{DNN} Daily News Notes: 10th to 20th Nov, 2012

· Deepawali, the festival of lights is being celebrated across the country and abroad with traditional ferver and gaiety. The festival symbolises dispelling of gloom and the bringing of happiness, peace and prosperity in the life of people. Indians around the world got a special Diwali message from outer space as Indian-American astronaut Sunita Williams sent out warm wishes on the occasion from the International Space Station. In Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari has greeted Hindus on the occasion and called for strengthening interfaith harmony and protecting minorities' rights. He reiterated the commitment to respect and uphold UN Resolution calling for interfaith harmony. In Nepal, Laxmi Puja or worship to the goddess of wealth is being celebrated in every household this evening to mark the second day of Yampanchak of the five-day Tihar festival.
· In a bid to socially and politically empower women, the Assam State Election Commission has announced 50 per cent reservation of seats in the panchayat election for Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) women. This decision will come into effect from the forthcoming panchayat election which is likely to be held in February-March next year. In last panchayat poll, one -third seats were reserved for women.
· Keeping in view the alarmingly high number of cancer cases reported from various parts of Punjab, the state government has decided to launch the biggest ever state wide door-to-door campaign next month for awareness campaign, early detection of cancer and its subsequent treatment. The state government had also set up Cancer Relief Fund. The maximum admissible amount to be sanctioned for every affected patient is stated to be Rs. 1.5 lakh. To ascertain the exact number of cancer affected persons in the state, the state government has issued a notification, last month, asking all hospitals and laboratories in the state to report diagnosed or suspicious cases of cancer.
· Inaugurating the 32nd India International Trade Fair in New Delhi, President of India has called upon the Industry to join hands with the government to address the huge gap between demand and supply of skilled persons in the country. In order, to reach the target of skilling 500 millions persons by the year 2022, it is necessary that apart from government agencies, industry led fora addressed the issue of integrating skill manpower and the mainstream of economy growth. On the occasion, Commerce and Industry Minister said that the National Manufacturing Policy which was rolled out last year, is aimed at enhancing the share of manufacture sector in GDP to 25 per cent within a decade, creating at least 100 million jobs. The Minister announced opening up of more investment and manufacturing zones in the country. Mr. Sharma said it will cater to the need of employment of 200 million young people who will join the work force with in this decade. “Skilling India, the theme of this year's fair focuses on the initiatives undertaken by various government departments and private participants for the skill development of the youth. In the 14-day annual fair, Belarus is the partner country, while South Africa has been chosen as the focus country. In the state category, Uttarakhand is the partner state and Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the focus state or Union Territory.”
· The PGI, Chandigarh has cancelled its MD/MS entrance examination held last week after the CBI unearthed a cheating racket. The decision will affect 7,300 candidates, who appeared for the 78 post graduation seats in various departments of the PGI.
· The Finance Minister has announced that all Kisan Credit Cards will be converted into ATM cards by March 2014 to provide greater and easy access to farmers to agricultural credit. Mr Chidambaram expressed confidence that banks will achieve agriculture credit target of 5.75 lakh crore by the end of this fiscal. Around 2.4 lakh crore rupees have already been disbursed till September 2012. Referring to the filling of vacancies in banks, he said 63,200 people will be recruited by the end of this fiscal. Mr Chidambaram reiterated government's decision to roll out direct cash transfer in various schemes given to BPL families scheme in 51 districts in different states.
· The Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 has come into effect. The new act provides for child-friendly procedures for reporting of offences, recording of evidence, investigation and trial. In keeping with the best international child protection standards, the act provides for mandatory reporting of sexual offences against children. It also prescribes punishment for a person if he provides false information with the intention to defame any person, including a child. The act is gender neutral and for the first time, a child is defined any person below the age of 18 years. It provides precise definitions for different forms of sexual abuse, including penetrative and non-penetrative sexual assault, sexual harassment and pornography. Further, under Section 45 of the Act, the power to make rules rests with the Central Government. The rules framed under the Act provide for qualifications and experience of interpreters, translators, special educators, and experts; arrangements for care and protection and emergency medical treatment of the child; compensation payable to a child who has been the victim of a sexual offence; and the manner of periodic monitoring of the provisions of the Act by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights and State Commissions for Protection of Child Rights. The rules rely on the structures established under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000, such as Child Welfare Committees and District Child Protection Units, to make arrangements for the care and protection of the child and to ensure that the child is not re-victimised in the course of investigation and trial. Background: India is home to the largest child population in the world, and almost 42 per cent of its total population is under eighteen years of age. One of the issues marring the vision for the country’s children is the evil of child sexual abuse, and a special law - the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 - was passed by Parliament in May, 2012 to address this issue. The Act received the President’s assent on 19th June 2012 and was notified in the Gazette of India for public information on 20th June, 2012. The Act is to come into force on the 14th of November, 2012, along with the rules framed under the Act.
· The Quami Ekta Week (National Integration week) is observed every year from 19th to 25th November, 2012 to foster and reinforce the spirit of Communal Harmony and National Integration Week. The Quami Ekta Week provides us an opportunity to reaffirm the values of tolerance, co-existence and brotherhood in a multi-cultural and multi-religious society. The National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH) an autonomous organisation of the Ministry of Home Affairs also organizes a Communal Harmony Campaign week coinciding with the Quami Ekta Week.
· National Integration Day is celebrated on 19th November to mark the birth anniversary of late Mrs Indira Gandhi, the 1st woman Prime Minister of India. On this occasion Union Ministry of Water Resources has decided to celebrate “Water Conservation Day" on 19th November 2012 to create awareness regarding concern about depleting water resources.
· The Vice President of India Shri M. Hamid Ansari presented the “Moortidevi Award for 2010” to eminent Urdu scholar Prof. Gopi Chand Narang for his outstanding work ‘Urdu Ghazal aur Hindustani Zehan wa Tehzeeb”. The Moortidevi Award is an annual literary award in India presented by the Bharatiya Jnanpith organization for a work which emphasizes Indian philosophy and culture.
· A research team from the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy presented the cost-benefit analysis of the Aadhaar programme to the Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission. The study finds that substantial benefits would accrue to the government by integrating Aadhaar with schemes such as PDS, MNREGS, fertilizer and LPG subsidies as well as certain housing, education and health programmes. After taking into account all the costs, and making modest assumptions about leakages, the study finds that the Aadhaar project would yield an internal rate of return of 52.85 percent to the Government. The NIPFP study argues that if we were to add more programmes and expand the scope of the analysis, and also include the intangible benefits, the likely returns will be higher. The Twelfth Plan document as approved by the Cabinet aims at financial inclusion by providing Aadhaar linked banking services to all desirous households and progressively moving to ‘cash transfers’ for major subsidies and beneficiary payment programme.
