National Affairs 2011

8/4/2019 National Affairs 2011

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NATIONAL AFFAIRS 2011

January

(A.P.) - The Inter-University National Youth festival-2011 has been conductedat Sri venkateswara University Campus, Tirupathi.

Jaipur (Rajasthan) - Asia's largest and most acclaimed 6th edition of thejaipur literature festival was completed here. Many literary figures were attendedincluding Turkey's Nobel Prize for literature winner orhan Pamuk.

The former Maharashtra C.M., Ashok Chawan has been named as one ofthe 13 accused in the FIR filed by the CBI in the Adarsh Housing Society Scam.

Indian Railways has inaugurated Indian first Green Railway Station atManwal on the Jammu-Udhampur Rail route. The entire power supply in this stationwill be provided by the Solar Energy.

Clearing the way for the recommencement of High Technology defense andaerospace exports to India, United states has put an end to a restrictive controlmechanism, that was in place since 1998 Pokhran-II nuclear tests to 9 Indian state-owned defense and aerospace organisations like DRDO and ISRO.

Chief Minister N.Kiran Kumar Reddy, inaugurated 21st Horticulture Expo-2011 at the People's Plaza, in Hyderabad.

Famous Poet, Astavadani, National Literature Parishat MemberLaxminarsimha Passed away at Prasant Nager in Sddipet.

Union minister of science and technology and human resource development,Kapil Sibal, was inaugurated a "Geospatial World Fourm-2011" at Hyderabad

International Convention Centre. Geospatial World Forum 2011, a four day meet was inaugurated inHyderabad. Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi conferres Rachapudi KamakshiMemorial Gold Medal for young Geospatial Scientist 2010 on Thiyam TamphasanaDevi, IIT Guwahati

A Satya Rao succeeds A Chandrasekhar Reddy as the new Press Secretaryto Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy. A Satya Rao is theAdditional Director of Information and Public Relations Department.

The entire Andhra Pradesh government employees observed the first day oftheir three day pen down, tool down and chalk down stike for the implementation of

the recommendations of 9th Pay Revision Commission (PRC). Minister for Land Development and Water Resources of Uttar Pradesh AshokKumar Dohre was removed from the ministry and also expelled from party for hisbehaviour and conduct.

A bi-monthly magazine on Hyderabad police, 'Protector' was launched byNew Media in association with Hyderabad police. The magazine aims at building upof positive image and to protect the functioning of police.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expanded his Council of Ministers byintroducing three new faces and upgrading five Ministers. Beni Prasad Verma,Ashwani Kumar and K C Venugopal were entered newly into the Cabinet.
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The Supreme Court described the black money matter as "pure and simpletheft of national money". A list of 26 names who had accounts with LiechtensteinBank was provided to Supreme Court by Solicitor-General Gopal Subramaniam.

The Brand Trust Report, India Study 2011 survey conducted by TrustResearch Advisory (TRA) in Mumbai lists Nokia as the most trusted brand in India.

Tata, Sony, L & G and Samsung occupied the rest of top five positions. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the Mobile Number Portability(MNP) for the whole country. The service charge of MNP was made as Rs.19.

"International English Language Teaching and Development Conference"Started at Hyderabad. It was three days conference, co ducted by the British Counciland EFLU.

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's 115th birth anniversary held at the ParliamentHouse in New Delhi. PM Manmohan Singh, senior BJP leader L.K.AdvaniParticipated in that.

Additional Collector of Nashik district 'Yashwant Sonawane' was burnt alive by

a kerosene mafia in Manmad, Nashik.

Indonesian President 'Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono', Who was the chief gustof the 62nd Republic day celebrations at Rajpath in New Delhi

Internationally renowned music composer A.R. Rahman received the 'CrystalAward', in the opening ceremony of the World Economic Forum (WEF)' at Davos inSwitzerland.

Quit India Movement Fighter Susheel Dara died at Mahishadal in WestBengal. He was 99 years old. He was born in 1911 March 2.

A fire broke out on 'INS Vindhyagiri' after it collided with a foreign merchantvessel at the harbour. It was carrying family members of the naval personnel, whowere celebrating 'Day at Sea'.

