Daily News Notes

• ·         Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid has made it clear that there is no more exemptions like the one granted to the CBI could be brought into the RTI Act so as to ensure the totality, the efficiency and functioning of government is strengthened.
• ·         Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has suggested that corporates and private sector(PPP) should be brought under the ambit of the Right to Information Act as people invest through shares and they have a right to know what is going on in corporate sector(PPP) and the norms of freedom of information and the assurance of widespread citizen participation in public affairs are essential for the full realization of the democratic values.
• ·         In Andhra Pradesh, the 72-hour long rail roko agitation called by Telangana Joint Action Committee is continuing on the second day today amidst tight security. Many MP’s and MLA’s have been sent on judicial remand on the charges of violation of Criminal and Railway Acts but released on bail.
• ·         Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh will leave for Pretoria(South Africa) tomorrow to participate in the 5th trilateral India-Brazil-South Africa(IBSA) summit. Deliberations on difficult global financial and economic scenario and expansion of United Nations Security Council in both permanent and non-permanent member are expected to dominate. It has become more significant as all the three leaders(Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and South African President Jacob Zuma) would be attending the G-20 meet in Cannes early next month.
• ·         Principal Scientific advisor to the Union Government Dr.R.Chidambaram says, Koodankulam Nuclear Power Project(Indo-Russian joint venture) in Tamilnadu is safe and Nuclear energy is inevitable to tide over the Energy crisis.
• ·         India has sought a global consensus to check tax evasion and illicit cross-border flows by exchange of information among countries, including bank data relating to past transactions as tax evasion and illicit flows have posed serious challenges to the world economy and the efforts of the countries to raise revenue for development. Also, India in last two years, more than 700 Double Taxation Avoidance Agreements(DTAAs) and Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEAs) have been signed.
• ·         The international protests against what demonstrators see as greed and mismanagement in the world banking system are going into a second day around the world. In several cities ranging from Auckland to Toronto and London, hundreds of people spent the night in tents near commercial centres to press home their demands for action.
• ·         In Yemen, security forces have shot dead at least 12 people as thousands of demonstrators demanded the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
• ·         President Bashar al-Assad of Syria yesterday announced the creation of an ad hoc committee tasked with preparing a new Constitution within four months which was the key demand of a protest movement, initially calling for greater freedoms and later demanding the ouster of the Assad regime.
• ·         The Head of the Election Commission in Liberia has rejected accusations that Tuesdays' Presidential Poll is fraudulent, as claimed by 2^nd place candidate. Partial results suggest the incumbent Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is ahead but without enough votes to avoid a run-off.
• ·         Left wing supporters in France are taking part in the second round of voting today to choose the Socialist candidate to challenge President Nicolas Sarkozy in the elections next April.
• ·         Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme has proved a boon for the rural people of border district of Barmer in Rajasthan. People of this desert district were facing problem of water since many years and they had to travel miles to bring water. Now a massive campaign of constructing small tanks has not only provided employment to local people but creates additional capacity of fifty million cubic feet rain water. It will be beneficial in checking the continuously decreasing of water table. These water tanks are providing safe drinking water in this area. -use it to quote example in essay etc
• ·         Assam government will start Socio-Economic and Caste Survey to identify BPL families and to ascertain the Caste status from Wednesday. As per Tendulkar Committee report, a total of 34.4 percent population in the state is to be covered as BPL.
• ·         Final bouts of the 12th Senior National Women Boxing Championships will be played in Bhopal today.
• ·         Tihar jail inmates may soon be given Unique Identification Numbers or Aadhaar(12 digit) so that they can avail the benefits of Aadhaar scheme once they walk free.
• ·         Jharkhand would take strict measures against poachers of Siberian birds, expected to start arriving from November to spend the winter in various lakes of the state (Dumka, Hazaribagh, Sahebganj and other places).