Monday, April 29, 2013

Finance Ministry suggests alternative formula for gas pricing

The Finance Ministry has rejected the natural gas pricing formula suggested by the Rangarajan Committee and has instead suggested an alternative formula based on wellhead prices charged by suppliers in the region (Oman, Qatar, Abu Dhabi and Malaysia) for long-term contracts.

Prices calculated by finance ministry as per the alternative formula may be lower than the Rangarajan Committee figure. Wellhead prices do not take into account transportation costs — a significant price escalator in the case of Liquified Natural Gas. The ministry has made this suggestion in a note for the consideration of the Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) while deciding the road map for gas pricing.

Death toll crosses 200 in Banglasdesh Building collapse

The death toll from building collapse in Savar, in the outskirts of Dhaka, reached 219 on sday as the rescuers continued frantic efforts to save those trapped inside the rubble of the building, for the second day.

Rana Plaza, a nine-storey building collapsed in Savar, in the outskirts of Dhaka, with a number of people inside. The initial reports says that at least 200 persons died.

Musharraf formally arrested in held in Benazir case

Former President Pervez Musharraf was formally arrested by the Pakistani investigators over the murder of Benazir Bhutto after an Anti-terrorism court directed them to include him in the probe into the 2007 assassination. A team of officials from the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) formally arrested Gen. Musharraf at his palatial farmhouse on the outskirts of Islamabad, which was declared a “sub-jail” after he was remanded in judicial custody last week

Shamshad Begum died at the age of 94



Shamshad Begum, who was one of the first playback singers in the Hindi film industry, died at her residence after prolonged illness. She was 94.

She had a distinctive voice and was a versatile artist, singing over 6000 songs in Hindi and the Bengali, Marathi, Gujarati, Tamil and Punjabi languages. She worked with maestros including Naushad Ali, S. D. Burman, C. Ramchandra and O. P. Nayyar.  Her songs from the 1940s to the early 1970s remain popular and continue to be remixed.

Etihad will invest in Jet Airways



The Abu Dhabi-based Etihad Airways will pick up a 24 per in the Jet Airways, at a cost of Rs. 2,058 crore ($379 million). The foreign direct investment norms for the airline industry were liberalised in September last year.
The Board of Directors of the Indian carrier approved the stake sale in terms of which Etihad will be investing $600 million, including $70 million paid to Jet for its landing rights at London Heathrow airport. Within the next six months, the gulf carrier will also buy a majority stake in Jet’s frequent flyer programme, JetPrivilege, for $150 million.

Chinese troops intrusion in Indian territory

Several dozen Chinese soldiers have set up a remote camp some 10 km (6 miles) inside the Indian territory in the high altitude Himalayan desert of Ladakh.

However to reduce tensions between the two countries, New Delhi favours diplomatic strings to get Beijing to revert to status quo prior to this incursion.

India has sent an equal complement of the Indian Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel. They are camping 200 yards away from the Chinese in a classic face-to-face posture. A reluctant Chinese side agreed to an Indian request for a second flag meeting in a week to resolve the issue.

In New Delhi, Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin basically made three points, besides calling on the Chinese to revert to status quo. He admitted it was now a face-to-face situation, but localised; this was not the first time such an incident has happened and; the accent was on resolving the stand-off peacefully through mechanisms agreed upon by the two sides.

NASA launches three smartphone-powered satellites into space

NASA has successfully launched three smartphones into space to snap images of Earth, and the handsets may prove to be the lowest-cost satellites ever flown into space.

Each smartphone is housed in a standard cubesat structure, measuring about 4 inches square. The smartphone acts as the satellite’s onboard computer. Its sensors are used for attitude determination and its camera for Earth observation.

The smartphones destined to become low-cost satellites rode to space on Sunday aboard the maiden flight of Orbital Science Corporation’s Antares rocket from NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia.

The trio of “PhoneSats” is operating in orbit, and may prove to be the lowest-cost satellites ever flown in space. The goal of NASA’s PhoneSat mission is to determine whether a consumer-grade smartphone can be used as the main flight avionics of a capable, yet very inexpensive, satellite.

NASA engineers kept the total cost of the components for the three prototype satellites in the PhoneSat project between $3,500 and $7,000 by using primarily commercial hardware and keeping the design and mission objectives to a minimum.

The hardware for this mission is the Google-HTC Nexus One smartphone running the Android operating system.

