Daily News Notes: 20th to 22nd August, 2012

· Prof. P.J. Kurein of the Congress was unanimously elected as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The Leader of Opposition, Mr Arun Jaitley said Prof. Kurien is one of most experienced parliamentarian. He is regarded as a universal friend.
· In a bid to contain rising milk adulteration, especially through detergent, the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Karnal, after three years of research has developed a platform test kit that detects the presence of detergent in milk in less than two minutes. The World Bank funded the research and development programme of the test-kit under project name- National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP). It has also developed kits to detect starch, sugar, glucose, urea, ammonium compounds, pond water, common salt, hydrogen peroxide and formalin in milk. The devise can detect detergent in milk. NDRI has offered the kit for use by the public and private sector companies. The fund allocated by World Bank for this project was Rs 94 lakh.
· Former Lok Sabha Speaker and NDA's presidential candidate PA Sangma has moved the Supreme Court challenging the election of Pranab Mukherjee as President. Mr Sangma wants Mr Mukherjee's election set aside because he was holding office of profit as chairman of Indian Statistical Institute at the time of filing his nomination. Mr Mukherjee had defeated Mr Sangma in the Presidential election on 22nd July with 69.31 per cent votes.
· Addressing the National Outreach Conference on Global Nuclear Disarmament to mark the 68th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister, late Rajiv Gandhi, the National Security Advisor, Shiv Shankar Menon said that India is the only nuclear weapon state which has practical plans for a time bound nuclear free world. Also, India has made it very clear that it will have nuclear weapons as deterrent and not for fighting a war. Mr. Menon said that before 1998 when India became a nuclear power state, there were at least 3 explicit attempts of nuclear threat to the country.
· Under the new guidelines issued by the telecom department, the retailer and franchisee selling mobile SIM cards will have to sign an undertaking that they will register police complaint against subscribers if they submit forged documents to get mobile connections. They also have to verify documents submitted by the customer with original copies of address and identity proof. Also, the premise of such subscriber should be re-checked by telecom operator every six month.
· Minister of State for Agriculture has informed that the government has constituted village committees in 100 most vulnerable districts to promote climate smart agriculture strategies which will cope with damages due to flood and drought. The Minister further said that the Indian Council of Agricultural Research has already prepared contingency plans for 343 districts with a matrix of situations and matching climate smart technologies. This included alternate croping practices and water saving methods in paddy cultivation to be implemented by the states in the event of natural calamities and drought repectivily. He said in major states which faced significant rainfall deficit like Gujarat, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Karnataka, the locally adopted fodder varieties of annual crops were recommended to augment the fodder availability to livestock.
· The Centre has confirmed that Andhra Pradesh has the highest Monazite mineral reserves in the country. These reserves contain over three lakh thirty-six thousand tonnes of thorium oxide which is used in Fast Breeder Reactors. Further, Indian three stage nuclear power programme is aimed at long term energy independence including use of thorium resources in the third stage. In order to realize this goal, presently, the first stage of programme is accomplished through the nuclear reactors based on natural uranium fuel. The second stage envisages setting up of Fast Breeder Reactors. A Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor is planned at Kalpakkam. Since the country is still in the first stage of the nuclear power programme, the requirement of Thorium by 2020 is quite modest.
