Daily News Notes: 27th Feb, 2012

· The Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting today released the 56th edition of India 2012 and Bharat 2012, an updated and comprehensive edition of the Reference Annual published by the Publications Division. He suggested that for the next year, the Media Unit should try to introduce the book in three formats i.e. the printed format, CDs and the electronic version. The main features covered in this edition of the year book, are Census 2011 which is the 15th Census of India since 1872, village electrification, MNREGA, Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, National Rural Health Mission, empowerment of women etc. It is a useful handbook for students, civil services aspirants, research scholars, academicians, authors, journalists and above all the general public.
· Corporate India is expected to see a 9.4 percent rise in net profits in fourth quarter of the current financial year, after suffering a steep fall for two consecutive quarters, Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) said in its monthly review. Indian corporates incurred huge forex losses in the September and the December 2011 quarters because of steep depreciation of the Indian rupee. The main driver of profit growth is expected to be the banking industry, which is likely to see a robust over 42 percent rise in net profits due to lower provisions and low base, it said.
· It is proposed that Inter-State Check posts in Golden Quadrilateral and North-South, East-West routes may be taken up for funding by the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways during 12th Five Year Plan. There are total 177 Inter-State check posts in the country. Due to lack of ‘Single Window Clearance System,’ a typical truck operator has to face multiple agencies for obtaining clearances for carrying goods and paying certain charges at various check posts. These checks are conducted by respective agencies at separate points resulting in more than one detention causing lower speed, loss of time, higher fuel consumption and idling of vehicles leading to under utilisation of transport capacity and adversely affecting their operational viability. Integration of tags administration with inter-state road freight and passenger movement through online communication network systems at national, regional and local levels would enable a move towards borderless and paperless movement of traffic across state borders reducing transaction cost and overall logistics cost to the economy besides increasing the throughput of goods and passenger vehicles. The VAHAN and SARATHI platforms which are now being used for national permit scheme can be utilised for implementation of the ‘Green Channel’ for freight movement with single destination which accounts for a large proportion of the total consignments and is likely to go up with increasing containerisation.
· The Government of India and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) today signed an agreement for the second and final $200 million tranche of an ADB loan to support the provision of reliable, 24-hour electricity to rural households in Madhya Pradesh. The Madhya Pradesh Energy Efficiency Improvement Investment Program will open up business, employment and better educational opportunities for the poor. It will also support the second phase of the state’s ongoing $1.1 billion feeder separation program to improve power distribution infrastructure. At present the overuse of electricity for irrigation provided through a single distribution feeder leaves households short of power for much of the day. Ageing and overloaded distribution lines and transformers also result in large transmission losses. ADB’s loan funds will establish separate power feeders for households and agricultural use, install high-voltage distribution systems, provide new power connections and improve the financial sustainability of the distribution companies. The program will be carried out by the three distribution companies and is expected to be completed by February 2015.
· As part of the second phase of excavation of the Megalithic sites in the district, more earthen burial urns (nannagadis) have been unearthed. The excavation is being done as part of the “Discovering Idukki” project of the district panchayat to preserve the historical remains in a heritage museum to be opened. This was the first time copper beads were found in a Megalithic site.
· The Supreme Court today directed the Centre to implement the ambitious interlinking of rivers project in a time-bound manner and appointed a high-powered committee to chart out and execute the project as the project has already been delayed resulting in an increase in its cost.
· The Health and Family Welfare Minister said that government is trying to provide universal healthcare in the 12th five year plan, in which steps would be taken to provide free generic drugs at all public health facilities for reducing financial burden on the patients.
· The US and South Korean forces have begun military annual exercises (known as Key Resolve) on the Korean peninsula amid warnings from Pyongyang that the drills should not go ahead. They will be followed later in the week by another set of joint military exercises called Foal Eagle. North Korea has called the drills an unpardonable infringement and threatened to wage sacred war. South Korea says the annual exercises with its key ally are defensive.
· The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) decided to go the second round of expansion of the Internet top-level domain name regime. The domain name is the concluding part of the web address that follows the dot, like .com or .org. Thus, on the cards in the coming months is a sustained expansion of the generic top-level domain name regime (gTLD), which is now restricted to a handful of gTLDs like .com or .org, and many country code domains like .in for India or .uk for the United Kingdom. It will take place in at least two phases, one of which has already been triggered in January and is in progress now.
· Mobile devices — smartphones and tablets — that had a windfall sales year in 2011 are shaping an online landscape in which consumption patterns are rapidly changing, according to research agency report, ‘2012-Mobile Future in Focus'. Based on mobile markets, primarily the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan and Canada, the report lays out a road map for trends likely this year. Central to the theme is the spike in the use of mobile devices — smartphones and tablets — as a gateway to access the web. The trend is most visible in Singapore, where it is estimated that mobile devices account for nearly 11.5 per cent of the web traffic. The U.K. and the U.S. come second and third at 9.5 and 8.2 per cent. India figures eighth in the list, with 5.1 per cent of the web traffic through mobile devices. With nearly 100 million internet users, in terms of actual numbers, India should rank as one of the biggest markets in terms of potential. Health ranks as one of the key segments of interest for smart mobile device users followed by retail and other e-commerce applications.
· French silent drama "The Artist" triumphed over Hollywood biggies to win five awards including best picture, best director and the leading actor honors, and became the first silent film to win best picture since "Wings" in 1929 at this year's Oscars, held in Los Angeles. For 'The Artist', French Jean Dujardin bagged the best actor award, while Michel Hazanavicius won the best director award. American Meryl Streep was crowned the best actress for her portrayal of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady." The 84-year-old Christopher Plummer won the best supporting actor category for his portrayal in "The Beginners", while best supporting actress honours went to Octavia Spencer for her role of a house maid in "The Help". Scorsese's "Hugo" won five trophies in technical categories. In the Foreign Language category, Iranian movie, 'The Separation' directed by Asghar Farhadi was awarded the Oscar for best film. India's music maestro AR Rahman, who had performed at the Academy awards last year, returned to the prestigious ceremony this time as well as a part of the Oscars band.
· Many former Olympians, have lavished praise on the Indian men's hockey team for qualifying in London Olympics after a gap of eight years, saying that the achievement would bring back the interest of the game in the country. Now the team has to prepare themselves to defend against great teams in the Olympic Game. The team's Olympic qualification was not just celebrated in the country but was also lauded by their counterparts across the border in Pakistan, who felt the side's presence in the mega-event is essential for the sport.