Thursday, 06th June, 2013

HEADLINES

• Susan Rice all set to become Obama's National security advicer
• 24 Indian fisher men held by Sri Lankan Army

NATIONAL NEWS

• PMO returns cabinet note on gas pricing
  • Worried over the fallout of a hike in the price of domestically produced natural gas, a demand made by some corporates, the Prime Minister’s Office and the Cabinet Secretariat have “returned” the Cabinet note on gas pricing to the Petroleum Ministry, asking it to again seek inter-ministerial consultations in view of divergent opinions

• India – Australia to conduct joint naval exercise
  • India and Australia have agreed to hold a joint Naval exercise in 2015 to raise their defence cooperation initiatives to a higher level and strengthen their strategic partnership.

• Food security initiatives result in higher foodgrain production
  • The initiatives taken by the government under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) have resulted in an increase of 42 million tonnes in foodgrains production against a target of 20 million tonnes in the 11{+t}{+h}Five-Year Plan.
  • The focused and target oriented implementation of Mission initiatives has resulted in bumper production of wheat, rice and pulses. The production of foodgrains in 2011-12 has been to a record level of 259.32 million tonnes, against a target of 245 million tonnes. In 2012-13 also, despite drought in parts of the country, foodgrains production is on course to realise target of 254.24 million tonnes
  • During the 12th Plan, the scope of NFSM is proposed to be widened to include coarse cereals. A target of additional 25 million tonnes of foodgrains production has been proposed, including 10 million tonnes of rice and eight million tonnes of wheat. four million tonnes of pulses and three million tonnes of coarse cereals.
    While there will be additional focus on low productivity areas, stabilising the productivity gains in high producing areas will also be attended to. “Accordingly, the NFSM is being revamped during the XII Plan to concentrate on ‘cropping system’ approach in place of promoting ‘individual foodgrain crops’.” the Minister said.

• India Australia raise the pitch on maritime cooperation
  • India and Australia have agreed to hold a joint Naval exercise in 2015 to raise their defence cooperation initiatives to a higher level and strengthen their strategic partnership
  • Both sides acknowledged that maritime security and freedom of navigation in accordance with principles of international law were critical for the growth and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions.
  • The Indian Navy will get an opportunity to showcase its growing military capability at the International Fleet Review, where when mighty navies are expected to line up about 40 top-end warships. The Indian Navy’s participation is being seen as part of a big strategy unfolding in the Indian Ocean region to contain the ever-growing presence of China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy.
  • They agreed to continue consultations and cooperation on issues concerning the Asia-Pacific and Indian Ocean regions bilaterally as well as multilaterally, including through the East Asia Summit, the Asean Regional Forum, the Asean Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus, Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) and the Indian Ocean Rim — Association for Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC)

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• India main target of Chinese espionage : Kaspersky
  • India has been a prime target of a Chinese cyber-espionage campaign that has been active for at least eight years, according to Russia’s leading IT security provider.
  • The “medium-sized threat actor group from China”, estimated to comprise about 50 individuals has attacked government agencies, embassies, universities, research centres and oil and gas companies and military contractors, as well as Tibetan activists.
  • The group has focused on stealing data on space research, nanotechnology, energy production, nuclear power, laser technology, medicine and communications.
  • The Lab described NetTraveler as “a malicious data exfiltration tool” that takes advantage of old flaws in Microsoft Office to delivery spear-phishing emails.

OPINION/EDITORIALS

• Article by Harish Khare on The Murthy's and the maoists
• Article on the food security bill
• Editorial on water on mars