Daily News Notes: 16th March, 2012 (Including: Weekly SCI-TECH & AGRI)

• ·         Union Budget 2012-13 Highlights: [1.] Roll out computerized scheme for fertilizer subsidy transfer; [2.] Central subsidies to be under 2% of GDP and will bring down it to 1.7% of GDP in the next 3 year; [3.] Budget identifies five objectives relating to growth recovery, private investment, supply bottlenecks, malnutrition and governance matters; [4.] GDP growth to be 7.6 per cent (+ 0.25 percent) during 2012-13; [5.] Amendment to the FRBM Act proposed as part of Finance Bill. New concepts of “Effective Revenue Deficit” and “Medium Term Expenditure Framework” introduced; [6.] Proposed: Mobile based fertilizer management system; LPG transparency portal; scaling up and rolling out of Aadhar enabled payment for government schemes in at least 50 districts; [7.] Rs. 30,000 crore to be raised through disinvestment; [8.] Efforts to reach broadbased consensus on FDI in multi-brand retail; [9.] Rajiv Gandhi Equity Saving Scheme: to allow income tax deduction to retail investors on investing in equities; [10.] Rs. 15,888 crore to be provided for capitalization of public sector banks and financial institutions; [11.] A central “Know Your Customer” depository to be developed; [12.] Swabhimaan: remaining habitations to be covered; to be extended to more habitations; ultra small branches to be set up in Swabhimaan habitations; [13.] Financial package of Rs. 3,884 crore for waiver of loans to handloom weavers and their cooperative societies; mega handloom clusters in Andhra, Jharkhand; weaver service centres in Mizoram, Nagaland and Jharkhand ; powerloom mega cluster in Maharashtra; Rs. 500 crore pilot schemes for geo-textiles in North-Eastern region; [14.] Rs. 5,000 crore India Opportunities Venture Fund to help small enterprises; [15.] CPSEs are being given a level-playing field vis-à-vis the private sector with regard to practices like buy-backs and listing at stock exchange. The treasury management options for CPSEs have also been enhanced, resulting in improvement in the returns on public assets, support for transparent environment for the divestment process, besides unlocking the value and resources for all stakeholders; [16.] Interest subvention for short-term crop loans to farmers at 7 per cent interest continues; additional 3 per cent for prompt paying farmers; [17.] Interest subvention of 1 percent on housing loans upto Rs. 15 lakh extended for one more year; [18.] National Mission on Food Processing to be started in cooperation with State Governments; [19.] Multi-sectoral programme to address maternal and child malnutrition in 200 high burden districts; [20.] 58 per cent rise in allocation to ICDS, at Rs. 15,850 crore; [21.] Rural drinking water and sanitation gets 27 per cent rise in allocation to Rs. 14,000 crore; [22.] RTE-SSA gets Rs. 25,555 crore allocation, showing an increase of 21 per cent; Credit Guarantee Fund to be set up for better flow of credit to students; [23.] National Urban Health Mission is being launched; [24.] UID-Aadhar to get adequate funds for enrolment of 40 crore persons, in addition to the 20 crore persons already enrolled; [25.] Bharat Livelihood Foundation to be established to support livelihood interventions particularly in tribal areas; [26.] White Paper on Black Money to be laid in the current session of Parliament; [27.] Tax proposals mark progress in the direction of movement towards DTC and GST; [28.] Income tax exemption limit raised from Rs.1,80,000 to Rs.2,00,000; upper limit of 20 per cent tax slab raised from Rs.8 lakh to Rs.10 lakh; [29.] Senior citizens without business income exempt from advance tax; [30.] A General Anti-Avoidance Rule (GAAR) is being introduced in order to counter aggressive tax avoidance. Securities transaction tax (STT) is being reduced by 20 per cent on cash delivery transactions, from 0.125% to 0.1%.  Alternative Minimum Tax is proposed to be levied from all persons, other than companies, claiming profit linked deductions; [31.] Standard rate of excise duty raised from 10 per cent to 12 per cent; service tax rates raised from 10 per cent to 12 per cent; no change in peak customs duty of 10 per cent on non-agricultural goods; [32.] Relief in indirect taxes to sectors under stress; agriculture, infrastructure, mining, railways, roads, civil aviation, manufacturing, health and nutrition, and environment get duty relief; [33.] Certain cigarettes and bidis attract higher excise duty; [34.] Excise imposed on unbranded jewellery also; measures to minimize impact on small artisans and goldsmiths; branded silver jewellery exempted from excise duty; [35.] Net gain of Rs.41,440 crore due to taxation proposals; [36.] Total expenditure budgeted at Rs. 14,90,925 crore; plan expenditure at Rs. 5,21,025 crore – 18 per cent higher than 2011-12 budget; non plan expenditure at Rs. 9,69,900 crore; [37.] An allocation of Rs.1000 crore to National Skill Development Fund (NSDF) has been proposed. It have approved 26 new projects, thereby doubling the number of projects sanctioned since 2009 to 52. At the end of 10 years, these projects are expected to train 6.2 crore persons and augment vocational training capacity by 1.25 crore per year in the private sector; [38.] Regarding capital markets, the Finance Minister  proposed to allow Qualified Foreign  Investors (QFIs) to access Indian Corporate Bond market.  He also  proposed simplifying  the process of Initial Public Offer  (IPO); [39.] Kisan Credit Card Scheme will be modified to make it a smart card which can be used at ATMs.

