delhi (2) Kausani
(2) Haryana (3) Almora
(3) Rajasthan (4) Nainital
(4) Madhya Pradesh
131. Who among the following has been described as 'Jawahar of
123. Currently who among the following is India's Cabinet Uttarakhand ?
Secretary? (1) Baldev Singh Arya
(1) Nirupama Rao (2) Badri Datt Pandey
(2) K. M. Chandrasekhar (3) Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna
(3) G S Pillai (4) Jagmohan Singh Negi
(4) G E Vahanvati
132. At which of the following place was India's First
124. What is the minimum age to be eligible for the benefits of Agricultural University established?
Janani Suraksha Yojna? (1) Pantnagar
(1) 17 years (2) 18 years (2) Kanpur
(3) 19 years (4) 21 years (3) Lucknow
(4) Kolkata
125. In which of the following schemes of the Union
Government, a benefit of Rs. 4000 is provided for pregnant 133. The ancient Takshshila Town was located between which
women? of the following rivers?
(1) Janani Suraksha Yojna (1) Indus & Jhelum
(2) Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyog Yojna (2) Jhelum & Chenab
(3) National Maternal Benefit Scheme (3) Chenab & Ravi
(4) Navjat Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (4) Ravi & Beas

62 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

134. Mahakali Treaty is signed between India and which of the 142. The well-known brand YKK' is related to which of the
following neighbours? following ?
(1) China (1) Solution to computer problems for the year 2000
(2) Pakistan (2) Zippers
(3) Bhutan (3) Shoe laces
(4) Nepal (4) Cellular phones

135. Which article of the constitution of India lays down the 143. Milk is an example of which of the following ?
procedure for impeachment of the President? (1) Suspension
(1) Article 105 (2) Gel
(2) Article 61 (3) Emulsion
(3) Article 60 (4) Foam
(4) Article 35
144. The first computer vims in the world was created in :
136. Who among the following nominates the Chairman of (1) Pakistan
Public Accounts committee of India? (2) USA
(1) Prime Minister (3) Japan
(2) President (4) France
(3) Speaker of Lok Sabha
(4) Chairman of Rajya Sabha 145. What is the chemical name of Viagra ?
(1) Sildenafil Citrate
137. With which of the following sports is Rovers Cup related? (2) Acetylsalicylic Acid
(1) Badminton (3) Valium Acetyl Cynate
(2) Cricket (4) Valiumsalisylic Citrate
(3) Football
(4) Hockey 146. Which of the following is not a search engine ?
(1) Aspire
138. What is the name of the channel that separates the (2) Lycos
Andaman Islands from the Nicobar Islands in the Bay of (3) Dogpile
Bengal? (4) Altavista
(1) Nine Degree Channel
(2) 10 degree channel 147. Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD)
(3) 12 degree channel is located at:
(4) Kardiva Channel (1) Delhi
(2) Kolkata
139. Justice P. Venkatarama Reddy heads which of the following (3) Hyderabad
commissions? (4) Chennai
(1) Farmer's Commission
(2) Committee on Telangana 148. The Green revolution in crops, Yellow revolution in oil
(3) 13th Finance Commission seeds and Golden revolution in .............. has been an
(4) 19th law Commission ample testimony to the contributions of agricultural
research and development efforts undertaken in the
140. Asiatic Lion is the state animal of which of the following country.
states? (1) Horticulture
(1) Rajasthan (2) Wheat
(2) Gujarat (3) Petrol
(3) Madhya Pradesh (4) None of these
(4) Maharastra
149. Which of the following parts of the sunlight makes the solar
141. Neem is a state tree of which of the following states? cooker hot ?
(1) Rajasthan (1) Ultraviolet
(2) Andhra Pradesh (2) Red light rays
(3) Gujarat (3) Infrared
(4) Madhya Pradesh (4) Cosmic rays

PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 63

