Thursday, March 8, 2012

HEADLINES

• Too many leaders was the problem for the Congress in UP says Sonia Gandhi
• Mulayam Singh and Akhilesh Yadav meet Governor after their resounding victory in UP
• Karnataka HC quashes part of the FIR against Yeddyurappa which was based on the Lokayukta
• Pakistan had 110 nuclear weapons and spent $2.2 billion on its atomic weapons arsenal last year, according to a report by the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, an NGO. Pakistan however, termed the claim “highly exaggerated.”

NATIONAL NEWS

• NABARD undertakes campaign to preserve jallikattu cattle
  • The world-famous Jallikattu cattle is among the ten livestock breeds indigenous to Tamil Nadu selected for a conservation project being funded by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD). The cattle of Pulikulam village near Madurai is usually used for the Jallikattu festival and are being conserved again;
  • Being implemented through NABARD'S Farmers Technology Transfer Fund, the initiative aims to conserve native breeds by imparting training to their rearers and document the current status of these breeds.
• Civil Aviation Ministry finally acts on issue of disabled people on flights
  • Under pressure from differently-abled people over blatant violation of their rights by airlines including Air India, the Civil Aviation Ministry has convened a meeting for March 12 to discuss the issue. Efforts will be made to come up with ways to avoid such violations in the future;
  • Representatives from private airlines, the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, officers from the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment and representatives of non-governmental organisations associated with the disability movement, including the Disabled Rights Group, will participate.
• Glaucoma second largest cause for blindness
  • Researchers have said that India has an estimated 11.2 million people suffering from glaucoma and, of them, 1.1 million are already blind;
  • 90 per cent of glaucoma cases in India and some other countries remain un-diagnosed while even in advanced countries the figure was 50 per cent. Half of the cases were simply ‘missed' by eyecare professionals.
• Endangered Slow Loris found in Tripura
  • A young Slow Loris, an endangered primate, was recovered by the villagers at Ratanpur in Khowai district, about 50 km from Agartala;
  • Commonly known as Bengal Slow Loris, the animal generally lives in a group of five or six and is an omnivore which survives on insects, small birds, eggs and foliage.
• Film on Delhi Metro bags national award
  • The Delhi Metro Rail Corporation's film on the engineering challenges faced during Phase II of its construction, The Dream Fulfilled – Memories of the Engineering Challenges , won the prestigious Rajat Kamal National Award in the “best promotional film – non-feature films” category;
  • Under Phase II of the Delhi metro, 125 km of metro lines were constructed in four-and-a-half-years. The film was screened and appreciated at the International Film Festival of India under the Indian Panorama section held in Goa this past November.
• Peace Pilgrim award presented
  • The Peace Pilgrim Award was presented to Professor Alberto L'Abate and Anna Luisa in appreciation of their life-long efforts for global peace;
  • Prof. L'Abate, an Italian National, and his wife, Anna Luisa were involved in peace efforts during the First Gulf War, fought in 1991 between a U.S. led coalition and Iraq and was also a peace ambassador in Kosovo during the civil strife. He was also involved with the anti-nuclear movement and had taken part in agitations against establishing a nuclear plant in Tuscany;
  • The couple had also established links with various Gandhian institutions in India with a view to applying Gandhian ideology to solve problems in Italy.
• Ladakh to host first international film festival in June 2012

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• A Russia election watchdog group called League of Voters, has refused to recognise the results of Sunday's presidential election won by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on grounds of widespread violations
• Xinjiang governor claims Pakistan links to unrest
  • The Governor of Xinjiang on Wednesday claimed that the people behind recent unrest in the far-western Muslim-majority region had “a thousand and one links” to terrorists in neighbouring Pakistan, bringing into focus the Chinese government's increasing concern over the spread of extremism across the border from its “all-weather” ally.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this article which discusses if India is prepared for a Fukushima type incident
• Read this article on the India-Italy standoff over the killing of Indian fishermen by Italian Marines