Today's Hot Stories - December 18, 2012
10 Headlines for Today(1) Shiv Sena finally vacates Shivaji park
(2) 70% turnout in final phase of Gujarat polls
(3) N. Korea displays body of Kim Jong Il a year after death
(4) RBI to relax norms for entry of foreign banks
(5) Axis Bank to raise over Rs.6,000 cr
(6) Judge denies Apple request to ban Samsung phones in U.S.
(7) Junior World TT Championship: It’s Chinese all the way
(8) Kabaddi World Cup: Indian women clinch title
(9) BMW Golf Cup: Aman Sawhney triumphs
(10) NASA names moon crash site in honour of Sally Ride
5 Stories for Today
(1) Quota Bill passed by huge majority in Rajya Sabha
(2) WikiLeaks initiative to beat banking blockade
(3) Centre mulls gold-backed schemes to curb imports
(4) 2013 will witness a new avatar of computing: Intel
(5) RBI keeps key rates unchanged
(1) Quota Bill passed by huge majority in Rajya Sabha
Barring Samajwadi Party, an overwhelming majority in the Rajya Sabha passed the Bill that provides for quotas for SCs and STs in government job promotions. The constitution amendment Bill was approved by 194 members in the 245-strong House. Nine from Samajwadi Party and an independent voted against the Bill.
The Bill is now likely to be introduced and moved for consideration and passing in Lok Sabha on Wednesday. The proposed legislation was the reason for the Lok Sabha being unable to transact any business during the day.
While the Bill was being debated in Rajya Sabha, Samajwadi Party Members repeatedly disrupted the functioning of the Lok Sabha with party President Mulayam Singh Yadav, who has threatened to review support to the UPA, leading the protest in the House. In between adjournments, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath attempted to assuage Mr. Yadav’s apprehensions but to no avail. Congress MPs tried to counter the SP by raising counter slogans demanding the Bill be introduced in the Rajya Sabha at the earliest.
In the Rajya Sabha, besides voting against the Bill, SP urged reservation in jobs for Muslims by referring to the Justice (Retd.) Rajender Sachar Committee report that said their plight was worse than that of Dalits.
In his reply to the debate, Minister of State for Personnel V. Narayanasamy said the government had incorporated some elements like a 22 per cent cap on promotions for which consideration of Annual Confidential Report (ACR) will be crucial. Mr. Narayanasamy gave out figures to assert that discrimination against the SCs/STs and OBCs was rampant.
He was amenable to Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley’s suggestion to ensure the amendments will not affect those who have already been promoted since 1995.
(2) WikiLeaks initiative to beat banking blockade
WikiLeaks on Monday announced the launch of a new platform called the Freedom of the Press Foundation to beat the “the extra-judicial” banking blockade against it, and to promote “aggressive, public-interest journalism focused on exposing mismanagement, corruption and law-breaking in government”.
It said the Foundation was an initiative of the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), a U.S.-based non-profit digital rights advocacy group, and was backed, among others, by former Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and actor John Cusack.
“They will crowd-source fundraising and support for organisations or individuals under attack for publishing the truth,” it said.
WikiLeaks publisher Julian Assange vowed to fight “this immoral blockade” which had led to 95 per cent of the contributions to the organisation being stopped.
“We’ve fought this immoral blockade for two long years. We smashed it in the courts. We smashed it in the Treasury. We smashed it in France. We smashed it in Germany. And now, with strong and generous friends who still believe in First Amendment rights, we’re going to smash it in the United States as well”, he said.
In a statement, WikiLeaks said its “running primary cash reserves” were down from more than a million dollars in 2010 to under a thousand dollars, as of December 2012, because of the blockade.
“Only an aggressive attack against the blockade will permit WikiLeaks to continue publishing through 2013. The new initiative, combined with a recent victory in Germany, means contributions to WikiLeaks now have tax-deductible status throughout the United States and Europe,” it said.
Explaining how the system would work, it said: “The Foundation’s first ‘bundle’ will crowd-source funds for WikiLeaks, the National Security Archive, The UpTake and MuckRock News. Donors will be able to use a slider to set how much of their donation they wish each organisation to receive and can donate to WikiLeaks using their credit cards. The Foundation holds 501(c) charitable status, so donations are tax-deductible in the U.S. Other courageous press organisations will be added as time goes by. It will not be possible to see by banking records what portion of a donor’s contribution, if any, goes to WikiLeaks.”
John Perry Barlow, a board member of the Foundation, said the initiative aimed to achieve more than just crowd-sourced fundraising.
“We hope it makes a moral argument against these sorts of actions. But it could also be the basis of a legal challenge. We now have private organisations with the ability to stifle free expression. These companies have no bill of rights that applies to their action — they only have terms of service”, he said.
WikiLeaks says the blockade by Visa, MasterCard, PayPal, Western Union and a host of other financial institutions is “unlawful” and part of a “politically motivated” retaliation by American authorities against it for publishing leaked secret diplomatic cables.
“In heavily redacted European Commission documents recently released by WikiLeaks, MasterCard Europe admitted that U.S. Senate Homeland Security Chairman Joseph Lieberman and Congressman Peter T. King were both directly involved in instigating the blockade,” it said.
(3) Centre mulls gold-backed schemes to curb imports
Measures being considered to reduce attraction of direct investment in bullion and jewellery in the domestic market
Attributing the surge in gold imports to high current account deficit, the government on Monday said it was considering schemes such as gold deposits, accumulation plans, gold-linked accounts and pension products to curb demand for the precious metal.
In its mid-year economic analysis tabled in Parliament on Monday, the government said gold-backed products would help investors enjoy benefits of investment in the metal without investing in the physical commodity.
