International Issues
Indian and US naval forces have come together to carry out a joint drill off the coast of Mumbai. The three-week-long exercise between the two countries codenamed INDIAEX 2012 started on October 19 and is scheduled to get over by November 13.
Cooperation between the US submarine rescue system and Indian submarines is being demonstrated in the excercise. Four Indian submarines are taking part in the exercise . This is the first exercise of its kind between the two sides which have so far been practising joint operations under the UN mandate in the Malabar series of joint drills.
The Commonwealth countries have called for increasing the efficiency of public administration and transparency in governance to spur development and socio-economic growth for benefit of the people. The outcome of the three-day Conference of Commonwealth Association of Public Administration and Management (CAPAM) concluded in New Delhi, stressed on the important role of public policy in improving governance and strengthening public administration in support of national development objectives and to meet international challenges.
The Commonwealth nations also acknowledged the need for developing countries to address challenges posed by a globalised economy. The Forum welcomed India’s offer to host the annual Commonwealth Symposium on Public Service Excellence from 2013. It also acknowledged the value of using information and communications technology such as the Commonwealth Connects online platform to build peer networks of influence for collaborative working and knowledge sharing. The CAPAM conference was attended by Ministers and senior officials from 21 countries besides India.
National Issues
The Centre has decided to provide 20 rupees per kilogram subsidy on the import of pulses to the states. It will be paid to the designated importing agencies up to a maximum of the number of BPL card holders in a particular state. The move comes in wake of mismatch between demand and supply of pulses, lower acreage under pulses in the current fiscal, and delayed monsoon.
The overall infant mortality rate (IMR) in the country has come down to 44 in 2011 as against 47 in 2010. According to latest figures released by the Registrar General of India, the infant death count per 1000 live births for rural areas dropped by three points from 51 to 48 while in urban areas it decreased to 29 from the previous year's figure of 31.
An official release said, Goa and Manipur recorded the lowest IMR of 11 infant deaths followed by Kerala with 12 infant deaths per 1000 live births. Madhya Pradesh has the highest IMR of 59 per 1000 followed by UP and Odisha with 57 each. The IMRs in Assam, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Meghalaya stood over the national average of 44.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has approved a 1,200 crore rupee proposal for procuring 10,000 anti-tank guided missiles for the Army from Russia. The CCS cleared the proposal to acquire Russian-origin 10,000 Konkurs-M anti-tank guided missiles for the Mechanised Infantry and Infantry battalions of the Army. The Konkurs-M are part of the weapon systems being procured by the force to augment the anti-tank arsenal in the Army.
The Union Cabinet has approved a National Policy aimed at transforming India into a leading manufacturing hub of electronic system and design and manufacturing (ESDM) sector. The policy envisages creation of an environment for electronics and manufacturing of indigenously designed and manufactured chips in the country with a focus on cyber security. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) also approved the disinvestment of 10 per cent stake of the paid up equity capital in the National Mineral Development Corporation (NMDC). The government presently holds 90 per cent of the shares in the Corporation.
The CCEA has cleared a proposal of Rs.3150 crore package for development of backward regions of Bihar, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. It approved continuing the state component under the Backward Regions Grant Fund in Bihar with an allocation of 1500 crore rupees in 2012-13. It also gave its nod for continuing with the special plan for Kalahandi-Bolangir-Koraput (KBK) districts in Odisha with an allocation of 250 crore rupees.
The CCEA approved the continuation of additional central assistance of 1400 crore rupees for drought mitigation efforts in the Bundelkhand region of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh for the current financial year.
The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) has approved a Railway Ministry's proposal to extend the new broadgauge line from Imphal Road (Tupul) to Imphal with an updated cost of 4444 crore rupees. 25 per cent of the total cost will be funded by railways from general budgetary support and 75 per cent from Finance Ministry.
The project will cover Imphal East, Tamenglong and Senapati districts of Manipur. This line will connect Imphal with the national mainstream and make possible direct movement of freight and passengers from this region to other parts of the country. The project is expected to be completed by March 2016.
