Current Affairs 6 - 2009

NIT's in India(Wikipidea)

1. Samsung SDI, a rechargeable battery maker by partnering with Bosch, a supplier of automobile components, plans to start commercial production of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles by 2011. The joint venture between the two companies is called SB LiMotive.
2. The government approved establishment of nine National Institutes of Technology (NITs) which will start functioning from next year.These national level institutes will be set up at a cost of Rs 2,350 crore in Manipur, Mizoram, Goa, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Sikkim, Pudducherry, Uttarakhand and Delhi.At present, there are 20 NITs in the country.
3. Bishop Cotton School to celebrate 150th foundation year next month(October).
4. The Navy has launched a stealth destroyer capable of carrying nuclear warheads,the 6,500-tonne warship INS Kochi was indigenously built by Mumbai-based Mazagon Dock Ltd and designed by the Directorate of Naval Design. It will add to the existing Delhi class fleet comprising INS Delhi, INS Mysore and INS Mumbai.
5. The International Congress of Mathematicians will be held in Hyderabad from August 19-27, 2010.
6. The Kerala Assembly passed the 'Pampa River Basin Authority Bill', with the aim of conservation of water resources and river basin of Pampa, the river where thousands of Sabarimala pilgrims take a dip before proceeding to the famous hill shrine.
7. Gambhir Gambhir wins Castrol best cricketer of 2008 award.
8. India and Belarus signed three agreements i)including a USD 50 million commercial contract for a power plant in the former Soviet republic(Belarus). ii) India will set up a Digital Learning Centre at the High Technology Park in Belarus. iii)Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) signed a contract worth USD 50 million for supply of equipment and provision of technical supervision for installation of 120 MW Grodno-II Combined Heat and Power Plant.
9. Inflation back in positive zone,rises to 0.12% after remaining in negative zone for 13 consecutive weeks for the week ended Sep 5th 2009 and RBI said it may rise to 6% by march 2010.
10. India stood at 44th position in IT competitiveness Index, while US continued to lead the Global IT Industry followed by Finland and Sweden respectively,a survey by Economist Intelligence Unit.
11. The 2010 Shooting World Cup that is going to be held in Delhi,as been Cancelled.
12. The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) said, Japan overtakes United States of America to be No.1 in the maximum number of patents in 2007.
13.  India's Tata Motors has been sanctioned a 10 million pounds loan for its new electric car project in the UK by the British government. 
14.  US President Barack Obama has appointed Indian American Arun Majumdar as in-charge of advanced research in the field of energy, one of the key posts in his administration.
15. The Centre's ambitious Rs 2,000-crore project to bring all 16,000 police stations in the country under a single network to counter terror challenges will become operational by 2011-12.
16. Gaganjeet Bhullar pipped Randhawa to win DLF Masters golf tournament in Gurgaon.
17.  A 105-year-old woman(Saraswati jhadav) of Suburban Andheri has become the oldest person to apply online for voter identity card.
18. India to become $8bn drugs market for MNCs by 2015,a study by FICCI-Ernst & Young.
19. RIM and Aircel join hands for BlackBerry services in India.
20. A Ficci-Ernst & Young report today said the Indian pharmaceutical market is expected to triple to 20 billion dollars by 2015 with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 12.3%.

Navratnas Status - 2009

Navratnas was the title given to Public Sector Enterprises or PSE, identified by the Government of India. Navaratna status is conferred by Department of Public Enterprises. 

In 1997, GOI declared Navaratna status to 9 PSEs, which means these are most prestigious PSEs. These are BHEL, BPCL, GAIL, HPCL, IOC, MTNL, NTPC, ONGC, and SAIL. 

In 2006, GOI approved Navratnas status to 7 more PSEs. These are Power Finance Corporation, Rural Electrification Corporation, Power Grid, National Hydroelectric Corporation, BSNL, and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. In 2007, GOI conferred Navaratna status to Nalco. In 2008, Coal India Limited gets Navaratna status.

The Total goes up to 18 PSEs, which have taken Navratna Status. The status will help the PSU to take several decisions without seeking government approval like setting investment limits and salary for employees. The Department of Public Enterprises confers this status to better performing central public sector enterprises. To be qualified as a Navratna, the company must obtain a score of 60 (of the total 100) based on six parameters. It includes net profit to net worth, total manpower cost to total cost of production or cost of service, profit before depreciation, interest, taxes to capital employed and to turnover, earning per share and inter sectoral performance. Additionally, a company must first be a mini ratna and must have four independent directors on its board before it can be made a Navratna.

List of 18 Navratnas status PSEs:

1. Bharat Electronics Limited

2. Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited

3. Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited

4. Coal India Limited

5. GAIL (India) Limited

6. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited

7. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited

8. Indian Oil Corporation Limited

9. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited

10. National Aluminium Company Limited

11. NMDC Limited

12. NTPC Limited

13. Oil & Natural Gas Corporation Limited

14. Power Finance Corporation Limited

15. Power Grid Corporation of India Limited

16. Rural Electrification Corporation Limited

17. Shipping Corporation of India Limited

18. Steel Authority of India Limited.

List of Miniratna Category - I CPSEs

1. Airports Authority of India

2. Balmer Lawrie & Co. Limited

3. Bharat Dynamics Limited

4. BEML Limited

5. Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited

6. Bongaigaon Refineries & Petrochemicals Limited

7. Broadcast Engineering Consultants (I) Limited

8. Central Warehousing Corporation

9. Central Coalfields Limited

10. Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited

11. Cochin Shipyard Limited

12. Container Corporation of India Limited

13. Dredging Corporation of India Limited

14. Engineers India Limited

15. Ennore Ports Limited

16. Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited

17. Goa Shipyard Limited

18. Hindustan Copper Limited

19. Hindustan Latex Limited

20. Hindustan Newsprint Limited

21. Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited

22. Housing & Urban Development Corporation Limited

23. India Tourism Development Corporation Limited

24. Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited

25. IRCON International Limited

26. Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited

27. Mazagaon Docks Limited

28. Mahanadi Coalfields Limited

29. Manganese Ore India Limited

30. Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Limited

31. Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited

32. MMTC Limited

33. MSTC Limited

34. National Fertilizers Limited

35. Neyveli Lignite Corporation

36. NHPC Limited

37. Northern Coalfields Limited

38. Numaligarh Refinery Limited

39. Oil India Limited

40. Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited

41. Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited

42. RITES Limited

43. Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited

44. Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited

45. South Eastern Coalfields Limited

46. State Trading Corporation of India Limited

47. Telecommunications Consultants (India) Limited

48. Western Coalfields Limited

List of Miniratna Category-II CPSEs

49. Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited

50. Educational Consultants (I) Limited

51. Engineering Projects (I) Limited

52. Ferro Scrap Nigam Limited

53. HMT (International) Limited

54. HSCC (India) Limited

55. India Trade Promotion Organization

56. Indian Medicines Pharmaceuticals Corporation Limited

57. M E C O N Limited

58. National Film Development Corporation Limited

59. P E C Limited

60. Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited

61. Water & Power Consultancy (India) Limited