Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Maharatna, Navratna and Miniratna

Maharatna
The main objective of the Maharatna scheme is to empower mega CPSEs to expand their operations and emerge as global giants.
Of the 18 Navaratnas, SAIL, ONGC and NTPC met the stiff criteria set by the government, including a three-year track record of annual net profit of over Rs 5,000 crore, net worth of Rs 15,000 crore and turnover of Rs 25,000 crore, besides being listed entities in the bourses.
The coveted status empowers the boards of these firms to take investment decisions up to Rs 5,000 crore as against the present Rs 1,000 crore limit without seeking government approval. The Maharatna firms would now be free to decide on investments up to 15% of their net worth in a project, limited to an absolute ceiling of Rs 5,000 crore.
The Navaratna companies could invest up to Rs 1,000 crore without government approval.

Navratna CPSEs
Navratna was the title given originally to nine Public Sector Enterprises (PSEs), identified by the Government of India in 1997 as its most prestigious, which allowed them greater autonomy to compete in the global market.
The Navratna status is offered to PSEs, which gives a company enhanced financial and operational autonomy and empowers it to invest up to Rs. 1000 crore or 15% of their net worth on a single project without seeking government approval. In a year, these companies can spend up to 30% of their net worth not exceeding Rs. 1000 cr. They will also have the freedom to enter joint ventures, form alliances and float subsidiaries abroad.
Navratna status is conferred by Department of Public Enterprises. To be qualified as a Navratna, the company must obtain a score of 60 (out of 100). The score is based on six parameters which include net profit to net worth, total manpower cost to total cost of production or cost of services, PBDIT (Profit Before Depreciation, Interest and Taxes) to capital employed, PBDIT to turnover, EPS (Earning Per Share) and inter-sectoral performance. Additionally, a company must first be a Miniratna and have four independent directors on its board before it can be made a Navratna
Bharat Electronics Limited
Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited
Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited
Coal India Limited
GAIL (India) Limited
Hindustan Aeronautics Limited
Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited
Indian Oil Corporation Limited
Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited
National Aluminium Company Limited
NMDC Limited
Oil India Limited
Power Finance Corporation Limited
Power Grid Corporation of India Limited
Rural Electrification Corporation Limited
Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Limited
Shipping Corporation of India Limited

Miniratna Category - I CPSEs
Miniratnas can also enter into joint ventures, set subsidiary companies and overseas offices but with certain conditions. This designation applies to PSEs that have made profits continuously for the last three years or earned a net profit of Rs. 30 crore or more in one of the three years. These miniratnas granted certain autonomy like incurring capital expenditure without government approval up to Rs. 500 crore or equal to their net worth, whichever is lower.

1.Airports Authority of India
2.Balmer Lawrie & Co. Limited
3.Bharat Dynamics Limited
4.BEML Limited
5.Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited
6.Bongaigaon Refineries & Petrochemicals Limited
7.Central Warehousing Corporation
8.Central Coalfields Limited
9.Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited
10.Cochin Shipyard Limited
11.Container Corporation of India Limited
12.Dredging Corporation of India Limited
13.Engineers India Limited
14.Ennore Ports Limited
15.Garden Reach Shipbuilders & Engineers Limited
16.Goa Shipyard Limited
17.Hindustan Copper Limited
18.Hindustan Latex Limited
19.Hindustan Newsprint Limited
20.Hindustan Paper Corporation Limited
21.Housing & Urban Development Corporation Limited
22.India Tourism Development Corporation Limited
23.Indian Railway Catering & Tourism Corporation Limited
24.IRCON International Limited
25.Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Limited
26.Mazagaon Docks Limited
27.Mahanadi Coalfields Limited
28.Manganese Ore India Limited
29.Mangalore Refinery & Petrochemicals Limited
30.Mishra Dhatu Nigam Limited
31.MMTC Limited
32.MSTC Limited
33.National Fertilizers Limited
34.Neyveli Lignite Corporation
35.NHPC Limited
36.Northern Coalfields Limited
37.Numaligarh Refinery Limited
38.Rashtriya Chemicals & Fertilizers Limited
39.RITES Limited
40. Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited
41. Security Printing and Minting Corporation of India Limited
42. South Eastern Coalfields Limited
43. State Trading Corporation of India Limited
44.Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Limited
45.Telecommunications Consultants (India) Limited
46.Western Coalfields Limited


