Daily News Notes: 4th April, 2012

· Terming as “alarmist” a media report that the Army moved two units towards Delhi in January without informing the Government, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, today said such reports “should not be taken at face value”. The Prime Minister said that the Ministry of Defence had already issued a clarification in this regard. According to the report, the Army had said that the exercise was to check effectiveness in fog. Speaking on the sidelines of a function at Vishakhapattanam, Defence Minister, Mr. A.K. Antony described the media reports absolutely baseless and warned that no one should doubt the patriotism, honesty and integrity of armed forces. Mr. Antony said that the movement of the forces on the said two units of strategic armed forces moved to Delhi in the month of January was a usual and natural activity, and such exercises are conducted from time to time keeping the operational requirements in mind.
· Nuclear powered attack submarine INS Chakra was today inducted into the Indian Navy. The Defence Minister said, piracy and terrorism being perpetrated in the region could have repercussions across the globe. He stressed that maintaining peace and stability in the region is of utmost importance for its economic growth. With this induction, India has turned into a nuclear navy joining the elite club of P-5 countries, the US, the UK, Russia, France and Germany. Also, the historic event reflects the high level of cooperation and strategic partnership between India and Russia. It was more than five decades ago, in 1954, that the first nuclear-powered submarine Nautilus revolutionised submarine warfare. Nuclear propulsion has given the submarine the ability to operate submerged at high speeds for unlimited periods, limited only by human endurance. Indian Navy entered the era of nuclear propulsion in 1998 with the induction of the erstwhile Chakra, a Charlie class SSGN – wherein SS denotes “Submarine”, G denotes “Guided Missile” and N denotes “Nuclear”. The three-year lease of the erstwhile Chakra was a landmark event in international cooperation. The successful operation of this SSGN cleared the decks for the induction of present INS Chakra in its new ‘avataar’ into the Indian Navy. Of the several categories of nuclear submarines, the Chakra belongs to the hunt and attack category. The Nato name for this class is 'Akula'. The Chakra carries a state of art censors and an impressive array of weapons, including cruise missile and torpedoes. Chakra is over 100 metres long and is powered by a 190 mega watt nuclear reactor. It can attain a maximum speed of above 30 knots, when submerged and has a crew of 80 personnel. The name Chakra is evokative of the relevance of nuclear submarine as the ultimate weapon coveted by ammunition. INS Chakra will operate under the operational control of the Eastern Naval Command.
· President today gave away Padma Awards to 50 personalities. Also, the country's second highest civilian honour after the Bharat Ratna--the Padma Vibhushan was given to eminent cartoonist Mario de Miranda posthumously. His son Rahul Miranda recieved the award. Other eminent personalities who recieved the Padma Bhusan awards include Film personalities Shabana Azami and Dharmendra Deol, renowned mathmatician Dr M S Raghunathan, Historian Dr Jose Pereira, eminent Jurist Dr P Chandrashekara Rao, leading cultural and literary theorist and author Prof Homi K Bhabha. Padma Shree awards were presented to 38 persons.
· The Human Resource Development Ministry has constituted a 10-member committee to prepare an ambitious plan to set up community colleges in the country. The committee is headed by the School Education Minister of Madhya Pradesh, Archana Chitnis. It will submit its report within two months, spelling out the concept and decide about the appropriate milestones for its launch. The other members of the committee include education ministers of Chhattisgarh, Assam, Bihar,Punjab, and Jammu and Kashmir.
· Mr Sam Pitroda, Adviser to the Prime Minister, Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations and Chairman of the National Innovation Council announced the names of the winners of the National Innovation Council’s Innovation Challenge to reduce drudgery for the working class population. The Challenge, launched in October 2011, sought innovative ideas from Indian citizens in the areas of design improvement of work implements, models for business opportunities, better processes, new equipment and techniques for different occupational groups like blue-collar workers, street-vendors, and construction workers. The six winning innovations include novel design of a rickshaw, a human powered motor, display unit for street vendors, a low cost cycle for physically challenged, and devices to reduce the drudgery of construction workers and sanitation workers.
