{DNN} Daily News Notes: 28th & 29th Oct, 2012

• ·         A total 22 ministers have been inducted into the Union Council of Ministers. They include seven Cabinet ministers, two Ministers of State with independent charge and 13 Ministers of State. Of the total, 16 are new faces. President Pranab Mukherjee administered the oath of office and secrecy at a function in the Ashoka Hall of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Salman Khurshid gets External Affairs ministry , Ashwani Kumar Law and Justice, M M Pallam Raju Human Resource Development and Veerappa Moily Petroleum & Natural Gas. K Rehman Khan becomes Cabinet minister for Minority Affairs while Ajay Maken is Housing and Urban Development minister. Harish Rawat, who was the Minister of State for Agriculture has been elevated to the Cabinet rank as the Minister for Water Resources. Dinsha Patel has been upgraded from the Minister of State rank to the Cabinet in the Ministry of Mines while Chandresh Kumari Katoch, a new face in the Council of Minister has been made the Minister of Culture in the Cabinet. Kamal Nath, Minister of Urban Development has been given Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs, S Jaipal Reddy is the new Science and Technology minister. Kapil Sibal continues to be Communication and IT minister. Pawan Kumar Bansal has been given Railway Ministry. Manish Tewari is the new Minister of State with independent charge for Information and Broadcasting ministry. Jyotiraditya Scindia has been made MoS with Independent of Power ministry. Sachin Pilot is the new MoS, Corporate Affairs. Mrs D Purandeswari is the MoS for Commerce and Industry. Dr K Chiranjeevi, another new face, is the new Minister of State with independent charge in the ministry of Tourism. Dr Sashi Tharoor has been given the charge of Minister of State for Human Resource Development. [Click Here for Graphic]
• ·         India’s entertainment and media industry, the fastest growing in the world, is poised to clock an average growth rate, or CAGR, of 17% over the next five years to exceed Rs. 1,75,000 crore, a CII-PwC report has said. The burgeoning internet segment has the potential to outshine the print sector by 2014, according to the CII-PwC’s ‘India Entertainment and Media Outlook 2012’, which says the overall growth will be driven by advertising spend, consumer spend infrastructure and policy support. Internet access contributed 14% to the total revenues in 2011, when the industry grew at 17.5% over the previous year to an estimated Rs. 80,000 crore. The television and print segments continued to be the largest contributors. At the same time, the share of internet grew from 11% in 2010. Internet access and gaming segments were the fastest growing, with annual growth rates of 57% and 33%, respectively. The gaming segment, though a small contributor to the industry, has been growing due to the rising popularity of mobile, online and social media gaming. Television, the biggest segment in terms of revenue addition, grew at an annual rate of 16%. The advertising segment in India is dominated by the television and print sectors, which together account for over 80% of its revenues. Both sectors are expected to continue to be dominant over the next five years. Advertising spend contributes about 35% in revenues to the industry. But, compared with other countries, advertising spend as a percentage of GDP is very low at 0.3%. Where the consumer is concerned, the second big game changer, key spend segments include television subscription, film admissions and print circulation. The average annual spend per capita is at a low of $7 in India, compared with $22 in China and $65 in Brazil.
• ·         The Delhi government has set a deadline of December 22 to stop manufacture, sale and storage of plastic bags in the national capital. Top officials in the Environment department said traders involved in production and sale of plastic bags have been ordered to dismantle their manufacturing facilities. The order has been issued as per a government decision to impose blanket ban in this regard. Following a Delhi High Court order, the government had in January 2009 imposed a ban on the use of plastic bags in various markets, shopping malls, hotels and hospitals but it has not produced the desired result. The government has now imposed the ban as per provision of the Environment Protection Act, 1986, under which violators could face imprisonment and fine.
• ·         With the onset of winter, the migratory birds from different parts of the globe have already started arriving in Chilka - their winter abode in Odisha. The state forest department has already initiated measures to protect the visiting birds from poachers. Chilka Lake offers the visitors a spectacular display of its colourful avian charms in a thousand different hues presented by over 160 species in the peak season between November and February. This largest brackish water lagoon in the east-coast of India (designated as a wetland of international importance in 1981 under the "Ramsar Convention") offers unique assemblage of fresh water, brackish and marine Eco-system and a hot-spot of Biodiversity. The avian guests usually arrive here around second and third week of October. More than eight lakh migratory birds had stayed in the famous lake last winter. Officials of the state forest and wild life department have already set up camps in the Nalabana bird sanctuary area of the lake to oversee the safety of the migratory birds.
