The United States Senate has approved the nomination of Rajiv Shah to head the US Agency for International Development (USAID), making him the highest ranking Indian American in the Obama administration. The Senate unanimously on Thursday confirmed the nomination of Shah, 36, and some three dozen other officials nominated by President Barack Obama before taking its Christmas break. Shah's confirmation puts him at the helm of the aid agency charged with spurring development around the world. USAID is expected to play a key role as the Obama administration has made development a key tool of its foreign policy. Shah "brings fresh ideas and the dedication and impressive background necessary to help guide USAID as it works to achieve this important goal," said Obama in a statement announcing his nomination in November. "I look forward to working with Rajiv in the months and years ahead." The mission of USAID is to advance America's interests by strengthening our relationships abroad," he said of the agency, which has more than 6,800 people working in some 80 countries worldwide. USAID, formally part of the State Department, manages the bulk of US international aid with a budget of some $53.9 billion for 2010, up nine per cent over 2009. Shah, a medical doctor, currently serves as chief scientist for the US Department of Agriculture and previously worked as director for agricultural development at the foundation headed by Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates and his wife.

By nominating Raj to lead the USAID, Obama has reaffirmed that development must be a core pillar of American foreign policy, said Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcoming Shah's nomination. "Raj will bring an impressive record of accomplishment and a deep understanding of what works in development to his role as USAID Administrator," she said. "I look forward to working closely with him to advance the President's agenda and to elevate and integrate development in our foreign policy." Having championed Obama's global food security initiative, Shah is "a leader in the development community, an innovative and results-oriented manager, and someone who understands the importance of providing people around the world with the tools they need to lift themselves out of poverty and chart their own destinies," she said. "A trained medical doctor and health economist, Raj has the skills and experience to lead a reinvigorated USAID in the 21st century," Clinton said. "He has led and worked with many of the initiatives that are defining best practice in the field of development." He has a record of "delivering results in both the private and public sectors, forging partnerships around the world, especially in Africa and Asia," she added. Prior to his work at the Gates foundation, Shah worked on health care policy for the 2000 presidential campaign of former vice president Al Gore. He is a co-founder of Health Systems Analytics and Project IMPACT for South Asian Americans. In addition, he has served as a policy aide in the British Parliament and worked at the World Health Organization. Shah earned his MD from the University of Pennsylvania Medical School and his Master of Science in health economics at the Wharton School of Business. He has attended the London School of Economics and is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Courtesy: www.ibnlive.com, December 25, 2009

Back to Index

Washington: Reducing caloric intake, specifically in the form of glucose, can extend the life of human cells and speed the death of pre-cancerous cells, a new study has found. This discovery by researchers from the University of Alabama at Birmingham could help lead to drugs and treatments that slow human aging and prevent cancer. "Our hope is that the discovery that reduced calories extends the lifespan of normal human cells will lead to further discoveries of the causes for these effects in different cell types and facilitate the development of novel approaches to extend the lifespan of humans," said Trygve Tollefsbol, a researcher involved in the work from the Center for Aging and Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. "We would also hope for these studies to lead to improved prevention of cancer as well as many other age-related diseases through controlling calorie intake of specific cell types," Tollefsbol added. To make this discovery, Tollefsbol and colleagues used normal human lung cells and precancerous human lung cells that were at the beginning stages of cancer formation. Both sets of cells were grown in the laboratory and received either normal or reduced levels of glucose (sugar).

As the cells grew over a period of a few weeks, the researchers monitored their ability to divide, and kept track of how many cells survived over this period. They found that the normal cells lived longer, and many of the precancerous cells died, when given less glucose. Gene activity was also measured under these same conditions. The reduced glucose caused normal cells to have a higher activity of the gene that dictates the level of telomerase, an enzyme that extends their lifespan and lower activity of a gene (p16) that slows their growth. Epigenetic effects (effects not due to gene mutations) were found to be a major cause in changing the activity of these genes as they reacted to decreased glucose levels. The study has been published online in The FASEB Journal.