· The Government has informed that out of 20 nuclear power reactors with an installed capacity of 4780 MW, presently one reactor (Rajasthan Atomic Power Station or RAP Unit-1) is under extended shut down since October 2004 for techno-economic assessment for continued operation. Also, of the 19 reactors in operation, 10 reactors with a capacity of 2840 MW comprising Kaiga Generating Station (KGS), Narora Atomic Power Station (NAPS), Madras Atomic Power Station (MAPS) and Tarapur Atomic Power Station (TAPS) are fuelled by indigenous uranium, which is not available in the required quantity. These are accordingly operated at comparatively lower power levels matching the fuel supply. The remaining 9 reactors which are under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) safeguards use imported fuel and are operating at rated capacity. The Minister also informed that the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plants, Units 1&2 (2x1000 MW) project was initially scheduled to be completed in December 2008. This however got delayed because of various reasons including public unrest at the site. The first unit of this project is now scheduled to be operational by October 2012 and second unit is also closely following. Completion of the Prototype Fast Breeder Reactor (PFBR) has been rescheduled to September 2014. Further, the nuclear reactors planned to be set up at Jaitapur are the Evolutionary Pressurized Water Reactors (EPRs). The EPR design has been based on the proven design, safety principles and manufacturing technologies employed in “N4” reactors in France and “KONVOI” reactors in operation in Germany. Currently, EPRs are under construction in Finland, France and China which may become operational in the next 2 to 4 years. The operational experience from these reactors will also be available before the commissioning of Jaitapur nuclear power project.
· PM Manmohan Singh has informed that the Government had always been committed to protect the interests of the scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. He was talk on the issue of reservation in promotion specifically in respect of the decision of the Supreme Court which has struck down provision of reservation in promotion to SCs and STs in the State of UP. Some Highlights from his speech: [1.] Supreme Court in its judgment dated in 1992 case held that reservation in promotion is ultra vires but allowed its continuation for five years from the date of judgment as a special case. The 77th amendment to the Constitution was made in 1995 inserting clause (4A) to Article 16 before expiry of five year which enabled the Government to continue reservation for SCs and STs in promotion; [2.] Clause (4A) of the Constitution was further modified through 85th amendment so as to give benefit of consequential seniority to SC/ST candidates promoted by reservation; [3.] The 81st amendment was made to the Article 16 of the Constitution which permits to treat the backlog reserved vacancies as a separate and distinct group, to which the limit of 50% may not apply; [4.] The validity of all these Amendments were challenged before the Supreme Court through various writ petitions mainly on the ground that these altered the basic structure of the Constitution. It was through the efforts of the Government that the Supreme Court in its judgment in 2006 upheld the validity of all these amendments. However, the Court stipulated that the concerned State will have to show in each case the existence of the compelling reasons, namely, backwardness, inadequacy of representation and overall administrative efficiency before making provision for reservation. There were some Court cases filed in different states on the ground that the pre-requisite conditions as laid down by the Supreme Courts in M. Nagaraj case have not been observed while providing reservation in promotion; [5.] In the recent past the Supreme Court has struck down reservation in promotion in some states. The Government is exploring the possible solution of the current situation.
· The Government has informed that India has been following principles of physical security of nuclear materials and associated facilities right from the inception of its nuclear programme. India is also a State Party to the Convention on the Physical Protection of Nuclear Material (CPPNM) and the International Convention for the Suppression of Acts of Nuclear Terrorism (ICSANT). The instrument of ratification on the CPPNM was deposited with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on 19 September 2007. India has already ratified the ICSANT. Since 2002, India has piloted a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly on measures to prevent terrorists gaining access to Weapons of Mass Destruction. India fully supports the implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1540, its extension resolution 1977 and the United Nations Global Counter Terrorism Strategy.
· The Government of India enacted the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) 2006, which will bring all citizens of India without and beyond India except the State of J&K under its purview. As per the PCMA 2006, every child marriage is voidable at the option of the contracting party who was a child at the time of the marriage, within two years of the child attaining majority. PCMA 2006 is the new act which has replaced Child Marriage Restraint Act (CMRA) of 1929.
· Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (Kumari Selja) has informed that her Ministry is implementing the following schemes for slum dwellers and urban poor: [1.] Under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) launched on 3rd December, 2005 the Basic Services to the Urban Poor (BSUP) and Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programmes (IHSDP) are being implemented which focus on basic services to the urban poor and integrated development of slums. Under BSUP 65 select cities in the country are covered and the remaining cities are covered under IHSDP; [2.] Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) aims at providing gainful employment to the urban unemployed and under-employed poor, through encouraging the setting up of self employment ventures by the urban poor living below the poverty line, skills training and also through providing wage employment by utilizing their labour for construction of socially and economically useful public assets. This scheme is applicable to all cities and towns in the country; [3.] In pursuance of the Government’s vision of creating a Slum-free India, a new scheme ‘Rajiv Awas Yojana’ (RAY) has been launched on 02.06.2011. Under the Scheme financial assistance is being provided to States that are willing to assign property rights to slum dwellers for provision of decent shelter and basic civic and social services for slum redevelopment, and for creation of affordable housing stock. The scheme is expected to cover above 250 cities, across the entire country by the end of 12th plan (2017). The States would be required to include all the mission cities of JNNURM, preferably cities with more than 3 lakh population as per 2001 Census; [4.] The Affordable Housing in Partnership Scheme (applicable to all cities covered under RAY), which is intended to encourage public private partnerships for the creation of affordable housing stock has been dovetailed with RAY. Under this scheme, central support will be provided at the rate of Rs 50,000 per unit of rental/affordable dwelling unit or 25% of the cost of civic infrastructure (external and internal), whichever is lower; [5.] To enable the urban poor to obtain credit for home loans at affordable rates, the Interest Subsidy Scheme for Housing the Urban Poor (ISHUP), which provides 5 % interest subsidy on loans up to Rs. one lakh, is being implemented. This scheme has been dovetailed with RAY.
· Law Minister has informed that Women Reservation Bill, namely, the Constitution (One Hundred Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2008 was passed by Rajya Sabha on 9th March, 2010. The Bill is now to be passed by the Lok Sabha and is also required to be ratified by the Legislatures of not less than one-half of the States by resolution. This Bill provides inter alia for, as nearly as may be, one-third (including the number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes) of the total number of seats to be filled by direct election to the House of People and to the State Legislative Assemblies and the Legislative Assembly of National Capital Territory of Delhi shall be reserved for the women.
· Banking services of public sector banks are affected due to two-day nationwide strike by employees. Public sector banks in the national capital have joined the strike. The striking employees are opposing banking sector reforms and outsourcing of non-core activities. The bank unions have been demanding pension revision, housing loan revision, 5-day working week. They are also protesting the alleged unilateral implementation of the Khandelwal committee report on human resource management in the PSU banks.
· The Minister for Culture (Kumari Selja) has said that the Government of India has set up seven Zonal Cultural Centres (ZCCs) having their headquarters at Patiala, Udaipur, Allahabad, Kolkata, Dimapur, Nagpur and Thanjavur. She said, the main objectives of the ZCCs are preservation, promotion and dissemination of the traditional folk arts and culture of the various States/ UTs. The ZCCs have been carrying out various activities through the following schemes: [1.] National Cultural Exchange Programme; [2.] Guru Shishya Parampara Scheme; [3.] Young Talented Artistes Scheme; [4.] Documentation of Vanishing Art Forms; [5.] Theatre Rejuvenation Scheme; [6.] Shilpagram Activities; [7.] Loktarang- National Folk Dance Festival and OCTAVE – the Festival of the North East.
· Minister of State for Finance has informed that the government is to distribute 5,75,000 crore rupees by way of agricultural loans in the current fiscal. The last fiscal's target was 4,75,000 crore rupees which crossed the mark of 5,11,000 crore rupees by March, this year.
· Minister of State for Home Affairs has informed that the government has decided to link crime records with the Aadhaar Unique Identity or Aadhaar number, UID project. The Minister also informed that the creation of the National Population Register, NPR is progressing as envisaged. In the course of enrollment, if a person indicates that he or she has already been enrolled for Aadhaar, then the biometrics data is not captured by the NPR. He said the government is also considering issuing Resident Identity Cards to all residents of 18 years and above.
