Monday, 9th April, 2012

HEADLINES

• Manmohan brings up Saeed issue up front with Zardari; Other issues like Peace on border, Onerous curbs on travel, and trade enhancing issues talked about.
• Zardari for emulating India – China model for trade relationships between the two countries
• Centre – ULFA (Led by Arabinda Rajkowa) talks today
• Legendary newman mike wallace known for impertient, hard nosed interviews on CBS popular 60 mins programme dies.

NATIONAL NEWS

• Zardari offers $ 1 million for Ajmer dargah
  • Mr. Zardari announced a donation of $1 million to the shrine after performing the ‘ziarat' rituals. This was stated to be the biggest-ever financial contribution made by a head of State, even as the declaration led to speculations about its use for development of the dargah and distribution among Khadims, who claim to be custodians of the 13th Century mausoleum.
    
    
• Magistrates need not give reasons to summon accused
  • The Criminal Procedure Code does not mandate the magistrate to explicitly state the reasons for issuance of summons to an accused in a criminal case if the magistrate taking cognisance of an offence is of the opinion that there is sufficient ground for proceeding further, the Supreme Court has held.
    
    
• Bill prohibiting manual scavenging in the monsoon session
  • Employing people for manual scavenging and cleaning of septic tanks and sewers will attract a hefty penalty once the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Bill, 2012 is passed.
  • The proposed law suggests that every insanitary latrine will have to be demolished or converted into sanitary latrines within nine months of the notification of the law. It prohibits any agency or individual from employing manual scavengers and those already in this kind of job — directly or indirectly — will have to be discharged irrespective of any contract, agreement, custom or traditional commitments.
  • Employing or hiring people for the hazardous job of cleaning of septic tanks and sewers from within one year of the day the Act is notified can attract imprisonment of up to two years and a fine of Rs. 2 lakh for first violation; subsequent violations will attract imprisonment of up to five years and Rs. 5 lakh.
  • The National Commission of Safai Karmacharis will monitor the implementation of the Act, while district magistrates will be responsible for implementing and ensuring that there are no insanitary latrines in their jurisdiction.
  • The municipalities and panchayats will conduct a survey of the manual scavengers to ascertain the number of persons involved in this profession and bring them under a rehabilitation scheme.
  • Sanitary workers or one family member will be imparted training in skill development and entitled to a stipend of Rs. 3,000 during the training period. They will also be eligible for subsidy and concessional loans to start their own alternative occupation on a sustainable basis.
    
    
• Several thermal power projects gearing up for commissioning
  • Several coal-fired thermal power projects with an aggregate capacity of 3,450 MW are expected to be commissioned in Tamil Nadu in the current financial year, according to Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), the executing agency.
  • The projects are Vallur Thermal Power Project (two units of 500 mega watt each - 1,000 MW); North Chennai Thermal Power Station [NCTPS] (two additional units of 600 MW - 1,200 MW), Tuticorin thermal power project, jointly implemented by the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC) and the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) (1,000 MW) and Neyveli Thermal Power Station - II Expansion (one unit of 250 MW).

INTERNATIONAL

• Israel ban on Grass
  • Israel barred German author Gunter Grass from entering the Jewish state, citing a poem in which he accuses Israel of plotting Iran's annihilation and threatening world peace.
  • In his poem “What must be said,” the 84-year-old longtime leftist activist wrote of his concern that Israel “could wipe out the Iranian people” with a “first strike” due to the threat it sees in Tehran's disputed nuclear programme.

• India goes down in global ICT rankings
  • India has been ranked 69th among 142 nations in inherent capacity to leverage information and communication technologies (ICT) for progress, in the latest of a series of Networked Readiness Index reports brought out annually by the World Economic Forum and the business school, INSEAD.
  • It ranked 48th in 2011, against 43rd the previous year. China, ranked 51st this year, occupied the 36th place in 2011.
  • “Extensive red tape stands in the way of businesses, and corporate tax is among the highest of all analysed countries. However, India fared better in the availability of new technologies and venture capital, the intensity of local competition and the quality of management schools.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• Editorial on the problems faced by the Indian skies
• An article on Myanmar and the changes happening there