Courtesy: www.zeenews.com, December 23, 2009

Back to Index

UN climate talks avoided a total collapse on Saturday by skirting bitter opposition from several nations to a deal championed by the US President Barack Obama and five emerging economies including China. "Finally we sealed a deal," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. "The 'Copenhagen Accord' may not be everything everyone had hoped for, but this decision...is an important beginning." But a decision at marathon 193-nation talks merely took note of the new accord, a non-binding deal for combating global warming led by the United States, China, India, Brazil and South Africa. The 193 nations stopped far from a full endorsement of the plan, which sets a target of limiting global warming to a maximum 2 degree Celsius rise over pre-industrial times and holds out the prospect of $100 billion in annual aid from 2020 for developing nations. The plan does not specify greenhouse gas cuts needed to achieve the 2 Celsius goal that is seen as a threshold for dangerous changes such as more floods, droughts, mudslides, sandstorms and rising seas.

In a stormy overnight session, the talks came to the brink of collapse after Sudan, Nicaragua, Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia lined up to denounce the US-led plan after about 120 world leaders left after a summit on Friday. UN talks are meant to be agreed by unanimity. Under a compromise to avoid collapse, the deal would list the countries that were in favour of the deal and those against. The outcome may yield the initiative in forming world climate policy to the United States and China, the world's top two emitters of greenhouse gases, and underscored shortcomings in the chaotic U.N. process. An all-night plenary session, chaired by Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, hit a low point when a Sudanese delegate said the plan in Africa would be like the Holocaust. The document "is a solution based on the same very values, in our opinion, that channelled six million people in Europe into furnaces," said Sudan's Lumumba Stanislaus Di-aping. "The reference to the Holocaust is, in this context, absolutely despicable," said Anders Turesson, chief negotiator of Sweden.

Other nations including European Union states, Japan, a representative of the African Union and the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) urged delegates to adopt the plan as a UN blueprint for action to combat climate change. "We have a real danger of (UN climate) talks going the same way as WTO (trade) talks and other multilateral talks," Maldives President Mohamed Nasheed said, urging delegates to back the plan to prevent the process dragging on for years. Many nations said the deal fell far short of U.N. ambitions for Copenhagen, meant as a turning point to push the world economy towards renewable energies such as hydro, solar and wind power and away from fossil fuels. Before leaving, Obama said the deal was a starting point. "This progress did not come easily and we know this progress alone is not enough," he said after talks with China's Premier Wen Jiabao and leaders of India, South Africa and Brazil. "We've come a long way but we have much further to go," he said of the deal. "The meeting has had a positive result, everyone should be happy," said Xie Zhenhua, head of China's climate delegation. China had resisted international monitoring of its emissions curbs and the final wording took into account Chinese concerns, speaking of the need to protect sovereignty. European nations were lukewarm to a deal that cut out some goals mentioned previously in draft texts, such as a target of halving world greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Many European nations want Obama to offer deeper U.S. cuts in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. But Obama was unable to, partly because carbon capping legislation is stalled in the U.S. Senate. Washington backed a plan to raise $100 billion in aid for poor nations from 2020. The deal sets an end-January 2010 deadline for all nations to submit plans for curbs on emissions to the United Nations. A separate text proposes an end-2010 deadline for reporting back on -- but dropped a plan to insist on a legally binding treaty.

Courtesy: www.ibnlive.com, December 19, 2009

Back to Index

Though Mumbai is the financial capital of India, Delhi has emerged as the top e- commerce hub in the country, according to a study by eBay India, the Indian arm of the global online auction site eBay. The sentiments of India's online buyers are at an all- time high, it added. In the list of top e- commerce hubs, Delhi is followed by Mumbai, Chennai, Jaipur and Bangalore. Overall, there are over 2,400 e- commerce hubs with the information technology ( IT) hubs of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra and Gujarat originating most of the e- commerce transactions in the country. In the domestic transactions space, technology buying and selling was a priority area accounting for 44 per cent of the overall transactions that took place. Internationally, shopping for lifestyle products from Indian markets accounted for 64 per cent of sales. Currently, eBay has around 30 lakh registered users in the country, of which nearly 20 lakh are active users. " Almost every minute a product changes hands on the site. Buying and selling on the Net is now becoming a mainstream activity," said Ambareesh Murty, country manager, eBay India. Buoyed by this high consumer interest eBay said its domestic business would grow by 35 per cent. " We will maintain a growth of 30- 35 per cent in the Indian market. This growth will be led not only by metros but by semi- urban and rural areas, too," Murty added.

