HEADLINES
- 20 Maoists killed in police operation in Chhattisgarh
- 8 ministers in the Karnataka Govt who are Yeddyurappa loyalists send their resignation to the Chief Minister
- GAAR Norms only a draft, says PMO
- IMD predicts a positive turnaround in monsoon scenario
NATIONAL
NEWS
- New cryptology research centre at ISI Kolkata
- The Centre has approved establishment of an autonomous research centre on Cryptology and Security at the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata;
- The Institute has emerged as the “nerve centre” of research on cryptology in the country. Led by ISI Director Bimal Roy, the work being done at ISI by cryptologists including Palash Sarkar, Subhamoy Maitra and Rana Barua is setting the standard for research in the area;
- While research in cryptology is of interest to the Centre in ensuring security of classified information in Defence and Intelligence, it also has commercial applications;
- The funding for the Research Centre will come through the Prime Minister’s Office, channelled through the Ministry of Statistics. ISI officials said work for the Centre would begin on Friday itself, being observed as Statistics Day in honour of Dr. Mahalanobis.
- WHO partnership for better healthcare
- Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday launched the World Health Organisation’s new country cooperation strategy with India (2012-17) paving the way for a strategic partnership in the global health scene;
- A release issued by Union Health Ministry noted: “It is for the first time that the Country Cooperation Strategy (CCS) has been developed jointly by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the WHO Country Office for India. To contribute meaningfully to the national health policy and government’s health agenda, the CCS has identified strategic priorities including promoting access to and utilisation of affordable, efficiently networked and sustainable quality services by the entire population, financial protection and helping to confront the new epidemiological reality of India.’’
- Home Ministry ordered to share information on terrorism under the RTI Act
- The Central Information Commission (CIC) has directed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to share information pertaining to the number of terror attacks and the number of people involved in terrorism in the country under the Right to Information (RTI) Act;
- While disposing of an appeal filed by RTI activist Sheikh Shafi Ahmed against the MHA and its internal security wings — which had earlier denied the information on many grounds including that they did not have the information and the same could be obtained from the State governments concerned — the CIC directed the MHA to provide the details available and the answers provided in Parliament about terror attacks to Mr. Ahmed;
- According to Mr. Ahmed, this is for the first time that the MHA was forced to provide information pertaining to terror attacks under the RTI. He pointed out that the intelligence and security agencies did not enjoy total immunity from the provisions of the RTI Act, and they were bound to provide the information sought under it without jeopardising security and national interests.
- Finance Ministry to issue clarification on indirect transfer of assets
- Besides the much talked about retrospective amendments to Section 9 of the Income Tax Act, 1961, the Union Finance Ministry will come out with a “certain clarification” on indirect transfer of assets by foreign investors, Finance Secretary R.S. Gujral has said;
- He told journalists here that foreign investors had sought a clarification on whether the sale of shares by any one shareholder would be taxed. “We will make clear the legislative intent of not taxing deals in case where one shareholder of FII sells share”;
- The General Anti-Avoidance Rules (GAAR) provisions had evoked bitter criticism from both domestic and foreign investors and are believed to have scared foreign institutional investors (FIIs) away, leading to flight of capital and widening the current account deficit;
- More than the GAAR, which was effectively stalled by a year, it was the ‘Vodafone tax’ that raised a lot of heat and dust at home and abroad with intense lobbying by global investor associations, domestic corporates and also the U.S. and British government functionaries.
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS
- EU seals deal for common patent
- Ending decades-long deadlock, European Union leaders struck a deal, on Friday, to create a single European patent that would make it easier and cheaper for researchers to protect their inventions;
- EU President Herman Van Rompuy hailed the agreement, reached during a two-day summit, as a ‘historical breakthrough’ after a compromise was agreed over which country would host the patent court;
- In a ‘three-way split’ with Germany and Britain, Paris was awarded the seat for the Unified Patent Court and the president's office, said a spokesman for the Danish presidency of the EU;
- London will handle cases in the fields of life sciences, chemistry and human necessities such as agriculture, while Munich will house administrative offices as well as be responsible for advanced engineering and resources efficiency. This will give each city around one-third of patent cases;
- At present, companies and inventors must acquire patents in individual EU countries — a process that each time can cost up to 20,000 euro ($25,200), including 14,000 euro in translation fees;
- Despite the breakthrough, and also after a long fight, Spain and Italy will stay out of the EU-wide patent system because English, French and German were chosen as its official languages. This means 25 of 27 EU states will be covered by the system.
- Chinese astronauts return
- China’s first female astronaut and two other crew members emerged smiling from a capsule that returned safely to Earth on Friday from a 13-day mission to an orbiting module that is a prototype for a future space station. The Shenzhou 9 parachuted to a landing on the grasslands of the country’s sprawling Inner Mongolia region;
- China declared the first manned mission to the Tiangong 1 module the space programme’s longest and most challenging yet a major stride ahead for the country’s ambitious space programme.
- UNESCO move on the Nativity church a boost for Palestinian statehood
- Unesco’s World Heritage committee on Thursday approved a Palestinian bid to place the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem on its list of sites of World Heritage in Danger – a move seen by some nations as dangerously mixing politics and culture;
- Palestinian spokesman Hanan Ashrawi said the vote was an affirmation of Palestinian sovereignty over the site which marks the place where Christians believe Jesus was born;
- The US and Israel, neither of which is on the committee, were among nations opposed to the Palestinian proposal of an emergency candidacy for the iconic Christian site, shortcutting what is usually an 18-month process to apply for World Heritage recognition;
- The church which drew some two million visitors last year and parts of which are 1,500 years old stands above the grotto that Christians believe was the birthplace of Jesus. The Palestinians’ application asks for recognition as a site of “outstanding universal value” urgently in need of attention.
- Leaders from the 17 countries which share the Euro have reached an accord which paves the way for the eurozone’s €500-billion ($630 billion) bailout fund to recapitalise ailing banks directly, without passing through national budgets and adding to struggling countries’ debt mountains
EDITORIALS,
OPINIONS & COLUMNS
- If you have time, read this article on M.Krishnan who was a well known for documenting the flora and fauna in India
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