Wednesday, Mar 7th, 2012

HEADLINES

• Mulayam delivers a hard blow to Maya; Bjp routs congress in goa; Akali – Bjp wins Punjab; Congress, Bjp fails to win majority in Uttrakand; Congress wins absolute majority in Manipur
• Gir sanctuary has lost 86 lions in 3 years.
• Oil firms want petrol price up by 5 Rs/-.

NATIONAL NEWS

• China calls for improving trust as border consultations being
  • China has called for expanding exchanges with India in the coming year to improve mutual trust, even as both countries on Tuesday put into operation a new border consultation mechanism to defuse any tensions that may arise along the disputed 3,488 km border.
  • Year 2012 will be marked off as a year of friendship
  • The mechanism will study ways to strengthen exchanges and cooperation between military personnel on the ground, but will not discuss the specifics of the border dispute, which is being negotiated by the two Special Representatives who meet annually.
  • The other topics discussed include the possibility of opening an alternate route for the Kailash Manasarovar Yatra and additional items for trade across the border through the Nathu La Pass in Sikkim.
    
    
• NIRBHAY likely to test fired in April.
  • The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) has developed a new sub-sonic cruise missile called Nirbhay
  • This is the first time that India has developed a cruise missile that will travel at a sub-sonic speed (less than the speed of sound)
  • India and Russia have jointly developed BrahMos, a supersonic, cruise missile, which travels for 290 km at 2.8 Mach (2.8 times the speed of sound).
  • Nirbhay is India's equivalent of Tomahawk, a long-range, sub-sonic cruise missile, developed by the U.S
  • Nirbhay is a two-stage, surface-to-surface missile. While a booster engine would “kick the first stage” from the ground, the second stage has a turbo-prop engine, akin to an aircraft's. It can carry multiple payloads and engage several targets. “Even if there are multiple targets, it can pick out a target and attack it. It is a loitering missile; it can go round and round a target, perform several manoeuvres and take it apart. It has precision, endurance and accuracy.
  • With a range of more than 750 km, Nirbhay can remain in the air for a long time. Capable of flying at the height of a tree (so, it is known as “tree-top missile), it can soar to a minimum of 10 km and a maximum of 50 km.
  • Helina, the helicopter-fired version of Nag, the third-generation anti-tank missile will also be test fired soon.
  • Helina is a portmanteau term, standing for helicopter and Nag (the cobra). Nag has ‘fire and forget' and ‘top attack' capability.
  • Carrying an eight-kg warhead, it has an infra-red seeker and can destroy enemy tanks four km away. Based on the information available from the target, Helina will lock on to it midway through its flight and zero in on to it.
  • A modified version of Arjun-Mark I main battle tank will prove its mettle by firing a LAHAT missile from an Army range this month. The LAHAT (Laser Homing Attack or Laser Homing Anti-Tank missile) is a third-generation semi-active low-weight anti-tank missile.
    
    
• End of an era of northeastern art and sculpting
  • Sobha Brahma, the artist-sculptor from Assam who gave a contemporary stroke to the north-eastern region's tribal art, passed away
    
    
• English award for Indian informal workers bodies
  • The National Association of Street Vendors of India (NASVI) and Nidan, an organisation that supports unorganised workers, will be honoured with the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship by the Skoll Foundation in Oxford,
  • The Skoll Foundation invests in, connects and celebrates social entrepreneurship and the innovators who help them

INTERNATIONAL

• Iran ready for IAEA inspections at Parchin
  • Iran has announced that it is ready to open up its Parchin military facility for inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — a move likely to retard the growing call for military strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities.
  • In a day of fast-paced developments, the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany, who are demanding that Iran freeze all uranium enrichment, announced that they have accepted an offer to resume stalled nuclear talks with Tehran.
  • The IAEA has warned that hydrodynamic experiments, which involve the use of conventional explosives along with nuclear material or its surrogates are “strong indicators of possible weapon development”.
    
