ABBREVIATIONS
ADAMS: Anti-Doping Administration and Management.
ADC: Access Deficit Charge. AJT:Advanced Jet Trainer.
ASIMO: Advanced Step in Innovative Mobility.
AUM:Assents Under Management. BPO:Business Process Outsourcing. CAS: Conditional Access System. CDMA:Code Division Multiple Access. CERT:(Indian) Computer Emergency Response Team.
CRDi:Common Rail Direct injection. FRBM: Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management.
GEAC:Genetic Engineering Approval Committee.
GPRS: General Packet Radio Service. HHTI: Hand-held Thermal Imager. HITS: Headend In The Sky.
IBF: Indian Broadcasting Foundation. INXFAC:Indian Naval Extra-Fast Attack Craft.
ISAF:International Stabilisation and Assistance Force (in Afghanistan). IYFW:International Year of Fresh Water. MAI: Multilateral Agreement on Investment.
NCA:Nuclear Command Authority. NHDP:National Highways Development Project.
NPSM:National Programme on Smart Materials.
OBU:Offshore Banking Unit.
SARS:Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome. SDCA: Short Distance Calling Area. SFC : Strategic Forces Command. SMART:Small Missions for Advanced Research and Technology.
SMS: Subscriber Management System; Short Message Service.
SPIN:Software Process Improvement Networks.
SPOT:Smart Personal Objects Technology. SSN:Social Security Number.
STB: Set Top Box.
TDSAT:Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal.
TIN: Tax Information Network. USO:Universal Service Obligation. US VISIT:United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology. WADA:World Anti-Doping Agency. WMD:Weapons of Mass Destruction. AVIATION
First Indian civilian plane: Saras, India’s first civilian aircraft, rolled out of the hangar in mid-February, 2003, to take part in the Bangalore air show. The 14-seater light multi-role transport aircraft is mainly intend-ed for use in far-flung, remote and hilly areas of the country. Saras has been built indige-nously by the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL), Bangalore, in collabora-tion with Hindustan Aeronautics (HAL) and several private enterprises.
AWARDS
Arjuna awards, 2003: Anju B. George (athletics), Virender Sehwag (cricket), Gagan Ajit Singh (hockey), Mamta Kharab (hockey), I.M. Vijayan (football), Ravikant Reddy (volleyball), T.M. Muthu (weightlifting), Nitin Mongia (sailing), Suma Shirur (shoot-ing), Anwar Sultan (shoot(shoot-ing), Alok Kumar (billiards & snooker), Md Ali Qamar (boxing), K. Sasikiran (chess), Shiv Kapur (golf), Ram Mehar Singh (kabaddi), Mantu Ghosh (table tennis), Palawinder Cheema (wrestling), Sujeet Mann (wrestling), Saraswati Saha (ath-letics), Inder Pal Singh (rowing), Ramesh Tikaram (disabled athlete). The winners got Rs 3 lakh each, statuette and a scroll.
Ashoka Chakra, 2003: Paratrooper Sanjog Chhetri of 9 Para (Special Forces) has been posthumously awarded the country’s highest peacetime award, Ashoka Chakra, for single-handedly killing three militants dur-ing Operation Sarp Vinash in the Surankote area of J&K.
Bihari Puruskar, 2002: Noted writer Vijaydan Detha for his work Sapanpriya. The award is given for a literary work in Hindi authored by a writer from Rajasthan. It car-ries a cash prize of Rs one lakh.
Booker Prize, 2003: DBC Pierre, an
immigrant Australian-Mexican cartoonist with a history of hard core drugs taking, debts, gambling and unapologetic theft, has been given the award for his novel Vernon God Little. DBC, short for “dirty but clean”, is the pseudonym of Peter Finlay.
Cannes Film Festival, 2003: Golden palm for best picture:Elephant. Best director: Van Sant (Elephant). Best actress: Marie-Josee Croze (The Barbarian Invasion). Best actor: Muzaffer Ozdemir and Mehmet Emin Toprak shared prize for their role in Turkish film Distant.
Communal harmony award, 2002: Begum Syeda Chishti. The award, carrying a cash prize of Rs one lakh, was instituted in 1996 by the National Foundation for Communal Harmony, set up by the gov-ernment as an autonomous organisation.
Dada Saheb Phalke Award, 2001: Noted director-producer Yash Chopra. The award is the top honour of film industry of India. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh, a shawl and a Swarna Kamal.
Dewang Mehta award for inno-vation in IT: The first award, instituted by the department of information technology, has been given to the Simputer Trust team. The award comprises Rs 5 lakh, a trophy and certificates.
Dr B.C. Roy Award, 2002: Eminent surgeon and head of PGIMER, Chandigarh’s general surgery department, Prof J.D.
Dronacharya Awards, 2003: Renu Kohli (athletics), Jaswant Singh (athletics), M.K. Kaushik (hockey), E. Prasad Rao (Kabaddi) and H.D. Motivala (yachting) have won the award. The prize consists of Rs 3 lakh each, statuette and a scroll.
Dhyan Chand Trophy, 2003: Ram Kumar (basketball), Dharma Singh Mann (hockey), Charles Cornelius (hockey), Om Prakash (volleyball), Smita Shirole Yadav (row-ing).
Economic Times Awards for Corporate Excellence, 2002-03: ET Award for Lifetime Achievement: Deepak Parekh of HDFC. At 57, he is the
youngest-Round-up of
ever to receive the award, following the likes of Dhirubhai Ambani and Verghese Kurien. ET’s Business Leader of the Year: Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of AV Birla Group. At 36, he is the youngest-ever to receive this award. Company of The Year: Ranbaxy, India’s pharmaceutical pioneer. Emerging Company of The Year:I-flex Solutions, whose banking software product has been tried and tech-ted around the globe. Entrepreneur of the Year: V.G. Siddhartha, for creating a national brand and lifestyle chain Café Coffee Day from a commodity business. Businesswoman of The Year: Ela Bhatt, for creating the mammoth business network that is SEWA. Global Indian of the Year: Amar Gopal Bose, the legendary creator of the world’s greatest sound systems. Corporate Citizen of The Year: The Godrej Group, for its long and proven contribution to the social sector.
G.D. Birla award for scientific research, 2002: Dr P.P. Majumdar, Professor and Head of Anthropology and Human Genetics at the Indian Statistical, for his significant contribution to the field of human genetics and evolution.
Gandhi Peace Prize, 2003: Vaclav Havel, former President of Czech Republic, has been selected for the Prize, for his out-standing contribution towards promoting peace and defending human rights.
Grammy awards, 45th: Record of the year: Don't know why, Norah Jones. Album of the year: Come Away with Me, Norah Jones. Song of the year: Don’t know why, Norah Jones. New artist: Norah Jones. Pop vocal album:Come Away with Me, Norah Jones. Rock album: The Rising, Bruce Springsteen. Rap album: The Eminern Show, Eminern. Country album: Home, Dixie Chicks.
Norah Jones is the daughter of Sitar maestro Ravi Shankar. Her mother is an American.
Green Oscars, 2003: Bunker Roy, founder of the Barefoot College, Tilonia in Rajasthan, who provided lighting using solar panels in over 136 remote and virtually inac-cessible Himalayan villages bagged the Ashden Award for Community Welfare, while S.P. Gon Choudhuri, a leading special-ist in renewable energy systems from West Bengal was chosen for the Ashden Award for Enterprise.
Afworki Tesfazion of Eritrea who invented smokeless and fuel-efficient clay
stoves got the Award for Food Security and Moel Moelegan who developed an innovative wind farm received the Ashden Award for the UK.
