Malayalam poetess Sugathakumari gets Saraswati Samman 2012

Renowned Malayalam poetess and social activist Sugathakumari was conferred with prestigious Saraswati Samman award for 2012, instituted by KK Birla Foundation. Sugathakumari was honoured for her collection of poems in Malayalam entitled Manalezhuthu (the writings on the sand) published in 2006.


Sugathakumari social and environmental activist, who has been at the forefront of environmental and feminist movements in Kerala, South India.

Music director V Dakshinamurthy passes away at 94

Venkateswaran Dakshinamoorthy, the veteran  veteran carnatic musician and music director died on 2 August 2013 at his residence in Mylapore, Chennai. He was 94. He has set scores for the songs in over 125 films. He has to his credit as many as 859 songs composed over a period of 50 years. He dominated Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi films, predominantly in Malayalam films.

Russia Granted Asylum to Edward J. Snowden

 Russia granted temporary asylum to Edward Joseph Snowden , an American computer specialist, who worked for the CIA and the NSA and leaked details of several top-secret United States and British government mass surveillance programs to the press.

He left  the United States prior to the publication of his disclosures to Hong Kong. Mean time,

United States federal prosecutors charged Snowden with espionage and theft of government property.  He later moved to Russia where he was given temporary asylum and moved to undisclosed location

Dadra and Nagar Haveli celebrates 60th liberation day

 Liberation day’ marks the anniversary of the liberation of Silvassa from the Portuguese on August 2, 1954. Silvassa serves as the capital of Dadra and Nagar Haveli.  A series of programmes were organized including cultural programmes and the felicitation of the freedom fighters amid the presence of Administrator of Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Bhupinder Bhalla and tens of hundreds of residents. 
 
Dadra and Nagar Haveli was merged into the Indian Union in 1961.

Disinvestment of 10 percent paid up equity capital of IOC Ltd

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, in accordance with the Government of India`s disinvestment policy, has approved the disinvestment of 10 percent paid-up equity in the Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL), out of its equity capital holding of 78.92 percent. The disinvestment will be through Offer for Sale (OFS) method in the domestic market according to the SEBI rules and regulations. After this disinvestment the Government of India shareholding in the company would come down to 68.92 percent.

The paid up equity capital of the company, as on 31st March, 2013 was Rs. 2,428 crore. The Government of India holds 78.92 percent of the paid up capital in IOCL.

Special National Investment Fund created

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved creation of the Special National Investment Fund for the specific objective of meeting the minimum public shareholding of 10 percent requirement in the following six Central Public Sector Enterprises (CPSEs).

(i) Andrew Yule & Company Ltd.
(ii) Fertilizers & Chemicals (Travancore) Ltd.
(iii) Hindustan Photo Films Manufacturing Co. Ltd.
(iv) HMT Ltd.
(v) ITI Ltd.
(vi) Scooters India Ltd. 

Union Cabinet approves amendment to the Right to Information Act, 2005

The Union Cabinet has approved introduction of a Bill in the coming session of the Parliament to amend the Right to Information Act, 2005, to exclude the political parties from the definition of Public authority for the purpose of the Act.

The Central Information Commission (CIC) in its decision dated 03.06.2013, has held that the political parties, namely, AICC/INC, BJP, CPI(M), CPI, NCP, and BSP are public authorities under Section 2(h) of the RTI Act. While deciding that the said political parties are public authorities, the CIC has relied mainly on the grounds that there is substantial (indirect) financing of political parties by the Central Government and they perform public duty.