Miniratna Category-II CPSEs
This category include those PSEs which have made profits for the last three years continuously and should have a positive net worth. Category II miniratnas have autonomy to incurring the capital expenditure without government approval up to Rs. 300 crore or up to 50% of their net worth whichever is lower.

47.Broadcast Engineering Consultants (I) Limited
48.Central Mine Planning & Design Institute Limited
49.Educational Consultants (I) Limited
50.Engineering Projects (I) Limited
51.Ferro Scrap Nigam Limited
52.HMT (International) Limited
53.HSCC (India) Limited
54.India Trade Promotion Organization
55.Indian Medicines Pharmaceuticals Corporation Limited
56.M E C O N Limited
57.National Film Development Corporation Limited
58.P E C Limited
59.Rajasthan Electronics & Instruments Limited
60.Water & Power Consultancy (India) Limited

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Chairpersons of Important Commissions

Chairman of 13th Finance Commission of India: Dr. Vijay Kelkar
Chairman of 18th Law Commission of India: A. R. Lakshamanan
Chairman of National Knowledge Commission: Sam Pitroda
Chairman of National Farmer Commission: M.S. Swaminathan
Chairman of National Investment Commission: Ratan Tata
Chairperson of the National Commission for Women: Girija Vyas
Acting chairperson of National Human Rights Commission: G. P. Mathur
Chairman of National Commission for Minorities: Mohammed Shafi Qureshi
Chairman of the National Commission for Backward Classes: S. R. Pandian
Chairman of National Commission of Economically Backward Classes: S. R. Sinha
Chairman of National Commission of Scheduled Castes (SCs): Buta Singh
Chairman of National Commission of Scheduled Tribes (STs): Urmila Singh
Chairman of the Babri Masjid demolition issue: M.S. Liberhan
Chairman of 1993 Mumbai bomb blast case: Justice Sri Krishna
Chairman (part time) of Forest Commission of India: B.N. Kirpal
Chairman of Central Water Commission: A.K. Bajaj
Chairman of Company Law Board: S. Balasubramanium
Chairman of National Statistical Commission: R. Radhakrishna
Chairman of the Committee on the Fully Convertibility of Rupee/ Capital Account Convertibility:S. S. Tarapore
Chairman of the sixth pay commission: B. N. Srikrishna
Chairman of the committee appointed to study at the status of Muslims in India: Rajinder Sachar

