Friday, February 10, 2012

HEADLINES

• Citing lack of intent SIT lets Modi off the hook
• Election commission censures Kursheed
• Kerala ‘No’ to FDI in multi brand retail.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Inventorying of the Srhi. Padmanabhaswamy temple vaults to begin
  • Keltron, the nodal agency for the project, conducted a trial run of the computers, cameras, and other precision-equipment to be used to document the contents of the vaults.
  • M.V. Nair is the head of the expert committee on inventorying, set up by the Supreme Court
• Compensation rates for SC/ST victims raised by 150%
  • The Union government has enhanced the compensation to Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes victims of different categories of atrocities from a minimum Rs. 20,000 to Rs. 50,000 and a maximum from Rs. 250,000 to Rs. 500,000.
• PMO to monitor dedicated freight corridor
  • The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) will henceforth directly monitor the progress of the construction of the Dedicated Freight Corridor — virtually taking the job away from the Railways— the execution of which had been handed over to the nodal authority, the Dedicated Freight Corridor Corporation of India Limited (DFCCIL).
  • The two corridors will cover a length of 3300 km. The Western Corridor from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust near Mumbai measuring 1499 km will connect Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra. A major portion of the corridor will be financed through Japanese assistance.
  • The 1839-km-long Eastern Corridor from Ludhiana to Dankuni in West Bengal will connect Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The World Bank will provide assistance for a part of this passageway, while the Sonnagar-Dankuni section will be funded through PPP.
• Mughal gardens mirror cultural diversity of India
  • The annual opening of Mughal Gardens has been christened ‘Udyanotsav' since 2011.
  • This year the main attraction at the historic Mughal Gardens will be the floral carpets and a new bonsai garden with about 200 plants, besides a special cactus corner.
• India – Bangladesh to resume talks on Teesta treaty
  • India and Bangladesh will take the first step towards revisiting the proposed Teesta river treaty when officials exchange river flow data at a technical meeting of the inter-governmental Joint Rivers Commission
  • An agreement is expected to pave the way for the signing of a similar agreement on the Feni river and five minor ones — Dudh Kumar, Manu, Khowai, Gomti and Muhuri.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• An article on how the age related problem between the government and the army chief is affecting the modernisation of the army
• A nice article on the 2G jugement
• An article on taking India – Bangladesh relations forward
• Editorial on the clinical trials
• Editorial on Afganistan endgame