• ·         Finance Minister P Chidambaram has unveiled a five-year road map for fiscal consolidation to promote investments, contain inflation and take India to a high growth trajectory. The Minister said, the government will continue efforts to restrict fiscal deficit in the current financial year to 5.3 per cent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and reduce it to 3 per cent by 2016-17. The fiscal deficit was 5.8 per cent in 2011-12. The finance minister said, the government has accepted the  recommendations of the Kelkar Committee on fiscal consolidation. “The Kelkar Committee has cautioned us that a business-as-usual scenario for the current year may lead to the fiscal deficit rising to 6.1 per cent of GDP. The Committee has recommended a number of reform measures in taxation, disinvestment and expenditure.  On the taxation side, the Committee has strongly advocated a transition to the Goods and Services Tax (GST) and a quick review of the Direct Taxes Code (DTC) before its introduction and passing in Parliament.  Besides, the Committee has recommended administrative measures to improve tax collection.  On disinvestment, the Committee has suggested a number of new models for disinvestment and has also urged Government to disinvest its residual stake in some companies that were privatised earlier.  On the expenditure side, the Committee has suggested rationalisation of schemes and strict control and monitoring of expenditure. Government is determined to address the twin challenges of current account deficit (CAD) and fiscal deficit (FD).  During 2011-12, the CAD increased to USD 78.2 billion or 4.2 per cent of GDP.  The Department of Economic Affairs, in consultation with the RBI, has projected a CAD of USD 70.3 billion in 2012-13 or 3.7 per cent of GDP.” Government has decided to adopt the following plan of fiscal consolidation during the period of 12th plan that is from 2012-13 to 2016-17. In 2012-13 - 5.3%, 2013-14 - 4.8%, 2014-15 - 4.2%, 2015-16 - 3.6% and 2016-17 - 3%. Referring to fiscal consolidation in 2012-13, Chidambaram expressed the confidence that the government would be able to raise  30,000 crore rupees from disinvestment and 40,000 crore rupees from sale of spectrum. He said, while funds will be made available for essential expenditure, especially capital expenditure, every effort will be made to avoid parking or idling of funds. The Finance minister also said, the Centre's flagship schemes will be protected under the fiscal consolidation measures to provide relief to the poor and weaker sections of society.
• ·         GST Update: With the Centre and states sorting out most differences on the goods and services tax, the movement of goods and services across India is set to be streamlined with a single tax structure replacing most of the indirect taxes such as central excise, service tax, VAT, purchase tax and surcharges. Its implementation is likely to bring down the overall burden on consumers significantly, as the total tax—both at the state level and the Centre combined—is expected to be lower than 18%. Currently, all indirect taxes on any goods and services add up to more than 30%. Rollout of the tax is expected to boost revenues and economic growth. GST was scheduled to be implemented from April 1, 2010, but missed the deadline due to lack of consensus among states who were worried about losing autonomy on taxation issues. Since then it has missed two other deadlines and experts say they expect its implementation by 2014. Approval of states is important as rollout of GST requires a constitutional amendment with at least two-thirds of the members of Parliament voting in favour in both the Houses. The report of Parliament’s standing committee on finance, which is reviewing the Constitutional Amendment bill needed to implement GST, is awaited. [click here for Graphic: 1; 2]
• ·         The first ever coal museum of the North-East region was inaugurated at historical town and mineral rich Margherita in Tinsukia district of Assam. It has showcased the history of discovery of coal in the region, the mining process and instruments, materials related to Second World War which will be a boon for research students and geologists. A beautiful portrait of Italian Queen Margaret Maria was also kept in the museum. The North Eastern Coal Fields also paid tribute to Dr.John Berry White, the first chief of the Assam Trading and Railways Company, under which patronage coal mining was carried out in the region. Surrounded by tea gardens, hills and forest, the museum is likely to attract more tourists to Margherita.
• ·         President Pranab Mukherjee at a function organized to pay homage to cartoonist late Shri P.K.S. Kutty at Rashtrapati Bhavan said that the job of a cartoonist is to convey important social messages by using humour as a tool. The President said laughter is a stress buster for the public as well as the politician. The cartoon reminds the public that the ruler is as fallible and human as they are, he said.