Hero India Sports Awards, 2003: Kabaddi: B.C. Ramesh. Weightlifting: N. Kunjarani Devi. Shooting: Anjali Bhagwat. Golf: Jyoti Randhawa. Hockey: Dhanraj Pillay. Football: Baichung Bhutia. Chess: Vishwanathan Anand. Badminton: P. Gopichand. Tennis: Mahesh Bhupathi. Cue Sports: Geet Sethi. Cricket: Rahul Dravid. Athletics: Neelam J. Singh. Other Sports: Palwinder Cheema (Wrestling). Male young achiever: Shiv Kapur (Golf). Female young achiever: Koneru Humpy (Chess). Best team: Women’s hockey team. Sportsman of the year: V. Anand. Sportswoman of the year: Anjali Bhagwat. Lifetime achievement: Kapil Dev.
Indira Gandhi Peace Prize, 2002: Former Commonwealth Secretary-General Sir Shridath Ramphal, for the “great services rendered for peace, disarmament and devel-opment in the last three decades.”
Indira Gandhi award for National Integration, 2003: Acharya Mahaprajna has been selected for his contribution to the cause of non-violence, communal harmony and national integration.
Jamnalal Bajaj awards, 2003: For outstanding contribution in the field of con-structive work: Ravindranath Upadhyay, who lives in Kumarikata, Assam. For appli-cation of Science and Technology for Rural Development: Vinayak Patil of Satpur, Nasik. For Uplift and Welfare of Women and Children (instituted in the memory of Jankidevi Bajaj): Alice Garg of Jaipur. International award for promoting Gandhian values outside India: Mary E. King of USA.
Each of the awards consists of a citation, a Trophy and a cash prize of Rs 5 lakhs. The first two awards were constituted in 1978 and the Award for the Upliftment and Welfare of Women and Children in 1980. The International award was instituted in 1988, in commemoration of the birth centenary of Jamnalal Bajaj.
Jnanpith award, 37th: 90-year-old Gujarati poet Rajendra Keshavial Shah is the winner. He is the third Gujarati to have won the award after Umashanker Joshi (1967) and Pannalal Patel (1985).
K.K. Birla Foundation sports awards, 2002: Krishnan Sasikiran and Gagan Ajit Singh. The awards carry award
money of Rs 1 lakh each.
Kirti Chakra, 2003: India’s second highest peace-time gallantry award, has been awarded to Havildar Rudal Prasad (posthu-mously) of the Indian Army’s 4 Bihar regi-ment, alongwith Naik Tarlok Singh of Mahar (30 Rashtriya Rifles) and commando Surjan Singh of NSG.
Macgreagor Medal: Group Capt R.K. Makker, Squadron Leader R.T.S. Chhina and Lt Col N.J. Kargaonkar, for undertaking pio-neering reconnaissance in Siachen glacier and the icy frontier in Karakoram facing China.
Magsaysay awards, 2003: For government service: Chief Election Commissioner of India, J.M. Lyngdoh, for “his convincing validation of free and fair elections as the foundation and best hope of secular democracy in India”.
For community leadership:Indian social worker Shantha Sinha, for “guiding the peo-ple of Andhra Pradesh to end the scourge of child labour and send all of their children to school”.
For public service: Dr Gao Yaojie, a reitred Chinese gynaecologist, who received the public service award for “her fervent per-sonal crusade to confront the AIDS crisis in China and to address it humanely”.
For peace and international under-standing: Japanese physician Tetsu Nakamura, a leading volunteer health work-er in Afghanistan and Pakistan, for “his pas-sionate commitment to ease the pains of war, disease and calamity among refugees and the mountain poor of the Afganistan-Pak border-lands”.
For emergent leadership: Aniceto Guterres Lopes, chairman of East Timor’s Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation, for “his courageous stand for justice and the rule of law during East Timor’s turbulent passage to nationhood”.
For journalism: Filipino journalist Sheila Coronel, founder and executive direc-tor of Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism.
Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Trophy, 2003: Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar has once again won the Trophy for being the overall winner in Inter-University sports competition. The prize con-sists of Rs 2 lakh in cash and a trophy.
National Film Awards, 50th: Best feature film: Mondo Meyer Upakhyan (Bengali), directed by Budhadeb Dasgupta. Best actor (male): Ajay Devgan, for playing
the title role in The Legend of Bhagat Singh. Best actress (female):Konkana Sen Sharma, for her “strong portrayal of a Tamil Brahman woman caught between an orthodox mindset and human compassion”, in Mr and Mrs Iyer. Best director:Aparna Sen for her movie Mr and Mrs Iyer. Best supporting actor: Chandrasekhar for Nanba Nanba (Tamil). Best supporting actress: Rakhi for Shubhu Muhurat. Best Child Artist: Shweta Prasad for Makadee and Keertana for Kannathil Mutthamittal. Best female playback singer: Shreya Ghosal (Devdas). Best male playback singer: Udit Narayan. Best choreographer: Saroj Khan (Devdas). Best music director: A.R. Rahman, for the song and background music in Tamil film Kannathil Muthamittal. Best film for providing wholesome entertainment: Devdas. Nargis Dutt award for best film on national integration: Mr and Mrs Iyer. Best Children's film: Baaja, directed by Aparna Sen. Best Biographical film: Meeting Manjeet, a film on painter Manjit Bawa, directed by Budhadeb Dasgupta. Best non-feature film: Narayan Gangaram Surve, directerd by Arun Khopkar. Best first film: Abhijit Chaudhari for Patal Ghar (Bengali) and Subhadro Chaudhury for Prohor (Bengali). Best feature films in regional languages: Assamese: Konikar Ramdhenu (Dir: Jahnu Barua). Bengali: Shubho Muhurat (Dir : Rituparno Ghosh). Hindi: The Legend of Bhagat Singh (Dir: Raj Kumar Santoshi). Malayalam: Nizhalkoothu (Dir: Adoor Gopalakrishnan). Marathi:Vastupurushi (Dir: Sumitra Bhave, Sunil Sukhtankar). Tamil: Kannathil Muthamittal (Dir: Mani Ratnam). Kannada: Singaravya (Dir: T.S. Nagabharana). Gujarati, Punjabi, Oriya, Telegu: No Awards. English:Stumble (Dir: Prakash Belawadi).
Nobel Prizes, 2003: For literature: South African writer J.M. Coetzee, “who in innumerable guises portrays the surprising involvement of the outsider”. For medicine: Paul Lauterbur, 74 of the US and Peter Mansfield, 70, of Britain, for their discoveries concerning Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). For physics: Alexie A. Abrikosov of Russia shares the prize with two Americans, Anthony J. Leggett and Vitaly L. Ginzburg, for their work concerning two phenomena called superconductivity and superfluidity. For chemistry: Biochemists Peter Agre, 54, and Rodrick Mackinon, 47, of USA, for cell membrane discoveries seen as particularly valuable for illnes affecting kidneys, heart, muscles and nervous system. For economics:
Robert F. Engle of USA and Clive W.J. Granger of Britain, for methods analyzing economic time series with time-varying volatility and common trends. For peace: Iranian lawyer Shirin Ebadi, a human rights and democracy activist, for her efforts that include promoting the rights of women and children in Iran. She is first Muslim woman to win the award.
Oscar awards, 2003: Best film: Chicago. Best Director: Roman Polanski (The Pianist). Best actor: Adrien Brody (The Pianist). Best actress: Nicole Kidman (The Hours). Best supporting actor: Chris Cooper (Adaptation). Best supporting actress: Zeta-Jones (Chicago). Best foreign film: Nowhere in Africa (Germany). Honorary Oscar: Peter O’Toole.
Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, 2002: Fatima Meer, the South African Gandhian and civil rights activist, who also wrote the most authoritative biography of Nelson Mandela, is among those honoured. Other winners are: Mauritius Prime Minister Sir Aneerood Jugnauth, British Liberal Democratic Party Chief Lord Navnit Dholakia, international statesman Sir Sridath Ramphal of Guyana, Malaysian minister Deto Seri S. Sami Wellu, business tycoon Kanaksi Gokaldas Khimji of Oman, former premier of British Columbia Ujjal Dossanjee and McKinsey CEO Rajat Gupta.
Prem Bhatia award, 2001-02: Resident editor of The Times of India, Ahmedabad, Kingshuk Nag, and assistant editor Bharat Desai for their coverage of the communal violence in Gujarat.
Pulitzer Prize, 2003: For public service: Boston Globe for its courageous, comprehensive coverage of sexual abuse by priests. For Breaking News Reporting: Staff of Eagle Tribune for its detailed, well crafted stories on the accidental drowning of four boys in the Merrimack river. For Investigative Reporting: Clifford J. Levy of New York Times for his vivid, brilliantly written series “Broken Homes”. For National Reporting: Alan Miller and Kevin Sack of Los Angeles Times, for their examination of a military aircraft, nicknamed “The Widow Maker” that was linked to the death of 45 pilots. For International Reporting: Kevin Sullivan and Mary Jordan of Washington Post, for their exposure of horrific conditions in Mexico’s Criminal Justice System.
The prizes are awarded by Colombia University on recommendations of the
Pulitzer board. Each prize is worth $7500, except for public service, in which a paper receives a gold medal.
Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna award, 2003: K.M. Beenamol (athletics) and Anjali Bhagwat (shooting) have been given the award. Both share the prize money of Rs 5 lakh and have received a scroll and a medal each.
Rajiv Gandhi National Sadbha-vana award, 10th: Journalist Teesta Setalvad and retired IAS officer and activist Harsh Mander, for their “outstanding contri-bution towards communal harmony and national integration”. The award carries a citation and a cash prize of Rs 2.5 lakh.
Republic Day awards, 2003: Bharat Ratna: No one has been conferred with Bharat Ratna for year 2003. Padma Vibhushan:Noted danseuse Sonal Mansingh, former Sikkim Chief Minister Kazi Lhendup Dorji, well-known litterateur Balram Nanda and ayurvedic doctor Vaid Bhrishaspati Dev Triguna have been honoured with Padma Vibhushan, India’s second highest civilian award. Padma Bhushan: Prominent among the 34 awardees are: industrialists Harishankar Singhania and Jamshed Godrej, actor Naseeruddin Shah, noted Ghazal Singer Jagjit Singh, noted heart specialist Purshottam Lal and journalists T.V.R. Shenoy and Prabhu Chawla.
The two foreigners who have been given Padma Bhushan are Russian Dr Herbert Alexandrovich Yefromov for science and engineering and Herbert Fischer from Germany for public affairs.
Padma Shri: Among the prominent per-sonalities who have been given Padma Shri are famous athlete Jyotirmoyee Sikdar, for-mer cricketer turned umpire Srinivas Venkataraghavan, instrumental musician Ustad Shafaat Ahmed Khan, Carnatic musi-cian T.M. Soundarajan and prominent moun-taineer from Uttaranchal Kanhaiya Lal Pokhriyal. Francis Dore from France is the only foreigner to be given the Padma Shri.
Shankar Puruskar, 2002: Dr Biswambhar Pahi, for his work Vaisesiska Padarthavyavastha ke Paddhatimulka Vimarsa. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh and is given to honour an outstanding work published in Hindi, during the last ten years, on Indian philosophy, culture and art.
Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar award, 2003: Dr Chinmoy Sankar Dey, a professor in the department of biotechnology at the National Institute of Pharmaceutical
Education and Research (NIPER) has been selected for the prestigious award for 2003. Dr Dey has been selected for his research on developing a model for testing the newly developed anti-diabetic drugs without using animals, which would bring down the cost of testing.
STPI National awards: The Software Technology Parks of India (STPI), an autonomous society under Department of Information and Technology, has named Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services for the 2000-01 award.
Tenzing Norgay National Adventure awards, 1999-2001: Industrialist Vijaypat Singhania, who under-took a solo flight in a microlight aircraft from England to India in 1988, to celebrate India’s 40th Independence Day. Others who received the awards were : (1999) Lov Raj Singh Dharmshaktu, Ratnamani Roy, Col H.S. Chauhan, S.D. Sharma. (2000) Kushang Sherpa, Kamal Singh Oberh, Chalti Debarma, Rattan Singh Chauhan. (2001) Kulwant Singh Dhami, Ramesh Chandra Tripathi, Barkha Kishore Kedia and Dorjee Ihatoo.
Vachaspati Puruskar, 2002: Mohan Lal Sharma “Pandeya” has been selected for the award for his novel Padmini. The award carries a cash prize of Rs one lakh and is given by K.K. Birla Foundation to honour a writer for his work in Sanskrit, published during the last ten years.
Volvo Environment Prize, 2003: Madhav Gadgil, one of the world’s foremost ecological experts and best known for creat-ing India’s first biosphere in the endangered Western Ghats, and Bangladesh’s Mohammad Yunus, who through his revolu-tionary concept of microcredit empowered poor millions worldwide, have been con-ferred the prestigious award. The two win-ners will equally share the prize money of 1.5 million Swedish kroner, or about $95,000 each.
BOOKS
Arundhati Roy 20th in greats list of novels by women: Arundhati Roy’s Booker Prize-winning novel The God of Small Things was voted twentieth best in a list of the best 50 novels by women.
Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice was voted the “best loved novel”.
The 10 best are:
Pride and Prejudice :Jane Austen. Jane Eyre : Charlotte Bronte. Wuthering Heights:
Emily Bronte. Middlemarch : George Eliot. Rebecca : Daphne du Maurier. Persuasion : Jane Austen. Frankenstein: Mary Shelley. Emma :Jane Austen. Unless : Carol Shields. To Kill A Mocking Bird : Harper Lee.
Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life: A memoir written by J.M. Coetzee, win-ner of Nobel Prize for Literature, 2003, it tells the story of Coetzee’s halting struggle towards maturity. He has revealed the child-hood sources of his fascination with lan-guage. Raised in an English-speaking home in spite of an Afrikaans background, he iden-tifies himself as English, but also speaks flu-ent Afrikaans.
Brick Lane: Monica Ali’s first novel, a portrait of a woman’s life in the Bangladeshi-dominated East End of London, has been year 2003’s most talked about fictional debut. While the first editions of Sherlock Holmes classics by Arthur Conan Doyle have been rated as Britain’s most valuable modern books, Brick Lane is the only book among the works of young authors, apart from Zadie Smith’s White Teeth (published in 2000), to be listed as having the potential to command a high price some years from now.
Elizabeth Costello: Eight Lessons: Written by J.M. Coetzee, winner of the Nobel prize for literature, 2003, this novel is a mix-ture of essay and fiction. Other books written by the author are: Disgrace, Waiting for the Barbarians and In the Heart of the Country.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix: The fifth book in the Harry Potter series, it has become the best selling new product ever.
Ignited Minds: Unleashing the power within India: Written by Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, the book tackles the scientists’ favourite theme, that of engaging minds of children and building resources for the future.
