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Northeast stamps its rubber mark
- The comparatively long gestation period for investments and social and political instability have not prevented non-traditional areas identified for natural rubber (NR) cultivation from making their mark on India's efforts to increase its production.
- In Tripura, where rubber cultivation began in early 1960s, about 4,000 hectares are added to cultivation every year.
- In Assam, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, rubber cultivation is spreading rapidly
- States such as Orissa, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh, are also coming up as suitable for NR cultivation
- While NR cultivation makes impressive gains in non-traditional areas, Kerala is expected to lead NR production over a long time. It is home to 80 per cent of the total cultivated area and 90 per cent of the NR production in India.
INS Krishna gets emotional farewell
- INS Krishna, part of the Navy's First Training Squadron since 1995, was on Tuesday accorded an emotional send-off at a ceremony at the Southern Naval Command here as the ship set sail for Mumbai for eventual retirement from service later this year.
- Originally commissioned as HMS Andromeda in 1968 in the Royal Navy, the ship was acquired by the Indian Navy to train its young cadets.
Whether one insulted flag is no subject for writ: Court
- Observing that a question of fact whether a person insulted the national flag (NF) and violated Flag Code 2002 could not be gone into in writ proceedings, the Supreme Court has declined to entertain a writ petition
- It is evident from a reading of the Flag Code that there is no restriction on the display of NF by members of the general public, private organisations and educational institutions except to the extent provided in the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950 and the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.
- Though the Code was not the law, it provided guidelines to be observed for preserving the dignity of and respect to the flag. “The NF is both a benediction and beckoning. Thus, in a case a person shows any kind of disrespect to the NF or does not observe the terms contained in the Code, legal action may be taken against him under the relevant statutory provisions.
- It also said “The court has a very limited role and in exercise of that it is not open to have judicial legislation.” The court could neither legislate, nor did have “any competence to issue directions to the legislature to enact the law in a particular manner.”