“Now gold backed financial instruments in the form of modified gold deposits and gold accumulation plans, besides gold-linked accounts and pension products linked with the precious metal are some measures being considered to reduce the attraction of a direct investment in bullion and jewellery in the domestic market and check a substantial rise in imports,” the review said.
However, gold-linked investments would have to be monitored to see whether the overall demand for the metal actually falls, it added.
Worrying imports
The Finance Ministry’s Chief Economic Advisor Raghuram Rajan told reporters: “We are worried about gold imports. It is an unproductive instrument. The way to curb holding of gold is to create more attractive financial instruments.
“Some gold linked instruments have been talked about by the RBI but potentially there could be other financial instruments to attract investment.”
The current account deficit (CAD) has been rising on the back of record trade deficits, which in October jumped to a 12-year high of $21 billion on the back of rising oil and gold imports.
“We are worried about CAD. We want to take steps to monitor it,” Dr. Rajan said on the government’s worry on high CAD.
The Reserve Bank of India has unveiled a slew of curbs on gold purchase and financing as imports touched a record high last year, pushing up the current account deficit to a historic high of 4.2 per cent in the year.
In 2011-12, India’s gold imports stood at $60 billion and the quantum of import was 1,067 tonnes.
A Finance Ministry official said the imports had shown signs of moderation and that gave the government hope that CAD would be lower this fiscal.
In the April-June quarter of the current fiscal, however, gold imports had contracted by 18.4 per cent year-on-year to Rs.71,912 crore ($13 billion).
Gold imports into the country had risen considerably in the last 3-4 years.
(4) 2013 will witness a new avatar of computing: Intel
Leading chip maker Intel on Monday said it sees “renewed vigour” in forms and designs of computing devices like tablet PCs and convertibles in 2013 as input methods like voice and touch gain traction.
“Intel foresees a renewed vigour in computing in 2013 in the highly connected multi-device landscape. Traditional input devices like keyboards and mouse will be challenged by new input methods like voice and gesture recognition,” Intel South Asia Director (Marketing) Sandeep Aurora told reporters here.
Tablets, convertibles and newer devices will enter the market blurring the boundaries between PCs and tablets, he added.
Intel, which has a lion’s share in the global computer chip market, will launch its fourth generation of Intel Core processor family in 2013.
This, it claims, will bring faster, thinner, lighter, cooler and more secure systems with built-in graphics.
“The new generation of processors will significantly boost performance of devices from mobiles to tablets to Ultrabooks. As the world of personal computing continues to evolve, Intel will be at the forefront of advancements,” he said.
In March this year, Intel had partnered with handset maker Lava to launch XOLO X900, which marked the chip maker’s global foray into the smartphone segment. Also, lighter and less power consuming laptops —— Ultrabooks —— based on Intel processors hit the global market.
“Ultrabooks were launched in later part of the year and we think 2013 will be the year, we get to truly understand their potential. We will also see device makers bringing out ultra book convertibles (which converts into a tablet),” he said.
Also, Intel will focus on the National Digital Literacy Mission in India, its initiative with industry body Nasscom and other industry players, to create a digitally literate population in the country.
“Intel has impacted over 1 million learners through its Intel Easy Steps Digital Literacy programme in India in 2012.
We remain committed to working with the ecosystem and will work towards fulfilling the government’s vision of having one e—literate person per household by 2020,” Aurora said.
(5) RBI keeps key rates unchanged
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Tuesday kept all key policy rates and reserve ratios unchanged in a monetary policy review , but said its focus now shifts towards spurring growth that has taken a hit in recent months.
“In view of inflation pressures ebbing, monetary policy has to increasingly shift focus and respond to the threats to growth from this point onward,” the Central bank said in a statement on its mid-quarter review of the monetary policy.
“Overall, recent inflation patterns and projections provide a basis for reinforcing our October guidance about policy easing in the fourth quarter. However, risks to inflation remain and accordingly, even as the policy emphasis shifts towards growth, the policy stance will remain sensitive to these risks.”
Accordingly, the bank rate remains unchanged at 9 per cent, the repurchase (repo) rate at 8 per cent, reverse repo rate at 7 per cent, the cash reserve ratio at 4.25 per cent and statutory liquidity ratio at 23 per cent.
In the second quarter review of monetary policy on Oct 30, the RBI had lowered the CRR by 0.25 per cent, but had kept unchanged the repo and reverse repo rates, which determine lending and borrowing rates by commercial banks.
As per latest data released last week, the annual rate of inflation based on wholesale price index declined to a 10—month low of 7.24 per cent in November against 7.45 per cent in the previous month, according to the government data released last week.
But the growth in the country’s gross domestic product in the second quarter of this fiscal at 5.3 per cent was marginally lower than the 5.5 per cent logged during the first quarter — which has been a matter of concern for all stakeholders.
Highlights of RBI’s Mid-Quarter Monetary Policy Review
- RBI keeps interest rate (repo rate) and cash reserve ratio (CRR) unchanged.
- RBI says global economy has shown some signs of stabilisation although situation remains fragile.
- At home, there are some incipient signs of pick-up though growth remains significantly below its recent trend.
- Recent policy steps by the Govt and more reforms should help boost business sentiment, improve investment climate.
- Inflationary pressure moderating but high food and commodity prices continue to remain a risk.
- RBI says it is closely monitoring the evolving growth-inflation dynamics.
- RBI to update formal assessment of its growth and inflation projections for 2012-13 in January.
- With inflation pressures ebbing, monetary policy has to shift focus and respond to threats to growth from now on, says RBI.
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