Thursday, September 6, 2012

HEADLINES

• 38 killed in Sivakasi cracker unit blast
• India’s Internet subscriber base is expected to reach 150 million by the end of this year with a growth of 16% since last year

NATIONAL NEWS

• Cabinet panel to discuss hike in diesel, LPG, kerosene prices
  • The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has moved the Cabinet for a hike in prices of diesel, LPG cylinders and kerosene. The Cabinet will also discuss putting a cap on number of subsidised cylinders for each household up to a certain income limit. In addition, elected members, including Ministers, MPs, MLAs, MLCs and councillors, are likely to face discontinuation of subsidised LPG cylinders;
  • The Ministry may impress upon the Cabinet to take a call on imposition of a higher duty on diesel vehicles in view of the massive jump in consumption of the fuel in the recent past. In July, diesel sales jumped by 12%, sending the alarm bells ringing;
  • The increase in sale of SUVs, especially diesel ones, has further burdened the exchequer, as oil marketing companies (OMCs) are losing around Rs. 19 a litre on subsidised sale of diesel and Rs. 6 on petrol. The subsidy on LPG cylinder stands at Rs. 347 a cylinder and on kerosene at Rs. 34.34 a litre;
  • As per the proposal, every household would get only 4-6 cylinders at a subsidised price of Rs. 399 each in Delhi and they will have to pay the market price of Rs. 746 for any requirement beyond that. It has also proposed barring households with an income of more than Rs. 50,000 a month or Rs. 6 lakh a year from getting subsidised cylinders. The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs (CCPA) may also consider a cut in the Rs. 14.78 a litre excise duty on petrol.
• Wildlife Protection Act to get more teeth, says the Prime Minister
  • Prime Minister Singh said that the government would bring in amendments to the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 to make it stringent and increase its penal provisions for wildlife crimes as well as introduce roles for the gram sabhas and the panchayats in the declaration and management of protected areas;
  • The PM also said a proposal for expanding the number of regional offices, field units and forensic labs of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau is under process as is the creation of a national database on wildlife crime and criminals.
• Indian Meteorological Department getting monsoon forecasts wrong
  • The Govt conceded in Parliament that the accuracy of long-range monsoon forecasts in the last four years had only been about 50%, an admission that is expected to strengthen critics of the Met department who have questioned the credibility of its estimates;
  • Every year, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) tries to predict in April the total rainfall the country is likely to get in the June-September monsoon season. This year, the IMD seems to have got it doubly wrong;
  • In April-end, it said rainfall would be 99% of the long period average. In June, it revised this to about 96%. But when it hardly rained in June and July, the IMD drastically cut its prediction and said total rainfall was not likely to be more than 85% of average.
• Final hearing in October on Public Interest Litigation (PIL) to bar criminals from polls
  • The Supreme Court on Wednesday posted for final hearing on Oct 10, a PIL petition filed by Lily Thomas in 2005 challenging the constitutional validity of certain provisions in the Representation of the People Act 1951 which allow convicted persons to contest elections to Parliament and the State Legislatures six years after release from jail;
  • Thomas contended that Article 326, which barred citizens from being registered as voters on grounds of criminal antecedents, should equally prohibited such people from becoming MPs and MLAs. However, Sections 8 and 9 of the RP Act allowed convicted persons to contest polls on various grounds. There was a further relaxation if the term of imprisonment was short or an appeal had been filed. These provisions also allowed the convicts to stand in elections after a gap of six years.
• The World Bank, named Kaushik Basu, a Cornell University professor, as the institution's new chief economist and Senior Vice-President. Mr.Basu was recently replaced by Raghuram Rajan as India's Chief Economic Advisor
• The Indian Meteorological Department will launch mobile applications to allow people access weather related information on their Android mobile phones. The application would help disseminate locale specific observation data and weather forecast to people
• The Madras High Court Bench directed the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, to file a report detailing steps taken by the Centre to formulate a mechanism for regulating the contents of programmes telecast by television channels, and keeping a watch over them on the lines of the Censor Board of Film Certification

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Oil is the crux at Sudan talks
  • Sudan and South Sudan resumed talks to hammer out an agreement to becalm their troubled borders and resume the production and export of oil. Last year, after decades of civil war, South Sudan held a referendum and broke away from its northern neighbour. The division left land-locked South Sudan with most of the region’s oil reserves; while Sudan retained the pipelines, most of the refineries, and Port Sudan — where oil is loaded onto tankers and shipped across the world;
  • Analysts estimate that the two countries have between 4.2 billion and 6.7 billon barrels — a fraction of the estimated global reserve of 1,653 billion barrels. ONGC Videsh (OVL) — a subsidiary of Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Ltd, the China National Petroleum Corporation and Petronas of Malaysia, are the primary players in South Sudan’s oil sector. OVL has also financed and constructed a 741 km pipeline from the Khartoum refinery in Sudan to Port Sudan on the Red Sea;
  • India imports about 4% of the oil exported by the two countries while China accounts for about 66%, according to a brief published by the Energy Information Administration, the statistical agency of the U.S. government;
  • In January this year, South Sudan unilaterally stopped oil production after a dispute over the transit fee demanded by the North for use of its pipelines. The stalemate has affected both countries; the International Monetary Fund estimates that oil accounts for about 90% of Sudan’s exports and 98% of South Sudan’s state revenues;
  • In August this year, the two countries arrived at an agreement on oil transit fees pursuant to a broader agreement on border security along a 10 km wide demilitarised zone. The two sides are also negotiating the fate of Abyei, an oil-rich province controlled by the North, but claimed by the South. A referendum on Abyei has been postponed indefinitely as both sides disagree over who should be allowed to participate in the referendum.
• Iran airs ambitions for a blue water navy
  • Iran has reinforced its aspirations to transform its navy into a blue water force that is capable of establishing its presence off the coast of the United States in the next few years. The country’s naval chief, said that Iran would deploy warships in “international waters” near the U.S. coastline — a remark that was apparently meant as an equaliser to the current positioning of the cluster of American warships off the coast of Iran;
  • These assertions seemed timed with the exercises that the U.S. navy plans to conduct in the Persian Gulf later this month. Eleven countries are expected to participate in the de-mining exercise, which is apparently being conducted to ward-off the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as threatened earlier by Iran. Nearly 40% of the world’s oil supplies pass through the Strait of Hormuz, which links the strategic Persian Gulf with the Sea of Oman.
• Colombia and its main leftist rebel group have said they have signed an accord to launch peace talks in October aimed at ending a stubborn, 50 year old conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives; however, the agreement does not include a ceasefire

EDITORIALS, OPINIONS & COLUMNS

• Read this article which explains the reasons why reservation is required for promotions in Govt jobs. Important for law students to read this one
• Read this article on the Russia focus on the Asian side to counter the influence of China in the region
• If you have time, read this article about the Naroda Patiya violence case