    
• 26/11 probe:Pakistan Judicial panel to visit India
  • A Pakistani Judicial Commission will leave for India to record statements of the magistrate and others closely involved in the investigations into the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
  • The court is conducting the trial of the seven accused in the Mumbai terror attack case. The accused includes Zaki-ur Rehman Lakhvi of Lashkar-e-Taiba.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• A nice article on the importance of Indian Ocean Region (IOR)
• Sociology students – A must read
• Editorial on Railway protection force and policing the Indian railways

ECONOMICS

• TATA unveils megapixel concept car in Geneva motor show
  • The concept vehicle, which is a four-seater global range extended electric vehicle (REEV), meant for city driving is expected to deliver up to 100 Kms from a litre of fuel
  • The car combines a lithium ion phosphate battery and an on-board petrol engine generator for recharging on the move.
  • The vehicle offers a range of up to 900 km (with a single tank of fuel), path-breaking CO2 emission of just 22 gm/km and fuel economy of 100 km/litre (under battery only power).
  • The Megapixel takes the ‘Zero Turn' drive system of Tata Pixel (shown at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show) to another level of manoeuvrability. The car's electric drive has four independent electric motors, one at each wheel. When parking, the electric hub motors drive the wheels in opposite directions, while the front wheels are turned at an acute angle, enabling an exceptional 2.8 metre turning radius.
  • The at-home charging system is an as innovative induction charging system. The charging begins with the car being parked over the induction pad.

• CPCL seeks entire KG D6 crude for cauvery basin refinery
  • Chennai Petroleum Corporation Limited (CPCL) sought allocation of entire KG-D6 crude oil production for the Cauvery Basin Refinery (CBR) at Nagapattinam in order to sustain CBR operations and achieve increased capacity utilisation.
  • PCL has also sought assistance of the Ministry for resuming supply of PY-3 crude.
  • CBR is a simple topping refinery and, hence, has been operating at only about 60 per cent capacity due to non-availability of suitable ultra low sulphur crude. CBR has been processing Narimanam, PY-03, KG-D6 (RIL) and Rawa crude.
  • Due to berthing restrictions and tankage limitations, imported crude cannot be brought to CBR. Narimanam crude is normally available to the extent of 20 tonnes (max) a month and PY-03, 13 tonnes (max) a month. However, PY-03 production had been stopped since August 2011 due to certain statutory and licensing issues.
  • CBR could achieve only 580 tonnes of crude thruput due to reduced availability of KG-D6 crude on account of sharing of the same with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL). RIL has projected a production rate of 30-35 tonnes a month which is sufficient only to meet CBR requirement and, hence, the entire KG-D6 crude needed to be allocated to CPCL, it said.
  • It has also urged the Petroleum Ministry to hasten the process of appointment of independent directors which has been hanging fire for a long time. As per Clause-49 of the Listing Agreement (SEBI guidelines) and guidelines issued by the Department of Public Enterprises, CPCL should have at least 50 per cent of its directors as independent directors.

• PMO to speed up use of inland water transport
  • The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has stepped in to fast track the development and use of inland water transport (IWT) which opens the water route for movement of bulk cargo such as coal, foodgrains, fertilizers and opens new port entry points into Bangladesh with major involvement of private sector.
  • It was decided to give a major impetus to develop the National Waterways IV from Kakinada-Puducherry stretch of canals with Godavari and Krishna rivers and National Waterways V from East Coast Canal with Erahmani river and Mahanadi delta.
  • The PMO stressed on the need to involve the private sector actively as had been done in the case of the coal movement project of NTPC Farakka power plant by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI).
  • The PMO directed the Food Corporation of India to expeditiously provide long-term cargo commitment for transportation of foodgrains to Tripura and Assam from Kolkata and within Assam.
  • The Ministry of External Affairs was asked to work for renewal of the Trade and Transit Protocol for five years to provide certainty to vessel operators.
  • . Efforts would also be made for early completion of Ashuganj multi-modal port by Bangladesh and its regular use as a transit point.
  • The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry was asked to ask ONGC for a firm commitment of cargo through IWT from Kolkata to Dibrugarh.
  • The Department of Fertilizers was directed to include IWT mode for providing transport subsidy on the same lines as that provided for rail and road movement and the fertilizer companies were asked to consider providing long-term cargo commitment for transportation.
  • The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) was asked to take necessary steps to include IWT under transport subsidy scheme.

• India rakes up carbon tax issue with Australia
  • Indian CEOs have taken up with their Australian counterparts the issue of imposition of carbon tax on mining activities in Australia and has expressed the hope that a solution would be found to resolve the issue.
  • The Australian side has also expressed concern over the new mining law proposed in India that entails profit sharing by mining companies to the tune of 26 per cent to tribal development fund.
  • Both sides expressed the hope that the negotiations for the free trade agreement (FTA) would be completed soon to put in place a mechanism for enhanced economic engagement between the two countries.