Saturday, January 7th, 2012

HEADLINES

• Dissent grows in BJP over inducting ex- BSP ministers
• Manmohan hopes problems with allies temporary
• 12 of the 22 detained indian diamond traders returned home after a court ordered their deportation.

NATIONAL NEWS

• 73,000 villagers to be covered by banks
  • Finance minister has said that 73,000 villages which are not covered by banks will be covered with banks before march, either with brick and mortar service, mobile banking or telephony services.
  • The ultimate target is to cover all the 3,00,000 villages with banks in the next three to four years said the FM.
  • Only 30,000 villages has banks out of the total of 3,00,000 villages in the country

• Atuo Expo in delhi
  • World's second largest auto expo after Shangai in terms of people visiting started in Delhi
    
    
• Attack on indian fisher man mere allegations says centre
  • The central government has denied the claims of recent attacks on the Indian fishermen by the Sri Lankan Navy.
  • It has been agreed to convene a meeting of the India – Sri Lanka joint working group on Fisheries (ISJWGF).
  • It has also been planned to resume the dialogue between the representatives of both the countries to understand each other's problems better.
  • Discussions are also underway on singing a MOU on development and cooperation in the field of fisheries with the Sri Lankan government.
  • Now it has been agreed with the Sri Lankan government that there would not be any firing on the Indian fishermen and the Indian fishermen will not cross the International Maritime Boundary Line (IBML).
  • The IMBL is also monitored by one ship, two interceptor boats, two air cushion vehicles, and two interceptor crafts.
    
    
• 10^th Parvasi bharathi divas will be held in the city of Jaipur
  
  
• Panel's report on mining in the western Ghats
  • The high level panel set up by the union government has recommended resumption of iron ore mining in the eco-sensitive area, while the indian council for forestry research and education(ICFRE) has suggested a feasibility study on the issue.
  • The high level panel is headed by the P.K Mishra
  • According to the panel about 10 billion tonnes of superior quality magnetite ore with 60 percent ferrous content is available in the western ghats of which 8 billion tonnes are in Karnataka.
  • But the ICFRE has highlighted the need for to commission a feasibility study to bring in superior underground mining technology to extract the magnetite ore.
    
    
• ADB loan cleared for road works in naxal hit villages
  • The union government has cleared an external loan to finance part of the programme launched by the ministry of rural development in left wing extremism affected states.
  • The clearance is for a loan of $500 million from ADB to speed up the construction of roads under the Pradhan Matri Gram Sadak Yojana(PMGSY)
  • The target set by the ministry in 2001 was to connect all the villages with minimum 500 people in general areas and 250 people in tribal areas before 2007, but it has been delayed so much that finishing even by the end of 2012 seems impossible.
  • The centre will supplement with a $127.6 million in addition to the $ 500 million financial assistance
    
    
• Prepaid mobile users can now get itemized bill
  • Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has asked the service providers to give itemized bill to pre paid customers, and also has called for setting up of a toll – free customer care number and to change the existing three tier complaint redressal mechanism of call centre, nodal centre and apellate authority to a two tier one doing away with the nodal centre
  • The pre paid customers will get their itemized bills withing 30 days on a small payment of not more than 50 rs.
  • Operators have also been asked to provide a start up kit to each subscriber at the time of enrolment which will include the sim card and mobile number and an abridged version of the citizen's charter
  • The vouchers offered by the service providers have been simplified and standardised in to three categories – plan vouchers, top up vouchers and special tariff vocuhers
  • The TRAI has asked the operators to set up a web based complaint monitoring system through which the consumer can track the complaints. If a consumer is not satisfied or if the complaint is not addressed he can go to the next tier – the appelate authority to address the complaints.
  • The TRAI has also asked to set up a two member advisory committee in each of the service areas of the service provider. One member will be from the consumer organisation registered with TRAI and the other will be from the service provider. The resolution also provides for resolution of complaints in a time bound manner

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• Editorial on India – China trade and its problems
• Editorial on the problem between the petroleum ministry and the defence ministry in the west coast

BUSINESS NEWS

• Fresh trouble hits oil payment to Iran
  • Turkey has hinted at stopping the rerouting plant, Indian government has been doing to buy the Iranian oil since fresh threats from US to stop all trade with Iran.
  • Iran has threatened that they will close the strait of Hormuz if US sanctions continue.
  • It is estimated that 20% of oil in the world is from the strait of Hormuz