Daily News Notes: 27th & 28th April, 2012

· Chairman, Railway Board, Shri Vinay Mittal has said that in a breakthrough in dissemination of train movement related information, Indian Railways has successfully launched SIMRAN (Satellite Imaging for Rail Navigation) as a pilot project for 18 pairs of important trains which provide the precise location of the trains through interactive mode on mobile phones/laptops etc., thereby eliminating the need for face to face telephonic enquiry. This is proposed to be rolled out on all trains over the next 18 months. Referring to Train Protection Warning System (TPWS), he said that with the approval of this system on a stretch of 3300 kilometres to cover the entire high density stations, a major step has been taken towards train’s safety. He also said that for metropolitan cities such as Mumbai, Indian Railways are considering provisions of Communication Based Trains Control (CBTC) system for running trains at close headways of approximately two minutes to meet the increased commuter traffic requirements.
· While giving the state-wise details of grant released to award winning states during the last three years, Minister of Panchayati Affairs has said that the Panchayat Empowerment and Accountability Incentive Scheme (PEAIS) is a Central Sector Plan Scheme being implemented by the his Ministry since 2005-06. PEAIS aims to (i) incentivize States to devolve 3Fs (functions, funds and functionaries) to Panchayats and (ii) incentivize Panchayats to put in place accountability systems to make their functioning transparent and efficient. Performance of States is measured through a Devolution Index (DI) prepared through an independent agency. Awards are given to best performing States/UTs based on their rank on DI annually. From 2011-2012, Panchayats have been incentivized for their performance during the year 2010-2011. Further, he said that the Government has formulated a project namely e-Panchayat Mission Mode Project (MMP) under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) for e-enablement of all the Panchayats which will make their functioning more efficient and transparent. Under the e-Panchayat MMP, 11 Core Common Software applications (just read all the name) are planned. Four of these applications namely PRIASoft, PlanPlus, National Panchayat Portal and Local Governance Directory have been rolled out. Six more applications except Geographic Information System (GIS) namely Area Profiler, ServicePlus, Asset Directory, ActionSoft, Social Audit and Trainings Management have also been launched on 24th April, 2012 on the occasion of National Panchayat Day. However, the Project so far has not provided any funds for hardware including computers, but the States have been advised to utilize available funds from other sources such as 13th Central Finance Commission grants, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF), Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Yojana (RGSY) etc. for computerization of Panchayats. (bullets without gun J)
· Till now 259.16 lakh Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFLs) have been distributed under the Bachat Lamp Yojana (BLY) scheme. The BLY scheme has been designed on Public Private Partnership mode which has been registered as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) Programme of Activities (PoA). The private investors can participate in the BLY scheme and develop the CDM projects and distribute CFLs in co-ordination with the State Electricity Distribution Companies (DISCOMs) and thus can earn the carbon credits for the same. However, under the BLY Scheme, no exemption/tax holiday/subsidy is provided to the CFL manufacturers.The scheme was approved for the 11th Plan and is proposed with modifications in the 12th Plan also.
· The government has nominated Sachin Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha, along with actress Rekha and industrialist Anu Aga. Article 80 of the Constitution provides the President to nominate 12 members to the 250-member Upper House having special knowledge or practical experience in matters such as literature, science, art and social service. [1.] Anu Aga: The 70-year-old Aga, former chairperson of Thermax Industries and a member of the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council, is a social worker who had figured among the richest Indians in a list by Forbes. [2.] Rekha: The 57-year-old Rekha was one of the top heroines of the 80s in Hindi films and and had won several national awards in her acting career. [3.] Sachin Tendulkar: He completed the historic achievement of scoring 100 international centuries in March 2012. He would be the first active sportsman and a cricketer to be nominated to Rajya Sabha.
· A Task Force headed by Shri Nandan Nilekani in its report on Aadhaar Enabled Unified Payment Infrastructure has envisioned an interoperable network of 10 lakh Business Correspondent Agents utilizing Micro-ATMs to cover the entire country for Financial Inclusion and Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT). The report has inter-alia recommended transfer of payments from Government institutions to Aadhaar enabled accounts of beneficiaries at banks and post office. Every Government department or institution that sends EBT and Direct Transfer of Subsidy (DTS) payment to individuals would need to submit details of Aadhaar Number and amount to their accredited bank, which would credit the amount into the account of the beneficiary.
· Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare has informed that his Ministry has established a Stem Cell Division within Biological Division in Central Drugs Standard Control Organization (HQ) for the internal evaluation of all proposals including stem cell concerning with clinical trial and marketing authorization. In a step towards this direction, his Ministry has also constituted a Core Investigational New Drug (IND) Panel of Experts namely “Cellular Biology Based Therapeutic Drug Evaluation Committee (CBBTDEC)” to advice DCGI in matters pertaining to regulatory pathways leading to the approval of clinical trials and market authorization for the “Therapeutic products derived from Stem Cell, human Gene manipulation and Xenotransplantation technology”.
· The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved implementation of the programme National Monsoon Mission of the Earth System Science Organization for a period of 5 years. The Main Objective of it is to build a working partnership between the academic, Research, Development organizations, both national and international, and operational agencies to improve monsoon forecast skill over the nation.
· Minister of New and Renewable Energy has informed that during the last three years, the States of Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal have taken steps to harness geo-thermal energy in their respective states. He further clarified that the Geo-thermal resource assessment studies have also been undertaken by his Ministry at various potential sites through National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI), Hyderabad. While no Geo-Thermal Energy Power plant has been set up in the country so far, his Ministry has prepared draft policy and guidelines to facilitate preparation and implementation of an action plan to set up projects for utilization of geo-thermal energy. Also, India has Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) on co-operation in Renewable Energy including Geothermal Energy with several countries.
· The Union Cabinet sanctioned a bill dealing entirely with sexual offences against children. The 'Sexual Offences Against Children Bill' aims rigorous punishment for sexual intercourse or contact with sexual intent with a child below 18 years. The punishment in the bill ranges from 3 years' imprisonment to life term for a person who commits sexual harassment, sexual assault, penetrative sexual assault or aggravated penetrative sexual assault. Also, it will be treated as an aggravated offence where the child victim is below 12 years or has mental or physical disability or the sexual offence causes grievous hurt or injury to the child with long term adverse effect on the child’s mind and body.
· Election Commission of India is hosting the Third Conference of Heads of Election Management Bodies of SAARC Countries in New Delhi on 30th April. Discussions between the election personnels of SAARC will be focus on the final shape of the Forum of SAARC Election Management Bodies, which has been approved in principle at the last Conference held in Islamabad. Some other important topics to be discussed are: Empowerment of Election Management Bodies; Inclusive elections (gender issues, marginalized sections, minorities etc.), Voters Education, Controlling Money Power in Elections, Technology for cost-effective elections etc. Earlier, the idea of holding such Conferences took concrete shape at the 37th Session of the Standing Committee of SAARC, held at Thimphu, in April, 2010. Bangladesh hosted the first Conference in May 2010, where initial discussions on creating a Forum of SAARC EMBs were also held. The second Conference was held in Islamabad. Further, Election Commission of India works in close collaboration with the Election Management Bodies of South Asian Countries. Besides the national training programmes, India International Institute of Democracy and Election management (IIIDEM) has conducted five courses for Kenyan, Maldivian, Bhutanese, Afghanistan and Nigerian election officials. There are also requests for such courses from Nepal and Fiji. Over the ten months of its existence, IIIDEM has become a hub for national and international training courses, seminars and workshops. Also, ECI plans to develop IIIDEM as an advanced resource centre of learning, research, training and extension of participatory democracy and election management. Presently, IIIDEM operates from the premises of the election Commission of India in New Delhi, but the all new campus of the institute is proposed in Dwarka.
· The officer trainees of Indian Administrative Service (IAS) and the Royal Bhutan Civil Services (RBCS) called on the Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari. Shri Ansari interacted with these officer trainees on various socio-economic issues and the issues concerned with the welfare of common masses and wished them good luck in their career. 158 officer trainees include 135 male and 23 female officer trainees and 2 from RBCS. Out of 158 officer trainees, 56 are from Engineering background, 18 from Medicine background, 19 from Pure Sciences, 9 from Management, 35 from Arts, 5 from Law, 2 from Commerce and 14 from others viz. M.Phil, PhD, MCA & other background.
