New

(Daily Information Capsules for all those who want to fathom learning in all its depths)

Date: 4 November 2008

(To be used by faculty members
AND
a copy to be kept for students’ reference in the Library too)

Download from:-
http://www.pteducation.com/drishti.aspx

CONTENTS

The following pages contain:

Pool of Knowledge
™ News in Brief
™ Brand Icons
™ Business Trivia

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 Pool of Knowledge

News in Brief: Business & Economy

™ Pizza Hut will change its name to Pasta Hut in 30 select outlets in the UK as part of a £100-million revamp
after rebranding itself in Canada earlier this year, in an attempt to attract new customers and to move more
upmarket.

™ Real estate firm Tata Housing Development Company signed Kapil Dev as its brand ambassador for
endorsing its housing project in Haryana which is incidentally his homeland.

™ Bharti Enterprises flagship Bharti Airtel Limited launched its direct to home (DTH) satellite TV service Airtel
digital TV through retail points nationwide including Airtel Relationship Centres.

™ Shah Rukh Khan’s Red Chillies Entertainment has decided to make a major foray into television show
productions through a separate entity called ‘Idiot Box’.

™ Formula One team Force India’s owner Vijay Mallya is inking a shirt sponsorship deal with English
Championship club Queens Park Rangers. Mallya, who sponsors Kolkata clubs Mohun Bagan and East
Bengal, is close to agreeing a five-year $35-million deal to advertise his Kingfisher beer on the players’
shirts and a naming rights deal for the Loftus Road stadium to be named after Kingfisher brand.

™ Nokia has decided to launch its first touchscreen phone in India. The Finnish handset major will position
the phone—Nokia 5800—under its music platform XpressMusic series. Nokia is also planning to bundle
exclusive content featuring its brand ambassador Shah Rukh Khan for handsets sold in India. It has
recently bundled the full length ‘Om Shanti Om’ movie in Nokia N96.

™ Porsche sold 101 vehicles in India in 2007 including Cayman SUV, Boxster and Carrera 911.

™ Mudra Group has launched a new event solutions unit, Celsius, which will focus on providing brand-related
event management services.

™ The Australian unit of HJ Heinz Co will buy food producer Golden Circle in a deal valuing the canned fruit
and juice producer at $220 million.

™ The promoters behind DreamWorks SKG and Viacom Inc. owned Paramount Pictures sealed their
parting of ways in a move that allows the Dream-Works studio co-founded by director Steven Spielberg to tie
up with Reliance ADA Group of India to start a new film company.

™ DreamWorks co-founder David Geffen will not join the new company. Paramount will permit the Reliance-
backed venture to co-finance several projects to which Spielberg is attached.

™ Spielberg will continue to produce the Transformers franchise for Paramount and will also collaborate on
three other Paramount films including, "When Worlds Collide."

™ Essar obtained the naming rights for Sault Ste. Marie’s ice-hockey sports stadium in Canada that was
renamed Essar centre. The stadium is home to the ice-hockey team Soo Greyhounds.

™ Abuljadayel Beverages Inc, a Jeddah-based beverages manufacturer, announced the launch of its energy
drink – Bison – in the Indian market, priced at Rs 75 for a 250 ml can.

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™ ACC Ltd has embarked on a Project Orchid to convert its Mumbai headquarters ‘Cement House’, built in
1939 based on a design by Ballardie Thompson and Mathews, into a green building.

™ Luxury retail chain Good Earth from the $600-million Eicher Group will launch its flagship store in
Singapore in November.

™ Tiruchirapalli Regional Engineering College Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Park (Trec-Step) has
won the World Bank’s Development Marketplace Award 2008 for its project on mini cold storage ventures.

™ Kiah, the diamond retail arm of Rs 1,300 crore Mumbai-based Sheetal group, is planning to open 30 retail
stores of ‘Kiah Diamond Jewellery’ by the end of 2009.

™ Apollo Health and Lifestyle Ltd (AHLL) is developing a state-of-the-art birthing centre, christened 'The
Cradle'.

™ The IT department of the Orissa government has teamed up with software major Tata Consultancy
Services (TCS) for an e-governance project termed Orissa Secretariat Workflow Automation System
(OSWAS).