Centre has issued fresh guidelines prohibiting schools from announcing community, castes or tribes of students and labeling students as belonging to reserved category. This follows reports of discrimination against students admitted under Right to Education, RTE. The guidelines issued by the Ministry of Human Resource Development said, schools will prescribe procedures and mechanism to deal with complaints. It will be obligatory on the part of school to dispose of complaints within 60 days from the date of receipt or submission of complaint. The move comes amid complaints from some states that students who got admission from the weaker sections under the 25 per cent quota under Right to Education were being discriminated.
The fresh guidelines seeking to ensure non-discriminatory school environment said a school cannot discriminate against a child belonging to weaker sections and disadvantaged groups in admission by breach of the policy of reservation in admissions or by denying or limiting access to any benefit arising from such enrollment provided by the school. The schools will also ensure that no child in this group is discriminated against by segregating them from others in playground or canteen or any provision of mid day meal, or any other amenities provided by the school including toilets and drinking water facilities.
The Centre and 16 States and Union Territories have signed an agreement to connect every Gram Panchayat with a broad band connection. The agreement was signed by the Department of Telecom and the Special Purpose Vehicle 'Bharat Broadband Network Limited' in the presence of the Union Minister for Communication and Information Technology Kapil Sibal in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion Mr. Sibal said the entire cost of about 20 thousand crore rupees for the project will be funded by the Centre. He said it will cover around 1,40,000 Gram Panchayats across the country.
The project will be implemented in States and Union Territories including Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jhharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Mizoram, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Puducherry.
The National Optical Fibre Network aims at connecting all the 2 lakh 50 thousand Gram Panchayants in the country with high speed optical fibre network by December 2013. Mr. Sibal asked the States to provide incentives to the manufacturers of electronic appliances to make the products affordable to aam admi. He said the states should start preparing the digitized data to be uploaded on the electronic highway system.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released a draft amendment to the Quality of Service of Broadband Service Regulations, 2006 (11 of 2006) on financial disincentives, and sought comments of stakeholders.
The Regulations seek to prescribe a financial disincentive on Broadband Service providers for non-compliance with the benchmark of the Quality of Service Parameters at a rate not exceeding Rs 50,000 per parameter for the first non-compliance and Rs 1,00,000 per parameter for subsequent noncompliance of the benchmarks.
Bilateral Issues
India and Spain signed five pacts in various sectors including mutual agreement on strong measures to curb black money and prevent tax evasion. The two countries also agreed to amend the existing protocol for avoidance of double taxation. India and Spain also inked a Memorandum of Understanding for enhancing Defence cooperation.
Agreements were also signed for technical cooperation between the Railways of both countries, Road transport sector and for the joint production of films.
The pacts were signed following delegation level talks between visiting King of Spain Juan Carlos 1 and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi. Defence minister A K Antony, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni and Transport Minister C P Joshi with their respective Spanish counterparts inked the pacts in the presence of King Juan Carlos 1 and Prime minister Manmohan Singh.
Talks were also held between External Affairs minister S.M Krishna and the visiting dignitary. King Juan Carlos 1 was earlier accorded a ceremonial reception and guard of honour at the Rashtrapathi Bhawan this morning. The King of Spain also paid floral tributes at Rajghat, the Samadhi of Mahatma Gandhi.
Persons
An Italian court sentenced former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to four years in jail for tax fraud in connection with the purchase of broadcasting rights by his Mediaset television company. Berlusconi has the right to appeal the ruling, two more times before a definite sentence, and will not have to serve any time in jail until his final appeal is heard. Prosecutors had asked for a jail sentence of three years and eight months.
Sports
The Board of Control for Cricket in India - BCCI has released the list of central retainership contracts mentioning names of 37 players. Veteran Sachin Tendulkar, skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina and Yuvraj Singh feature in the elite Grade A and will be paid an annual retainership fees of Rupees one crore.
The only new name added to this list is that of spinner R Ashwin while his counterpart Harbhajan Singh has been demoted from Grade A to B. While Harbhajan Singh has been struggling throughout the year; 26-year-old Ashwin has proved his mettle. He has grabbed 49 wickets in eight Tests since making his debut in November last year. In the ODIs, he has scalped 56 wickets in 40 matches and has 12 wickets from his 15 Twenty20 International appearances.
