Daily News Notes: 2nd to 4th August, 2012

· The Centre has allocated 1800 crore rupees to states under the National Food Security Mission (NFSM) this year. Uttar Pradesh received the maximum allocation under the mission, followed by Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra. A mega scheme in the agriculture sector, NFSM was implemented in the eleventh Five Year Plan with the target to raise rice production by 10 million tones, wheat by 8 MT and pulses by 2 MT – total 25 MT of foodgrains. The targets have been exceeded. In the 12th Plan, starting this year, NFSM aims at raising the foodgrain production by 25 MT. Besides rice, wheat and pulses, the NFSM in 12th FYP would also focus on increasing the production of coarse cereals and food crops. NFSM has taken a focused approach to raise productivity of these crops through various location-specific interventions. These include providing incentives to farmers to adopt improved inputs and technology packages suiting local soil and climatic conditions.
· To speed up public private partnership projects in the country, the Prime Minister has approved relaxation in policies related to transfer of the government land. A release issued by the PMO said that a ban on the transfer of all government owned land was imposed last year except in cases where land was to be transferred from one government department to another. The concerned department had to seek the approval of the cabinet to implement a project resulting in long delays in awarding contracts for projects like roads, railways, ports, civil aviation and metros.
· The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure approved the inclusion of Extension, Renovation & Modernization (ERM) projects envisaging restoration of lost potential of 2 lakh ha. or more under the category of National Projects. Under the scheme of National Projects, such projects would become eligible for 90% funding of the cost of works of the irrigation and drinking water components of the project from the Central Government. At present, the eligible ERM projects are provided central assistance @25% of the cost ,of works for non special category States and @90% for DPAP/Tribal/Flood prone areas and special category States under AIBP. The cost of restoration of irrigation potential through ERM projects is much less than that of creation of the same potential through new projects. During the XII Plan, considerable emphasis is being laid on improving the water use efficiency of irrigation projects. This is also one of the five goals of the National Water Mission.
· The Union Cabinet has given its ex-post facto approval for creation of the Central Academy for Police Training (CAPT) at Bhopal and has approved the creation of one post of Director, CAPT in the rank of Inspector General of Police. Taking into account the dearth of training facilities for the Deputy Superintendent of Police, directly recruited by the State Governments and inadequate facilities for training of trainers, the academy at Bhopal, i.e. CAPT, headed by a Director, in the rank of IGP, has been approved.
· In view of the declining sex ratio, from 927 in 2001 to 914 in 2011, the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development has recommended to all public servants in all tiers of Central, State and Local Self Governments to take an oath /pledge on preventing sex selective abortion of female foetus on 9th August 2012, a day commemorated in the history of India as Quit India Movement. “Public Servants have a significant role in arresting the decline in child sex ratio at all tiers of public governance, be it in prevention, advocacy, or in implementing the laws of the land that prohibit sex selective abortion. It is therefore important that the public servants are formally made aware of their role in lending a hand in this social cause. This pledge would symbolize the collective resolve of the Public Servants of India to make the social evil of sex selective abortion to ‘quit India’ for good.” The pledge reads as follows- [“Recognising that the Constitution of India guarantees the rights and freedoms of men and women equally without any barrier, bias, or discrimination and the same are threatened by the illegal and damaging practice of gender biased sex selection; WE the public servants of India hereby take a solemn pledge today that we shall act in all possible ways individually and collectively to ELIMINATE gender biased sex selection that threatens the birth and survival of the girl child; AND ENSURE that girls are born, loved and nurtured and grow up to become empowered citizens of our country. JAI HIND.”]
· Union Minister of Shipping has dedicated to the nation the Automatic Identification System (AIS) Network today in Chennai. The system will be able to track vessels up to a distance of 50 kilometres from the coast. It is intended to help different users like DG Shipping, Ports, Navy, and Coast Guard in tracking, surveillance, search and rescue, and management of aids to navigation. The Network also has a provision to track small fishing vessels with customised transponders which will be helpful in search and rescue and also in extending help in case of any eventuality. There are about two lakh fishing vessels in Indian waters which are required to be equipped with such transponders.
