Wednesday, August 1, 2012

HEADLINES

• 21 States plunged into darkness as the Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern grids collapse
• Govt extends last date for e-filing of Income Tax returns to August 31, in light of power failure
• AP Govt announces Rs.50 lakh for Gagan Narang who won the bronze in shooting

NATIONAL NEWS

• The Supreme Court reminds state Governments over lotteries
  • The Supreme Court has directed the States to ensure that lottery business is conducted strictly in accordance with the provisions of the Lotteries Regulation Act (LRA), as a petition claims it is ruining the lives of lakhs of families;
  • The Centre told the Court that Section 4 of the LRA mandated that States may organise, conduct or promote a lottery subject to certain conditions stipulated in Section 4 of the LRA. According the the Centre the following conditions have been notified to the States:
    • Prizes shall not be offered on any pre-announced number or on the basis of a single digit;
    • The State Government shall print lottery tickets bearing the imprint and logo of the State in such a manner that the authenticity of the lottery ticket is ensured;
    • The State Government shall sell the tickets either itself or through distributors or selling agents;
    • Proceeds from the sale of lottery tickets shall be credited into the State’s public account;
    • The State Government itself shall conduct the draws of all the lotteries;
    • The prize money unclaimed within such time as may be prescribed by the State Government or not otherwise distributed shall become the property of that government;
    • The place of draw shall be located within the State concerned;
    • No lottery shall have more than one draw in a week;
    • The draws of all kinds of lotteries shall be conducted between such period of days as may be prescribed by the State Government;
    • The number of bumper draws of a lottery shall not be more than six in a calendar year;
  • In 2009, the Supreme Court had, while admitting a public interest litigation filed by Uttar Pradesh resident Satyavir Singh, said the issue was serious and needed to be examined;
  • The petition had alleged that lotteries were being conducted indiscriminately in different parts of the country, particularly Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Nagaland, which had the potential to ruin the lives of many families, mostly the poor who are lured by the fabulous prize money;
  • According to the petition, a number of States were conducting lotteries in violation of the LRA. It also complained that lotteries in various parts of the country were being held even on an hourly basis, luring many gullible investors.
• A device which detects arsenic in the water
  • Scientists at the Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) in Pilani have developed a new bio-sensor device to detect arsenic content in drinking water. The device can be operated by a layman and is based on a rare combination of bio-engineering and electronics;
  • According to the established guidelines, drinking water having more than 10 parts per billion (ppb) arsenic content increases mortality rates since arsenic is a bio-accumulative toxin;
  • Persons suffering from arsenicosis do not respond to known treatment procedures. Arsenic is believed to cause several diseases such as bone deformation, skin ailments, cancer of the intestines, kidneys and bladder as well as gangrene. Arsenic can also contaminate standing crops if it is present in the soil and soil water.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• Mars rover faces a tricky landing
  • It’s the U.S. space agency’s most ambitious and expensive Mars mission yet and it begins with the Red planet arrival on Sunday of the smartest interplanetary rover ever built. The rover has traveled 8 months to reach its destination;
  • t won’t be easy. The complicated touchdown NASA designed for the Curiosity rover is so risky that it’s been described as “seven minutes of terror” — the time it takes to go from 20,920 kmph to a complete stop;
  • Scientists and engineers will be waiting anxiously as the spacecraft plunges through Mars’ thin atmosphere and, in a new twist, attempts to slowly lower the rover to the bottom of a crater with cables;
  • Scientists on Earth won’t know for 14 minutes whether Curiosity lands safely as radio signals from Mars travel to Earth and takes that long to transmit. If it succeeds, a video camera aboard the rover will have captured the most dramatic minutes for the first filming of a landing on another planet;
  • The future direction of Mars exploration is hanging on the outcome of this $2.5-billion science project to determine whether the environment was once suitable for microbes to live. Previous missions have found ice and signs that water once flowed. Curiosity will drill into rocks and soil in search of carbon and other elements.

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this editorial on the power outrage issues in North India
• Read this article on the problems with the present system of monsoon prediction
• Read this article on how literacy has helped the MGNREGA in Kerala
• Read this article on the impact of the Supreme Court judgement banning tourism in the core areas of tiger reserves impacts the tribals in the area

ECONOMY & BUSINESS NEWS

• RBI slashes SLR; leaves other key rates the same
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Tuesday, kept the key indicative policy rates unchanged while it cut the gross domestic product (GDP) forecast for the current financial year from 7.3% to 6.5%and raised the inflation forecast from 6.5% to 7%;
  • However, the RBI cut the Statutory Liquidity Ratio by one percentage point from 24% to 23% which is expected to provide liquidity of around Rs.60,000cr. SLR is the amount of liquid assets or securities that banks must maintain as reserves other than the cash;
  • The RBI left interest rates unchanged for the second straight review. It kept the Repo rate unchanged at 8%, and the Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) at 4.75%. Repo rate is the rate at which banks borrow money from the central bank. CRR is the portion of deposits banks have to keep with the central bank in cash;
  • The RBI had frontloaded the policy rate reduction in April last with a cut of 50 basis points. Since then, the rates remained the same.
• RBI to review priority sector lending norms
  • The Reserve Bank of India said that the apex bank would review the priority sector lending guidelines, which was issued by the central bank on July 20;
  • During a RBI meeting with the bankers as part of its first quarter monetary policy review, foreign banks had raised some issues related to priority sector lending. A decision is expected from the RBI by the end of the month;
  • The RBI, in its final guidelines, said that foreign banks having 20 or more branches in the country would be brought on a par with domestic banks for priority sector lending targets in a phased manner over a maximum period of five years, starting April 1, 2013;
  • They were also asked to submit an action plan for achieving the targets over a specific timeframe to be approved by the RBI;
  • Foreign banks with less than 20 branches will have no sub-targets within the overall priority sector lending target of 32 per cent. This is expected to allow them to lend as per their core competence to any priority sector category.