150. Where was the First Earth Summit held in 1992 to address 154. ICRA refers to :
environmental issues of the world? (1) Indian Credit Rating Agency
(1) Johannesburg (2) Investment Creation Rationing Authority
(2) Geneva (3) Investment Credit Rating Agency
(3) Seattle (4) Indian Cricket Renaissance Association
(4) Rio
155. What does ISP stand for ?
151. Pulitzer Prizes of the US are awarded for : (1) International Service Provider
(1) Music (2) Indian Service Provider
(2) Films (3) Internet Service Provider
(3) Print Journalism (4) Internet Start-up Provider
(4) None of these
156. What does CDMA stand for ?
152. World Red Cross Day is celebrated every year on : (1) Code Division Multiple Access
(1) May 16 (2) May 11 (2) Code Division Mobile Access
(3) May 8 (4) May 1 (3) Code Division Multiple Application
(4) Code Division Mobile Application
153. Name the website which broke the cricket match-fixing
story : 157. SEZ stands for :
(1) bazee.com (1) Southern Economic Zone
(2) tehelka.com (2) South European zone
(3) tazaakhabar.com (3) Special Economic Zone
(4) goforcricket.com (4) Special Eastern Zone

Answers to General knowledge

1. Ans.(3) 27. Ans.(2) 53. Ans.(1) 79. Ans.(4) 105. Ans.(3) 131. Ans.(4)
2. Ans.(2) 28. Ans.(3) 54. Ans.(2) 80. Ans.(1) 106. Ans.(2) 132. Ans.(1)
3. Ans.(1) 29. Ans.(4) 55. Ans.(2) 81. Ans.(3) 107. Ans.(4) 133. Ans.(3)
4. Ans.(3) 30. Ans.(4) 56. Ans.(3) 82. Ans.(2) 108. Ans.(2) 134. Ans.(4)
5. Ans.(4) 31. Ans.(1) 57. Ans.(2) 83. Ans.(3) 109. Ans.(3) 135. Ans.(2)
6. Ans.(4) 32. Ans.(3) 58. Ans.(4) 84. Ans.(2) 110. Ans.(2) 136. Ans.(3)
7. Ans.(3) 33. Ans.(2) 59. Ans.(4) 85. Ans.(2) 111. Ans.(1) 137. Ans.(3)
8. Ans.(1) 34. Ans.(4) 60. Ans.(3) 86. Ans.(2) 112. Ans.(3) 138. Ans.(2)
9. Ans.(4) 35. Ans.(2) 61. Ans.(2) 87. Ans.(2) 113. Ans.(1) 139. Ans.(4)
10. Ans.(1) 36. Ans.(2) 62. Ans.(3) 88. Ans.(3) 114. Ans.(4) 140. Ans.(2)
11. Ans.(4) 37. Ans.(3) 63. Ans.(3) 89. Ans.(4) 115. Ans.(4) 141. Ans.(2)
142. Ans.(1)
12. Ans.(2) 38. Ans.(1) 64. Ans.(4) 90. Ans.(3) 116. Ans.(3)
143. Ans.(3)
13. Ans.(4) 39. Ans.(2) 65. Ans.(2) 91. Ans.(1) 117. Ans.(2)
144. Ans.(3)
14. Ans.(3) 40. Ans.(2) 66. Ans.(2) 92. Ans.(3) 118. Ans.(4)
145. Ans.(1)
15. Ans.(2) 41. Ans.(2) 67. Ans.(3) 93. Ans.(3) 119. Ans.(3) 146. Ans.(1)
16. Ans.(2) 42. Ans.(1) 68. Ans.(3) 94. Ans.(2) 120. Ans.(2) 147. Ans.(3)
17. Ans.(4) 43. Ans.(4) 69. Ans.(4) 95. Ans.(4) 121. Ans.(1) 148. Ans.(1)
18. Ans.(2) 44. Ans.(4) 70. Ans.(2) 96. Ans.(2) 122. Ans.(4) 149. Ans.(3)
19. Ans.(2) 45. Ans.(2) 71. Ans.(4) 97. Ans.(3) 123. Ans.(2) 150. Ans.(4)
20. Ans.(3) 46. Ans.(1) 72. Ans.(4) 98. Ans.(3) 124. Ans.(3) 151. Ans.(3)
21. Ans.(4) 47. Ans.(2) 73. Ans.(2) 99. Ans.(3) 125. Ans.(2) 152. Ans.(3)
22. Ans.(4) 48. Ans.(3) 74. Ans.(2) 100. Ans.(2) 126. Ans.(4) 153. Ans.(2)
23. Ans.(3) 49. Ans.(2) 75. Ans.(1) 101. Ans.(4) 127. Ans.(2) 154. Ans.(3)
24. Ans.(4) 50. Ans.(3) 76. Ans.(2) 102. Ans.(3) 128. Ans.(2) 155. Ans.(3)
25. Ans.(2) 51. Ans.(3) 77. Ans.(1) 103. Ans.(1) 129. Ans.(3) 156. Ans.(1)
26. Ans.(3) 52. Ans.(2) 78. Ans.(1) 104. Ans.(4) 130. Ans.(2) 157. Ans.(3)

64 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010

 Wikipedia Logo
E verybody is quite familiar with Wikipedia, the world's
largest online resource for content about everything. On
January 15, 2001 when it was officially launched, the
founder Jimmy Wales used the American flag “Old Glory” as its
logo; but it turned out to be a bad idea and attracted widespread
criticism.
As of November 2007,
Wikipedia has over 9 million
articles in 253 languages,
written collaboratively by
volunteers around the
world. Wikipedia.org is also
ranked among the top ten
most visited websites
worldwide.