The list of Grade B players who are paid 50 lakhs per year mentions eight players namely Rohit Sharma, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Pragyan Ojha, Ajinkya Rahane, Cheteshwar Pujara and Umesh Yadav.
The Grade C contracts have been given to 20 players who will be entitled to receive an annual payment of Rupees 25 lakhs.
Sebastian Vettel of Red Bull has won the Formula One Indian Grand Prix on October 28,2012. The win at the Budh International Circuit is his fourth consecutive title this season. Fernando Alonso of Ferrari finished second.
Science & Technology
Scientists in Canada have unearthed the first fossils of a feathered dinosaur ever found in the Americas. The 75-million-year old fossil specimens, uncovered in the badlands of Alberta, Canada, include remains of a juvenile and two adult ostrich-like creatures known as ornithomimids. Until now, feathered dinosaur skeletons were recovered exclusively from fine-grained rocks in China and Germany.
The ostrich-like dinosaurs in the original Jurassic Park movie were portrayed as a herd of scaly, fleet-footed animals being chased by a ferocious Tyrannosaurus rex. However, the new research published in the prestigious journal Science reveals this depiction of these bird-mimic dinosaurs is not entirely accurate, the ornithomimids should have had feathers and wings.
Microsoft has launched the latest version of its flagship operating system Windows 8, which is designed to work across PCs, tablets as well as smartphones. Windows 8 can be controlled using touch (with tablets) and with mouse and keyboard (desktops). Microsoft India Chairman said that the new operating system comes with a new start screen and adds more colours. The old start menu is replaced by tiles which showcases users' content that can be updated in real time.
Revised list of Cabinet Ministers
| Serial Number | Portfolio | Name of Minister |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Prime Minister Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Ministry of Planning Department of Atomic Energy Department of Space | Dr. Manmohan Singh |
| 2. | Minister of Railways | Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal |
| 3. | Minister of Finance | Shri Palaniappan Chidambaram |
| 4. | Minister of Agriculture Minister of Food Processing Industries | Shri Sharad Chandra Govindrao Pawar |
| 5. | Minister of Defence | Shri A.K. Antony |
| 6. | Minister of Home Affairs | Shri Sushil Kumar Sambhajirao Shinde |
| 7. | Minister of External Affairs | Shri Salman Khurshid |
| 8. | Minister of Science and Technology Minister of Earth Sciences | Shri Jaipal Sudini Reddy |
| 9. | Minister of Health and Family Welfare | Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad |
| 10. | Minister of New and Renewable Energy | Dr. Farooq Abdullah |
| 11. | Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas | Dr.(Shri) M. Veerappa Moily |
| 12. | Minister of Overseas Indian Affairs | Shri Vayalar Ravi |
| 13. | Minister of Civil Aviation | Shri Ajit Singh |
| 14. | Minister of Labour and Employment | Shri Mallikarjun Kharge |
| 15. | Minister of Human Resource Development | Dr. M. Mangapati Pallam Raju |
| 16. | Minister of Communications and Information Technology | Shri Kapil Sibal |
| 17. | Minister of Commerce Industry and Minister of Textiles | Shri Anand Sharma |
| 18. | Minister of Road Transport and Highways | Shri C. P. Joshi |
| 19. | Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation | Shri Ajay Maken |
| 20. | Minister of Culture | Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch |
| 21. | Minister of Shipping | Shri G.K. Vasan |
| 22. | Minister of Urban Development Minister of Parliamentary Affairs | Shri Kamal Nath |
| 23. | Minister of Water Resources | Shri Harish Rawat |
| 24. | Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment | Kumari Selja |
| 25. | Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers | Shri M. K. Alagiri |
| 26. | Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises | Shri Praful Manoharbhai Patel |
| 27. | Minister of Coal | Shri Sriprakash Jaiswal |
| 28. | Minister of Law and Justice | Ashwani Kumar, Shri |
