Daily News Notes: 7th March, 2012

· On the eve of International Women's Day today, the President said that though gender ratio has risen in the last decade, it falls short of the global ratio. Most worrisome, however, is that in the 0-6 age group, there are 914 girls as against every 1000 boys, the lowest since independence. She added that the government is going to bring Sexual harassment bill to tackle the harassment of women.
· 59th National Film Awards 2011 announced (UPSC imp. only): Best Feature Film: ’Devur’ (Marathi) & ‘Byari’ (Kannada); Best Director: Gurvinder Singh, ‘Anhe Ghorey Da Daan’; Best Actor: Girish Kulkarni, ‘Deool’; Best Actress: Vidya Balan, ‘The Dirty Picture’; Best Child Artist: Partho Gupte, ‘Stanley Ka Dabba’ and ‘Chillar Party’ cast; Best Film on Social Issues: ’Inshallah’ (Ashvin Kumar) and ‘Mindscape’ (Arun Chadha); Best Children’s Film: ’Chillar Party’; Best Book Award: Anirudha Bhattacharjee and Balaji Vittal for ‘R.D. Burman The Man, The Music’; Indira Gandhi award for debut film director: Thiagarajan Kumararaja for ‘Aaranya Kaandam’.
· Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar of the Sangeet Natak Akademi for the year 2010 was presented by Smt. Leela Samson, Chairman, Sangeet Natak Akademi, to 30 young artist. The ‘Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar’ was instituted in the year 2006 by Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of Music, Dance and Drama, an autonomous body of Ministry of Culture, Government of India and apex institution of performing arts in the country. The Puraskar is given to performing artists below the age of 40 years as on 1st April of the year of the Puraskar, and covers music, dance, theatre, puppetry and other traditional, folk and tribal forms of performing arts.
· A novel approach, known as Communitisation has been put in place in Nagaland in the health services sector for quick and effective service delivery in each village. Communitisation is a process of the government and the community getting in to partnership in the management of public institutions and services. The traditional village council has been given powers to take measures for their own welfare. This has been done so that community takes active part in preventive health through education and action and at the same time traditional medicine also gets promoted.
· The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India has come down heavily on the State Excise Department blaming it for serious lapses in controlling liquor sale in Kerala, resulting in both a sharp increase in liquor consumption and serious leakage in revenue on account of faulty measures taken by it.
· The total approximate earnings of Indian Railways on originating basis during 1st April 2011 – 29th February, 2012 were Rs. 92985.50 crore compared to Rs. 84402.34 crore during the same period last financial year, registering an increase of 10.17 per cent. Highlights (1.) The total goods earnings, Rs. 62171.49 crore: showing an increase of 10.24 per cent; (2.) The total passenger revenue earnings, Rs. 25858.14 crore: registering an increase of 9.57 per cent; (3.) The revenue earnings from other coaching amounted to Rs. 2580.32 crore: showing an increase of 12.45 per cent.
· The Ministry of Corporate Affairs has requested all Banks and Financial Institutions to follow the role-check process devised and published for the digital signatures (DSCs) belonging to authorized signatories of Banks/FIs recently in its e-Governance project MCA21. The use of DSCs has been mandated for all filings to ensure the security and integrity of documents filed with the Registry. It may be noted that the e-Governance project MCA21 is aimed at enhancing the service level efficiencies and bringing about certainty and speed in the operations of the Ministry. The operational process of MCA21 has been adapted to suit the electronic filing with the introduction of facilities like e-form, online mode of payments etc along the philosophy of “anywhere at any time” access to MCA21 services.
· The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) has stepped in to fast track the development and use of inland water transport (IWT) which opens the water route for movement of bulk cargo such as coal, foodgrains, fertilizers and opens new port entry points into Bangladesh with major involvement of private sector. In a recent meeting convened by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister, it was decided to give a major impetus to develop the National Waterways IV from Kakinada-Puducherry stretch of canals with Godavari and Krishna rivers and National Waterways V from East Coast Canal with Erahmani River and Mahanadi delta. The PMO stressed on the need to involve the private sector actively as had been done in the case of the coal movement project of NTPC Farakka power plant by the Inland Waterways Authority of India (IWAI). The Ministry of External Affairs was asked to work for renewal of the Trade and Transit Protocol for five years to provide certainty to vessel operators. The present trade and transit protocol expires this month. Efforts would also be made for early completion of Ashuganj multi-modal port by Bangladesh and its regular use as a transit point.