The All India Women lawyers Conference-2011 was held at Hyderabad.Conference was organized by All India Federation of Women Lawyers.

Sabarimala pilgrimage, around 100 pilgrims died and scores of others wereinjured on Friday night in a stampade at Pulmedu,in Idukki district,Kerala.

The Wage Boards for Working Journalists and Non-journalists and othernewspaper employees submitted its recommendation to Labour Secretary ofGovernment of India. Justice GR Majithia, Chairman of the Wage Boardrecommended 2.5 times pay hike to employees.

Bangalore will host World Sanskrit Book Fair-2011 from January 7 to 10being organised for the first time in 300 years.

The National Bank for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (NABARD) launched a State -level workshop on system of riceintensification (SRI Paddy) at Hyderabad on 5/1/2011.

The Srikrishna Committee has recommended a United AndhraPradesh with Constitutional measures for socio, economic and politicalempowerment of Telangana as the "best way forward to "continue the developmentof all three regions. Srikrishna Committee gave 6 options .The Committee found thefifth option the "Second best"


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February

Government sources indicated that civil servants in Centralministries and departments have signed on to the Results FrameworkDocument (RFD); initiated by the Cabinet Secretariat, will, for the first

time, begin receiving performance-related incentives. These annualperformance-related incentives will, depend on whether the concernedcivil servants have scored well over 70 per cent in the evaluation scheme,and there could be as much as 40 per cent increase of the basic pay forthe top scorers. The Fourth Pay Commission first made such a promise 22years ago. The secretary of that department will have to justify theevaluation before a panel of experts before it is finalised. The RFD'sobjective is to improve governance, increase efficiency, transparency andaccountability especially the last two, given the spate of financialscandals in the government recently.

The Bombay High Court on 22 February upheld the death

sentence awarded by the Trial court to the lone surviving

gunman, Mohammad Ajmal Amir Kasab in the 26/11 Terror Attack

Case.

The 2-day Indian Seed Congress (ISC)-2011 has commenced

in Hyderabad.

The Governing Board of the new Malinda University on 21

February laid down a road map to make the institution functional

tentatively by 2013. The University will start with seven schools, primarily

in humanities. Goya Saharawi has been appointed as the first Vice-

Chancellor of the Malinda University, to be set up just about 10 km away

from the historic location of the Malinda University in Bihar. Amartya

Sen is the chairperson of the Governing Board.

Accepting the pre-planned conspiracy theory of the prosecution, A

Special Fast Track Court appointed by the Gujarat High Court on the

orders of the Supreme Court on 22 February convicted 31 accused and

acquitted 63 others in the Godhra train burning case.

Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh on 22 February announced the

government's decision to set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee

(JPC) to look into the 2G spectrum allocation scam in both the houses

of the parliament

As a part of the efforts to rescue stranded Indians from turmoil-

ridden Libya, Indian Naval Ships INS Jalashwa and INS Mysore set

sail from Mumbai on 26 February. INS Jalashwa is a Landing Platform

Dock type of amphibious platform, is particularly designed for sea lift


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missions and is also capable of undertaking humanitarian missions. INS

Jalashwa could carry nearly 2,500 people, while the INS Mysore could

carry 800-1,000 people.

The State government of Andhra Pradesh and Brighton

Equipment Corporation of USAon23 February inked a Memorandum

of Understanding for Rs.2, 900-crore nuclear power plant at

Nakkapally in Visakhapatnam district. The MoU was signed at the

Secretariat in the presence of Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.

Officials told that about one lakh people would get employment once the

plant was completed in five years. They termed it one of the biggest

foreign direct investment units in the State in recent times.

Sulabh International, a leading Indian NGO working for

promotion of environmental sanitation globally, has announced to launch

sanitation drive with its innovative cost-effective toilet technology in

ASEAN region. Sulabh plans to set up a sanitation centre in

the Cambodian Capital at a cost of 500,000 dollars that could be used

to showcase its path breaking technology. Sulabh international founder

is Dr. Bindeshwar Pathak.

