Daily News Notes

· On the occasion of 2nd “National Voter’s day”, the election commission had stressed inclusion of more women and youth voters in its current revision of electoral rolls. The main purpose of celebrating this day is to encourage more young voters to participate in the election process. This resulted in 5% increase in number of voters. Youths who have completed 18 years on 1st of January this year are eligible for voting.
· An area of about 4.5 lakh square kilometers has been identified in the country which needs artificial recharge of ground water. A ‘Master Plan for Artificial Recharge to Ground Water’ has already been prepared by the Central Ground Water Board which includes rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge of ground water. Ministry of Water Resources has instituted 21 Awards including one National Water Award for NGOs/Gram Panchayats/ULBs/Institutions/Corporate Sector and Individuals for adopting innovative practices of ground water augmentation by rainwater harvesting and artificial recharge.
· Himachal Pradesh is celebrating its 42nd statehood day today.
· The Prime Minister of Thailand, Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra during her three day visit to India said that her country is committed to work closely with India to increase mutual trade and investment. The Thai Prime Minister will be the Chief Guest at the 63rd Republic Day parade in the national capital tomorrow.
· Egypt celebrates the first anniversary of the 25th January revolution by lifting the emergency partially from the country.
· The US President Barack Obama has used his annual State of the Union address to Congress to set out his political vision which emphasized the need for growth in the economy, employment and manufacturing. The US economy is on the mend, but unemployment remains high at 8.5 per cent. The annual State of the Union address - one of the most keenly watched events in US politics - traditionally includes policy prescriptions from the White House for the upcoming year.
· Police in Rwanda have arrested two suspects in connection with a grenade blast happened late last evening that wounded at least 10 people. Rwanda has been hit by a series of grenade attacks in the past few years, which the government has blamed on rebel groups and former military officers in exile.
· Arab League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi asked the former chief of the UN nuclear watchdog, IAEA and Egyptian Nobel laureate, Mohammed ElBaradei to head an Arab League mediation mission in Syria to resolve the ongoing crisis. ElBardei was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
· Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas of India held bilateral discussions with its Pakistan’s counterpart on various matters relating to bilateral cooperation in the hydrocarbon sector and agree to transit fee formula for Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) Gas Pipeline Project. This was the 3rd meeting with Pakistan on the issue of Transit Fee but the 1st one at the political level. On the Transit Fee, both sides agreed that the negotiations would be conducted in a transparent manner keeping in mind the overall economics of the Project, i.e., keeping in mind the landed cost of gas, and in accordance with the relevant international practices. Since there is a need to expedite the signing of the Gas Sale Purchase Agreement (GSPA), both sides agreed to settle the Transit Fee issue at the earliest. The Indian side offered to export refined petroleum and petrochemical products by road, rail and by sea. The main advantage for Pakistan will be the savings in freight cost since several refineries in India are located close to the India-Pak border. Both sides noted that a India-Pakistan Joint Working Group (JWG) on Petroleum & Petrochemical Products has been constituted recently to go into the specific details of facilitating trade in this sector, including infrastructure upgradation and augmentation in respect of railways, customs facilitation, setting up of banking channels, etc.