· The last abode of Asiatic Lions, the Gir Sanctuary, lost 25 lions in 2011-12 and a total of 86 lion deaths were reported in the last three years. While 85 lions had died natural deaths, one lion died in a fight with another. Asiatic lions figure in International Union for Conservation of Nature's endangered species list.
· In Rajasthan, the annual Elephant festival will kick-start in Jaipur. Colourful fireworks, jumbo rides, tribal dance and folk music, pot race and tug-of-war between Indian and foreign tourists will be the highlights of the festivities, besides playing Holi on elephants, cultural performances like Gair dance, tribal dance Kacchi Ghodi, Langa Gayan, Braj Ki Holi and Bum Rasia, among others.
· Holi also known as Fagu Purnima, is being celebrated in some parts of Nepal with traditional enthusiasm today.
· Indian CEOs (led by Forum co-chair Naveen Jindal) have taken up with their Australian counterparts the issue of imposition of carbon tax (30 per cent tax on big mining companies) on mining activities in Australia and has expressed the hope that a solution would be found to resolve the issue. However, the Australian side has also expressed concern over the new mining law proposed in India that entails profit sharing by mining companies to the tune of 26 per cent to tribal development fund. These issues came up for discussion during the first meeting of the India-Australia CEOs Forum held in New Delhi. In addition to this, both sides expressed the hope that the negotiations for the free trade agreement (FTA) would be completed soon to put in place a mechanism for enhanced economic engagement between the two countries.
· India and Indonesia are set to reach their target of trade worth US$25 billion by 2015 ahead of schedule (US$ 20.136 billion in 2011 while it was US$ 14.128 billion in 2010). With the implementation of India-ASEAN FTA since October last year, the trade and investment flows between both the countries would accelerate and would help achieve and exceed the target easily. Both sides have agreed to speed up negotiations on bilateral CECA. Shri Sharma emphasized that Indonesia need to improve its offer on services in the context of the Indian ASEAN FTA in services and investment. Shri Sharma also pushed for movement of professional under mode IV both in context of India-ASEAN FTA as well as further investment opportunities in future. Shri Sharma also flagged important issues relating to the non-tariff barriers for our pharmaceutical sector and the import of bovine meat into Indonesia. He also raised the issue of new mining laws and certain new regulations that have affected Indian mining and IPPs in Indonesia. Indian mining companies are obliged to export coal at benchmarked prices announced monthly by the Ministry of Industry in Jakarta. Shri Sharma also inaugurated India show in Jakarta.
· Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States have agreed to restart talks with Iran over its controversial nuclear program. The offer came despite Iran's recent refusal to allow international inspectors to probe alleged nuclear weapons projects. In another development, Iranian news agency ISNA said Iran would allow international inspectors to visit Parchin, but the conditions for such a visit had to be settled first.
· Researchers have found that a ban on smoking in public places in Scotland appears to have brought health benefits for unborn babies. Since Scotland introduced a ban on smoking in public places in 2006 there has been a 10 per cent drop in the country's premature birth rate. They believe this is a smoke-free benefit that can be chalked up alongside others, like reductions in heart disease and childhood asthma. Tobacco smoke has been linked to poor fetal growth and placenta problems.
· Women are subordinate to men, should not mix in work or education and must always have a male guardian when they travel, according to new guidelines from Afghanistan's top clerics which critics say are dangerously reminiscent of the Taliban era. The edicts appeared in a statement that also encouraged insurgents to join peace talks, fuelling fears that efforts to negotiate an end to a decade of war, now gathering pace after years of false starts and dead ends, will come at a high cost to women. The clerics renounced the equality of men and women enshrined in the Afghan Constitution, suggesting they consider the document that forms the basis of the Afghan state to be flawed from a religious perspective. The statement drew criticism in Parliament, where some politicians took it as a direct assault on the Constitution and the wider government. If a ban on men and women working and studying together were implemented, it would in effect dissolve the legislature.