· The President of India Shri Pranab Mukherjee laid the foundation stone of a housing complex in the President’s Estate for construction of fifty Type-II Quarters for subordinate staff of the President’s Secretariat. There are total 576 Staff quarters dwelling units in Type I category spread in 13 Blocks of the President’s Estate. Most of the houses were constructed during 1927 to 1932. These houses are now dilapidated, have outlived their life and are beyond economical maintenance and repairs. In the Redevelopment Scheme of the President’s Estate, these quarters are being replaced by well designed Type II quarters. The new housing complex will be built as per following green building parameters laid down by CPWD : [1.] Utilization of Fly ash in building structure (e.g. use of fly ash mixed cement, use of Auto Claved Aerated Cement (AAC) Blocks and Fly Ash Lime Gypsum (FALG) bricks instead of normal bricks in non-load bearing wall); [2.] Efficient water use during construction by using curing compounds for RCC works instead of normal water curing; [3.] Reduce volume, wait and time of construction by using Ready Mix Concrete; [4.] Reuse of dismantled bricks and ensuring reuse of other dismantled material; [5.] Thermal Insulation of outer walls and top roof, use of high performance glass in doors and windows instead of normal glass; [6.] Renewable energy utilization (e.g. Solar water heating system for hot water supply); [7.] Recycle and reuse of Grey Water for flushing; [8.] Use of low Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) paints; [9.] Less air pollution during construct.
· Indira Gandhi National Service Scheme Awards announced. Rajiv Gandhi university of Health Sciences, Karnataka has been selected for the award for the best University/+2 council (State level). In the category of Upcoming University, there is a tie and the award will be shared between Directorate of Higher Education, Himachal Pradesh and University of Kashmir, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir. Five Universities have been selected for “Certificate of Appreciation” awards for their valuable contributions, viz. Andhra University, Directorate of Technical Education-Kerala, University of Mumbai, Annamalai University (Tamil Nadu) and University of Calcutta. 30 volunteers have also been selected for their dedicated and selfless services in NSS. Background: National Service Scheme (NSS) is one of the flagship programmes of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports aimed at developing qualities of good citizenship and spirit of Volunteerism among youth and to provide them an opportunity to work with the people in the villages and slum dwellers. The scheme seeks to achieve its objectives through twin approach i.e. “Campus to Community” and “College to Village”. National Service Scheme was launched during the birth centenary celebration of Mahatma Gandhi on 24th September 1969 in 37 Universities involving 40,000 students. Today, NSS has more than 3.2. million student volunteers on its roll spread over 299 Universities. The scheme is implemented through the State Governments and the operations of NSS are at the University/ College and Higher Secondary School level. In 1993-94, during the Silver Jubilee year of NSS, the Indira Gandhi National Service Scheme (IGNSS) Awards were instituted to give recognition to selfless service rendered by the NSS volunteers, Programme Officers and the Programme Coordinators.
· Ministry of Agriculture in a note has informed the major-recent agricultural scheme initiated by the Government for the Farmers. Some are as follows: [1.] Government has raised MSP in recent years by huge margin. MSP for wheat and rice has been more than doubled in last 8 years. MSP for some pulse crops has gone up three times; [2.] Government has doubled the sugarcane support price in four years. It stands at Rs. 170 per quintal now; [3.] Government subsidises farm loans considerably. Crop loans upto Rs. 3 lakh are available at 4% interest. Other farm loans too are available at a subsidised rate of 7%; [4.] Farm credit has gone up substantially. Over 6 crore farmers avail of loans from banks and cooperatives. Total farm credit exceeds Rs. 5 lakh crore; [5.] Banks have issued nearly 12 crore Kisan Credit Cards, helping farmers take loans hassle-free. KCC can now also be used as ATM card; [6.] A special scheme, BGREI (Bringing Green Revolution to Eastern India), has been launched to support farmers in eastern India. Farmers in eastern UP, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, WB benefit from this scheme; [7.] Kisan call centre provides expert advice to farmers.
· Union Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA) has approved revised the income criteria for defining beneficiaries under government schemes for housing under his Ministry. Now urban poor having an annual household income of up to Rs. 1 lakh will be classified as EWS (Economically Weaker Section) and those falling between Rs. 1 lakh and 2 lakhs would be categorized as LIG (Lower Income Group). The Minister said informed that the previous income criteria for selection of beneficiaries under various schemes of his Ministry were fixed during 2010 at a monthly household income of up to Rs 5000 for EWS while it stood at Rs. 5,001 to Rs. 10,000 for LIG segments. Based on the income, expenditure and cost of housing criteria such as Growth in Per Capita Income, Min. Wages for non-agri. Workers, Monthly Per Capita Expenditure, NHB’s RESIDEX, Consumer Price Index and Consumer Food Price Index, the revised income criteria has been approved, he added. Further he informed that an estimated 18.78 million units are considered to be the housing shortfall at the beginning of the 12th Five Year Plan. “Affordable Housing for All” is a key policy agenda of the Government of India. One of the modes of delivery of this objective is through channelization of credit to meet the housing shortage among the urban poor.
· National Small Industries Corporation has organized Techmart India 2012 showcasing the strengths and capabilities of Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises. The objectives of Techmart India 2012: [1.] To exhibit the capabilities and export potential of Indian MSMEs as well as their goods and services; [2.] To discover new market opportunities and technologies through organized meetings with potential buyers and suppliers from India and abroad; [3.] To forge closer linkages and networking amongst MSMEs through exchange and sharing experiences as well as know–how on best business practices & strategies; [4.] To encourage young people, entrepreneurs, micro & small enterprises to set up new projects, expand their business & export, low cost and employment generation oriented technologies are on display.
· Inaugurating the Silver Jubilee celebrations of Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS), the Youth Affairs and Sports Minister informed that NYKS has been working in various fronts including developing values of good citizenship, thinking and behaving in secular ways, skill development and helping youth to adopt a productive and organized behaviour. He asked NYKS to further strengthen their work among youths in the J&K, North-East and Naxal affected areas for creating awareness for development and peace. He said, his Ministry will organise a mega youth convention in February, 2013 on the issues like national integration and communal harmony. He further informed that the Rajiv Gandhi National Institute of Youth Development (RGNIYD), Chennai, has been granted status of Institute of National Importance. Some major highlights of Year Long Programme & Activities to be organized by NYKS during Silver Jubilee Year as under: [1.] Providing Employment linked Skill Training to more than one lakh youth under Skill Development Initiative of NYKS; [2.] Creation of Awareness about National Goal of Skill Development as announced by National Skill Development Mission headed by Prime Minister of India; [3.] Involving Youth Clubs for activating Gram Sabhas to function as Social Audit Forum for effective implementation of various development programmes at grass root level; [4.] Setting up of Libraries and Youth Information Centres in rural areas for creating awareness on developmental programmes; [5.] Awareness and education on Prevention of Drug Abuse and Alcoholism.