| 29. | Minister of Minority Affairs | Khan, Shri K. Rahman |
| 30. | Ministry of Mines | Shri Dinsha J. Patel |
| 31. | Minister of Tribal Affairs Minister of Panchayati Raj | Shri V. Kishore Chandra Deo |
| 32. | Minister of Steel | Shri Beni Prasad Verma |
| 33. | Minister of Rural Development | Shri Jairam Ramesh |
| Serial Number | Portfolio | Name of Minister |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ministry of Women and Child Development | Smt. Krishna Tirath |
| 2. | Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports | Shri Jitendra Singh |
| 3. | Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution | Prof. Kuruppassery Varkey Thomas |
| 4. | Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation | Shri Srikant Kumar Jena |
| 5. | Ministry of Environment and Forests | Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan |
| 6. | Minister of Information and Broadcasting | Shri Manish Tewari |
| 7. | Minister of Tourism | Chiranjeevi, Dr. K. |
| 8. | Ministry of Development of North Eastern Region Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs | Shri Paban Singh Ghatowar |
| 9. | Minister of Drinking Water and Sanitation | Shri Bharatsinh Madhavsinh Solanki |
| 10. | Minister of Power | Shri Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia |
| 11. | Minister of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises | Shri K.H. Muniyappa |
| 12. | Minister of Corporate Affairs | Shri Sachin Pilot |
| Serial Number | Portfolio | Name of Minister |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Ministry of External Affairs | Shri E. Ahamed |
| 2. | Ministry of Human Resource Development | Dr. Shashi Tharoor |
| 3. | Ministry of Home Affairs | Shri Ramachandran Mullappally |
| 4. | Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions Prime Minister Office | Shri V. Narayanasamy |
| 5. | Ministry of Commerce and Industry | Smt. Daggubati Purandeswari |
| 6. | Ministry of Human Resource Development Ministry of Defence | Shri Jitin Prasada |
| 7. | Ministry of Railways | Shri Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury |
| 8. | Ministry of Textiles | Smt. Lakshmi Panabaka |
| 9. | Ministry of Finance | Shri Namo Narain Meena |
| 10. | Ministry of Finance | Shri S.S. Palanimanickam |
| 11. | Ministry of Road Transport and Highways | Shri Sathyanarayana Sarvey |
| 12. | Ministry of External Affairs | Smt. Preneet Kaur |
| 13. | Ministry of Agriculture Ministry of Food Processing Industries | Tariq Anwar, Shri |
| 14. | Ministry of Railways | Shri Kotla Jaya Surya Prakash Reddy |
| 15. | Ministry of Tribal Affairs | Smt. Ranee Narah |
| 16. | Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment | Shri Porika Balram Naik |
| 17. | Ministry of Health and Family Welfare | Shri Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury |
| 18. | Ministry of Road Transport and Highways | Shri Tushar Amarsinh Chaudhary |
| 19. | Ministry of Communications and Information Technology | Dr. (Smt.) Kruparani Killi |
| 20. | Ministry of Coal | Shri Pratik Prakashbapu Patil |
| 21. | Ministry of Water Resources | Shri Vincent H Pala |
| 22. | Ministry of Minority Affairs | Shri Ninong Ering |
| 23. | Ministry of Rural Development | Shri Pradeep Kumar Jain Aditya |
| 24. | Ministry of Planning Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs | Shukla, Shri Rajeev |
| 25. | Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Food Processing Industries Ministry of Food Processing Industries | Shri Charan Das Mahant |
| 26. | Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas Ministry of Home Affairs | Shri Ratanjit Pratap Narain Singh |
| 27. | Ministry of Communications and Information Technology | Shri Milind Murli Deora |
| 28. | Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers | Shri Srikant Kumar Jena |
| 29. | Minister of Urban Development | Smt. Deepa Dasmunsi |
| 30. | Minister of Labour and Employment | Shri Suresh Kodikunnil |
| 31. | Minister of New and Renewable Energy | Shri S. Jagathrakshakan |
| 32. | Ministry of Power Minister of Civil Aviation | Shri K. C. Venugopal |
0 comments:
Post a Comment