Monday, September 3, 2012

HEADLINES

• Click like and follow us on www.facebook.com/gyangurus

NATIONAL NEWS

• Opposition conditions put Govt in a fix
  • With the entire Opposition united on the demand for cancellation of 142 coal block allocations made from 2006 as a condition for allowing Parliament to function, the ball is now in the court of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh;
  • There was no indication from UPA what could be the Govt’s response. Prior to BJP leader Sushma Swaraj’s disclosure that the party was not insisting on the resignation of Dr. Singh, the government’s stand was that there was no question of scrapping the licences;
  • Parliament was disrupted the whole of last week after the CAG report on coal blocks allocation was tabled. The report had said the delay in implementation of the policy on allotments by bidding had cost the exchequer a presumptive loss of Rs. 1.86 lakh-crore. The BJP says that it has not given up its demand for the resignation of the Prime Minister but the cancellation of all licences will be a first step to permit Parliament to function.
• Home Ministry looks to Finance Ministry for push on mobile towers project
  • With P. Chidambaram back in the Finance Ministry, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) officials are now hopeful that one of their key projects — setting up mobile towers in the districts in nine States affected by left wing extremism — would soon get clearance from the Cabinet;
  • It has been two years since the MHA started pushing for improving mobile connectivity in the States with Maoist presence, in order to tackle the problem posed by the extreme left in a more effective manner;
  • Subsequently, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) was approached, which prepared a Rs. 5,800-crore plan for setting up almost 2,200 towers in nine States by the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. The DoT said it nominated BSNL as all other telecom operators had shown disinterest.
  • However, the Cabinet returned the proposal a couple of months back after objections by the Finance Ministry, then under Pranab Mukherjee, mainly on 2 grounds — nomination of the BSNL for executing the project without the tender process and the large amount of subsidy sought from the Govt. The Home Ministry now hopes to push it under the new minister.
• No mobile connections to foreigners for over 3 months
  • To check misuse of Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, the government has asked telecom service providers not to provide mobile connection for more than three months to any foreign tourist visiting India;
  • According to fresh guidelines, which came into effect recently, the Department of Telecom (DoT) has told the service providers that the proof for issuance of a mobile connection to any foreigner would be the passport having a valid visa;
  • “Any mobile connection issued to a foreigner should not have validity beyond the validity of the visa. In case of foreign tourist, the validity of connection should not be beyond the visa period and also not exceed three months at a time even if the validity of the visa is beyond three months,” the guidelines, vetted by the Union Home Ministry;
  • The move comes in the wake of instances, where mobile connections used by foreigners were misused by some people even after the departure of the foreign nationals from India.
• Poor PISA scores – Govt blames it on a disconnect with the Indian education system
  • Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) — introduced by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation Development — is an internationally standardised assessment that tests 15-year-olds in reading, mathematical science and science literacy;
  • While PISA assessments first started in 2000, India participated in the “extended cycle” of the test for 2009 with 16,000 students from 400 schools across Himachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. Against first-timer China that stormed into the 2009 ratings with Shanghai schools topping maths and science with a mean score of 556, the two Indian states stood near the bottom with 337 and 325 — a performance that led to much discussion in India;
  • The ministry has concluded that there was a socio-cultural disconnect between the questions asked and Indian students. The ministry will write to the OECD and drive home the need to factor in India’s “socio-cultural milieu” as there is a urban-rural disconnect between the test and students. India’s participation in the next PISA cycle will hinge on this;
  • Considering that over 70 nations participate in PISA, it is uncertain whether an exception would be made for India. Incidentally, the Ministry of External Affairs is not enthused about a pan-India participation in PISA as it is expected to throw up discouraging results. India is already close to missing the 2012 cycle and may have to wait for 2015.
• Sethu project – Govt to relook at the Supreme Court proposal and other alternatives
  • The Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project aims to create a shipping channel linking the Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar between India and Sri Lanka to allow large ships to get to India’s east coast from the west without navigating around Sri Lanka, as they do now;
  • Work was started on ‘Alignment 6’ in July 2005 but that route raised controversy as it required dredging Ram Sethu, a stretch of limestone shoals that runs from Rameshwaram to Mannar Island, which Hindus see as as the bridge Lord Ram and his army built to reach Ravana’s Lanka;
  • The Supreme Court suspended work in September 2007 and later suggested 'Alignment 4A'. However, a Committee of Eminent Persons headed by R K Pachauri rejected this route saying the impact on the fragile ecological zone had not been studied;
  • The Centre is now planning to reject the Pachauri panel report on the project and set up a new committee to re-examine ‘Alignment 4A’ suggested by the Supreme Court. If needed, the panel will identify an alternative route that avoids the Ram Sethu;
  • Walking a tightrope between ally DMK and Hindu sentiments, the Shipping Ministry has recommended that a new panel of experts analyse Alignment 4A with respect to its climate and environment impact and suggest ways that this could be minimised;
  • In the event 4A is not considered worthy of further analysis, the new committee be entrusted with the task of suggesting a new alignment which is least damaging from the environmental point of view and is economically acceptable. It could take up further studies to suggest the new alignment which avoids the Ram Sethu.

