Saturday, April 21, 2012

HEADLINES

• A jet of Pakistan's private airline, Bhoja Airways, crashes with 127 persons on board when traveling from Karachi to Islamabad
• Supreme Court appointed Central Empowered Committee recommends an independent inquiry into the role of former Karnataka Chief Minister, Yeddyurappa, in the land denotification scam
• Amidst flip-flop by the Central Govt on jurisdiction issues, the Supreme Court has permitted Italian ship Enrica Lexie to leave India; External Affairs Ministry and Kerala Govt are surprised by the stand of the Central Govt
• Experts says that rainfall in the coming monsoon period is likely to be below normal in the north-west and southern regions and close to the normal in the rest of the country. Indian Meteorological Department yet to come out with the official forecast
• Jayalalithaa wants BSF Act issue to be taken up as well at the meeting for NCTC on May 5 (at present the BSF have powers only to arrest and search in border areas; the amendments would give wide powers to the paramilitary force to arrest and search anybody in any part of the country)

NATIONAL NEWS

• Uranium not responsible for dying fish says Meghalaya
  • The Meghalaya government on Friday denied a report that fish in the State's Ranikor river were dying due to exploratory drilling for uranium ore and claimed the water had turned toxic from substances used by local people for fishing;
  • Thousands of dead fish have been found floating in the Ranikor since April 13, prompting the government to conduct an inquiry;
  • The Atomic Minerals Directorate (AMD) has found an estimated 9,500 tonnes of uranium oxide reserves in Meghalaya. The proposed open-cast uranium mining project in West Khasi Hills district has been hanging fire since 1992 after several groups cited the ill-effects of radiation on human health and environment. Kolkata-based Maheshwari Mining Private Limited is currently conducting exploratory drilling for uranium ore near one of the streams that joins the Kynshi river;
  • The Uranium Corporation of India Ltd (UCIL) proposes to set up an open-cast uranium mine and processing plant in Meghalaya. It has also plans to produce 375,000 tonnes of uranium ore a year and process 1,500 tonnes a day. The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests has already given clearance to the UCIL to start mining in the State.
• New species of caecilian amphibian reported from Kerala
  • A team of scientists from India and London have reported the discovery of a new species of caecilian (limbless) amphibian from the southern region of the Western Ghats in Kerala. Gegeneophis primus belongs to the Indotyphlidae family comprising African, Seychellean and Indian varieties. It is the first new species of Gegeneophis reported from Kerala since 1964. The species were collected from the Sugandhagiri Cardamom Estate neighbouring an evergreen forest at Vythiri in the northern district of Wayanad;
  • The team has proposed that the conservation status of the species be classified as Data Deficient under the IUCN Red List criteria. The paper suggests the common name of Malabar Cardamom Geg for the species, indicating the northern part of the State and the cardamom estate from where it was discovered.
• Plea to save house Gandhiji stayed in during the night of Independence
  • In the wake of a move by a nationalised bank to put up for auction the house in Kolkata in which Mahatma Gandhi spent the night of Independence fasting and praying, West Bengal Heritage Commission chairman Shuvaprasanna Bhattacharya has written to the bank authorities asking them not to let the heritage building go under the hammer;
  • Haidari Manzil is a two-storey house at Beliaghata in the northern parts of Kolkata where Mahatma Gandhi spent more than three weeks in 1947 — from August 12 to September 6. Subsequently it was renamed after the Father of the Nation. The building presently houses a museum with a few exhibits including the Mahatma's charkha , pocket watch, slippers and a few rare photographs taken during his stay in Kolkata;
  • His decision to live in this particular house was a symbolic gesture — the Mahatma had chosen to live in the house of a Muslim at a time the city and the nation were gripped by communal violence. After fresh riots broke out in Kolkata on September 1, 1947, Mahatma Gandhi went on an indefinite hunger strike to restore peace in the area;
  • At the end of the fast that lasted more than 72 hours, the violence subsided. Some youths who had been involved in the violence came to him to lay down their arms. Some of the crude arms — sickles and axes — are on display at the museum today.
• Inter-Ministerial group to look into misleading ads
  • The Union Food & Consumer Affairs Ministry has mooted the idea of setting up an inter-ministerial group to look into complaints of misleading advertisements. The group will have an investigative wing that will probe the complaints and file cases for suitable action;
  • The problem of misleading advertisements continues to be serious in the country despite several legislations like Food Safety & Standards Act, Consumer Protection Act and the Drugs & Cosmetic Act;
  • The Ministry, which is framing a new law to curb misleading ads, has started country-wide consultations with all stakeholders. The new law would allow consumers to seek legal action against false claims made by companies in their ads;
  • The Advertising Standards Council of India is a self-regulatory agency at present, but it does not act against misleading ads. The government move has come following complaints from consumers about misleading and exaggerated ads.
• PM says Assam has lead role in the Look-East effort
  • Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said he would discuss with the Myanmar leadership, during his Yangon visit next month, how the two nations could increase opportunities for expansion of trade, economic cooperation and connectivity to the larger ASEAN region;
  • He said Assam and the other northeastern States could and should play leading roles in India's Look East efforts. In the recent years, India had taken initiatives to strengthen its relations with Bangladesh and Myanmar;
  • The key to development in the northeast was infrastructure. The region needed better educational and services infrastructure, better transport connectivity.
• Coal Ministry sits on Bill to set up regulator
