Monday, July 16, 2012

HEADLINES

• Obama says India need another wave of reforms; says the American business community finds it hard to invest and that FDI is still restricted in many sectors such as retail

NATIONAL NEWS

• Views on Western Ghat report to be collated shortly
  • A committee of experts will soon collate the comments received for the Western Ghats Ecology Expert Panel (WGEEP) report, said Jayanthi Natarajan, Minister for Environment and Forests;
  • The 45-day deadline fixed by the Ministry for submitting comments to the report ended on July 5. The Ministry, while releasing the report in the public domain after holding it back for nine months, stated that it had not accepted the report;
  • A committee is reviewing the comments. The committee will also look into the views of the State governments, including Kerala. No decision on the structure of the committee and its head has been taken. The deadline for collating the report has also not been fixed;
  • Members of the original panel have hit out at the approach undertaken by the ministry saying that meaningful comments can come only when the report is disclosed and that the report should be translated into local languages and discussed at the gram sabha level.
• Read this article to understand the tribal ritual of Gaddika prevelant in Kerala

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Asian space powers gear up for more moon missions
  • The three major Asian space powers — China, Japan and India — are entering the next phase of their lunar exploration. The three nations have already successfully despatched lunar probes that photographed and studied Earth’s natural satellite from space. Now, all three want to send an orbiter that will circle the Moon as well as a lander that will gently settle on its surface and release a rover that will roam about;
  • Media reports have quoted Chinese space officials as saying that the Chang’e-3 could leave for the Moon in 2013. ISRO said India’s Chandrayaan-2 mission could be on its way in 2014. Japan's rover Selene-2 is also planned in the near future;
  • South Korea, which is creating its own launch capability, too seems to have similar ambitions. The country also had aspirations of launching an orbiter-lander mission to the Moon around 2023.
• Japan recalls China envoy over territory dispute
  • Japan recalled its Ambassador to China for consultations on Sunday amid a simmering row between the Asian powers over disputed territory in the East China Sea;
  • Japan last week lodged two separate complaints with Beijing after Chinese vessels entered resource-rich waters claimed by both Tokyo and Beijing near a group of islands known as Senkaku in Japanese and Diaoyu in Chinese;
  • China, meanwhile, expressed its strong opposition to a Japanese plan to buy the islands from the family that Tokyo recognises as the legitimate owner.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this article on the need for nutrient based subsidy in urea
• Read this article on certain problems with the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna
• If you have time, read this article on the future of the Euro currency