Daily News Notes: 10th April, 2012

• ·         The Army Chief General V K Singh has filed a complaint with Central Bureau of Investigation, CBI, regarding alleged bribe offer made to him by a retired army officer, Retd. Lieutenant General Tejinder Singh.
• ·         Inaugurating India Water Week at a function in New Delhi today, Indian PM said, the government has launched a National Water Mission as part of an Action Plan on Climate Change. The main objective of this Mission is to achieve an integrated management of water resources by conserving water, minimizing wastage and ensuring its more equitable distribution both across and within various states of our union. The Prime Minister informed that the Mission proposed a review of the National Water Policy and the draft of the new Policy recommends taking the river basin as a unit for planning and management of water resources. It also proposes the establishment of water regulatory authorities in each State and a national forum to deliberate upon issues relating to water and evolve consensus, cooperation and reconciliation amongst various States. Also, The Prime Minister said conservation of groundwater is the top priority and stressed on a legal framework to govern the use of scarce groundwater resources as inadequate and sub-optimal pricing of both power and water is promoting the misuse of ground water.
• ·         Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal today launched the country's first ever fourth generation mobile services (4G LTE) in Kolkata. But, it is basically Broadband Wireless Access (BWA). Today's launch is a major milestone for India and Bharti Airtel as it will result in India becoming one of the first countries in the world to commercially deploy the cutting-edge technology. Compared to the existing 3G services that allow downloads speed of up to 21 mbps, 4G allows download speed of upto 100 mbps, which is almost 5 times higher than 3G. However, 3G, or third generation services, which were launched in the country a couple years ago are estimated to have over 10 million subscribers as per global industry body GSMA. The total mobile subscriber base in India is around 900 million. Thus, 3G services have not been a success in the country so far [Click for Photic News abt India’ 3G Experience A & B]. "We will launch the 4G LTE service in Bangalore this month, followed by Pune and Chandigarh," Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Mittal said here today.Mittal said that the TD-LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology adopted by Airtel would be the platform for future broadband revolution."We hope that this technology would be emulated and followed by those who got Braodband Wireless Access (BWA) licenses," he said at the launch event.The network for rolling out Airtel's 4G LTE services in the city had been built by Chinese telecom equipment maker ZTE. Airtel is the first mobile operator to launch 4G services in the country.
• ·         Centre has constituted a Committee for framing a policy on National Corporate Governance in the country under the chairmanship of Adi Godrej. The committee has been asked to suggest a comprehensive policy framework to enable corporate governance of highest quality.  The committee is also expected to make its recommendations within six months from the date of its first meeting after wide consultations with all stakeholders in the corporate sector, academics and members of the public.
• ·         The Supreme Court today expressed displeasure over mentally unsound Pakistani nationals languishing in Indian jails even after completion of their sentences and sought response from the government why they should not be repatriated. The bench said such matters should be taken up on priority basis and at the highest level when the top authorties of the two nations meet. The bench was referring to 21 prisoners, 16 of whom are mentally unsound and five are deaf and dumb and are in jail despite serving out their sentences. The court asked the Centre to find out in three weeks what can be done for sending these prisoners back to their country.
• ·         In a move to popularise electronic payment system, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Monday, allowed all licensed banks, including urban co-operative banks, State co-operative banks and district central cooperative banks, to transfer funds through the centralised electronic payment system as sub-members. These banks would participate in the centralised payment systems, Real Time Gross Settlement System (RTGS), and the National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), through their sponsor bank, which is a direct member of this system, the RBI said in a notification to all banks.
• ·         In Madhya Pradesh, most of the retail grocery shops, restaurants and hotels are closed for second consecutive day today to protest against the Food Safety and Standards Act. The three day bandh call was given by the Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT). Meanwhile, lawyers abstained from the courts in most parts of the state today. The State Bar Association urged them to do so to protest against the center’s move to charge service tax from lawyers.
• ·         14 Police personnel suspended in Manipur. Government has suspended them in connection with different incidents of rape, smuggling and extortion.
• ·         In Assam, a three day long Orchid Festival began in Dhemaji today. Over 100 orchids found in Northeast have been showcased in the festival. Orchids are being used in traditional medicine for the treatment of many diseases and ailments. Photography competition, seminars, exhibitions and cultural shows will also be held as a part of the festival.
• ·         Concerned over the increasing frequency of outbreaks of vector-borne diseases, the Centre has asked the States to undertake effective control activities during the ‘inter-epidemic' period. Vector-borne diseases include malaria, dengue, chikungunya and Japanese encephalitis (JE). While their frequency and intensity increased in recent years, they also spread to new geographical areas. In recent years due to unplanned construction activities, life style changes and deficient water management, including improper water storage, have led to proliferation of vector breeding sites. The list of measures suggested by the Centre include enhancing disease surveillance, awareness campaigns, indoor spraying, use of Long-lasting Insecticide Nets and regular monitoring of larval breeding sites.