· The Minister of Culture has inaugurated an exhibition entitled ‘The Last Harvest’- Paintings by Rabindranath Tagore. To commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Rabindranath Tagore, the Government of India constituted a committee to plan a number of programs nationally and internationally, including showcasing Tagore’s paintings at select museums across the world (Berlin, New York, Seoul, London, Chicago, Paris, Kuala Lampur, Ontario) from 2011 to 2012. The Last Harvest: Paintings by Rabindranath Tagore comprises works on paper drawn from three collections in India. The works of art are drawn from the prestigious collections of Rabindra Bhavan, Kala Bhavan, Visva Bharati Santiniketan and from the National Gallery of Modern Art, New Delhi. What is remarkable about these works painted some 75 to 80 years ago is their timeless quality. In this exhibition the works are grouped into what may be considered four important facets of his oeuvre: Group 1: This group contains some of his earliest paintings; they are either geometrical or arabesque and have an element of playful inventiveness involving morphological cross-projections that defy reality. Group 2: Nature was an enduring theme in Rabindranath’s writings and songs; he felt a deep companionship with nature since his childhood. A more meditative and observant come through in his landscapes and flower pieces. Group 3: As a playwright and actor Rabindranath was sensitive to gesture and its dramatic and narrative potential; the paintings in this group bring this into focus. Group 4: This group consists of his representations of the human face into which he reads traces of social and personal life. They are products of observation and psychological probing.
· A day after Finance Minister asked the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to finalise the guidelines for new bank licences and start accepting applications for the same pending passage of the Banking Laws (Amendment) Bill, RBI Governor said it would be not possible without fulfilling the enabling conditions for the same. The RBI Governor said it would take at least eight-nine months to issue the first new bank licence if the Act was amended in the Winter Session which begins on November 22. The amendments to the Act will invest RBI with supervisory powers over private companies that would enter the banking sector. Specifically, the RBI wants legal powers to supersede the board of any new banking player in case of irregularities. The last time the RBI allowed new private banks was in 2002, prior to which it allowed new players in the mid-90s. The RBI issued the final guidelines in August 2011 for entry of new banks, including those floated by corporates, but is waiting for the necessary legal powers before it proceeds further. The bank licences were initially slated to be issued way back in 2008-09.
· President launched a nationwide Information, Education and Communication (IEC) campaign against malnutrition. The IEC campaign against malnutrition is the initiative of the Women and Child Development Ministry. Malnutrition amongst children and women has been a grave concern for the country and it was the decision of the Prime Minister’s Council on India’s Nutrition Challenges that one of the best strategies to combat the problem of malnutrition, would be to educate and empower the families and mothers on better care of their children. Thus, the IEC Campaign Against Malnutrition intends to sensitize and broaden awareness about good nutrition among the masses for improved nutrition outcomes. The campaign will be carried out at the National, State and Local levels through conventional and modern media through multimedia channels with the help of Ministry of Information & Broadcasting agencies. The campaign will be rolled out in an evolutionary manner of 4 stages which runback to back with some overlap. Stage 1 will create an awareness on symptoms of malnutrition for a period of 8 weeks, Stage 2 gives a Clarion Call and is spread over six weeks. In Stage 3, there are key messages on basic critical practices for maternal and child care as prevention from malnutrition. Stage 4 will inform the public about acquiring services and Mother Child Protection card. Also, Aamir Khan is the face of this campaign and has worked in-depth with the team of officials from the Ministry and creative agency, McCann, for the past two years.
· There were two messages for the media on the occasion of National Press Day: the government clearly signalled a hands-off policy, even while the outspoken chief of the Press Council of India (PCI) warned that the freedom of the press must be “crushed” if it did not help raise the standard of living of the masses. “As a country, we believe in complete independence of the media from external control,” said Prime Minister. On the other hand, “Freedom of press is not an absolute right. The absolute right is the improvement of standard of living of the masses,” PCI Chairman Justice Markandey Katju said at a function held to mark National Press Day, which commemorates the establishment of the Press Council on November 16, 1956.
· The Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry has launched “Project Lakshya” to reduce waiting time for delivery of LPG cylinders and track duplicate connections, by enrolling the assistance of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) through a new software. The results of this drive have been outstanding with the three oil marketing companies (OMCs) — Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) — reporting a fall in consumption of domestic LPG cylinders. The OMCs have till date blocked nearly 8 million inactive connections, which were potentially being misused. They have traced 1.3 million same-address, same-name connections which have been since blocked. A total of 13.3 million LPG connections have been blocked so far.
· Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office has informed that the government is considering a proposal to make the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) a multimember body as recommended by the former CAG, V.K. Shunglu. Earlier, the Shunglu panel had suggested that a three-member body would ensure greater transparency in CAG’s operation. One member should possess professional accounting qualifications — a chartered accountant or its equivalent. Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy said the government was trying to dilute the authority and curtail autonomy of CAG because of its reports. However, the former Chief Election Commissioner, S.Y. Quraishi, said CAG would become more powerful if it had more than one member. “I won’t comment on [its] timing, but making CAG a multi-member body would be better,” he said, citing the long experience of a multimember Election Commission. Further, on another issue, the Prime Minister has informed that there is no ‘urgent need’ to consider changes in the process of appointment of the Comptroller and Auditor General, and the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners.
· The Supreme Court has expressed serious concern at the inordinate delay in payment of compensation to farmers for land, holding that it amounts to deprivation of livelihood, which is a violation of Article 21 (right to life) of the Constitution. Writing the judgment, SCI Judge said: “It is not permissible for any welfare state to uproot a person and deprive him of his fundamental/constitutional/human rights under the garb of industrial development. A welfare state governed by the rule of law cannot are not only bound to pay adequate compensation but there is also a legal obligation upon them to rehabilitate such persons. The non-fulfilment of their obligations would tantamount to forcing the uprooted persons to become vagabonds or to indulge in anti-national activities as such sentiments would be born in them on account of ill-treatment without its [the state] resorting to any procedure prescribed by law, without the court realising that the enrichment of a welfare state or of its instrumentalities, at the cost of poor farmers, is not permissible, particularly when done at the behest of the state itself.” Further, the Bench said: “It is pertinent to note that even after the right to property ceased to be a fundamental right, taking possession of or acquiring the property of a citizen was, most certainly, tantamount to deprivation and such deprivation can take place only in accordance with the “law,” as the said word has specifically been used in Article 300-A. Such deprivation can be [done] only by resorting to a procedure prescribed by a statute. The same cannot be done by way of an executive fiat or order or administration caprice.”
