Wednesday, Nov 02, 2011

HEADLINES

• Butt, Asif found guilty of spot fixing
• Yet another increase in petrol price likely.
• SMS limit goes up to 200.
• Lt. Col honour for M.S Dhoni, Abhinav Bhindra

NATIONAL NEWS

• West Bengal clears hurdles for JSW's Jangalmahal Project
  • Keeping up with the tempo of the industrialisation drive Mamta's government cleared the land ceiling hurdle of the Jindal Steel Works plant.
  • Some other projects like TVS two wheeler project are also expected to be cleared soon.

• Naga's to go ahead with the “Total Blockade”
  • Despite the appeal of the Central government and the Manipur government the Naga groups have agreed to go ahead with the total blockade for three days of Manipur.

• US consulate in Chennai to be the sole blanket L visa processing centre in India.

• Nabam Tumki Sworn in as the Chief minister of Arunachal Pradesh
  • Congress committee chairman and former public works department minister was sworn in as the chief minister after the resgination of Gamlin in Arunachal pradesh.

• EC Turns down Anna's suggestion on Right to Recall.
  • The Election commission has rejected team Anna's suggestion on having a right to recall against non performing representative through a referendum
  • This move could bring instability in the government according to the chief election commissioner.
  • There were various implications involved in the process like the minimum percentage of voters needed to file the petition,verification of authenticity of signatures, Signatures given voluntarily or under coercion,minimum time after which a petition could be accepted etc.

• Express way between Chennai and Bangalore in pipe line.

• India faces heavy burden of tropical diseases.
  • India has more than 290 million people suffering from NTD(Neglected Tropical Diseases)
  • The NTD's include Kala Azar, Lympatic filariasis, elephantiasis, leprosy, dengue etc.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Peace deal in Nepal
  • Nepal's political parties arrived at a historic agreement on the peace process, consitution writing and power sharing
  • They also came to a conclusion on the future of the 19,000 odd maoist combatants by including some in the millitary and some by giving rehabilitation and compensation.
  • The maoist have also promised to return the property confiscated during their insurgency.
  • The first draft of the constitution will be prepared as early as Nov 30.
  • The power sharing agreement says NC(Nepali Congress) will lead the government and elections will be held after the constitution promulgation.

• BASIC countries show united front
  • India, China, Brazil and South Africa the BASIC group of countries sought to bridge their differences and strike a common position ahead of this month's climate change conference in Durban
  • They called upon the west to extend the kyoto protocol as well as to extend the financial aid to the developing countries.

• China launches space station module
  • China launched shenzou – 8, which will dock the space station module in outer space and set the stage for building the country's first space station.
  • The space station will dock with the Tiangong – 1 laboratory module.
  • This is a combined collaborative effort of China and Germany.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• Article on the new developments in Zambia
• Transmitted social Justice and a cycle of prejudice – An opinion on India's historic communal violence bill and its precursors
• Formula one in India – An editorial on the future of F1 in India.
• Human rights and the commonwealth – An editorial on the recent problems in the commonwealth about the human rights issue

ECONOMY & BUSINESS NEWS

• New procurement policy to help small enterprises
  • According to the policy all public sector enterprises should buy 20% of their products or services from Micro and Small and medium enterprises.
  • But given their unique nature defence armaments will not be in this list.
  • The procurement policy would be voluntary for three years and will be made mandatory after that.