Daily News Notes: 18th March, 2012

· The Election Commission has given its nod to new auditing and accounting norms for political parties in the country. This will bring in transparency and help curb black money in the poll process. The norms and guidelines, prepared by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI), will soon be notified to the political parties by the EC and financial enforcement agencies like the Income Tax department and the RBI. ICAI has submitted the final guidance note on accounting and auditing of political parties to the Election Commission last month.
· In Odisha, Maoists have kidnapped two Italian citizens. The two tourists were reportedly kidnapped for taking objectionable pictures of tribals in interior areas, which is banned by the Odisha Government. One of the two abducted men has been in India for over a decade and runs an adventure tourism business in Odisha and the other is a tourist. Some of the long-standing demands of the Maoists are (1.) release of political prisoners, (2.) halting of Operation Green Hunt.
· Milk production in the country is expected to increase by over 4 per cent to 127.29 million tonnes in the current fiscal. India is the largest producer and consumer of milk in the world. It is estimated that the country would require 180 million tonnes of milk by 2020.
· Karnataka has 22 percent of land under forest comprising of 5 National Parks and 22 Wildlife Sanctuaries. The State has formed Village Forest Committees whose members help Forest department in planning, protection, conservation and development of wastelands. The Committee has set up 36 electric units to generate power locally. The power is generated by keeping turbines under water that falls naturally in the hills. The villagers stopped grazing of cattles in forest area, established smokeless ‘chulas’ to reduce dependence on firewood. Bio-gas plant was set up and vermin compost manure is produced locally. Farmers practice organic farming now thereby protecting the eco-system. The Committee benefited from Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme for repairing roads. The Committee extended micro loans to Self Help groups which make areca nut plates to generate income. All the thatched huts were replaced by tiled houses.
· Former Chief Justice of the Delhi High Court suggested that the retirement age for Judges of the Supreme Court and High Court be made 65 years with no post-retirement assignments thereafter as some judges, while nearing their retirement, started looking for jobs that were in the hands of the Executive. This results in the formation of the nexus between the Judiciary and Business world, thus encourages corrupt practices in Judiciary.
· Only 3.2 per cent of the people arrested for various crimes are in prison given the “liberal bail system” adopted by courts, according to the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), New Delhi. Making a presentation on ‘Problems of overcrowding in prisons in India' at an all-India conference of DG/IG of Prisons said that “as much as 96.8 per cent of those arrested for various crimes committed are outside jails.” The conference resolved to impress upon the Chief Justices of High Courts to direct State governments to arrange videoconference facilities for hearing cases by courts and early release of under-trials who have been languishing in jails for years. Noting that 66.4 per cent of inmates in jails were under-trials, he said women inmates constituted only 4 per cent of the total inmates. Thirty-one persons per one lakh population are in jail. Overcrowding of prisons was a major problem in all States, particularly in Lakshadweep and Chhattisgarh. Overcrowding led to spread of diseases among prisoners and problems in management of prisons, he said. The main reasons for the overcrowding of prisons in Chhattisgarh were non-functioning of jails, after the State was carved out from Madhya Pradesh, and concentration of naxal activities. As per the modernisation plan of the Centre, Central, district and sub-jails can accommodate 1,000, 500 and 250 prisoners each.
· Despite the turmoil faced by the Indian aviation industry, aircraft manufacturer Airbus says India could be the fourth biggest market for passenger aircraft over the next 20 years. It even expects the country to be the fastest growing market for air travel over the coming decade. By 2030, this means that India's passenger fleet will be more than triple to some 1,180 aircraft. Indian annual passenger traffic growth rates of 7.2 per cent are well above the regional Asia Pacific average rate of 5.9 per cent and the world average 4.8 per cent, it said Indian market for new aircraft is the world’s fourth largest in both number of units and value. This makes India one of the world's top five countries with aircraft business volume, after the US, China and Germany. While UAE could have a demand for 813 aircraft, US and China could be the largest markets with aircraft demand expected at around 5,389, and 4041units respectively. Germany and UK are expected to buy 1,038 and 938 aircraft. The domestic travel in India is expected to grow by 10 per cent and other markets such as China, North America and rest of Asia too will. Not just this, it will lead the world in the traffic by 2030 and the growth will mainly driven by the global middle class.
· President Asif Ali Zardari made history on Saturday afternoon when he became the first elected head of the state to address a joint sitting of Pakistan's Parliament for the fifth consecutive time. In a country where democratically elected governments have invariably lived in fear of a coup and have never completed their term, this is being billed as a major achievement by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). “In spite of all the difficulties, the economy will grow by four per cent in 2012, exports crossed a historic benchmark of $25 billion last year, and remittances were $11.2 billion last year and will double over the 2008 levels this year,” he said. In the section on foreign relations, his speech made a passing reference to India; flagging the steps taken for increasing bilateral trade while stressing the need to address difficult issues like the “Jammu & Kashmir dispute”.