Daily News Notes: 1st April, 2012

· In Assam, security has been placed on high alert across the State following possible violence by underground militants ahead of banned ULFA outfit’s raising day on the 7th of this month. A strict vigil is being maintained in the inter-state boundary corridors to check infiltration of militants to the State.
· The implementation of Right to Education, RTE Act, completed two years today. Under the RTE Act, all the children in the age group of 6 to 14 years are entitled to get free and compulsory education. The provisions of the Act also ensure free text books, school uniforms and school bags to all children. RTE has led to a significant improvement in decreasing the annual average dropout rate in the country which has come down to 6.9 per cent in 2010-11 from the earlier 9.1 per cent in 2009-10. There has been an over 5 per cent decline in the drop out rate in Bihar, Jharkhand, Nagaland and Uttar Pradesh. However, Haryana and Mizoram have shown an increase in the drop out rate, and Karnataka and Goa are yet to notify the rules. Also, last year this time, only 15 States notified the RTE rules. Today, this number has increased to 21. Similarly, last year 11 States notified the State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights, as enshrined in the Act, but now the number went up to 21, and an advisory was issued to all the States to institute a grievance redress mechanism to address violations of the Act. To improve the quality of primary education, 31 States notified the academic authority under Section 29 of the Act, against 20 last year. “This is significant because the academic authority is responsible for ensuring that the curriculum and the evaluation procedure are in accordance with constitutional values and the child-centred principles enunciated in the Act.” Futher, the Centre sanctioned six lakh posts of teachers under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to maintain the student-teacher ratio at 30:1. But 43 per cent of the schools had a ratio of greater than the prescribed norm at the national level, while 33 per cent at the upper primary level were behind the norm. As for infrastructure, close to five lakh classrooms were sanctioned by the Centre, and the outlay for the RTE-SSA programme has been doubled from Rs. 13,100 crore during 2009-10 to Rs. 25,555 crore in 2012-13.
· Ramnavami, the birthday of Lord Ram is being celebrated today with religious fervour and gaiety. In Uttar Pradesh, Ayodhya, the birth place of Lord Rama is the centre of attraction for lakhs of pilgrims who are visiting prominent temples including Sri Ram Lala Temple after taking dip in holy Saryu river. With this, almost ten days’ navratra celebrations came to an end today.
· Banks from today will stop honouring cheques and drafts if they are not presented within three months of the date of issue as against six months earlier. The decision to reduce the validity of cheques, bank drafts and other instruments to three months, announced by the Reserve Bank of India earlier, came into effect from today. The directive followed complaints that some persons were taking undue advantage of the six-month validity period and circulating these instruments like cash.
· Former Union Minister and ex-BCCI President NKP Salve passed away in New Delhi this morning due to age-related problems. He was 90. The Vice President has condoled the death of NKP Salve.
· In Madhya Pradesh, the Bhopal Municipal Corporation has kicked off on-the spot-fines project in the capital Bhopal in which residents will have to pay on-the-spot-fines ranging from 50 rupees to 200 rupees for throwing garbage and other insanitary activities in public places. The Idea of 'on-the-spot fine’ has been implemented to ensure cleanliness and proper sanitation within municipal limits of Bhopal and not for revenue collection. The civic body will also fine residents for parking old vehicles on road side, throwing waste on footpath, letting pets shit in open and using polythene bags below 40 microns. If the same person is caught committing the same offence again, the fine money will go up.
· Assam is being developed as a model state for coconut production during 12th Plan period beginning today. As many as, hundred coconut processing units are planned to be set up in the state under Coconut Technology Mission during the period.
· The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has issued broad guidelines on Algorithmic Trading, that is, any order that is generated using automated execution. The market regulator has asked stock exchanges to undertake system upgradation, including periodic upgradation of its surveillance system, in order to keep pace with the speed of trade and volume of data that may arise through algorithmic trading. Further, the stock exchanges were asked to ensure that all algorithmic orders are necessarily routed through broker servers located in India and the stock exchange has appropriate risk controls mechanism to address the risk emanating from algorithmic orders and trades. The SEBI said the minimum order-level risk controls include: [1.] Price check — the price quoted by the order shall not violate the price bands defined by the exchange for the security. For securities that do not have price bands, dummy filters shall be brought into effective use to serve as an early warning system to detect sudden surge in prices; [2.] Quantity limit check — The quantity quoted in the order shall not violate the maximum permissible quantity per order as defined by the exchange for the security.
· At his monthly press conference Home Minister P. Chidambaram said 32 mercy petitions had been submitted or re-submitted to the President, who took a decision in 15 cases, itself a record for any President for any period of three years. However, the mercy petition of Parliament attack case convict Afzal Guru was still pending with the President.
· Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said that he did not make any “dramatic announcements and dramatic proposals” in the Budget keeping the political constraints of the United Progressive Alliance government in mind. Emphasising that a coalition government requires the support of its allies to pass the Budget in parliament, he said as a “hardcore political activist” he cannot ignore the fact. Mr. Mukherjee pointed out that since 1989, the Indian electorate had not given clear verdict to any single party and the parties running the governments had only a fractured mandate. Stating that he cannot be blamed for the delay in passing important legislations like the Goods and Services Tax, he said the government does not have two-thirds majority either in the Rajya Sabha or the Lok Sabha, which is required for a constitutional amendment for the GST.
· BrahMos, the India-Russia joint-venture, has developed an anti-aircraft carrier variant of the supersonic cruise missile and successfully tested it recently. BrahMos Chief A. Sivathanu Pillai said that with this the organisation achieved the capability to attack aircraft carriers using the supersonic vertical dive variant of the missile that could travel up to 290 km. The Army had plans to deploy the missile regiment in the Northeast along the borders with China and the proposal was accorded sanction in a Defence Acquisition Council meeting last year. Considering that the country was planning to induct a number of new aircraft including the medium multirole combat fighter aircraft and MiG-29K naval fighters, the BrahMos planned to develop smaller version of the missile for them. Meanwhile, at a brief function Dr. Pillai released a compendium of military issue, `Brahmand 2012,' which is an update of world defence covering technology, procurements, military data and up-to-date figures and information on defence budgets and equipment holding.
· Indian scientists have achieved a breakthrough in the search for new anti-malarial compounds of natural origin to combat different strains of the parasites responsible for the dreaded disease. Extracts of more than 200 organisms including different species of marine fungi, seaweeds, mangroves, sponges, cnidarians, molluscs, echinoderms and ascidians were screened during the first two phases of the project which began in 2004. About 25 organisms showed the presence of anti-malarials. The organisms are selected through an elaborate process of underwater observation for marine chemical ecological interactions, followed by field and laboratory experimentation. The samples have been collected mostly from the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay where coral reefs abound. Named ‘Discovering Anti-malarials from Marine Organisms,' the collaborative project involves the Centre for Marine Biodiversity under the University of Kerala, the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi; Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad; and the Institute of Himalayan Bioresource Technology (IHBT), Palampur. The Department of Biotechnology, Government of India, is funding the project [Institutes and cities are important]. The potential anti-malarial compounds are often generated by sedentary marine organisms as a defensive mechanism to deter potential predators or pathogens, reduce the impact of environmental stress, prevent overgrowth or for protection from ultraviolet radiation. “What we are essentially doing is to harness the defensive mechanism of the marine organisms to develop biologically active metabolites that can be used to fight the malarial parasite,” Scientist says.
· The Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS, being one of the oldest aviation security regulators in the world) completes 25 years on Sunday and can boast of having the distinction of making India 100 percent compliant with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)'s Standards and Recommended Practices. The ICAO has adjudged the Indian Civil Aviation Security System as meeting the highest international standards after its audit in 2011 under Universal Security Audit Programme which is conducted every five years. The Aviation Security Training Centre at BCAS in the Capital has recently received accreditation from ICAO and has become the hub of aviation security training in South Asia, the first of its kind in SAARC countries. As many as 22,162 people were imparted aviation security training in 2011. Earlier, the aviation security oversight functions were carried out by Directorate General of Civil Aviation through its cell, Directorate of Civil Aviation Security. From April 1, 1987, this cell became a separate entity and transformed itself into Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, responsible for laying down the standards for aviation security measures and ensuring their compliance through regular inspections and security audits.
· Criticising the Supreme Court directive to the Centre to implement the rivers inter-linking project, several concerned citizens have pointed out that the apex court was getting into the domain of the executive in the matter. They urged the court to put its order on hold and undertake careful reconsideration of the entire matter which is controversial and has serious implications. “The project not only holds the potential of generating new inter-State conflicts but has serious international dimensions that need to be considered. Both, Nepal and Bangladesh, have expressed serious apprehensions about India's rivers linking project,” they said. “The grand design of 30 links involving construction of over 80 dams is bound to have major environmental and ecological consequences not to speak of immense hardship to people who will be displaced as a result. This cannot be ignored and pushed through,” the citizens said. The Supreme Court on March 27 directed the Centre to implement the project in a time-bound manner and appointed a ‘special committee' to work out the modalities and oversee implementation.