NASA added items a satellite needs that the smartphones do not have — a larger, external lithium-ion battery bank and a more powerful radio for messages it sends from space. The smartphone’s ability to send and receive calls and text messages has been disabled.

States have no power to frame a mining policy :Supreme Court

The Supreme Court clarified that the State government cannot frame policy for granting mining leases going beyond the scope of the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957and Mineral Concession Rules, 1960.

Reiterating this point, the Supreme Court dismissed review petitions filed by the Centre, JSW Steel Ltd and others seeking review of the September 2010 judgment in the ’Sandur Manganese and Iron Ores Ltd (SMIOL) vs. State of Karnataka’ case.

Chris Gayle hits fastest century in cricket history

Chris Gayle scored the fastest-ever Twenty20 hundred in 30 balls and the IPL’s highest individual score 175 not out off 66 balls hiting 17 sixes.

He was playing for Royal Challengers Bangalore against Pune Warriors in the Indian Premier League.

The Jamaican toppled the previous highest Twenty20 score of 158 by Brendon McCullum, also set at Bangalore’s Chinnaswamy Stadium in the first-ever IPL match six years ago.

Serbian government approves Kosovo deal

The Prime Ministers of Serbia and Kosovo reached in Brussels that would give Kosovo’s ethnic Albanian leadership authority over rebel Kosovo Serbs. In turn, the minority Serbs would get wide autonomy within Kosovo.

However, the serbs living in northern Kosovo, rejected the agreement, demanded that the EU-brokered agreement be annulled and branded the Serbian officials who endorsed it “traitors”.

Ending the partition of Kosovo between the Albanian majority and the Serb-controlled north —about a fifth of the country — is a key condition of Serbia’s further progress toward EU membership.

J.S. Verma passed away

Lalgudi Gopala Iyer Jayaraman was a well-known and award-winning Indian Carnatic violinist, vocalist and composer. His disciples included his two children Lalgudi G.J.R.Krishnan, Lalgudi Vijayalakshmi and the Academy Award nominated Bombay Jayashri Ramnath.

He declined the coveted Sangita Kalanidhi award of the Music Academy, Chennai, as it came late, though the institution honoured him with a lifetime achievement award. He kept away from playing for women artistes as his father was against the idea. However, he gave a lot of concerts with his sister Lalgudi Brimanandham.

Djokovic won Monte Carlo Masters tournament.

Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal at the Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament 6-2, 7-6(7-1) to win the trophy for the first time. He stopped Rafael Nadal’s winning streak of the last eight titles here.

Sebastian Vettel won Bahrain Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel extended his lead in this year’s title race when he claimed victory for Red Bull at the Bahrain Grand Prix

It was Vettel’s second win in four races this year and the 28th of his career. The German’s victory saw him move into sixth on the all-time list of Grand Prix wins, taking him past Jackie Stewart.

defence ministry finalised a new procurement policy

India’s defence ministry finalised a new procurement policy under which Indian public and private sector will be given first priority for military procurements and will help in plugging loopholes that allow corruption.

Major changes in the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) were approved by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the apex decision-making body of the Ministry

The government would make all efforts to create genuine level-playing field for Indian manufacturing industries.

The new policy changes will also end the virtual monopoly of the public sector undertakings (PSUs) and ordnance factories in the defence sector as they will not be automatically nominated for maintenance and repair of systems procured from abroad, as private firms will be allowed to take part in these contracts

The financial powers of the Services chiefs and the chief of the Coast Guard have been enhanced from Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 150 crore for capital acquisition cases.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Former Pak. President Musharraf was arrested

Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf was arrested from his Chak Shahzad farmhouse. Musharraf yesterday fled from the Islamabad High Court after it had ordered his arrest in a 2007 case and remained closeted in his farmhouse with police blocking access to it

Defective valves delay plant commissioning at Kudankulam

The commissioning of the Kudankulam atomic power plant has been delayed as the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board found four valves “deficient” during tests ahead of firing the reactor. The Nuclear Power Corporation of India is replacing the components.

Russia launches bio-satellite

Russia launched an ’orbital Noah’s Ark’ to space — a bio-satellite packed with an array of mice and other small creatures to study the effects of long flights on living organisms. Russia’s latest BION-M1 biological research capsule carrying 45 mice, eight Mongolian gerbils, 15 geckos, snails, fish eggs, micro-organisms and plants blasted off aboard the modernised Soyuz 2 rocket from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan.

