Quick notes: FDI in R&D, Safer Cars...

• Low-end wart in FDI in research: Most of the activities in Indian R&D centres of Foreign corporations are relatively unimportant with little long-term gains for the country. “Foreign corporations believe our educational system probably does not inculcate the skills for innovation.”  (... Macaulay's children, not supposed to think original)



• A proposal to force Reliance Industries to give up 86 per cent of eastern offshore KG-D6 gas block, including 8 gas discoveries worth at least $8 billion, has been put up to Petroleum Minister.



• NYT Editorial: India in Reverse: Mr. Singh has been an ineffectual leader without much authority. The real power is held by his political patron, Sonia Gandhi, who leads the Indian National Congress Party, which has expressed little concern for the country’s ailing economy. In the nine years that the coalition government has been in power, several ministers have resigned in corruption scandals; large infrastructure projects have been delayed by mismanagement; the government’s budget deficit has ballooned, thanks to wasteful spending like subsidies for diesel fuel; and politics have thwarted reforms in labor and education.



• Why Electric Cars Are Safer: “An engine block is just too rigid. So the shock wave is pretty much transferred to the area directly behind the engine, with minimal energy absorption.”



• How to make Eco friendly Ganesha: