Thursday, August 23, 2012

HEADLINES

• Parliament was adjourned for the second day over the CAG report on coal block allocation; UPA backs the Prime Minister against the opposition demand for his resignation
• BJP walks out of the 2G Joint Parliamentary Committee meet over the exclusion of the PM and Chidambaram from the witness list
• Mamata Banerjee blocks the Govt's plan to permit Foreign Direct Investment in the aviation sector
• At the Supreme Court hearing on the review of the ban of activity in the core and buffer areas, the Court asks the Central Govt to state what steps they have taken for protection of the tiger; ban extended till hearing is over
• Central Govt issues ultimatum to Twitter to remove inflammatory content on its website or face penal action

NATIONAL NEWS

• Free coaching for civil service aspirants
  • Jamia Millia Islamia’s Centre for Coaching and Career Planning has invited applications for free coaching along with hostel facilities for civil service aspirants. Only Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, women candidates and other students belonging to the minority category are eligible to apply. Application forms can be downloaded from Jamia’s website or collected from the office of the Centre for Coaching and Career Planning in Jamia;
  • The last date for applying is September 21 and the entrance test is scheduled for September 30. Enquiries can be made over the phone at these numbers - 011-26985492, 26981717 with extension numbers 4272 and 4274. Please share this information widely.
• SIDBI allowed to access ECB window for on-lending to the MSME sector
  • As part of Finance Minister Chidambaram’s mission mode exercise to boost investment in various sectors of the economy to revert to the high growth track, the government on Wednesday decided to permit Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) as an eligible borrower for external commercial borrowings (ECB) for on-lending to the MSME (micro small and medium enterprise) sector;
  • On-lending is the process of taking a loan with the purpose of using the funds to give further loans to other persons. Current rules do not permit on-lending of ECBs funds. According to a Finance Ministry statement, the decision taken by the High-Level Committee on External Commercial Borrowings to include the SIDBI in the list of eligible borrowers will be subject to certain conditions to be finalised in consultation with the RBI.
• Artist's to thank Members of Parliament for amendments to the Copyright Act
  • Eminent musicians, writers and composers will come together in Delhi on Thursday to present a concert as a “thanksgiving” to parliamentarians for passing the Copyright (Amendment) Bill, 2012. It was passed by the Parliament in the budget session;
  • This Bill amends the Copyright Act, 1957 and seeks to make the provisions of the law in conformity with relevant international treaties. It expands the definition of “copyright” and introduces a system of statutory licensing to protect the owners of literary or musical works;
  • Song writers, artistes and performers can claim royalty for their works, as amendments to the Copyright Act entitles artistes to lifelong royalty. The Bill declares authors owners of the copyright, which cannot be assigned to producers, as was the practice earlier.
• Prime Minister to witness ISRO's 100th mission
  • Manmohan Singh, who is in-charge of Space and Atomic Energy, will be at Sriharikota on Sept 9 to watch the launch of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C21) that will put French remote-sensing satellite SPOT-6 and Japanese micro-satellite PROITERES in orbit;
  • The launch will be the 100th mission of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). According to ISRO, if a satellite built by it is put in orbit by another country’s launch vehicle, it is counted as one mission. If India’s or other countries’ satellites are put in orbit by an ISRO-built rocket such as SLV-3 or PSLV from Sriharikota, it is counted as two missions.
• Centre to file reply in case challenging Tendulkar's nomination to Rajya Sabha
  • The Delhi High Court on Wednesday gave time till September 5 to the Union Government to file a reply to a public interest litigation challenging nomination of cricket star Sachin Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha arguing that it was violative of the Constitutional provision;
  • The petition filed in the High Court said that the appointment was not in accordance with requirements of Article 80(3) of the Constitution. Article 80(3) says that “the members to be nominated by the President (to Rajya Sabha) under sub clause (a) of clause (1) shall consist of persons having special knowledge or practical experience in respect of such matters as the following, namely: Literature, science, art and social service”;
  • The Constitution provided for nomination of eminent personalities to the Rajya Sabha only under four categories -- art, science, literature and social science. The nomination of a sportsperson was not provide in it. Therefore, the nomination of Tendulkar was unconstitutional, the petitioner submitted.
• The National Advisory Council is meeting in Delhi tomorrow to sort out differences between the Planning Commission and the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare over the proposed National Health Mission. The implementation of the Universal Health Coverage, as recommended by the High Level Expert Group, will also be discussed
• The Delhi Govt is working towards integrating the Annasree scheme of providing cash transfer of Rs.600 per month to nearly two lakh poor families for purchase of foodgrains by linking it to the UIDAI Aadhaar scheme to exclude bogus ration card holders
• Protests by civil groups against the newly proposed land acquisition bill, the Right to Fair Compensation, Resettlement and Rehabilitation and Transparency in Land Acquisition Bill, 2012, on grounds that it is pro-corporate and investors only. Read the article in the EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS section below

