A D V E R T I S E M E N T
>
(more content follows the advertisement below)
A D V E R T I S E M E N T
Raja
to appear before CBI on 24th December
The former
Communications Minister,
A. Raja, said on 22nd December, 2010 that he would appear before the Central
Bureau of Investigation on 24th December, 2010 for being questioned in the
alleged scam in the 2G spectrum allocation.
The CBI had sent a notice
under Section 160 of the Criminal Procedure Code
to Mr. Raja, asking him to appear before it for interrogation.
Mr. Raja is likely to be
questioned about the alleged irregularities and bias in the implementation of
the telecom policy to favour some new mobile phone
operators.
A few days ago, the CBI
searched places belonging to Mr. Raja�s relatives and business partners.
As per the Comptroller and
Auditor-General of India�s report, the exchequer had lost Rs.1.76 lakh crore
because of the alleged irregularities committed by the Department of
Telecommunications, under Mr. Raja, while issuing licences and spectrum in 2008.
President Patil releases stamp on Yashwantrao Chavan
President Pratibha Patil
on 22nd December, 2010 released commemorative postage stamps
on Maharashtra�s first chief minister Yashwantrao Chavan
and freedom fighter and social reformer Bhausaheb Hire.
Patil, while releasing the
postage stamps, recalled the contributions made by the
two in making Maharashtra a progressive state.
�Yashwantrao Chavan was not
just a visionary leader of Maharashtra, but a towering personality at the
national level too,� she said.
Paying her respect to Hire,
Patil appreciated his contribution towards socio-economic development.
Russian President arrives in
India
Russian President Dmitry
Medvedev touched down here early on 21st December morning on a
two-day visit during which the two sides are expected
to sign over a dozen agreements, including a key pact on Moscow building more
nuclear reactors in India.
Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh and Mr. Medvedev will discuss a wide range of
bilateral and international issues,
including the expansion of civil nuclear cooperation, the intensification of
bilateral economic ties, global terrorism and the international financial crisis.
The two sides are set to
sign over 15 agreements, including key pacts on jointly producing a
multi�billion dollar fifth generation jet fighter and Moscow�s plans to build
morenuclear reactors in India after the leaders of the two sides hold talks here
on 21st December, 2010.
The Russian leader will go
to Agra and Mumbai on 22nd December, 2010. In Mumbai, Mr. Medvedev will stay at
The Taj Mahal Palace and Tower Hotel, one of the main
targets of November 26, 2008 terror attack, and pay homage to victims of the
carnage. He will also go to Film City, where he will interact with Bollywood
stars.
Train nos changed to five
digit system
All passenger
trains have now begun moving with a five-digit
numbering system from Monday in place of the existing
four-digit system, giving each train a unique
identifiable number.
The new numbering system is
more scientific, logical, uniform and computer-friendly and "will go a
long way in monitoring the movement of trains more
effectively on an all India basis and in facilitating dissemination and
management of train information more scientifically, benefiting the public".
The existing number system was exhausted with more than 10,000 trains running
every day.
The new system will also
help integrate the passenger and suburban train services in various information
systems such as passenger reservation systems and
other software applications.
All the numbers have been
converted to the new five-digit system by simply prefixing �1′ to the existing
four-digit numbers.
The new system will cover
all scheduled and regular express, mail and superfast trains, including the
Durontos, Yuva Trains, Rajdhani Express,Shatabdi Express,
Jan Shatabdi Express, Garibrath Express,
Sampark Kranti Express and all such category of trains that have a mail or
express character during any part of their journey.
The names of the trains
will, however, not be changed.
Special trains run to clear
holiday rush shall have the prefix �0′. This shall apply to all special trains,
whether superfast, express or passenger train in character, running between any
pair of destinations.
Have seen a Wikileaks cable �
see it now?
As student of Current Affairs,
We have read so much about Wikileaks these days that
we all seem to know a lot about Julian Assange and his tryst with
disclosures.
But not many of us have
seen or read any original cable or document pulished
by wikileaks.
Here is the link to a
Popular Wikileaks cables.
Daman and Diu celebrates 50th
Liberation Day
Unfurling of the tricolor,
impressive march past and colorful cultural programmes today marked the 50th
liberation day celebration of Daman and Diu here.
To celebrate this
Golden Jubilee year, Administration, Daman Industrial
Association, Tourism Department
and Balbhavan organised a three day state level programme.
The union territory
entered the 50th year of freedom from 400 years of Portugal rule.