Former President of the Indian Olympic Association Sivanthi Adityan dead

B. Sivanthi Adityan, Former President of the Indian Olympic Association and owner of Dina Thanthi, the largest circulated Tamil daily died after a prolonged illness.

Sichuan Earthquake killed 157 persons

At least 157 people were killed and more than 5,700 injured in a 7.0-magnitude earthquake that struck China’s south-western Sichuan province on Saturday morning. Authorities fear the number of casualties could rise considering the strength of the earthquake, which was felt in at least five surrounding provinces.

Napolitano is re-elected as Italian President

Italian President Giorgio Napolitano was re-elected as President for one more term.

taly’s electoral college failed to elect his successor in five rounds of voting. This is the first time in the history of the Italian Republic that a President has been elected to two successive terms. He needed 504 votes of the 1007 grand electors, or 51.5 per cent, to win. The quorum was reached early morning after a day fraught with uncertainly.

Djokovic won Monte Carlo Masters tournament.

Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal at the Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament 6-2, 7-6(7-1) to win the trophy for the first time. He stopped Rafael Nadal’s winning streak of the last eight titles here.

Human computer, Shakuntala Devi dead

Math whiz Shakuntala Devi popularly known as human computer passed away at the age of 80.

Ms. Devi held a Guinness World Record for her lightening-speed calculations. Among her distinctions was her ability to, given a date in the last century, mentally ascertain the day.

In 1977, she calculated the 23rd root of a 201-digit number in just 50 seconds. In 1980, she multiplied two 13-digit numbers given to her randomly by the Computer Department of Imperial College, London.

defence ministry finalised a new procurement policy

ndia’s defence ministry finalised a new procurement policy under which Indian public and private sector will be given first priority for military procurements and will help in plugging loopholes that allow corruption.

Major changes in the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) were approved by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), the apex decision-making body of the Ministry

The government would make all efforts to create genuine level-playing field for Indian manufacturing industries.

The new policy changes will also end the virtual monopoly of the public sector undertakings (PSUs) and ordnance factories in the defence sector as they will not be automatically nominated for maintenance and repair of systems procured from abroad, as private firms will be allowed to take part in these contracts

The financial powers of the Services chiefs and the chief of the Coast Guard have been enhanced from Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 150 crore for capital acquisition cases.

Sebastian Vettel won Bahrain Grand Prix

Sebastian Vettel extended his lead in this year’s title race when he claimed victory for Red Bull at the Bahrain Grand Prix

It was Vettel’s second win in four races this year and the 28th of his career. The German’s victory saw him move into sixth on the all-time list of Grand Prix wins, taking him past Jackie Stewart.

Monday, April 15, 2013

World Bank scheme to benefit seven low-income States

To reduce poverty and increasing prosperity world bank will lend to the 7 poorest state’s in India.

Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh will be benefited by the world bank programme.

It is a part of country Partnership Strategy (CPS) for India (2013-17), which proposes a lending programme of $3 billion-5 billion every year over the next four years

The Bank’s objective is to bring down poverty levels in the seven low-income States to just 5.5 per cent in 2030 from 29.8 per cent in 2010.

60 per cent of the financing will go to State government-backed projects and 30 per cent will go to low-income or special category States where public services face high delivery costs.

Under the Bank’s previous support strategy plan, 18 per cent of its lending went to these States.

Infosys results worries IT sector

The second-largest IT services company in India Ltd., suffered a loss of Rs. 36,000 crore for the company in market capitalization and saw a sharp decline in share prices.

G8 accord to end sexual violence in conflict zones

Foreign Ministers of the world’s eight most advanced countries (G8) adopted a “historic” declaration committing the international community to tackle sexual violence in conflict zones.

The agreement, reached on the sidelines of discussions on North Korea and Syria ahead of the summit of G8 leaders in June, was hailed by Foreign Secretary William Hague as a “turning point” in the campaign against “war zone rape”.

Benod Behari Choudhury,Chittagong uprising hero passed away

The last of the revolutionaries who took part in the Chittagong armed uprising, Benod Behari Choudhury, died at the city hospital after a multi-organ failure late on Wednesday evening. He was 102.

The revolutionary used to live in Chittagong in Bangladesh and was brought here in January for treatment as he was suffering from respiratory problems.

