Daily News Notes

· The Election Commission will make use of some new IT based techniques in the Assembly elections in five states to make the election process more transparent and fool-proof. The election commission has already launched voters' awareness campaign. During the revision of voters’ list, the commission has collected the mobile numbers of voters to send SMS which will help the speedy announcement of trends and results during voting and counting of votes. The commission has also made arrangement of live streaming of poll process in selected constituencies of the state with the help National Informatics Centre and will now be able to see direct web cast of polling from selected booths in real time.
· Entrepreneurs are required to submit an Industrial Entrepreneurs Memorandum (IEM) for undertaking the manufacture of any article exempted from Industrial Licence. IEM was intended purely for statistical purposes and to conduct a limited post-facto check to see whether the proposed manufacturing activity requires an industrial licence or not.
· The People of Andaman and Nicobar Islands will be the first to receive the Resident Identity Smart card, RIC under the National Population Register, NPR scheme which are to be distributed to all persons above the age of 18 residing in the nine maritime states and four union territories to strengthen the security along the country's coastline.
· Addressing an international workshop of Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the Competition Commission of India (CCI) Chairman Shri Ashok Chawla has pointed out that competition advocacy is a critical function of competition agencies as it has a very important role to play in creating ‘competition culture’ in the economies. He also said that continuous engagement with the various stakeholders including the government, at various levels, using tools such as policy advice, education, market studies, and competition impact assessment are imperative towards achieving the objective of competition law and policy.
· Government of India and World Bank Sign an Agreement Worth US $130 Million to Improve Livelihoods for 300,000 Village Households in North Eastern States. The North East Rural Livelihoods Project (NERLP) will enhance the livelihoods of the rural poor, especially women, unemployed youth and the severely disadvantaged in eight districts of the four participating states- MZ, NL, SK and TR. Despite its rich natural resources and relatively good human development indicators, the North East (NE) region lags behind the rest of India in important parameters of growth. Almost 35 percent of its predominantly rural population lives below the poverty line; agricultural productivity is low; and high school drop-out rates and lack of skills have led to high unemployment among the youth. This low-growth scenario is exacerbated by problems of geographical inaccessibility, protracted insurgency in some areas, and recurring natural disasters. Recognizing the urgent need to put economic growth on track in the NE, the Government of India developed the North Eastern Region Vision 2020, endorsed by all NE states.
· In Madhya Pradesh, the 2nd National Convention on Children’s Right to Food began with the theme “Good Governance and Accountability”. The Chairperson of National Commission for Protection of Child Rights Prof. Shanta Sinha inaugurated the session. First National Convention on Children’s Right to Food held in Hyderabad five years ago.
· In Tripura, one civilian was killed when Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) entered the Indian Territory and started firing indiscriminately. Then he was apprehended by the BSF and is in the custody. Flag meeting between the BSF and BGB is also expected to take place today and BSF is going to lodge strong protest abt this incident.
· The Law Commission, headed by Justice P V Reddi, has recommended dilution of Anti-Dowry law (Section 498-A of IPC) to make it less stringent as to make it a compoundable offence. Compoundable offences are those which can be compromised by the parties to the dispute. The permission of the court is not necessary. This means that those who would be booked in cases under this section would find it easier to get bail.
· In Rajasthan, the 5th Jaipur Literature Festival has begun which is now recognized as an important literary event of Asia-Pacific region. Noted writers, critics, film makers and, translators from India and abroad are participating in literature festival.
· In Kerala, despite global economic meltdown, the tourism sector of the state continues to show excellent growth of 9.7 per cent compared to the previous year. With eleven per cent increase in foreign exchange earnings, internationally acclaimed Kerala tourism is planning a major road show and multi-media campaign in gulf countries and Russia.
· Turkey has called for the immediate resumption of talks between Iran and major world powers on Teheran’s nuclear programme as the country is ready to host the talks between Iran and the six countries, the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. Iranian officials have said that they favor Turkey as a venue for further talks with the six powers.
· US President Barack Obama has announced a new visa policy for low risk applicants to attract visitors from emerging economies like India, China and Brazil, thus would help America retain the status of top tourist destinations of the world. His emphasis on these three countries is driven by the fact that tourists from India, China and Brazil contributed approximately 15 billion dollar and thousands of jobs to the US economy in 2010.
The term of the Arab League Observer’s mission in Syria was given a time frame of one month which expired on Thursday night. Mission to Syria would be an assessment of how far the Syrian Government has implemented the peace plan to end the violence in the country. There are indications that the mission may be extended by another month.