· The Centre has informed the Supreme Court that the recommendations of the Technical Expert Committee (TEC) seeking a 10-year moratorium on field trials on Genetically Modified (GM) crops will be highly detrimental and will not be in national interest. “Based on current overall status of food safety evaluation of Bt. Transgenics, including the data on Bt. Cotton and Bt. Brinjal examined by the TEC, and in accordance with the precautionary principle, the TEC recommends a 10-year moratorium on field trials of Bt. Transgenics in all food crops. Another factor of this is the possibility of contamination of non-GM food by GM food,” the TEC said in its interim report submitted to the Supreme Court. However, appearing for the Centre, Attorney-General G.E. Vahanvati contended that field trials should be allowed to go on as the demand for food for the growing population could be met only through the GM crops. He said: “Ten years of moratorium on GM crop trials will be a blow to Indian science as it would put the country 20 years back in scientific research in comparison to fast growing economies who are developing GM crops like Brazil, China and others. This will have several cascading implications. The country will fail to attract scientific talent from the younger generations in the absence of opportunity.”
· Finance Minister has informed that the amendments to GAAR, the controversial law against tax avoidance through foreign investments, have been finalized. GAAR (General Anti-Avoidance Rules), which was proposed in 2012-13 budget with a view to preventing tax evasion, evoked sharp reactions from foreign as well as domestic investors who feared that unbridled powers to taxmen would result in harassment of investors. The government later appointed a committee headed by tax expert Parthasarthi Shome to look into their concerns.
· Bal Thackeray, the 86-year-old cartoonist turned a maverick politician who roused emotions on Marathi pride and catapulted Shiv Sena to power in Maharashtra in the 1990s, died after having been critically ill for the past few days. A rabble rouser, who started out as a cartoonist alongside R K Laxman in the Free Press Journal in the 1950s, founded the Shiv Sena in 1966 on the plank of job security for the Marathi manoos (sons of the soil) which translated into attacks on South Indians whom he had blamed for taking away the opportunities from the locals.
· Should English be introduced as a medium of instruction in Class I? May be not, suggests a study commissioned by the Union Human Resource Development Ministry said on the teaching of English in government-run primary schools. Reason being that teaching of English in most government primary schools is no more than a teacher reading aloud from a textbook with no effort to develop listening or speaking skills in children, familiarising them with the rhythm and joy of poetry, contextualise grammar, or pay attention to learning gaps. Further, English has been introduced at the primary level in 27 states, it is a subject in Class I in 18 states, and the medium of instruction in Nagaland, Jammu and Kashmir, and government model schools of Chandigarh and Maharashtra. While the early introduction of the language is in response to people’s aspirations for quality education, experts opine that the language must be introduced at a relatively later stage and the mother tongue must be the medium of learning at primary level. However, the study by NCERT says that the most teachers begin their lessons by reading from textbooks, finish lessons abruptly, do not teach word/sentence patterns, resort to local languages and offer no opportunity to children to listen to spoken English or speak in the language. In classrooms, the participation of students in the learning process was less in all states except Tamil Nadu.
· As nearly eight lakh Electronic Bank Realisation Certificates (eBRCs) have been issued in the first three months since the introduction of eBRC on August 17, 2012, Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) Dr. Anup K Pujari has written to Chairpersons of all the banks to address the issues pertaining to eBRC including the transaction cost for everyone involved - exporters, government and banks. Bank Realisation Certificate (BRC) is issued by a bank after realisation of export proceeds in the country. It is an important document required for claiming benefits under various FTP schemes. In addition, BRC data is used by VAT, Income tax and Drawback departments. Moving towards paperless trade and with a view to reduce transaction cost, DGFT, with effect from August 17 this year, has introduced eBRC and stopped accepting physical copy of BRC. The eBRC module developed by DGFT enables electronic transmission of foreign exchange realisation from banks to DGFT server. This process is made secure by use of digital certificate.
· Non-performing assets will rise over the next year for Indian banks as the economic downturn continues, Fitch Ratings has said in study. At the end of the first-half of FY’13, gross NPAs in the 10 largest government banks — accounting for over 70 per cent of the Indian banking system assets and a key driver in shaping system averages — rose by about 60 per cent from a year earlier and by 32 per cent from end-FY’12. State Bank of India (SBI), which started to address its asset quality problem relatively early, reported an increase in non-performing loans to 5.15 per cent at end-September 2012, from 4.19 per cent a year ago but accompanied by a far lower share of restructured assets. The prolonged stress in the infrastructure sector will put the greatest pressure on the asset quality and could cause problem loans to spike — as most of the stressed exposures are currently classed as restructured assets. Since 2007, the infrastructure boom has led to a concentration in lending to the sector and to single names, particularly power utilities. Small and medium-sized Indian banks, such as UCO and Vijaya, with concentrated regional profiles are viewed as most vulnerable if stress levels increase. Larger banks such as State Bank of India and Bank of Baroda, with diversified loan portfolios and better funding profiles, should be able to absorb losses through profits alone.
· The Assam government has launched a unique programme to send meritorious students of the state the US space agency NASA. The programme is called the Deba Kumar Bora Memorial NASA visit. A Total of six students, who topped in High School Leaving Certificate and Assam the High Madrassa Examination this year, are being taken on this 14 day educational tour.
· A Florida city has declared November 17 as the 'Kashmiri Hindu Heritage Day', in recognition of the resilience of Kashmiri Hindus who were displaced from their homeland two decades back. The proclamation noted that 500,000 Kashmiri Hindus were dislodged by acts of terrorism and many of them migrated to the USA and today 22 years later, a majority of them have not returned to their place of birth due to fear but have retained and preserved their 5000 year old art, culture and cuisine.
· Defence minister A K Antony said India has sought details from the UK in connection with corruption allegations in the VVIP helicopter deal with Italy. The allegations surfaced recently when media reports suggested that two people have been arrested in Switzerland for allegedly paying kickbacks to secure the 560 million Euro Indian chopper deal for 12 AW-101 helicopters.
· High on Prime Minister Stephen Harper's recent visit to India, a first turbaned Cabinet minister in Canada, Tim Uppal said that he was glad over progress being made in bi-lateral ties between India and Canada. He also spoke about abundance energy sources in Canada and how India could benefit from it while Canada need Indian expertise in IT industries and trained work-force. Tim also talked about the need of democratic reforms in Canada as well as well as India. He said there were huge opportunities to pursue studies in Canada and presently 33000 Indian students were studying in various universities and colleges.
· Around 40,000 Indians are set to accept the amnesty announced by the UAE government for illegal residents to return to their homelands without paying fines. The amnesty applies only to those who have entered the country legally, but overstayed.