· The Government is contemplating certain amendments to Child Labour (Prohibition & Regulation) Act, 1986 which includes making penalties more stringent for those who employ child labourers. Accordingly the Ministry of Labour and Employment is implementing National Child Labour Project (NCLP) Scheme in 266 districts of the country for eradication of child labour. Under Grant in Aid Scheme, funds to the extent of 75% of the project cost are released directly to the NGOs for elimination of the child labour in the districts which are not covered under the National Child Labour Project. Apart from this, Government is taking various proactive measures towards convergence of schemes of different Ministries like Ministry of Human Resource Development, Women & Child Development, Urban Housing & Rural Poverty Alleviation, Rural Development, Railway, Panchayati Raj Institutions etc. so that child labour and their families get covered under the benefits of the schemes of these Ministries. Further the Ministry is implementing a pilot Project Converging Against Child labour–support for India’s Model in collaboration with International Labour Organisation funded by US Department of Labour with the objective to contribute to the prevention and elimination of hazardous child labour, including trafficking and migration of child labour. As per 2001 census, the total number of working children between the age group 5-14 years in the country was 1.26 crore. However, as per NSSO survey 2009-10, the working children are estimated at 49.84 lakh which shows declining trend.
· With the Ministry of tourism targeting over 12 % growth rate in in-bound as well as domestic tourists, it has been projected that tourism sector will generate additional jobs of about 2.5 crore, both direct and indirect, during the 12th Fiver year Plan. Referring to the encouraging trends in International and Domestic tourism Union Minister for Tourism said tourism is now being recognized as one of the key drivers of growth and employment generation in the country. He said the contribution of tourism to the GDP is estimated to be more than 9%. He said this study concluded that, for both the foreign and domestic tourist, the lack of Hygiene and Sanitary conditions in and around monuments/ destinations, poor Solid Waste Management around the monuments/destinations and absence of hygienically maintained public amenities like Toilets were the key factors that were impeding our efforts to catapult India as a leading tourist destination. Shri Subodh Kant said,“Campaign Clean India” is aimed to undertake both sensitization and action at field level on bringing our tourism destinations and their surroundings to an acceptable level of cleanliness and hygiene. The National Awards for Excellence in Hospitality Education (2010-11) were also presented in three categories i.e. awards to the students, awards to the teaching faculty and awards to the Institutes.
· Every time you eat a ripe golden yellow mango, remember it could be sending a carcinogenic material into your body, as farmers from time immemorial have been using industrial-grade calcium carbide to ripen the fruit that is harvested raw. This is often done in transit but has become a common practice everywhere to be the early bird in the market. Packets of calcium carbide are put in the midst of the raw mango while loading. This serves double purpose for the farmer, as he saves costly packing material needed for fully ripe ones to withstand the handling stress and ripens at the right time when it arrives at the destination. State Marketing Department of AP, records 4,000 trucks (ten tonnes each) of mango as repacked at the Nunna mango market here - the biggest mango market in the world. “Calcium carbide reacts with moisture and produces acetylene gas. The gas ripens the fruit just like ethylene gas used in the scientific ripening chambers. After an outcry from consumers about the use of carbide for ripening of mango, the State government issued an Order on March 19 for the constitution of district-level committees (Joint Collector is the chairman) with the express purpose of preventing the use of the chemical for ripening of the fruit.” One of the duties of the committee is to educate the consumers about the harmful carbide. It should also take “action as per law” against those using the chemical for ripening.
· In a bid to repatriate 800 Indian Star tortoises, which were seized while being reportedly smuggled out of the country, the Tamil Nadu forest officials have sought the help of molecular biologists to identify their place of origin. With two species of Star tortoises present in the country - one set is found in the western parts in Gujarat and also in Rajasthan. The other type is found in Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and also in the neighbouring island country, Sri Lanka. They are smuggled out of the country for use as exotic pets and are eaten as delicacies. Scientists from the Laboratory for the Conservation of Endangered Species (LaCONES) Hyderabad, a facility of the Centre for Cellular and Biology (CCMB), have earlier enabled successful repatriation of around 1,500 Star tortoises, which were confiscated after they were smuggled out of the country. Later they were released in the wild in Andhra Pradesh. The population, which was repatriated earlier had now more than doubled. “This was probably the first successful repatriation of wild animals.”
