The UPA government laid claim to a feather worth Rs. 67,710 crore in its cap when the conclusion to the 3G mobile license spectrum auction were concluded this Wednesday. The amount was at leas the twice of the expected bid.
With the Reliance Communications, owned by Mr. Anil Ambani, bagging 13 circles, they were closely followed by Bharti Airtel which now owns 12. Third in the lead was Idea with 11 circles and TATA and Vodafone each bagged 9 circles as per the Department of Telecom (DoT).

The total bid closed at a whopping Rs 16,750.58 crore.

Bharti, Vodafone and RComm bought the key circles of Mumbai and Delhi, with each  spectrum going out for Rs. 3,316.93 crore and Rs. 3,247.07 crore respectively. However, the pan-India 3G license could not be claimed by anyone.

The massive closing bid beat the government’s expectations by Rs 32,710 crore more than the expected Rs 35000 crore sales for both the 3G spectrum and Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) combined.

The revenue is definitely expected to go further up with the BWA spectrum auctions still pending. Bharti Airtel, apart from Delhi and Mumbai, also bagged Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Karnataka, U.P. (West), Himachal Pradesh, Assam, Jammu, Kashmir, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and North East.

RComm will able to offer its 3G services to its customers in the states of North East, Rajasthan, Kolkata, Himachal Pradesh, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Assam, Punjab, Orissa, Jammu and Kashmir, other than Delhi and Mumbai.

Tamil Nadu, Kolkata, West Bengal, Haryana, Maharashtra, U.P. (East) Gujarat customers will be able to avail Vodafone-Essar services as well.

Where as the TATA’s, even though denied both 2G and 3G spectrum in Delhi was able to buy slots in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka, Maharashtra, UP (West), Kerala, Punjab and Haryana.

Tea exports from India increased in 2009-10 fiscal by about 14% when compared to last year’s export of Rs. 2381 crore. Tea Board officials said, “The exports jumped to Rs 2,721 crore in FY’10 from Rs 2,381 crore in the previous year, as shortages in tea exporting countries like Kenya and Sri Lanka accounted higher demand for Indian tea.” The export value also increased due to higher unit price. A premium Indian tea increased to about Rs.160 per kg as against Rs.146 per kg in the previous year. Volumes increased from 190 million kg to 200 million kg this year. Exports were higher in South India than Northern states as the former states enjoyed a good monsoon.

According to the Tea Board, “the shipments from plains of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala rose by almost 17% to 98.42 million kg in FY’10, compared to 84.33 million kg in the year-ago period. However, the shipments from Assam and West Bengal, which harvest the best quality tea leaves in the world, declined to 101 million kg from 106 million kg in the review period. India exports crush-tear-curl (CTC) variety of tea to countries like Egypt, Pakistan and the UK. Major demands for orthodox variety of tea are from countries like Iraq, Iran and Russia.

Central Rice Research Institute (CRRI), Cuttack, has developed a new variant of rice called
Aghonibora. According to CRRI, this rice does not require boiling and requires only half-an-hour soaking in water. The soft rice variety originally obtained from Assam’s Titabar Rice Research Station, has very low amylase content. The regular rice variety has up to 20 to 25 percent of amylase content which is responsible for the hardness of the grain. Aghonibora, has amylase content of about 4.5 percent which enables it to be cooked easily by soaking in water.

Srigopal Sharma, Head of Division of Biochemistry, Plant Physiology and Environmental Sciences at CRRI said, “As this rice contains very less amount of amylase, it does not require any boiling. It can be eaten straightaway after just half-an-hour of soaking in water. If the water is lukewarm, it will be prepared within 15-20 minutes. We have done extensive research on the rice variety at the CRRI farm at Cuttack to find out whether it retains the ‘soak and eat’ characteristic in the hot and humid climate of Orissa”. As there are no major changes in productivity or taste, it can be used instead of regular variety of rice. Aghonibora, will not only help save energy and time, it will also help poor people who cannot afford gas or coal. Scientists are promoting this new variant of rice to help maintain a cleaner environment and to save fuel.

Poverty in India is a cause for concern even after 62 years of Independence. Poverty indicates a condition in which a person fails to maintain a living standard adequate for his physical and mental efficiency. India has the world’s largest number of poor people. Of its nearly 1 billion inhabitants, an estimated 260.3 million are below the poverty line, of which 193.2 million are in the rural areas and 67.1 million are in urban areas. More than 75% of poor people reside in villages. Poverty level is not uniform across India. The poverty level is below 10 percent in states like Delhi, Goa, and Punjab etc whereas it is below 50 percent in Bihar (43) and Orissa (47). It is between 30-40 percent in Northeastern states of Assam, Tripura, and Mehgalaya and in Southern states of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh. Some of the reasons of poverty in India are unequal distribution of income, high population growth, illiteracy, large families, caste system, poor employment opportunities in rural areas and migration of rural population to cities, which further worsens the condition.

Since majority of rural area depends on agriculture (which is highly dependant on rain patterns) inadequate rain fall and improper irrigation facilities can cause low or no production of crops which leads to severe poverty among rural population. Rural poverty is majorly due to unemployment and low productivity. Urban poverty is due to migration of people from rural areas to cities in search of jobs, slow job growth and increasing population. Though the Government has taken steps and initiated number of programs to bring down the poverty level, it has not reached to all sectors. It’s imperative that private organizations should also pitch in to help the Government to eradicate poverty levels in India.