India, Bangladesh to produce mega film on 1971 War of Liberation

India and Bangladesh agreed to work on a proposal for jointly producing a mega film depicting Bangladesh’s struggle for independence which will also highlight the sacrifices made by Indian soldiers.

India and Bangladesh also agreed to explore the possibility of setting up of a Joint Working Group on the critical sectors of the Information and Broadcasting domain.

Dada Saheb Phalke Award for Pran

Pran has been awarded the Dadasaheb Phalke Award (2012), the nation’s highest cinema honour.

Pran Krishan Sikand better known by his mononym, Pran, is a multiple Filmfare and BFJA award-winning Indian actor, known as a movie villain and character actor in Hindi cinema from the 1940s to the 1990s. He acted as a hero from 1940–47 and as a villain from 1942–1991 and played supporting and character roles from 1948–2007.

Death can’t be commuted on ground of delay on mercy plea: SC

Supreme Court held that long delay by the President or the Governor in disposing of mercy petitions of persons convicted under anti-terror laws like TADA or similar statutes cannot be a ground for commutation of the death sentence. A two-judge bench gave this ruling while rejecting the plea of Khalistani terrorist and death-row convict Devinderpal Singh Bhullar in a judgment that paves the way for his execution and may have a bearing on the fate of over 20 convicts facing execution.

Parliamentary Standing Committee on Commerce to defer signing of India-EU FTA

Parliamentary Standing Committee during its meeting suggested Prime Minister to put off signing of the India-EU free trade agreement (FTA) till the committee deliberates on the issues raised before it.

The Chairman of the committe, Mr. Shanta Kumar stated that, in view of many issues and concerns raised by the various States, NGOs and stakeholders, it would be appropriate to defer signing of the India-EU FTA.

The negotiations have hit a roadblock after EU demanded that India provide free access to the automobile industry of Europe, especially Germany, hike the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit in insurance to 49 per cent, open up the financial sector through more reforms and lower taxes on wines and spirits.

Amitabh presented NTR National Film Award

Film star Amitabh Bachchan was presented the NTR National Film Award for 2011 at a glittering by Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, producer D. Rama Naidu and senior personalities of Tollywood.

The award carried Rs.5 lakh cash prize, a citation and a memento.

Friday, April 12, 2013

Margaret Thatcher dead

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Britain’s first woman Prime Minister, died following a stroke.

She was 87 and was suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was a British politician who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and the Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. She was the longest-serving British Prime Minister of the 20th century and is the only woman to have held the office. A Soviet journalist called her the "Iron Lady", a nickname that became associated with her uncompromising politics and leadership style. As Prime Minister, she implemented policies that have come to be known as Thatcherism

Serbia rejects E.U. brokered Kosovo deal

Serbia has rejected EU-brokered plan to tackle the ethnic partition of its former province Kosovo.

It is believed that it would jeopardise Serbia’s hopes of starting membership talks with the EU.

Serbia said the plan is unacceptable because it does not give more autonomy to minority ethnic Serbs in Kosovo who together with Serbia reject Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence.

While some 90 countries including the United States and most EU nations have recognized Kosovo’s 2008 declaration of independence, it has been rejected by Serbia and its Slavic ally Russia.

The stumbling block in the talks was a Serbian demand that ethnic Serbs, who represent about 10 per cent of Kosovo’s 2 million people, have their own judiciary and police force. But Kosovo officials have rejected that, saying it would be tantamount to a division of Kosovo into two separate entities.

Five Indian soldiers killed in South Sudan

Five Indian soldiers, including a Lt-Colonel, were killed and another five injured when the UN convoy they were escorting as part of their peace-keeping operations in strife-torn South Sudan came under heavy fire from armed rebels.

The deceased were identified as Lt-Col Mahipal Singh, Naik Subedar Shiv Kumar Pal, Havildars Hira Lal and Bharat Sasmal and sepoy Nand Kishore. Their next of kin will each get $70,000 as grant from the UN, apart from the "higher compensation amounts" paid by the Indian government for "battle casualties"

South Sudan ended decades of civil war with Sudan in 2005 and peacefully formed its own country in 2011. But the south is still plagued by internal violence and shaky relations with Sudan. Leaders in Khartoum, Sudan’s capital, deny that they are arming Yau Yau.

Reopen 1984 riots case against Jagdish Tytler: Sessions Court

Setting aside a magisterial court order accepting the closure report filed by the CBI, the sessions court ordered further investigation.

