Daily News Notes:

· Finance Minister Mr. Pranab Mukherjee said a protocol to amend the double taxation avoidance agreement between India and Switzerland which was signed on 30th August last year has been completed and it has been ratified which will allow India to obtain the banking information as well as information without domestic intelligence from Switzerland, specific cases for a period starting 1st April 2011. India is constructively engaged with government of Mauritius to update the existing double taxation avoidance agreement in line with the international practices. Expressing concern over the higher inflation he said it will come down to 7 percent by the year end. However, he maintained that the Indian economy growing at 8 per cent, down from 8.5 per cent in 2010-11, will still be a "reason for celebrations".
· The Allahabad High court has directed the state government that election must be held on the basis of census of 2011 and the government should complete the delimitations work of wards throughout the state by the end of this month as the population in the state had increased and therefore delimitations of wards was essential before elections.
· The Rajasthan Government has launched a web based Social Security Pension System (part of e-Governance policy) for effective and timely disbursement of pension under various schemes. This online system is a web based solution to facilitate and maintain information pertaining to application, verification, sanction and disbursement of pension to aged people, widows and disabled persons of deprived and weaker sections of the society.
· Government has planned (will start on the 11th of next month) a Comprehensive Mobilisation Strategy(Shiksha ka Adhikaar Express train, throughout the Nation) to spread awareness about the Right to Education Act, highlighting its significance which makes education the fundamental right of children in the age group of 6 to 18 years.
· A BSF helicopter crashed in Jharkhand this morning and all of them(3 crew member) are reportedly dead. The cause of the crash is being investigated.
· A MiG-29 fighter aircraft crashed into a mountain during a night flying and high altitude exercise in Himachal Pradesh. IAF has sent a team to locate the wreckage and the missing pilot. This is the seventh air crash involving IAF's fighter aircraft this year and the second this month. On the 7th of this month, a MiG-21 aircraft crashed in Rajasthan but the pilot ejected safely.
· In Nepal, a military plane has crashed in a remote mountainous area in the Nepal’s north-west, killing all six people on board. The plane was transporting a patient.
· Speaking at the bilateral meeting held at Teen Bigha corridor along Indo-Bangladesh border, Prime Minister of Bangladesh Sheikh Hasina has said that the Teesta water sharing agreement with India would be resolved soon. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad attended the meeting.
· The Afghan Defence Minister has said that the country will need 5 billion dollar a year for its security forces and will need more sophisticated and advanced weapons to defend itself after the withdrawal of international forces from Afghanistan in 2014, while US has already allocated about 10 billion dollars to equip and train the country’s security forces, including the army and the police.
· The vaccine has been invented by a non profit organization assisted by Bill gates by the British scientists for the effective treatment of Malaria that can reduce the risk to half in children and by 46% in severe cases in adults. WHO said that the vaccine is being clinically trailed in Africa and is also producing promising results, and would be rolled out in the market by 2015.
· Preparations for sale of stake (5%, follow-on public offer) by Oil & Natural Gas Corporation have been completed. It will take place in December this year and targeted to fetch 12,000 crore rupees to raise govt. aims of 40,000 crore rupees. By disinvestment in PSU’s.
· A group of Palestinians (in all 40) who were deported under a prisoner exchange with Israel has begun arriving in their host countries.