· The World Health Organization has warned that there is no adequate preparation to deal with ageing populations in the areas where the problem is most acute and middle income countries. The WHO says the most dramatic changes are now taking place in countries such as Cuba, Iran and Mongolia. It says present health systems are not designed to deal with the chronic care needs of the elderly from conditions as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. In India, it is estimated that the population aged 60 years and above will grow from 77 million (7.4% of the total population) in 2001 up to 300 million (17%) by 2050. Thus, the WHO in partnership with the Union Ministry of Health & Family Welfare has called for greater attention to the aging of India's population, its implications for health policy and for promotion of a society where the elderly can live full, enriching and productive lives. It further stated, with a steady increase in life expectancy and the elderly population, the burden of non-communicable diseases (including heart disease and stroke, cancers, diabetes, mental health problems, vision and hearing impairment) will continue to grow, putting significant additional demands on health services. To tackle this, GoI had already launched the National Programme for Health Care of the Elderly (NPHCE).
· The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has clinched a deal, said to be worth Rs.100 crore, to launch an 800-kg satellite of ASTRIUM SAS, a company under EADS, France.
· 23 Indian fishermen were arrested and 4 of their boats seized for what Islamabad described as fishing illegally in Pakistani territorial waters. Pakistan Maritime Security Agency said in Karachi yesterday that the fishermen were arrested after being warned twice that they had entered into Pakistan's territorial waters and were fishing illegally. Pakistani Maritime security agency has arrested 31 fishermen and seized 14 boats in January and another 24 fishermen and 12 boats in February.
· In United States a 50-year-old Pakistani-Canadian (Khalid Awan) has been sentenced to 14 years jail for providing material support to the Sikh militant group Khalistan Commando Force, KCF. The group has been charged with carrying out assassinations and bombings in India. He was convicted in 2006 and in 2007, Awan was given a 14 year prison sentence, which was vacated by the Second US Circuit Court of Appeals. In a statement, the FBI said KCF is engaged in numerous assassinations of prominent Indian government officials - including that of the then Chief Minister of Punjab, Beant Singh in 1995 and hundreds of bombings, acts of sabotage, and kidnappings.
· In Myanmar, Democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi's party won 43 of the 44 seats it contested in elections held on Sunday, becoming the main opposition force in the national parliament. The landslide victory gave Suu Kyi her first-ever seat in parliament, although it will not threaten the comfortable majority of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party.
· In Japan, a typhoon has left at least four people dead and dozens injured. Strong winds and rain hit the country yesterday in what was said to be the biggest storm in decades. The storm hit the main island of Honshu and parts of Hokkaido in the north of the country, with gales of 156 kilometers per hour recorded. At two nuclear power plants in northern Japan, cooling of a spent fuel storage pool temporarily stopped because of power failures but resumed in about 30 minutes without affecting safety, their operator Tohoku Electric Power Co. said.
· Police in France have conducted new raids on Islamist suspects in the wake of the multiple killings by gunman Mohamed Merah. 13 people, who were arrested in raids last week, face terrorism charges. President Nicolas Sarkozy has vowed to crack down on suspected radical Islamists after the Merah killings.
· Denmark is the happiest nation in the world followed by Finland and Norway. United States figures at number 11 while India is on 94th position. On 17th position, UAE is among the world’s top 20 happiest countries in the world, according to the UN's survey released on Tuesday. The list of happiest nations is dominated by North European nations. The least happy nation list is dominated by the impoverished African nations. The 150 page report has Togo, Benin, Central African Republic, Sierra Leone, Burundi, Comoros, Haiti and Tanzania at the bottom of the list. The report is an attempt to measure social and economic well-being around the world that was tabled during a special conference at the UN.