· India has done a soft launch of its 3rd research station in Antarctica's Larsemann Hills region, considered as one of the few geological windows into the history of the continent. The winter team is there carrying out tests on various equipment and systems. The formal launch of the research station, Bharti is expected in November when it is summer time in the icy continent. The leader of the 15-member team Mr. Rajesh Asthana said, the research station would address the growing urge in the Indian scientific community for exploring deeper and wider areas of Antarctica for better understanding of the vast continent.
· India and UAE signed a bilateral agreement on Mutual Assistance in Customs Matters. The Agreement provides for sharing of best customs practices and giving a boost to economic cooperation by expanding bilateral trade. It will also help in curbing the violation of customs laws and protect against illicit commercial practices by exchanging information on mutual customs shipments.
· Polling is on in Myanmar for the by-elections to 45 seats in the country's Parliament with Aung San Suu Kyi entering the fray for the first time. Her National League for Democracy, NLD is contesting all the 45 seats vacated when politicians joined the new military-backed civilian government. Ms. Suu Kyi spent over 15 years under house arrest after the military overturned her party's landslide general election victory in 1990. It is also for the first time that international observers have been allowed to monitor elections in Myanmar. India has deputed two senior election officials and its Ambassador to Myanmar to oversee elections in that country. The Parliamentary by-elections are seen as a test of the military backed government's commitment to democratic reforms. The European Union is likely to ease some sanctions on the country if today's elections go smoothly. Meanwhile, Myanmar's opposition has complained that ballot sheets had been tampered with in the landmark elections.
· In Pakistan, a plot to attack the country's Parliament during President Asif Ali Zardari's address to a joint sitting of the two Houses, has been foiled. Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik said in Islamabad that several terrorists and a government employee have been arrested. He was talking to reporters after reviewing security arrangements across the country at a high level meeting. The government employee was arrested for extending assistance to the terrorists.
· The Malian army ended a day-long gun battle with rebels in the northern city of Gao late yesterday out of concern for civilian safety. The rebels earlier seized the provincial capital Kidal. Reports say, the loss of Gao is a serious blow to the coup leaders.
· Foreign ministers from more than 70 Western and Arab countries are due to meet in Istanbul today to explore ways to step up pressure on the Syrian regime and bolster the opposition. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and other officials attending the “Friends of Syria” meeting are expected to maintain diplomatic pressure on President Assad, largely by insisting that he abide by the peace plan proposed by UN-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
· India's Leander Paes and his Czech partner Radek Stepanek have won the Men's Doubles title in the Miami Open Tennis tournament at Florida. In the final match played this morning, the seventh seeded Indo-Czech duo came from one set down and defeated the second seeded Belarusian-Canadian combine of Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor
· Chinese State Internet Information Office (SIIO) said that they had detained six people and closed down 16 for “fabricating or disseminating online rumours” of “military vehicles entering Beijing and something wrong going on in Beijing, while also announcing new restrictions to “punish” two popular Twitter-like microblogging services. China's two most popular microblogging services, Sina and Tencent weibo which boast more than three hundred million users, were abuzz with rumours of political infighting among China's leaders for much of the past month, sparked by the political scandal surrounding the ousting of Politburo member and Chongqing Party Secretary Bo Xilai. Both microblogging services on Saturday suspended commenting functions that allow users to leave their own comments on others' posts, a feature that is popular on both microblogs but not offered on Twitter. The move was an apparent attempt to curb online discussions and send a warning to both services.
· An Italian physicist (Antonio Ereditatoat) the head of a team that made a cautious but hugely controversial claim that neutrinos may travel faster than the speed of light has resigned following calls for his dismissal. Mr. Masiero said another test on the speed of neutrinos, a type of sub-atomic particle, would still be carried out later this year to check OPERA's findings. OPERA is part of the European Centre for Nuclear Research (CERN) and carried out its experiment at the Gran Sasso Laboratory in central Italy. Mr. Ereditato's team last September announced that neutrinos appeared to have travelled faster than the speed of light, a claim that would have upended Einstein's theory of relativity — a cornerstone of physics. The neutrinos were timed at their departure from CERN's giant underground lab near Geneva and again, after travelling 732 km through the Earth's crust, at their arrival at Gran Sasso in the Apennine Mountains. To do the trip, the neutrinos should have taken 0.0024 seconds. Instead, the particles were recorded as hitting the detectors in Italy 0.00000006 seconds sooner than expected. Knowing their findings would stir a storm, the OPERA team urged physicists to carry out their own checks to corroborate or refute it. CERN said technical hitches may have skewed the initial measurements, something that critics of the findings said they had always suspected.