Furthermore, it hints to
an improved form of Web
2.0, with regard to its user-
friendly interface and
unparalleled information
database.
At the time of its launch in 2001, Wikipedia needed a logo
design which would represent its peculiarity and exclusive
initiative on the Internet. Hence, Jimmy ‘Jimbo’ Wales, founder
of Wikipedia, used an American flag, Old Glory, as the
temporary Wikipedia logo, which was widely criticized.
ScottMoonen, the author of wiki engine, WikkiTikkiTavi,
commented on the American flag Wikipedia logo as “extremely
ethno-centric”, and suggested to insert a globe in the Wikipedia
logo to demonstrate the broad-based character of the website.
After several Wikipedia logo design recommendations by
Wikipedians, and an international competition conducted for
the same reason, a new and improved Wikipedia logo was finally
established that successfully corresponds to all the languages
with an international perspective.
The first toothbrush with bristles was developed in China in 1498. Bristles were taken from hogs at first, later from horses.
The nylon bristles were developed in 1938 by DuPont.
Paul Stansifer, a.k.a. Paullusmagnus of the Wiki network, came
up with the winning Puzzle sphere design, which later slightly
amended by Nohat, a Wikipedia administrator, became the final
Wikipedia logo as we see it today. With this new Wikipedia logo,
Wikipedia has managed to demonstrate its worldwide reach and
its extensive research available on many aspects.
SHAPE OF WIKIPEDIA LOGO:
The shape of the Wikipedia logo has a clear notion of power
and strength, which reflects the firm hold of the company.
Wikipedia logo has an image of a puzzle sphere with some pieces
missing from the top of the globe. This image defines that the
website covers almost each and every aspect of what exists and is
happening in the world.
COLOR OF WIKIPEDIA LOGO:
In the Wikipedia logo, a soft and light shade of grey is used to
demonstrate the professional outlook of the foundation. The
grey hue is easy-to-remember and is uncomplicated, providing
another character to the Wikipedia logo. The sober color
highlights the firm’s integrity. Wikipedia logo is considered
simple, distinctive and sophisticated due to its calm tint.
FONT OF WIKIPEDIA LOGO:
The Serif font in Wikipedia logo is kept very straightforward
yet elegant. The font in the slogan of Wikipedia logo, ‘The Free
Encyclopedia’, is reserved to italic style. On the globe of
Wikipedia logo, some symbols of different languages are
represented, stating that the website comprises information in
many languages. Keeping a ‘the simpler, the better’ strategy in
mind, easy font is used for all groups of people to understand the
meaning behind the logo clearly. The Wikipedia logo bolsters
the viewer to draw to the website and seek information.
Additionally, the Wikipedia logo intelligently depicts the
intended message of sharing knowledge and information
without the communication barrier.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 65
News in brief
India
r Pritish Nandy is returning to his first
calling, poetry, after 20 years of
dabbling in filmmaking, art and
journalism. Nandy, who has collections
like ''Lonesong Street'' and ''A Stranger
Called I'' to his credit, released his book
of poems ''Again''.
r Israel's Ambassador to India Mark
Sofer, said in Jaipur that India and Israel would soon be
signing a free trade agreement.
r An international rafting championship would be held
in July to boost adventure tourism in Jammu and
Kashmir, Tourism Minister Nawang Rigzin Jora said. "An
International rafting Championship over Liddher River at
Pahalgam would be organized in July this year", Jora said
after flagging off rafting over river Sindh at Mammar, on
Srinagar-Leh road.
r After a high-level meeting with the Chief of
Assam Tarun Gogoi and other senior
officials of the state including the top brass of
the security forces at Guwahati, India's Home
Minister, P Chidambaram said that the
counter insurgency operations in Assam will
continue till the rebels lay down their arms
and shun violence.
r The Centre has approved 32 projects related to water
conservation at a cost of Rs 126.94 crore in Meghalaya this
year. "The ministry has released Rs 9.1 crore for the
schemes. Ninety per cent of the cost for construction of
check dams and irrigation facilities would be borne by
Centre and 10 per cent would be incurred by state
government," state Director of Soil and Water
Conservation A. Syiem said at the launch of Central
Accelerated Irrigation Benefits Programme (AIBP) at
Jowai (Shillong). Syiem said eight projects for
improvement of shifting cultivation covering an area of
4000 hectare with a project cost of Rs 4 crore was
sanctioned and Rs 53 lakh has been released.