· Recently, East, North and North-East regions of India went through a severe blackout for several hours after the sudden collapse of the northern grid. Following the widespread power blackouts in India, here’s the infographic detailing the extent of the outage. It also recalls other major national blackouts in recent years from around the world, from Brazil to China. Some imp. highlights: [1.] What constitutes a Power grid - An electricity or power grid is a network of power lines that withdraws electricity from a generating station. It has 3 main constituents - Generating stations, Transmission lines & Substations; [2.] How does it function - The grid functions in a narrow frequency band of 49.5Hz to 50.2Hz. The frequency and voltage of the grid is monitored by the load dispatch center on the basis of the drawl schedule of the respective states of every region. When there is excess drawl or less generation of power the grid frequency falls and it increases when there is excess supply or the less drawl; [3.] Reason behind grid collapse - A grid fails when the frequency plunges below the lower limit of the (49.5-50.2Hz) band or shoots up beyond the upper limit. As a result, transmission lines stop accepting power supply and other grid constituents, including the generating stations go out of order; [4.] How is it restored - Power restoration is a complicated process which involves all the grid constituents. The grid management authorities start restoring the transmission lines and at the same time make alternative arrangements for electricity supply.; [5.] How is the fault detected - The task is difficult as the authorities have to analyze the details of per-second consumption and supply by each constituent of the grid at the time of the failure. As a regular exercise, the regional load dispatch center authorities keep warning states and regulatory authorities at regular intervals about possible collapse due to over drawl or less drawl of electricity.
· GAIL and ONGC inked Swap Agreement and Gas Co-operation Agreement. As per the Gas Co-operation Agreement, ONGC can sale and purchase the gas from GAIL for 3 years. As per the Swap Agreement, ONGC would supply gas to customers through GAIL's infrastructure so as to boost the availability and the efficient exploitation of resources.
· Vempati Chinna Satyam (82), an acclaimed Kuchipudi Dance Guru passed away. He was decorated with Padma Bhushan by the Government of India in the year 1998.
· The Reserve Bank of India has allowed Regional Rural Banks, RRBs to open branches in Tier-II cities without taking its permission. with a population of 50,000 to 99,999 as per 2001 census with certain conditions. It said, the move will enhance the penetration of banking services in Tier II centres.
· In Assam, around 31 thousand people in violence hit areas (Kokrajhar, Chirang and Dhubri districts) have returned home from relief camps in the last 24 hours. With this, total the number of people who had left the camps has gone up to 60, 000. Assam government has set before it a deadline of 15th August for sending back all inmates to their homes and villages. The state government has decided to set up 104 security pickets in the violence marred areas to maintain law and order. Around four lakh people have taken shelter at 278 relief camps.
· Flash floods triggered by heavy rain in Uttarakhand have washed away 26 people in Uttar Kashi. Water level of Bhagirathi and Ganga rivers is also on the rise. The Uttarakhand government has issued red alert in areas along Ganga. Indo-Tibetan Broder Police (ITBP) and Army jawans have been called in for rescue operations. Three jawans of fire services were also killed in Gangotri following heavy rains.
· After the good rain fall and record agriculture production since last 10 years, Gujarat is facing decade’s worst ever possible draught this year. About 20 district of the state are in the grip of draught in which 8 districts of Kutch and Saurashtra are the worst affected. About 2 crore urban population including 8 major cities and 69 towns are in the grip of drinking water shortage. Kutch and Saurashtra are facing shortage of fodder for live stokes and migration is likely in coming days if adequate supply of fodder not made. In an administrative discussion it has decided that MGNREGA will be extended from 100 to 150 to help the drought hit people.
· In West Bengal, the swearing in ceremony of the newly elected members to the Gorkhaland Territorial Administration was held in Darjeeling. The West Bengal Governor Mr.M K Narayanan administered the oath of office and secrecy to the Gorkha Jana Mukti Morcha President Mr.Bimal Gurung as Chief executive. Five nominated members also took oath on the occasion.
· The Kerala High Court refused to stay the state government's ban on manufacture, storage and sale of gutka, pan masala and their variants containing tobacco and nicotine. However, the court directed the government to grant more time to remove stocks of the banned products from the state.
