Saturday, 11th May, 2013

HEADLINES

• Siddaramaiah is the new chief minister
• Pakistan set for elections under the civilian watch
• Congress axes Ashwani kumar and Bansal

NATIONAL NEWS

• Comet unlikely to affect Mars orbital mission
  • The scheduled launch of Mars Orbiter mission by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in October-November this year is unlikely to be affected by a comet approaching the red planet.

• Farm leaders to look at support price fixing method
  • A committee comprising farmers’ representatives will look at the method of fixing the minimum support price of agricultural commodities. It will suggest if there is a need for the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) to re-position itself in the light of the demands from farmers to raise the remunerative price for essential commodities.
  • The panel will also look at the existing structure of tariff, taxes and credit to suggest measures to make MSP more “competitive and remunerative” to the farmers and encourage diversified agriculture growth
  • The committee will come up with comprehensive recommendations that are centred round technical issues, costing, MSP formula and price realisation, as well as additional issues beyond prices, to ensure that farming is made viable

• Rural mission to be implemented in a phased manner
  • The National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) in a phased manner to ensure targeted and time-bound delivery of results
  • NRLM’s mandate is to guarantee that at least one member from each identified rural poor household, preferably a woman, be brought under the Self Help Group (SHG) network in a time-bound manner, the ultimate target being full coverage of BPL families.
  • The Union Cabinet had approved key changes to the NRLM to eradicate poverty in villages by empowering women. Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh announced that over 25 lakh women SHGs would be provided bank loans at an interest rate of seven per cent
  • A proposal had already been moved for finalising the target group based on the Participatory Identification of Poor process (PIP). Additionally, in order to improve targeting, the Cabinet agreed to do away with the BPL (below poverty line) category in the NRLM instead of identifying target groups through the PIP process, at the community level.
  • The NRLM, a flagship programme of the UPA government, aims at creating efficient and effective institutional platforms for the rural poor to enable them to increase household income through sustainable livelihood enhancements and improved access to financial services.

• World bank aided project to tackle malnutrition launched
  • Union Minister for Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath has launched the World Bank-assisted ICDS Systems Strengthening and Nutrition Improvement Project (ISSNIP)
  • The programme aims at improving child development and nutritional outcomes for children in selected districts having higher proportion of child undernutrition

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Obama urged to end keystone XL
  • The biggest backers of the Democratic cause urged Barack Obama on Friday to take historic action on climate change by rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline.
  • Opponents of the pipeline say it will open up the vast store of carbon in the Alberta tar sands. The pipeline could pump up to 830,000 barrels a day of tar sands crude to refineries on the Texas coast.

• Unethical companies exploiting Africa
  • Kofi Annan, the former U.N. Secretary-General, is urging British Prime Minister David Cameron to use Britain’s chairmanship of the G8 to end some of the “unconscionable” practices of companies exploiting Africa’s vast reserves of natural resources.
  • The Africa Progress Panel, which is chaired by Mr. Annan, and includes Sir Bob Geldof and the chief executive of Prudential, Tidjane Thiam, is calling on G8 countries — and their fellow G20 members, including China and Brazil — to enforce corporate transparency so that citizens in developing countries can see exactly who owns the companies involved in mining deals.

OPINION/EDITORIALS

• Article on the fate of minorities in pakistan
• A nice article on the issue of judicial over reach
• An important article on food security and cash transfer
• An article on the Indian winter and the effects of global warming on that
• Editorial on the recent death of prisioners in Indian and pakistani jails