™ The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) announced a 50-basis-point reduction in the cash reserve ratio (CRR), or
the proportion of deposits banks must keep with the central bank, from 9 per cent to 8.5 per cent. The cut,
the first such step by RBI Governor D Subbarao, will release around Rs 20,000 crore into the system. This
is the first CRR reduction since June 14, 2003, when it was lowered by 25 basis points to 2.50 per cent.

™ Australian importers have begun withdrawing Kirin Milk Tea made in China after Australian test results
showed high levels of melamine in the product available in Australia, Food Standards Australia New
Zealand (FSANZ) said.

™ IT major Wipro’s promoter Azim Premji is investing Rs 80 crore to acquire a significant minority stake in
Carnation Auto, a company floated by Jagdish Khattar, former managing director of Maruti Suzuki India.
Khattar has planned an investment of Rs 1,000 crore in the next five years to launch a countrywide multi-
brand automobile sales & service network.

™ BVR Subbu, former president of Hyundai Motors, who set up Argentum Motors to contract manufacture
for large car makers, has floated another company, Altius Autoworld, in a joint venture with Japanese giant
Gulliver International to provide after-sales service for luxury cars and heavy commercial vehicles.

™ Ultra Motor India (UMI), a wholly owned subsidiary of Ultra Motor Company of UK, plans to launch Lithium-
ion charged light electric vehicles (LEV) in India The two UMI models Marathon and Velociti launched this
year run on lead-acid batteries that need to be replaced once in two years. Ultra started off with a technical
collaboration and joint marketing tie-up with Hero Cycles. After the disengagement of the partnership in
April 2008, ‘Maxi’, low-speed scooter remained with Hero Cycles.

™ Orissa, the state textile and handlooms department has identified eight handloom sub-products in the Orissa
Ikat category for geographic indications (GI) registration. These include Sambalpuri tie and dye, Nuapatna
tie and dye, Bomkai design, Pasapalli design, Khandua fabrics at Nuapatna, Berhampur Kumbha
sarees, Dholapathar temple designs and Gita Gobinda designs.

™ The MP government has cleared the single bid of Bombay-based Zoom Developers as a co-developer of
its Indore based Crystal IT Park.

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™ McDowell’s No 1, the flagship brand of United Spirits, has unveiled McDowell’s No 1 Friendzy, a
friendship carnival in Kolkata as part of its brand building exercise during Durga Puja.

™ Yes Bank, a private sector bank, has announced the launch of Money Monitor which has been developed
by Yodlee, a US-based software product firm.

™ Russian telecom giant Sistema is planning to invest over $1.5 billion in the Indian telecom space over the
next year. The company, through Shyam Telelink (STL), its joint venture with Shyam Telecom, formally
launched CDMA mobile services in set the ball rolling to introduce services in Rajasthan under the brand
name “Rainbow”.

™ Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has initiated a pilot project along with United Nations' World Food
Programme (WFP), Government of India and Government of Orissa in order to improve the public
distribution system (PDS) and reduce pilferage.

™ A record 132 drivers took part in the tenth Maruti Raid De Himalaya rally which ran two independent race
formats concurrently. The sheer speed version is called ‘X_TREME’, while the ‘time, speed and distance’
version is called ‘ADVENTURE TRIAL’. Maruti Suzuki is the main sponsor, while State Bank of India,
Himachal Pradesh tourism department and Jammu & Kashmir tourism department are the co-sponsors.

™ Seagate has launched “FreeAgent Go” external hard drives are the slimmest in the industry.

™ MCX Stock Exchange (MCX-SX) became the third stock exchange after National Stock Exchange and
Bombay Stock Exchange to launch currency futures trading in India.

™ Nokia has launched a consumer interaction platform – MyNokia, where the users of Nokia get to write about
their experiences with the gadget.

™ ITC Ltd plans to foray into the use of wind energy in its packaging and printing business. The company has
commissioned a 14-MW wind energy project in Tamil Nadu.

