Environment enlightenment:DYK

• ???Did you know

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• the longest recorded flight of a chicken was 13 seconds

• lemons contain more sugar than strawberries

• most lipsticks contain fish scales

• an ostrich's eye is bigger than it's brain!

• 85% of plant life is found in the ocean

• a bear has 42 teeth

• rabbits like licorice

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QOTW 10 - Answer and more

Congrats to the ever consistent participants with the correct answers:
FYBCom: Zenaida and Alisha
SYBCom: Stella and Olivia

What are tariff barriers?

They are taxes imposed on goods when they enter or leave the national frontier or boundary.

What is the purpose of tariffs?

To protect the domestic industry by increasing the cost of imported goods.

Types of Tariffs: On the basis of Purpose:

Revenue Tariff: To provide state with the revenue. Levied on luxury goods.

Protective Tariff: To maintain and encourage those branches of home industry protected by the duties.

On the Basis of Origin and Destination:

Ad Valorem Duty: Levied as the percentage of the total value of the imported common duty.

Specific Duty: Levied per physical unit of the imported commodity.

Compound Duty: Levied a percentage ad valorem duty plus a specific duty on each unit of the commodity.

Types of Tariffs: On the Basis of Country-wise Discrimination:

Single Column Tariff: A uniform rate of duty is imposed on all similar commodities irrespective of the country from which they are imported.

Double Column Tariff: Two different rates of duty have been imposed.

Triple Column Tariff: Two or more tariff rates are levied on each category of commodity.

Non- Tariff Barriers Non-Tariff measures include all measures, other than tariffs, the effect of which is to restrict imports, or to significantly distort trade.

Different Types of Non-Tariff Barriers: 

(1) Specific Limitations on Trade: Quotas Import Licensing requirements Proportion restrictions of foreign to domestic goods (local content requirements)

(2) Customs and Administrative Entry Procedures: Valuation systems Antidumping practices Documentation requirements Fees 

(3) Government Participation in Trade: Government procurement policies 

(4) Export subsidies Countervailing duties Domestic assistance programs

(4) Charges on imports: Prior import deposit subsidies 

(5) Administrative fees Special supplementary duties Import credit discriminations Border taxes

(6) Others: Voluntary export restraints Monetary Barriers 

Impact of NTBs: Have emerged as potent Protectionist tool. It being less transparent, its difficult to identify and quantify its impact.

QOTW - 11

What is Okun's Law? Is it applicable to the Indian economy?
Send in your answers to profKMody@gmail.com by Monday 3 December 2012.

QOTW - 10

Hello Andreans, welcome back to class and the blog after the vacation.

Here's the first QOTW for the 2nd / 4th Sem / 2nd term.

What are tariff and non-tariff barriers to trade?

Send in your answers to profKMody@gmail.com by Monday 26 November 2012.

Pea-Nutty Facts and Fictions:

Peanuts are known by many other local names such as earthnuts, ground nuts, goober peas, monkey nuts, pygmy nuts and pig nuts. Despite its name and appearance, the peanut is not a nut, but rather a legume -related to beans and lentils.

• Astronaut Allen Sheppard brought a peanut with him to the moon.
• The peanut plant originated in South America- Paraguay.
• Peanuts are naturally cholesterol free.
• One out of every 90 people in the US suffers from a peanut allergy.
• The largest producers are China, India and the United States.
• The peanut was introduced to China by Portuguese traders in the 17th century and another variety by American missionaries in the 19th century.

In the Indian subcontinent, peanuts are known as a light snack by themselves, usually roasted and salted (sometimes with the addition of chilli powder), and often sold roasted in pod, or boiled with salt. They are also made into little dessert or sweet snack pieces by processing with refined sugar and jaggery. --Chikki!!

Indian cuisine uses roasted, crushed peanuts to give a crunchy body to salads; they are added whole (without pods) to leafy vegetable stews for the same reason. Another use of peanut oil as cooking oil. 

Peanuts are not native to India. They are thought to have come to India from Philippines. Notably, the name of this nut in northern parts of Tamil Nadu is 'மணிலாக் கொட்டை'- slang மல்லாக் கொட்டை- (Manila-k-kottai) means nut from Manila, the capital city of Philippines.