66 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
r RSS said nationality should be the basis in the ongoing
national census and not caste. "The RSS is following the
principles of late Dalit leader B R Ambedkar. Right from
the beginning, RSS is in favour of a casteless society and
any attempt to dilute it will hurt the sentiments of people,"
RSS General Secretary, Bhaiyyaji Joshi told.
r A Delhi court rejected the bail plea of
Madhuri Gupta, a junior Indian
diplomat arrested on charges of spying
for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence .
r Commander Dilip Donde, a naval
officer became the first Indian ever to circumnavigate the
world solo on a sail boat when he steered into the Mumbai
harbour after an arduous voyage spanning a little over nine
months. Commander Dilip Donde, who embarked on the
voyage on August 19 last year on INSV (Indian Naval Sailing
Vessel) Mhadei, approached the finish line as his boat,
ceremonially escorted by a fast-attack craft of the Indian
Navy along with speedboats and two tugs operating their
water canons, touched base back in India at the Sunk Rock
Light House Mumbai.
r Mufti of Darul Iftah of Bareilvi Sharif Mohd Ayyub Alem
Rizvi has issued the fatwa that Muslim women can work in
institutions after wearing the veil but with some conditions.
r The government is planning to set up a civil aviation
safety advisory council in the wake of the devastating
Mangalore crash of an Air-India Express aircraft. The
proposal was mooted during a high-level meeting at the
ministry presided over by Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel.
r In the backdrop of Ruchika Girhotra molestation case,
the Union law and justice ministry is working on the
Sexual Offences (Special Courts) 2010 Bill which aims
to fast-track cases of sexual offences. The proposed law
stipulate that investigation in such cases be completed
within six months to a year, and also proposes to make
punishment for cases of sexual assault on women more
stringent.
r The Supreme Court stayed the execution of Kolkata’s
American Center terror attack mastermind Aftab Ahmed
Ansari after admitting his appeal challenging the award of
death sentence to him by the trial judge and confirmed by
the Calcutta high court.
r India is likely to join the league of five developed nations,
who have a housing start up index (HSUI) of their own,
by the end of 2010. The work on preparing a database for
the index has begun and, once it is started, the indices will
be released on a quarterly basis. The housing index is
viewed as a key indicator of economic activity in the
countries where it is being used, particularly in the last
couple of years of economic meltdown for which sub-prime
housing loan crisis in the United States is often blamed.
Besides the US, the other countries having a housing index
are the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and
Japan.
r Union Minister for environment
and forests Jairam Ramesh’s
decision to set up a new authority,
‘National Environmental
Protection Authority’ (NEPA),
to regulate all environmental
norm, has been sharply criticised
by the green lobby. Speaking at a
national workshop to discuss the
setting up of this autonomous body, a majority of
participants told Mr Ramesh that the proposed regulation
would not improve the quality of environmental
governance.
r With 159 children below five dying due to malnutrition in
2009, Madhya Pradesh is facing an acute food security
crisis. The state suffers from the lowest food consumption
levels in India which have further declined from 11 kg per
month to 9 kg per month over the last five years.
r Physicist and environmentalist Vandana Shiva has been
awarded the prestigious Sydney Peace Prize this year in
recognition of her works in social justice.
r A Defence Technology Commission will be set up on the
lines of the Atomic Energy Commission to improve the
functioning of the Defence Research and Development
Organisation (DRDO) laboratories in the country, V. K.
Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, said
in Visakhapatnam.
r One of the doyens of Telugu film industry, lyric writer Dr
Veturi Sundararama Murthy, 74, died of a massive
cardiac arrest at a private hospital in Hyderabad.
r In an expected turn of events, the Babri Masjid Action
Committee (BMAC) has asked the Central Bureau of
Investigation (CBI) to approach the Supreme Court
against the High Court decision of granting reprieve to the
senior BJP leaders accused in the Babri demolition case.
r Rains and powerful winds triggered by cyclonic storm
Laila lashed Orissa's winding coast. The storm was
centred near Machilipatnam in Andhra Pradesh, said the
Bhubaneswar meteorological centre.
r Disgraced former Haryana DGP, SPS
Rathore, was sentenced to 18-month
prison term by a court in Chandigarh
in Ruchika molestation case.
r A city court New Delhi, ordered that
charges be framed against Congress
leader Sajjan Kumar and five others in a case of murder
and instigating a mob which allegedly killed five people
during the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
r TRS President, K Chandrasekhar Rao said there will be
a "terrible war" for achieving separate Telangana after
the Sri Krishna committee submitted its report to the
Centre towards the end of this year.
r Three Pune students are among the six selected to
represent India at the 51st International Mathematical
Olympiad (IMO) to be held at Astana in Kazakhstan
from July 2.
r With the coming of 3G, the next wave of cyber attacks
will be on the mobile phone, said cyber security expert
Vijay Mukhi, at a seminar on the penultimate day of the
Cyber Safety Week 2010 organised by the Mumbai
Police.