Earlier, Magisterial court order accepted the closure report filed by the CBI gave to senior Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

The sessions court directed the CBI to record the statements of eyewitnesses to the murder of three Sikhs at Gurdwara Pul Bangash on November 1, 1984. They were burnt alive by a mob that was incited by Mr. Tytler, the witnesses alleged. However, the CBI concluded that Mr. Tytler was present at Teen Murti Bhawan when the riot took place.

Monday, April 8, 2013

Donors countries meet in Doha to raise money for Darfur

Hundreds of delegates are meeting in Doha for a donor conference to raise support for a mulit-billion dollar project to rebuild Sudan’s Darfur region after a decade-long conflict.

The two-day conference beginning on 07/04/13 was agreed under a July 2011 peace deal that Khartoum signed in the Qatari capital with an alliance of rebel splinter groups.

It seeks support for a development strategy needing $7.2 billion for a six-year effort to move Darfur away from food handouts and other emergency aid, laying the foundation for lasting development through improved water facilities, roads and other infrastructure.

Supreme Court stays execution of eight death row convicts

The Supreme Court on Saturday night stayed the execution of eight death row convicts whose mercy petitions were rejected by President Pranab Mukherjee earlier this week.

A Bench of Justices P. Sathasivam and M.Y. Eqbal stayed the execution after hearing senior counsel Colin Gonsalves appearing for the convicts, who filed writ petitions challenging the rejection of their mercy petitions.

The convicts are: Suresh, Ramji and Gurmeet Singh in Naini Central Prison, Allahabad; Praveen Kumar in Belgaum prison in Karnataka; Sonia, daughter of the former Haryana MLA, Ralu Ram Punia, and her husband Sanjeev in Ambala Central Prison in Haryana; Sundar Singh in Nainital, Uttaranchal and Jaffer Ali serving the sentence in a jail in Uttar Pradesh.

Saudi Arabia defers Nitaqat enforcement by three months.

In order to reduce the unemployment rate among the Saudi citizens, the Saudi government issued a new system for the localization of jobs in Saudi Arabia under the name of “Nitaqat”. The new system replaces the system applied since 1994 under the name of “The Saudization”. Nitaqat adopts several principles, which will have impacts on non-Saudis working in the Kingdom.

Riyadh has informed New Delhi that the enforcement has been deferred by three month

Megadeltas vulnerable to rising sea level

R.K. Pachauri, chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said here on Saturday that cities such as Kolkata, Shanghai and Dhaka, which were located in the coastal areas, were most vulnerable to the rising sea levels due to climate change.

Rajendra Kumar Pachauri has been serving as the chairperson of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change since 2002, which was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 during his tenure.

Agni-II launch successful

The Strategic Forces Command (SFC) of the Army successfully test-fired Agni-II ballistic missile at 10.25 a.m. on Sunday. It lifted off from a mobile launcher on Wheeler Island, off the Odisha coast, and travelled its entire range of 2,000 km before splashing into the targeted area in the Bay of Bengal, with an accuracy of a few metres. It was a perfect mission which saw no “holds” and the entire flight lasted more than 10 minutes.

Agni-II, which is capable of carrying nuclear warheads, is 20 meters long and weighs 17 tonnes. Its two stages are propelled by solid fuel. It can carry a payload weighing one tonne. The missile has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).

Saturday, April 6, 2013

Delhi Police to probe Google’s Mapathon 2013

Delhi Police have launched an inquiry into the mapping contest held in February-March this year by Google, following a formal complaint by the Survey of India.

Mapathon 2013 violates national security interest and violates the National Map Policy.

As per the National Map Policy, 2005, “The responsibility for producing, maintaining and disseminating the topographic map database of the whole country, which is the foundation of all spatial data vests with the Survey of India.”

Mapathon 2013 asked Indians to map their neighbourhoods and send their maps so that they can be uploaded in the search engine’s sites.

Justice Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar is appointed as Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh

Shri Justice Ajay Manikrao Khanwilkar, Judge of the High Court of Bombay is appointed as the Chief Justice of Himachal Pradesh by the President of India in exercise of the powers conferred by clause (1) of article 217 of the Constitution of India.

India Signs Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty with Azerbaijan

A Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters was signed between India and Azerbaijan

India and Azerbaijan signed a Treaty on Mutual Legal Assistance in Criminal Matters on 4th April, 2013 in New Delhi.

