{News Notes} Daily News Notes: 1st to 5th Jan, 2013 - Happy New Year - VOICEee: Education Employment and Entertainment

Center has appointed renowned economist and public finance expert Urjit Patel as a Deputy Governor of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), putting an end to weeks of speculation over who would fill the position left vacant by the exit of Subir Gokarn, whose term ended Monday. Patel presently is working as a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, a US-based think-tank. He is also a consultant to the Boston Consulting Group.
As mandated by the Article 280 of the Constitution, the Government has constituted the Fourteenth Finance Commission consisting of Dr. Y.V.Reddy, former Governor Reserve Bank of India, as the Chairman and the following four other members, namely: Prof. Abhijit Sen, Ms. Sushma Nath, Dr. M.Govinda Rao and Dr. Sudipto Mundle. Mr. Ajay Narayan Jha shall be the Secretary to the Commission. The Commission shall make its report available by the 31st October, 2014, covering a period of five years commencing on the 1st April, 2015. Terms of Reference and the matters that shall be taken into consideration by the Fourteenth Finance Commission in making the recommendations are as under : [1.] The Commission shall make recommendations regarding the sharing of Union taxes, principles governing Grants-in-aid to States and transfer of resources to local bodies; [2.] the measures needed to augment the Consolidated Fund of a State to supplement the resources of the Panchayats and Municipalities in the State on the basis of the recommendations made by the Finance Commission of the State; [3.] The Commission shall review the state of the finances, deficit and debt levels of the Union and the States, keeping in view, in particular, the fiscal consolidation roadmap recommended by the Thirteenth Finance Commission, and suggest measures for maintaining a stable and sustainable fiscal environment consistent with equitable growth including suggestions to amend the Fiscal Responsibility Budget Management Acts currently in force; [4.] In making its recommendations on various matters, the Commission shall generally take the base of population figures as of 1971 in all cases where population is a factor for determination of devolution of taxes and duties and grants-in-aid; however, the Commission may also take into account the demographic changes that have taken place subsequent to 1971; [5.] The Commission may review the present arrangements as regards financing of Disaster Management with reference to the funds constituted under the Disaster Management Act, 2005; [6.] In making its recommendations, the Commission shall have regard, among other considerations, to: [1.] the demands on the resources of the Central Government, in particular, on account of the expenditure on civil administration, defence, internal and border security, debt-servicing and other committed expenditure and liabilities; [2.] the resources of the State Governments and the demands on such resources under different heads, including the impact of debt levels on resource availability in debt stressed states; [3.] the objective of not only balancing the receipts and expenditure on revenue account of all the States and the Union, but also generating surpluses for capital investment; [4.] the level of subsidies that are required, having regard to the need for sustainable and inclusive growth, and equitable sharing of subsidies between the Central Government and State Governments; [5.] the expenditure on the non-salary component of maintenance and upkeep of capital assets and the non-wage related maintenance expenditure on plan schemes to be completed by 31st March, 2015 and the norms on the basis of which specific amounts are recommended for the maintenance of the capital assets and the manner of monitoring such expenditure; [6.] the need for insulating the pricing of public utility services like drinking water, irrigation, power and public transport from policy fluctuations through statutory provisions; [7.] the need for making the public sector enterprises competitive and market oriented; listing and disinvestment; and relinquishing of non-priority enterprises; [8.] the need to balance management of ecology, environment and climate change consistent with sustainable economic development; [9.] the impact of the proposed Goods and Services Tax on the finances of Centre and States and the mechanism for compensation in case of any revenue loss.
The number of applicants for jobs advertised by the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) has shown a tremendous increase in the past four years increasing from 10.27 lakh applicants in 2008-09 to 88.65 lakh in 2011-12. The number of applicants has already crossed more than one crore in this financial year.
The Union Finance Minister said that higher growth in economy gives an opportunity to the Government to roll out development programmes for different sections of society especially for neglected and poor sections of society. In this regard he specifically mentioned about MGNERGA, National Rural Health Mission, Prime Minister’s Gramin Sadak Yojana and Prime Minister’s New 15 Point Programme for Minorities among others. The representatives of Social Sector Group made various recommendations and suggestions for consideration for the forthcoming Union Budget 2013-14. The suggestions included engagement of highly qualified professionals at grass root level, tax exemptions of the amount donated to the non-profit organisations, recognition of legitimate profit making NGOs for banking loan and financing, use of services of NGOs for financial inclusion, Swalamban Scheme and Aam Admi Bima Yojana. Some other representatives suggested higher allocation for rehabilitation of disabled people whose number is around 2.5 crore.
Union Home Minister has launched a pilot project of Crime & Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS) as to make use of technology in bringing greater transparency and accountability into government functioning. He said all the States and Union Territories across the length and breadth of the country are in the process of implementing the CCTNS project. It is an ambitious project to create a comprehensive and integrated system for effective policing and sharing data of crimes and criminals among 14,000 police stations across the country. The CCTNS is a Mission Mode Project under the National e-Governance Plan of Government of India. It aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing through adopting the principle of e-Governance. The Project also includes the creation of a nationwide networking infrastructure for evolution of IT-enabled-state-of-the-art tracking system around 'Investigation of crime and detection of criminals'.
Former Chief Election Commissioner of India and 1971 batch retired IAS Dr SY Quraishi has strongly advocated lowering of age of adulthood to 16 years as “puberty age has dropped significantly”. In social networking site Twitter, Quraishi on Friday gave five reasons why today’s teens have early puberty: [1.] Better health/nutrition; [2.] Lifestyle changes; [3.] Fast foods increase insulin level which increases sex hormones; [4.] Exposure to sex through media and internet enhances sexual thinking; [5.] Exposure to promiscuity provokes sexual stimulation. Quraishi further said, “Legal debate on juvenile delinquency should consider these (arguments)”. The issue has cropped up in the backdrop of the involvement of a 17-year-old boy in the recent Delhi gang rape case who could get away with mild punishment as he is below 18.
Within a few days of the gruesome December 16 assault in the Capital, the Supreme Court has directed all Sessions courts in the country to conduct rape trials daily and complete the process in two months from the date of commencement of examination of witnesses. Adjournments were granted for the asking, quite often to suit the convenience of the advocate, the Bench said. “We make it clear that the legislature has frowned upon granting adjournments on that ground. At any rate, inconvenience of an advocate is not a ‘special reason’ for bypassing the mandate of Section 309 of the Cr.PC [power to court to adjourn proceedings].” The Bench directed all High Courts to issue circulars to subordinate courts to strictly adhere to the prescribed procedure to ensure speedy trial and also rule out any manoeuvring taking place by granting an undue, long adjournment for the mere asking.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), on Monday, said that the Current Account Deficit (CAD), as a proportion of gross domestic product (GDP), during the second quarter (July to September) of 2012-13 increased to 5.4 per cent (or $22.3 billion) from 4.2 per cent (or $18.9 billion) in the second quarter of the previous year. On a Balance of Payments (BoP) basis, merchandise exports recorded a decline of 12.2 per cent (year-on-year) as against an increase of 45.3 per cent during corresponding quarter of 2011-12. Similarly, imports registered a decline of 4.8 per cent (year-on-year) as against an increase of 38.1 per cent. Steeper decline in exports than that in imports led to the widening of trade deficit to $48.3 billion during the period. However, in this period, net services receipts recorded a rise of 11.4 per cent (year-on-year), led by software, construction, information services, business services.
State Bank of India (SBI) has launched State Bank MobiCash Easy, a mobile wallet which offers facilities such as fund transfer, bill payment, balance inquiry, mini statement, mobile top-ups and DTH recharge to name a few. At present, money withdrawal is not allowed, and the customer is not required to fulfil the KYC (know your customer) norm. The service, initially launched in Mumbai and Delhi, is available over Wallet Application and plain text SMS. The user needs to top up the wallet by depositing cash at any Oxigen (a private company to which SBI had tied up for round-the-clock money transfer and other services) retail outlet and this facility is completely risk-free, SBI officials said.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has formed a special task force to look into the issues of women’s safety in the capital every fortnight. The 13-member body, to be headed by the Home Secretary, will also regularly review the functioning of the Delhi Police.
Tuesday was the kick-off of the Union government’s Direct Benefits Transfer scheme and early reports show that despite scaling down the number of districts and schemes to be covered, much work still needs to be done to make the programme a success in the 20 districts in six States. In Andhra Pradesh, the scheme did not take off in the five targeted districts. Mysore in Karnataka seems well placed for success as it has a 95 per cent Aadhaar enrolment with more than 80 per cent of the beneficiaries having Aadhaar-linked accounts. In Delhi, the government has said that the cash transfers will go to Aadhar-linked bank accounts by April.
India’s Science, Technology & Innovation Policy 2013 will be released at the five-day centenary session of the Indian Science Congress that begins here this Thursday. It focuses on faster sustainable and inclusive development.
The Prime Minister-appointed Rangarajan Committee has suggested mandating a price of domestically-produced natural gas at an average of international hub prices and cost of imported LNG instead of the present mechanism of market discovery. The panelsuggested first taking an average of the U.S., Europe and Japanese hub or market price and then averaging it out with the netback price of imported liquefied natural gas (LNG) to give the sale price of domestically-produced gas. Further, the committee has recommended extending the timeframe for exploration in future PSCs for frontier, deep-water (offshore, at more than 400 m depth) and ultra-deep water (offshore, at more than 1,500 m depth) blocks from eight years to ten years.
Aiming to make Agartala an environmentally safe city, the Tripura government is preparing a report to make use of solar energy mandatory by owners of buildings. The Agartala Municipal Council has made a Rs 452.32 crore-master plan to make Agartala a “solar city”. The Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy would bear 90 per cent of the cost and the remaining 10 per cent would be borne by the state government in the next three years. The Transport department has already introduced 70 Compressed Natural Gas -run buses and CNG kits would be fitted to those vehicles run either by petrol or by diesel. “About four lakh people live in the city, but the density of automobiles in this city is higher than many big cities in the country.”
Eighteen days after the 23-year-old physiotherapy student was gang-raped in a moving bus, the Delhi Police on Thursday filed the charge-sheet against five persons arrested in the case. Besides murder, rape and kidnapping, the police also slapped charges of unnatural sex, dacoity, criminal conspiracy and destruction of evidence among other offences under the Indian Penal Code against the accused. While the sixth person allegedly involved in the case is presently being treated as a minor, his age will be ascertained through a bone ossification test. Statements of the victim and her male friend have been attached revealing that they reached the Munirka bus shelter in an auto-rickshaw on December 16 and then boarded the contract carriage bus in which three of the six persons passed lewd remarks at the victim that led to an altercation between them and her male friend. In the ensuing scuffle, the victim’s male friend attacked one of the accused. Subsequently the accused assaulted him with an iron rod, dragged the victim to the rear portion of the running bus and raped her. The accused then assaulted her with an iron rod several times injuring her seriously, before dumping her and her male friend near the Mahipalpur flyover. In his statement, the victim’s friend alleged that the accused tried to run the bus over them. A scrutiny of the mobile phone records of the victim revealed that while she was being assaulted, two calls made to her were received by the accused, who later robbed her of the mobile phone, an ATM card and her jewellery besides Rs.1,000 in cash.
The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will introduce “Human Rights and Gender Studies” for Class XI and XII students from the coming academic year. The subject will be elective. The National Policy on Education, 1986, lays down the guiding principles for education based on the Constitutional mandate. It says the national system of education shall be based on a curriculum framework that will lay emphasis on cultural heritage, equality of sexes, removal of social barriers and observance of the small family norm. It mentions that education will be used as an agent of basic change in the status of women. On value education, the policy states that there is need for re-adjustment to the curriculum to make education a forceful tool for cultivating social and moral values. Brought out by the National Council for Educational Research & Training in 2012, the National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005, recommended an integrated and holistic approach for nurturing universal human values and at all stages of education instead of having moral education as a separate subject as it was earlier.
The Supreme Court has said uncontrolled clinical trial of drugs on humans by multinational companies was creating “havoc” in the country and slammed the Centre for failing to stop the “rackets” which has caused deaths. Observing that the Government has slipped into “deep slumber” in addressing this “menace”, the court ordered that all drug trials will be done under the supervision of the Union Health Secretary.
Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) is likely to come up with ‘Bancassurance’ guidelines by the first week of February, Chairman J. Hari Narayan said on Friday. In the bancassurance model (or, Bank Insurance Model), banks sell products of insurance companies and the present law allows a bank to sell insurance product of one company as an agent. However, some banks want to convert into a “broker”, beyond the present role as “agents”, which will allow them to hawk the offerings of more than one insurer. So far, the IRDA has sounded positive on the demand, but the RBI wants banks to restrict to one single company and continue being an ‘agent’.
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), to further tighten corporate governance norms, has proposed tougher guidelines for listed companies to make their functioning transparent and to enhance investors’ trust in the capital market. It has suggested measures such as rationalising CEO pay packets, better compliance for the benefit of small investors, making whistle blower mechanisms a compulsory requirement and disclosing the same, implementation of an orderly succession planning among others. SEBI has sought greater powers for minority shareholders and wants companies to bring in diversity of thought, experience, knowledge, understanding, perspective, gender and age in the board of companies. As per the proposed guidelines, all listed companies must appoint an independent director as a lead director, who could chair the meetings of independent directors and act as a liaison between independent directors and management/board/ shareholder.
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a writ petition for a direction to disqualify Members of Parliament and Members of State Legislatures who are charged with rape and crimes against women and children. The petitioner also sought that the Centre take steps to implement the pending projects of police modernisation and filling up of vacancy; for termination of service of police and government officers convicted of rape and other heinous crimes against women and children and for setting up of fast-track courts across the country for trying rape cases.
In a landmark ruling, a South Korean court sentenced a 31-year-old pedophile (adult who is sexually attracted to children) to 15 years in jail and ordered the country’s first ever chemical castration (neutering a male animal by removing the testicles). The ruling is the first since the country passed a law in 2011 that allows hormonal treatment or chemical castration for convicted child molesters, who are at risk of repeating their crimes. South Korea was the first country in Asia to adopt this type of treatment, although Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland and the U.S. state of California have used it for years, the report said. The Seoul court’s verdict came at time when India is debating whether to introduce punishment like chemical castration to check crimes against women in the wake of the horrific gang-rape of a 23-year-old girl in Delhi, who died in Singapore last month.
Imparting fresh momentum to its African diplomacy, India is readying to roll out the red carpet for Mauritius President Rajkeswur Purryag later this week, the first visit by a foreign leader to India in 2013. The Mauritian president will be the chief guest at the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) in Kochi Jan 7-9. Purryag, better known as Kailash, is a Mauritian of Indian origin and has been speaker of the country's national assembly. People of Indian origin account for over 60 per cent of the 1.3 million people of Mauritius. Mauritius is the single largest FDI source for India, accounting for over 42 percent of FDI equity flows into the country.
The Chinese authorities have moved to censor news about the Delhi gang-rape and ensuing protests after the incident triggered a heated debate online between State media outlets and pro-democracy voices. The rape case was one of the most discussed topics in Chinese microblogs this past week, prompting thousands of posts and comments. The incident and the protests in New Delhi in recent days have received wide attention in China. While the brutal attack was initially highlighted by Communist Party-run outlets as indicative of the failures of India’s democratic system to ensure stability, the subsequent protests in Delhi triggered calls from pro-reform bloggers for the Chinese Government to learn from India and allow the public to express its voice. Further, a commentary published in the Chinese newspaper echoed its editor views, describing India as “an inefficient and unequal democracy. The Indian democratic system seemingly can’t solve these problems but provides legitimacy for [rulers]. India’s democracy is now manipulated by a small number of elite and interest groups … Efficient democracy means more than electoral politics.”
Ministry of Home Affairs has noticed that foreigners coming on tourist visa are involved in coverage of events/journalistic activities. In this context, it is stated that Tourist Visa is not the appropriate visa for such activities by the foreigners. Tourist Visa is issued to foreigners who do not have residence or occupation in India and whose sole objective of visiting India is recreation, sightseeing, casual visit to meet friends and relatives etc. No other activity is permissible on Tourist Visa.
Iran is holding one of its most ambitious military exercises near the Strait of Hormuz — a strategic waterway used for international oil supplies — to demonstrate that it has acquired credible answers to American and Israeli advancements in cyber and drone warfare. Iran also said it successfully nullified a simulated cyber-attack against its military networks during the course of the exercise — a manoeuvre that has grabbed international attention.
Ending a climactic fiscal showdown in the final hours of the 112th Congress, the House late on Tuesday passed and sent to President Barack Obama legislation (so-called ‘fiscal cliff’) to avert big income tax increases on most Americans and prevent large cuts in spending for the Pentagon and other government programs. In approving the measure after days of legislative intrigue, Congress concluded its final and most pitched fight over fiscal policy, the culmination of two years of battles over taxes, the federal debt, spending and what to do to slow the growth in popular social programs.
