Today's Hot Stories - February 20, 2013
10 Headlines for Today
(1) Trade union leader killed as 2-day nationwide strike begins
(2) CPM to boycott Rajya Sabha if Kurien does not resign
(3) Cameron visits Jallianwala Bagh, Golden Temple
(4) Flying is suddenly cheap as airlines fight for passengers
(5) Iconic magazine Reader's Digest goes bankrupt
(6) Dell profit plummets 31% as investors ponder buyout
(7) Hockey World League: Coach unhappy with India's 3-0 victory
(8) Football: Bayern blacken Arsenal's nightmare
(9) Mahi Racing sets the marker in testing
(10) Huge diamond heist at Brussels airport
5 Stories for Today
(1) Bihar records 11.95% growth, highest among states
(2) ‘Handle with care’: China wades into Maldives row
(3) Apple hit by hackers who targeted Facebook last week
(4) Top jobs at banks, regulatory agencies fall vacant
(5) GDP to take Rs 15,000-20,000 crore hit from strike: Assocham
(1) Bihar records 11.95% growth, highest among states
Despite global economic slowdown and sagging domestic demand, Bihar has managed to record 11.95% annual growth rate, the highest among all the states, during the 11th Plan period.
According to the Economic Survey 2012-13 tabled by deputy CM and finance minister Sushil Kumar Modi in the state legislature on Tuesday, Bihar almost remained untouched by the overall global slowdown but for some side effects in 2012-13.
But the state's per capita income of Rs 25,653 at current prices is still far behind the national average of Rs 60,972 in 2011-12. "Our gross state domestic product (GSDP) at 2004-05 prices is Rs 1.52 lakh crore which is estimated to rise to Rs 2.53 lakh crore at current prices in 2011-12," Modi said.
The problem of low income in Bihar is accentuated by considerable disparity across the districts in terms of their per capita income. In 2009-10, Patna, with per capita income of Rs 55,539, Munger with Rs18,669 and Bhagalpur with Rs14,396 have been the most prosperous districts whereas Sheohar has Rs 5,552, Madhepura (Rs 7.161) and Supaul (Rs 7,213) remained at the bottom.
Modi said the state government had an outstanding debt of Rs 44,475 crore in 2007-08, which is 39% of its GSDP. By 2011-12, it declined substantially to 24% even though the outstanding debt increased to Rs 60,551 crore. Incidentally, it was 53% in 2001-02.
Bihar's gross fiscal deficit (GFD) was only Rs 3,971 crore in 2010-11 but it sharply increased to Rs 5,915 crore in the subsequent year. In 2012-13, it is projected to rise further to Rs 7,569 crore due to higher capital investment.
The survey claimed growth in the state's own tax revenue, increasing from Rs 5,086 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 12,612 crore in 2011-12. The non-tax revenue has jumped from Rs 526 crore to Rs 890 crore during the same period. "The state's own tax revenue has increased to 4.99% of the GSDP," said principal finance secretary Rameshwar Singh.
"The image of Bihar has undergone a change in recent years, thanks to high growth rate of its economy and accompanying developments in social sectors. This was made possible primarily through the efforts of the state government which utilized its limited resources in a prudent manner," said Modi.
The state, according to the survey, has been showing a continuous revenue surplus since 2004-05. This surplus had reached to Rs 6,316 crore in 2010-11, the highest ever level, before falling to Rs 4,821 crore in 2011-12.
In agriculture sector, the production of cereals in 2011-12 was 172 lakh tonnes, compared to 104 lakh tonnes in previous fiscal. The production of rice increased to a new high of 8.2 million tonnes against 3.1 million tonnes in 2010-11. The use of 'Sri' technique was an important factor in the bumper rice production.
The survey states that Bihar has a total of 1.92 lakh registered units under micro, small and medium enterprises involving a total investment of Rs 1,941 crore and employing 6.30 lakh persons in 2012. Altogether 11 sugar mills were operational in 2011-12 and a total of 488.30 lakh quintals of sugarcane were crushed and produced 45.10 lakh quintals of sugar.
Up to September 2012, the State Investment Promotion Bureau has approved total 939 proposals for setting up industrial units involving an investment of Rs 3.19 lakh crore with employment potential of 2.27 lakh persons.