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• United Nations calls for integrated drought plan
  • As farmers from Africa to India struggle with insufficient rainfall, the U.N. has sought consolidated efforts to combat climate change threat and counter its effects on global food security. A high-level meeting on National Drought Policy has been scheduled in March next year in Geneva, Switzerland;
  • The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) and the U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), along with other U.N. agencies, are intensifying efforts to establish a more coordinated and proactive strategy for managing drought risk to fill existing policy vacuum in countries around the world;
  • Pointing to the situation in India, WMO Climate Prediction and Adaptation Branch Director said the country was experiencing very serious droughts with countrywide rainfall 17% below normal. In Punjab, India’s breadbasket, rainfall was recorded 70% below normal. The south-west monsoon season that began in early June in India brought deficient rainfall in half of the 624 districts through the end of July;
  • From June through August — the first half of the monsoon season — total average seasonal rainfall was just 81% of the Long Term Average, while in the north-west region of the country, cumulative rainfall was 65% of the long-term average. In India, monsoon rainfall less than 90% of Long-Term Average constitutes drought, the U.N. said;
  • Underlining the severity and reach of the drought and its potential impact on global food prices, the WMO said one quarter of the U.S was experiencing exceptional drought while the entire country was facing its longest 12 month period in a drought since 1895;
  • According to the WMO, severe drought also developed in parts of East Africa in late 2010 and continued through most of 2011 with the most severely affected areas encompassing the semi-arid regions eastern and northern Kenya, western Somalia, and southern border areas of Ethiopia.
• Eurozone situation much better than reported
  • Contrary to the mainstream media perception and market beliefs, economic situation in the troubled Eurozone is improving on the back of significant measures taken up by the member-nations, European Financial Stability Facility Chief Executive Klaus Regling said;
  • Stating that at the macro level much has improved since the sovereign debt crisis broke out five years ago following the fall of some leading American banks, he defended the concept of the euro and said both fiscal and current account deficits have improved and are already better than many other developed countries;
  • Calling for stiffer remedies to tackle the Greek crisis, Regling said, “We are putting more than 100 billion euro for Greece, which is not needed for other countries. So, very special solutions are needed for them...Despite the adjustments Greece has taken in the last two years, there still remain a lot to be done”;
  • Many of the 17-member euro-zone nations are facing a sovereign debt crisis with higher debt to GDP ratio, creating a downward spiral in growth, which is currently affecting the global financial system at large. Regling also said the current account deficit, which was negative for many crisis-ridden economies, are also improving and have turned into current account surplus for some nations like Ireland.
• Iran okays Indian investment in Chabahar port
  • Iran has given its consent to Indian investment in Chabahar port, which would provide India an alternative access to Afghanistan, bypassing Pakistan. This comes ahead of Manmohan Singh's visit next week for the NAM summit;
  • The proposed agreement will allow India to invest up to $100 million in the project. While technically the investment may not be covered by the sanctions regime against Iran, sources said, the larger question is the political signal it might send out;
  • Also, India was keen that Afghanistan be roped into the Chabahar agreement and a trilateral document be considered for finalisation on the margins of the NAM summit, but Kabul has been cold to the suggestion so far. The Indian argument has been that Afghanistan would be the ultimate beneficiary of such an arrangement and must commit itself to trading through Chabahar, else the entire exercise could get economically unviable;
  • India has just been put on the US’s list of countries exempted from Iran sanctions despite having had strong commercial links with Tehran. One of the key criterion for this was that India showed a declining trend in its oil imports;
  • The dilemma for India is that Chabahar serves its strategic interests. Delhi has been pushing for it with Iran for close to a decade. In fact, the origins of this connectivity project lie in another trilateral understanding, signed in 2003 between India, Iran and Afghanistan;
  • The agreement covered building a road link from Chabahar to the Afghanistan border by Iran, from where India would construct a 135-mile road on the Afghanistan side between Zaranj and Delaram, which is located on the main Kandahar-Herat highway.
• Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras met Eurogroup chief Jean-Claude Juncker to launch a diplomatic marathon aimed at winning better bailout terms for Greece

