Daily News Notes: 23rd March, 2012

· Addressing the 7th Asia Gas Partnership Summit in New Delhi, PM said that the government has initiated gas pricing policy reforms to incentivize production of natural gas. Dr. Singh observed that the opening up of the oil and gas sector to private industry participation has resulted in higher domestic gas availability and has also led to growing participation by multinational corporations. The Prime Minister said, the large and growing markets in Asia also provide an opportunity for collaboration through joint research and technology development for supply of clean and cheaper energy to the masses. Dr Manmohan Singh said India has accelerated investment in creation of LNG re-gasification facilities to cater to the large demand for gas. With newly clubbed gassification LNG terminals coming up at Kochi and Dabhol, the country's current import capacity of 14 million tonnes a year is set to increase to 20 million tonnes a year by the year 2012-13. He informed that the Gas Authority of India alone will expand its pipeline length from the existing 9,000 kilometers to around 14,500 kilometers by 2014. Private operators are also expected to add another 5,000 kilometers in the same period. Also, the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board has plans to roll out City Gas Distribution networks in over 300 geographical areas in the country. At present 51 cities and towns are covered under this network.
· The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved modifications of the existing scheme for Reorganization and Restructuring of Teacher Education in order to meet the exceptional challenges for the Teacher Education system arising from the massive spatial and numerical expansion of schooling facilities at the elementary and secondary levels, the corresponding increase in the demand for teachers and to fulfill the statutory obligations of the Government with regard to teacher preparation and teacher training under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009. Modification of the scheme is also critical in the context of the need for training requirements of teachers at the secondary level under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan. The existing centrally sponsored scheme "Teacher Education" is being implemented through the State Governments and UTs since 1987 pursuant to the formulation of the National Policy on Education, 1986 which emphasized the significance and need for a decentralized system for the professional preparation of teachers. Subsequently, District Institutes of Education and Training (DIETs), Colleges of Teacher Education (CTEs) and Institutes of Advanced Study in Education (lASEs) were established. Major steps taken in the new scheme are: [1.] Establishment of Block institutes of Teacher Education (BITEs) in 196 identified SC/ST/Minority concentration districts for undertaking elementary pre-service teacher education programmes; [2.] Public-Private Partnership (PPP) in Teacher Education; [3.] Inclusion of Monitoring Mechanism; [4.] Revision of fund sharing pattern between the Centre and the State - 75:25 ratio between Centre and States (90:10 for NER States including Sikkim) to ensure greater ownership by the States; [5.] Strengthening and up-gradation of lDIETs, CTEs, lASEs and State Councils for Educational Research and Training.
· The Planning Commission effectively abandoned the Tendulkar panel’s estimation method. A committee would be constituted to revisit the methodology to estimate poverty. This move was taken as pressure from all sides over Planning Commission’s estimate of people living below the poverty line. The committee, to be constituted in a couple of months, would take a comprehensive view on the entire method of estimating poverty, including the Socio-Economic Caste Census 2011. Ironically, experts had earlier lauded the committee headed by Tendulkar for coming out with a good methodology. Unlike the old method of estimating poverty by calorie consumption, the Tendulkar committee had suggested a broader definition, one that included spending on food, education, health and clothing. With the Tendulkar methodology, the number of people living below the poverty line had increased. As per its calculations, the number rose from 28.3% of the population in rural areas in 2004-05 to 41.8%. The number of people below the poverty line in urban areas remained unchanged at 25.7%. At the national level, the number of people below the poverty line rose from 27.5% to 37.2% in 2004-05, based on the Tendulkar’s methodology. However, he died in 2011.
· The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries for further upscaling the scheme of cold chain, value addition and preservation infrastructure for food processing. The scheme is designed to link farms to market through an efficient supply chain. The scheme provides for creation of farm proximate infrastructure in the form of minimal processing centres with facilities for weighing, sorting, grading, waxing, cleaning, controlled atmosphere, cold storage, deep freezing, IQF, mobile cooling units etc. The scheme also aims at promotion of irradiation technology for longer and safe storage of agriculture produce. India is a leading producer of fruits and vegetables, milk, meat, marine products and many other agricultural commodities in the world. The extent of wastage of agri produce has been estimated in the range from 0.8% to 18% due to lack of post-harvest infrastructural facilities. With a view to reduce the wastage, enhance shelf-life, value addition and employment generation and cold chain infrastructure has been given a major thrust during the 11th Plan. Government has also announced major fiscal incentives during last two years to enhance investment in cold chain sector. Cold chain projects are eligible for external commercial borrowing. Custom duty relief has been provided by according to the project import status.
· Come next year, filing of FIRs at police stations will no longer be a cumbersome exercise. Efforts are on to implement online registration of FIRs across the country, beginning 2013. Home minister P Chidambaram spoke about the possibility, banking on the implementation of his ministry’s flagship project — the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) — that aims to link over 14,000 police stations across the country. It would be completely implemented by the end of this year or early next year, and then, online registration of FIRs will be possible. At present, the Delhi Police has a system of “uploading and viewing” FIRs registered in the capital within 24 hours of registration — except those declared sensitive by additional commissioner of police or DCP of the district concerned. This system has been in place since February 1.
· Iconic Bengali actor Soumitra Chatterjee will receive the top honour in India cinema - Dada Saheb Phalke Award for the year 2011. The award will be presented to the veteran actor during the 59th National Film Awards function. Shri Chatterjee has been the winner of the National Film Award for Best Actor for the film PODOKSHEP in 2007 and Special Jury Award for Best Actor for the film DEKHA in 2000. He is also been conferred with Padma Bhushan in 2004.
· Bihar along with Orrisa both celebrating their centenary statehood day. On this day 100 years ago Bihar and Orissa were carved out of the Bengal presidency.