r India has opened talks on civil nuclear energy with Japan
and both sides have decided to set up a working group to
examine the possibility of cooperation during an extended
interaction between Japanese Minister for Economy, Trade
and Industr y Masayuki Naoshima and Planning
Commission Deputy Chairman, Montek Singh
Ahluwalia, said highly placed sources.
r Chief Minister Mayawati's total assets are valued at
around Rs. 88 crore, according to a sworn affidavit she filed
at the time of her nominations to the Uttar Pradesh
Legislative Council elections. In 2007, her worth was
around Rs. 52.27 crore when she contested a Council by-
election after becoming Chief Minister. In three years, her
assets have grown by over Rs. 35 crore.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 67
News in brief
World
r China has no plans to build a mega dam over river
Brahmaputra in Tibet as it is well aware of the concerns
India and Bangladesh have in this regard, a senior academic
attached to a state-run think tank said.
r Indian-origin Britons were part of a 21-member crime
gang involved in a $337.5 million tax fraud in the United
Kingdom. In total, the gang members have been jailed for
a total of 74 years for their part in financial crime. The case,
described as one of the most complex investigations by
Britain’s customs department, started in April 2002 and
after eight trials and retrials, it was closed when the final
defendant was sentenced.
r Pakistan government stuck to its
decision that it would not reopen graft
cases against President Asif Ali
Zardari in Switzerland and told the
Supreme Court that reports about
his alleged involvement in laundering
of $60 million were “exaggerated.”
r Islamic police in Indonesia’s Aceh province have been
issued with 20,000 long skirts and ordered to cover up
women deemed to have broken Muslim dress codes, an
official said.
r Pakistan’s Supreme Court dismissed appeals by the federal
and Punjab provincial governments against Jamaat-ud-
Dawa Chief Hafiz Saeed’s release from house arrest for
want of evidence. He is thus a free man again and no longer
subject to house arrest.
r Israel had offered to sell nuclear bomb to South Africa
during the apartheid era in the 1970s, a media reported.
r Iran formally notified the UN atomic watchdog of its
response to a nuclear fuel swap deal brokered by Turkey
and Brazil. Iranian, Brazilian and Turkish representatives,
as well as officials from the International Atomic Energy
Agency (IAEA), all arrived for a short meeting with the
IAEA Chief, Mr Yukiya Amano, at his residence in central
Vienna.
68 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
r The US President, Mr Barack Obama,
declared that the United States cannot
act alone in the world and pledged to
shape a new “international order” as
part of a national security strategy to seal
his break with Bush-era policies.
r Pakistan has blocked 800 URLs that
had “blasphemous” content in the wake of the ban on
Facebook and YouTube which featured cartoons of
Prophet Mohammed.
r The Google Chief Executive, Mr Eric Schmidt said he
suspects suppressing political criticism is a factor behind
the move to block YouTube and Facebook in Pakistan in the
name of Islam.
r The United Nations has expressed concern over the
recruitment and use of minors by the Maoists in India and
said there were credible reports that some young ones were
forcibly recruited from schools. It also highlighted an
incident in which Naxalites forced villagers to provide five
boys and girls for their armed group in October 2009.
r The Scientists have found a key gene that, when turned
off, promotes the development of common kidney
cancer. Their findings suggest that a combination of
agents now being tested in other cancers may turn the
gene back on, providing a much-needed therapy for the
difficult-to-treat cancer. Researchers at Mayo Clinic’s
campus in Florida describe a gene called GATA3 that has
been silenced in clear cell renal cell carcinoma, the most
common kind of kidney cancer, and is a key gene also lost
in breast cancer.
r US researchers have developed the first bacteria cell
controlled by a synthetic genome, in a breakthrough
which may pose philosophical and scientific questions
about the bid to recreate life.
r Pakistan Army’s powerful generals have conveyed their
message to the government that they want General
Ashfaq Pervez Kayani to continue as the Army Chief.
r The Al Qaeda has appealed to
Muslim women, particularly
those in Saudi Arabia, to travel to
Yemen and wage jihad. The
appeal was made by Wafa al-
Shahri, wife of Al Qaeda's second
in command in Yemen, Said al-
Shahri. Wafa al-Shahri was directing her message in
particular to Al Qaeda colleagues in Saudi Arabia.
r In a move likely to affect Indian professionals as well as
British trade and industry, Mr David Cameron’s
coalition government has decided to impose an annual cap
on the number of immigrants from non-European Union
countries.
r Major Powers, including China and Russia, have agreed
on a new UN sanctions resolution against Iran over its
nuclear programme, the United States said.
r Bangladesh is planning a 15-days “paternity leave” for
men, saying it was a justified legal claim for fathers of
newborn babies. “Such a proposal has been sent to the
women and children affairs ministry,” additional
establishment secretary, Mr Mohammad Sadiq, said. He
said the proposal had been prepared on the pattern
followed in other countries.
