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Free general knowledge 2014

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National:

Landmark verdict

The Indian pharmaceutical industry and health aid agencies have welcomed the judgment of the Supreme

Court which has upheld the refusal by the Patent Office to grant multi-national pharma giant Novartis a

patent for the beta-polymorphic form of imatinib mesylate sold as Glivec and used in the treatment of cancer.

The judgment in the Novartis case is a victory for patients in India and around the world. In its initial reaction,

international body Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) has welcomed the verdict. “Novartis’

attacks on the elements of India’s patent law that protect public health have failed. The Supreme Court’s

decision prevents companies from abusing the patent system to get unwarranted patents on existing

medicines, to block price-busting generic competition on HIV and other essential medicines. This confirms

that all patent offices in India have to use this interpretation and the law is now clear and must be strictly

applied.” The verdict has provided clarity regarding ‘evergreening’ of products and it would now be difficult

for multi-national companies to establish that a product is a genuine invention.

Fraudsters now take IMF name

African countries are their destination of choice and so far they have been using many tricks to lure people to

part with their bank and other vital details to commit financial frauds in the hope of getting millions. But now

they have begun taking big names to impress and dupe the uninitiated. Fraud mails are now coming in the

name of the International Monetary Fund. Curiously, while the fraudster keeps the address of the global

institution intact, in a cut and paste job from the official website, the deviation is in the phone number and

email ID of the contact person. It came on the All Fools Day, but the motive is far from a spot of benign fun.

LPG supply: OMCs refuse to deliver quota after deadline

Even as the oil marketing companies (OMCs) marginally reduced the rates of LPG domestic non-subsidised

cylinders (Rs. 3), thousands of households who had not exhausted their quota of nine subsidised cylinders

will not be able to avail themselves of this benefit, as the OMCs have refused to provide subsidised cylinders

of the previous year after the expiry of the March 31 deadline. The government last year fixed the cap on

subsidised cylinders at nine per household a year. Beyond this, consumers would have to buy cylinders at

the market rate. As the period between the initial announcement of the cap of six cylinders, which was later

raised to nine, came at the middle of last year, many households were unable to finish their quota and had

hoped that they would be able to draw their quota even after March 31.

EC moves Calcutta High Court challenging West Bengal government’s notice on rural polls

In a major development that can have a bearing on the fate of the panchayat election in the State, the West

Bengal State Election Commission (WBSEC) moved the Calcutta High Court seeking cancellation of the

State government’s notification on holding the election in the last week of April. In a notification issued by the

State’s Panchayat department in March it was stated that the rural polls would be held in two phases on April

26 and April 30. The Commission maintains that the department had unilaterally issued the notification and

sought that a fresh notification be made in consultation with it. Another major point of contention is that the

Commission wants to deploy paramilitary forces during the election , something the government does not

want and has pointed out that deployment of the State Armed Police would meet the security requirements

for the polls and if required the help of certain other State police forces could be sought . The impasse

between the two sides could not be resolved despite the intervention of Governor M.K. Narayanan. The

Commission has pointed out that under Section 243 of the Constitution, which empowers the Commission to

conduct elections, there are provisions for the Commission to request the Governor to make available “staff”

to hold the polls.

Accident relief trains in all divisions by 2017

Self Propelled Accident Relief Train (SPART) units that can be rapidly deployed at accident sites will be in

place at all 59 Indian Railway divisions across the country by 2016-17. These SPART units with advanced

medical facilities, surgery theatres and drug storage would be over and above the conventional accident

relief trains with eight to ten coaches that have to be fitted with locos to be taken to an accident site.

Employment generation rate dips in metros, mini metros: Survey

Kolkata, Mumbai and Ahmedabad are among the cities with the highest decline in new job generation growth

between October and March 2013, according to a survey that said that job generation has dropped by over

14.1 per cent during the period compared to a year ago. The study, however, revealed that even in this

gloomy scenario aviation sector registered the highest number of new jobs followed by human resource

development, academics and real estate. The rest of the sectors registered negative growth rates ranging

between 4 and 46 per cent. The study was undertaken by the Economic Research Bureau of industry body

ASSOCHAM. In absolute numbers, Delhi and the National Capital Region topped in job generation followed

by Bangalore, Mumbai and Chennai. But growth rates of job creation had declined with Hyderabad being the

only city with a positive growth rate (0.1 per cent) and all the other Tier I cities showing negative rates of

growth. This included Ahmedabad (-37.4 per cent), Pune (-23.2 per cent), Mumbai (-21.6), Kolkata (-18),

Chennai (-11.3), Bangalore (-9.9) and Delhi and NCR (-1.6). In tier II cities, Kochi has registered highest

growth rate, followed by Lucknow and Meerut.

International:

Warm reception to Myanmar’s private dailies

Privately owned daily newspapers hit Myanmar’s streets for the first time in decades under freedoms that

represent a revolution for a media shackled under military rule. Four Burmese-language titles, The Voice,

The Golden Fresh Land , The Union and The Standard Time, made the transition from weekly as new rules

came into effect that swept away state media’s long monopoly on daily printing. Myanmar’s public has

become accustomed to an increasingly boisterous media since the quasi-civilian government relaxed its grip

on the press after coming to power in 2011. The country’s military rulers seized control of private daily

papers in 1964. A total of 16 weekly news journals were allowed to become dailies under the new rules,

including Ms. Suu Kyi’s party paper, but logistical challenges mean some were not able to make the move

immediately.

Business and Economy

Vijaya Bank gets certification from BSI

Vijaya Bank’s announced that its Risk Management Department has received ISO 27001 certification from

the British Standards Institute. The public sector bank claimed that the bank’s department is first among

Indian banks to receive such certification.

