7 MARCH 2014

Ø  Former Union Minister of State for Commerce D. Purandeswari said she was planning to join the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Ø  A day after the announcement of the general election schedule, stock indices rallied to end at an all-time high on Thursday. Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) went in for stock picking even as the rupee appreciated against the dollar in the wake of a sharp decline in current account deficit (CAD) in the third quarter of the current fiscal. The BSE 30-share Sensitive Index (Sensex) closed at 21513.87 with a gain of 237.01 or 1.11 per cent. Among the broader indices, BSE-100 was up by 1.27 per cent and BSE 200 and BSE 500 by 1.24 per cent each. The rally was broad-based, as the mid-cap stocks gained 1.21 per cent.On the National Stock Exchange, the 50-share Nifty gained by 72.50 points or 1.15 per cent to close at 6401.15.

Ø  At Graphic Era University here as Arvind Mishra, a young assistant professor of Mechanical Engineering, broke the Guinness record of 121 hours in the non-stop lecturing category at 7.01 a.m on Thursday. Arvind had logged 130 hours of non-stop lecturing at 4.00 p.m. and hopes to continue to set a new record by logging in an extra 60 hours, 

Ø  For the first time in the electoral history of the country, candidates will have the option of e-filing their affidavits in the coming Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. The mandatory affidavits (Form 26), to be submitted at the time of filing nomination papers, include information on the candidate’s assets (movable and immovable property), property and accounts abroad, liabilities, educational qualifications and criminal antecedents, if any, and the name of the spouse and dependents.

Ø  The Indian Ocean-centred maritime security trilateral among India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives will be expanded to include two more island countries. Seychelles and Mauritius attended the third meeting of the trilateral & are interested to join it.

Ø  India called for elections and a dialogue between Ukraine and other countries involved in the crisis there but left unstated New Delhi’s concern over Kiev’s control of its military industrial complex, with which India has developed close ties. Of immediate concern is the fate of some military equipment factories from where India is getting its entire fleet of medium military transport aircraft modernised. Another Ukrainian military facility provides engines for military helicopters of Russian origin, which account for a quarter of the world’s medium, medium-heavy and heavy lift helicopters. India also has contracts for sourcing naval engines. India had managed to strike deals with these companies as an alternative to Russia. It has in the past managed to play off the two countries and get the best possible deal. The breakthrough came during ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yankovich's visit to India in December 2012 with the signing of a defence cooperation agreement. It is a sign of Ukraine's importance to India's military modernisation that the Indian embassy in Kiev has two military officers of First Secretary rank and one of Second Secretary rank. The visit led to the doubling of imports in the past two years with expectations of a further jump if the new political dispensation remained as favourable as Mr. Yankovich and control some of these military-industrial complexes.

Ø  China on Wednesday announced its biggest hike in military spending in three years, with its defence budget set to cross $130 billion in the coming year. China’s spending now dwarfs that of most countries in the region, and is second only to the United States, which spends more than $600 billion on defence. India’s effective defence spending in dollar terms actually fell from last year, down to $36.2 billion from $37.5 billion.