To a query about CM Nitish Kumar's assertion that Bihar will take another 25 years to come on a par with developed states at this pace of development and the kind of investment required, ADRI's member secretary Shaibal Gupta said as per a rough estimate, an yearly investment of Rs 40,000 crore is needed to reach the national average of growth. But he hastened to add that it was not very accurate estimate.
Source: The Times of India
(2) ‘Handle with care’: China wades into Maldives row
China on Monday reacted cautiously to the political turmoil in Maldives and former President Mohamed Nasheed's decision to seek refuge in the Indian mission in Male, hoping that the issue will be handled "properly".
"The Chinese side sincerely hopes that Maldives could maintain peace, stability and development, and hopes and believes that relevant issue could be properly handled," the Chinese foreign ministry said. This is the first time the Chinese government has reacted to the crisis in Male.
The 45-year-old Nasheed took refuge in the Indian high commission on February 13 to evade arrest in a case concerning the detention of chief judge of the criminal court during his presidency in January last year.
Source: The Times of India
(3) Apple hit by hackers who targeted Facebook last week
Apple Inc was recently attacked by hackers who infected the Macintosh computers of some employees, the company said on Tuesday in an unprecedented disclosure that described the widest known cyber attacks against Apple-made computers to date.
Unknown hackers infected the computers of some Apple workers when they visited a website for software developers that had been infected with malicious software. The malware had been designed to attack Mac computers, the company said in a statement provided to Reuters.
The same software, which infected Macs by exploiting a flaw in a version of Oracle Corp's Java software used as a plug-in on Web browsers, was used to launch attacks against Facebook, which the social network disclosed on Friday.
The malware was also employed in attacks against Mac computers used by "other companies," Apple said, without elaborating on the scale of the assault.
But a person briefed on the investigation into the attacks said that hundreds of companies, including defense contractors, had been infected with the same malicious software, or malware.
The attacks mark the highest-profile cyber attacks to date on businesses running Mac computers. Hackers have traditionally focused on attacking machines running the Windows operating system, though they have gradually turned their attention to Apple products over the past couple of years as the company gained market share over Microsoft Corp.
"This is the first really big attack on Macs," said the source, who declined to be identified because the person was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. "Apple has more on its hands than the attack on itself."
National security
Cyber-security attacks have been on the rise. In last week's State of the Union address, US President Barack Obama issued an executive order seeking better protection of the country's critical infrastructure from cyber attacks.
Over the weekend, cyber-security specialists Mandiant reported that a secretive Chinese military unit was believed to have orchestrated a series of attacks on US companies, which Beijing has strongly denied.
White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters on Tuesday that the Obama administration has repeatedly taken up its concerns about Chinese cyber-theft with Beijing, including the country's military. There was no indication as to whether the group described by Mandiant was involved in the attacks described by Apple and Facebook.
An Apple spokesman declined to specify how many companies had been breached in the campaign targeting Macs, saying he could not elaborate further on the statement it provided.
"Apple has identified malware which infected a limited number of Mac systems through a vulnerability in the Java plug-in for browsers. The malware was employed in an attack against Apple and other companies, and was spread through a website for software developers," the statement said.
"We identified a small number of systems within Apple that were infected and isolated them from our network. There is no evidence that any data left Apple," it continued.
The statement said Apple was working closely with law enforcement to find the culprits, but the spokesman would not elaborate. The Federal Bureau of Investigation declined to comment.
Apple said it plans to release a piece of software on Tuesday, which it said customers can use to identify and repair Macs infected with the malware used in the attacks.
Source: The Times of India
(4) Top jobs at banks, regulatory agencies fall vacant
India's financial sector is set to don a fresh look over the next 12 months with new chiefs at nearly a dozen financial institutions and three out of the four regulatory bodies.
On Tuesday, Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA) chairman J Hari Narayan hung his boots after a five-year term, kicking off the process of change at the entities. The top job at the Hyderabad-based regulatory agency is expected to go to T S Vijayan, who was denied an extension as Life Insurance Corporation chairman. By all accounts, Vijayan will take up the assignment over the next few weeks as his papers are being processed, becoming the first IRDA chairman who was not a part of the bureaucracy.
