Thursday, August 2, 2012

HEADLINES

• Four low intensity blasts in Pune; one injured
• Following a letter from the Delhi police asking Kejriwal to end his fast, Team Anna stands firm that they should not be forcibly removed from the fast venue

NATIONAL NEWS

• Now, Pakistanis can invest in India
  • In a bid to give a big boost to trade and bilateral relations and enhance economic cooperation, the Union Govt has notified a law permitting investments by Pakistan citizens and companies in India in sectors/activities other than defence, space and atomic energy;
  • The citizens and companies of Pakistan would also be able to float joint ventures and participate in any kind of investment ventures, including real estate, stock market, energy and other sectors. These investments will be screened and vetted by the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) before being given approval;
  • Pakistan was the only country in the negative list under the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA), which prohibits investments in India. Sri Lanka was removed from the list in 2006 and Bangladesh in 2007.
• Sibal to hold roundtable to revisit IT (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011
  • Following an annulment motion against the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines) Rules 2011, moved by a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha, Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal is holding a Roundtable on liability, due diligence and guidelines to be observed by intermediaries (i.e. internet service providers who do not directly host and circulate content; like search engines, data hosts, etc);
  • The Roundtable has invited the participation of all stakeholders, i.e. IT industry, IT intermediaries, political parties and others;
  • The entire issue of censorship and lack of accountability of governing bodies vis-à-vis the Internet in India was brought into sharp focus during a debate over the Intermediary Guidelines, which are part of the Information Technology Act 2000. The questions raised during a Parliamentary debate were also related to issues of freedom of expression, both from the point of view of the government and other stakeholders;
  • The annulment motion was seen as the first enlightened attempt by free speech activists to have a discussion on the issues involved. Even though the motion was not carried, Parliament and citizens in general became aware of the concerns expressed by activists against certain provisions of the IT Act;
  • The fundamental opposition to the guidelines arises out of the fact that the guidelines lend themselves to wide-ranging and mostly an arbitrary set of possible violations, coupled with a high probability of misuse. Cyber cafes are also opposed to the language in the Rules, which is felt to be excessively intrusive and violates privacy of Internet users while in the cyber café. Fears over lack of accountability have also been raised in different fora by Internet activists.
• User Preferred Route for flights soon
  • A new syste, User Preferred Route (UPR), will soon be introduced for international flights in the country. The system is at present being used on a trial basis by the Air Navigation System, a wing of the Airports Authority of India (AAI);
  • According to sources, the new system will allow the flight operators to change their flight path plan based on wind direction as against standard aviation routes. Under the UPR, the pilot will study tentative weather conditions and adopt a suitable route before departure. The system is applicable only to non-stop point-to-point flights;
  • It will help significantly reduce fuel consumption up to 5%, thereby cutting down on carbon emissions, which will directly save costs for airlines. The reduced costs will then reduce passenger fares and flight operation timings will also come down;
  • The UPR can be implemented in coutnries that are in the Bay of Bengal, Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean regions. Dubai-based Emirates Airlines tried UPR for the first time last year and successfully completed the trial run. The system is more suited for flights over oceanic regions rather than continental regions.
• Omnibus national water law on the anvil
  • In a move that will have far-reaching implications, the Centre has decided to frame a National Water Framework Act with guiding principles on water laws the states may adopt. States that adopt and reform will be incentivised for water projects;
  • That such a law would be made is buried in the pages of the draft new national water policy which is yet to be considered by the National Water Council which is chaired by the Prime Minister and with Chief ministers as members;
  • As the policy is being finalised, the Govt has appointed the former planning commission member Y.K. Alagh as the head of the panel that will draft the national framework law which will be the overarching legislation;
  • At present the River Boards Act is the main legislation but is defunct. The new law will also set the bottom line on making groundwater a public property by amending the Inter-state Water Disputes Act, the River Boards Act and the Easement law in India. At present, water is the property of the person who owns the land above it.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Venuzuela joins Mercosur
  • Mercosur is the largest trading block in south america with full members being Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay (current suspended from the bloc for impeachment of its president Fernando Lugo), Uruguay and now Venuzuela. Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile are associate members. The bloc encompasses 270 million people and accounts for more than 3/4th the continent's economy. Only Guyana, Surinam and French Guyana are outside the bloc completely;
  • Many critics feel that Venuzuela's entry could eventually cause greater dysfunction amongst the current members of Mercosur. Venuzuela was invited to the bloc after Paraguay was suspended following the impeachment of its president.
• US ends silence over Rwandan involvement in DRCongo violence
  • The Obama administration has broken with its own history of support to the Paul Kagame regime of Rwanda and joined other Western nations in an effort to cut off military aid to it;
  • This move comes following a United Nations report that supplied evidence of Rwanda’s involvement in rebel-led violence in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC);
  • According to the report and other human rights organisations there is now material evidence of Rwanda “providing fighters and military equipment to rebels in the eastern DRC where 18 years of conflict have cost the lives of several million people”;
  • However, the apparent turnaround in the U.S. position on Rwanda was not without controversy as some members of the U.S. administration, reportedly including the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice, resisted allowing some parts of the reports being published.
• Somalia’s Constituent Assembly on Wednesday endorsed a draft constitution billed as a key step to ending decades of civil war during
• US imposes more sanctions on Iran and says that sanctions will be imposed on any institution which trades with Iran – targetting Chinese Banks

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this article on the Supreme Court judgment preventing tourism in the core areas of tiger reserves
• If you have time, read this article about what is happening is Syria

ECONOMY & BUSINESS NEWS

• Norwegian Mobile phone networks operator Telenor, on Wednesday, moved a step closer to pushing out its joint venture partner in India with a view to rebuilding the business after the loss of its radio frequency operating licences. Telenor owns 2/3rd of Uninor and the rest is owned by Unitech. The company is caught in the 2G scam
• he Kerala Govt decided not to accept the tender of Welspun-led consortium for the port operator contract of the Vizhinjam International Container Transhipment Project. The contract will be re-tendered after getting the environmental clearance