Saturday, August 25, 2012

HEADLINES

• Terming the CAG report as totally flawed the Govt said the concept of presumptive loss did not apply in the coal block issue and maintaining that no loss took place because the coal was still unexploited and not yet sold
• Supreme Court strikes down petition to make Chidambaram a party in the 2G case saying he was not involved; Subramanian Swamy says he will seek a review of the decision

NATIONAL NEWS

• China to train 300 Indian teachers in Mandarin
  • China will train 300 Indian teachers in Mandarin Chinese under a first-of-its-kind initiative to lay the groundwork for more than 100 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) schools to introduce courses of the language;
  • The Chinese government has offered to cover the expenses, including flight tickets, living costs and tuition, for the 300 Indian teachers to undergo six months of training in top Chinese universities, according to a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the CBSE and the Chinese government;
  • The MoU proposes exchanges of academic staff, teachers and students. Under the agreement, China will also help India develop its Mandarin Chinese language curriculum and provide educational materials. The Chinese Government foresees the project to take at least 20 years. Indian diplomats have said this arrangement will have significant long term benefits for both countries.
• Finance Minister hopeful of Goods and Service Tax Bill approval this fiscal year
  • Even as a number of hurdles are yet to be crossed, Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, on Friday, expressed hope that the Constitutional Amendment Bill for rolling out the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime would be passed before the end of the current financial year to usher in “a more effective and efficient substitute” for a plethora of indirect taxes;
  • Mr. Chidambaram pointed out that though there were still some issues relating to GST and its network (GSTN) to be resolved, yet they were not insurmountable. The Finance Minister told committee members that the objective of implementing the GST regime in lieu of most indirect taxes was to put in place an effective and efficient tax system, which was friendly and fair to the taxpayers;
  • According to an official statement, members of the consultative committee participating in the discussion on GST offered various suggestions relating to GST and its network. While they viewed the GST regime as good for all stakeholders, including the Centre and the States as well as traders and business communities, a number of issues were raised pertaining to GSTN, including security of data, settlement of disputes, and integration of direct tax information system into the GST system.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Famous racing cyclist, Lance Armstrong banned for life
  • The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) erased 14 years of Lance Armstrong’s career on Friday, including his record seven Tour de France titles, and banned him for life from the sport that made him the hero of millions of cancer survivors, after concluding he used banned substances, which they have been claiming for sometime now;
  • Armstrong, who retired a year ago, said that he would no longer challenge USADA and declined to exercise his option of entering arbitration. While announcing the decision, he again denied taking banned substances during his career and called the USADA’s investigation a “witch hunt”;
  • The International Cycling Union (ICU) however has said that it will not make a decision till it hears Armstrong’s explanation. The International Olympic Committee said it would await the USADA’s and the ICU’s decisions before taking any step against Armstrong, who won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Games.
• America awoke to its third deadly shooting incident in barely two months when news emerged on Friday morning of two people killed and nine wounded in the vicinity of the Empire State Building in New York City
• A Norwegian court sentenced Anders Behring Breivik to prison on Friday, denying prosecutors the insanity ruling they hoped would show that his massacre of 77 people was the work of a madman, not part of an anti-Muslim crusade. This brings an end to the case as Breivik is unlikely to appeal the sentence as he wanted to be charged
• Conflict in Syria is spilling over to border regions in Lebanon, its neighbour as well

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this editorial on the recent court case that Delhi University is facing in relation to piracy charges (photocopying of copyrighted books)
• Read this article which explains the issues involved in the grid failure and the report on the matter submitted by the Bakshi panel
• Read this article on the mechanism for internet censorship being applied in India and the problem with actually implementing it from a technology perspective. Very important to read up on this issue