Union minister of state for defence M.M.Pallam Raju

said, Nizampatnam,Guntur dt. A.P. was identified for setting up Coast

Guard Academy.

In one of the Biggest Findings of hidden treasurefrom a

religious place, Orissa's Endowment Department officials and the police

stumbled upon 522 silver slabs weighing about 18 tones from a mutt in

Puri .As per the present market price, the value of the metal is estimated

to be around Rs. 90 crore. The huge stock of silver was found from four

Sinduka (wooden containers) placed inside a room, closed from all sides

by brick walls, in the Emar Mutt in front of the Sri Jagannath

Temple.

Ms. Mamta Benarji has introduced the 2011-12 Railway Budget on

25 February in the parliament. The highlights of the budget are-

No hike in passenger fare and freight rates.

1. Highest ever Plan outlay of Rs. 57, 630 crore proposed for

Railways.

2. Rs. 9,583 crore provided for new lines.

3. 1300 km new lines, 867 km doubling of lines and 1017 kmgauge conversion targeted in 2011-12.


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4. 56 new Express Trains, 3 new Shatabdis and 9 Duronto trains

to be introduced.

5. AC Double Decker services on Jaipur-Delhi and Ahmedabad-

Mumbai routes.

6. New Super AC Class to be introduced.

7. A new portal for e-ticketing to be launched shortly. Booking

charges will be cheaper with a charge of only Rs. 10 for AC classes

and Rs.5 for others.

8. Pan-India multi-purpose smart card "Go India" to be

introduced.

9. 236 more stations to be upgraded as Adarsh Stations.

10. 47 additional suburban services in Mumbai and 50 newsuburban services proposed for Kolkata.

11. A special package of two new trains and two projects for the

States managing trouble free run of trains through out the year.

12. Anti Collision Devise (ACD) sanctioned to cover 8 zonal

railways.

13. GPS Based 'Fog Safe' Device to be deployed.

14. All India Security Help line on a single number set up.

15. All state capitals in the North-East except Sikkim to be

connected by Rail in next seven years.

16. A Bridge Factory in J & K and a state-of-art Institute for

Tunnel and Bridge Engineering is proposed at Jammu.

17. A Diesel Locomotive Centre will be set-up in Manipur.

18. A Centre of Excellence in Software at Darjeeling proposed

under the aegis of CRIS.

19. Rail Industrial Parks at Jellingham and New Bongaigaonproposed.

20. 700 MW gas-based power plant to be set up at Thakurli in

Maharashtra.

21. A scheme for socially desirable projects, 'Pradhan Mantri Rail

Vikas Yojana' with Non-lapsable fund proposed.

22. 10,000 shelter units proposed for track side dwellers in

Mumbai, Sealdah, Siliguri, Tiruchirapalli on pilot basis.


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23. Concession of 50% to press correspondents with family

increased to twice a year.

24. Senior Citizens concession to be hiked from 30 % to 40 %.

25. Scholarship for Girl child of Group-D railway employeesincreased to Rs.1200 per month.

26. Recruitment for 1.75 lakh vacancies of Group 'C' and 'D'

including to fill up backlog of SC/ST initiated, 16,000 ex-servicemen

to be inducted by March 2011.

27. A separate sports cadre to be created.

28. 2011-12 declared 'Year of Green Energy' for Railways.

29. Freight loading of 993 MT and passenger growth of 6.4 %

estimated for 2011-12.

30. Gross Traffic Receipts at Rs.1, 06,239 crore, exceeding one

lakh crore mark for the first time estimated.

31. Ordinary Working Expenses assessed at Rs. 73,650 crore.

Pakistani singer Rahat Fateh Ali Khan was detained at the Indira

Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi on for allegedly carrying a huge

sum of undeclared foreign currency.

A new organisation, Anti-Corruption Citizen's Forum (ACCF), an

initiative by a group of concerned citizens including former judges and

former IAS officers was formed inHyderabad on 13 February with the

objective of curbing the menace, build pressure groups and urge the

government to take action. Among those in the core group that worked to

form the ACCF were former Chief Justice of Allahabad High Court A.

