Duty Free Quota Free

The European Union (EU) and members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) group have been negotiating Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) for the past five years. At the end of 2007, 35 ACP states signed interim EPAs under which the EU will remove all tariffs and quotas on its ACP imports, an initiative known as duty-free and quota-free access (DFQF). This Project Briefing asks what would fully implemented DFQF be worth to ACP members and what might it mean for Europe's other import suppliers, consumers and domestic producers of competing goods? It examines only one aspect of EPAs, which are controversial.

Fiscal Drag

Definition of 'Fiscal Drag '
Fiscal drag is an economics term referring to a situation where a government's net fiscal position (equal to its spending less any taxation) does not meet the net savings goals of the private economy. This can result in deflationary pressure attributed to either lack of state spending or to excess taxation.


One cause of fiscal drag is the consequence of expanding economies with progressive taxation. In general, individuals are forced into higher tax brackets as their income rises. The greater tax burden can lead to less consumer spending. For the individuals pushed into a higher tax bracket, the proportion of income as tax has increased, resulting in fiscal drag.


Investopedia explains 'Fiscal Drag '
Fiscal drag is essential a drag or damper on the economy caused by lack of spending or excessive taxation. As increased taxation slows the demand for goods and services, fiscal drag results. Fiscal drag is a natural economic stabilizer, however, since it tends to keep demand stable and the economy from overheating.


Because it is an economic stabilizer, fiscal drag can influence economic equality among citizens of the same region.


Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiscal-drag.asp#ixzz1ukbgXVVB

System of Rice Intensification

The System of Rice Intensification (SRI) is a methodology aimed at increasing the yield of rice produced in farming. It was developed in 1983 by the French Jesuit Father Henri de Laulanié in Madagascar.[1] However full testing of the system did not occur until some years later. The productivity of SRI is under debate between supporters and critics of the system.


Assembly of the practices that culminated in SRI began in the 1960s based on Fr. de Laulanie's observations. Principles included applying a minimum quantity of water and the individual transplanting of very young seedlings in a square pattern.[1]


SRI concepts and practices have continued to evolve as they are being adapted to rain-fed (unirrigated) conditions and with transplanting being superseded by direct-seeding sometimes. The central principles of SRI according to Cornell University are:[2]


- rice field soils should be kept moist rather than continuously saturated, minimizing anaerobic conditions, as this improves root growth and supports the growth and diversity of aerobic soil organisms;
- rice plants should be planted singly and spaced optimally widely to permit more growth of roots and canopy and to keep all leaves photosynthetically active; and
- rice seedlings should be transplanted when young, less than 15 days old with just two leaves, quickly, shallow and carefully, to avoid trauma to roots and to minimize transplant shock.

MV Nair Committe recommendations

Banks' exposure to priority sector loans may be retained at 40%, reports CNBC-TV18’s Gopika Gopakumar. The RBI committee under the current Union Bank Chairman MV Nair has come out with their recommendations on lending to priority sector. It has reviewed the existing guidelines on lending to priority sector categories including agriculture, MSME and export.


What do they recommend?
> Priority sector targets for public sector and private sector banks could be retained at the current level of 40% of the net credit to the sector.
> It has recommended severe changes should be made to exposure of foreign banks. Foreign banks’ priority sector target should be upped from 32% to 40%. However, this could put pressure on foreign banks to increase their lending to priority sector categories including agriculture and export sectors.
> RBI had been a little cautious of a bank lending to NBFCs, but the committee has recommended that 5% of bank's credit to NBFCs could be classified priority sector. Lending to gold companies will not be classified as priority sector.
> Securitized loans could also be classified under the priority sector. This will remove the pressure on banks and NBFCs while lending to these sectors. It would come as a relief for banks and NBFCs.
> Special treatment should be given to small and marginal farmers and housing loans below Rs 2 lakhs should be classified under priority sector.

Ultra-high performance concrete

ultra-high performance concrete -
Iran is an earthquake zone, so its engineers have developed some of the toughest building materials in the world. Such materials could also be used to protect hidden nuclear installations from the artificial equivalent of small earthquakes, namely bunker-busting bombs.

Leon Panetta, America’s defence secretary, seems worried. He recently admitted that his own country’s new bunker-busting bomb, the Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP, pictured above being dropped from a B-52), needs an upgrade to take on the deepest Iranian bunkers. But even that may not be enough, thanks to Iran’s mastery of smart concrete.

UHPC is based—like its quotidian cousins—on sand and cement. In addition, though, it is doped with powdered quartz (the pure stuff, rather than the tainted variety that makes up most sand) and various reinforcing metals and fibres.

UHPC can withstand more compression than other forms of concrete. Ductal, a French version of the material which is commercially available, can withstand pressure many times higher than normal concrete can. UHPC is also more flexible and durable than conventional concrete. It can therefore be used to make lighter and more slender structures.

One way to tamper with the internal structure of concrete is to use nanoparticles. Ali Nazari and his colleagues at Islamic Azad University in Saveh have published several papers on how to do that with different types of metal-oxide nanoparticles. They have worked with oxides of iron, aluminium, zirconium, titanium and copper. At the nanoscale materials can take on extraordinary properties. Although it has been demonstrated only in small samples, it might be possible, using such nanoparticles, to produce concrete that is four times stronger than Ductal.

http://www.economist.com/node/21548918?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/ar/smartconcrete

Are Indian firms really going to take over the world? - http://www.economist.com/node/21548965?fsrc=scn/fb/wl/ar/runningwiththebulls

Reserve Bank of India

One good document: - must read

http://rbidocs.rbi.org.in/rdocs/Publications/PDFs/RBI290410BC.pdf

Indian Antarctic Program

Indian research station Maitri, located on the ice-free and rocky base of the Schirmacher Oasis.
The Indian Antarctic Program is a multi-disciplinary, multi-institutional program under the control of the National Centre for Antarctic and Ocean Research, Ministry of Earth Sciences, Government of India. It was initiated in 1981 with the first Indian expedition to Antarctica.[1] The program gained global acceptance with India's signing of the Antarctic Treaty and subsequent construction of the Dakshin Gangotri Antarctic research base in 1983,[1] superseded by the Maitri base from 1990. Under the program, atmospheric, biological, earth, chemical, and medical sciences are studied by India, which has carried out 30 scientific expeditions to the Antarctic as of 14th October 2010 and is currently planning to build an additional research station in the region named Bharathi and thus India is all set to join the elite group of nine countries which have multiple bases in Antarctica.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Antarctic_Program