The three day programme
commenced by flag hosting followed by a march past by the police, Excise
department, Coast guard, NCC and school students.
Anand Kumar to be awarded
Super30 founder and
mathematician Anand Kumar will be awarded the Pradhyapak Yashwant Rao Kelkar
Yuva Shiksha Puruskar for his outstanding contribution in the field
of education in Bihar.
Eminent
musician and Oscar Award recepient Rasool Pukutti would give
away the prize to Anand in Bangalore on the
56th National Convention of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthy Parishad on 28th December,
ABVP national vice-president Rajnish Shukla told reporters.
The
award, instituted by ABVP in 1991, is given to a renowned youth and social
worker in ecognition of his outstanding services in the fieldof education every
year, Shukla said.
The award
carries a citation and Rs 25,000.
Anand has
been selected for his contribution in teaching
children fromunderprivileged sections and preparing them for the prestigious
IIT-JEE at his Super 30 school, where the students get free coaching, lodge and
food for nine months.
Anand,
who first started the Ramanujam School of Mathematics in 1992, launched Super 30
in 2002.
No new Bill on quota in posts
and services
The Department of Personnel
and Training has made it clear that at present there
is no proposal to introduce in Parliament a new Bill, viz SC/ST (Reservation in
Posts and Services), though the earlier Bill introduced in the Rajya Sabha in
2008 was later withdrawn.
The DoPT
stated this in reply to a query raised by Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Vichar Manch general
secretary R.L. Kain whether the government would come out with a new Bill as per
the assurance given during the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Mr. Kain,
in his letter, pointed out that in 2004 the Common Minimum
Programme stipulated that a comprehensive Reservation law would be
enacted to codify all reservations. He said such a law would inspire confidence
among members of the SC/ST and the OBC community and their legitimate
aspirations.
New land acquisition policy
in Gujarat
In a bid to encourage
farmers to part with their land for industrial development,
the Gujarat government has formulated a new land acquisition policy
to make them partners in the development.
The
State-owned Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) henceforth would
acquire land only with the �consent� of the concerned farmers, pay them at the
prevailing market price, and give them a share in the
higher price after the infrastructural development.
Call for global ban on
Endosulfan
The Asia-Pacific regional
meeting of the International Union
of Food workers (IUF) demanded a global ban on Endosulfan
� an insecticide used in plantations.
India to
support the inclusion of Endosulfan in the Stockholm convention on Persistent
Organic Pollutants. The unions called for a global ban also on Paraquat � a
toxic chemical with no antidote � the use of which has
been associated with Parkinson�s disease.
Rajasthan announces single
window system
The much-awaited �single
window� facility for investors in Rajasthan was
cleared by the State Cabinet.
The
Rajasthan Enterprises Single Window Enabling and Clearance
Ordinance, 2010 � for which the rules would be framed by a committee
headed by the Chief Secretary � would be in place by January 1, 2011. With this
Rajasthan would join the exclusive club of less than
half a dozen States in the country where a pro-active approach is taken by the
authorities to facilitate the potential investor with all clearances and other
paperwork.
Once the
Ordinance comes into force, investments up to Rs.10 crore would be cleared at
the district level by a committee headed by the Collector. The nodal agency for
this would be the District Industrial Centres (DICs). The investments beyond
Rs.10 crore would be cleared by a State level empowered committee headed by the
Chief Secretary. The Bureau for Industrial Promotion (BIP) will be the nodal
agency for this category.
Rs 350 cr scheme to address
climate change, reduce agri losses
Seeking to address the
issue of climate change
in the farm sector, government approved a Rs 350 crore scheme to study
its impact
on agriculture
with a view to bring down production losses.
The
Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs
approved the scheme, to be implemented in the remaining part of the current Plan
period, to address the impact of climate change on
agriculture.
�The main
objective of the scheme is to assess the impact of climate change on agriculture
and allied sectors in the country and evolve cost-effective adaptation and
mitigation strategies,�
Under the
scheme, the government plans to spend Rs 350 crore � Rs 200 crore in the current
fiscal and the rest in the next fiscal- on research infrastructure, capacity
building and on-farm demonstration of the climate resilient technologies.
The
scheme would assess vulnerability of agro-climatic regions in detail and its
impact on different crops, livestock and fishery sectors.
It will
initiate research on adaptation and mitigation at seven major institutes of the
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).