· The Cabinet in its meeting approved the proposal of the Ministry of Mines along with the Ministry of Earth Sciences to bid for hosting the 36th International Geological Congress (IGC) in 2020 in Delhi. The IGC-34 will be held in Brisbane, Australia from 5th to 11th August 2012 where the bid will be presented and the IGC-35 will be held in Cape Town, South Africa in 2016. IGC-22 was hosted in India in 1964 in New Delhi, wherein about 1500 Geoscientists from 109 countries participated. It was inaugurated by the then President of India Dr. Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan. Thus, after 56 years it will be hosted by India again, if the bid is successful. This event will be accompanied by field excursions to typical geological sites in India and adjoining countries viz. Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, whose National Science Academies are also lending support to the bid attempt of India.
· Setting at rest the controversy over the safety of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam, the Empowered Committee, headed by the former Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand, held that the dam is "structurally, hydrologically and seismically safe, and Tamil Nadu can raise the water level from 136 to 142 feet after carrying out certain repairs." Further it said that last year's earth tremors in that region "did not have any impact on the Mullaperiyar dam and the Idukki reservoir and there was no danger to the safety of the two dams." On Kerala's demand for construction of a new dam, the committee said that in view of the age of the existing reservoir, building a new one could be considered as an alternative proposal. If a new dam was constructed, the maximum water level (MWL) should be fixed at 155 ft and a fresh agreement inked b/w the two States on water sharing and maintenance.
· The indigenously built Light Combat Aircraft Tejas LCA Navy NP1 today made its maiden flight in Bangalore. Earlier the LCA Navy NP1 had completed various intensive Ground testing regimen. With this India has crossed a major milestone in Design, Development, Manufacturing and Testing of a “four plus” generation Carrier Borne Fly-by-Wire STOBAR aircraft. LCA Navy aircraft is the first attempt in the country to provide a complete marine force multiplier that will give unique battle punch to the Naval Aviation Arm. LCA Navy is the second STOBAR (Ski Take Off But Arrested Recovery) Carrier Borne aircraft in the world, after the Russian deck based aircraft. However, this will be the only Carrier borne Fighter aircraft in the Light category. The Design of first indigenous Naval aircraft imposed huge technological challenges to the Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) to meet the peculiar requirements of Naval aircraft; starting from saline and humid environment of operation, restricted availability of deck run for launch and recovery and high operating load conditions. A host of other systems like the Leading Edge Vortex Control (LEVCON) surface fitted at the front end of the aircraft wing operated by a concealed rotary actuator with aerodynamic profiling to ensure low landing speed, good controllability and better vision for the pilot. The Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Nirmal Verma has congratulated to all members of the ADA, HAL and DRDO teams for the first successful limited test flight of the LCA (Navy) aircraft.
· Armed with the surface-to-surface BrahMos supersonic cruise missile, a medium range gun and anti-submarine rockets, guided missile frigate INS Teg will be commissioned into the Indian Navy today in Russia. The Teg class of ships have been built to meet specific Command and Control needs of Indian Navy for coordinated surface, air and underwater missions. The ship is also armed with an anti-submarine cum airborne early warning helicopter and its weapons suite and sensors are fully integrated with latest Combat Management System (CMS).
· Educational backwardness being one of the reasons for the backwardness among Muslim community (literacy rate amongst Muslims is 59% as per 2001 Census), Minister of State for Minority Affairs has said that the Government has taken following steps to eradicate the same: [1.] Ministry of Minority Affairs is awarding Scholarship & Fellowship at various level; [2.] Ministry of Human Resource Development has undertaken schemes for Providing Quality Education in Madarsas (SPQEM), Infrastructure Development of Minority Institutions (IDMI), Establishment of Residential Coaching Academies for Minorities, Establishment of a satellite campus of Maulana Azad National Urdu University (MANUU) in Hyderabad, etc. [3.] Setting up of bodies to monitor various schemes and programmes such as National Productivity Council (NPC), National Monitoring Committee for Minorities Education (NMCME), etc.
· The Ministry for Women and Child Development has recently released guidelines on corporal punishment in schools: ‘Eliminating Corporal Punishment in Schools’. These have been drafted by a committee constituted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).
· With a per capita annual income of Rs 1,75,812, Delhi again finished second behind Goa, which had a per capita annual income of Rs 1,92,652. However, it was the richest among the major states and union territories with crore-plus populations (Goa’s population is only 14.6 lakh). Haryana, with Rs 1,09,227 per capita finished third, while the country overall touched the Rs 60,972 per person income level. In 2010-11, Delhi’s per capita income at current prices was Rs 1,50,653. Even at constant prices (after factoring in inflation), the city’s per capita income was Rs 1,19,032 in 2011-12, a leap of Rs 10,156 from Rs 1,08,876 a year ago. It was also three times the national average estimated at Rs 38,005. The report pegs economic growth in Delhi at 11.43% during 2011-12, compared to the all-India figure of 8.4%.The services sector had 82% share in the gross state domestic product of Delhi, followed by the secondary sector at 17% and the primary sector at 0.87%. Manufacturing accounted for 5% share, construction 9.6%, and hotels and restaurants 19%. Among specific trades, financial services, insurance, real estate and business services had the lion’s share at 39%.