· The International Ecotourism Society has defined Ecotourism as the "responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the welfare of local people". The Australian Commission on National Ecotourism Strategy defines ecotourism as "nature-based tourism that involves education and interpretation of the natural environment and is managed to be ecologically sustainable". As far as India is concerned, the famous Sanskrit poem the “Meghadoot” by the immortal poet Kalidasa, on close examination, proves to be a manual for eco-tourism. The poem stresses on the care that should be taken to protect nature and natural resources. For example, there is sloka in Meghadoot which means “we have watered the trees that blossom in the summer-time. Now let's sprinkle those whose flowering time is past. That will be (a) better deed, because we shall not be working for the reward.” In keeping with the tenets of eco-tourism, India has decided that the Environmental Pledge will be honoured as far as environmental activities are concerned. The following are the principal aspects of the environmental pledge: [1.] All stationery and various kinds of publicity material will be made only on paper that has been recycled; [2.] As far as possible, the use of polythene bags will be avoided as far as tourism related activities are concerned. Plastic is non-biodegradable and a single polythene bag might take up to centuries for decomposing; [3.] Another important area where eco friendliness of tourism is reflected is in the use of power and its generation. The environmental pledge makes it concomitant for the tourists as well as the tourism practitioner to utilize environment friendly forms of power like solar energy or wind turbines; [4.] A related area of concern, from the point of view of eco friendliness, is the care and attention given to the judicious use of water resources. Recycling of used water, installation of active rain water harvesting systems, use of toilets where the amount of water needed is comparatively less etc are some of the important initiatives possible in this area; [5.] Along with this has to be mentioned the concern that eco-tourism projects should have as for protection and conservation of bio diversity and plant and animal life. For this purpose, afforestation activities like planting of tree saplings, medicinal plants etc will be given more prominence in tourism sites. The use of fire wood for heating purposes will be severely curtailed. Use of eco-friendly, non-plant materials for landscaping, interior designing etc is also part of the environment pledge in this area; [6.] Segregation of waste is an important part of activities in eco-friendly tourism projects. Only bio degradable waste materials will be buried at the sites or used for making compost manure etc. Non bio degradable waste, if any, will be taken to other facilities nearby for scientific disposal.
· Prime Minister of India responded to the urging of Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) by promising to finalise the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in services and investment before leaders from this 10-nation bloc arrive in Delhi next month for a summit with India. FTA in Goods was signed in 2009 but aspects related to Services and Investment were delayed due to strong differences between the two sides. Although Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma rolled out figures to assert that trade with ASEAN was growing in leaps and bounds, the fact remains that the dollars 75 billions in bilateral trade clocked last year was only 2.9 per cent of this block’s total trade. Even the FTA in goods covers only 80 per cent of tariff lines compared with 90 per cent in ASEAN’s FTAs with other countries. Further, with the US backing the initiative, Dr. Singh said the India-Myanmar-Thailand highway would be operational by 2016 thus opening North East India to South East Asia. He also spoke about another alternative route through central or north Myanmar to connect Guwahati to Hanoi. US and Japan at their recently held second trilateral meeting with India had supported this initiative and the issue would be discussed at their next meeting in depth to be held in Washington.
· Even as the Indian government faced criticism for not taking action over claims of black money allegedly held by Indians in HSBC’s branch in Geneva, the British tax authorities have launched an investigation into allegations of money laundering against the bank following claims it had opened offshore bank accounts in Jersey for “serious criminals” living in Britain. A whistle-blower was reported to have secretly provided a detailed list of names, addresses and bank accounts of HSBC’s alleged clients. These were said to include names of several people with criminal convictions, including gun-runners and drug dealers. HSBC, which is facing a fine of nearly $1.5 billion in the U.S. for breaking money laundering rules, said it had not been informed of any investigation by Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) but would fully cooperate with it.
· India took delivery of the 5th Russia-built multirole stealth frigate, INS Tarkash. Tarkash belongs to the second batch of three modified Krivak-III (Talwar) class frigates India ordered from Russia in 2006 under a $1.6-billion contract. The first frigate of the batch, INS Teg, was delivered in April and the third one, INS Trikand, is undergoing dock trials and is expected to be handed over next summer after completing sea trials in the Baltic Sea. Each of the new frigates is armed with eight BrahMos supersonic anti-ship missiles instead of the less potent Club-N missiles installed on the first three frigates, which were delivered to the Indian Navy in 2003-2004. Further, even though the construction of the first and second batches of frigates was dogged by long delays, Russia hopes that India will place more orders for the advanced warship.
· Renowned literary critic and educator Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak was awarded the prestigious Kyoto Prize in Kyoto. Instituted by the Inamori Foundation, the prize honours those who have contributed significantly to the scientific, cultural and spiritual betterment of mankind. Ms. Spivak, professor at Columbia University in the U.S., won the award in the Arts and Philosophy category for her “deep thinking on humanities against intellectual colonialism in relation to globalisation”. Also, U.S. computer scientist Ivan Sutherland, regarded as a father of computer graphics, won the Advanced Technology Prize while Japanese molecular biologist Yoshinori Ohsumi was awarded the Basic Sciences Prize.
· A great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi (Shanti Gandhi) has been elected to a State Assembly in the United States (contesting as a Republican Party candidate) during the general elections held on November 6. He is son of Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson, the late Kanti Lal. A cardiovascular and thoracic surgeon, he retired in 2010 from Stormont-Vail Hospital at Topeka City in Kansas. He arrived in the U.S. in 1967 as a medical graduate from the University of Bombay.
· The Irish government was on Thursday at the centre of an angry backlash as protests were held to demand relaxation of the country’s strict anti-abortion law following the death of Savita Halappanavar, a young dentist of Indian origin, after she was refused abortion at a government hospital even though her life was in danger. Savita (31) died from septicaemia a week after she was admitted to the hospital with severe back pain. C.V.R. Prasad, an orthopaedic surgeon who visited Savita in the hospital before she died, criticised the conduct of doctors at University Hospital Galway who refused to perform abortion on grounds that “this is a Catholic country.” Further, there were ill-tempered exchanges in Parliament as the government faced criticism for not legislating on a 1992 court ruling that abortion could be permitted if there was a “real and substantive” risk to the life of the mother. Critics accused successive governments of “political cowardice” in not laying down specific guidelines on abortion.
· 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) 2012 has introduced a special section from this year titled “SOUL OF ASIA: Cinema & Mysticism”. The vision is to screen India premiers of films made on themes of Asian philosophies and philosophers, including Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, Zen, Confucianism, Sufism and other ancient mystic and ascetic traditions of Asia. Films like the Buddha, Confucius, Light of Asia, Samsara, Mystic Iran: The Unseen World, the Burmese Harp and The Great Pilgrim are some of the acclaimed entries in this section.
· Renowned Polish filmmaker Krzysztof Zanussi will be honoured with the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the 43rd International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa. He is the director of the Polish Film Studio TOR and has received several prizes and awards. Some other prominent films by Zanussi include The Structure of Crystal (1969), The Spiral (1978), Constant Factor (1980). Zanussi's works are often described as intellectual and deeply philosophical. He also has a close association with India, particularly Film and Television Institute of India, Pune where he has conducted several workshops for the students since 1975.