Life and Times of Michael K, The: This is the fourth novel to be written by J.M. Coetzee, winner of 2003 Nobel prize for liter-ature. It won him the Booker Prize in 1983. It is the story of a young gardener abandoned after his mother’s death in South Africa, whose administration is collapsing after years of civil strife.
Namesake, The: The debut novel of Pulitzer prize winner Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake explores the immigrant experi-ence and the clash of cultures in the US. The Namesake is about the assimilation of an Indian family, the Gangulys, into America
over 30 years. It expands on the theme of cul-tural dilemmas and dislocations that charac-terised Interpreter of Maladies.
Two Lives: Booker prize winner, Indian-born author Vikram Seth has received an estimated 1.3 million pounds advance, the largest paid for a literary, non-fiction title, for a memoir he is now writing about his great uncle. The memoir, Two Lives, tells the story of Seth’s great uncle Shanti, an Indian and aunt Henny, a German Jew whom Shanti met in pre-war Germany as Hitler came to power. Living History: Written by Hillary Clinton, wife of former US President Bill Clinton, the book is her first pubic exposition of the domestic stripe that accompanied the affair of Monica Lewinsky with President Clinton.
Vernon God Little: Written by DBC Pierre, an immigrant Australian-Mexican car-toonist, it has won the author the prestigious Booker Prize, 2003. The novel is a black com-edy on a globalising modern culture of trash food and trash TV. Littered with expletives and the coarsest of American teen-speak, it offers a deeply satirical take on America’s hideous outbreak of school shootings, its 24-7 media culture and self-obsessed soccer moms.
CONFERENCES
Ad Asia 2003: After a gap of 21 years, Asia’s largest advertising and marketing event—Ad Asia 2003—touched down on Indian shores in Jaipur, between November 10 to 14, 2003. The purpose behind this con-ference was to “provoke, distrub and leave people uncomfortable with what they were doing”.
COMMISSIONS; COMMITTEES Competition Commission: The Competition Commission will govern major mergers, amalgamations and takeovers, and also decide on competition and market dom-inance issues, replacing MRTPC.
The Competition Act would become operational in three stages. In the first year, the commission would concentrate on com-petition advocacy, in the second, it would start looking into trade practices that are seen as anti-competition.
Mergers and acquisitions that would have appreciable adverse impact on competi-tion would be regulated by the commission only from the third year of its existence.
the notification of the Bill as an Act. Mashelkar Committee: The Mashel-kar Committee, set up by the Union Health Ministry to chalk out an action plan to tackle the spurious drugs menace, has recommend-ed death penalty for those who manufacture and distribute fake drugs. As a minimum deterrent, the committee has proposed to make the offence non-bailable with a mini-mum imprisonment for three months. It has also recommended amendments to the Drugs and Cosmetics Act so that it becomes equipped to punish the guilty.
CYBER SPACE
New speed record: Internet data transfer will now be faster than ever before. According to a report in New Scientist, an enhanced transatlantic link and some experi-mental Internet routers have enabled an international research group to more than double the world speed record for Internet data transfer.
Researchers at the CERN particle physics laboratory in Switzerland sent the equivalent of a DVD movie to the California Institute of Technology in just seven seconds. The total amount of data sent over the 7000 kilometre link was 1.1 terabytes. The average transfer rate was 5.44 gigabits per second (Gbps), smashing the previous record of 2.38 Gbps, set in February 2003.
News search site on Google: Google, the popular Internet search engine, has launched a new site for searching news from 4,000 English language sources, from the New York Times to small town newspa-pers. The new service, called Google News, is accessible through a tab on the Google start page (http://www.google.com/).
Worm Slammer gives a tight sock to Servers Worldwide: On January 25, 2003, the world of Internet was hit hard dur-ing the global attack by a fast-spreaddur-ing com-puter worm, in what experts called the most damaging attack on the Internet in 18 months. The worm, known as “SQL” (“sequel”) Slammer, targeted a known weak-ness in Microsoft Corp’s software to shut down powerful server computers—clogging the pipelines of the worldwide network. DAYS; YEARS
2004 Year of Rice: The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has declared 2004 the International Year of Rice, in an effort to highlight the increasing demands for
rice among growing populations and produc-tion constraints for the commodity.
The Year of Rice was created in a response to a proposal made in 2002 by 44 UN member States. They noted a “pending crisis” in the state of rice production. Of 840 million people suffering from chronic hunger, more than half lived in areas dependent on rice production for food, income and employ-ment.
The Year of Rice will act as a catalyst for country-driven programs throughout the world, as per FAO statement.
Global Girls Football Day: Children around the world celebrated Global Girls Football Day on October 11. Taking place one day before the Women’s World Cup champi-onship match in Los Angeles, marked UNICEF and FIFA’s efforts to open up new avenues for girls in the developing world. UNICEF and FIFA teamed up in 2003 to high-light two crucial areas of child development that are often absent or overlooked for girls because of poverty and discrimination: the right to play and the right to education. The FIFA Women’s World Cup USA 2003 was dedicated to Go Girls!
Centenary year of recorded music in India: November 11, 1902 was the day the first song rendered by artist Gauhar Jaan was recorded in India by the Gramophone Typewriter Ltd. The Information and Broadcasting Ministry, Doordarshan and All India Radio have decided to pay a tribute to her and other singers by declaring the year 2002-03 as the centenary year of recorded music in India.
International Year of Fresh Water (IYFW): The United Nations declared 2003 as the international year of fresh water. The aim was to raise awareness of the importance of protecting and managing fresh water. One of the main events of the year was the third World Water Forum, held in Kyoto, Japan on March 16-23, 2003.
Non-resident Indian day: The gov-ernment of India decided to celebrate January 9, 2003 as the first Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas (non-resident Indian day).
DEFENCE
Air Force to get Hawk AJTs: On September 3, 2003, the Cabinet committee on Security cleared the purchase of 66 British Hawk 115Y Advanced Jet Trainers (AJT) for Indian Air Force, at a cost of Rs 8,000 crore. With this, the government finally conceded to
a 21-year old demand of IAF, aimed at reduc-ing accidents due to pilot inexperience. The delivery will commence after 35 months of signing of contract and all 66 aircraft are expected to be available to the IAF within six years.
An AJT like the British Hawk is a light-attack two-seat trainer. It helps in grooming rookie pilots who dream of becoming fully operational fighter pilots.
IAF cadets are currently at a big disad-vantage. Stage I sees them train on piston-engined HPT-32 Deepaks; Stage-II on HJT-16 turbojet Kirans; Stage-III takes them straight to the supersonic MiG-21s. AJTs are needed to bridge the gap between the Kirans and MiGs.
INXFAC-82 Extra-fast craft for Indian Navy: Israel has supplied Indian Navy the Extra-Fast Attack Craft, INXFAC-82, the third in the series of XFAC class of ves-sels to have been acquired by India from the Israel Aircraft Industries.
The fastest craft in its class of vessels in India’s possession, the INXFAC-82 can travel at a top speed of 40 knots per hour or 75 kms per hour. It can move swiftly to the place of action, and deliver fast attack. Being a fast craft, it can also be used for ferrying marine commandos to the destination.
The craft is equipped with two 20 mm Oerlikon rapid-fire guns, linked to an electro-optic detection and tracking system. It is pro-vided with the latest hull, structural, hydro-dynamic and propulsion features to achieve excellent shallow water capability, manoeu-vrability and top speed. The acquisition of this platform would further reinforce Navy’s reconnaissance capabilities.