· The Minister for Culture has informed that the Classical Language status has already been conferred upon Tamil, Sanskrit, Telugu and Kannada. She said that a requests for giving the status of classical language to Malayalam has been received by her Ministry. Further she explained the criteria for declaration of a language as a Classical Language are as under: [1.] High antiquity of its early texts/recorded history over a period of 1500-2000 years; [2.] A body of ancient literature/texts, which is considered a valuable heritage by generations of speakers; [3.] The literary tradition should be original and not borrowed from another speech community; [4.] The classical language and literature being distinct from modern, there may also be a discontinuity between the classical language and its later forms or its offshoots.
· Minister of State of Home Affairs has informed that Central Intelligence/Security and Investigating agencies are continuously updating the understanding of the financial structures of terrorists outfits including the sources of funding all over the country. Available inputs indicate that most outfits receive funds through a combination of hawala, bank accounts and Money Transfer Service Schemes, debit cards and Fake Indian Currency Notes.
· Minister of State for Agriculture and Food Processing Industries has informed that the Government is promoting use of bio-fertilisers through a Central Sector Scheme, National Project on Organic Farming (NPOF), for setting up of new or strengthening of existing bio-fertiliser production units, technology transfer and training etc. To ensure quality of bio-fertilisers - Rhizobium, Azotobacter, Azospirillium, Phosphate Solubilising Bacteria, Potash Mobilising Bacteria, Zinc Solubilising Bacteria and Mycrorhizal bio-fertilisers have been incorporated in Fertilizer Control Order, 1985. The Minister said that the trend in use of bio-fertilizers is increasing but the total area covered under bio-fertilizers about 3% of total cultivable area in the country. Also, application of bio-fertilisers to seed or soil is ongoing process to keep the soil healthy and to get healthy crop yield.
· Health Minister has informed that the current doctor-population ratio in the country is estimated to be around 1:2000. Though, there are no specific standards/norms which prescribes doctor-population ratio, the High Level Expert Group on Universal Health Coverage for India has recommended increase of availability of doctors to 1:1000 population. On the issue of Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR), the Minister said that there are various factors, including shortage of doctors, which impact the mortality rate in the country. However, IMR & MMR have declined over the past few years. IMR has come down from 58 per 1000 live births in the year 2005 to 47 per 1000 live births in the year 2010. Similarly, MMR has also come down from 254 per lakh live births in 2004-06 to 212 per lakh live births in 2007-09. As per World Health Statistics report 2012, India stands 47th rank of infant mortality rate in the world. Further, the Minister said that the Government has already taken a large number of steps to address shortage of doctors, specialists and faculty in the country which include: [1.] Relaxation in the norms for setting up of a medical college in terms of requirement for land, faculty, staff, bed and other infrastructure; [2.] Relaxation in teacher-student ratio to increase the seats at Postgraduate level; [3.] Enhancement of maximum intake capacity at MBBS level from 150 to 250; [4.] Enhancement of age limit for appointment/extension/re-employment against posts of teachers/dean/principal/ director in medical colleges from 65 to 70 years; [5.] Financial support to State medical colleges, under the scheme of “Strengthening and Upgradation of State Government Medical Colleges”, to increase postgraduate seats in various disciplines or to start new postgraduate medical courses; [6.] Approval for establishment of eight AIIMS-like institutions (six in first phase and two in second phase) in the country under Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yozana (PMSSY).
· A colorful procession depicting the rich cultural heritage of Kerala marked the Atham procession held at Thripunithura this morning, marking the beginning of Onam festivities in the state. Caparisoned elephants, tableaux, floats, folk dancers and drummers in colorful costumes marched through the streets, where thousands lined up to witness the annual event.
· The festival of Eid-ul-Fitr was celebrated across the nation with traditional fervour and gaiety. The day culminates the fasting month of Ramzan. Nearly two lakh people attended the prayers at Fatehpuri Masjid and an equal number offered prayers at Jama Masjid.