Monday, April 5, 2010

Heads of Important Government Institutions and Organizations

Chief Justice of Supreme Court of India: K. G. Balakrishnan
Chairman of Sangeet Natak Academy: Ram Niwas Mirdha
President of Sahitya Academy: Sunil Gangopadhyay
Chairperson of Prasar Bharti : Mrinal Pande
Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharti of India: Baljeet Singh Lalli
Chairman of the Planning Commission of India : Dr. Manmohan Singh
Deputy chairman of the Planning Commission of India: Montek Singh Ahluwalia
President of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII): Venu Srinivasan
Director General of Confederation of Indian Industries (CII): Chandrajeet Banerjee
President of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industries (FICCI): Harsh Pati Singhania
President of National Association of Software and Service Companies(NASSCOM): Som Mittal
Chairman of National Association of Software and Service Companies(NASSCOM): Pramod Bhasin
Chairman of National School of Drama: Amal Allana
Comptroller & Auditor General of India (CAG): Vinod Rai
Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC): Pratyush Sinha
Director General of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research:Samir K. Brahmachari
Director of Indian Agriculture Research Institute(IARI): Hari Shankar Gupta
Chairman of the Election Commission / Chief Election Commissioner: Naveen Chawla
Attorney General of India: Goolam E. Vahanwati
Solicitor General of India : Gopal Subramanium
Law minister to the Government of India :- M. Veerappa Moily
Chairman of Life Insurance Corporation of India: T.S. Vijayan
Chairman cum Managing Director of (CMD) of General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC):Yogesh Lohia
Chairman of Insurance Regulatory & Development Authority (IRDA): J. Hari Narayan
Chairman of National Bank for Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD): Umesh Chandra Sarangi
Chairman of University Grants Commission (UGC): S.K. Thorat
Chairman of Press Trust of India (PTI): Vijay Kumar Chopra
Governor of Reserve Bank of India: D. Subbarao
Chairman of the State Bank of India: O.P. Bhatt
Secretary General of Lok Sabha: P.D.T. Achary
Speaker of the Lok Sabha: Meira Kumar
Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha: Kariya Munda
Chairman of the Rajya Sabha: Mohammad Hamid Ansari
Deputy chairman of the Rajya Sabha: K. Rahaman Khan
Secretary –General of the Rajya Sabha: Vivek Agnihotri
Chairperson of the Children Film Society of India: Nandita Das
Chairman of National Film Development Corporation of India: Manmohan Shetty
Chairman of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC): D. P. Aggarwal
Chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI): Dr. J.S. Sarma
Cabinet Secretary to the Government of India: K. M. Chandrashekhar
Chairman of Securities & Exchange Board of India (SEBI): C. B. Bhave
President of ASSOCHAM: Swati Piramal
Central Information Commissioner (CIC): Presently vacant
Chief of the Army Staff: V.K. Singh
Chief of the Air Staff: P. V. Naik
Chief of the Naval Staff: Nirmal Kumar Verma
Chief of the Integrated Defense staff: Suresh Chand Mukul
Director of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI): Ashwini Kumar
Chairman of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO): K. Radhakrishnan
Chairman of National Dairy Development Board (NDDB): Amrita Patel

Friday, April 2, 2010

Heads of Important International Organizations

1. United Nations Secretary – General: Ban-ki-Moon
2. President of the International Court of Justice: Hisashi Owada
3. Director – General of International Labor Organization (ILO): Juan Somavia
4. Director – General of Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO): Jacques Diouf
5. Director – General of World Health Organization (WHO): Dr. Margaret Chan
6. Head of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF): Ann Veneman
7. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): Antonio Guterres
8. Director – General of United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO):Irina Bokova
9. President of the World Bank (WB): Robert B. Zoellick
10. Managing Director the International Monetary Fund (IMF): Dominique Strauss Kahn
11. Director-General of World Trade Organization (WTO): Pascal Lamy
12. Head International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA): Mohamed El Baradei
13. Secretary – General of the Non Aligned Movement (NAM): Hosni Mubarak
14. Secretary – General of South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC): Sheel Kant Sharma
15. Chairman of South Asian Association for Regional Co-operation (SAARC): Mahinda Rajapaksa
16. Head of the Commonwealth of Nations: Queen Elizabeth-II
17. Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations: Kamalesh Sharma
18. Secretary General of Amnesty International: - Irene Zubaida Khan
19. Secretary – General of Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD):Jose Angel Gurria
20. Secretary General of Organization of Petroleum Exporting countries (OPEC): Abdalla–Salem–El-Badri
21. President of European Commission: Jose Manuel Durao Barroso
22. President International Olympic Committee (IOC): Jacques Rogge
23. President of International Cricket Council (ICC): David Morgan
24. Chief Executive Officer of International Cricket Council: Haroon Lorgat
25. President FIFA: Joseph Sepp Blatter
26. Chairman of Federal Reserve Bank of America: Ben Bernanke
27. President of the Asian Development Bank (ADB): Haruhiko Kuroda