The Treaty was signed by Shri Sushilkumar Shinde, Home Minister, on behalf of the Republic of India and by Mr.Fikrat Mammadov, Minister of Justice, on behalf of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty is one of the significant legal instruments to improve and facilitate effectiveness of the contracting states in investigation and prosecution of transnational crime including terrorism by providing the necessary legal framework for rendering/receiving legal assistance in criminal matters

CCEA decontrols sugar; companies to save Rs 3,000cr

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared partial decontrol of sugar by abolishing the requirement for private sugar mills to sell a specified amount of sugar to the government at concessional rates. Prior to this notification, sugar collected at concessional rates was distribution under the Public Distribution System. Now sugar industry will be able to sell large quantities on a commercial basis. The removal of the levy sugar burden is expected to save around Rs 3,000 crore.

It is learnt that the decontrol is largely in line with recommendations made by the Rangarajan committee .

levy sugar system, millers were required to contribute 10 percent of their output to the Centre for running ration shops at cheaper rate.

The Centre will continue to provide sugar to the poor under the Public Distribution System (PDS) at the current issue price of Rs. 13.50 per kg. For this, the States will be free to purchase through a transparent system at the current ex-factory price of Rs. 32 per kg which has been capped for two years. The difference between the purchase price and the issue price will be borne by the government.

Renowned historian Bratindra Nath Mukherjee passes away

Renowned historian Professor Bratindra Nath Mukherjee, 79, passed away at his residence.

He was a Padma Shri awardee and author of the author of more than 50 books.

His famous books are Greek and Aramaic Edicts of Ashoka , Rise of Kushan Empire and Indian Gold , a book on ancient coins of the country and Numismatic Art of India and Coins of Bengal .

He was an expert in many languages including Sogdian. His knowledge helped him decipher many ancient scripts such as Shell and Kharoshti Brahmi.

Ashok Khemka, IAS, transferred again

Ashok Khemka, an IAS officer in Haryana transferred from Haryana Seeds Development Corporation (HSDC) to Archives Department as the secretary.

He was transferred in October for cancelling an allegedly irregular land deal between Robert Vadra and DLF.

Mr. Khemka, as an head of HSDC exposed an alleged scam in the purchase of a fungicide Raxil, for treatment of wheat seeds from Bayer Crop Science.

About Him

Ashok Khemka was born in West Bengal He graduated from the IIT Kharagpur in 1988 and followed it up with a Ph.D in Computer Science from the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.

He is an IAS officer of the 1991 batch. He has been repeatedly transferred by various state governments in his home cadre of Haryana after he exposed corruption in the departments he was posted in.

Govt to limit use of beacon lights : Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court questioned the indiscriminate use of red beacon lights. It also expressed its disapproval over the deployment of security for all categories of "VIPs".

Supreme Court said we will have to stop use of red lights as insignia of authority if we don’t get proper replies from them

A Bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and Kurian Joseph asked the States to amend the Motor Vehicle Rules to restrict the use, as well as impose exemplary fines for misuse of the facility. Those allowed to have the red beacons, but found misusing them would incur a Rs. 10,000 fine.

The Bench directed the state governments and union territories to file affidavits giving information on all those enjoying police protection and the cost borne by the government for their security.

President Obama pledges $100 million for BRAIN Initiative

President Obama unveiled the “BRAIN” Initiative—a bold new research effort to revolutionize our understanding of the human mind and uncover new ways to treat, prevent, and cure brain disorders like Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia, autism, epilepsy, and traumatic brain injury.

The BRAIN Initiative — short for Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies — builds on the President’s State of the Union call for historic investments in research and development to fuel the innovation, job creation, and economic growth that together create a thriving middle class.

The Initiative promises to accelerate the invention of new technologies that will help researchers produce real-time pictures of complex neural circuits and visualize the rapid-fire interactions of cells that occur at the speed of thought. Such cutting-edge capabilities, applied to both simple and complex systems, will open new doors to understanding how brain function is linked to human behavior and learning, and the mechanisms of brain disease.

The BRAIN Initiative is launching with approximately $100 million in funding for research supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), and the National Science Foundation (NSF) in the President’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget.

First Ever Hackathon by the Planning Commission on the 12th Plan

The Planning Commission and the National Innovation Council are organising the first ever Hackathon on the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) on 6th – 7th April 2013.

