Thursday, July 11th, 2013

HEADLINES

• Mps, MLAs to be disqualified on the date of criminal conviction
• RIL must get lower gas price till contractual shortfall is delivered :Fin min
• Company from a neutral country to be formed to execute TAPI project
• Zubin mehta to get tagore award for cultural harmony

NATIONAL NEWS

• Article on the problems faced by the telecom industry

• Mps and MLAs to be disqualified on the date of criminal conviction
  • The Supreme Court on Wednesday held that charge-sheeted Members of Parliament and MLAs, on conviction for the offences, will be immediately disqualified from holding membership of the House without being given three months time for appeal
  • The Bench made it clear that the ruling will be prospective and those who had already filed appeals in various High Courts or the Supreme Court against their convictions would be exempt from it

• Now health sub centres to provide contraception facilities
  • The Centre has initiated a comprehensive plan to provide intra-uterine contraceptive device (IUCD) insertion services at the health sub-centres. The IUCD insertion facilities will be provided at the sub-centres on fixed days and free of cost
  • The decision will help adolescent mothers , who are married young and bear children at an early age. They lack awareness and access to contraception and are at the highest risk of maternal mortality and morbidity
  • Under India’s re-positioned family planning strategy, the focus is on spacing of children for a healthy family rather than sterilization. Under the new strategy, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has made elaborate plans to equip the health sub-centres for IUCD insertion services.
  • India has over 1.50 lakh sub-centres — the most peripheral and first contact point between the primary health care system and the community – and close to 2 lakh auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs). One sub centre covers a population of approximately 3,000 in hilly / tribal / difficult areas and approximately 5,000 in the plains.
  • The Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) are already distributing oral contraceptive tablets, e-pills and condoms at the door steps but with the government focussing more on spacing of children rather than sterilisation which is a permanent method, young women can now get IUCDs – a temporary method – inserted at a health sub centre. India now provides two kinds of IUCDs, one for five years and another for 10 years, both removable as and when required. As of now, the government provides post-partum IUCD facilities at all delivery points with a high case load, where IUCD can be inserted within 48 hours after delivery

INTERNATIONAL NEWS

• Australia's great barrier reef in poor health
  • Australia admitted on Wednesday that conditions at the Great Barrier Reef were “poor” as it battles Unesco threats to downgrade its heritage status over concerns about pollution and development
  • Despite reductions in nitrogen (by seven per cent); pesticides (by 15 per cent); sediment (by six per cent); and pollutants key to outbreaks of devastating crown-of-thorns starfish that prey on corals (by 13 per cent), the report said the reef was in trouble.
  • Intense tropical cyclones were responsible for much of the damage, accounting for 48 per cent, with the coral-feeding starfish linked to 42 per cent

OPINION/EDITORIALS

• Article on why expedience triumphs expertise in india by Ramchandra Guha
• Article on the challenges and the opportunities in Africa
• Article on the manipuri problem
• Editorial on the sale of acid
• Editorial on the recent Gopinath Munde incident
• Article on Cambodia's Sugar plantations

BUSINESS/ECONOMY

• Indian exports to china down 30% in first half
  • Indian exports to China were down 30 per cent year-on-year in the first half of the year, according to new trade figures released
  • Overall, bilateral trade fell 7.2 per cent after six months of the year to $31.68 billion, with the decline in Indian exports to China, mainly comprised iron ore and cotton, driving the slump.
  • Indian imports were up 4.2 per cent to $23.62 billion, with the trade deficit reaching $15.56 billion in China’s favour, according to data released by the Chinese General Administration of Customs (GAC)