· The Prime Minister of India dedicated Guru Govind Singh Refinery at Bhatinda (joint venture of HPCL and Mittal Energy) to the Nation today. Underling the significance of the 9 Million tonne(MMT)refinery project, the the Prime Minister added that the refinery sector in the country has shown phenomenal growth and India has emerged as a refining hub. From 62 million metric tonnes per annum in 1998, the country’s refining capacity has grown about three and a half times to 213 MMTPA today. “We have sufficient refining capacity to enable us to export petroleum products,” he stressed. Billionaire Lakshmi N Mittal, who was also present at the function said, capacity of his first downstream oil venture at Bhatinda will be doubled to 18 million tonne in future.
· India will host the next Annual Meeting of Asian Development Bank (ADB) i.e.46th Annual Meeting of Board of Governors of the Asian Development Bank on May 2-5, 2013 in New Delhi. The theme of the meeting will be “Development through Empowerment”: This theme reflects the development strategy of India, namely, empowerment backed by legal entitlement and encompasses issues that are critical for sustaining high and inclusive growth in Asia. Logo of the meeting will be titled as “Web of Life”: This logo for the Annual Meeting of ADB represents the web of life which is based on the tribal motifs of central India which signifies the cycle of life. This would be the third time that India would be hosting the Annual Meeting; the first time was in 1990 at Delhi and the second time in 2006 at Hyderabad. India’s association with the ADB dates back to 1966 and is a founder member of this multilateral institution. ADB’s lending operations in India commenced two decades later in 1986, and India has just completed 25 years of partnership with ADB.
· On the PIL which alleged that many crimes in cities were committed by people using tinted car windows, the Supreme Court today has banned the use of tinted glasses in vehicles beyond the permissible limit as specified by the Motor Vehicles Act and has asked the state governments to frame guidelines for the use of tinted glasses for security purposes. In its other verdict, the Supreme Court set up a joint expert panel to recommend the procedure for telecom firms for properly identifying the customers before issuing SIM cards to them.
· The Centre proposes to set up an Integrated Vaccine Complex in Kanchipuram district of Tamil Nadu to produce and supply vaccines for the Universal Immunization Programme in the country. The proposed complex will manufacture drugs for measles, Hepatitis B, anti-Rabies and Japanese Encephalitis besides BCG vaccine. The project is expected to be operational three years after the allocation of funds.
· The government has launched a special programme of Bringing Green Revolution in Eastern India, BGREI under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana from 2010-11. The programme is being implemented in the eastern States including Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand Odisha, eastern Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. This was informed by Minister of State for Agriculture in the Rajya Sabha. The Minister said the programme includes promoting resource conservation technology, creation of asset building activities for water management, promotion of farm implements and need based site specific activities. He informed that the total production of rice during 2011-12 in seven States of the eastern region is 21 percent more than the production in 2009-10.
· The Reserve Bank of India has asked banks to allow intra-bank account portability in cases where full ‘Know your Customer’ KYC details of the concerned account have been ascertained. The facility would enable the customers to shift their account to any of the desired branches any number of times, without change in the account number.
· Tourism Minister has urged for promoting community-based tourist activities in the northeastern region as it will be more successful and sustainable instead of mass or five-star tourism. It will also prevent damage to the ecosystem and people living there. Two books titled "Sustainable Tourism Development of Nagaland" and "Tourism Potential of North-East" written by D K Bhalla, Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Food and Consumer Affairs, were released by Mr Subodh Kant Sahai.
· The Yemeni wife of slain Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and other members of his family have arrived in Saudi Arabia. They have been expelled from Pakistan. She arrived here with Laden’s family, his children and her brother who was looking after her case in Pakistan.
· New Yorkers were treated to the spectacle of the retired space shuttle “Enterprise (mounted on a Boeing 747 jet)” taking its last flight, as it prepares to become a permanent museum exhibit.