Astra missile test-fired successful-ly: India took the first step towards joining a select group of nations by successfully test-firing a prototype of the Beyond Visual Range (BVR) air-to-air missile Astra from the Chandipur interim test range on May 9, 2003. IAF’s frontline fighters like Sukhoi-30 MKIs and Mirage-2000s are currently armed with some expensive BVR missiles of French and Russian origin, like the ‘Matra Super 530 D’ and ‘AA-12 Adder’.
Armed forces to get new chop-pers: The armed forces are likely to acquire more multi-role Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters (ALHs) soon, with the defence ministry having asked Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) to speed up the deliv-ery schedule.
These choppers can be used for heli-borne assaults, reconnaissance, air observa-tion and close air-support.
IL-78, first mid-air refueller inducted: As part of the plan to enhance its long-range strategic strike capabilities, the IAF has inducted an Ilyushin-78 flight refu-elling aircraft into its “first dedicated force-multiplier unit” based in Agra.
The IL-78 tanker—the first of the six slated to join the IAF from Uzbekistan in a phased manner by the year-end—will enable IAF fighters like the multi-role Mirage-2000s, the deep penetration Jaguars and the air-superiority Sukhoi-30MKIs to operate with extended ranges and flight times.
INS Tarangini goes on friendship voyage: The latest in India’s naval diplo-macy is circumnavigation of the globe in a sail ship, INS Tarangini. The aim is further-ance of the ‘Bridges of Friendship’ across the oceans concept enunciated at the International Fleet Review at Mumbai, two years ago. Naval Chief Admiral Madhvendra Singh flagged-off the “historic” 15-month voyage from Kochi on January 23, 2003, the first of its kind to be undertaken by the Navy. Tarangini is a gentle, masted sail ship which is a throwback to a bygone era in sea-manship. It’s the only one of its kind that the Indian Navy has, and is used to expose young sailors to the natural elements, and train them to utilise the forces of nature.
LCA christened Tejas: India’s Light Combat Aircraft (LCA)—the smallest single-engine fighter plane in the world—has been named. The lightweight, single engine, supersonic multi-role combat aircraft has been developed by the Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA) and is sched-uled for delivery to the Indian Air Force by end 2007.
Stealth frigate Shivalik launched: India’s first indigenous stealth frigate, INS Shivalik, was launched at Mazagon Dock on April 18, 2003. The warship is one of three stealth frigates planned under Project 17.
The warship will be fitted with the latest surface-to-surface vertical launch missiles and the state-of-the art radar and communi-cation equipment.
DISCOVERY
Dinosaur species discovered in western India: United States and Indian scientists have discovered a new carnivorous dinosaur species in India after finding bones
in the western part of the country. The new dinosaur species was named Rajasaurus nar-madensis, or “Regal reptile from the Narmada”, after the Narmada River region where the bones were found.
The dinosaurs were between 8-10 metres (25-30 feet) long, almost 70 per cent the size of the Tyrannosaurus rex which inhab-ited North America, had a horn above their skulls, were relatively heavy and walked on two legs, scientists said. They preyed on long-necked herbivorous dinosaurs on the Indian subcontinent, during the Cretaceous Period at the end of the dinosaur age, 65 mil-lion years ago.
Rajasaurus narmadensis is the first Abelisaur, or predator of the southern conti-nent—comprising South America, Antarctica, Africa, Australia, Madagascar and India—to be discovered in India.
The project was funded partly by the National Geographic Society.
Scientists said they hope the discovery will help explain the extinction of the dinosaurs and the shifting of the continents— how India separated from Africa, Madagascar, Australia and Antarctica and collided with Asia.
Skulls of pre-humans found: In the 1,60,000 year old fossilised skulls of two adults and a child found in Ethiopia, scien-tists think they see for the first time the faces of the immediate ancestors of modern humans.
Except for a few archaic characteristics, the skulls are readily recognisable. They are longer than their Neanderthal contempo-raries from Eurasia or earlier ancestors. Their midfaces are broad, but the nasal bones are tall and narrow.
The discovery of the oldest near-modern human remains is considered a major step in establishing the time and place for the emer-gence of anatomically modern Homo-sapi-ens, probably 1,50,000 years ago, in Africa, as previous genetic studies suggested.
The discovery team and other scientists said the research appeared to confirm the idea that modern humans originated in Africa and then spread into Asia and Europe. In that case, they said, the Neanderthals, who became extinct in Europe 30,000 years ago, could not have been direct forebears of today’s humans.
The “out of Africa” hypothesis, forceful-ly advocated by Dr Stringer among others, had gained wide support in the two decades
since molecular research on the genetic diver-sity among human populations pointed to a common ancestor in Africa.
Fossil of the largest known rodent found: It would be an exterminator’s worst nightmare: a 700 kg rodent with a voracious appetite and big teeth. Resembling a guinea pig grown to the size of a buffalo, the animal lived millions of years ago in a South American swamp and is thought to be histo-ry’s biggest rodent, researchers say.
The fossil was unearthed in a semidesert area of Venezuela, about 400 kilometres west of Caracas.
EXPEDITIONS
Celebrating 50 years of Conquest of Everest: As part of the celebrations to mark the golden jubilee of Conquest of Everest, a seven-member Indo-Nepal joint team set foot atop the world’s highest peak on May 29, 2003, the day Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay scaled it 50 years ago.
Earlier, on May 23, 2003, Pemba Dorjie Sherpa, a 25 year old guide, set a record for the fastest ascent of Mt Everest, by reaching the summit in 12 hours and 45 minutes. A Sherpa girl, Ming Kipa Sherpa, around 15 years old, is believed to have broken the record for the youngest successful climber of Mt Everest. She reached the top with her 30-year old sister Lakhpa Sherpa and her 24-year old brother Mingma Gyalu Sherpa, as part of a Romanian expedition. Lakhpa Sherpa became the first woman to conquer everest three times.
The standing record was held by Temba Chheri who reached the summit top in 2001. He was 15 years and 18 days at that time. HEALTH
The killer SARS infection: Scientists believe that SARS belongs to a family of viruses that are also responsible for the com-mon cold. It has a characteristic “crown like” appearance that gives the virus its name.
In stage 1 of the infection, the virus attaches itself to the host cell’s outer mem-brane, injects itself into the cell and sheds its external shell, and infuses the host with viral material.
In stage 2 the invading virus replicates itself by borrowing and rewriting the cellular makeup of host.
In stage 3 the new virus particles multi-ply in the host cell which bursts open and dies. Viral particles thus released attack other
cells.
The first signs of SARS are deceptively common—headache and bodyache. The symptoms closely resemble pneumonia. The patient suffers from high fever and a nagging dry cough. The later stages show shortness of breath and respiratory problems.
The infection, however, is less infectious than the influenza virus. Only 5 per cent of its victims die. A cocktail of anti-viral drug rib-avirin and steroids has been used successful-ly in Hong Kong to treat the patients. LEGISLATION
Free and Compulsory Education for Children Bill, 2003: The Bill is an attempt to operationalise the 86th Constitutional Amendment which made free and compulsory education (for all between 6 and 14) a fundamental right, but gave the authorities neither the teeth nor adequate resources to enforce it. As per its provisions: Private schools must keep 20% seats for poor children; Anyone found keeping a child (including servants) from school will be fined Rs 500; if they persist, they will be fined Rs 50 a day; once a child starts school, the teachers will have to ensure attendance. It will be compulsory for parents to send children to school; the government can charge a cess for the free education on any transaction or activ-ity for funding the free education.
Fiscal Responsibility Bill: The Parliament has approved the long awaited Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) Bill. The FRBM stipu-lates that the revenue deficit would be brought down to zero level, and fiscal deficit to 2 per cent in five years, by 2008, to bring fiscal consolidation.