· India and Israel diplomatic relations were established in 1992. To mark the occasion of 20 years of diplomatic relations, India Post has issued a set of two stamps (Joint Issue-each stamp of Rs. 5 denomination) depicting the festival of lights, Deepavali & Hanukkah, on 5th November, 2012. Hanukkah, is a Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabeen Revolt of the 2nd century BC. Hanukkah is observed for eight night and days, starting on the 25th day of Kislev according to the Hebrew calendar by lighting candles in windows or doorways on each of the eight nights of Hanukkah. The candles are lit in a unique candelabrum, the nine-branched Menorah or Hanukkah. Like the ‘diyas’ of Deepavali, the Hanukkah candles symbolize the triumph of good over evil and the victory of justice over injustice. The design of the Deepavali Stamps features a row of lit ‘diyas’ whereas a menorah is featured on the Hanukkah Stamp which is inspired by the wooden menorah used by the Jewish community in Mumbai.
· The review meeting of Ministers of Education and heads of delegation of the E-9 countries (Bangladesh, Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan) ended in New Delhi with the adoption of the New Delhi Commitment. The 3-day meeting took stock of the progress towards the Education for All (EFA) goals and to renew cooperation in consolidating the gains and addressing remaining challenges. They affirmed the changing political and economic balance in the world, where the E-9 countries are in a position to play a pivotal role in global debates about the future development and education agendas. In this context, they recognised the importance of the E-9 group being a full member of the new global EFA Steering Committee. Further, they decided to adopt a systemic approach to addressing the challenges of education quality, relevance and learning effectiveness. In this context, they welcomed UNESCO’s efforts in developing an instrument for diagnosis and analysis of education systems. After detailed discussions, they decided to: [1.] make education more relevant to the social and cultural context and to people’s lives; [2.] engage with local communities to ensure that all children, youth and adults, irrespective of their gender, ethnicity, language, differential ability, economic background and location, receive quality education; [3.] to improve the work conditions of teachers. The issue of attracting, retaining, supporting and developing a high quality education workforce should be central in the E-9 cooperation agenda; [4.] Design participatory educational management systems involving learners, teachers, families and local communities; [5.] The next E-9 Ministerial Review Meeting will be hosted in late 2014 by Pakistan.
· Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare of India has launched Compendium of Population Stablization Reports during an International conference on "Evidence to Action: South-South Collaboration for ICPD beyond 2014" in Dhaka, Bangladesh. The compendium highlights the marked differences in Reproductive Health and Family Planning indicators in the participating countries of Bangladesh, India (Bihar), Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The situation analyses and recommendations contained in the compendium will be instrumental in identifying future directions for population stabilization in participating countries. India is the current chair of the Group of 25 Developing countries, who are members of the inter-governmental partnership called Partners in Population and Development which is based in Dhaka. The delegates were impressed with India's efforts to provide universal access to family planning services as part of the National Rural Health Mission through 860,000 health workers. The conference is expected to help the members of the Partnership for population development to formulate goals and strategies to address the future challenges of population growth following the conclusion of the Programme of Action (PoA) of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) and the Minimum Development Goals (MDGs). ICPD Programme of Action is expected to reach its conclusion in 2014 and the Millennium Development Goals in 2015.
· Nepal (along with 17 other countries) has been elected as a board member of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) for a three year term starting from January next year. The 54 member ESOSOC is one of the principal organs of the UN which coordinates the economic, social and related work of the UN and its specialized agencies and institutions.
· The International Energy Agency says, by 2017 the United States is likely to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest oil producer. The Paris-based energy agency said in its annual forecast that the U.S. is drilling more crude oil through increased use of hydraulic fracturing of underground shale formations. The organization, which is made up of 28 nations, said the U.S. now imports enough oil to meet 20 percent of its energy needs. But the agency projected that North America would become a net oil exporter by about 2030 and the U.S. almost self-sufficient five years later. The forecast is a marked change for the IEA, which previously had predicted the Saudis would remain the world's top producer until 2035.
· The 22-member Arab League has recognised the 22 member new bloc of Syrian opposition as the country's legitimate representative of the Syrian people. The Chairman of the Syria Committee of the Arab League and the Qatari Prime Minister said the decision was unanimous but Algeria and Iraq abstained from some of the provisions of the move. The newly elected coalition came into existence on Sunday after a four day meeting in Doha and has already been recognized by the six nation Gulf Co-operation Council. The new coalition's president will be Moaz al-Khatib, a former imam of the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus who fled Syria this year.
· Nepal and China have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) extending zero tariff facility to 7,787 Nepali products to the Chinese market. The agreement will come into effect from the next fiscal year. The products that enjoy zero tariffs include woolen carpet, garments, pashmina, medicinal herbs metal crafts, jewellery among others.
· Eurozone ministers have agreed to give Greece two more years, until 2016, to meet its deficit-reduction targets. However the finance ministers delayed a decision on releasing the latest 25.2 billion dollars of bailout funds. Differences also emerged among Greece's lenders on how to make its debt sustainable into the next decade. Greek Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras has warned that without the new funds Greece will run out of money within days.
· Pakistan's five-judge bench headed by Justice Anwar Zaheer Jamali of the Supreme Court has withdrew a contempt notice issued to Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf earlier this year (after he failed to approach the Swiss authorities to revive graft cases against President Asif Ali Zardari) as the Law Minister has presented a receipt that showed the Swiss authorities had received the government's recent letter for the revival of the graft cases on November 9th.
· The Communist Party of China (CPC) concluded its once-in-five year National Congress after the 2,300 or so delegates cast secret ballots to choose the party’s 18th Central Committee, which will comprise 205 members and 171 alternates — who do not have voting rights — and will remain in power until 2017. China's Vice President Xi Jinping has appointed as the new General Secretary of the ruling Communist Party. He succeeds President Hu Jintao who retired as the head of the Party and the powerful military after a 10-year stint. Xi, 59, was also named the chief of the 2.3 million-strong People's Liberation Army, the world's largest standing army. As per the constitution of the party, the top leadership retires every ten years and a new set of leaders are unveiled to lead China, the world's second largest economy. While Xi has taken charge of the Party on 13th Nov, he will formally take over the government from March next year, when the National People's Congress, holds it annual session. Li Keqiang, will succeed Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Until then, Hu and other leaders will continue in their government posts.
· Top Communist Party of China (CPC) officials have pledged to expand the construction of low-income housing and to provide more support to a job market facing pressures from a continuing slowdown, amid growing public concerns about widening social inequality in the country. As the Party prepares for leadership change, how it grapples with surging real estate prices, shutting out an increasing number of Chinese from buying homes; and how it will ensure employment for the millions of graduates and migrant workers flooding cities every year, are among its most pressing challenges, say officials. Rising real estate prices, coupled with problems in the provision of homes, have fuelled anger about the housing sector in recent months. According to China Development Research Foundation report, an official think-tank, local governments were shirking their responsibilities of building low-income housing projects. Instead, they were pursuing more lucrative luxury projects. Recent audits conducted by the central government found that close to three billion Yuan allocated for low-income housing developments had been diverted for other projects.
· Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda dissolved the Lower House of Parliament, paving the way for elections in which his ruling party will likely give way to a weak coalition government divided over how to solve Japan’s myriad problems. Elections were set for Decr 16. The path to elections was laid suddenly on Wednesday during a debate between former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Mr. Noda. Mr. Noda abruptly said he would dissolve Parliament if the opposition would agree to key reforms, including a deficit financing bill and electoral reforms, and Mr. Abe jumped at the chance.
· The firing of an Iran-made Fajr-5 missile by a Gaza based Palestinian group was apparently responsible for triggering warning sirens in Tel Aviv, which were last heard during the first Gulf war 20 years ago. The targeting of Tel Aviv by Palestinian groups marks a sharp escalation in the fighting between Israel and Gaza based militant groups, of which Hamas is the most prominent. Analysts say the Palestinian attempt to strike Tel Aviv opens up the possibility of full scale ground attack on Gaza, similar to the incursion in 2008.
· Europe slipped into recession for the second time in three years against a backdrop of large and often violent demonstrations against austerity measures adopted by several European governments aimed at restructuring their ailing, debt-ridden economies. There were violent demonstrations in Spain, Italy and Greece where millions of workers struck work and several hundred were arrested following clashes with police. The two successive dips in economic output formally placed the Eurozone economies in recession with Greece registering its fourth straight year of recession. Its economy has shrunk steadily by between 4 per cent and 6 per cent each year for the past four years. The Greek government pushed its latest austerity package earlier this week to get the next tranche of the EU and IMF’s bailout money.
· An internal United Nations report has blamed its own officials who were part of its Mission in Colombo for failing the organisation in its mandate to protect civilians and humanitarian aid in the last months of Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war. An April 2011 report by the U.N. Secretary General’s Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka had held that upwards of 40,000 civilians perished, trapped between the government’s deliberate artillery shelling of ‘no fire zones,’ and the Tamil Tigers’ refusal to let them out of their control. It further criticises a decision to withdraw U.N. staff from zones where much of the killing later took place, because Colombo said their safety could no longer be guaranteed.
· As the world heeded to U.N. Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown’s call to observe November 10 as ‘Global Action Day for Malala Yousafzai’, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari warned that the attack on Ms. Yousafzai was an attack on the future of the region as a whole, as the terrorists would not stop at Pakistan. To show Pakistan’s commitment to Ms. Yousafzai’s dream of educating the 32 million out-of-school girls across the world, the federal government launched the Waseela-e-Taleem programme to educate three million children, especially girls, from the poorest of poor families. Meanwhile, an online petition started in Canada to mobilise support across the world to nominate Ms. Yousafzai for the Nobel Peace Prize gathered momentum over the weekend and now has over a lakh signatories, including Ministers from different countries. The signatories include Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari and Minister of State Shashi Tharoor.
· Myanmar’s President has pledged to consider new rights for the stateless Rohingya minority ahead of a landmark visit by President Barack Obama, but stopped short of a full commitment that citizenship and other new freedoms would be granted. In a letter sent to the United Nations, President Thein Sein made conciliatory remarks that condemned the “senseless violence” in western Rakhine state between Rakhine Buddhists and Muslim Rohingya. Almost 200 people have died and more than 100,000 have been displaced since June in fighting between the two communities, an eruption of longstanding hatred that highlights the fragility of Myanmar’s transition toward democracy.
· A Thai national, Chumlong Lemtongthai, who pleaded guilty to running bogus rhino hunts as cover to sell horns on the black market, was sentenced to 40 years in a South African jail, by the Johannesburg magistrate court. Most of the rhinos are killed in the world-famous Kruger National Park and their horns turn up in Vietnam, China and other East Asian nations, used to produce a fingernail-like substance, falsely believed to have powerful healing properties. South Africa is home to around 80 per cent of the world’s rhinos, with more than 18,000 white rhinos and around 1,600 critically endangered black rhinos. The population forms a linchpin of the country’s famed “Big Five” biodiversity and of its lucrative safari industry. But a dizzying spike in rhino killings — with 528 rhinos having been killed already this year — has put the future of the animals in doubt.
· The European Union has recognized the new Syrian opposition coalition as the legitimate representative of the Syrian people. France which is the first Western country to recognize the Coalition had urged EU nations to recognize the newly formed National Coalition for Syrian Opposition and Revolutionaries as the sole representative of the Syrian people. The GULF cooperation council, Arab League AND Turkey have already recognized the new bloc which came into existence in Qatar two weeks ago and will have its headquarters in Cairo. The coalition aims to present a united front to the international community and is lobbying for weapons and cash to topple the Syrian regime. The main Islamist rebel groups in Aleppo, rejected the newly-formed Syrian opposition bloc saying they want an Islamic state.
· Hence proved! A US scientist has finally proven the mathematical relation/function - discussed by great Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan with his mentor G H Hardy in one of his last letters. Ramanujan, the young genius who died at the age of 32, often managed to leap from insight to insight without formally proving the logical steps in between. Functions are equations that can be drawn as graphs on an axis, like a sine wave, and produce an output when computed for any chosen input or value. The functions looked unlike any other modular forms, but Ramanujan wrote that their outputs would be very similar to those of modular forms when computed for the roots of 1 like the square root -1. Characteristically, Ramanujan offered neither proof nor explanation for this conclusion. It was only 10 years later that mathematicians formally defined this other set of functions, now known as mock modular forms. Ken Ono of Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, who has previously unearthed hidden depths in Ramanujan's work, was prompted by Ramanujan's 125th birth anniversary, to look once more at his writings. Born in 1887 in Erode, Tamil Nadu, Ramanujan was self-taught and worked in almost complete isolation from the mathematical community of his time, his report said.
· Even though identical twins supposedly share all of their DNA, they acquire hundreds of genetic changes early in development that could set them on different paths, a new study has found. The findings may partly explain why in some cases one twin gets cancer while another stays healthy. To find out how often these mutations occur in early development, researchers studied the genomes of 92 pairs of identical twins and searched hundreds of thousands of sites in their genomes for differences between twins in base pairs, which are represented by letters that make up DNA. They then calculated the frequency with which these mutations occurred. Only two sets of twins had such mutations, which translates to a DNA change occurring once for every 10 million to 10 billion bases that are copied every time a cell divides. While past studies have looked at genetic changes, or mutations, in sperm and eggs, which can be passed on to offspring, very few researches have looked at somatic mutations. These mutations, also called copy errors, can occur early in foetal development, but because they aren't in the sex cells (the X or Y chromosomes) of the foetus, they can't be passed on.