• ·         The national capital, which was not even among the world’s top ten urban sprawls by population in 1990, is already the second largest behind Tokyo and will continue to retain that position till 2025, according to a UN projection. Mumbai, which was at No.5 in 1990, has climbed to the fourth spot and will be No.3 in the next 13 years. The projections, made in the UN’s recent publication, State of The World’s Cities 2012-13, suggest that the Delhi urban agglomeration will have a population of 28.6 million by 2025, still well behind Tokyo’s 37.1 million. Mumbai will, in the meantime, have reached a population of 25.8 million. The fastest growing of the world’s mega cities over the next 13 years will be Dhaka, which was ranked No. 23 in 1990 but was already at No. 9 in 2010, and is projected to be the fifth largest urban area in the world by 2025. Another city in India’s neighbourhood, Karachi, has also been rapidly climbing up the rankings, from No. 21 in 1990 to No. 10 in 2010 and No. 9 in 2025. Kolkata, which was ranked No. 7 in 1990, has been more or less holding on to its position, having dropped just one rank till 2010, and is projected to hold on to that position in 2025. New York and Mexico City, which were the two biggest urban agglomerations two decades ago, are projected to drop to the bottom half of the top 10 list in a little more than a decade from now.
• ·         After laying out the red carpet for the Australian prime minister, New Delhi is preparing to host Canadian PM Stephen Harper next week. Travelling through four cities — Agra, Chandigarh, Bangalore and Delhi — between November 3-9, Harper, whose conservative government has taken a definite turn towards India, plans to use his second visit to India to reset the agenda between the two countries. Canada is emerging as one of India’s bigger sources for energy and minerals. Private Indian firms are being invited to invest in the energy sector in Canada, with the country using its established infrastructure, political stability and low risk as selling points. While trade is growing at a steady clip, Canada is also an attractive destination for at least 23,000 Indian students.
• ·         Declaring that Asia’s rise is “unstoppable”, Australia has unveiled an ambitious plan aimed at forging deeper links with India and other booming economies of the region, including teaching languages like Hindi and Mandarin in its schools. “This (Asia’s rise) is not only unstoppable, it is gathering pace,” Gillard said, releasing a sweeping policy blueprint entitled ‘Asian Century White Paper’ aimed at maximizing links with Asia which will power Australia into the world’s top 10 wealthiest nations by 2025. All Australian schools will engage with at least one school in Asia to support the teaching of a priority Asian language — Mandarin, Hindi, Indonesian or Japanese, she said.
• ·         The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff had arrived in Israel to observe the Austere Challenge 12, the largest-ever military exercise between the two countries. The two sides have held that the Austere Challenge 12, the ongoing military drill has been a huge success. The exercise involves the deployment of Patriot missile batteries and other air defense systems, including surface-to-air missiles deployed on naval ships.
• ·         The former President of the Philippines Gloria Arroyo has appeared in court on charges of misusing millions in state lottery charity funds while in office. Earlier this month, an arrest warrant was issued for Mrs Arroyo, who is accused of diverting 8.8 million dollar.  She arrived in court in a wheelchair from a military hospital where she has been confined.
• ·         A senior member of the Fatah Movement have said that the Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is moving ahead with his plans to seek the status of a non-member State (upgraded observer status) at the 193 member UN General Assembly, where it can be passed by a simple majority. The move is likely to sail through given the support of developing nations. The Palestinian officials said that they will ask for international recognition of a Palestinian state in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem, territories captured by Israel in the 1967. They believe the UN vote would then require Israel to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines or face international legal action. Israel rejects a full return to those lines, and says the borders between Israel and a future Palestine must be reached through direct negotiations. The move is likely to create yet another showdown with Israel and US against any such proposal.
• ·         The depression over southwest Bay of Bengal moved westwards, intensified into a deep depression and lay centred 550 Km southeast of Chennai and 300 Km north east of Trincomalee, Sri Lanka. Chennai Met office has said that the system would intensify further into a cyclonic storm and cross north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra coast.
• ·         Sri Lanka’s met department has warned that a depression in the Bay of Bengal, centered about 250 km east of the island, is likely to deepen and hit the east coast.  Warning has been issued to fishing and naval communities to be vigilant about the strong winds and rough seas in the sea areas off the east coast. Meanwhile, most parts of the island are experiencing heavy rain and strong winds.
• ·         A tsunami warning has been issued after a strong 7.7 magnitude earthquake shook the Queen Charlotte Islands off the west coast of Canada. However, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said, there was no threat of a tsunami at this time. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.
• ·         More than 80,000 people in south China's Hainan Province have been relocated to temporary shelters following the arrival of Typhoon Son-Tinh, which has brought gales and downpours to the region. The provincial transportation department said the suspension of train services and shipping across the Qiongzhou Strait, will continue due to high winds and rains.
• ·         Forecasters are warning that Sandy could be more destructive than last year’s Hurricane Irene, which caused billions of dollars in damage across the U.S. Northeast. [Click here for Graphic]
• ·         The American Television Network, NBC has bought the rights to share English Premier League football in the United States for three years from next season. It is reportedly paid 250 million dollars more than three times as much as the current US license holder Fox. NBC said it plans to broadcast six live games a week.