™ The European Union signed a Horizontal Agreement with India that treats EU as one bloc and allows
multi-modal transportation in one ticket. If a passenger wants to travel to Berlin but an Indian carrier does
not fly there, then the Indian airline will be allowed to sell a ticket to a city where it flies and also ground
transportation to reach Berlin on the same ticket.

™ Sachin Tendulkar has joined golfer Jack Nicklaus and Formula 1 champion Jackie Stewart as brand
ambassadors of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS).

™ Samsung India has roped ace shooter Abhinav Bindra as its brand ambassador for its consumer
electronics business.

™ Hindustan Motors has unveiled Mitsubishi Corporation’s sports utility vehicle Outlander in India.
Hindustan Motors, which produces and markets Mitsubishi range of models, currently sells sports utility
vehicle like Montero, Pajero and sedans including Cedia and Lancer.

™ Cigarette company Godfrey Philips has launched its Funda Mint mouth fresheners in two variants –
Double Thanda and Saunf Fresh.

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™ GTC (formerly known as Golden Tobacco Company), which has brands such as Chancellor and Panama,
is trying out its ‘diet cigarette’ product, Diet Blue, which it claims is less harmful than the normal ones.
™ Aditya Khaitan promoted McLeod Russel India has decided to acquire 100 per cent equity in Phu Ben
Tea Co of Vietnam through its wholly-owned UK-based subsidiary Borelli Tea Holdings Ltd.

™ Rajendra Singh Lodha, a renowned chartered accountant and heir to Priyamvada Birla’s Rs. 5,000-crore
MP Birla Group legacy, died of suspected heart attack in London at the age of 66.

™ The World Bank has celebrated Gandhi Jayanti for the first time in its 64-year history with its president,
Robert Zoellick, saying that the institution can draw lessons in leadership from the Mahatma’s legacy.

™ Targeting young women customers, sandalwood products major Karnataka Soaps and Detergents has
launched a turmeric soap and herbal liquid hand wash under its Wave brand. It plans to focus more on soap
bars, shower gels, body spray and talcum power.

™ About 95 per cent of farmers from 22 villages in Pen taluka of Raigad district have voted against giving up
their land for the Reliance Group-promoted Mumbai Special Economic Zone.

News in Brief: India

™ The UGC Pay Review Committee has recommended a hike of over 70 per cent in the pay of university and
college teachers, besides allowances. The panel, headed by G.K. Chadha, submitted its report to UGC
chairman S.K. Thorat.

™ The government has approved raising the income criterion for the creamy layer among the Other
Backward Classes (OBC) from Rs. 2.5 lakh to 4.5 lakh a year. This will help in bringing more people under
the reservation category.

™ The Union government has approved the upgrading and creation of about 2,000 senior-level posts in the
armed forces based on the Ajay Vikram Singh (AVS) Committee recommendations.

™ The Time has named environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal as one of the 30 “Heroes of
Environment” for cleaning up Punjab’s Kali Bein.

™ The first Genomic Pioneer Award from India was given to Dr Srikanta Kumar Rath of the Central Drug
Research Institute (CDRI), Lucknow. The Hyderabad-based Ocimum Biosolutions has instituted the
Genomic Pioneer Awards for outstanding work in genomic research.

™ The United Nations has chosen Sulabh International as one of the 50 most successful business models
targeting the poor. The U.N. Development Programme’s latest report, “Creating value for all: Strategies
for doing business with the poor,” reviews Sulabh International’s role in transforming the lives of
scavengers in India.

News in Brief: World

™ Germany’s Harald zur Hausen and French researchers Francoise Barre-Sinoussi and Luc Montagnier
shared the 2008 Nobel Prize for medicine.

™ Peter Mandelson, one of the most controversial figures of the Blair era and currently the European Union’s
Trade Commissioner, is back in government, seven years after he was forced to resign over allegations that
he tried to fast-track Indian businessman S.P. Hinduja’s application for a British passport.

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™ Ian Blair, the controversial head of Scotland Yard, was asked to resign by London’s Tory Mayor and his
immediate boss Boris Johnson who told him that he did not enjoy his confidence. This follows a wave of
damaging headlines about Ian’s conduct including allegations of racism and his role in the controversy over
the way his officers shot dead an innocent Brazilian youth Jean Charles de Menezes in a London
Underground station in July 2005 after mistaking him for a terrorist.

