Tuesday, July 10, 2012

HEADLINES

• Supreme Court asks Gujarat Govt to give a list of shrines damaged during the 2002 riots, in a petition seeking compensation for loss
• Best Bakery case; 5 acquited and life term for 4 upheld

NATIONAL NEWS

• As storage in dams dip, Centre rings alarm bells
  • An alarming depletion in the water levels (at 57 per cent of last year’s storage) of important reservoirs, owing to the delayed and weak southwest monsoon, has prompted the Central government to issue an advisory to the States on Monday to make “judicious and regulated” releases;
  • Top officials said there was a serious concern over the spread and intensity of rain and apprehension that the monsoon might remain weak in parts of the country. Already, there are reports of damage to the kharif crop in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Gujarat. A letter from Water Resources Secretary D.V. Singh to the Chief Secretaries urges the States to go in for crops that require less water;
  • Anxiety is building up as all major reservoirs, barring those in central India, are showing deficient storage. Against the live storage capacity of 154.421 billion cubic metres (BCM), the average storage till July 5 was only 25.191 BCM in the 84 major reservoirs monitored by the Central Water Commission;
  • The States have been advised to give preference to drinking water and irrigation and enhance groundwater use to meet current needs.
• Centre asks States to give free right of way for laying of optic fibre
  • The Centre has asked the States to forego the levy on right of way for laying optic fibre under the national programme to roll out broadband connectivity to 2.50 lakh villages in the country. The Rs. 20,000-crore project proposes to interlink every panchayat in the country through the optic fibre network in two years.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Jibril urges unity as Libya warps up vote count
  • Electoral authorities were finalising the vote count on Monday from Libya’s first free polls in decades as an architect of the revolt that toppled Muammar Qadhafi called for national unity talks;
  • Mahmoud Jibril of the National Forces Alliance, which is expected to do well based on preliminary unofficial figures from the weekend election for a National Assembly, called for all parties to come together.
• Mood sombre as South Sudan marks one year
  • South Sudan on Monday marked its first year of independence in sombre mood — the world’s youngest nation wracked by border wars with the north, internal violence and shutdown of its vital oil production. The early euphoria of independence from former civil war foe Sudan on July 9 2011 has since given way to a harsh reality;
  • While massive steps forward have been made, South Sudan remains one of the world’s poorest countries. Even the most basic infrastructure — roads, electricity and water distribution networks — still has to be built;
  • Adult illiteracy stands at 73 per cent; secondary school enrolment at six per cent; and there is a glaring shortage of skilled professionals, although aid workers point out that South Sudan has had to start from scratch after a 2005 peace deal. The only sector spared from budget cuts is the Army which utilises almost half the budget of the important sectors.
• Morsy on collision course with judiciary
  • Egypt’s top court on Monday rejected a decree by President Mohamed Morsy to reinstate Parliament it ruled invalid, setting the President on a collision course with the judiciary and the military that enforced the ruling;
  • This came after Mr. Morsy decided to order back the Islamist-led Lower House of Parliament a month after the court found certain articles in the law on parliamentary elections to be invalid, annulling the House;
  • The powerful Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which was running the country after Hosni Mubarak was ousted last year, had dissolved Parliament based on the ruling;
  • The court’s move could spark a confrontation between Mr. Morsy, who stepped down from the Brotherhood when he was sworn in last month, and the SCAF as well as the judiciary. However, the court stressed that it was “not a part of any political conflict... but the limit of its sacred duty is the protection of the texts of the constitution”.
• Sheikh Hasina challenges the World Bank
  • In a major policy decision, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has announced that her country would itself implement the $3-billion Padma bridge project through mobilising domestic resources after the World Bank cancelled the loan deal recently;
  • Ms. Hasina also announced that her government would start the construction of the ambitious multi-purpose project immediately;
  • In a hard-hitting speech in Parliament on Sunday, she also came down on the World Bank for the “catastrophic act” of cancelling the loan agreement. Ms. Hasina, whose government was annoyed with the World Bank decision, said a country takes loan from the World Bank and repays it with interest; therefore, it is the country which will decide how to spend the money;
  • Outlining her plan to mobilise domestic resources for the project, she said the government would go for imposition of surcharge and issue foreign and local bonds for mobilising the fund. She said the people, including the Bangladeshi expatriates, would donate for the bridge which is both politically and economically important for the country.
• Gyanendra Shah wants to be King of Nepal again
  • Six weeks after Nepal’ Constituent Assembly (CA) expired without delivering a constitution, Nepal’s last monarch Gyanendra Shah has said he wants to be the king again. Mr. Shah expressed his desire in an interview to a private television channel. The CA had abolished the monarchy at its first sitting in May 2008;
  • Mr. Shah’s claim rests on what he says was a private agreement with the leaders of political parties on April 24, 2006 — the final day of the People’s Movement. On that night, after 19 days of street protests, the king conceded that sovereignty lay with the people, not the crown, and accepted the roadmap of the political parties to bring about peace and democracy.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this article which discusses some of the reasons why the Indian economy has slowed down
• Read this article on the NAM 2.0
• Read this editorial on the US roadmap for Afghanistan and the role for Pakistan
• If you have time, read this article which discusses the issues in India which are pushing the muslim youth to take to extremism