NMDC, IndusInd get into Nifty

NMDC Ltd. and IndusInd Bank were included in the CNX Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange (NSE),

replacing Wipro and Siemens. Both companies were included as part of a re-balancing exercise.

Norms set for insurance JV by CICs

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said that any core investment company (CIC) registered with it needs

minimum Rs.500 crore owned funds to set up a joint venture company for undertaking insurance business.

Among other norms, the RBI said that the level of net non-performing assets shall be not more than 1 per

cent of total advances. Further, it should have registered net profit continuously for three consecutive years,

and the track record of the performance of the subsidiaries, if any, of the CIC concerned should be

satisfactory. These companies are required to maintain adjusted net worth which would be not less than 30

per cent of aggregate risk-weighted assets on balance sheet and risk adjusted value of off-balance sheet

items. The RBI said that no CIC would be allowed to conduct such business departmentally. Further, an

NBFC (in its group / outside the group) would normally not be allowed to join an insurance company on risk

participation basis, and, hence, should not provide direct or indirect financial support to the insurance

venture. The apex bank said, CICs may be permitted to invest up to 100 per cent of the equity of the

insurance company either on a solo basis or in joint venture with other non-financial entities in the group. In

case where a foreign partner contributes 26 per cent of the equity, more than one CIC may be allowed to

participate in the equity of the insurance joint venture. CICs cannot enter insurance business as agents and

companies that wish to participate in insurance business as investors or on risk participation basis will be

required to obtain prior approval of the central bank.

L&T wins EPC deal for Rajasthan supercritical power plant

Larsen & Toubro (L&T) has bagged a complete engineering, procurement & construction (EPC) order. The

company announced that it had secured an order of Rs. 5,689 crore from the Rajasthan Rajya Vidyut

Utpadan Nigam for setting up a 2 x 660 MW supercritical thermal power project on a complete EPC basis.

Suzuki Motor’s stake in Maruti up to 56.21 %

Japanese auto major Suzuki Motor Corporation's stake in subsidiary Maruti Suzuki (MSI) has increased to

56.21 per cent post the merger of its engine and transmission maker Suzuki Powertrain with India’s largest

car maker. Suzuki Motor Corporation (SMC) has acquired additional 4.36 per cent in MSI taking its stake to

56.21 per cent from 54.21 per cent, according to a MSI filing to the BSE. As per the merger agreement, the

swap ratio was fixed at 1:70, which meant SMC received one share of MSI of Rs.5 each for every 70 shares

of Rs.10 each it held in SPIL.

Prasad to head Dr. Reddy’s Lab

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories announced the appointment of G. V. Prasad as its new Chairman and Satish

Reddy as Vice-Chairman.

GAIL books capacity in U.S. LNG plant

GAIL (India) said it had booked capacity at a proposed LNG production plant at Lusby in Maryland, U.S. The

state-owned gas utility planned to convert the shale gas into liquified natural gas (LNG) for shipping to India.

Science and Tech:

Penultimate tests at Kudankulam plant over

The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project has “successfully completed” the mandatory penultimate tests

before commissioning its first unit by testing an array of steam relief valves under operating pressure and

temperature. The next step is to start the testing of hi-tech instruments associated with the steam relief

valves under the operating pressure and temperature.

New facilities for BrahMos

Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. would create new facilities and develop critical electronic systems for the Indo-

Russian BrahMos cruise missile programme. It would set up the facilities under the guidance of DRDO arm

Research Centre Imarat of Hyderabad. For the Air Force, BrahMos is developing a variant that can be

launched from two modified HAL Sukhoi-30 fighter aircraft.

HAL turns focus on civil aircraft

The defence public sector company Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. has formally revealed plans to manufacture

civil transport planes along with suitable Indian and foreign partners. Without elaborating, the Bangalorebased

military aircraft maker said the civil segment was highly promising. The B.K. Chaturvedi Committee on

restructuring HAL had recommended last year, among other things, that HAL should focus on the civil

aviation segment through a new subsidiary. HAL at present manufactures fighters, transport planes, trainer

aircraft and helicopters for the Armed Forces, most of them under licence from the original manufactures. Its

own product, the Dhruv advanced light helicopter (ALH), is positioned for civil use. During 2012-13, it spent

Rs. 1,749 crore or 12 per cent of the turnover on research and development, filing a record 32 patents. New

infrastructure would be created to handle the future manufacturing activities. They include the Medium Multirole

Combat Aircraft, the fifth-generation Fighter Aircraft and the Multi-role Transport Aircraft, both being

pursed with Russia, and the Light Combat Helicopter and Light Utility Helicopter (LUH). The highlight of the

year was the handing over of ‘Rudra’, the first weaponised ALH, to the Army; export of Cheetah helicopters

to Suriname; and sale of Dornier-228 light transport aircraft to Seychelles. It flew the upgraded Jaguar

DARIN-III and the prototype of the naval version of the indigenously developed light combat aircraft, LCA

Navy.

A facelift through 3D printing technology

In what is believed to be the first surgical procedure of its kind in Britain, doctors have used a pioneering

three-dimensional printing technology to create a prosthetic face for a man who had lost almost the entire left

side of his face, including his eye, cheek bone and most of his jaw after suffering from an aggressive form of

cancer. Eric Moger (60), a restaurant manager, said the surgery had transformed his life and he was

“amazed” how he looked now. He was now able to drink water and eat food like a normal person. Until now,

he was fed and given water through a tube.

Sports

Pooja claims gold

India won two medals, including a gold, in the South Asian triathlon championship held at Pokhara, Nepal.

Pooja Chaurishi bagged gold in the women’s sprint event, which included swimming, cycling and running.

Apart from Pooja, Madhurjya Bora claimed a silver medal in the men’s sprint event.