It would
also demonstrate available climate resilient practices on farmers� fields in 100
most vulnerable districts of 27 states in the country.
Army to dedicate 2011 to its
disabled personnel
The army
will dedicate the year 2011 for its personnel disabled while serving the nation
and a number of programmes will be launched for their welfare, Army Chief
General V K Singh said in New Delhi.
India
gears up to serve in Security Council with new outlook
India is gearing up to
serve the powerful UN Security Council
as a non-permanent member after a gap of 19 years with a fresh
outlook on several international issues, especially human rights.
India
will return to the Security Council
on January 1, 2011 for a two-year period along with South
Africa, Colombia, Germany and Portugal.
Fund set up for promotion of collaboration in Science & Tech
IT major Infosys Technologies
and France based EADS agreed to donate 200,000 euro
(about Rs 1.19 crore) to set up a fund that will help students of
Indian Institutes
of Technology (IITs) and the Paris Institute of
Technology (ParisTech).
"With the
donation made by Infosys and EADS of 100,000 euro each that will contribute to
the creation of the IITs-ParisTech-Fund for Science and Technology,
it is proposed to establish an ambitious tool to strenthen
the collaboration between these two groups of eminent institutions
in France and in India,"
Out of
euro 200,000, 70,000 euro will be used for the undergraduate level and rest will
be used for PhD students in India and France.
EADS is a
global leader in aerospace, defence and related services.
The IITs-ParisTech Internership programme in Science &
Technology will provide undergraduate students and postgraduate students
opportunity to complete an intership in the partner country within an academaic
institution or a company.
The
objective is to structure long-term cooperation in education and research
between ParisTech and IITs, associating academic and industrial partners.
The objective of the programme is to encourage students to discover Science &
Technology in the partner institutions and give them the desire to contribueb
for a longer period of time to a joint research project between France and India
or to start their professional careers as part of an industrial project between
the two countries.
Haryana bags first prize in
energy conservation
Haryana has bagged the
first prize in the �Best States� category for its performance
in the Energy Conservation Programmes in 2009-10.
Haryana
had become the only state in the country to have bagged the national award for
energy conservation for three consecutive years, a spokesman of the Haryana
Renewable Development Agency (HAREDA) added.
India poised for $169
b investment in clean energy
India is all set to emerge
among the top five nations in G-20 group in terms of
clean energy investments worldwide and is likely to
attract $169 billion in wind, solar, biomass, energy from waste, small hydro,
geothermal and marine energy projects in the next decade.
According
to �Global clean power: a $2.3 trillion opportunity� report brought out by the
U.S.-based Pew Charitable Trusts, the annual clean energy investment in India is
forecast to grow phenomenally over the next 10 years. Within the G-20, India is
on track to climb from the tenth to the third place in terms of clean power
project investments worldwide, the report said.
Enhanced
clean energy policies would increase private investments
in India by 48 per cent, tied with the U.K. for the highest rate of increase in
the G-20, the Pew report said.
Centre for privatisation of higher education
Suggesting increased
private partnership as a viable financial model to enhance investments in the
education sector, the government has recommended raising fees in higher
education institutions and allowing schools to function as profit-making bodies
with a regulatory mechanism in place.
For students
belonging to weaker sections, there could be provision for financing grants for
pursuing higher education, repayable after students start earning so as to
ensure sustainability of the system, Mid-Year Analysis for 2010-11 tabled in the
Lok Sabha recommended.
While
appreciating the creation of new institutions and various reforms proposed by
the Ministry of Human Resource
Development, including establishing a National Commission
for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) as an overarching regulatory body for
higher education, the analysis, nevertheless, says adequacy of teachers � both
in numbers and quality � remains a cause for concern.
Planning Commission seeks inputs from NGOs, social groups for 12th Plan
The Planning Commission
is involving leading non-governmental organisations and civic society, seeking
their inputs, suggestions and experiences, for preparing its approach paper for
the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17), which will be the base
document for the Plan itself.
Though
NGOs had been giving their suggestions for the previous Five Year Plans, this is
the first time that the Planning Commission has sought engagement of the civil
society, asking them to identify the challenges and areas that require special
focus, so thatthe Plan document was more holistic in nature and could help in
yielding desired results.
Indian Statistical Institute signs pact with London School of Economics
The Indian Statistical
Institute has signed a Memorandum of Understanding for co-operation in research
with the London School of
Economics,
Union Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee announced.
The London School of
Economics will spend � 100,000 in the agreement that has been signed until March
2012.
