Daily News Notes

· PM’s National Skill Development Council decides to give skill development a major push in the year 2012-13 and 12th plan. It also agreed that National Skill Development Council will set up Sector Skill Councils, which will urgently prepare the standards required for skill training programmes in consultation with the industry.
· In Bihar, Operation Vishwas has been launched with the help of the police forces of Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh and CRPF to flush out the Maoists from their last shelter points in the inaccessible hilly and jungle terrains on the banks of river Sone.
· A national level school fire and evacuation drill is being organized across the country to create fire safety awareness among the school staff and students. One school in each district of the country has been selected for this programme called, One Day One Time.
· In Assam, all the families and adult population of Rangati Misa-mara village in Lakhimpur district have been covered under the insurance scheme to make it the first village in the country to have full insurance coverage under the Centre’s Financial Inclusion plan. Initiated by Finance Ministry and Reserve Bank of India, financial inclusion plan has been carrying out over 2000 villages of Assam having a population of 2000 and above. The bank took almost 5 months to cover all the families under Sarva Sakti Suraksha group insurance.
· The Centre is to make E-Publishing of tender enquiries and related details mandatory in its all organisations and departments under the National e-Governance Plan. It aims at transparency and non-discrimination amongst bidders, by allowing free access to tender documents, clarifications and secures online bid submission from any place through the Internet.
· The Reserve Bank of India, RBI has clarified that interest rates on small savings schemes, except the PPF, will remain fixed throughout the term of schemes.
· Manipur and Meghalaya are today celebrating their 40th Formation Day. It was on this day in 1972 that the two States became full - fledged states of India. Meghalaya, which means Abode of Clouds, first emerged as an autonomous state in the North Eastern region, bordering Bangladesh, on 2nd April 1970 and as a full-fledged State on the 21st of January 1972.
· The All-India Consumer Price Index Numbers for Agricultural Labourers and Rural Labourers (Base: 1986-87) for December, 2011 decreased by 3 and 2 points respectively to stand at points for Agricultural Labourers and 619 points for Rural Labourers.
· At an open debate on 'Justice and Rule of Law' at the UN, India's Permanent Representative Hardeep Singh Puri said UN member countries should fulfill their obligations to protect human rights and eliminate policies that discriminate against women. Further, Countries should adopt laws and promote practices that protect the rights of women and other vulnerable sections of society and promote gender equality.