Sunday 9 December 2012

Daily News - Dec 9

New Version of Internet Addresses Made Available in India
Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN) started issuing next version of Internet addresses IPv6, which is going to make it easy for security agencies to identify each Internet user.The present version of Internet that is IPv4 (Internet Protocol version 4), is limited and service providers often assign single IP address to many users which makes it difficult to identify the end user.The number of IPv6 addresses available is enormous.  ISPs (Internet Service Providers) can allocate an IP address to their users. People can be easily identified if they are using IPv6.Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC), which is one of the five authorised bodies for issuing Internet addresses, has recognised Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN) for issuing IP addresses in India. IRINN has been set-up under the state-run NIXI. The new addresses are going to be be multiple times cheaper for companies than IPv4 addresses. Indian Registry for Internet Names and Numbers (IRINN) is issuing initial set-of IPv6 addresses in price range starting at 21999 rupees as compared to prevalent rate of around 66000 rupees in Asia Pacific region.

Tata Motors Slashed Car Price upto 1.5 Lakh rupees by Offering Discounts and Cash Benefits
Tata Motors on 7 December 2012 announced discounts and freebies worth up to 1.5 lakh rupees on purchase of different models which are valid till the end of December 2012.The Ultimate December offer of Tata Motors ranges from 25000 to 150000 rupees and includes cash benefits and exchange offers, are also applicable on accessories, extended warranty and other value added services.Under the scheme, the company is offering benefits of up to 50000 rupees on the newly launched Manza Club Class and up to 45000 rupees on the Indigo eCS with up to 60000 rupees on the Indica Vista and up to 35000 rupees on the Indica eV2. Moreover, the company is also offering similar benefits worth up to 25000 rupees on new purchase of Nano, up to 50000 on Sumo Gold and up to 1.50 lakh rupees on Aria.The slashing of car price and the freebies offering by the Tata Motors came at the time when others car makers  Maruti Suzuki India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor (TKM) and General Motors have announced plans to hike vehicles prices from January 2013 mentioning pressure on margins due to currency fluctuation and rising input costs.Tata Motors were facing declining sales in a tough market and in November 2012as it reported 34.99 per cent decline in total passenger vehicle sales in the domestic market at 18031 units as against 27735 units in the same month in year 2011.

President's house Rashtrapati Bhavan now opened for Common People
On the instructions of Union President Pranab Mukherjee it was decided to make the ceremonial change of guard of the President's Bodyguard open to the public every Saturday. Rashtrapati Bhavan will now host 200 public visitors at its forecourt for watching the ceremony.The ceremony that entails a series of military traditions — from bugles and bands to the horse-riding President's Bodyguard (PBG) is now going to have a new look as the drill will be conducted in the backdrop of the majestic dome of the presidential house from the earlier North Block.The changes have been made on the instructions of President Pranab Mukherjee, who is very particular about the fact that this place should be open and accessible to the common man. During winter, the ceremony will start at 10am every Saturday.Lasting for about 30 minutes, visitors can witness  President's Bodyguards (PBGs) emerging from behind the tall Jaipur column amid the brass band notes of AR Rahman-composed Maa Tujhe Salaam.It was also decided by the brass band to play some of the best known patriotic songs such as 'Sare Jahan Se Achcha' with interludes of military tunes and the 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' lalkaar (war cry) made by the troops.Change of guard is a military tradition whose origins are lost in antiquity. From time immemorial, guards and sentries at palaces, forts and defence establishments change periodically to enable a fresh body of troops to take charge.The ceremony was first opened to the public in 2007. Since assuming office, President Pranab Mukherjee has not only restored the ceremony, but also relocated it to make more visually interesting and people-friendly.

Haryana to buy 2000 MW Hydel Power from Bhutan
The Government of Haryana approached Bhutan to provide hydel-power to resolve the power crisis in the state.The Haryana Government is supposed to purchase 2000 MW power from the country for which they have alreday finalised modalities regarding the purchase at the administrative level.The Chief Minister of Haryana Bhupinder Singh Hooda is going to lead a high-level delegation to Bhutan from 14 December 2012 to 16 December 2012 calling for a significant step to make the state free of any power shortage in the coming days.Senior officers of power utilities department would be part of this high-level delegation to Bhutan.Hydel-power is available at cheaper rates as compared to coal-based power plants.However, Haryana has already started working in this direction as senior officers of power utilities department had visited Bhutan and interacted with their officials .The rates of the power would be as per the MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) that would be signed between the two countries. Four coal-based thermal power stations are already operating at full capacity in the state of Haryana. Also, a nuclear power plant of 2800 MW was being set up at Gorakhpur village in Fatehabad district. The government is also planning to start a new scheme, under which, 22-hour power supply will be given to consumers who pay their bills on time.If the MoU is successfully signed then it would help to ensure uninterrupted power supply of 14 to 20 hours to the rural consumers in the state. Besides, Haryana government is also exploring the possibilities of purchasing hydel-power from Arunachal Pradesh in the future.

