Thursday, August 30, 2012

HEADLINES

• Supreme Court upholds 26/11 terrorist, Ajmal Kasab's death sentence
• In a boost to India’s indigenous nuclear power programme, large uranium deposits were discovered at Rohil in Rajasthan’s Sikar district making it the fourth largest in the country after Tummalapalle, Chitrial and Peddagattu extension in Andhra Pradesh
• The Gyangurus apologises for the delayed news over the past 2 days. Please follow us on facebook as well at www.facebook.com/gyangurus

NATIONAL NEWS

• Ex-BJP Minister among 32 convicted of the Naroda-Patiya massacre during Gujarat 2002
  • Mayaben Kodnani, a senior BJP leader and former Minister in the Narendra Modi Cabinet, and the former Bajrang Dal convener, Babu Bajrangi, were among 32 persons convicted on Wednesday in the Naroda-Patiya massacre case, in which 97 Muslims were killed;
  • All those convicted were found guilty of murder, attempt to murder, conspiracy, spreading enmity and communal hatred and unlawful assembly under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Bombay Police Act. Some of them were also found guilty of rape and molestation. Kishan Korani, a BJP member of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, and BJP and VHP leaders Bipin Panchal and Ashok Sindhi are also among the convicts;
  • The conviction of Ms. Kodnani, who was Minister of State for Women and Child Welfare and now MLA representing Naroda in Ahmedabad, sparked the demand for Narendra Modi’s resignation on “moral grounds.” But Cabinet spokesman Jaynarayan Vyas rejected it, saying Ms. Kodnani, a practising gynaecologist, was not a Minister at the time of the massacre and was only an MLA, and her individual action could not be construed as a “cumulative responsibility of the Cabinet”;
  • The Naroda-Patiya massacre was the most gruesome of all post-Godhra violent incidents, claiming the highest number of casualties. On February 28, 2002, when the Vishwa Hindu Parishad called a State-wide bandh to condemn the Godhra train carnage which took place the previous day, a 5,000-strong mob, allegedly instigated by the BJP and the Bajrang Dal, attacked the members of the minority community, burning many of them alive and throwing their bodies into a dry well. Many women were allegedly molested and raped before being killed, and their bodies hurled into the fire.
• Madurai to be nodal centre for Indian Neutrino Observatory
  • An action plan is ready to establish a major research laboratory in Madurai for detector development meant for the ambitious Rs.1,300-crore India-based Neutrino Observatory(INO) project coming up in Theni district in Tamil Nadu;
  • The Research and Development lab in Madurai will be a national facility that would be the nodal centre for the underground INO project. For all the neutrino experiments and research activities, the Madurai laboratory would be the nerve centre. All activities for INO project which is being set up along Bodi West Hills, Theni district will be coordinated through the Madurai nodal centre;
  • The major funding agencies for the Rs.1,300-crore INO project are the Department of Atomic Energy and Department of Science and Technology of Government of India. While the Mumbai-based Tata Institute of Fundamental Research is the host institution for this project, totally there are 26 leading research institutions involved in this major project. The Institute of Mathematical Sciences at Chennai too is one among the collaborators offering its theoretical expertise in the field.
• Following resistance to the ban on tourism in core areas of tiger reserves by several States, NGOs and interested parties, the Supreme Court on Wednesday permitted the Centre to review existing norms and come up with comprehensive guidelines on ‘Tiger Project’ and ‘sustainable tourism.’ The next hearing on the matter is on September 27

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• India offers Bangladesh a stake in Tipaimukh project
  • India has offered Bangladesh a stake in the Rs.15,000-crore Tipaimukh hydroelectric project on the Barak river in Manipur. Located about 210 km upstream of Bangladesh, the project has become controversial ever since Dhaka raised issues about lean period water discharges and impact on downstream agriculture, fisheries and environment;
  • At a recent meeting, India shared data with Dhaka on the project as well as finalised the Terms of Reference of a study to be conducted on downstream impact. Bangladesh will study any changes it envisages downstream in the light of the data shared by India. Both sides will then come up with a joint recommendation on the project;
  • The multipurpose project is meant to regulate flood waters in the lower Barak Valley and downstream through controlled releases and generate electricity for peak-hour distribution through the northern grid. The Barak originates in Assam and, after traversing through Manipur, joins the Brahmaputra in Bangladesh;
  • No details have been worked out, but so far Bangladesh has not responded to the offer of taking a stake in the project as well as buying power. The project does not have any irrigation component. It will be constructed by National Hydroelectric Power Corporation, which entered into an agreement with Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam and the Manipur Govt for the project last year.
• The 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) Summit begins with Syria being the highlight of the discussions; India looks to broaden economic ties at the summit
• The International Atomic Energy Agency has created a special Iran Task Force of nuclear weapons experts, intelligence analysts and other specialists focused on probing allegations that Iran has been or is secretly working on developing atomic arms. The focus will be on “relevant” IAEA and Security Council resolutions on Iran

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this article on the Kendriya Vidyalaya in Tehran, Iran
• Read this editorial on the sad state of the India nuclear regulator
• Read this article on the next steps that should be tajen to reduce child mortality and achieve the Millenium Development Goals in this regard
• If you have time, read this interesting article on the scope of the CAG's mandate and the recent discussions aimed at discrediting this constitutional authority

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• New wheat, barley varieties released at scientists' meet
  • Four new varieties of seeds, two each in wheat and barley, developed by the Agriculture Research Station (ARS) at Durgapura, Rajasthan have been approved for country-wide introduction. The All-India Wheat & Barley Improvement Research Worker’s meet, which concluded here the other day, approved a total of 10 varieties developed by various research stations after rejecting 22 others taken up for consideration;
  • Wheat varieties Raj. 4229 and Raj.4238, developed by ARS, passed the muster this time while two of its barley varieties — RD 2786 and RD 2794 — were selected for the current season. Raj.4229 was considered suitable for North-East plains, while Raj.4238 was suitable for the central agro climatic zone. Between the chosen barley varieties, RD 2786 is ideal for the central zone, while RD 2794 is meant for saline soil;
  • ARS Durgapura is credited with developing an improved variety of Lal Bahadur , which was instrumental in high wheat production during the Green Revolution.
• How sickle cell gene protects against Malaria
  • A team of U.S. scientists has identified a new and surprising way in which those with the gene that causes sickle cell disease are protected from the ravages of malaria. People who develop sickle cell disease have inherited from both parents defective versions of a gene for haemoglobin, the iron-containing protein in red blood cells that transports oxygen from the lungs to tissues in the body;
  • Their red blood cells, instead of being disc-like, turn crescent shaped. Such individuals can suffer from anaemia, episodes of pain, serious infections and even organ damage. Those with the defective gene from only one parent usually escape such health problems;
  • However, these individuals too get milder forms of malaria rather than the life-threatening kind that can afflict people with the normal gene. This survival advantage has resulted in the faulty gene occurring at higher frequencies in malaria-endemic parts of the world;
  • At one stage during their complicated life cycle, the single-celled Plasmodium parasites, which cause malaria, invade red blood cells and proliferate there, feeding on haemoglobin. In a paper published recently in the journal Cell Host & Microbe, researchers noted that short strips of the genetic material RNA, known as microRNA (miRNA), were found at enhanced levels in the red blood cells of people with the sickle cell gene;
  • The Plasmodium parasites are not known to have the molecular machinery that miRNA typically uses to interfere with protein production. However, the findings were surprising as they parasites could not survive for long in the cells of people with the sickle cell gene.