The study also found that the country has 226 export hubs through which Indian entrepreneurs sell a variety of products to millions of eBay customers in 172 countries across the globe. It found that South India dominated with 41 per cent of the total e- commerce deals, followed by West Indian states. The study revealed interesting buying patterns of consumers, both domestic and international. In the urban domestic markets, buying BlackBerry and dual SIM phones were two dominant activities, while Tier- II cities witnessed an upsurge in the sale of touchscreen handsets. Places such as Jaipur and Ahmedabad emerged as significant entrepreneurial hubs. Internationally, buyers from the US, UK, Spain, Germany and Canada, evinced keen interest in buying items such as horse saddles, golf clubs and home décor articles from India. Belly dancing dresses were bought in large numbers from Delhi by e- buyers from Brazil. Delhi's buyers showed some interesting trends. While women buyers from Central Delhi bought maximum numbers of sarees, those from North Delhi indulged in the purchase of formal shirts and DVDs of family drama. Fitness DVD sales were high on the list of buyers from East Delhi, while South Delhi's residents bought sports goods, watches, sunglasses and lingerie.

In West Delhi, sales of educational movies soared this year. Globally, eBay cranked up $ 60 billion in revenues with the US contributing 45 per cent of the overall sales. " The pie of the Indian market is gradually increasing. Recently, we have seen buyers splurge huge amounts on fancy items. To quote an example a towel of Bollywood star Salman Khan was recently auctioned for close to Rs 1 lakh," said Murty.

Courtesy: http://indiatoday.intoday.in, December 17, 2009

Back to Index

Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani is the richest man in India with $32 billion in net worth followed by steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal and younger brother Anil Ambani, according to the Forbes' annual rich list for the country. The nation is now home to 52 dollar-billionaires, up from 27 last year, and only two short of what India had at the peak of its stock market boom in 2007. "Happier days are here again for India's super rich, thanks to a rebounding stock market, up two-thirds in the past year, and a still buoyant economy that's growing at least 6 per cent a year," the business magazine said. Though the top 10 positions remain largely unchanged, there are some shifts in fortunes across the list. Sunil Mittal has moved down from number 4 to number 8 and Azim Premji has moved up to Number 4 position. Another notable mention is Nandan Nilekani who has stepped down from Infosys board and is now a part of government. He ranks 43 with a net worth of $1.25 billion. Southern India's TV king, Kalanithi Maran, ranked 20, almost doubled his net worth to $2.3 billion from $1.2 billion. To know about the top 10 wealthy Indians in the Forbes' list, read on. . .

1. Mukesh Ambani: Net worth $32 billion
Chief of oil and gas conglomerate Reliance Industries, Mukesh Ambani is fighting a legal battle with his estranged younger brother Anil, over an agreement to supply gas at a price 44 per cent below the government-mandated price.

The battle took a nasty turn in August with each accusing the other of foul play. Case is now being heard before the Supreme Court.

2. L N Mittal: Net worth $30 billion
Owner of ArcelorMittal, this business tycoon has stake in British soccer team QPR. Mittal is looking to invest in Brazil, India and West Asia. He owns 12-bedroom mansion in London's posh Kensington area.

Steel group's workers attacked its Luxembourg headquarters during its annual shareholders meeting in May to protest temporary layoffs during slump.

Megha Mittal, wife of his only son, Aditya, who is steel group's financial director, recently bought the insolvent German fashion house Escada.

3. Anil Ambani: Net worth $17.5 billion
The chief of Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group never seems to grow tired of waging war against his elder brother Mukesh.

The confrontation between the two took an ugly turn when Anil alleged that the petroleum ministry was partial to Mukesh's Reliance Industries in their gas supply dispute. Government, however, refuted the charge. A legal battle is on at the Supreme Court.

In an audit of Anil Ambani's Reliance Communications, the company was charged with underpaying license fees to the government. RCom denied the charge.

