Friday, 20th January, 2012

HEADLINES

• Coup bid against Sheik Hasina foiled claims Bangladeshi Army.
• Narendra Modi challenges order on Lokhayukta in Supreme court.
• Kalmadi gets bail in CWG case
• Harish Khare quits as Manmohan's media adviser after the appointment of Pankaj Panchauri as the new communication adviser in PMO

NATIONAL NEWS

• Pamban rail bridge claims heritage status
  • Pamban rail bridge which connects the Rameshwaram Island with the mainland will celebrate 100 years of existence in 2013
  • The star attraction of the bridge is the portion that can be opened named after 'Scherzer' who designed and executed it
  • The Nilgiri mountain railway and the Darjeeling Himalayan railway are the other two railway sites in India recognized as world heritage sites by the UN educational, cultural and scientific organization.

• Aiming for accurate weather forecasting
  • Foundation stone for Doppler weather radar system at Hesarghatta, Bangalore has given new boost to the Indian Meteorological department to make accurate predictions.
  • The centre would send electromagnetic waves in all directions to measure thunderstorms, urban rainfall and other extreme weather patterns.
  • Using real time measurement of thickness, intensity and range of coverage of clouds, the centre would be able to foretell storms and periods of heavy rainfall. The system could also measure wind speed and other data that could be used by the Airlines industry.
    
    
• India – Srilanka agreements
  • Sri Lankan president has agreed to take the 13^th amendment plus approach by which the 13^th amendment which is already a part of the Sri Lankan constitution, will be further amended to add the establishment of a senate which will act as an advisory body to formulate reforms, to devolve power to the ethnic minorities, mainly to the Tamils
  • Phase I of the Southern Railway project comprising the 42 KM Galle – Matara section is completed and the phase II between Galle to Kathura will be completed this year.
  • IRCON international ltd, a public sector Indian company involved in Railway infrastructure had completed the Galle – Hikaduwa section of the project
  • India has increased the assistance in the education sector, amounting to a grant of Sri Lankan Rs. 3.2 billion to aid meritorious students. Under this programme the scholarship and the self financing slots for the undergraduate and masters and doctorate level will be increased to 270 per year.
  • In addition support for deserving students pursuing their GGCE 'A' level and university degrees in Sri Lankan institutions has been expanded to cover 500 students every year.
    
    
• Pirates keep Ocean researchers at bay especially in the western Indian Ocean, Arabian sea
  • Many countries established the Indian Ocean observing System(indOOS) to collect data relating to collect data relating to climate, monsoon, cyclone and related phenomenon. It was planned to deploy 46 buoys – called RAMA (Research Moored Array for African – Asian – Australian Monsoon analysis and prediction for in situ ocean observation studies in the Indian ocean
  • The other observing systems of the indOOS include agro profilling float to collect data on data and temperature and salinity up to a depth of 2000 metre, the expendable bathythermograph (XBT) to measure temperature data upto a depth of 760 metres along the shipping routes and rifting buoys to measure air pressure and sea surface temperature along with surface currents.
  • One of the major objective of the indOOS is to understand the interaction between the ocean and the atmosphere
  • India is fully partnering in this project by supplying research vessels, deploying floats and drifters and conducting XBT deployements
  • The Indian National Centre for Ocean Observation Science(INCOIS) is the nodal head of the project on behalf of the union ministry of earth sciences.
    
    
• India to move resolution in mental disorders at the WTO meet
  • India is pushing for allocating “appropriate priority and resources” for mental healthcare in health and development programmes
  • India along with US and Switzerland will move a resolution to develop comprehensive policies and strategies to develop mental health promotion, prevention of disorders, in particular among children and adolescents, support and treatment of person with mental disorders by promoting human rights, tackling stigma, empowering service users, addressing poverty and creating opportunities for generating income, providing housing and education as well as healthcare services in the country.
  • The resolution calls for an action plan to enable persons with mental disorders live a full and productive life in the community.
  • India was instrumental in bringing mental disorders included in the NCD's list; by 2030 the NCD's are estimated to contribute to 75% of the deaths in the world.
  • Principle NCD's are cardio vascular disease, diabetes, cancers and Chronic respiratory diseases.
    
    
• Railways charged of neglecting port connectivity
  • Railways presently are carrying considerably less than their optimal share of port connectivity says Union shipping minister.
  • The under construction Dedicated Freight corridor will help alleviate congestion in the Delhi – Mumbai corridor which is critical to the hinterland connectivity of Gujarat and Mumbai port clusters.
    
    
• 'Impact of Internet' a study done by Indian council for research and International Economic Relations(ICRIER) sponsored by the Internet and mobile association of India and the dept of IT states with internet penetration will grow at a faster rate (1.08% for every 10% increase in the number of internet users)
  
  
• Nuclear Threat Initiative report misleading
  • India has been ranked 28^th out of the 32 weapon usable countries
  • India has complained stating that the report is politically biased as nuclear safety is equated with transparency and countries like Australia which does not have any nuclear facility but just create uranium are placed higher.
  • However the report also says India ranks high in the nuclear safety matters in respect of international obligations.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• It is time out for leap second
  • US, France and other countries are pushing to abolish the leap second which for 40 years have kept the computers at sync with the earth day
  • Leap seconds are necessary to keep the atomic clock from speeding ahead of the solar time. They are added at irregular intervals, effectively stretching atomic time by a heartbeat to make up for the irregular wobble in earth's rotation
  • Operators of cell phone networks, financial markets and air traffic control system could then rely on near absolute precision given by the atomic clock without having to worry about stopping their systems for the length of a heartbeat every year or two.
  • Critics warn that scrapping the leap second would break the last link between the passing of time and course of sun across the sky. But the backers say machines should not be any longer tethered to the imprecise cycle of sun rise and the sunset.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• A good write up on the SOPA and the PIPA
• Editorial on the proposed FDI in the airlines industry
• Editorial on the Sri Lankan problems