r A leading body of NRIs has asked New Delhi to withdraw
new rules seeking surrender of Indian passports upon
acquisition of US citizenship, saying they impose undue
burdens on the Indian American community.
r The BBC apologised “unreservedly” after a radio
presenter jokingly announced that Queen Elizabeth II
had died. Disc jockey Danny Kelly, played the national
anthem God Save The Queen and told listeners he had an
important announcement to make before saying: “Queen
Elizabeth II has now died.” The joke was made on BBC
WM, the local radio service in Birmingham and the
surrounding West Midlands area.
r Iran signed a nuclear fuel swap deal under which it will
ship 1,200 kilogrammes of low enriched uranium to
Turkey, to help end Tehran’s stand-off with the West over
its atomic programme. The agreement, under which Iran
will receive nuclear fuel for its reactors, was signed
between foreign ministers of Iran, Turkey and Brazil.
r Malaysia’s decision to allow Indian Air Force to groom,
train and equip its frontline Sukhoi pilots is a proof of the
south-east Asian country’s faith on New Delhi, a senior
IAF officer has said.
r Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and
his Japanese counterpart Yukio
Hatoyama agreed to “activate a
civilian hotline” to address
sensitive issues between the two
countries. At their summit in Tokyo,
the two leaders also agreed to “launch
early negotiations to develop the East
China Sea oil and gas resources.”
r The US has spent around $40 million for training a "secret"
dedicated unit of around 200 Mexican police and army
personnel in an effort to hunt down drug kingpins, a
media report said.
r Iran has set up new equipment that could let it produce
more enriched uranium from a smaller amount of raw
material, diplomats said. The step could one day make it
easier to produce a nuclear bomb and is likely to give the US
more leverage with Russia and China in its push for new
UN sanctions on Iran.
r British Prime Minister David Cameron chaired the first
meeting of his new coalition Cabinet and decided to take a
five per cent pay cut for himself and all his ministers to
start his austerity regime. Mr Cameron will take the
highest pay cut, amounting to £7,500, and his annual salary
will be £142,500, compared to £150,000 salary of his
predecessor Gordon Brown. The Cabinet ministers will
take a £7, 082 salary cut to get annual salary of £134,565.
r Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, the sole
sitting head of state wanted for war crimes by the
International Criminal Court (ICC), was sworn after his
re-election in voting marred by boycotts.
r Thai court approved an arrest warrant for fugitive former
premier Thaksin Shinawatra on terrorism charges in
connection with deadly street protests, an official said.
r Nepal's Mountaineering Association has been honoured
more than 100 Everest successful climbers from all over
the world including Indian climbers in a special function to
mark the third International Everest Day(29 may).
r The legendary screen actor and Hollywood rebel Dennis
Hopper, best known for directing and starring in his '60s
counterculture movie Easy Rider, has died at the age of 74.
Hopper appeared in more than 200 films, including Giant
and Blue Velvet, often playing the misfit, outsider or villain.
But he then rode Easy Rider to unexpected success: The
movie pulled in 50 million dollars, more than ten times the
original investment of 400,000 dollars.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 69
News in brief
Business and economy
r Reliance Industries and its partner
Hardy Oil have suspended drilling at
an exploratory well in the D3 block at
the KG basin. In a statement, Hardy
Oil has cited “unresolved mechanical
issues associated with the blow out
preventer”.
r Hyderabad-based infrastructure firm Gayatri Projects
signed an agreement with Singapore- based Sembcorp to
set up a 1,320 mw thermal power plant in Krishnapatnam,
Andhra Pradesh.
r In a major acquisition deal, ICICI Bank announced the
merger of the Bank of Rajasthan with it through a share-
swap in a non-cash deal that values the BoR at about Rs
3,000 crore. Announcing the deal, ICICI Bank MD and
CEO, Ms Chanda Kochhar said that the merger would be
through offering 25 shares of ICICI for every 118 shares
of BoR but its promoters Tayal family, which hitherto have
over 50 per cent stake would not get a board seat in the
amalgamated entity.
r The Indian government’s unique identity programme
will have some major positive economical and social
implications, with ample opportunity to leverage the
technology far more ambitiously and intensively, according
to global consultancy firm Deloitte.
r The US-based multinational pharma company Abbott has
acquired the domestic formulations business of Piramal
Healthcare Limited. The deal was signed for $3.72
billion with $2.12 billion to be paid upfront and $400
million annually for the next four years.
r The Indian family-owned investment firm Hinduja
Group said it has agreed to buy the private banking arm of
Belgian firm KBC Group for 1.35 billion euros. The deal
comprises the sale of KBC’s entire interest in KBL
European Private Banking and includes all the private
banking subsidiaries as well as the custody and life
insurance businesses.