· A computer called Titan, which is 10 times more powerful than the last lab machine (Jaguar, which led the world as recently as 2009), has claimed the title of the world's most powerful supercomputer. Titan uses microchips more usually used for video-gaming to crunch numbers for climate studies, models of advanced materials and alternatives to petrol. Titan was measured at 17.59 petaflops ¿ or 17.59 thousand trillion calculations per second beating the previous record of 16.32 petaflops, held by Sequoia, a supercomputer at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, which simulates nuclear attacks. Supercomputers are increasingly incorporating GPUs, which consume less power for more processing power compared to CPUs because their "parallel" architecture allows them to perform many calculations at once.
· A build-up of carbon dioxide in the upper levels of Earth's atmosphere risks causing a faster accumulation of man-made space junk and resulting in more collisions, scientists said. While it causes warming on Earth, carbon dioxide conversely cools down the atmosphere and contracts its outermost layer, the thermosphere, where many satellites including the International Space Station (ISS) operate. A contracted thermosphere, in turn, reduces atmospheric "drag" on satellites — a similar force to that experienced when holding one's hand out the window of a moving car. This "drag" is what causes satellite orbits to change, drawing them closer to Earth, which means that orbiters like the ISS have to boost themselves back on course with onboard engines.
· Scientists have identified a new gene variant (TREM2) that seems to strongly raise the risk for Alzheimer's disease, giving a fresh target for research into treatments for the mind-robbing disorder. The problem gene is not common - less than 1 percent of people are thought to have it - but it roughly triples the chances of developing Alzheimer's compared to people with the normal version of the gene. It also seems to harm memory and thinking in older people without dementia. The main reason scientists are excited by the discovery is what this gene does, and how that might reveal what causes Alzheimer's and ways to prevent it. The gene helps the immune system control inflammation in the brain and clear junk such as the sticky deposits that are the hallmark of the disease. Mutations in the gene may impair these tasks, so treatments to restore the gene's function and quell inflammation may help. About 35 million people worldwide have dementia, and Alzheimer's is the most common type. In the U.S., about 5 million have Alzheimer's. Medicines such as Aricept and Namenda just temporarily ease symptoms. There is no known cure. Until now, only one gene - ApoE - has been found to have a big impact on Alzheimer's risk. About 17 percent of the population has at least one copy of the problem version of this gene but nearly half of all people with Alzheimer's do.
· The results of the Phase III trial of the malaria vaccine RTS,S/AS01 are greatly disappointing. The efficacy of the vaccine in preventing clinical and severe malaria in infants aged 6 to 12 weeks is nearly half of what was reported last year in older children (5 to 17 months). The vaccine efficacy (in infants aged 6-12 weeks) was about 31 per cent in the case of clinical malaria and 37 per cent in the case of severe malaria. In the case of older children (5 to 17 months), reported last year, the protection offered was nearly 56 per cent in the case of clinical malaria and about 47 per cent for severe malaria. “What then could be the possible reasons for the disappointing protection levels seen? One could be the lower protection in areas that had higher malaria transmission. Another could be the difference in immune response between the infants and the older children included in the trial. Evidence favouring this was earlier seen during the trial. The co-administration of other vaccines along with the malaria vaccine could be another. Finally, the presence of maternal antibodies in infants could have played a role in protecting them (both the vaccine and control groups) from malaria, thereby reducing the differences seen in the two groups.” Now, one has to wait till 2014 when the complete data is analysed and the outcome is known. Only then can it be said with any certainty if the vaccine will indeed be included for use in the African countries as per WHO recommendations. WHO had taken the unusual decision last year when it had “recommended” its use in the African countries as early as 2015.
· Scientists in China had sequenced the DNA of the wild bactrian camel, a threatened species with an extraordinary ability to survive in extreme conditions like days without food and water and a diet based on tough desert vegetation. The DNA book could shed light on the camel's ‘remarkable salt tolerance and unusual immune system,’ said the study. Wild bactrian camels live in the deserts of northwestern China and southwestern Mongolia, where they endure fierce heat and bitter cold, aridity and sparse grazing. Camels consume eight times more salt than cattle or sheep and have twice the blood glucose levels of other ruminants, yet do not develop diabetes or hypertension. They also make unique disease-fighting proteins called heavy-chain antibodies, which interest pharmaceutical engineers.
· Necessity is the mother of natural selection. The latest example is the discovery of a special type of bacteria in the ocean, which join together to form a long conducting nanowire cable to transport electrons and capture the oxygen at the surface for metabolic use. This wire is not made of metal, alloy or other usual material, but of living biological cells. “All organisms gain energy for living through metabolism. The vital step in the process is the burning or oxidation of the food molecules. Chemists define oxidation as the loss of electrons and reduction as the gain of electrons.” We burn our food by the breathing of oxygen in the air. When we oxidize our food and gain energy, the oxygen molecule is reduced by accepting or gaining electrons to make water, while the food molecule is oxidized by losing electrons; this is not much different from burning petrol for energy. Further, what about organisms that live in places where there is no oxygen? They too metabolize their food through oxidation. But, rather than oxygen, they utilize whatever electron-acceptor molecules are available in the environment. One such group lives in marine sediments, below the surface, and it use the sulphates in the sediment as the electron-acceptors for ‘burning’ and gaining energy, an example of making do with available resources. In the process, however, the sulphate gains electrons and is reduced all the way to hydrogen sulphide (H{-2}S), a poisonous material.
· World Diabetes Day is being observed across the world on 14th Nov, 2012 to create awareness about the metabolic disorder. An estimated 350 million people across the world suffer from diabetes of which India alone accounts for more than 60 million. Crude Prevalence Rate of diabetes in the urban areas in India is found to be 9 per cent, whereas in rural areas, it is approximately 3 per cent of the total population. The types of diabetes differ considerably in India from that in the Western world. Type One diabetes, which is due to insulin-deficiency, is more prevalent among children while Type Two diabetes is life-style induced and is rampant among the young adults. Feeling weakness, frequent urge to pass urine, unusual thirst and excessive hunger are some of the symptoms of the diabetes. Health authorities advise to have plenty of fruits and vegetables, half-an-hour walk and physical exercise at least for five days a week. They also advise to quit smoking as it reduces the risk of heart attack by half. Governments across the globe are struggling to protect their citizens from factors that grow the risk of diabetes, which are unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and alcohol abuse.
· The Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna has lost the Men's Doubles title clash of the ATP World Tour Finals in London against the Spanish pair of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez. Meanwhile, Serbia's World Number One Novak Djokovic has bagged the Men's Singles trophy, defeating World Number Two Roger Federer of Switzerland.