Wednesday, 25th April, 2012

HEADLINES

• Mullaiperiyar report to be tabled today
• Reshuffle on the cards after budget session
• 8 congress Mps suspended from Lok shabha
• Bhattacharya children back in Kolkata

NATIONAL NEWS

• BGI, ICRISAT join hands on genomic research
  • BGI, the world's largest genomics organisation founded in China and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) here have jointly announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a long-term collaboration on applied genomics research and molecular breeding.
  • The partnership aims to enhance precision of breeding programmes for semi-arid tropic crops by using next-generation sequencing technologies towards crop improvement for sustainable food production particularly in the dry lands of Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
  • The two organisations agreed to enhance their collaboration in agricultural research for development, especially in the genome sequencing and analysis of ICRISAT mandate crops namely, chickpea, finger millet, groundnut, pearl millet, pigeonpea and sorghum, as well as in capacity building and other agreed activities.
    
    
• Law on the cards to regulate clinical trials on humans
  • With the country emerging as a safe haven for drug trials on humans, the new legislation will strive to regulate all forms of drug trials and will contain provisions such as imprisonment and penalisation for violators.
    
    
• NIA's third regional centre in UP
  • With Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav assuring full cooperation, a regional centre of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) will be opened soon in the State capital. It will be the third, after Hyderabad and Guwahati.
  • The centre would help in keeping a vigil on anti-national activities in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh.
    
    
• Piracy bill tabled in Lok Shabha
  • The government introduced a Bill in the Lok Sabha that provides for recognising piracy as a crime and lays down norms for prosecution of pirates apprehended by the Indian authorities with punishment running up to life term.
  • The Piracy Bill, 2012, was introduced as India does not have a separate domestic legislation on piracy and prosecution for piracy as a crime has not been included in the Indian Penal Code, 1860 or in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973
  • It provides punishment for an act of piracy, attempt to commit piracy and accomplice to piracy and has a provision for extradition of persons involved in an act of piracy.
  • It confers power on any gazetted officer of the Central government or of a State government with powers of arrest of any person, investigation and prosecution exercisable by a police officer under the Code of Criminal Procedure.
  • The Bill provides for setting up of designated courts for speedy trial of offences of piracy and territorial jurisdiction of each such court. It provides for application of Code of Criminal Procedure in the proceedings before a designated court and provisions relating to bail of accused persons.
  • The proposed law will extend to the Exclusive Economic zone of India

• Amendment to educational bill passed; disability net widened
  • The Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 that widens the net for disabled children bringing within its purview children with severe disability. Such children would have the option of receiving education at home.
  • It gives school management committees an advisory role in minority schools, both aided and unaided, and puts madrasas and Vedic schools and other institutions providing primarily religious instruction outside the mandate of the Act

• Government has agreed in principle to deregulate the diesel prices, but not cooking gas

INTERNATIONAL

• Sudan has declared war says south sudan leader Salva kiir
  • Khartoum's fighter jets bombed border regions in defiance of international calls for restraint
  • Several people were wounded in a multiple air strikes on the villages in the South's oil-rich border regions overnight

• Climate research centre for southern African region
  • Five countries in southern Africa have joined forces to launch a research centre that will work on combating climate change in the region. South Africa, Angola, Botswana, Zambia and Namibia signed a declaration on Wednesday to base the initiative in the Namibian capital Windhoek.
  • The Southern African Science Service Centre for Climate Change and Adaptive Land Management (Sasscal) is intended to support cross-border research and land management.
  • Germany is providing €50m in aid for the first four years.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• An article on RISAT