Poll funding Bill: In an effort to address the vexed issue of poll funding, the Lok Sabha has passed a Bill which seeks to bring in greater transparency and accounta-bility into the election process, particularly the donations made to political parties. The Election and Other Related Laws (Amendment) Bill provides for political par-ties to receive contributions from private companies and individuals.
OIL
Operation Sagar Samriddhi: ONGC has announced the launch of a multi-billion dollar deep-sea oil and gas hunt, aim-ing to search Rs 644,000 crore worth of hydro-carbons lying unexplored in the Arabian Sea
and the Bay of Bengal.
Code-named Sagar Samriddhi, the project would entail a daily investment of $2.6m in search of one-third of an estimated 11 billion tonnes of oil and oil-equivalent gas reserves lying unexplored in deep waters.
ONGC wins 15 oil and gas blocks in NELP-IV: Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), in consortium with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HPCL) has walked away with bulk of the 21 oil and gas exploration blocks, including Kerala-Konkan deep-water blocks, in the fourth round of New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP). ONGC, along with partners, won 15 blocks, while private sector Reliance Industries Ltd could manage only one.
Gasohol the fuel of the future: Gasohol—a fuel made by blending petrol with ethanol—was launched on January 1, 2003. The fuel combines petrol with five per cent ethanol, which is produced from sugar-cane molasses. The eco-friendly fuel is being touted as a useful way to save foreign exchange on oil imports. Another advantage is that engines don’t have to be modified for the new fuel.
India obtains largest producing field abroad: ONGC Videsh (OVL) has acquired 25 per cent stake in Greater Nile Oil Project (GNOP), Sudan for Rs 3,500 crore. The acquisition has added three million tons (MMT) per year as equity oil. GNOP is locat-ed in the Muglad Basin, 700 km south-west of Sudan’s capital Khartoum. Equity oil will also help in cushioning current international oil price volatility due to the Gulf War-II.
Indian Oil sets foot in Sri Lanka: Indian Oil, India’s largest national oil compa-ny and the only ‘Fortune Global 500’ Indian corporate, has now spread its wings to Sri Lanka through its wholly-owned subsidiary, Lanka IOC (LIOC), with an initial investment of Rs 200 crore. Lanka IOC plans to commis-sion 250 Petrol Stations in Sri Lanka, offering world class services and state-of-the-art cus-tomer-friendly facilities at competitive rates.
ONGC declares six new oil and gas finds: State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) took a big stride in shoring up the country’s oil security by announcing six new oil and gas finds strad-dling the western and eastern coasts and the north-east region. Its find in Vasai west, off the Mumbai coast, is estimated to contain 240 million barrels of oil and oil equivalent gas, and Laipling Gaon in Assam is estimated to
have 100 million barrels of oil. Availability of at least two million tonnes of additional oil and gas will reduce the country’s oil import bill. It is another step towards reducing dependence on imports.
ONGC strikes record Indian buy overseas: In the biggest international investment by any Indian company, ONGC Videsh (OVL) will buy 25% of the Greater Nile Petroleum Operating Co., a Sudanese oil field operating company, from Canadian oil company Talisman Energy Inc. for $720m (roughly Rs 3,600 crore). In volume terms the field, with a production of over roughly 12 million tonnes per annum, is the same as India’s largest oil field, Bombay High. The deal will increase India’s oil-equity and will help secure its energy needs.
Reliance steps on big gas in Andhra Pradesh: Reliance Industries has stumbled upon one of the largest gas reserves in the country, in Andhra Pradesh’s Godavari basin. The reserves, struck in the exploration block called KGB-6, Krishna-Godavari basin, 150 kms off the coast of Andhra Pradesh, are to the tune of 40-50 million cubic metres per day. The entire gas production of ONGC is at present close to 55 million cubic metres per day. This means that the country’s gas pro-duction is slated to shortly double.
Reliance finds oil in Yemen: Reliance has struck oil in an onshore block in Yemen and found fresh gas discoveries at home. The new discoveries will take total gas discoveries at present to 14 trillion cubic feet, equivalent to 2.3 billion barrels or 300 million tonne of crude.
On the Yemen oil find, where Reliance has an equity oil position, it is expected to be equivalent to about half of the company’s share of crude oil from the off-shore fields in the Bombay high region, off the coast of Mumbai.
Gas pipeline draft policy: With nat-ural gas companies and LNG players getting into the final act of entering the Indian mar-kets, the government has announced the draft policy for development of gas pipeline network. The policy envisages the establish-ment of a cross-country gas network by GAIL. This would facilitate transportation of gas on a common carrier principle. It also rec-ommends the appointment of a regulator for regulating transmission, distribution and supply of natural gas and LNG and to pro-mote development of the sector.
for approving the gas tariff rates for gas transmission in all cases. This regulator will be appointed under the Petroleum Regulatory Board Bill, 2002, and till such time that this is done the government will function as the regulator.
The cross-country gas pipeline principle would not apply to Reliance Industries’ pro-posed Kakinada-Goa and Jamnagar-Calicut pipelines, as they have already been cleared. PERSONS
Chawla, Kalpana: The first India-born woman astronaut, she died on February 1, 2003 when the Columbia Space Shuttle of NASA crashed minutes before landing. In November-December 1997 she had gone for her first space mission.
Chhetri, Commando Sanjog: A paratrooper from the Indian Army’s elite spe-cial forces, who inspired his fellow troops with a daring assault on a terrorist hideout during Operation Sarp Vinash in April, 2003, he has been posthumously awarded the nation’s highest peacetime gallantry award, the Ashok Chakra.
Coetzee, J.M.: The media-shy South African was in the news for winning the 2003 Nobel prize for literature.
Coetzee was born in Cape Town on February 9, 1940. He studied at Cape Town and later earned a doctorate in literature from the University of Texas at Austin, but was forced to return to South Africa when his application for a green card work permit was rejected.
He has written at least nine novels, pub-lished several collections of essays and pro-duced a memoir, Boyhood: Scenes from Provincial Life, which tells the story of Coetzee’s halting struggle towards maturity.
Coetzee’s other novels include: Disgrace, Master of Petersburg, Age of Iron, Foe, Waiting for the Barbarians and In the Heart of the Country. His latest work is Elizabeth Costello, which explores the role of a writer and ques-tions of belief.
Ebadi, Shirin: She has been awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize for her efforts that include promoting the rights of women and children in Iran. 56-year-old, she is the first Muslim woman to win the award. She was also Iran’s first woman judge. She is also the first Iranian to win a Nobel Prize.
George, Anju Bobby: Her feat of winning the long jump bronze at the World Athletics Championship in Paris on August
30, 2003, has put her on a pedestal in Indian athletics reached by very few.
She leaped to 6.70 metres at the Stade de France that gave her a bronze and India a his-toric medal. No Indian athlete has ever won a medal at the World-level. Anju, in fact, is the only second Indian at a world final, the first being discus thrower Neelam Singh.
She was declared the Best female athlete at National Games 2001, 2002. She was hon-oured with Arjuna Award in 2003. She is the first Indian woman athlete to secure Commonwealth medal. She is also the first Indian woman to win Asiad gold in long jump and the only Asian woman to reach World Indoors finals.
Johnny Walker: One of the most endearing comedians of post-independence Indian cinema, died in Mumbai on July 29, 2003, after a prolonged illness. He was 79 and is survived by his wife Noor Jehan, three daughters and three sons.
