Daily News Notes: 25th April, 2012

· Personnel Minister has informed that there is no proposal to introduce changes in the Main Examination of the Civil Services Examination, at present. However, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has appointed a committee of experts, headed by Prof. Arun S. Nigavekar, Ex. Chairman, UGC, to review the existing structure of Civil Services (Main) examination and suggest necessary changes. Also, he said that there is no proposal to increase the number of attempts for all candidates appearing in Civil Services Examination conducted by UPSC.
· The Human Resource Development Ministry is processing the National Vocational Qualification Framework, to set common principles for imparting vocational education courses from school to graduate level. in the country. The scheme will be implemented after Cabinet approval.
· The government has taken several measures to tackle the menace of corruption. These measures include reduction in pension up to 33 per cent of the government employee against whom major penalty of compulsory retirement has been initiated, introduction of the Public Procurement Bill 2012 in the Parliament and a general advisory to all Ministries and Departments to carry out an exercise for putting in place regulating parameters for exercising of discretionary powers.
· The Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO, has proposed to undertake a Mars Orbiter Mission in October-November, 2013. It will be India's first step towards exploring the planet Mars. Mars spacecraft will be placed in an elliptical orbit around the red planet after a voyage of nearly 300 days. During the orbital life of the spacecraft around Mars, the on-board instruments will be used to conduct scientific experiments. The proposed Mars Mission is meant to demonstrate India's technological capability to reach the Martian orbit to enhance the understanding of its atmosphere. It would also pave the way for future scientific exploratory missions in the solar system and to generate national pride and excitement in young minds. However, the proposal is currently under examination for government approval.
· Minister of State for Finance informed that the government has taken an in-principle decision to link diesel prices with market rates. Yet, there is no proposal currently to completely deregulate cooking gas price. He also opined that the government continues to fix the price of diesel in order to protect the common man from the affect of rising crude oil prices and the ensuant inflation.
· Standard and Poor's (S&P), the Global rating agency has lowered India's rating outlook to negative citing slow progress on its fiscal situation, as well as deteriorating economic indicators. S&P has also warned of a further downgrade India’s rating in 2 years if there is no improvement in the fiscal situation. S&P held that the investment and economic growth slowed whilst the CAD (Current Account Deficit) widened. The lowering of outlook from stable, to -ve is expected to make ECB (External Commercial Borrowings) expensive for Indian companies. It may also have implications for the capital market.
· The Rajya Sabha passed the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill 2010 that widens the net for disabled children bringing within its purview children with severe disability. Such children would have the option of receiving education at home, thus will have a huge impact on quality education to such children between classes 1 and 8 in the 6-14 age group. Further, it gives school management committees an advisory role in minority schools, both aided and unaided, and puts madrasas and Vedic schools and other institutions providing primarily religious instruction outside the mandate of the Act. Thus this amendment goes beyond the orders of the Supreme Court, which kept unaided minority schools out of the purview of the Act. Also, this is the first education bill passed in Parliament in two years. There are 13 pending education bills in Parliament.
· Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said that during her recent meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa she discussed devolution of powers to provinces, as envisaged in the 13th Amendment to the island nation's Constitution. She also urged Mr. Rajapaksa to hold negotiations with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to resolve the grievances of Tamils as they are proud Sri Lankans and are against violence, and stand for an undivided Sri Lanka. Further, Ms. Swaraj discussed the demand of the Tamil-dominated northern and eastern provinces for withdrawal of the Army. She said the decision of India to vote in favour of the U.S.-sponsored resolution on Sri Lanka at the United Nations Human Rights Commission was raised by Sri Lankan leaders. Colombo was upset with New Delhi for voting on the resolution.
· India intends to double its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) imports from Qatar to 15 million tonnes a year. India, the world's 8^th largest importer of LNG.
· The Association of Southeast Asian Nations today welcomed the suspension of European Union sanctions against Myanmar, saying it was the right thing to do at the right time. EU nations on Monday put a halt to most sanctions against Myanmar for one year to reward a series of dramatic reforms since direct army rule ended last year.
· In Libya, with the elections for the 200 member National Assembly about two months away, the ruling National Transitional Council has banned the formation of political parties based on religious, regional or tribal grounds. They have also been barred from seeking foreign funding. Political organizations of any kind were banned for decades under the Gaddafi regime.
· The UN Special envoy Kofi Annan has called for the rapid deployment of 300 ceasefire monitors in Syria. The US Ambassador to United Nations Susan Rice said that Syria has cleared that it will not allow U.N. military observer from the countries which forms “Friends of the Syrian People group”. The 14 nation “Friends of Syria” group includes countries like United States, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Qatar, which have held that Syrian regime is responsible for oppression of pro democracy protesters in the country. Rice also confirmed that it would be another month before 100 of the maximum of 300 unarmed military observers from UNSMIS would be reaching Syria to supervise the fragile 12-day-old ceasefire.
· China is planning to bring in a fresh visa regime titled "talent introduction" in an attempt to pull more skilled professionals from abroad. A draft law in this respect has been submitted to the China’s top legislature.
· Pakistan successfully test-fired long-range Hatf IV, Shaheen 1A ballistic missile in the Indian Ocean. The missile’s range and technical parameters have been improved while it is capable of carrying nuclear warhead. Pakistan has tested the long-range missile just a week after India test fired its first ICBM (Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile) Agni-V on April 18, 2012.
· In some Chinese villages, however, having a daughter is slowly becoming the rage, at least according to recent accounts of families having to shell out tens of thousands of yuan to find brides because of an alarming shortage of women. The primary reason for this trend, scholars said, was an increasingly skewed sex ratio in China, with 118 boys born for every 100 girls last year — an imbalance that had been exacerbated by sex-selective abortions on account of the one-child policy that came into force in the late 1970s. By 2020, China will have as many as 24 million men of marriageable age who will not be able to find a bride, scholars have forecast. Increasing migration out of villages is another factor - “Most women choose not to go back to their hometown after years of working in cities, leaving lots of surplus men at home.” Scholars said a rising income gap was another factor, and a narrow gap “will make people feel it is not shameful for their daughter to marry a man from a rural family”. [Click here for video]
· South Sudan's leader accused Sudan of declaring war as Khartoum's fighter jets bombed border regions in defiance of international calls for restraint. Last week, Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir threatened to crush the “insect” government of the South, and said the time for talks was over. Beijing — a key ally of Khartoum but also the main buyer of the South's oil — has repeatedly called for an end to weeks of border fighting, which saw the South seize and hold the key Heglig oil field from Sudanese troops for 10 days. However, Khartoum has repeatedly denied it has launched air strikes on the South, but United Nations chief Ban Ki-moon deplored the cross-border air raids, and called on both nations to prevent the fighting escalating further.