In July, ADAG's entertainment wing sealed a deal to invest $825 million with Steven Spielberg's DreamWorks Studios.

4. Azim Premji: Net worth $14.9 billion
The software czar's company Wipro recorded a major turnaround when it reported a 19 per cent jump in net profits in the last quarter.

Wipro recently signed a $500-million, nine-year contract from Unitech Wireless. Company's consumer care division bought Asian business of personal care brand Yardley from UK's Lornamead.

5. Shashi & Ravi Ruia: Net worth $13.6 billion
Ruia-owned Essar Group is looking for major expansions in all its businesses, including steel, oil and power. Essar Oil bought 50 per cent in Kenya Petroleum Refineries in July and is negotiating with Royal Dutch Shell to acquire three refineries.

The duo is also attempting to raise $925 million, using part of their 33 per cent stake in Vodafone Essar as collateral. They recently withdrew their $150-million bid to take over Australian coal firm Rocklands Richfield.

6. Kushal Pal Singh: Net worth $13.5 billion
Chairman of DLF faced hard times recently as the global economic crisis hit India's realty sector. However, this property company's stocks rebounded 58 per cent this year.

The developer went for major price cuts to woo buyers earlier this year. In May, the Pal Singh family sold nearly 10 per cent of its DLF stake for $834 million.

7. Savitri Jindal: Net worth $12 billion
She is the non-executive chair of O P Jindal Group who took over the reigns of the steel and power conglomerate founded by her late husband Om Prakash in 1952.

She is the non-executive chair of O P Jindal Group who took over the reigns of the steel and power conglomerate founded by her late husband Om Prakash in 1952.

She recently got reelected in the assembly elections in Haryana.

8. Sunil Mittal: Net worth $8.2 billion
Bharti Airtel recently faced a major setback when Sunil Mittal's bid to pull off a mega-merger with MTN collapsed in September after months of negotiations.

Incidentally, Bharti also backed out of a deal to take over MTN in 2008.

Group's joint venture with Wal-Mart launched its first cash and carry store in Chandigarh in May.

9. Kumar Mangalam Birla: Net worth $7.8 billion
Head of commodities conglomerate Aditya Birla Group has his hands full with a move to restructure group's cement business.

If successful, the deal will create India's biggest cement company and the world's 10th largest. Idea Cellular, the group's telecom unit, is heavily on to an ongoing price war.

10. Gautam Adani: Net worth $6.4 billion
Chairman of the Adani Group raised $652 million in August by taking Adani Power public.

He plans to raise $325 million more through a rights issue of Adani Enterprises to invest in coal mining.

Courtesy: www.rediff.com, November 19, 2009

Back to Index

New Zealand was on Wednesday named the world's least corrupt nation out of a list of 180 countries, unseating Denmark after a year in which the global recession and ongoing conflicts proved challenging. The annual index by Transparency International ranked 180 countries on a scale of zero to 10 according to 13 independent surveys, with zero being perceived as highly corrupt and 10 as having low levels of corruption. New Zealand topped the table with a score of 9.4 after coming second last year. In second place was last year's leader, Denmark with 9.3 followed by Singapore and Sweden tying at 9.2 and Switzerland at 9.0. Countries at the bottom of the table were those which are unstable or impacted by war and ongoing conflicts that have affected the public sector and torn apart governance infrastructure. Somalia had a score of 1.1, Afghanistan was 1.3, Myanmar ranked 1.4 and Sudan tied with Iraq at 1.5.

"Stemming corruption requires strong oversight by parliaments, a well-performing judiciary, independent and properly resourced audit and anti-corruption agencies, vigorous law enforcement, transparency in public budgets, revenue and aid flows, as well as space for independent media and a vibrant civil society," said Huguette Labelle, chairwoman of Transparency International. "The international community must find efficient ways to help war-torn countries to develop and sustain their own institutions." Rounding out the top 10 least corrupt nations were Finland, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada and Iceland. Britain came 17th in the list and the United States was 19th with a score of 7.5. More than 130 of the countries scored below 5.

Courtesy: www.reuters.com, November 18, 2009

Back to Index