China’s top legislature is considering the country’s first national tobacco control law, says the report adopted at last Friday’s closing session of a bimonthly meeting of the National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee, adding that such laws should be included in future legislation work plans after proper preparation. China is the world’s largest tobacco-producing and consuming country, with more than 300 million smokers and another 740 million people exposed to second-hand smoke, according to official statistics released in May. China ratified the WorldHealth Organisation Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2003, pledging measures to curb tobacco use. The central government has pledged to introduce a public smoking ban in its 12th Five-year Plan (2011-2015) period. However, only a few provinces and cities have enacted local legislation on public smoking bans, and no special law has been adopted at the national level.
Concerned over the rising wealth gap in Chinese society, top leaders of the ruling Communist Party of China have pledged to uplift over 200 million people from poverty in the coming years. According to the recent survey by China Household Finance Survey Centre, the country's wealth gap has reached 0.61 in 2010, much higher than the international warning line of 0.4. Two top leaders of the newly-constituted CPC, Xi Jinping and Li Keqiang, visited the most impoverished areas while acknowledging that China still has work cut out to reduce poverty, despite successfully uplifting over 500 million in the last three decades. 59-year-old Xi, who will assume the office of President in March 2013 after being elected as the General Secretary of the CPC, visited some of the villages in underdeveloped area of Chinese province where annual per capita income was stated to be only USD 390 compared to the national average of USD 3,461. On the other hand, Li (57), who was elected as number two leader in the party's seven-member Standing Committee of the Politburo would take over as Prime Minister from the incumbent Wen Jiabao. As per the 2011 UN Millennium Development Goals report the poverty was expected to fall under 5% of the over 1.3 billion population by 2015.
The United Nations ended its peacekeeping mission in East Timor on Monday, leaving the country without any direct security assistance for the first time since a spasm of political and ethnic violence in 2006 almost overwhelmed its shaky, post-independence government. The United Nations and other foreign development organizations will remain in the country supporting its development for years to come. It has oil and gas-reserves, but these are not creating the employment opportunities needed for a country of 1.2 million, more than 60 percent of whom are under 18. East Timor is a former Portuguese colony that was annexed by Indonesia in 1976; voted for independence from Indonesia in 1999 and in May 2002 became an independent nation.
A fully automated border station will take over the US-Mexico crossings this month to ease the burden for human agents in-charge of securing the border. Computers at the USD 3.7 million station will scan citizenship documents and allow for live video interviews with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents at a station in El Paso, Texas. Human agents will use video camera surveillance to watch over the border crossing 24 hours a day. Similar border checkpoints already exist on the US-Canada border.
India’s tryst with Mars will begin in October to explore the red planet’s atmosphere and search for life-sustaining elements, a top space official said on Friday. However, the mission is yet to get an official name. The Indian space agency plans to use a high-end rocket (PSLV-XL) to launch the 1.4-tonne Martian spacecraft from its Sriharikota spaceport, about 80 km northeast of Chennai, with five instruments to study various aspects of the red planet. The Mars mission will allow India to join the elite club of five top nations comprising the US, Russia, Europe, China and Japan which have launched similar missions. As the fourth planet from the Sun and smallest celestial object in the solar system, Mars is terrestrial with breath-taking valleys, deserts, craters and volcanoes in a thin atmosphere. Named after the Roman god of war, the red planet has many similarities with Earth like the rotation period and seasonal cycles.
People who are obese have a 29% increased risk of premature death. In this meta-analysis that looked at 2.7 lakh deaths that occurred in the US, Europe, Mexico, India, Israel, Brazil, Japan, Taiwan, China and Australia, researchers found a 18% higher risk of death for obesity - BMI (Body Mass Index) equal or higher than 30 and a 29% increased risk of death among those whose BMI was higher than 35. The study says that the presence of a wasting disease, heart disease, diabetes, renal dialysis or older age are all associated with an inverse relationship between BMI and mortality rate, an observation termed the obesity paradox. A study that looked at the burden of overweight citizens in six countries - Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Russia and South Africa - has found that between 1998 and 2005, India's overweight rates increased by 20%. Currently, almost one in five men and over one in six women are overweight. In some urban areas, the rates are as high as 40%. The annual cost of broad-based prevention strategies tackling obesity and other health threats, such as alcohol consumption, smoking, high blood pressure and cholesterol, would be less than $2 per person per year in India.
