Daily News Notes

· The government today approved the National Policy on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, NDPS, to curb the menace of drug abuse and contains provisions for treatment, rehabilitation and social re-integration of victims of drug abuse. On the illicit cultivation of poppy and cannabis, the policy emphasizes use of satellite imageries for detection of illicit crop and its subsequent eradication and development of alternate means of livelihood in respect of cultivators in pockets of traditional illicit cultivation. Implementation of the provisions of the policy will lead to reduction of crime, improvement in public health and uplifting of the social milieu.
· The Election Commission of India has approved (for the first time in electoral history of the country) the use of innovative Poll Monitoring System, PMS, in all constituencies of Goa. Under the system, fingerprints of the voters would be recorded by finger print reading machines along with their photographs by the web cameras fitted to computers. All polling stations in the state would be networked to the central server from where poll officials would be able to monitor.
· The government today launched the 3rd phase of Red Ribbon Express which will be passing through AIDS affected states to create awareness among people about HIV/AIDS. There is a sharp reduction of 50 per cent in new cases of HIV/AIDS in last 10 years in the country.
· The 17th National Youth Festival (theme "Celebrating Diversity in Unity") begins in Mangalore, Karnataka where 5,000 youngsters from all states and SAARC countries are expected to participate. It is organized every year from January 12 to 16 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda.
· It has been brought to the notice of the Election Commission that the Central Government has carved out 4.5% sub-quota for minorities from within 27% quota for OBCs, the decision was announced on 22nd Dec i.e. before the coming into force of the Model Code of Conduct on 24th Dec, is in violation of the Model Code of Conduct and should be stopped by the Commission. Thus it shall not be given effect to in the aforesaid 5 poll going States until the completion of the election process in these States.
· Govt. has expressed hope that the National Projects Construction Corporation Ltd.(NPCC), a Public Sector Enterprise under the Ministry of Water Resources will successfully compete with private sector in developing infrastructure in the country. The Company aims at touching Rs.2000 crores turnover in the year 2015-16 and also proposes to declare dividend during the same year and attain Mini Ratna Status in 2017-18.
Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of India and Japan is in the process of finalizing a Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) which will enable Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to exchange technical knowledge and expertise in the Road Transportation and Highways sector including capacity building and advanced technology for roads road transport management system and intelligent transport system. Japanese companies have been participating in National Highways Development Programme (NHDP) of India as “Supervision Consultants”. Four projects have already been completed where their performance has been satisfactory. India is also a beneficiary of Japanese cooperation through Japan Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA)