Daily News Notes

· Supreme Court cancelled 122 2-G licenses allocated to telecom companies in 2008 as the licenses were granted in arbitrary and unconstitutional manner and asked the telecom Regulatory Authority of India to make fresh recommendation on the grant of these licenses. It maintained that the allocation of spectrum will be done through auction within four months. The order came on petitions filed by an NGO and the Janata Party President Dr.Subramanian Swamy. The major companies affected by this verdict are Uninor, Sistema-Shyam, Videocon, Etisalat DB, Loop telecom and Idea among others.
· The Prime Minister today called upon the states to ensure that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural employment Guarantee Act, MNREGA, workers get wages within 15 days. He also said the government has also decided to use the land owned by Scheduled caste, Scheduled Tribe and below poverty line families, for irrigation, horticulture and land development projects. He said that this will benefit marginal farmers and poor families.
· The government today announced discontinuation of release of weekly primary and food inflation data based on the Wholesale Price Index. It, however, will continue releasing the monthly headline or overall inflation data, which also contains the break-up for all segments including food, non-food, fuel and manufactured items. Besides, the government will also come out with a retail inflation data based on the all-India Consumer Price Index, CPI, from this month.
· Addressing a function to celebrate 50 years of Custom Act 1962, the Finance Minister said the role of customs department should be more of a facilitator than of a regulator. The Minister said there is a greater challenge than ever before for the custom officials to curb the smuggling of Arms, fake currencies and drugs as these activities can destroy the economy of the country. He said as department is facing acute shortage, the proposal of cadre review is under consideration.
· Inaugurating the national level celebration of World Wetland Day 2012 in Thiruvananthapuram Kerala Chief Minister said that as per the direction of the Centre, the state will be initiating steps to form State Wetland Authority soon as One fifth of the total geographical area of the state is wetland. Kerala has four out of 71 Ramsar Convention approved wetlands in the world. However, the state is confronted with tackling pollution of major rivers and backwaters.
· During the talks between the Norwegian Minister for Environment and International Cooperation and Indian Minister of New and Renewable Energy, Dr. Abdullah said that the Indian Government is taking active interest in setting up the proposed fund in collaboration with Department for International Development (DFID), UK and Norway for promoting off-grid solutions in the field of renewable energy. The Indian side expressed interest in collaborating with Norway in the field of off-shore wind energy. Norwegian side while welcoming this invited a team from India to study the floating barrage wind farms in Norway.
· The Bihar government has decided to withdraw cases lodged against 11 Nepali Maoist leaders arrested by the police in Patna in June 2004. Maoist leaders were granted bail by the Patna High court in 2006 and returned to Nepal, where they currently occupy important positions like Ministers and Member of Parliament. The Nepal government communicated its concern about the pending warrants against the accused to the Indian government. Responding to it, the Centre decided to withdraw the case registered against all the accused in view of the friendly relations with the neighboring country.
· In Egypt, the ruling military council has announced a state of mourning for three days, after violence in a soccer game in Port Said left at least 74 dead and hundreds injured. Most of the deaths took place in the clashes and the suffocation during the stampede. The fans of the local team Masry went on a rampage seconds after a rare 3-1 win against Ahly in a Premier League match. They invaded the field, chased the players and cornered their supporters throwing stones and bottles. The two teams have a long history of bad blood, and clashes have erupted in recent years between fans of each side.
· The Pakistan Supreme Court has summoned Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani in contempt of court for his failure to reopen an old corruption case against the President Asif Ali Zardri. The prime minister could face 6 months in prison and be disqualified from holding office if convicted. The court ordered the government to write to Swiss authorities over two years ago to reopen a corruption case against President dating back to the late 1990s. The government, however, refused, saying the president enjoys immunity from prosecution while in office.
· The world's largest social networking site, Facebook, has announced plans for a stock market flotation. Initial Public Offering is expected to be the biggest sale of shares by an internet company. Facebook just eight years old and started by Harvard University students, now has 845 million users and made a profit of one billion dollars last year.
· American search engine Google chose to apply for licence to operate in China. It agreed to abide by all the conditions imposed by the government in China.