Now only
six �national parties� in India
With the Election Commission
taking strong action against those parties not fulfilling the minimum
eligibility criteria for getting recognition as �national� or �State� parties,
the number of national parties
in the country has come down to six from seven. The total number of State
parties is 52 and registered unrecognised parties, 1112.
Now, the
six recognised national parties are the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party,
the Communist Party of India (CPI), the CPI (M), the
Bahujan Samaj Party and the Nationalist Congress
Party. The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD), which was earlier considered a
national party, will henceforth be only a recognised State level
party in Bihar, Jharkhand and Manipur. Its recognition
in Nagaland has been withdrawn in view of its poor
performance in the 2008 Assembly election there. For getting national
party status, a political party should have recognition in at least four States.
In Tamil
Nadu, there will be only three State parties � the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK),
the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Pattali Makkal
Katchi PMK � as the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam lost itsrecognition
due to poor show in last year�s Lok Sabha poll. Similarly, in Puducherry, there
will be only three State parties � the DMK, the AIADMK and the Puducherry
Munnetra Congress � as the PMK has been derecognised.
Parliament logjam led to wastage of over Rs 146 crore
The
2G spectrum scam may have caused a colossal
loss to the national exchequer, but the standoff between the government and
Opposition over it has resulted in the further wastage of over Rs 146 crore as
the entire Winter session of Parliament was virtually
washed out.
The Winter Session
began on November 9 and since a day after it, the entire Opposition has been
hell-bent on demand for a Joint Parliamentary
Committee (JPC) probe into 2G spectrum allocation,
which is believed to have resulted in losses to the tune of Rs 1.74 lakh crore.
The government has,
however, refused to yield to the demand, leading to a
deadlock because of which Parliament was unable to function for more than 10
minutes per day on an average.
According to official
figures, the total budget for Lok Sabha for the current fiscal year is Rs 347
India to protest Meera
Shankar�s �pat down� search in US
India will strongly take up
the issue of Indian Ambassador
to the US Meera Shankar being put through a �pat down� search at a US airport,
External Affairs Minister
S.M. Krishna said here on 9th December, 2010 and described the incident as
�unacceptable�.
The minister pointed out
that India had a �very cordial relationship� with the US and hoped that
the relationship was taken forward. On Dec 4, Shankar
was subjected to a rigorous public �pat-down� at the Jackson-Ever International
airport after a visit as a guest of the Mississippi State University.
According to The Jackson
Clarion-Ledger, Shankar was singled out from a group of 30 passengers and pulled
aside. Witnesses told the paper that she was chosen as
she was wearing a sari.
Apparently, Transportation
Security Administration (TSA) guidelines do not have any exceptions for foreign
dignitaries, but officers have the discretion to pick and choose, depending on
whether they set off metal detectors,
the newspaper said. The Indian ambassador did not set
off any alarms. At the same time, TSA allows
additional screenings when passengers are wearing
�bulky� clothing.
Money trail in 2G spectrum scam covers 10 countries: ED
The Enforcement
Directorate, in its report on 2G Spectrum allocation scam submitted
to the Supreme Court
on 8th December, 2010, is understood to have said that the case has
international ramifications as the money trail covers ten countries, including
Mauritius.
Pointing
out that enlisting the cooperation of governments of the ten countries was
necessary to trace the money trail, the ED report said it would move a competent
court for issuance of Letters Rogatory
for the purpose, sources said.
The
report said the investigation
into the scam in the country would be completed by March next year while some
more time is required to wrap up the probe in foreign
countries, according to the sources.
The report said the ED has
recorded the statement of corporate lobbyist Niira
Radia in connection with the scam and it is carefully
examining the same.
WikiLeaks reveals LeT plot to kill Modi
The document dump from
whistle blower website WikiLeaks has
revealed that Pakistan-based terror outfit, Lashkar-e-Toiba, plotted to
assassinate Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi.
According to WikiLeaks, the
terror outfit had several rounds of discussion on how to carry out the attack.
The intelligence reports released on the website said that Pakistani handlers
and Indian members were in constant touch in June last year.
The terror
organisation was planning three major tasks in India
just six months after the Mumbai attack, including the assassination plot and
setting up of terror camps in South India, US
intelligence inputs that are part of a leaked diplomatic cable revealed. The
third task pertained to some work involving a car but details were not shared in
the leaked cable.
