Friday, May 4th, 2012

HEADLINES

• Pranab emerges as front runner for president
• Veteran Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee confered phalke award

NATIONAL NEWS

• Sea ports, airports to get radiation detection equipment
  • Security at airports, seaports and border check posts will be strengthened with the installation of modern radiation detection equipment developed by Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL).
  • The equipment consists of a vehicle monitoring system, a portal monitor to check personal baggage/persons and special nuclear material baggage detection system for check-in baggage.
  • The equipment will be positioned in 14 airports, including Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Amritsar. In a phased manner, the remaining airports will be covered. Similarly, it is proposed to be installed at 13 integrated border check-posts.
    
    
• Rescuing a threatened fish species from extinction
  • From being a much sought-after delicacy found in abundance in the Godavari and Krishna rivers, to figuring in the global IUCN Red List of threatened species, the fringed-lipped carp (Labeo fimbriatus) has been hunted almost to extinction, thanks to unscientific overharvesting.
  • A serious effort is hence being made by the Andhra Pradesh Biodiversity Board to revive the once-popular fish species by introducing fingerlings this monsoon, to start with, in the Godavari river system in Adilabad district.
  • The wild population of the species is declining, and has gone locally extinct from some parts of its known distribution. Declines were obvious both in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
  • While including it in the Red List of threatened species in 2011, the IUCN noted that there was no specific conservation action plan directed towards the wild population.
    
    
• Taiwan looking for investment in Bengal
  • Buoyed by the presence of significant numbers of the Hakka Chinese community in the city, Taiwanese investors are eager to come to West Bengal
  • So far Taiwanese companies have invested in four States – Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh
    
    
• Ensure timely repartriation of pakistani prisoners : Court
  • The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Centre to put in place a proper mechanism to ensure that the Pakistani prisoners are deported back to their country in a time-bound manner after completing their sentences.
  • The Bench was referring to 43 prisoners, 19 of whom are mentally unsound, and 13 fishermen, who are languishing in jails despite having served their sentences.

INTERNATIONAL

• Afganistan highlights buddhist heritage
  • Afghanistan, which attracted global attention when the Taliban blew up the ancient Bamiyan Buddhas, this week opened an exhibition highlighting the rich Buddhist heritage.
  • In sharp contrast to the religious intolerance behind the destruction of the Buddhas 11 years ago, the immaculate exhibition is on display in the National Museum, itself rebuilt with international aid after being destroyed by civil war.
  • But the polyurethane copy is a poor substitute — unlike the surviving treasures dating from the second century AD that dedicated museum staff managed to hide and protect through 30 years of conflict and turmoil.
  • One statue shows a lean-torsoed Buddha, reflecting the art of the ancient Greeks introduced by Alexander the Great, who staged one of the many invasions of Afghanistan over the centuries

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS AND COLUMNS

• An editorial on the boat drowing incident in Assam

ECONOMICS

• Australian companies hold back India investment
  • Australian companies have put on hold their investment plans for the country in view of what they term as failure of the Manmohan Singh Government to push ahead with second-generation reforms, tackle corruption issues head-on and put an end to policy paralysis in the government.