Brand Icons

SpiceJet

™ Punchline-Flying for everyone

™ SpiceJet was incorporated in 1984 in the name of Genius Leasing Finance and Investment Co.
™ 1993 onwards, it ventured into domestic aviation operations under the name M.G. Express.
™ The name of the company was changed to ModiLuft from M.G. Express
in 1994.
™ The company had a tie-up with Lufthansa for services and maintenance.
™ The company went defunct and suspended its operations in 1996.
™ It restarted operations in 2005 under the name of SpiceJet.
™ SpiceJet was earlier known as Royal Airways, (the only listed airline company in India at that time) a
reincarnation of ModiLuft. It was promoted by Ajay Singh, Sanjay Malhotra and the Kansagra family.
™ SpiceJet marked its entry in service with Rs. 99 fares for the first 99 days, with 9000 seats available at this
rate in 2005.
™ Domestic TravInsure is the insurance policy for SpiceJet passengers introduced by TATA AIG General
Insurance Co.
™ In 2008, Billionaire Wilbur Ross invested $80 million in SpiceJet.
™ SpiceJet has appointed Ink Publishing to produce its inflight magazine Spiceroute
™ The IndiGo Star Card is pre-loaded with six one-way flight trips, it can be used to fly on any IndiGo sector
and it costs Rs 46800/-.

Jet Airways

™ Jet Airways commenced operations in 1993.

™ Jet Airways has JetPrivilege Blue Plus, Gold, Silver and Platinum Card members

™ Passengers can book, pay and generate eTickets on their phones by downloading the JetWallet application
on to their GPRS enabled phones. Once JetWallet is installed, passengers can use the same for booking
tickets, pay using credit cards and generate an eTickets.

™ The JetPrivilege program has five membership levels.

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™ JetPrivilege members can earn JPMiles on Jet Airways and its airline partners.

™ iXPLOR, an innovative moving map that gives locational insights into the flight plan is available to all
the passengers.
™ In 2006, Gulf Air and Kuwait Airways sold their stakes to Naresh Goyal who then became the airline's
sole shareholder.

™ Jet Airways Citibank Credit Cards (JACC) is a co-branded credit card

™ “JetElite Surprizes”: Jet Airways partnered with Contests2win.com to present the JetElite Surprizes on
board Jet Airways flights. ICL Cricket Meri Life hai is the most recent one.

™ In-flight magazine: JetWings

™ In-flight shopping catalogue: JetBoutique
™ In-flight audio-video entertainment: JetScreen

Kingfisher Airlines

™ Skytrax, a UK-based body which carries out international passenger surveys, ranks Kingfisher as one of
only six airlines in the world to carry its 5 Star rating
™ Fun TV is in-flight entertainment service while Hi Blitz is the in-flight magazine
™ King Club, the frequent-flyer program of Kingfisher Airlines, has joined Hilton HHonors®. HHonors
members can now earn both HHonors points and King Miles for the same stay at more than 3,000 Hilton
hotels worldwide.
™ American Express Kingfisher Airlines Corporate Card is Indian aviation’s first charge card that offers
corporates a rebate on Kingfisher Airlines air travel which is charged to the card.
™ Kingfisher Airlines has a mega offer for all frequent flyers across airlines in India- the Kingfisher Airlines
Mega Mile Move (MMM) Offer

Business Trivia
™ Ajit N Haksar was the first Indian chairman of Imperial Tobacco Company (ITC), currently known as
Indian Tobacco Company. He has authored the book “Bite the bullet: Thirty-four years with ITC”.

™ Kiran Majumdar Shaw specialised in Malting and Brewing Technology at Ballarat College Melbourne,
Australia before launching Biocon India.

™ Purshotamdas Thakurdas was the first president of industry association, Federation of Indian Chambers of
Commerce & Industry (FICCI) in 1927.

™ Wagons and boilers were the first products manufactured by Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company
(TELCO) that started off in 1945 and is now known as Tata Motors.

™ TV Sundaram Iyengar started off as a distributor of imported cars in 1920s and acquired the sole selling
agency of US automobile giant, General Motors in 1930.

™ Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company (TELCO), now known as Tata Motors, entered into
collaboration with Daimler Benz for making commercial vehicles in 1953 (the collaboration agreement
ended in 1969).

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™ Gujarat based pharmaceutical company Torrent was set up by Uttambhai Mehta, a medical
representative who had to quite his job at Sandoz (India) because of his illness.
™ Rajmitra B. D. Amin is the founder of Alembic. Paras Pharma was founded by three brothers, Girish,
Darshan and Devendra Patel. Dilip S. Shanghvi is founder of Sun Pharmaceuticals.

™ Satish Kaura founded Samtel Color, the largest integrated manufacturer of Colour Picture Tubes (CPT)
for television sets in India, in 1973.

™ Morarji Desai removed JRD Tata from the chairmanship of Air India, a position he held ever since the
airline was born in 1932, as soon as he came to power in 1978.

™ The Tatas acquired the shares of their partner the British firm, James Finlay & Company in their joint
venture Tata Finlay and renamed it Tata Tea subsequently.

™ Jay Engineering Works, belonging to Lala Shri Ram’s DCM Group, was India’s first maker of sewing
machines.

™ The Birlas broke the European monopoly in manufacture of paper in India by setting up the Orient Paper
Mill in 1936.

™ Inventions made by James Hargreaves (invented the Spinning Jenny in 1777), Samuel Crompton (1779)
and Edmund Cartwright (invented the powerloom in 1783) revolutionized the Textiles industry?

™ Jamnalal Bajaj founded Hindustan Sugar Mills in 1932 and acquired a steel rolling mill, Mukund Iron &
Steel Works in 1937 with Jeevanlal Motichand.

™ Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd (BPCL), renamed in 1977, was earlier known as Standard Vacuum Oil
Company.

™ Hindalco was launched in collaboration with Kaiser Corporation of the United States at Renukoot in Uttar
Pradesh in 1958.

™ Aditya Vikram Birla adopted overseas expansion as an integral element of his overall strategy to get
around the constricting business climate in India. Indo-Thai Synthetics set up in Bangkok in 1969 was his
first overseas venture.

™ Merger of Ballarpur Paper & Straw Board Mills Ltd and Shree Gopal Paper Mills created Ballarpur
Industries Ltd in 1969; currently India’s largest manufacturer of paper.

™ Mafatlal group set up National Organic Chemical Industries (NOCIL) and Polyolefins Industries Ltd (PIL)
with American and German collaboration respectively in the 1960s.

™ Walchand Hirachand began building his empire by entering areas of enterprise that challenged British
monopolies in India and set up companies such as Hindustan Construction Company, Hindustan
Aeronautics (later nationalized by the govt), Scindia Shipping and the Ravalgaon Sugar Farm Ltd.
™ Ramkrishna Dalmia

™ Ramkrishna Dalmia bought Bennett Coleman & Company (the publishers of Times of India), currently
owned by descendants of his son-in-law, from its British owners just after independence.

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™ South India based business family Seshasayees set up FACT (Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore Ltd)
in 1943. The company was later nationalized by the govt of India and is one of the largest fertilizer
companies in the country.
™ Atlas Cycles was founded by Janki Das Kapur in 1951.

™ Kirloskar Oil Engines Ltd was the first company set up by industrialist Shantanu Laxamanrao Kirloskar.

™ Sassoon & Co sold off Raymond Woollen Mills, India’s most famous textile brand, to Singhania brothers
just after independence.

™ Gujarat based Cadila was founded by Ramanbhai B. Patel and Indravadan Modi in 1952. Cadila
Healthcare split into Zydus Cadila (Modi) and Cadila Pharmaceuticals (Patel) in 1992 following
differences between the two founders.

™ Starting with one-third stake in Williamson Magor, Brij Mohan Kahitan became its 100% owner and the
biggest individual tea planter in the world in 1950s.

™ Overseas Communications Service (OCS) was renamed as Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL) by the
govt of India on April 1, 1986.