· With the aim of providing a time-bound hearing and disposal of complaints, Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to implement the Right to Hearing Act. “The act in itself is unique and aims to ensure that all complaints of the common man with regard to governance are addressed and disposed of in a time-bound manner. Provision of penalty from Rs 500 to 5,000 has been made in the Act. This Act would further strengthen the Rajasthan Guaranteed Delivery of Public Services Act, which was implemented in November last year,’’ said chief minister Ashok Gehlot. He said that under the Guaranteed Delivery of Public Services Act 56,33,400 cases out of total 57,06,785 have been disposed of since November. Under the Right to Hearing Act, the state government has appointed Public Hearing Officers and Appellate Authority at gram panchayat, tehsil, and sub-block, district and division levels for hearing the complaints within a stipulated time limit of 15 days. The act also has provision of first and second appellate authority along with the revision authority. The Act also provisions for establishment of information and facilitation centre including citizen care centre and help desk for effective implementation. Gehlot also called upon social activists and NGOs to spread awareness about the issue so that maximum people can take advantage of the Act. He expressed hope that the new Act would help in reducing number of public grievances at levels of the chief minister and ministers.
· The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure has approved the inclusion of "Sarayu Nahar Pariyojana" of Uttar Pradesh in the scheme of National projects. Under the scheme of National Projects, this project would become eligible for 90% funding from the Central Government. The Sarayu Nahar Pariyojana has been under execution by the State Government of Uttar Pradesh since 1977-78 but could not be completed because of lack of funds with the State Government. Once completed, it would provide an ultimate irrigation potential benefiting the region. The project is scheduled to be completed by March 2016. The total central liability on account of this project is approximately Rs.2915 crore.
· Six Kashmiri handicrafts — Pashmina, Sozni-embroidery, Kani-shawl, Papier-Mâché, Khatamband and Walnut Woodcarving — have been granted Geographical Indication (GI), symbolising their exclusivity in the international market. The GI status is a sort of trademark or a patent given to the products which are indigenous to a community in a particular geographical region. The GI registration acts as certificate that the product is made by traditional methods and possesses certain qualities specific to the area and the community.
· India is the second-largest mobile phone user with over 900 million users in the world. It accounted for over 10% of the world’s online population in 2011. Recognizing the potential to reach out to people, especially those living in remote areas and adolescents, the Government of India has recently taken steps to integrate and enhance existing Health related - IT enabled Systems. A name, address and telephone based Mother and Child Tracking System (MCTS) is a new initiative of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and is one of the excellent examples of leveraging Information Technology for ensuring delivery of full spectrum of healthcare and immunization services to pregnant women and children up to 5 years of age. This system is aimed at generating a data bank to validate delivery of services, ensuring ante-natal, intra-natal and post-natal checkups, nursing universal immunization, ensuring quality service delivery, micro planning. These initiatives will have a positive impact on important health indicators like Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR).
· Prof. Ashok Sen, a theoretical Indian Physicist at Allahabad is one among the nine winners of the first Fundamental Physics Prize (or Yuri Milner Prize or Russian Nobel) which is worth $ 3 million, the biggest academic prize in the world in terms of prized money. The prized money is around threefold as compared to the Nobel Prize. Unlike Nobel Prize, the Milner Prize can go to even younger researchers because experimental verification of theoretical breakthroughs is not required. Also unlike a Nobel prize, which can be shared by 3 scientists at most, the Milner prize inflicts no such limit.
· Filmmaker Satyajit Ray's 1955 classic 'Pather Panchali' has featured in the 50 greatest films of all time list, which was dominated by Alfred Hichcock's thriller 'Vertigo'. With 31 votes 'Pather Panchali' came at the 42 place in the Sight & Sound poll. The film is a lyrical, closely observed story of a peasant family in 1920s rural India.
· India and China are ready to enhance defense and security dialogue and work in the direction of achieving the bilateral trade target of 100 billion dollars. The agreement reached on the sidelines of the Rio+20 Environment Summit during a dialogue b/w Indian PM Manmohan Singh and his Chinese PM Wen Jiabo. India invited Chinese investment in infrastructure in India. Both nations will establish strategic and cooperative partnership for peace and prosperity. Indian will soon start exporting basmati rice to China as both countries agreed on a mutually agreeable quarantine protocol. In the context of trans-border rivers issue, China assured that its hydropower project on Brahmaputra River in Tibet will not stop the water flow to India. It said that the dam is not that big to affect the lower riparian regions in India.
· Indian and Pakistani experts have agreed to conduct feasibility studies and identify points for the proposed building of a high voltage direct current link to transfer 500 MW from India to Pakistan. Pakistan is mulling a proposal to import power from India to overcome a crippling energy shortfall that has affected industrial output and triggered violent protests in several cities.
· India and Bangladesh decided to speedily implement various agreements signed b/w them in 2010 and 2011. The various agreements are related to projects under the Indian line of credit, land boundary agreement implementation, trade facilitation measures, infrastructure development of land customs station and border haats. They also discussed about co-operation in the field of renewable energy and nuclear energy.
· India and Sri Lanka have agreed to cooperate for the revival and modernization of the “textile sector” in the island nation. Union Minister of Commerce , Industry & Textiles has also said that India will help establish a special economic zone and Pharmaceutical manufacturing hub in Sri Lanka and announced that Arvind Mehta, Joint Secretary Commerce will be leading the Indian component of the Joint Task Force for setting up of Automobile and Pharmaceutical hub. The Minister said that India and Sri Lanka will aim to double the bilateral trade from the existing level to USD 10 billion by the year 2015. This year, India-Sri Lanka trade crossed the 5 billion US Dollar mark. The signing of CEPA will make the current economic engagement more comprehensive by bringing more investment and services into Sri Lanka.
· Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh will represent India at the International Conference on People's Empowerment and Development (theme “Creating Jobs for All”) being held in Dhaka. The International Conference will focus on eradication of poverty, reduction of inequality, Mitigation of deprivation, inclusion of excluded people, accelerating human development and Countering Terrorism.
· The UN General Assembly has called for a democratic political transition in Syria and an end to violence. The General Assembly in a resolution condemned the continuing violence in Syria and criticized the Security Council for its inaction to end the bloodshed. The 193 member Assembly passed the resolution with 133 votes in favour and 12 against. India was among the 31 Countries which abstained from voting. Russia, China and Iran were among 12 countries which voted against the resolution.
· UN Special Envoy on Syria Kofi Annan has resigned. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has accepted his resignation and asked him to continue till 31st August, the date on which the extended mandate of UN observer mission in Syria expires and his successor is chosen. Mr Ban said that Mr Annan’s six point peace plan to end the crisis in Syria will continue.
· Iran has tested its 4th generation "Fateh 110" missiles. It was reported that the missiles are able to neutralize targets from 300 kms.
· The UN says immediate food assistance is required to help the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, DPRK, to recover from a flood that damaged the country's infrastructure and crop production last month. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that DPRK had made a request on 30th July to the UN to release pre-positioned stocks to support the ongoing relief and recovery efforts in the affected areas, in particular for food and fuel.
· Fiji's last democratically elected leader, Laisenia Qarase was sentenced today to one year in prison after being convicted on corruption charges. Qarase was found guilty of abusing his office and failing to perform his duties. Court documents say, the 71-year-old former prime minister failed to disclose a private investment interest in three companies that he was helping manage in an official capacity some 20 years ago. Judge said the case should serve as a lesson to others in positions of power.
· Tropical storm Ernesto, the fifth of the Atlantic hurricane season, threatened Barbados and the Windward Islands as it advanced across the Atlantic with winds of 85 kilometers per hour.
· Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh has congratulated Saina Nehwal on her winning the Bronze Medal in Women’s Badminton at the 2012 London Olympics. He also congratulated Vijay Kumar on his winning the Olympic silver medal. [There will be an article on Olympics games as it finishes]
· After winning 19th medal, US swimming machine Michael Phelps became the most successful athlete in the Olympic history. Total medal tally: 15 gold, 2 silver and 2 bronze. He has surpassed the record of Soviet gymnast Larisa Latynina who won 18 medal b/w 1956 and 1964.