Wednesday, Feb 29th, 2012

HEADLINES

• Centre orders filing cases against four NGOs
• Court asks Italian ship agent to furnish Rs.3 crore guarantee
• In high stakes Jat land, voting exceeds 60%.
• Expert committee panel appointed by the TN government submits its report on the safety of the KKNNP.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Canada – India to cement nuclear ties
  • India – Canada civil nuclear cooperation agreement was signed in 2010 and currently negotiations are going on the administrative arrangements. After they get firmed up, Canada would be able to sell uranium, nuclear supplies and equipment to India
  • Both the Prime Ministers have committed to kind of completing CEPA by 2013.studies have projected that CEPA would increase the bilateral trade by about $ 6 billion.
  • This year the bilateral trade touched $ 5.5 billion with the exports from Canada increasing by 26 per cent compared to last year, while those from India going up by 19 per cent.
  • Besides, CEPA, the two countries are also negotiating an ‘Audio-Visual Co-Production Agreement' which would allow Indian and Canadian production companies certain tax advantages. Infrastructure, ICT, life sciences, tourism and food processing were some of the areas in which the two countries could cooperate
    
    
• Ranjan Mathai to take up NSG membership issue at Vienna meet
  • Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai will put forward India's case for joining the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) at an outreach meeting with the world body's key members in Vienna
  • The NSG was a western initiative, primarily aimed at emasculating India's nuclear industry after New Delhi conducted a nuclear explosion in 1974. Since then, it became a closed cartel that permitted only five countries to maintain nuclear arsenals while seeking to punish others who sought such a route
  • It is India's refusal to sign the NPT that has made it tough for it to join the NSG as well as other international export control regimes — the Missile Technology Control Regime, the Australia Group and the Wassenaar Arrangement
  • India's path has smoothened after the NSG allowed it to join the global nuclear commerce mainstream. This led to India inking civil nuclear agreements with several countries, including the U.S., Russia and France, who will now set up nuclear power plants and transfer technology.
  • India will explain its commitment to non-proliferation and attempts to meet international standards, besides stating its willingness to discuss the Fissile Missile Cut-off Treaty.
    
    
• Pranab headed high level group studying issues post 2G verdict
  • Clearly understanding the implications of the Supreme Court order cancelling all 122 telecom licences issued in 2008, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has formed a high-level group, headed by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, to look into larger issues emerging from the historic judgment that will have an impact not just on the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) but also on the functioning of other departments.
    
    
• Maharashtra wind project a threat to ecology: Panel
  • The Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) has slammed the Maharashtra government for clearing the Andhra Lake Wind Power Project promoted by Enercon (India) Limited.
  • Situated near the Bhimashankar Wildlife Sanctuary here, the 113 MW wind energy project has caused “substantial forest destruction and triggered large scale soil erosion,” according to the panel.
  • “This project should not have been cleared at all without completing the constitution of a Ecologically Sensitive Zone [ESZ] in the region and the implementation of the Forest Rights Act [FRA],” the panel, headed by noted ecologist Madhav Gadgil, said.

INTERNATIONAL

• Ship adrift
  • An Italian cruise liner carrying more than 1,000 people was adrift without power in the pirate-infested Indian Ocean on Monday after a fire erupted in its generator room.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• Editorial on the mistakes of Fukushima disaster

ECONOMICS

• Iraq woos Indian investment
  • The Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister, Rowsch Shaways, invited Indian industry to actively participate in re-building the war-torn Iraq by making investments and entering into business ventures.
  • Bilateral trade between the two nations has increased from $5.7 billion in 2006-07 to $9.7 billion in 2010-11. The main export items from India to Iraq include metals, electronic goods, basmati rice, meat and machinery. Imports include crude oil, fruits and nuts, sulphur, wool and chemicals.