Daily News Notes

· Indian Metrological Department has installed C-Band Polarimetric Doppler Radar system at Mausam Bhawan on its 137 foundation day which will provide accurate weather information to the people within a very short span of time and will cover the entire NCR. This will help the traffic movement in the city and avoid traffic jams as people will know exactly what is going to be happening into the course of between 15 minutes to 2 hrs. It will also detect difficult aviation hazards such as bird flocks, aircraft and icing conditions. This facility will be installed in other 8 cities in due course of time.
· The Citizens Alliance against malnutrition has decided to adopt one Block each in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha states, as pilot projects to rapidly reduce malnutrition. The decision comes close on the heels of the release of a survey on hunger and malnutrition, HUNGAMA, which revealed that 42 percent of children below the age of five years are malnourished.
· In Assam, the post-harvest Bhogali Bihu festival is being celebrated across the State. Popularly known as the Magh Bihu, the festival coincides with Makara Sankranti. Different types of traditional sports like Buffalo-fight, Egg-fight, Cock-fight, Bulbul bird-fight are held throughout the day. Meanwhile, Pongal is also being celebrated in Tamil Nadu and other parts of southern India.
· In Pune, a philatelic exhibition, organised by the Department of Post has being installed after a gap of 25 years. In this exhibition, the postal department has taken an innovative initiative for first time in the Maharashtra and Goa circles by introducing a special counter of “My Stamp” in which one can create an official stamp with his/her own photo and post it to the near ones. Special covers on Kaas plateau, Lavani dance and Ganjifa arts have also released during the exhibition.
· The United States has congratulated Taiwanese President Ma Ying Jeou for his re-election to a four-year term. It said that through the hard work of its people and its remarkable economic and political development over the past decades, Taiwan has proven to be one of the great success stories in Asia.
· In a telephonic talk with Myanmar‘s authority, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says, Myanmar can improve relations with the United States, if it releases all remaining political prisoners, ends violence against minorities and cuts military ties with North Korea. The talks come a day after the Burmese government released hundreds of political prisoners. [this year US-Myanmar relation is imp. in International affairs section]
· Kenya’s Moiben Laban has won the Full Marathon category of the Mumbai Marathon 2012 and Ram Singh Yadav of India won the race among the Indian contenders qualifying for the London Olympics.