We are approaching end of 2008, a rather eventful year round the globe. Global meltdown, terrorism, US presidential elections were the major events that dominated most of year 2008. The global economy since surfacing of the sub-prime issue has been under real pressure. We saw Lehman Brothers an institution built over 150 years collapse, and had it not been for US government we could have easily witnessed few more leading financial institutions becoming history. The prime agenda for G-20 nations is to drive the world economy out of the impeding recession. We have seen some countries like US, UK , France , Germany Japan, China and India come out with a financial stimulus package to drive demand and encourage growth, and hopefully favorable results will show up during first half of 2009. This is trying time for all Corporate(s), irrespective of their size or nature of businesses. Companies which are able to sail through this rough weather will be those which are efficient, have low or no flab, cost-conscious and productivity driven. Let us all make a resolve to keep our company right-sized and agile to counter these challenges.

Terrorism has been a menace since last few decades, and the form and shape it has taken today makes one believe that NO ONE is safe. Aftermath of 26/11 - Mumbai blast, will hopefully make us more Security conscious then ever before. As responsible citizens let us get our act together and support our Government agencies by being vigilant and watchful of activities that happen around us.

The way events have unfolded during 2008, I'll not risk predicting what holds in for us during 2009. However, No matter how unpredictable the situation be, we should all pledge to give our best shot to ensure that we come out stronger than ever before. Best Wishes for 2009!!!

Which famous cine-personality was honoured posthumously with the Dada Saheb Phalke Award ?

Send your answers to ritsreporter@roseint.com by December 30th. One person with the correct answer will be randomly chosen to receive a gift. GOOD LUCK!!!

Diwali or Deepawali, is also known as the Festival of Lights. Sanskrit word "Deepavali" - Deepa meaning light and Avali, meaning a row. During the Festival of Lights, 'deeps', or oil lamps, are burned throughout the day and into the night to ward off darkness and evil. Deepawali- Festival of lights was celebrated at RITS on 27 th October, 2008. Celebrations were carried out with great vitality and vigour and were started with lightning of diya followed by Ganesh Laxmi poojan so as to bring in wealth and prosperity. Whole of the premises were lightened with oil lamps (Diyas) and decorated by RITSIANS.

Celebration was even more charged when we started with gift distribution and the games like Khelo and Jeeto in which RITSIANS participated with great enthusiasm and their energy was recharged with an exclusive dinner hosted by ROSE CLUB. The feeling of togetherness and vivacity that is innate to the festival of lights was the true essence spread by RITS. Every RITSIAN wished RITS to prosper and may Mahalakshmi stays here forever and ever.

Credit was first used in Assyria, Babylon and Egypt 3000 years ago. The bill of exchange - the forerunner of banknotes - was established in the 14th century. Debts were settled by one-third cash and two-thirds bill of exchange. Paper money followed only in the 17th century.

The first advertisement for credit was placed in 1730 by Christopher Thornton, who offered furniture that could be paid off weekly.

From the 18th century until the early part of the 20th, tallymen sold clothes in return for small weekly payments. They were called "tallymen" because they kept a record or tally of what people had bought on a wooden stick. One side of the stick was marked with notches to represent the amount of debt and the other side was a record of payments. In the 1920s, a shopper's plate - a "buy now, pay later" system - was introduced in the USA . It could only be used in the shops which issued it.

In 1950, Diners Club and American Express launched their charge cards in the USA , the first "plastic money". In 1951, Diners Club issued the first credit card to 200 customers who could use it at 27 restaurants in New York . But it was only until the establishment of standards for the magnetic strip in 1970 that the credit card became part of the information age.

The first use of magnetic stripes on cards was in the early 1960's, when the London Transit Authority installed a magnetic stripe system. San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit installed a paper based ticket the same size as the credit cards in the late 1960's.

The word credit comes from Latin, meaning "trust".

Cheques (checks) came into use in 1875.