Sunday, May 6th, 2012

HEADLINES

• Italian ship leaves Indian waters
• “Shoor veer” exercise comes to a close

NATIONAL NEWS

• Exercise shoor veer comes to an end
  • Exercise ‘Shoor Veer,' one of the largest-ever summer exercises conducted by the Army, came to an end in the Thar Desert on Saturday. The exercise, led by the Jaipur-based South Western Command, entailed the launch of theatre offensive by formations of Sapta Shakti Command, namely the Strike One Corps and the Chetak Corps.
  • ‘Shoor Veer' is one of the largest exercises conducted in recent times by the Army in joint synergy with the Air Force.
    
    
• Special plan for malkangiri, Sukma village
  • Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said on Saturday that his Ministry had decided to prepare and implement a special plan for the development of Maoist-affected tribal regions of Malkangiri district of Odisha and Sukma district of Chhattisgarh.
  • The special plan for Malkangiri-Sukma would be prepared on the lines of special plans already being implemented in the Saranda and Sarju areas in Jharkhand.
    
    
• Medical council rejects proposal on reservation in ESIC colleges
  • Union Labour and Employment Minister M. Mallikarjun Kharge has said that the Medical Council of India (MCI) has turned down a proposal on reservation of seats for the children of members of the Employees State Insurance Corporation (ESIC) in medical colleges set up by the ESIC.
  • MCI rejected the proposal saying all the seats would have to be filled through an all-India merit list.
  • MCI had rejected a proposal to start admission to the ESIC Medical College here from the upcoming academic year on the ground that it had no facilities. The proposal to use the facilities in the Government Hospital too was shot down on the ground that a medical college should have its own hospital.
    
    
• Yamuna water unfit for consumption
  • The Yamuna is a dead river — scientists, water conservation experts and environmentalists — are unanimous on this one count. With no fresh water flows, almost negligible ecology, contaminants and pollutants mixed with its waters, the grand old river has been reduced to a dead waterway.
  • Pollutants, including much harsher heavy metals, like lead and arsenic, known to cause severe health conditions have contaminated the groundwater in the city, leaving it unfit for consumption.
  • Use of pesticides, untreated sewage, effluents from factories, residue from power plants are all contributing to make the city's ground water unfit for consumption, experts point out.
    
    
• Art that brings the mughal era to life
  • To highlight the decaying monuments of Farrukhnagar in Haryana, artist P. K. Roy has come out with three dozen paintings which will be displayed at a week-long solo exhibition at Lalit Kala Akademi

• Agreement signed on Pranahita – Chenvala
  • Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy and his Maharashtra counterpart Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday signed an agreement here to set up an inter-State board for speedy execution of the Rs.40,300-crore Pranahita-Chevella irrigation project that would serve both the States
  • The Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Pranahita-Chevella Sujala Sravanthi project, which Andhra Pradesh wants to be declared as a national project, envisages diversion of 160 tmc of water by constructing a barrage across Pranahita river, which is a major tributary of Godavari river.

INTERNATIONAL

• US, China to hold consultations on South Asia
  • The United States and China have announced they will hold consultations on South Asia and the Asia-Pacific region later this year
  • While the two countries have already held three dialogues on South Asia and several consultations on the Asia-Pacific region, the announcement following Friday's conclusion of the fourth round of the Strategic and Economic Dialogue (SED) was seen as reflecting a new impetus to address strategic mistrust and Chinese concerns in the region.
  • While the SED was overshadowed by the diplomatic crisis over the case of visually challenged Chinese lawyer and rights campaigner Chen Guangcheng, the dialogue also gave both countries an important platform to address mutual perceptions of rising strategic mistrust, largely sourced in Chinese anxieties over the U.S. strengthening its alliances in its “pivot” to Asia

• Trying to find solutions to asia's problems
  • Nearly 20 Ramon Magsaysay awardees had a discussion in two groups on the topic ‘Rio +20: Green economy and inclusive growth – Fresh solutions to Asia's urgent development problems.'
  • The group discussed the need for effective rural - urban connectivity to share resources, self-realisation of communities with minimum number of people in an area, ways to stop spreading of urban jungles but to take urban solutions to villages and enhanced social investment for sustainable development on a long term basis and not in terms of profits