• ·         The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has summoned the chiefs of the three armed services to testify before it, an unprecedented move made after top military officials told the members that India may not be able to meet a two-front war. In 2008, Defence Minister A.K. Antony asked the armed forces to prepare themselves for a two-front war involving both Pakistan and China, but military commanders have been saying delays in procurement mean they are unprepared. Air Marshal Kishan Nowhar said the Air Force currently had 34 squadrons of combat aircraft, against the 45 squadrons needed to fight a two-front war. Its combat strength, he said, would fall further to 31 squadrons by 2017, as obsolete aircraft are retired. Lt.-Gen. S.K. Singh, Army's Vice-Chief, focussed on shortages in war-fighting ordnance. India was down to four days of armour-penetrating shells for its tanks, he said, instead of the 40 battle-preparedness plans called for. The shortages arose because the Israeli manufacturer on whom the Army relied had been blacklisted after corruption charges. Parliament's ongoing hearings come against the background of the leak of a letter from the outgoing Chief of the Army Staff, V.K. Singh, to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, warning of “hollowness” in India's military preparedness.
• ·         The celebration of Public Sector Day and presentation of SCOPE Meritorious Awards to Central Public Sector Enterprises(CPSEs) is being organized on 13th April, 2012. The President of India Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil will present the Awards to the CPSEs and will be addressing the representatives of CPSEs on the occasion. The CPSEs across the country will observe the Public Sector Week from April 10 to April 16, 2012 in their Headquarters, Regional Offices and at their Projects/Units, to showcase the achievements and contribution of their organizations.
• ·         The Union Minister of Commerce Industry and Textiles has envisaged a ten-fold increase in tea production in Himachal Pradesh. He has also outlined various steps to revive famous Kangra Tea. The Minister pointed out that the Tea Board has been directed to submit a detailed project under Market Assistance Scheme MAI for marketing Kangra Tea in the international markets. Besides Tea Plantation, the establishment of Agri Export Zone For Apples covering apple growing regions of Shimla (and other districts) along with the imposition of 50% import duty have given an impetus to apple exports in the international market, fetching remunerative prices for the farmers of the State. On the textiles front he said that Comprehensive Handloom Package is expected to benefit Silk and Wool weavers of the state.
• ·         The Tamil Nadu assembly has banned members from carrying mobile phones inside the House during sessions. Assembly speaker D Jayakumar, however, did not provide any reason for his decision. But the move comes in the wake of a DMK member using his mobile phone to record assembly proceedings and being banned for a brief period from the House. The decision also comes close on the heels of a scam in the Karnataka assembly when some ministers were allegedly caught watching porn clips on mobile phones.
• ·         Rashtriya Ucchatar Shiksha Abhiyan or “RUSA scheme” has been proposed to increase Enrolment in Higher Education in INDIA as at present the enrolment ratio in Higher Education in India is 12.4%. This programme will be funded in Ratio 75:25 (Central Govt : State Govt) and for special category States, the Ratio will be 90:10. In order to raise the Fund availableness, 50% of a State’s share can be mobilized via PPP (Public-Private-Partnership) and the rest of the funding has to be met by State Govt. It aims to increase enrolment ratio in Higher Education institution in India to 30% by 2020. It will do this: [1.] By expanding the institutional base of higher education via creating extra capacity in existing institutions; [2.] Focusing on furnishing higher education opportunities to socially deprived communities, address inequalities by encouraging inclusion of women, minorities, SCs/STs and differently-abled persons; [3.] Removing regional imbalances in access to higher education via setting up institutions in un-served and under-served areas; [4.] Ensuring a strategy that there is a Degree College in every district and also new universities are opened; [5.] Improve pupil-teacher ratio in institutions; [6.] Addressing reforms in examination, governance, accreditation issues and overhaul of the affiliation system of institutions; [7.] The government aims to subsume the current scheme of setting up model degree colleges in 374 educationally backward districts of India. Till date, only 142 proposals for the 374 model colleges have been received from the States - of which only 78 have been approved and another 31 are under consideration.
• ·         As part of the Government’s commitment to good governance and elimination of corruption, the Ministry of Finance has amended the rules to enable all the Ministries and Departments to facilitate payments by direct credit to the bank accounts of the payees. Orders have also been issued by the Controller General of Accounts(CGA) that, with effect from 1st April 2012, all payments above Rs.25,000 to suppliers, contractors, grantee and loanee institutions shall be directly credited to their bank accounts. The Union Finance Minister had recently inaugurated a “Government e-payment gateway” set-up by the Controller General of Accounts(CGA) which will be used by the Pay & Accounts Officers(PAOs) of the Central Civil Ministries/Departments for implementing the above measures. The measure is expected to streamline the process of making payment by government departments while minimizing the interface of the payees with government offices to receive their dues. This e-payment government measure will enhance transparency and accountability in public dealings of the Central Government and also usher green banking by the Government.