• 20% of the world's peanut production is used in candy.
• Two US Presidents have been peanut farmers: Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.
• The official state crop of Georgia is the peanut, Georgia is the number one producer of peanuts in the US.
• Peanut shells can be used in the manufacture of wallboard, fireplace logs, roughage for livestock feed and kitty litter. 
• Arachibutyrophobia is the fear of getting peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth.
• The term "peanut gallery" became popular in the late 19th century.  It referred to the "cheap seats" in the theater where audience members would throw peanuts, a common theater food at the people in the more expensive seats or at the performers to express their dissatisfaction with the performance. 

Guess Who Said

If the Nation is living within its income, its credit is good. If, in some crises, it lives beyond its income for a year or two, it can usually borrow temporarily at reasonable rates. But if, like a spendthrift, it throws discretion to the winds, and is willing to make no sacrifice at all in spending; if it extends its taxing to the limit of the people's power to pay and continues to pile up deficits, then it is on the road to bankruptcy.

Answer: America's 32nd President............see photograph below............still didn't get it, then scroll down.


Answer: Franklin Delano Roosevelt popularly referred to as FDR 

Did you know???

* Einstein slept 10 hours a night

* Einstein never knew how to drive a car

* Einstein received honorary doctorate degrees in science, medicine and philosophy from many European and American universities.

* Einstein was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921

* Einstein's gifts inevitably resulted in his dwelling much in intellectual solitude and, for relaxation, music played an important part in his life.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

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Wisdom for the environment

Only after the last tree has been cut down
Only after the last river has been poisoned
Only after the last fish has been caught
Only then you will find out that money cannot be eaten

                                                           Native American Wisdom

Environment enlightenment:DYK

*One cup of fresh coffee needs 140 litres of water to produce

*The production of one kilogram of beef requires 16,000 litres of water 

*One litre of beer consumes less water (300 litres) than one litre of orange juice (850 litres) 

*A meat and dairy-based diet consumes about 5,000 litres of virtual water a day while a vegetarian diet uses about 2,000 litres 

*Agriculture worldwide accounts of over 85% of fresh water usage

Did you know????

Emerging economies are smaller than the developed countries - but they are growing faster and opening up, leading to greater investment opportunities than ever before.

There are two methods of GDP calculation: nominal GDP attempts to compare countries using current exchange rates to give an assessment of their clout within the global market. This naturally biases countries with stronger currencies.

Purchasing Power Parity or PPP GDP, on the other hand, tries to take into account that one dollar can buy more in some countries and less in others. It is a better gauge of the internal size of each market.

In the nominal GDP method, we can see that the developed world leads the pack, but that China has already broken into this exclusive club, and is now the second largest economy  in the world by both measures.

When we look at PPP GDP, all of the BRIC countries (China, India, Brazil and Russia) are all within the top 10.  .

Here is the Top 10, as listed by PPP GDP, using 2010 GDP figures:

Ranking	Country	Approximate GDP- Purchasing Power Parity
1	United States of America	$14,624,180,000,000 (that is $14.6 trillion dollars if you are trying to count zeros)
2	China	$10,084,370,000,000
3	Japan	$4,308,630,000,000
4	India	$4,001,100,000,000
5	Germany	$2,932,040,000,000
6	Russia	$2,218,760,000,000
7	Brazil	$2,181,680,000,000
8	United Kingdom	$2,181,070,000,000
9	France	$2,146,280,000,000
10	Italy	$1,771,140,000,000

While the US is still the world's dominant economy, and central to the global economic system thanks to the simple fact that the US dollar is the world's reserve currency (ie the currency that we all need in order to trade), we can clearly see that China's clout is rapidly growing. The numbers tell the story not just of the BRIC, but also the G2 or Chamerica, as some are calling the US/ China combo.

Source:Economy Watch

Important Happenings this week

Two of the world’s largest economies will witness a change in their political leadership this week:
 The US presidential election sees Democratic President Barack Obama standing for a second and final term, with recent opinion polls suggesting that Obama is leading by a small margin.
Who do you think will be the next President of USA?
Post your replies to profKPM.

In China the fifth-generation leadership will be appointed at the 18^th Party Congress.