Daily News Notes

· The PM, while inaugurating 15th World Sanskrit Conference said the government is committed to promote and develop Sanskrit language as it is the source of values and ideals that have sustained India through the ages and does not belong to any particular race sect, or religion, representing the secular nature of Indian society.
· The 1st time in almost 6yr that Food inflation (measured in WPI) slipped into the negative zone (-3.36%, 24Dec) as the prices of essential items like vegetables, onions, potatoes and wheat further declined and this surprisingly a good indication at the beginning of financial year, with onset of Ravi crop. Meanwhile, Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister Dr. C. Rangarajan has said that headline inflation may come down below 7% by March 2012.
· In Tamil Nadu, doctors in 3000 hospitals are on strike today to condemn the killing of a woman civil surgeon and ESI doctor, and demanding immediate punishment of the killers and assurance of security of all the hospitals. However emergency services were ensured throughout the state by the Government.
· While launching the Pilot transaction under Credit Enhancement Scheme, Union Finance Minister has emphasized on the need for developing new instruments, like credit enhancement for providing increased financing for infrastructure projects in the country. Mr. Mukherjee said that this alternative mechanism of fund availability to infrastructure project developers would go a long way in development of infrastructure bond market through creation of new class of investors like Insurance Companies and Pension Funds.
· Gender equality is the new buzzword in the National Cadet Corps (NCC). With the process of raising the strength of the NCC (from 13lkh to 15lkh) set rolling since April, 2010 under a five-phased programme, the girls’ enrolment has risen from 24 percent to over 27 percent this year.
· An IAS officer of 1974 batch of Madhya Pradesh Cadre, Smt. Alka Sirohi today assumed office as Member, UPSC.
· India has declared itself free from bird flu (H5N1). The declaration was made here on December 29, 2011. However, the surveillance will be continued throughout the country especially in the vulnerable areas bordering the infected countries and in areas visited by migratory birds. Outbreak of bird flu was notified on September in Assam followed by WB. The control measures adopted in the outbreaks were stamping out of entire poultry population including destruction of eggs, feed, litters and other infected materials in the radius of 3 kms around each outbreak location, restriction on movement of poultry, poultry products to and from the area of outbreak, disinfection and cleaning up of infected premises.
· The Mahatama Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation was conferred to Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama at Bodhgaya in Bihar. The award was introduced in 2003 to mark the centenary of "Indian Opinion", a newspaper published in South Africa by Mahatma Gandhi.
· The 11th edition of Auto Expo kicked off in New Delhi. Over 100 foreign and domestic vehicle manufacturers are participating in the week-long event.
· The Prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago Mrs. Kamla Persad Bissessar arrived in New Delhi on her 10 day state visit. Five agreements including agreement on Culture, Cooperation in Technical education and traditional medicines and AYUSH is likely to be signed. Relations between India and T&T are time-tested and based on strong historical and cultural linkages. Also, it is first such visit in nearly 15 years. Mrs. Bissessar is the first woman of Indian origin who is heading a government and is the Chief Guest during this year’s Pravasi Bhartiya Divas being held in Jaipur from 7 of this month. She will also visit her ancestral village in Buxar district of Bihar.
· In the Philippines, at least twenty five people were killed and about 100 are missing after a landslide. The area experienced heavy rain in recent days and this may have triggered the landslide. Unregulated mining activities have made the mountain area unstable and caused a series of accidents.
· This week's announcement that Iran has successfully made and tested fuel rods for use in nuclear power plants appeared designed to show that sanctions are failing to halt its technical advances. Spent fuel can be reprocessed to make plutonium, potential bomb material, but Western worries about Iran's nuclear program are focused on its enrichment of uranium, which can also provide the core of nuclear weapons if refined much more. This has generated a new phase of tension among Arab League and Western countries.
An ancient rice gene can save food crops from the devastating effects of global warming because some genes confer resistance to bacterial and fungal pathogens, both of which are known to attack plants under stress, revealed by a study in University of Queensland Alliance for Agriculture and Food Innovation (QAAFI).