The Hackathon is being organised simultaneously in 11 locations across India and participants can also join virtually. The event is taking place at University of Jammu, IIT Delhi, Delhi University, Aligarh Muslim University, IIT Kanpur, IIT Kharagpur, TISS Mumbai, IIIT Hyderabad, IISc Bangalore, IIT Madras and IIM Shillong. Thousands of young creative designers, coders, film-makers along with policy and development enthusiasts will visualise and narrate the 12th Plan through infographics, short films, and support the initiatives proposed in the Plan by developing software applications.

The Hackathon will last for thirty two hours during which participants will gather in teams across India to compete for interesting prizes in three categories - mobile/web applications, infographics and short films.

A hackathon is an event in which computer programmers and others in the field of software development, as well as graphic designers, interface designers and project managers collaborate intensively on software projects Hackathons tend to have a specific focus, which can include the programming language used, the operating system, an application, an API, the subject and the demographic group of the programmers. In other cases, there is no restriction on the type of software being created.

Moment of explosion is approaching fast says North Korea.

North Korea made a provocative statement that “The moment of explosion is approaching fast,” and that U.S. aggression would be “smashed by... cutting-edge smaller, lighter and diversified nuclear strike means.

Earlier, U.S has announced that it would mobilise the ground-based THAAD missile-interceptor batteries to protect its military bases on Guam.

Guam is an organized, unincorporated territory of the United States in the western Pacific Ocean. It is located 3,380 km southeast of North Korea and home to 6,000 American military personnel, submarines and bombers. It is one of five U.S. territories with an established civilian government. Guam is listed as one of sixteen Non-Self-Governing Territories by the Special Committee on Decolonization of the United Nations. The island’s capital is HagÃ¥tña (formerly Agaña). Guam is the largest

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is now a registered party

The Election Commission has formally registered social activist Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) as a political party.

Mr. Kejriwal was a member of India against Corruption movement, founded by social activist Anna Hazare.

Mr. Kejriwal launched the AAP on November 26, 2012. It has a a 23-member national executive and Mr. Kejriwal is its convener

Vodafone to pay a fine of Rs.104 cr.

Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal has approved the recommendation by two internal committees of the Department of Telecom that a fine of Rs.104 cr. be imposed on Vodafone for its alleged violation of the licence conditions for call routing.

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

U.N. approves global arms trade treaty



The UN General Assembly of April 2, 2013  adopted the resolution of Arm Trade Treaty , in a 154-to-3 vote.
 North Korea, Iran, and Syria voted against the resolution.

23 nations, including India , Cuba,  Myanmar, Nicaragua, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Sudan also abstained from voting.

Pakistan voted in favour of the treaty though its representative expressed concerns over the imbalance in obligations between arms exporters and importers.

The Main aim  of this treaty is  to regulate the $70 billion business in conventional arms and keep weapons out of the hands of human rights abusers.

 Sujata Mehta, India’s Permanent representative to the Geneva Conference of Disarmament during the UNGA session said India cannot accept that the Treaty be used as an instrument in the hands of exporting states to take unilateral force majeure measures against importing states parties without consequences.


Under the ATT, ratifying nations are expected to accept fixed international standards for conventional weapons sales, linked to the protection of human rights. The adopted treaty text covers weapons such as tanks, armoured combat vehicles, large-calibre artillery systems, combat aircraft, attack helicopters, warships, missiles and missile launchers, and small and light arms

Optic fibre joins Ambani’ s

Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm will use the nationwide optic fibre network of Anil ambani’s Reliance Communications Ltd. for a one-time fee of Rs. 1,200 crore.

Eight years after parting ways, Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani on Tuesday started a business collaboration that would allow Reliance Jio Infocomm, controlled by Mukesh, to use the nationwide optic fibre network of Anil’s Reliance Communications Ltd. for a one-time fee of Rs. 1,200 crore.

When the Reliance group partitioned in 2005, Mukesh Ambani got Reliance Industries while telecom business along with power, infrastructure and finance went to Anil Ambani.

The ambanies amended the non competing agreement which allowed Reliance Industries entered telecom by buying Infotel Broadband Services Ltd. that owned radio-wave spectrum for high-speed broadband services.

Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd is now all set to launch 4G services, by using the optic fiber network The telecom venture, now called Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd., is preparing to launch 4G services, which would be served by accessing the optic fibre network.

However the mobile phone companies consider it as a backdoor entry into the cellular market which opted for an internet-only licence.