™ India’s first integrated steel plant in the public sector set up in 1953 in Rourkela by public sector
Hindustan Steel Ltd (renamed as Steel Authority of India Ltd in 1973) in technical collaboration with
German steelmakers Thyssen Krupp and Demag. Tata Iron and Steel (now known as Tata Steel) and
Indian Iron & Steel Company (IISCO-later nationalised) were the two private sector steel plants functioning
at that time.

™ Sayaji Rao Gaekwad of the Gaekwad dynasty founded the Bank of Baroda in July 1908.

™ The origin of Ashok Leyland can be traced to the urge for self-reliance, felt by independent India. Pandit
Jawaharlal Nehru, India's first Prime Minister persuaded Raghunandan Saran, an industrialist, to enter
automotive manufacture. In 1948, Ashok Motors was set up in what was then Madras, for the assembly of
Austin Cars. The Company's destiny and name changed soon with equity participation by British Leyland
and Ashok Leyland commenced manufacture of commercial vehicles in 1955.

™ Prakash Tandon was appointed as the first Indian chairman of Hindustan Lever Ltd (currently known as
Hindustan Unilever Ltd), in 1951.

™ United Commercial Bank was founded by Ghanshyam Das Birla in 1943.

™ Alembic is the oldest pharmaceutical company in India (founded in 1907) and is most famous for its
Glycodin cough syrup.
™ Walchand Hirachand, Tulsidas Kilachand and Dharmsey Mulraj Khatau joined hands to launch Premier
Automobiles Ltd in 1944 which was India’s second car manufacturer after Hindustan Motors of Birlas in
1941. Chrysler Corporation provided the technology.

™ GD Birla acquired the Century Spinning & Weaving Mills from Chunnilal Mehta in 1951 which was
originally founded by the Wadia family in 1898 in Mumbai.

™ Soon after the end of World War I Walchand Hirachand joined hands with the Tatas to establish Tata
Construction Company. He later bought of the Tatas’ stake and renamed it Premier Construction
Company in 1930.

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™ Walchand Hirachand founded the Scindia Steam Navigation Company in association with Narottam
Morarjee, Kilachand Devchand and Lallubhai Samaldas in 1919.

™ M. A. Chidambaram started his industrial career with the manufacture of scooters in 1957 under the brand
“Lambretta” in collaboration with an Italian Company at his Bombay based company Automobile Products
of India-the first to produce scooters in the country.

™ Nandlal Dhoot launched the Videocon Group in collaboration with Toshiba to produce colour televisions in
the 1980s.

™ TCS is the world’s first organization to achieve an enterprise-wide Maturity Level 5 on CMMI® and P-
CMM® based on SCAMPISM, the most rigorous assessment methodology. ‘Experience Certainty’ is the
punch line of TCS.

™ Nirma founder Karsanbhai Patel was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Florida Atlantic University in
the year 2001 in recognition of his accomplishments as a philanthropist and businessman. Patel introduced
Nirma at Rs 3 kg when the next brand Surf was priced at Rs 13 per kg

™ Nirma Education & Research Foundation (NERF) runs various institution bodies such as Institute of
Technology, Institute of Management, Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences and Institute of Diploma
Engineering.

™ Chanasma Ruppur Gram Vikas Trust in Mehsana is a Nirma initiative that provides education,
maintenance of public health and related facilities in rural areas

™ Thierry Henry, Roger Federer, Tiger Woods and Rahul Dravid appear together in Gillette advertisement.

™ P&G runs a charitable organization known as The United Way, is the leading community-based fund-raiser
in the United States.

The dismal science: Economist Thomas Malthus (1766-1834) believed that

human population grows exponentially (1, 2, 4, 8 . . .) but resources, particularly
agricultural resources, grow only arithmetically (1, 2, 3, 4 . . .) so that eventually food
shortages must reduce the majority of people to starvation. Malthus acknowledged the
role of plagues, wars, and epidemics in containing overpopulation. From these ideas,
economics earned its name as “the dismal science.”

™ Edwin Howard Armstrong (1890–1954) was an American electrical engineer

who invented the frequency modulation (FM) radio as well as AM while working at the
RCA (Radio Corporation of America).
™ The IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest recognition of the Institute of Electrical and
Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It has been awarded once each year since 1917, when its
first recipient was Major Edwin H. Armstrong.

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