· The Assam Government has made elaborate arrangement to celebrate the platinum jubilee of the State Legislative Assembly at Dispur. Assam Legislative Assembly came into being on the day of its first sitting on the 7th of April, 1937 in the Assembly Chamber at Shillong, the erstwhile Capital of the composite State of Assam.
· In Manipur, two more underground outfits have agreed to sign a Suspension of Operations, SoO agreement with the government. The outfits are the United Tribal Liberation Army, UTLA and the Pakkan Reunification Army, PRA. Nineteen Kuki militant groups under two conglomerate organizations and Kangleipak Communist Party(Lallumba Group) have already signed tripartite SoO agreement with the government.
· The traditional new year festivals of Chaitra Sukladi, Ugadi, Gudi Parva, Cheti Chand, Navroz and Sajibu Cheiraoba are being celebrated in different parts of the country today. Gudi Padwa, is celebrated on the first day of the Hindu month of Chaitra. According to the Hindu calendar, this is one of the four most auspicious days of the year when people start new ventures. This festival is also being celebrated as the New Year’s day of Maharashtrians. In Karnataka, Ugaadi is being celebrated with traditional fervour and gaiety. The festival marks the first day of the lunar calendar, Chaitra Masa. The people of Andhra Pradesh are celebrating Ugaadi, the New Year day for Telugu speaking people, with traditional fervor and gaiety. Sajibu Cheiraoba is being celebrated with cultural gusto and religious fervor in Manipur to mark the beginning of a new year. In Uttarakhand, the devotees celebrated the Hindu New Year and beginning of the Chaitra Navratri with performing especial Poojan- Archan of goddess Durga.
· In J&K, at Leh & Ladakh district, after almost six months of sub zero temperature, the weather has started to improve making favorable conditions for cultivation. Unlike any other parts of the country, there is only one agricultural season due to intense cold conditions starting from March to September. Here, the agricultural season begin with the celebration of Dullo festival. Ladakh is known for organic farming.
· Assam has contributed 65 percent of total Endi or Eri silk production in the country in 2011.
· A grateful nation is paying tribute to national martyrs Shaeed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on their 80th martyrdom anniversary. It was on this day, these martyrs were hanged to death in Lahore Central Jail in 1931.
· The Kerala High Court today ordered that persons with criminal antecedents should not be allowed to undergo training or recruited into the state police force and said that the state government has every right to dismiss police personnel with criminal background without issuing any notice. The Court noted that it is important to decriminalise the police force in the national and public interest.
· Maharashtra CM announced that state’s total annual revenue has gone up to Rs. 1,21,000 crore this year (2011-12) compared to Rs. 1,06,000 crore in the previous year. Chavan said Maharashtra received an investment of Rs. 82,386 crore in 77 new projects that have been set up since April 2011 in the state. Maharashtra received a share of 33% in the total foreign direct investment (FDI) that has come to the country in this period.Opposition parties have targeted the government over poor fiscal management. The state faces a debt of Rs. 2,38,000 crore and almost 30% of the state’s revenue has to be kept aside to service this debt.
· Cities of Gujrat, Rjasthan, Delhi, Haryana and Punjab experienced a rare phenomenon when the city was enveloped in layers of dust. Called dust haze, the phenomenon saw suspended particulate matter in the air rise from 200 units per cubic metre to an unprecedented and dangerous 1,200 units. Scores of patients, especially the old and those prone to respiratory ailments, complained of breathlessness. [https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgeP93voBS3e0goW-NwyuX2n7bxc6R37YPJ9V7pHb4GMluHy4WSoy38QtStynQVjDRqsS15cnT-DbAKaKtnrQMUxQ_ZeQcozA9Vr4OAdvOelp6lLKO7ORgBkIefoy_wNF4vKLUY7_W3f3-/s1600/2012.jpg]
· The deeper you go into the Sunderbans, the more mysterious it is. The camera traps that have snapped 18 Bengal tigers outside the core area of the mangrove forests also captured two photos of a never-before seen cat. It could be another species altogether, a eureka moment for conservationists and wildlife enthusiasts. Forest officers scanning through a bunch of pictures of the wild stopped in their tracks when they came across a small, black cat with a long tail. Nothing of the sort had been seen in decades of documentation and exploration in the Sunderbans. The Sunderbans is the only tiger reserve in India where leopards have never been seen. Its Bangladeshi side reported the last sighting of a leopard in 1931. The cat spotted in the camera traps is bigger than a wild cat and smaller than a leopard. In leopards, two genes determine whether the animal’s colour will be yellow with black spots or completely black. The black panther gets its colour from the black recessive gene.
· The Prime Minister Dr. Singh leaves on a four day visit to South Korea tomorrow to hold bilateral discussions with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak. He will also attend the second Nuclear Security Summit in Seoul. The visit to South Korea is the second bilateral visit by an Indian Prime Minister since 1993. The visit aims at giving depth and greater meaning to the strategic partnership and strengthen people to people contacts. A bilateral agreement on simplification of visas will be signed. The first Nuclear Security Summit was held in Washington in 2010. 58 Heads of States will be participating in the Seoul Summit. The main focus will be on the global threat posed by nuclear terrorism and measures required to prevent terrorists from gaining access to sensitive nuclear technology. The Summit deliberations and results will be reflected in the Seoul Communique.
· The Interpol has issued Red Corner notices against four Iranians wanted in connection with the bomb attack on an Israeli diplomat in New Delhi last month. An Interpol Red Corner notice is the closest instrument to an international arrest warrant. It requests provisional arrest of wanted persons with a view to extraditing them.
· The 2012 BRICS Summit will be held in New Delhi on Thursday. The summit will be attended by the heads of state of the five member nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.