There have been reports
that terrorist David Headley had confessed that that Ishrat Jahan, the Mumbai
girl, who was shot dead by Gujarat police along with three other alleged
terrorists in a 2004 encounter, was a Lashkar fidayeen. According to Headley,
Ishrat was an active LeT operative, who was recruited by Muzammil, who was in
charge of terror outfit�s operations in India till 2007.
Gujarat police has been
maintaining that Muzammil had directed Ishrat and her
accomplices to spread terror in Gujarat and target leaders.
Sarkozy calls for permanent Security Council seat for India
During his first stopover
on his four-day visit to India here on 4th December, French President Nicolas Sarkozy
called for a permanent seat for India in the U.N. Security Council.
It was �unthinkable� that a
country of a billion people should have no representation in the Security
Council, he said in his address at the Indian Space Research
Organisation where he arrived with his wife Carla Bruni and a large
contingent of French ministers and executives.
India�s recent election to the Security Council for two years �must serve as
the prelude to a permanent Indian presence within the UNSC,� Mr. Sarkozy said.
The UNSC must be
expanded to include new permanent members � India,
Brazil, Germany and Japan � and must have representation from Africa and the
Middle-East, he said, adding India should join the Security Council as a
permanent member so that it can assume its full role in the G20.
Nuclear energy would be the
�focus� of Indo-French cooperation, he said, lauding
the �considerable environmental benefit� and �energy independence� that it
brought. As much as 80 per cent of France�s electricity came from nuclear
source.
India�s decision to expand its nuclear energy production
from 4,000 to 62,000 megawatts in 20 years represents a �change of attitude.�
With the completion of the
proposed nuclear power project at Jaitapur, to be built in collaboration with
the French company Areva, the six Indo-French EPR
plants would provide 10,000 megawatts of energy, said Mr. Sarkozy.
France hoped to take in
three times the number of Indian students in its universities
by 2012 compared to 2007, he said.
Rajiv Awas Yojana for Urban poor
Of the projects sanctioned
under the JNNURM so far, an
investment of around Rs. 36,000 crore is devoted to the programmes for
basic services to urban poor and the development of
slums. Construction of around 1.5 million houses for the poor and slum dwellers
has been approved.
A new scheme
called the Rajiv Awas Yojana
has been announced for slum dwellers and the urban poor, aimed at ushering in a
slum-free India by providing access to affordable
housing for the urban poor.�
A.P.
Singh is new CBI chief
IPS officer Amar Pratap
Singh has been
appointed
the new Director of the Central Bureau of
Investigation for two years
succeeding
Ashwani Kumar.
The
Appointments� Committee of the Cabinet headed by
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cleared the name of 58-year-old Singh,
a 1974 batch IPS officer from Jharkhand cadre, for the post
of the new chief of the elite investigating agency.
Singh was
serving as Special Director of the agency. He has also held post of additional
Director General
in BSF and is a recipient of Indian Police Medal and
President�s Police Medal.
Tejas successfully test-fires close combat air-to-air missile
Preparing for the Initial
Operational Clearance (IOC), the Light Combat Aircraft,
�Tejas,� conducted its last phase of flight trials by
successfully test firing air-to-air close combat missile at Goa.
One of
the main objectives of the current phase of trials was clearing the firing
envelope of the missile from the Tejas. The test firing of R-73 missile was done
from the Limited Series Production (LSP) aircraft 4, the Defence Research
Development Organisation (DRDO) announced here. The LSP-4 had its
first successful flight in June this year and the IOC is
scheduled towards the end of 2010.
The R-73
missile is integrated with the on-board Digital Stores Management System and
Open Architecture Mission and Display Computer. The missile selection is
performed from the high resolution multi-function
display pages integrated with the state-of-the-art on-board avionics. All this
equipment forms the IOC standard of Avionics, the DRDO said.
The
flight test demonstrated user requirement including:
safe separation of the missile from the test aircraft; no missile
plume effect on the engine operation; avionics and
weapon system functionality and safety interlocks; aircraft handling quality
assessment during missile release; and effect of missileplume on the composite
structure.
Govt approves policy on
return of militants from PoK
Government has said that
former
militants
who crossed over to Pakistan-occupiedKashmir (PoK) between 1989 and 2009 will be
considered for return through its special rehabilitation policy.
�The
policy proposed by Government of J and K for return of ex-militants from PoK or
Pakistan to Jammu and Kashmir has been approved by Ministry of Home Affairs.
The policy has to be implemented by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.