The son of a mill worker from Indore, he was born Badruddin Qazi in 1925. He quit acting in the early 80s after doing 300 films in over 40 years. He was a bus conductor before his actor film-maker friend Guru Dutt offered him a small role in Baazi. Guru Dutt re-chris-tened him after the famous whisky label and he never looked back after that.
His popular films include Pyaasa, CID, Mr and Mrs 55, Chaudhvi ka Chand, Chhoo Mantar, Chori Chori, Madhumati, Naya Daur, Mere Mehboob and Anand.
Jintao, Hu: He has been elected as the President of China. Hu, 59, is the enforcer who was the top official in Tibet when China imposed martial law in 1989 to quell unrest. He is the nationalist who supported anti-American protesters after a United States bomb destroyed the Chinese Embassy in Yugoslavia in 1999.
Yet, he is also the innovator who installed broadband internet access at the Communist Party school and encouraged academic debates about democracy and sep-aration of powers.
Khare, Justice V.N.: He is the new Chief Justice of India. He succeeded Justice G.B. Pattanaik, who held the office for a short tenure of one and half months. Born on May 2, 1939, Justice Khare enrolled as an advocate at the Allahabad High Court in 1961. He took over as Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court in February 1996. He was appointed as a Judge of the Supreme Court on March 21, 1997.
Lyngdoh, James Michael: Chief Election Commissioner of India, he has been awarded Ramon Magsaysay award for gov-ernment service.
Mr Lyngdoh has been praised for his “convincing validation of free and fair elec-tions as the foundation and best hope of sec-ular democracy in strife-torn India”.
For Lyngdoh himself, the second CEC to get the award after the mercurian T.N. Seshan, these words meant how under his leadership, the commission had withstood all pressure in the conduct of elections in Gujarat and Jammu and Kashmir.
Mother Teresa: Mother Teresa, the humble nun known as the saint of the gut-ters, has been declared beatified by Pope John Paul II. The Pope paid tribute to the tiny nun’s unselfishness. After pronouncing Mother Teresa beatified, the penultimate step before sainthood proper, he concelebrated a solemn mass. Among those attending the cer-emony was Monica Besra a young Indian woman whose claim to be cured of cancer after praying to Mother Teresa was recog-nised as a miracle by the Vatican, paving the way for beatification. The Vatican will have to approve a second miracle before the ethnic Albanian nun can be officially canonised a saint.
Pierre, DBC: DBC, short for “Dirty But Clean”, is the pseudonym of Peter Finlay who has won the 2003 Booker Prize for his novel Vernon God Little. DBC Pierre is an immigrant Australian-Mexican cartoonist with a history of hard core drugs taking, debts, gambling and unapologetic theft. But Pierre, who is being celebrated as the 21st century’s J.D. Salinger, won in an amazing dark-horse gallop towards the finishing line, with his black comedy on a globalising mod-ern culture of trash food and trash TV.
Reddy, Y.V.: Y. Venugopal Reddy, India’s executive director on the board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has been appointed as governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). Before joining the Reserve Bank of India, he was the secretary in charge of the banking division of the finance ministry. Mr Reddy is known for being a central banker in traditional mode. Mr Reddy will be first RBI governor in many years to be appointed for a period of five years.
Sen, Siddharth: Siddharth (Shunnu) Sen, CEO of Quadra Advisory and one of the strongest advocates of marketing and brand-building, died on January 3, 2003, at the age
of 63.
Shah, Rajendra K.: Rajendra Keshavlal Shah, 90, is the winner of the 37th Bharatiya Jnanpith award for 2001. The Jnanpith jury has profiled Rajendra Shah as a pioneer of the new trend in Gujarati poetry in the post-Independence period.
Vij, Gen Nirmal Chander: Chief of Army Staff of Indian Army, Gen Vij is a high-ly decorated officer. He was born in January 1943 at Jammu. He joined the NDA in 1959 and was commissioned into the Dogra Regiment in December 1962. He has the dis-tinction of commanding two Corps of the Indian Army—a Strike Corps and another in insurgency operations. He was the Director General Military Operations (DGMO) during
the Kargil conflict with Pakistan in 1999. PLACES
Cancun: The latest ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) took place in this Mexican city from September 10 to 14, 2003. The meeting was of significance to India, as was the case with all other WTO members. The main agenda of the meet was to chalk out an agreement to liberalise inter-national trade in agriculture.
Everest, Mount: The British named it after the late Surveyor General of India, Sir George Everest, in 1865. Before that they knew it only as Peak XV. Nepalese call the mountain Sagarmatha, which means head of the sky. The Chinese use the Tibetan name,
Qomolungma, or “mother goddess”. The 8,848 metre peak was in the news when the golden jubilee of its conquest was celebrated on May 29, 2003. On May 29, 1953, the peak was conquered for the first time by Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay.
Goa: In keeping with the global trend of having events—especially film festivals— in a particular city, the government has decided to keep a permanent venue for the International Film Festival of India in Goa.
Nathu La: Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s visit to China in June 2003 end has started the process of revival of the ancient Silk Route over which the famed Chinese fab-ric was traditionally brought to India, to be traded for goods from the subcontinent.
The route had been officially closed in 1974 after Sikkim became an Indian State. What used to be a mere mule track has since become a winding cement and far road on both sides of the border. Sikkim itself has come a long way from being a sleepy, snow-bound kingdom.
The high point of the route, literally speaking, is the Nathu La pass, at 4,290 metres, located in the north-eastern corner of Sikkim, adjoining Bhutan. This is the only place on the vast Sino-Indian border where one can wave at, if not shake hands with, Chinese soldiers.
St. Petersburg: The tricentennial of Russia’s graceful city, also known as “Venice of the North” was celebrated in May 2003. Earlier known as Leningrad, it is one of the most beautiful cities of Europe and is the second largest city of Russia.
Wanderers, The: The Wanderers in Johannesburg, South Africa, was the venue of the 2003 Cricket World Cup. The stadium was built in 1956 and the first Test was held in the same year against England. Following South Africa’s re-admission to international cricket in 1991, the stadium was overhauled. PROJECTS
Sagar Mala Golden sea chain of transport along the coastline: Ten years from now, India will boast of a glittering golden sea chain of transport or Sagar Mala along India’s coastline, to be built through a mix of public and private funding.
The ambitious project covers all facets of maritime transport, including ports, shipping and inland waterways and even cruise tourism.
The glittering ports would be connected
Anand, Nikita: Femina Miss India
Universe, 2003. Ami Vashi has been selected Miss India World and Swetha Vijay as Miss Indian Earth.
Bachchan, Amitabh: Famous Bollywood
actor, he has been appointed as goodwill ambassador of UNICEF.
Bedi, Kiran: India’s first lady IPS officer,
she has been appointed as the civilian police advisor in the Department of peace-keeping at the United Nations. She is the first woman to hold the post.
Das, Tarun: Director General of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII), he is the first Indian business representa-tive to be invited to address a UN panel discussion during a General Assembly session.
Desai, Nitin: UN under-secretary for
eco-nomic and social affairs, he has been appointed Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s special adviser for the World Summit on Information Society.
Gandhi, Haren: A distinguished
Indian-American engineer whose contributions towards emission control have returned the US to the forefront of automative technology.
Huku, Rajesh: Chairman of I-Flex
Solutions Pvt. Ltd., he has been named by Time magazine as one of the tech leaders who have survived the technolo-gy crash.
Jones, Sarah: Daughter of Sitar maestro
Pandit Ravi Shankar, she has won record-equalling eight Grammy awards, 2003.