· A unique initiative of transforming buses into classrooms in Mumbai is educating many slum children. With 5 school buses transformed to classrooms, the "Door step school" reaches out to many slum children, where a school-bus is converted into a travelling classroom across Mumbai slums. These children are also taken for picnics and provided food on special occasions.
· In an initiative to make the national capital Kerosene free, the Delhi Government has launched Kerosene-free Delhi scheme in capital. Under this scheme over 3.50 lakh households will get LPG cylinder and a gas stove free of cost in the coming days. With this scheme, Delhi will soon become the first kerosene-free city in the country.
· In the backdrop of appeals by India to remove hate posts, world's largest social networking website Facebook has said it will remove content, block pages or even disable accounts of those users who upload contents that incite violence or perpetuate hate speech. Expressing serious concern over the current situation in India wherein people have tried to use Facebook as a tool to incite violence or spread hate, the official said Facebook has taken a number of measures to prevent this.
· In yet another major ceasefire violation in J&K, Pakistani troops again resorted to unprovoked firing using light machine guns upon the Indian posts. No loss of life or property was reported from either side. This was the 8th incident of firing and ceasefire violation on the International Border and sixth on the Line of Control in Poonch sector during the last fortnight. High alert has been sounded by security forces along the Line of Control to foil designs of infiltrations and also increased ceasefire violations in the state. According to a senior Army Officer, an alert has also been sounded in the hinterlands of Rajouri, Poonch and Doda districts adding Patrolling along the border line with Pakistan has also been increased and round-the-clock vigilance is being maintained. Security has also increased along the International Border in Jammu, Kathua and Samba sectors, where a tunnel from Pakistan was discovered by IB on July 28. Meanwhile, Police have arrested two persons in Srinagar, one of them is a policeman while another is a released militant who were allegedly involved in over a dozen militancy-related incidents including five killings.
· Kerala-based Popular Front of India has come under the scanner of intelligence agencies for its suspected role in spreading inflammatory SMSs and MMSs following Assam violence, that triggered exodus of northeastern people from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
· Maruti Suzuki India, MSI reopened its Manesar plant amid heavy security, a month after a lockout was declared due to the violence in which one senior company official was killed and 100 others injured. The plant suffered damages estimated to be less than 10 crore rupees, while the overall production loss during the lockout was pegged at around 1,400 crore rupees. MSI has also decided to terminate services of 500 permanent workers, who were allegedly found to be involved in violence inside the plant.
· Gujarat state government has declared a comprehensive ban on the production, storage, sale and distribution of gutka, which will come into effect from September 11, 2012. Recently, Maharashtra imposed a comprehensive ban on gutka and pan masala. Gutka is already banned in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan.
· National Capital Region Planning Board(NCRPB) has informed that the Study Group on Policy Zones, Demographic Profile and Settlement Pattern, constituted for preparation of Regional Planning-2021(RP) examined the matter of inclusion of additional areas in the National Capital Region (NCR) and recommended that the area of NCR needs to be extended to the extent its boundary coincides with the district boundaries as prevailing in 2001 and further recommended for the inclusion of the total area of Alwar District. The Study Group further recommended that the area of NCR may not be further extended at least upto the year 2021 as the existing area of NCR has not developed as envisaged. Board has received a request from Government of RJ, UP and HR for inclusion of Bharatpur, Mahendragarh, Bhiwani & Mathura Districts, besides Narnaul town in NCR.
· An International Centre for Human Development to be set up in India will support efforts by governments of the South to integrate human development approaches to ensure improved development outcomes for poor and marginalized people. The Centre will provide a range of services to national governments, these include : [1.] research and analysis support on the policy dimensions of a human development approach including trade-offs of various people-centered policy measures; [2.] policy advisory services that can help translate the human development concept into policies aimed at improving human development at national, sub-national and local levels; [3.] developing capacity of national governments, parliamentarians, CSOs and academia to undertake human development-oriented policymaking and advocacy; [4.] monitoring and evaluation support to develop and support decentralized and community level monitoring tools.