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this detailed article on the various Stock Exchanges in India and the changes they are implementing. It is a long article so don't spend much time reading it but get the quick facts and issues that the article states
• Read this article on the new land acquisition act and the problems that it will pose. As mentioned above, civil groups are protesting the legislation in Delhi at the moment
• Read this article on cyber attacks on India and why the country should focus on developing strengths in the cyber space
• If you have time, read this article on dying species in the Andaman and Nicobar region
• Sociology students, please quickly read this article on the recent growth of social and national movements in India

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• Study indicates that fresh water on ocean surface raises cyclone intensity
  • A new study by a team of scientists in the United States has revealed that tropical cyclones become intense when they pass over freshwater plumes on the ocean surface. The study would help in improving the forecast of tropical cyclones intensity;
  • The heat energy supplied by oceans is the fuel for cyclones. Oceans receive heat from the sun. The warmer the ocean surface temperature, the greater would the chance of the cyclone to get intense - cyclones intensify when ocean supplies heat;
  • When tropical cyclone passes over an ocean, its winds travelling at high speed get mixed up with the surface water and in the process the cold sea water would move up to the surface. This would affect the intensity of the cyclones which gather their energy from the ocean surface temperature;
  • In certain regions lot of freshwater is ‘dumped” on the ocean surface. This freshwater would stay at the top of ocean as it would be lighter than the salty sea water. Because of this layer, when the cyclones pass over the ocean the strong winds do not mix as much as during the absence of freshwater;
  • As a result, more heat would be ‘pumped” into cyclone leading to its intensification. Such freshwater plumes could be found in large river systems as Ganga-Brahmaputra-Irawati in the Indian Ocean and Amazon-Orinoco in Atlantic Ocean.
• Growing soil in poor soil possible
  • A gene present in a specific (aus-type) rice variety, Kasalath, which has its origin in eastern States of India, holds the key to improving yield across the world. This includes soil deficient in natural phosphorus, a mineral essential for food crops;
  • Natural reserves of the mineral in the soil are limited in “almost half of world’s soil.” About 60 per cent of rain-fed lowland rice is cultivated in phosphorus-poor soil. The compulsion to use phosphorus fertiliser therefore becomes inevitable. But rock phosphate, which is the source of this precious mineral, is limited in quantity and is a non-renewable source;
  • But growing rice even in such poor and problematic soil without totally depending on phosphorus fertiliser can soon become a reality. Rico Gamuyao from the International Rice Research Institute, Manila, Philippines and his colleagues have successfully identified the gene that provides phosphorus-deficiency tolerance in rice;
  • Though the locus of phosphorus-deficiency tolerance in the aus-type variety, Kasalath was identified a decade ago, the specific gene (PSTOL1) that provides the tolerance remained elusive. If the expression of PSTOL1 is pronounced in the roots of rice that have the phosphorus uptake (Pup1) genomic region, it becomes all the more enhanced when the rice is grown in phosphorus-deficient soil conditions. Introduction of this gene in rice as an experiment produced yield improvement of over 60%. More studies are being carried out on this development.