Saturday, 8th June, 2013

NATIONAL NEWS

• Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana extended to other sectors
  • The Union government has brought mine workers, sanitation workers, autorickshaw drivers, taxi drivers and rickshaw pullers within the ambit of the Rashtriya Swastya Bima Yojna
  • The scheme provides smart-card based cashless health insurance cover of Rs. 30,000 an year to below poverty line families with five members. Initially, it covered street vendors, beedi workers, domestic workers, building and other construction workers and workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme who worked more than 15 days in the previous financial year. Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram had indicated in his budget speech that the scheme which covered 34 million BPL families would be extended to other categories too.

• Now, distribution platforms under TRAI radar
  • Even as it contemplates restrictions on cross-media ownership to ensure ‘plurality of viewpoints,’ Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has initiated a process to tackle “unhealthy market dominance in distribution platforms of the broadcasting space.”
  • TRAI found that Multi System Operators have “misused their market power” to stymie the emergence of newer players. Large MSOs can secure content at lower prices and charge broadcasters a higher carriage and placement fee. They can then offer local cable operators a better revenue share to lure them from the smaller MSOs. MSOs have also sought to expand their influence and size, buying out smaller MSOs and cable operators.

• PM sets in motion eastern industrial corridor
  • Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday set in motion the development of the mega Amritsar-Delhi-Kolkata Industrial Corridor (ADKIC) project.
  • Set on the model of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC), the ADKIC will boost industrial development along the Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) that connects Ludhiana in Punjab with Dankuni near Kolkata.
  • The DMIC has received Japanese financial support promising large investments for industrial growth in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Maharashtra. The project envisages development of new cities, industrial zones, and world-class infrastructure.

• The Prime Minister has set up a six-member high-level inter-ministerial group to study the feasibility of the project and outline structural and financial arrangements needed to operationalise the project at the earliest.

• Roshni will light the way for rural youth
  • In a bid to further reach out to rural youth in the country’s 24 most critical Left-Wing-Extremism-affected districts, the Centre on Friday introduced a placement-oriented skill-development scheme targeting 50,000 persons, mostly tribals
  • Launching “Roshni”, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said at least 50 per cent of the candidates covered under the scheme would be women and extra efforts would be made to proactively cover Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups (PVTGs) on a priority basis.
  • The programme entails providing beneficiaries aged between 18-35 years with requisite training for the trade or job chosen as per the Participatory Identification of Poor.
  • The training will be imparted through public-private and public partnerships. Four training modules of durations ranging from three months to one year shall be taken up to meet the diverse needs of the youth, depending on their entry-level qualifications.

OPINION/EDITORIALS

• Editorial on Aung San syu kyi
• Editorial on the slipping rupee value
• Article on inclusive approach to the problem of Naxalism and terrorism