  • Despite the embarrassment faced by the Manmohan Singh government over the “arbitrary” allocation of captive coal mines and the allegations of anomalies in the coal block allocation against the Ministry, the Coal Ministry continues to drag its feet on a Bill to set up a regulator for the coal sector;
  • Neither the Ministry nor the Cabinet Secretariat seems to be in a hurry to push through the legislation, which has been hanging fire for the past few months. This is despite a decision taken on March 30 by the Cabinet Secretariat Monitoring Committee on Energy Security to put up the Cabinet note for approval by the next day for setting up a coal regulatory authority, along with the Independent Coal Regulatory Authority Bill, 2012.
  • The bill has been cleared by all ministries and yet the Coal Ministry continues to sit on it. Under the Bill, the regulator will be empowered to decide on coal prices and suspend or cancel authorisations of errant producers. The regulator will authorise mining operations, production and supply of coal and suspend and cancel operations. The authority will set standards for performance and operational norms for companies;
  • The Centre's role will be restricted to policy-making, while the regulator will ensure implementation. At present, coal prices are fixed by the Coal Ministry in consultation with Coal India Limited and other companies. The regulator will also look after the pricing of coal washing, washed coal and by-products. The government has proposed that the regulator be composed of a chairman and four members (technical, legal, administration & finance).
• RBI to issue Rs.5 commemorative coin
  • The Reserve Bank of India will shortly issue coins of Rs.5 denomination to commemorate the occasion of 150th Year of Comptroller and Auditor General of India and birth centenary of martyr Bhagat Singh. The RBI Chief General Manager said that these coins were legal tenders as provided in the Indian Coinage Act 2011 and 1906 respectively.
• Kapil Sibal proposes 10-point agenda for implementation of RTE
  • In a letter to Chief Ministers of various states, Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development, has placed a 10-point agenda to ensure proper implementation of the RTE Act;
  • He has asked all State Governments to complete neighbourhood mapping so that the number of children who need elementary education is identified and to ensure all schools meet the norms of pupil-teacher ratio by rationalising imbalances in teacher deployment and filling up teacher vacancies, in the State sector and SSA, by persons who have qualified the Teacher Eligibility Test;
  • He also asked them to focus on school infrastructure including drinking water and toilet facilities as directed by the Supreme Court;
  • Similarly, he has asked that teacher training modules be reviewed and all entitlements required for a child – textbooks, uniforms, and other state specific entitlements are provided at the beginning of the academic year;
  • Prohibition of corporal punishment, no-detention policy and prevention of other discriminatory and exclusionary practices in schools are necessary;
  • To ensure that schools implemented 25 per cent reservation for disadvantaged groups and weaker sections, the letter addresses the need to monitor the admission of such children in all unaided non-minority schools and to provide schools with all related grants. Finally, he suggested putting in place a grievance redress mechanism.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Protests flare up in Egypt and Bahrain
  • The Arab Spring again roared into life on Friday at Egypt's iconic Tahrir Square, as well as the villages of Bahrain, where strong crowds had gathered to underscore the underlying message that the region's transition to democracy was far from complete;
  • A recent decision by a judicial panel to disqualify three leading contenders for the Egyptian Presidency seemed to have triggered the assemblage of tens of thousands of protesters, cutting across the ideological spectrum. This would leave Amr Mousa, a former Egyptian Foreign Minister and an Arab League head, as the sole heavyweight in the presidential race, which, if not postponed, will be held on May 23-24. Sensing that a conspiracy hatched by the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) behind the disqualifications, the energetic sloganeering at Tahrir Square pointedly targeted the military;
  • While the Egyptians sought to expand their democratic space, protesters in Bahrain, a tiny island state in the Gulf, were confronting the Kingdom's rulers for more basic human rights. Protests have picked up with the focus on the upcoming Formula1 race in Bahrain.
• Let up in Sudan and South Sudan row
  • South Sudanese President Salva Kiir on Friday ordered the immediate withdrawal of his troops from the contested Heglig oil field, as the two former civil war foes inched back from a wider war;
  • Fighting between Sudan and South Sudan escalated earlier this month, following the South's April 10 seizure of Heglig, which makes up around half of Sudan's oil production for its faltering economy. Sudanese troops launched a renewed counter-attack late on Thursday with air strikes hitting Southern troops entrenched along the frontline;
  • On Thursday, United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon condemned the South's taking of Heglig as an “illegal act”, but Juba still maintained on Friday that Heglig — which it calls Panthou in the local Dinka language — was its territory;
  • Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has called for the destruction of the “insect” Juba government, and has launched waves of air strikes against the former civil war foe.
• Myanmar opposition may boycott Parliament over changes in the language of the oath to be taken

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this editorial on the provisions of law which apply in calls for censorship on the internet
• Read this editorial on the recently concluded 6th summit of the Americas
• Read this article on the role that BRICS and India can play in diffusing the tension between the West and Iran
• If you have time, read this article which discusses how growth in India is becoming more inclusive

ECONOMY & BUSINESS NEWS

• The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), came out with a new tariff order, making it mandatory for operators to offer at least one tariff plan each for post-paid and prepaid subscribers with a uniform ‘one second' pulse rate. It has also put a ceiling on tariff for calls and SMS meant for participating in contests and games.