Space travel may harm the brain in astronauts as exposure to galactic cosmic radiation could trigger Alzheimer's, a new study has claimed. The race for space tourism may be hotting up, but the practicalities of intergalactic travel (between or among galaxies travel) have hit a new obstacle as research for the first time showed that radiation exposure in space can lead to cognitive problems. The longer an astronaut is in deep space, the greater the exposure, which could prove a worry for NASA as the agency is planning manned missions to a distant asteroid in 2021 and to Mars in 2035. The Earth's magnetic field generally protects the planet and people in low earth orbit from these cosmic radiations, but once astronauts leave orbit they are exposed to constant shower of various radioactive particles. Tests on mice with models of Alzheimer's showed that after they were exposed to various doses of radiation, including levels comparable to what astronauts would be experience during a mission to Mars, they were far more likely to fail these tasks - suggesting neurological impairment - earlier than these symptoms would typically appear. The brains of the mice also showed signs of vascular alterations and a greater than normal accumulation of the protein 'plaque' that accumulates in the brain and is one of the hallmarks of the disease.
The first truly Earth-like alien planet is likely to be spotted next year, scientists claim, saying the epic discovery would cause humanity to reassess its place in the universe. Astronomers may have found a number of exoplanets over the last few years that share one or two key traits with our planet - such as size or inferred surface temperature -- they have yet to bag a bona fide "alien Earth". Astronomers discovered the first exoplanet orbiting a Sun-like star in 1995. Since then, they have spotted more than 800 worlds beyond our own solar system, and many more candidates await confirmation by follow-up observations. NASA's prolific Kepler Space Telescope, for instance, has flagged more than 2,300 potential planets since its March 2009 launch. An instrument called High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS) is also a top contender, having already spotted a number of potentially habitable worlds.
Millions of human embryos (~1.7 Million since 1991) created for in-vitro-fertilisation (IVF) pregnancies in the UK are being thrown away unused, according to official figures. The shocking figures show that for every woman who conceives a child through IVF, 15 embryos are made, and almost half of them are discarded during or after the process. Embryos are created from female eggs and male sperm during the IVF process. Some are then introduced into the womb of the prospective mother. Others, however, are put into storage, discarded as unwanted, or, in some cases, used in scientific experiments, the report said. Embryos: An unborn baby less than 8 weeks old, before it is classified as a fetus.
The Internet, a revolutionary and cheap communications system that has transformed the lives of billions of people across the world, turned 30 on Tuesday. The computer network officially began its technological revolution when it fully substituted previous networking systems on January 1 1983. Known as "flag day", it was the first time the US Department of Defence (DoD)-commissioned ARPANET network fully switched to use of the Internet protocol suite (IPS) communications system. Using data "packet-switching", the new method of linking computers paved the way for the arrival of the World Wide Web.
2013 began memorably for Indian tennis — in the singles at least. First Prakash Amritraj did the family name proud, playing inspired, combative tennis to defeat the much higher ranked Guillaume Rufin. Then Somdev Devvarman joined Prakash in the second round of the Aircel Chennai Open, his 6-3, 6-3 victory over Jan Hajek, a result of the focussed, relentless style he is known for.
Issuing of visa to the former Pakistan cricketer and senior Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) official, Javed Miandad, to visit India for the one-day match series is mired in controversy over the links of the flamboyant batsman’s family to India’s most-wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim. The former Pakistan captain’s son, Junaid, is married to Dawood’s daughter Mahrukh. India has been asking Pakistan to extradite Dawood, whose name also figures in the U.S.’ most wanted list in connection with the 1993 Mumbai blasts. However, sources in the Ministry of Home Affairs said it was not looking into individual requests, while elaborate guidelines were given to the Indian High Commission in Pakistan for issuing of visas.
Virat Kohli is the only Indian cricketer to find a place in the final XI of Fairfax Media team of 2012. Just four nations have been represented in the final XI of the team of 2012. Australia was not represented in 2011, but the team is on an upswing and has contributed three players in 2012, including Michael Clarke, who is at the peak of his powers. Other in the list include Hashim Amla, Jacques Kallis, Vernon Philander, Mike Hussey, Matt Prior, Faf du Plessis, Graeme Swann, Peter Siddle, Dale Steyn, Jimmy Anderson, and Rangana Herathas the 12th man.