• ·         The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has built a 720-meters-long bridge in Arunachal Pradesh, linking Lohit and Dibang valley on NH-52 (not sure :D). The Digaru bridge, the longest bridge constructed by the BRO ever, was undertaken by Project Udayak. The bridge, erected in extremely tough terrain, fulfills the long pending demand of the local population as well as the Army authorities.
• ·         During the period January-March 2012, a total number of 3905 Visa on Arrival (VoAs) were issued as compared to 2905 VoAs during corresponding period of 2011 registering a positive growth of 34.4%. The maximum number of VoAs were issued at Delhi airport (2265), followed by Mumbai (914), Chennai (493) and Kolkata (233) while maximum guest were from Japan followed by New Zeland, Indonesia etc. As a facilitative measure to attract more foreign tourists to India, The Government launched a Scheme of “Visa on Arrival” (VoA) in January, 2010 for citizens of five countries, viz Finland, Japan, Luxembourg, New Zealand and Singapore, visiting India for tourism purposes. This scheme was further extended for the citizens of six more countries, namely, Combodia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines, Laos and Myanmar from January, 2011.
• ·         The Department of Telecom (DoT) is likely to seek a legal opinion of the Attorney General (AG), the nation's highest law officer, on whether foreign investors such as Sistema of Russia and Norway's Telenor can claim damages from India under bilateral investment protection treaties following the cancellation of their telecom licences. Since the order, foreign investors such as Bahrain Telecom (partner in S Tel) and Etisalat have announced closure of their operations in the country. On the other hand, Telenor (joint venture partner in Uninor) and Sistema (joint venture partner in SSTL) have invoked bilateral treaties to secure their investments in the country. As per DoT, major foreign investments have been directed through Russia, Singapore and Mauritius. India has the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (BIPA) with the Russian Federation and Mauritius. While there is a Comprehensive Economic Co-operation Agreement (CECA) with Singapore, a Comprehensive Co-operation Partnership Agreement exists with Japan. The Supreme Court, in its order on February 2, quashed 122 telecom licences awarded in 2008 under the then Telecom Minister, A. Raja, terming them illegal.
• ·         India experienced the second strongest domestic air traffic growth among the major domestic markets in the world at 12.3 per cent (after Brazil), but the high growth hide the financial weakness facing the Indian carriers, global airline body International Air Transport Association (IATA) has said. Brazil had the fastest growth compared to the previous year as the demand was up by 17.9 per cent. “Nonetheless, India’s carriers filled 75.4 per cent of seats. The strong traffic growth masks financial weakness resulting from high operating costs and taxation,” it said.
  The global traffic for February showed an 8.6 per cent improvement in passenger demand and a 5.2 per cent rise in cargo demand compared to the same month in the previous year.
• ·         In the last week of March 2012, a NASA spacecraft called ‘Messenger’ discovered further evidence for the existence of water ice at Mercury's poles. Earlier, NASA’s work exposed patches near Mercury's poles that strongly reflect radar - a characteristic of ice. Albeit surface temperatures at Mercury can soar above 400 C, some craters at Mercury's poles are permanently in shadow, turning them into so-called cold traps. “Mercury is the nearest planet to Sun in our solar system, so is hot in day. But since Mercury has a very thin and unstable atmosphere the nights are cold on Mercury.” Mercury’s size (diameter is 4,880km) about a third of the earth and it has a mass (what we on earth see as ‘weight’) 0.05 times of Earth thus Mercury just doesn’t have the gravity to keep gases trapped around it which create an atmosphere. Thus due to the high temperature, solar winds, and the low gravity, gases escape from the planet. Messenger is only the second spacecraft, after Mariner 10 in the 1970s, to have visited the Mercury, which is the innermost planet in Solar system. But, until Messenger arrived, large swathes of Mercury's surface was never mapped.
• ·         Indonesia's only province ruled by Islamic law went to the polls on Monday to elect its powerful Governor, testing a fragile peace following a 30-year war by separatist rebels. The elections in Aceh were the second since the province suffered 170,000 fatalities in the Asian tsunami of 2004, and since the war against Indonesian rule ended in 2005, having claimed 15,000 lives.
• ·         The British Prime Minister has arrived in Tokyo, Japan, on the first leg of his visit to East Asia. Mr Cameron may agree to a new defence deal with Japan which would see both countries develop weapons together for the first time. The British leader, whose planned trip to Japan last year was postponed due to the eurozone crisis, will hold discussions with Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on a variety of issues.
• ·         Iran has said it has no interest in reviving the nuclear fuel swap deal with Western powers. The Chief of Iran’s Atomic Agency, Fereydoon Abbasi-Davani dismissed reports about a swap deal to supply Iran with fuel enriched abroad for peaceful purposes. Abbasi however said, Teheran might scale back production of higher-grade enriched uranium once it has the material it needs. He said Iran may scale down Uranium enrichment at the level of 3.5 percent for power requirements.