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• U.S puts Afghan training on hold
  • U.S. special forces in Afghanistan have suspended training for about 1,000 Afghan police recruits to vet existing members, the military said, after a surge in insider attacks on NATO. There has been a sharp rise in attacks in recent months, in which members of the Afghan security forces turn their weapons on their Western allies, sometimes their military trainers;
  • Taliban insurgents claim responsibility for many of the attacks, saying their fighters have infiltrated the Afghan army and police, but NATO says the majority of the incidents are due to cultural differences and personal animosities.
• After a fortnight of public mourning, African heads of state and delegations from across the world gathered in Addis Ababa to pay tribute to a man described by many at the funeral as a visionary, a statesman and an African giant, Ethiopian Prime Minister, Meles Zenawi. Please refer to reporting on August 22, 2012 for a detailed write up on him

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this article on the policy initiatives which can make an impact in treating tuberculosis in India
• Read this editorial on the need for the bill to ban manual scavenging
• Read this editorial on the Non-Alignment Movement
• Read this editorial on the Shome Committee report on delaying the implementation of GAAR

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

• Eye-controlled TV coming soon
  • A prototype of an eye-controlled television that uses a sensor placed on a table in front of the user to track the eye movements was unveiled at a recent IFA trade show in Berlin. Haier’s Gaze TV uses technology developed by Tobii, a Swedish firm that already offers eye-tracking technology for computers;
  • Users control the set by staring at the top or bottom of the screen to activate a user-interface. The users can then change the volume, switch channel or carry out other functions by looking at icons shown on the display. The technology has the potential to offer an alternative to the traditional remote control;
  • The key part of Tobii’s technology is not built into the television set itself at this stage. Instead an attached sensor sits in-between the viewer and screen monitoring the eye movements. By tracking the shift in gaze and blinks given, it allows the user to point, zoom, scroll, select and navigate menus and features. The device has to be adjusted according to each user before use and becomes less accurate if they are wearing glasses.
• Windows 8 hardware makes its debut
  • The first glimpses of the much-awaited mobile devices based on Windows 8 operating system have started doing the rounds on technology forums and blogs. South Korean electronics giant Samsung last week previewed its first smartphone that is based on Windows 8;
  • Finnish phone manufacturer Nokia, which entered into a strategic partnership with Microsoft last year, is expected to announce its line-up of Windows 8 mobile devices at an event in New York later this week;
  • The previews of the next generation Windows mobile phone bear significance not just ahead of the international launch of Windows 8 on October 26, but also against the backdrop of the high-profile patent wars being played out in international courts by key players in the mobile technology space — Apple, Samsung and other manufacturers using Google’s Android operating system.