12 March 2013 Current Affairs
Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad airports among top 5 in the world
Airports of Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad are among the top five airports in the world providing international standard services.Airports Council International (ACI), a global body of airports, has adjudged Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport as second best after Seoul’s Incheon airport in the category of airports handling 25-40 million passengers per annum (MPPA) for their service quality for the year 2012.Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji International airport was adjudged the third best in this category.Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International airport (RGI) has bagged the second position for their service quality in the category of five to 15 MPPA. Japan’s Nagoya airport was adjudged the best in this category.In the Asia-Pacific region, Delhi airport was adjudged as fourth in the Best Airports by Region (fewer than two million passengers per year) category. Seoul’s Incheon ranked first, Singapore’s Changi second and Beijing was placed at the third spot.
Gujarat Tops in FMCG Consumption
On 12 March According to the ‘Evolution of Indian Rural Markets During 2004-05 to 2009-10’ report released by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) , Gujarat has garnered maximum growth in per capita food and non-food consumption expenditure across the country between FY05 and FY10 with growth rate of about 28% and 33% respectively. Besides registering a growth of about 24.69%, Gujarat has also topped in terms of household consumption of fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) during the five-year period.West Bengal has seen least growth of just about 1.6% and about 8% in per-capita food and non-food consumption expenditure, respectively.The per capita food and non-food consumption expenditure across India has increased at over 14% and 17%, respectively, between FY05 and FY10
Japan Pioneers Gas Extraction From Seafloor Methane Hydrate
On 12 March Japan has become the first country in the world to extract natural gas from frozen methane hydrate successfully off the central coast.Deposits of methane hydrate, a frozen gas sometimes referred to as “flammable ice” .State-owned Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC) a successful test drilling at an offshore methane hydrate deposit located about 50 kilometers away from Japan’s main island of Honshu, in the Nankai Trough.According to the Japanese study, it was estimated that around 1.1tn cubic metres of methane hydrate existed in the offshore deposits. This is equal to the gas consumption of Japan in more than 10 years.