70 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
r The RBI governor, Dr D. Subbarao,
said that Islamic banking was not
possible within the existing legal
framework of the country. While
talking to mediapersons after the
meeting of the RBI board, Mr
Subbarao said that Islamic banking
did not involve payment of interest
and was based on sharing of both
profit and loss. This was not consistent with the protection
of depositors which was the prime aim of the RBI, he said.
r The CBI has asked the Comptroller and Auditor General
(CAG) of India to form a special team to investigate the
financial aspect of the investigations in connection with 2G
spectrum auctions in which the Union telecom minister,
Mr A. Raja is facing charges of corruption.
r A risky game of brinkmanship among Swiss political
parties could sink a key deal to settle a bitter US tax case
against the UBS, triggering fresh legal action against the
bank and shaking trust in Switzerland. The government
has said it has no backup plan if the Parliament kills an
agreement clinched last August obliging Switzerland to
hand 4,450 UBS client accounts to the US tax authorities to
settle tax evasion claims against the Swiss bank.
r The Naveen Jindal-led Jindal Steel and Power (JSPL)
will acquire the Oman-based Shadeed Iron and Steel Co for
$ 464 million, which will enable the company to cater to the
Middle East and North African countries.
r The Munjal family, promoters of the Hero Group,
announced a family settlement agreement following which
their 26% stake in the two-wheeler maker Hero Honda will
now be owned by Mr Suman Kant Munjal, the second son
of group Chairman, Mr Brij Mohan Lall Munjal.
r Andrew S. Grove, the former Chief Executive of Intel, is
taking the next step in his quest to infuse the engineering
discipline of Silicon Valley into the development of new
medical treatments.
r Vodafone Group Plc signalled
increasing frustration with its key
Indian unit, taking a charge of £2.3
billion ($3.3 billion) due to fierce
competition and rapidly escalating
spectrum costs. The world’s
second-largest mobile operator by
revenue entered the Indian market in 2007 after beating
rivals in a high-profile auction to make it the key territory in
its growing emerging markets portfolio.
r Former Director of McKinsey & Co and Indian School of
Business (ISB) Anil Kumar will pay a fine of $2.8 million
to settle the charges filed by the US market regulator SEC
against him in the multi-billion dollar Galleon insider-
trading scam.
r British energy group BP said the Gulf of Mexico leak will
have only a “very modest” environmental impact, adding
that its engineers are siphoning up as much oil as
previously thought.
r Global IT management software vendor, CA Technologies,
is all set to execute its vision for emerging markets where it
expects to see double digit growth rates, especially from
hyper growth economies such as India and China. The $4.3
billion company is increasing its sales headcount in
emerging markets by 25 per cent which will take its
headcount to 650 people in fiscal 2010-11. Additionally, CA
Technologies is leveraging the expertise of a seasoned
management team and localizing products to suit the
needs of different emerging markets with a totally new
approach to sales, pricing and packaging in these markets.
r A crisis in the Eurozone is likely to hit India’s export sector
as the bloc is one of the top trading partners. “More than 20
per cent of India’s exports are to Europe,” says Mr Gopal
Agrawal, Deputy CIO, Mirae Assets.
r Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL) is exploring the
possibilities of setting up joint ventures with Tata Steel and
Arcelor-Mittal to manufacture steel. Last year, SAIL had
signed a MoU with Posco of Korea to set up a proposed joint
venture steel plant in Jharkhand with the production
capacity of two million tonnes per annum and a CRMO
(chromoly steel) plant in Maharashtra.
r Google Inc is closing its four-month-old online cell
phone store, abandoning an ambitious plan by the Web
search leader to redefine wireless retailing. Google said it
will stop selling its Nexus One smartphone through its
online Web store and will instead work with partners to sell
the device through retail outlets.
r The Planning Commission has lowered the target for the
construction of roads under the NHDP scheme to 2,500
km for the current fiscal from 3,165 km in the previous year,
which was not met by the road ministry. The Road
Transport and Highways Ministry could construct barely
2,009 kilo metre of roads under the National Highways
Development Project (NHDP) in the previous fiscal
against a target of 3,165 km.
r The promoter of ABB Limited, the Switzerland based
power major, will make an open offer to raise its stake in the
Indian arm. The company
wants to purchase 4.85
crore shares from the open
market at a price of Rs
900/share.
r In the first major victory over its rival Maruti Suzuki,
Hyundai’s i10 has driven past its rival Wagon R in the 1.1
litre engine category during FY10.During the period,
Hyundai sold 1,49,242 units of i10 in the domestic market
as compared to Wagon R’s 1,44,898 units. Maruti Suzuki’s
WagonR had been dominating this segment until now. The
Hyundai Motor India Ltd (HMIL) Director (marketing),
Mr Arvind Saxena, said the company has “sold as many as
149,242 units of i10 in the Indian market during 2009-10,
which makes it the top selling car in the 1.1 litre capacity
segment”.
r Nitol-Niloy Group, which markets Tata brand of
commercial vehicles in Bangladesh, is planning to set up a
1,000-MW power plant in the country in a joint venture
with the Indian conglomerate. Nitol-Niloy has taken steps
to set up the largest-ever power plant in Bangladesh. The
local partner will conduct a feasibility study for setting up a
coal-based power plant for the Tata management.
r Japanese carmaker Suzuki Motor Corp is recalling the
automatic transmission version of its compact car “Alto” in
Europe, which is sold under the brand A-Star in India.
r Godrej Consumer Products will buy out its partner Sara
Lee’s 51 per cent stake in joint venture company Godrej Sara
Lee Limited. Godrej Sara Lee is into household insecticides,
andownsbrandssuchas“Goodknight”and“Hit.”
r Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India Pvt. Ltd. (HMSI)
commenced the construction of its second two-wheeler
production plant at Tapukara Industrial Area (near
Bhiwadi, Rajasthan) to meet increasing demand in the
growing domestic motorcycle market. HMSI is investing
around Rs. 500 crore in the new plant that will be ready by
mid-2011 and will have annual capacity of 6-lakh units.
PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010 71
Book Review
We are like that only
UNDERSTANDING THE LOGIC OF CONSUMER INDIA
by Rama Bijapurkar
E very major marketing company in the
world wants to enter the Indian
market with its offerings, as India
happens to be the world's largest potential
market waiting to be harnessed. With
liberalization, the interest in India has
increased. The reasons are not far to seek. In
a democracy like India, markets are
characterized by variation, stratification,
maturity and some market categories by
growth. Every major MNC that entered India
has found the Indian consumer demanding,
defying the conventional logic of marketing,
leaving the marketer confused.
The Indian consumer visits malls to
purchase branded goods but continues to
patronize his/her neighborhood kirana store.
Many questions emerge: why are demand patterns different in
India? Is there a middle class in India? Does `bottom of the
pyramid' make business sense? Where does India stand in terms
of market sophistication and consumption? How can companies
understand the Indian consumer?
The book endeavors to seek answers to such questions and
to provide insights. In his foreword to the book, eminent
management guru, C K Prahalad highlights that the book
illustrates that "any broad generalization of the Indian
consumer" can be erroneous and Rama Bijapurkar's analysis is
useful for both MNCs planning their entry in India as well as
established Indian enterprises.
The book ‘We are like that only’ is divided into 13 chapters.
All the chapters are linked together by the common thread of
understanding the Indian consumer and his behavior. The
author has made a case that the nature of emerging market
economies such as India is different and need not follow a
`global standard', that India, within a restrictive regulatory
framework of the past, has developed a sophisticated and
complex marketing system with innovations in products,
distribution and advertising and that India may not follow the
pattern of evolution of developed markets.
72 PT’s PrepTalk – June 2010
N R Narayana Murthy, Chief Mentor of
Infosys in his afterword has highlighted that
"The author's detailed research and her
expertize on the subject is validated by a text
which is simple and cogent, yet interesting and
jargon free".
Rama Bijapurkar has given examples
across India giving a national orientation. A
major merit of the book is that it is data driven.
The author has made a sharp analysis of the
many Indias that exist in the market, bringing
out its plurality. She has questioned the
conventional view of some professional
consultants that Indian markets would evolve
in the same manner as developed markets did
from their market infancy. The author has
emphasized the Indian consumer market
feature of continuity with change giving the example of the six
yard sari and the blouse that have retained their popularity.
Taking cues from economics, demography, history, culture,
philosophy and good old common sense, Rama Bijapurkar
makes sense of the complex and inscrutable Indian market – the
many Consumer Indias, their diverse and schizophrenic
consumer behaviour and the way to make your company's
fortune in this billion plus market.
A powerful book, it is the definitive epitaph for formula
strategy approaches to India's consumer markets, especially of
the 'global' transplant kind.
The world's most expensive postage stamp was sold at
auction in Geneva to an international consortium on May 23,
2010 auctioneers said. It is one of the rarest known stamps, the
“Treskilling Yellow” or three-shilling stamp was issued by
mistake in 1857. A Swedish schoolboy stumbled upon it in
1885. Since then it has passed through the hands of a series of
stamp collectors. The last time it was sold, in 1996, it fetched
3.6 millions d'euros (4.5 million dollars) at auction. Stamp
auctioneers, David Feldman did not disclose the identity of the
buyers, nor the price paid this time round.