Daily News Notes

• ·         A Parliamentary standing committee, Chairman Abhishek Manu Singhvi, has recommended that the Institution of Lokpal must be given Constitutional status (that will enhance the stature, legal and moral authority of it), while the Prime Minister should be brought under the ambit of Lokpal, has been left to the wisdom of Parliament. Group C and D govt. staff will come under the purview of CVC while A&B classes shall be under the Lok Pal.
• ·         The Finance Minister has asserted that the country is on the right path to overcome inflation and will share its revenue with the States in a proper way to tide over the situation. He said the country has had to face hard times because of the global economic scenario like the Euro zone crisis and the downturn of the economy in the USA.
• ·         The government’s price policy for agricultural commodities seeks to ensure remunerative prices to the growers for their produce with a view to encourage higher investment and production and to safeguards the interest of consumers by making available supplies at reasonable prices.
• ·         The government has alerted security forces deployed in border areas to maintain strict vigilance to curb the smuggling of fertilizers in to the neighboring countries. Consumption of fertilizers has increased by about 33 per cent in 2008-09 from the year 2003-04 which depends on good monsoon with increased irrigation facilities and better awareness about its usage. The average increase in agriculture production of food grains has been registered about 10 to 22 per cent during the above period.
• ·         The government has not taken any decision to monitor social networking sites, but with the increase in the proliferation of the mobile phones, internet and other related services, there is a rise in the number of crimes and cyber security incidents.
• ·         The government today said all children in the age group from one to 15 years are targeted under the Japanese Encephalitis Vaccination and emphasized that these vaccines are safe and effective against it.
• ·         In West Bengal, the death toll in the Kolkata fire tragedy has gone up to 73. Criminal case has been registered against the management of the private hospital holding it responsible for the deaths. Most of victims died following suffocation. Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha has also expressed grief over the death of several people in the fire accident in a private hospital in Kolkata this morning.
• ·         The Lok Sabha today congratulated cricketer Virender Shewag for his commendable performance at Indore (219 runs) against West Indies yesterday.
• ·         The Bihar government has ordered the arrest and imprisonment of all those husband trying to attend official meetings on behalf of their elected wives and who are found to be exploiting their elected wives position in Panchayat and Local bodies in the state. This action would help the government to check the rule-by- proxy at the local level. Over 1,30,500 seats in panchayat and local bodies are now held by women and majority of these are actually controlled by their politically-ambitious husbands.
• ·         In Kerala, an emergency session of the State Assembly convened today unanimously passed a resolution demanding the reduction of the water level in the Mullapperiyar dam in Idukki to 120 ft. and pointed out that a lease signed during the British regime is not binding on Kerala. Thus construction of a new dam will ensure the safety of lakhs of people living down streams.
• ·         The government today lowered the GDP forecast for the current fiscal to 7.5 % from 9 %. The analysis, however maintains that with India's strong fundamentals, and if Europe and the US remain stable, it should be possible for the country to achieve 9 % growth in the long run.
• ·         The 3^rd India-China Annual Defence Dialogue began in New Delhi. The resumption of joint army exercises and border issues between the two sides are high on the agenda. New Delhi had suspended military exchanges with Beijing in August 2010 over issues of visa rejection of Military personnel.
• ·         In Kerala, two passenger aircrafts had a miraculous escape from a mid-air collision. The confusion earlier, had occurred as the Sri Lankan airline's aircraft was allowed to land on the same runway from which the Air India Express was about to take off.
• ·         Anti -Corruption day is being observed across the globe to create awareness among the people about corruption and ways to fight it.