· Minister of State for Commerce and Industry has informed that the Government has extended the ban on import of milk and milk products from China. Food Safety and Standards Authority of India has recommended the extension of the ban till June next year or until further orders. The notification for ban was issued last month. The banned milk products include chocolate, chocolate products, candies, confectionery and food preparations with milk or milk solids as ingredient.
· Pakistan Govt conferred its highest civilian honor Nisan-i-Imtiaz on famous Pakistani writer Saadat Hasan Manto. Manto is popular for his Urdu short stories, especially those that explored the impact of the partition of the subcontinent into India and Pakistan in 1947. Pakistan government has also conferred Sitara-i-Imtiaz honor on Urdu author, Gopi Chand Narang . The honor is the third highest civilian honor given by the nation. Nishan-i-Imtiaz is the highest civil honor of Pakistan which it had bestowed on former Prime Minister Morarji Desai and matinee idol Dilip Kumar in the past.
· Minister of State of Commerce and Industry has informed that under the Special Focus Market Scheme (Special FMS) export to notified countries is eligible for 1% additional duty credit scrip over and above the 3% duty credit scrip allowed under Focus Market Scheme (FMS). Seven new markets namely Belize, Chile, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Morocco, and Uruguay have been added to the Special Focus Market Scheme on 5th June, 2012 bringing the total number of markets under the scheme to 48.
· The Indian rupee, the Chinese renminbi and the Brazilian real are likely to be part of a future multi-polar currency system in addition to the US dollar and the euro, according to Klaus Regling, CEO of the European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) — the permanent bailout fund to support cash-strapped Euro nations. With the permanent fund, the 17 Eurozone nations want to shore up cash-strapped nations such as Greece and rescue the common currency.
· Minister of State of Commerce and Industry has also informed that India has signed Agreement on Trade in Goods under the broader framework of Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) comprising Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. India has also signed bilateral CECA with Singapore and Malaysia. However, negotiations for Agreement on Trade in Services are currently underway. Further, the Minister said that during the year 2010-11 and 2011-12, export to ASEAN countries was US$ 25.628 billion and US$36.645 billion respectively. During the year 2010- 11 and 2011-12, import from ASEAN countries was US$ 30.608 billion and US$ 42.564 billion respectively.
· Russia formally became a member of the World Trade Organisation today after 18 years of negotiations. Russia agreed to reduce import tariffs on goods, including food and cars and to relax controls on overseas companies entering its financial and telecom sectors. Russia will be the 156th member of the WTO. WTO requires that any country that seeks to benefit from it must apply the same trade rules to all member countries.
· United States has supported Egypt's military deployments in the Sinai peninsula and said such actions should be coordinated with Israel in accordance with the 1979 peace treaty. However, Israel has objected to the move by Egyptian military to deploy tanks in Sinai peninsula along the borders. Under the peace accord, Egypt is allowed to have only lightly armed policemen in the zone along the border with Israel.
· Myanmar has abolished censorship of the country's media. The Press Scrutiny and Registration Department said that as of today, reporters will no longer have to submit their work to state censors before publication. Myanmar has long kept a tight control over all aspects of its media. But the civilian government has been gradually easing restrictions since taking office last year.
· Somalia's new Parliament is preparing to hold a vote to name a President for the country. The new Parliament, to be made up of a lower house with 275 members and an upper house with a maximum of 54 members, will mark the end of a period of eight years of rule by the UN-backed Transitional Federal Government, whose mandate expires.
· Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi has died at the age of 57, following weeks of illness. Mr. Meles took power as the leader of a rebel movement which ousted the communist government of Mengistu Haile Mariam in 1991.