Come September, and the Reserve Bank of India too would be in for a change with D Subbarao, who like Hari Narayan is an IAS officer of the Andhra Pradesh cadre, due to complete his extended two-year term. It is early to gauge who will replace Subbarao but it is unlikely that a bureaucrat will move into the governor's office on the 18th floor on Mumbai's Mint Road.
While the third regulatory job, that of Sebi chairman, falls vacant next February, incumbent U K Sinha may be in for reappointment given that members are now getting a five-year term. In fact, if he gets the assignment again, he would end up sailing against the tide as his predecessors — M Damodaran and C B Bhave, both IAS officers like him — did not manage the feat.
In between vacancies at IRDA and Sebi, there are at least two other high-profile jobs that would need replacement. First up would be the post of LIC chairman with D K Mehrotra due to retire in May. Besides, the country's largest financial institution will get two new managing directors with S B Mainak expected to get a promotion.
A few months later, State Bank of India chairman Pratip C Chaudhuri's two-year term is scheduled to get over, throwing the door open for some hectic lobbying for what is seen as the most sought-after job in the financial sector. Unlike Chaudhuri, his successor is expected to get a three-year term, if the government approves a new plan proposed by the finance ministry.
The policy would not apply to just SBI but to at least nine other public sector bank jobs for which the government has just conducted interviews. Of the nine bank chairmen who would be replaced, IDBI Bank and Union Bank of India are among the top picks.
Source: The Times of India
(5) GDP to take Rs 15,000-20,000 crore hit from strike: Assocham
While sharing some of their concerns like rising prices, Assocham today appealed to the central trade unions to call off their two-day strike as the country's economy will take a hit of big hit of Rs 15,000-20,000 crore from the nation-wide disruption in economic activity.
"The national economy, battling slowdown can ill-afford this situation. In fact, the strike would aggravate the price situation because of disruption in the supply line of essential commodities", said Rajkumar Dhoot President Assocham.
Dhoot further said the strike would cripple mostly the services sector like banking, insurance and transport, besides the industrial production. Even the agriculture would be affected as the movement of vegetables, highly perishable items, would be disrupted.
The Assocham has estimated the national loss figures based on the daily erosion of about 30-40% to the country's Gross Domestic Production (GDP) for two days. As per the Advanced estimates of the CSO, the national GDP for the current financial year is projected to be about Rs 95 lakh crore. In other words, it is Rs 26,000 crore per day and Rs 52,000 crore for two days. Of this , the strike would take its toll on at least 30-40% - Rs 15,000 crore-Rs 20, 000 crore.
"Given the nature of the strike and involvement of the all the five major central trade unions, it is going to affect largely the services sector including the banking, financial services, tourism, transportation etc, which are the major contributors to the country's GDP", added Dhoot.
States like West Bengal, Kerala, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Haryana, Karnataka and parts of Uttar Pradesh are likely to be affected significantly. Besides, banking operations including the cheque clearances and some segments of the financial markets would take a hit. Moreover, disruption in railways and other public transportation in major cities would hit the movement of the workforce and the cargo operations at the ports.
The cargo operations both at the airport and ports are likely to be affected, the chamber apprehends.
"Our conservative estimates show that at least 30-40% of the daily GDP would take a hit. For two days, it would be something like Rs 15,000-20,000 crore," reveals the ASSOCHAM Economic Research (AER) department.
Expressing concerns over the impending strike, the Dhoot said, it would not be in the interest of the country's economy to stop work in the crucial sectors. "While we share some of the concerns like rising prices, the solution lies in working together to ensure that the situation is brought under control by raising production and pumping up the supply. The strike, in fact would put further pressure on the price situation as the prices of vegetables etc would immediately go up because of disruption".
He said the GDP growth is projected to be at a decade low of about five per cent and several sectors like manufacturing are operating at a much lower scale and work disruption would make a big dent on the economic activity.
"Besides, the services sector which has remained backbone of the economy, has also started slowing down," he said.
As per the chamber estimates, despite global slowdown and difficult domestic conditions, the Indian industry has not really resorted to job trimming and has generally been working in partnership with the labour-force.
"The labour force is a very important stakeholder in the national activity. In fact, it is the human resource which is India's advantage vis-a-vis several other high cost economies. Thus, welfare of the workforce is on top of the priorities of the industry and ASSOCHAM is fully committed to ensuring their welfare," added Dhoot.
Source: The Times of India
Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.
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