Doha Climate Talk: World agreed to Second Phase of Kyoto Protocol 


 
The 18th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nation Frame work Convention on Climate change (UNFCCC) and the 8th session of the Conference of the Parties serving as the Meeting of the Parties to the Kyoto Protocol opened on 26 November 2012 and continued until 8 December 2012 at the Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha in Qatar.The talks in Doha closed with a historic shift in principle but few genuine cuts in greenhouse gases.On 8 December 2012, Almost 200 nations extended a weakened United Nations plan for combating global warming until 2020 with a reserved set of measures that would do nothing to halt rising world greenhouse gas emissions.The world in Doha Climate Talk agreed to the second phase of the Kyoto Protocol, starting 2013 by agreeing to a roadmap for binding world to a new global legal compact on climate change by 2015 that would become operational by 2020.Environment ministers of different extended until 2020 the Kyoto Protocol, which obliges about 35 industrialised nations to cut their greenhouse gas emissions until the end of 2012. That keeps the pact alive as the sole legally binding climate plan.However, in an unparalleled incident, two of the most powerful countries — the US and Russia decided to discard parts of the deal gaveled through using diplomatic guile by host Qatar.The US took on 192 countries to reject the principle of equity and the application of the principles of the UN climate convention to the post-2020 global deal.Switzerland too joined the US and demanded its reservations and rejection of some of the decisions be put on record.The Doha outcome — adopted on 8 December 2012 is a tricky balance among three different streams of climate negotiations. It secures a second phase of the Kyoto Protocol since it permits the unresolved issues of the last five years like adaptation and finance for poor countries, technology to be carried forward into future talks and creation of a framework to hammer out a new global compact by 2015.

 Highlights of the Doha Climate Talk
• Over the past two weeks from 26 November 2012 onwards the gathered nation made several compromises on each front to achieve a balance between competing demands to ensure that each stream of talks is concluded in parallel.
• The poor nations like the small island development countries and the least developed countries got the least out of the deal.
• There is neither a firm commitment for them on how the finances would be provided to fight climate change between now and 2020 and their cap on emission reductions during the eight-year period.
• For India, it was an instance of respite as it got its central plank - the principle of equity and common but differentiated responsibilities (CBDR) — re-inserted in the talks after it had been shut out of the negotiations in 2009 and 2010.
• Its concerns about high costs of intellectual properties in green technologies and the attempt by some developed countries to take unilateral decisions found weak references.
• The 27-member European Union, Australia, Switzerland and eight other industrialised nations agreed to the binding emission cuts by 2020. Each signatory had already legislated individual targets.

Wipro Bought Singapore Based FMCG Company LD Waxson
Wipro Consumer Care and Lightning (WCCL) on 8 December 2012 acquired the Singapore-based FMCG Company LD Waxson for 790 Crore Rupees.It is being considered as the second largest acquisition by Wipro till date, Earlier Wipro had acquired Unza, another Singapore-based FMCG brand in Year 2007 for 246 million Dollars. Wipro Consumer Care and Lightning (WCCL's) portfolio of national and international brands includes Santoor, Chandrika, Aramusk, Enchanteur, Yardley, and Woods of Windsor.LD Waxson is going to give Wipro ownership of skincare brands such as Bio-essence and Ginvera, and the healthcare brand Ebene. The acquisition is supposed to provide WCCL a grip in emerging consumer care markets such as Taiwan and western and eastern China, increase WCCL's market share in the Malaysian facial care market from 17% to 26% and take the company to a leadership position in Singapore. Wipro is already present in these countries and the company gets 45% of their total sales from outside India. It is the sixth deal in the past five year and the company plans to continue to look for acquisition in developing markets in the skin care and fragrance category.In November 2012 Wipro had announced its decision to demerge its non- IT business including consumer care. This move is believed to greatly affect the consumer care business by providing the company greater flexibility. The demerger will provide the company greater flexibility in terms of expansion and acquisition.

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