Saturday, 17th March 2012

HEADLINES

• Finally Sachin hits century of centuries
• Centre to amend laws to tax overseas deals

NATIONAL NEWS

• The hyderabad air show
  • The Boeing 787-8 series ‘Dreamliner' that was on display for three days, finally took off from Begumpet, ostensibly back to its base in Seattle, USA.
  • A multi-mission general aviation aircraft, developed jointly by National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL) and Mahindra Aerospace Private Ltd, is expected to go into production early next year.Christened as NM5-100, it is basically a five-seater and can be used for different missions such as air taxis, training, tourism, executive transport, and also for cargo.
  • models of a mini UAV and unmanned micro air vehicles designed and developed by the NAL are on display at the CSIR-NAL pavilion. SLYBIRD, the mini UAV is a lightweight, Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS).
  • Black Kite 300 is a small unmanned micro air vehicle with high manoeuvrability and could be deployed quickly.
  • The other similar vehicle which could be deployed as an ‘eye-in-the-sky' is Pushpak 450 and both the systems are completely autonomous from launch-to-landing.
    
    
• Supreme court to examine constitutional validity of nuclear civil liability law
  • The Supreme Court will examine the constitutional validity of the Civil Liability for Nuclear Damage Act, 2010, which limits the liability of an operator in the event of a nuclear disaster to Rs. 1,500 crore.
  • The petitioners have said: “The Act channels all the liability to the nuclear operator [now the government itself], and the victims are not allowed to sue companies supplying reactors and other materials. The Act, under Section 6, also limits the liability of the operator to Rs. 1,500 crore, which is quite low, and states that the remaining damages may be made good by the government at the cost of the exchequer. The Act also excludes the liability of the operators in certain circumstances.”
  • Thus, the Act, by excluding the supplier's liability, violated the principle of ‘polluter pays.'
  • Moreover, the Act did not protect the right of a person to a clean, healthy and safe environment, which is also part of Article 21.

INTERNATIONAL

• Bo xilai exit ushers in healthy debate
  • A day after rising politician Bo Xilai was ousted as party chief in Chongqing, the online community intensely debated his removalon Sina Weibo, a popular Twitter-equivalent, marking a rare instance of internal Communist Party of China politics spilling out into the public domain.

• Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams, head of the more than 80 million strong worldwide Anglican communion, announced that he would quit in December.

• US warns North Korea on launch
  • The U.S. has reacted angrily to reports of North Korea's plan to launch a rocket-mounted satellite to mark the birth centenary of its former President, the late Kim Il-sung, with the State Department describing the move as “highly provocative”.
  • Victoria Nuland said North Korea's announcement was in direct violation of its international obligations, specifically United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874, which “clearly and unequivocally prohibit North Korea from conducting launches that use ballistic missile technology”.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• An article on the budget 2012 – 2013
• Article on how budget has impacted the agriculture sector by MS.Swaminathan
• Editorial on the budget

ECONOMICS

• Summary of the budget