· A deadline is approaching for striking workers at the South African mine (Marikana platinum mine, north-west of Johannesburg) where police shot dead 34 miners on Thursday to go back to work or face dismissal. President Jacob Zuma had declared a week of national mourning.
· China signed economic agreements with North Korea to enhance the bilateral economic co-operation, which includes agreements on agricultural co-operation, electricity supply and development of two special economic zones in North Korea.
· Former Algerian diplomat Lakhdar Brahimi has been appointed as the new joint special representative of the UN and the League of Arab States. Brahimi will replace Kofi Annan, who had resigned from the position.
· The US administration has decided to establish National Additive Manufacturing Innovation Institute (NAMII) in Ohio to help prevent jobs going to India and China. NAMII will offer the innovation infrastructure required to support new additive manufacturing technology and products to become a global centre of excellence in this field. Additive manufacturing, which is also known as 3D printing, is a new way of making products and components from a digital model, and will have significance to a wide range of industries, including defense, aerospace, automotive, and metals manufacturing.
· At least 27 people have been killed during a typhoon (Kai-Tak) which swept across northern provinces of Vietnam over the weekend.
· Encouraged by the success of "Curiosity", NASA has announced to launch a new Mars mission in 2016 to take a better look at the Red Planet. The mission called "Insight" will investigate why the crust of Mars' is not divided into tectonic plates that drift like Earth. According to the NASA spokesperson Insight' will get to the 'core' of the nature of the interior and structure of Mars.
· A new high-speed undersea data cable has opened to traffic in Asia. The 7,800 kilometre Asia Submarine-cable Express connects Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. It transfers data via an optical fibre system at 40 gigabits per second, and is three milliseconds faster than any other cable between Singapore and Tokyo. The new system can control hundreds of thousands of transactions in less than a second - all determined by a programme that tracks market conditions and the entire network is handled by computers.
· Scientists have found a stem cell therapy to prevent osteoarthritis after a joint injury. These injuries typically result into arthritis. In the stem cell therapy, MSCs (Mesenchymal Stem Cells) were used in mice with joint injuries. MSCs are multi-potent stromal cells that can multiply and transform into a variety of cell types, including: osteoblasts (bone cells), chondrocytes (cartilage cells), and adipocytes (fat cells).
· The 15th edition of the Nehru Cup football tournament kick offs at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi. 5 nations - India, Syria, Nepal, Maldives and Cameroon - are participating in the event.
· Rory Mcllroy won the US PGA Golf Championship at Kaiwah island. This victory has made Mcllroy world number one player surpassing Luke Donald.
· V.V.S. Laxman, announced his retirement from international cricket, ending a magnificent career spanning 16 years.
· The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has announced today the Tenzing Norgay National Adventure Award for the year 2011 to recognize the achievements of persons in the fields of Adventure. The following four persons have been selected: [1.] Col. Anand Swaroop (Land Adventure): He has climbed as well as Led Expedition to various peaks including Mt. Everest, Mt. Satopanth, Friendship Peak Nyegi Kangtsang, Mt. Cho Oyu. He has been a member of Indian Expedition to Antartica. He has also led the first Indian Ski Expedition from Coast to Antartica to South Pole in 2011, travelling a distance of 1170 Kms; [2.] Sub. Rajendra Singh Jalal (Land Adventure): He has been actively climbing high mountains and was a summitteer to Indian Army Mt. Manaslu Expedition 2011; [3.] Ms. Bhakti Sharma (Water Adventure): She is presently a student pursuing her MBA. During the August 2010, she successfully swam in the Arctic Ocean. She has the distinction of crossing the strait of Gibraltor from Tarifa (Spain) to Sainar Point (Marroco). She accomplished the feat of crossing the English Channel from Shakespeare Beach, Dover England to Callisport, France; [4.] Shri Mandip Singh Soin (Life Time Achievement): He has been involved in adventure from Skydiving to balloon safari to Rafting to rain forest expedition trek expedition to mountain expedition.