Political and Social Issues:

Parliament on Monday passed The Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, 2011 that will digitalise cable TV and bring transparency in the system to benefit all stakeholders, including consumers and cable operators.
The legislation will regulate cable operators and digitalise the analog TV network across the country in a phased manner by the end of 2014
TRP [television rating point] is a bane of the TV programmes as it leads to showing of obscene materials and superstition…the bill addresses this issue.
It also has provisions for effective monitoring of contents of the programmes aired through designated officers.
Government will also make efforts to provide cheaper set-top boxes at an affordable price of Rs.1,000 to Rs.1,200, which would be either indigenously manufactured or imported from China and South Korea.
Bill would benefit customers by providing a la carte (separately priced) selection of channels and video-on-demand, while it would help broadcasters and cable operators raise their advertisement and subscription revenue.

Comptroller and Auditor-General Vinod Rai on Monday defended before the Joint Parliamentary Committee the CAG's findings on revenue loss in the 2G spectrum allocation in 2008.
In its report, the CAG had put the “presumptive loss” due to the allocation of scarce spectrum at between Rs. 57,000 crore and Rs.1.76-lakh crore (based on various theories).
CAG, who was questioned by Congress MP Manish Tewari, explained various basics for calculation of loss that included draft reports prepared by the Director-General (Post & Telegraph) and also infusion of capital by foreign companies into the newly-formed telecom firms which got licences in 2008.
Mr. Rai pointed out that even the Finance Ministry said the pricing model was “not acceptable” and also that “the present regime of allotting spectrum free of charge fails to capture its scarcity value, yield monopoly results to operations and is clearly inefficient.
This was the second time Mr. Rai appeared before the JPC. The CAG will appear third time before the committee again on Tuesday when other MPs are likely to seek clarifications.

Thirty people have died in the last three days in the deadly cold wave that has swept Jharkhand.
In the State capital, the mercury level dropped to 1.8 degree Celsius on Sunday, four degrees below average
The Jharkhand government has ordered the municipal authorities to light bonfires on the streets to help the homeless survive the extreme weather.
blankets were being distributed among slum dwellers and rickshaw pullers. “Till now 8,000 blankets have been distributed.
Moreover, many have acquired cold-related illness, but cannot afford medication.
Most of the deaths were due to cardiac arrest following extreme cold conditions.
The cold wave in the State was due to the western disturbance in north-east India