Friday, October 28th, 2011

HEADLINES

• Figures back case for arm roll back in Kashmir
• AFSPA in Kashmir within the purview of the home ministry – Army chief
• Rajat Gupta freed on a $10 million bail.
• Jihadis in Pakistan protests Islamabad's move to provide Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Delhi Model of planning proposed for Chennai.
  • A large area around Chennai is set to be designated as one single urban unit for planning purposes.
  • The regional model planned is along the lines of NCR(National capital Region)
    
    
• National Entrance test for MBBS
  • A national Entrance test for MBBS seats will be conducted from next year by the MCI
  • The exams will be conducted by the CBSE(Central Board of Secondary Education) on behalf of the MCI
  • Councelling and the selections will be done by the state governments

• Nilgiri Langurs Continue to be hunter – Wildlife Institute of India (WII)
  • Despite the implementation of wildlife protection act of 1972 for Nilgiri Langurs, the bird is continued to be hunted for the preparation of crude medicines
  • They find a place in the red list of the international Union for Conservation of Nature(IUCN) that includes vulnerable animals
    
    
• CAG to audit rural development expenditure
  • The ministry of rural development has said the details of the audit to be done by CAG will be revealed to all the states.
  • CAG to performance audit in eleven states, and also will appoint special accountant generals for auditing rural development expenditure.

• PETA(People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) opposes marine park in Sindhudurg
  • The state government of Maharashtra has proposed a marine park in Sindhudurg on the lines of the sea world, a chain of marine national parks and oceanariums in US.
  • According to PETA those animals which are supposed to swim across the entire oceans should not be put inside concrete tanks and this reduce their life terms greatly.

• Rise in crime graph by five percent in 2010.
  • Cases of crime under various categories in the country has increased by about 5 percent last year as compared to 2009, according to a publication by a National Crime Records Bureau(NCRB)
  • NCRB publishes “Crime in India” a yearly magazine having the compilation and analysis of crime statistics on various types of crimes which had taken place each year.
  • The bureau has also been bringing out another edition showing the accidental deaths and suicides.

• Assemblies cannot seek clemency for death row convicts
  • The legislative assemblies of states have no power to request the president to consider a mercy petition says former secretary general of Lok shaba
  • According to law the state legislatures can consider a matter through a resolution only if it was within the state's jurisdiction
  • Unlike in the US, India has left even the residuary powers with the parliament and not with the state legislatures

• Sotheby's to auction Vereschagin's Indian work
  • A giant painting of New Delhi's Moti Masjid, the most accomplished work of Russian artist Vasili vasilevich vereschagin's will be the highlight of the sotheby's auction
  • Vereschagin's Indian series features numerous depictions of architectural monuments, all of which were realistically captured.

• India lobbies for Australian Uranium
  • India plans to use the opportunity of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting(CHOGM) to lobby for the change in Australia's uranium exports policy of banning sales to India
  • India is being represented by Vice president Hamid Ansari
  • In the CHOGM there is a strong push among certain countries to have a human rights monitor in the commonwealth.But India's view point is that such a move would duplicate the work of the UN
  • Food and energy security, the global economic situation and terrorism are likely to be in the agenda for CHOGM.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Gala concert at the reopening of the Bolshoi
  • The world renowned Bolshoi theatre in Russia will be reopened after 6 years of reconstruction and repair work
  • The inaugural concert will be attended by Vladimir Putin and Dmitry medvedev.

• Deal brings relief to Euro zone
  • Leaders of the 17 euro zone nations agreed on a three pronged approach to solve the euro crisis
    • wipe off 50% of greek debt
    • Recapitalize the european banks
    • Strengthen the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) to leverage up to a trillion euros in order to prevent Italy and spain from collapsing

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• Three nations – One voice – an op-ed on IBSA
• An editorial on WHO's approach towards Malaria
• Recycle the bulb – An editorial on the problem of recycling the CFL's

ECONOMY & BUSINESS NEWS

• Food inflation spurts to 11.48%
• Mukesh Ambani – the richest Indian with $22.46 billion net worth says forbes magazine.
• World bank has agreed to provide loan of $975 million to the Eastern dedication freight corridor