• ·         The Supreme Court today sought response from the Centre, States and Union Territories on a petition alleging that over one lakh children have
  mysteriously disappeared from their homes across the country between 2008 and 2011 and are believed to have been subjected to trafficking for begging, prostitution and child labour. On an average, every day 11 children are reported missing from different parts of the country and the police refuses to register FIR in most of the cases.

• ·         PM Congratulates Tendulkar on Hundred Centuries.

• ·         India will be one of the youngest nations by 2020 and this changing demographic condition, while providing great opportunities, could pose some challenges too, wherein the proportion of the working age population (15-59 years) is likely to rise from around 58 per cent in 2001 to over 64 per cent by 2021, the Economic Survey 2011-12 has said. The comparative figures for China and the U.S. are 37 years, while it is 45 for West Europe and 48 Japan. The ‘demographic dividend' would pose a challenge, as the average Indian will be only 29 years old in 2020, the Survey notes. These changes are likely to contribute to a substantially increased labour force. However, it will benefit India only if the population is “healthy, educated, and appropriately skilled.” The bulk of this increase is likely to take place in the relatively younger age group of 20-35. According to the Human Development Report (HDR) published by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), India is still in the ‘medium human development' category, while countries such as China, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Philippines, Egypt, Indonesia, South Africa, and Vietnam have a better rank. Notwithstanding the fact that life expectancy in India has increased by one percentage point from 64.4 in 2010 to 65.4 in 2011, it was way behind the global average and some other nations, including Sri Lanka. Life expectancy at birth in Norway was 81.1 years, Australia (81.9), Sri Lanka (74.9), China (73.5), while the global average was 69.8 years. Similarly, the performance of India in terms of mean years of schooling is not only much below that of countries such as Sri Lanka, China, and Egypt, which have higher per capita incomes, but also below that of Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Vietnam that have lower per capita incomes. It is also much lower than the global average. In terms of the gender inequality index, there is a higher degree of gender discrimination in India compared to countries such as China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Sri Lanka, as also the global average.

• ·         The International Monetary Fund, IMF has backed the second 130 billion euro financial bailout for Greece by pledging a contribution of 28 billion euros. However it said that the programme to keep the debt-ridden nation funded until 2014 carried exceptionally high risks.

• ·         While refusing to go into most of the specific charges contained in the Channel 4 video broadcast on Wednesday, the Sri Lankan Defence establishment has denied “outright the wild allegations contained” in the new video, Sri Lanka's Killing Fields: War Crimes Unpunished. The video accuses Sri Lankan forces of having killed Balachandran, LTTE chief V.Prabhakaran's son and others taken prisoners; of deliberately shelling no-fire zones set up within the war zones; of under-estimating the number of people trapped in the no-fire zone, and hence making available lesser rations, and of not allowing humanitarian aid into the zones. Some of the images shown in the video are graphic and deeply disturbing. The Army charged that “the clear intention” of the producers was to influence “the United Nations Human Rights Council meetings in Geneva.”

Weekly SCI-TECH & AGRI

• ·         China's groundwater irrigation system is responsible for polluting the atmosphere with more than 30 million tonnes of CO{-2}per year, according to a study.

• ·         Overweight people who shed pounds, especially belly fat, can improve the function of their blood vessels, according to a new study.

• ·         A unique study has found that male adults born more than 20 years ago with low birth weight (LBW) show differences in muscle mass, fat content and diastolic blood pressure compared with those born with normal body weight. Babies who are underweight preserve their body fat at the cost of muscle mass even at the foetal stage. As a result, the muscle mass in these individuals is less than those with normal birth weight. Lean body mass refers to muscle mass. Muscles play an important role in glucose uptake and hence reduced muscle mass may probably increase the possibility of these individuals developing insulin resistance at a later stage. Apart from reduced lean body mass, adults with low birth weight had decreased total mineral content. They also found that adults with low birth weight had higher diastolic blood pressure (2 mm Hg) than the control group. The adults who belonged to the low birth weight group were also relatively shorter than the control group. However, the parents of these people were also shorter than the control group. Hence a strong link between weight and height cannot be established.

• ·         Doctors examined 27 astronauts who had flown long-duration missions with the US space agency and found a pattern of deformities in their eyeballs, optic nerves and pituitary glands that remain unexplained. The problems are similar to those caused by intracranial hypertension, a rare medical condition that occurs when pressure inside the skull rises and presses on the brain and the backs of the eyes. Medical crews at Nasa and space agencies in Europe, Russia, Japan and Canada are now screening astronauts before, during and after space missions.

• ·         A team of science and engineering students have developed an innovative ‘space web' experiment (known as Suaineadh) which will be carried on a rocket from the Arctic Circle to the edge of space this week.

• ·         According to the government about 55.5 per cent of new leprosy cases detected world-wide in 2010 were reported in India. Based on the information received from states/union territorites, there is an overall decrease in reported leprosy cases in 2010-11 as compared to 2009-10, but 14 states/UTs showed an increase in the fresh cases reported. On whether it is possible to eradicate leprosy from the country, Health Minister said the present strategy is to achieve less than one case per 10,000 population. He said it would be done through early case detection and case management and capacity building of medical/para-medical staff and community workers, besides improved monitoring and supervision. Among the states which showed an increase in cases were Maharashtra, Orissa Madhya Pradesh , Assam , Jammu & Kashmir , Himachal Pradesh , Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Kerala. Among states which showed a decrease in cases were Andhra Pradesh , West Bengal , Jharkhand , Bihar and Tamil Nadu among others.

• ·         Australia's climate is warming at an alarming rate and is set to become drier despite recent record floods, with increased drought and fiercer storms if global greenhouse emissions remain within expectations.

• ·         The presence of H. pylori bacteria was linked to elevated levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), a biomarker for blood glucose levels and diabetes, especially in obese individuals, in a study.

• ·         A new study has found that red meat consumption is associated with an increased risk of mortality from cardiovascular disease and cancer. Substituting fish, poultry, nuts and legumes lowers the risk, the study found.

• ·         New images of Saturn's second largest moon, Rhea, were taken on March 10 by NASA's Cassini spacecraft in a flyby with a close-approach distance of 42,000 kilometres, well suited for global geologic mapping.

• ·         The world's tallest man, 8-foot-3-inch tall Sultan Kosen of Turkey, has stopped growing following treatment to stop the production of an excess growth hormone. The hormone is produced by a tumour in the pituitary gland.