Khan, Bismillah: Shehnai maestro
Bismillah Khan had virtually heralded India into independence when he had played shehnai from the ramparts of the Red Fort in 1947. On August 7, 2003 he performed in the Parliament House
Nagrani, Shonali: Sunsilk Femina Miss
India-International, 2003, she has been
crowned India’s first-ever title holder at 2003 Miss International pageant.
Nambiar, Lt. Gen. (retd.) Satish: Former
force commander of UN Protection Force in Yugoslavia, he is among 16 members of a UN panel appointed by Secretary-General Kofi Annan to examine major threats and challenges the world faces.
Narisetti, Raju: Hyderabad-born, he has
been appointed as the Managing editor of the Wall Street Journal, Europe.
Nooyi, Indra: The highest-ranking
India-born woman in corporate America, she has been honoured with the Woman Pioneer Award in Corporate Strategy and Development.
Rajan, Raghuram: A distinguished
econ-omist, he has been appointed economic counsellor and director of the research department at IMF, the fifth highest-rank-ing job at the IMF.
Sharma, P.C.: Director of Central Bureau
of Investigation (CBI), he has been elect-ed vice-president of Interpol. He is the second Indian to win the election after E.V. Arul won 30 years ago.
Sorenstam, Annika: Woman golf player
from Sweden. She became the first woman player in 58 years to play in a PGA tour.
Vega, Amelia: Aspiring singer from the
Dominican Republic, she has been crowned Miss Universe, 2003.
Waugh, Steve: Australian Test cricket
captain, he has been named Australia’s tourism ambassador to India.
Rajya Sabha nominations, 2003:
Actress Hema Malini, former governor of RBI Bimal Jalan, ISRO Chairman K. Kasturirangan, wrestler-turned-actor Dara Singh, editor of Pioneer Chandan Mita, Hindi scholar and journalist Vidya Niwas Mishra and social worker from Rajasthan, Narayan Singh.
Milestones
R o u n d - u p o f 2 0 0 3
with inland waterways and the road and rail-way golden quadrilateral projects through high speed expressways. As a first step, the integrated development of Nhava Sheva and Kochi Ports at a cost of Rs 7,500 crore will begin by March 2004.
Huge nuclear reactor sanctioned in Tamil Nadu: The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the proposal for setting up of a 500 MW proto-type fast breeder reactor at Kalpakkam in Tamil Nadu. The reactor will be set up at an estimated cost of Rs 4,492 crore.
The project will generate 2,585 million units of energy a year, at a capacity factor of 62.8 per cent. The project is expected to begin commercial operation in eight years.
The CCEA has also approved the setting up of a uranium ore processing plant at Banduhurang in Jharkhand at a cost of Rs 342.26 crore. The plant will have the process-ing capacity of 2,250 tonnes dry ore per day, and will be completed in around three years. SCL first in India to have MEMS facility: The Semiconductor Complex Limited (SCL) has become the first establish-ment in India to have a facility for the pro-duction of Micro-Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS). MEMS is the integration of electri-cal and mechanielectri-cal systems on a single microchip. This is a major milestone in coun-try’s technological advancement.
The facility has been set up under the National Programme on Smart Materials (NPSM), approved and funded by the gov-ernment of India.
Sweeping wind energy by 2007: The Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES) has formalised a roadmap to create a total capacity of 5,000 MW of wind energy in the country by 2007. The country currently has an installed wind energy capac-ity of 1,870 MW, with the highest capaccapac-ity of 990.3 MW in Rajasthan.
Maharashtra, with a wind energy capac-ity of 401, follows next. Other States which also have made a beginning in the wind ener-gy sector include Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
Global Telecom City: In what could be the equivalent of Shenzen in China, India will soon have a special economic zone of its own for the telecom sector, in Bangalore. The Rs 2,060, crore global telecom city project, envisioned by sponsors from both Asia and the United States, will aim at creating about
200 acres of clustered-operating infrastruc-ture for telecommunications companies.
The international sponsors include US-based engineering and construction company Parsons Brinckerhyoff, and ITN In-corporation, Hong Kong-based Pacific Century group. The Indian partners are SPA Enterprises, Bangalore-based Ashford Infrastructure Holding, and Data Access (India) Ltd.
Nathpa-Jhakri power project: The first of the six 250 MW unit of the 1500 MW Nathpa-Jhakri hydro power project was inau-gurated by Union Power Minister Anant Geete, on October 14, 2003.
Said to be the single largest hydro-elec-tric project in the country, it is also a step in the realization of mission of power for all by 2012.
The project has many features unparal-leled in the world, which include a 57.50 metre high concrete dam (Phase-I) on Satluj river at Nathpa, Himachal Pradesh, for flush-ing of silt, an underground de-siltflush-ing com-plex, comprising four chambers, each 525 metre long, 1,631 metre wide and 27.5 metre deep, which is one of the largest under-ground complexes for the generation of hydro-power in the world, and a 10.15 metre diameter and 27.4 km long head race tunnel (one of the longest hydro-power tunnels in the world), terminating in a 21.60 metre/10.20 metre diameter and 301 metre deep surge shaft.
The project is being executed by NJPC, a joint venture of the Central government and the Himachal Pradesh government, both sharing cost of the project in the ratio of 3 : 1, respectively.
Baspa Hydro-electric project: On May 27, 2003, the first 100 mw unit of the 300 mw Baspa-II Hydro-electric project in district Kinnaur in Himachal Pradesh started gener-ating power. Baspa project is the largest pri-vate hydro-electric project and is being built by the Jaypee group. Jaypee Ventures Limited is the only consultancy company in hydro-power to be associated with four projects in India, namely : Baspa-II, Chamera-II, Baglihar and Vishnu Prayag.
Sethu Samudram: The Centre has cleared the Sethu Samudram project, carving out a canal near Palk Straits to link east and west coast. The Sethu canal will provide a direct navigation route from eastern to west-ern coast and boost the economy by earning huge foreign exchange. At present, Indian
ships have to go around Sri Lanka, because of shallow water around Palk Straits.
Three Gorges Dam: After a decade of construction work, on June 1, 2003, the sluice gates of the giant Three Gorges Dam, built on Yangtze river in China, were closed and for-ever altered the landscape of its historic heartland.
The $25 billion dam will create a 600 km long reservoir, submerge 60,000 hectares, including 1500 factories, 160 towns, 16 archaeological sites, and displace 1.13 million people.
The dam is 2,309 m long and 181 m high. It is designed to generate 18,200 mw electri-city for Shanghai and eight rural Chinese provinces.
RESEARCH
Indian engineer builds third fastest super-computer in record time: A team of university computer jockeys, led by an Indian engineer, have stunned the com-puting industry by jigging up one of the world’s fastest super-computers in record time, and at record low cost using off the shelf components.
It took Srinidhi Varadarajan and his crew at Virginia Tech only a month and $5 million to configure a supercomputer from 1,100 Apple Macintosh machines.
The record, by far, for the fastest machine is held by the Japanese Earth Simulator, a $250 million behemoth that com-putes at around 35 teraflops.
Scientists complete genome map-ping: Scientists have completed the finished sequence of the human genome, or genetic blueprint of life, which holds the keys to transforming medicine and understanding disease. Less than three years after finishing the draft of the three billion letters that make up human DNA, and two years earlier than expected, scientists said that the set of instructions on how humans develop and function is done.
The Human Genome Project has already aided scientists in discovering a mutation, that causes a deadly type of skin cancer, and accelerated the search for genes involved in diabetes, leukaemia and childhood eczema.
The completed sequence will help sci-entsts to identify the 25,000-30,000 genes in humans, including those involved in com-plex diseases such as cancer and diabetes.