Lakshmana Rao, former Supreme Court judge B. P. Jeevan Reddy, former

High Court Judge Reddappa Reddy and former Lok Ayukta Justice

Ramanujam, former IAS officers K. R. Venugopal, K. Padmanabhaiah and

C. Umamaheswara Rao.

A.P.Chief Minister, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy performed the ground

breaking' ceremony for three Tata Group projects in Hyderabad on 14

February promoted Hyderabad onto the global aerospace map.Involving

an investment of Rs. 1,000 crore and providing direct and indirect

employment to 9,000 persons, the three aerospace manufacturing

projectsat Adibhatla village in Ranga Reddy district are Tata Lockheed

Martin Aerostructure, (joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems

(TAS) and Lockheed Martin), Tata Aerospace Systems (JV of TAS and


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Sikorsky Aircraft) and Nova Integrated systems (Tata enterprise). They

are expected to go on stream by 2011 end.

The A.P State Legislative Assembly has set a record of sorts

by becoming the first in the country to digitise video records of all the

debates in the House from 1996.The debates, digitised in DVD format, will

shortly be uploaded on the Internet. Members can now take a copy of

some of the historic debates or the debates in which they took part and

upload it on YouTube or any other site on the Net.

Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had given the

conditional clearance for the 4000-MW Ultra-Mega Power Project (UMPP)

at Bedabahal in Orissa.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 19 February laid the foundation

stones of the country's second National Institute of Design (NID)

at Jorhat,Assam and the Assam centre of the Rajiv Gandhi

Institute of Petroleum Technology (RGIPT) atSivasagar.The first

National Institute of Design was set up in Ahmedabad 50 years ago.

Giving in to opposition demands, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh

announced governments decision toset up a JPC into the 2G spectrum

scam, saying the country could "ill afford" disruption of the crucial Budget

session of Parliament.

Axis bank has formally launched the first ETM (Enywhere Teller

Mechine)service in Vijayawada on15 february with the bank already

tying up with over 120 merchants as POS(Point Of Sale) terminals to

provide its new service to its customers. The bank has plans to extend

this service all over the State by March next year by roping in nearly 500

merchants as POS terminals by that time.ETM service is more convenient

as the card holder need not look for a bank' ATM.

The expert group of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and

the task force of the Ministry of Human Resource Development (HRD)

broadly agreed to settle their turf war over the jurisdiction of medical

education. The National Commission for Human Resources in Health

(NCHRH) will get to lay down the minimum standards of medical

education, while all health-related research will come under the

purview of the National Commission for Higher Education and

Research (NCHER), promoted by the HRD Ministry.

The First Urine Bank in India has started in a village Musiri near

Tiruchi, Tamil Nadu.


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A group of naval divers on board INS Nireekshak, the Navy's

only diving support and submarine rescue vessel, set a new

national record last week by diving to a depth of 233 metres in the seas

off Kochi coast, bettering a record of 218 metres attained by Navy divers

in March 2007.INS Nireekshak, a 3,600-tonnes ship that was

commissioned into the navy in 1995, is capable of diving up to 300

metres.

The Centre on 18 February annulled the controversial

deal between the Indian Space Research Organisation's commercial arm

Antrix Corporation and Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia.The Cabinet

Committee on Security (CCS), headed by Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh, paved the way for annulling the agreement by declaring that the

government will not be able to provide the orbit slot in S-Band to Antrix

for commercial purposes, including for its existing contractual obligations,

in view of strategic requirements.

Japan is to extend an aid of Rs.2, 557 crore (Yen 46.401 billion) to

India for three projects through its Overseas Development Assistance

(ODA) programme. The projects pertain to cleaning the Yamuna in the

national capital, crop diversification promotion in Himachal Pradesh and

biodiversity conservation and greening in Tamil Nadu. The current aid

quantum is part of the 2010 Japan International Cooperation Agency

(JICA) ODA loan package.

The 71 st session of the Indian History Congress was held at

the Gaur Banga University in Malda,West Bengal.

The two day Ministerial Conference of the Least Developed

Countries (LDC) was held in New Delhi.

The Andhra Pradeshs12th annual Nandi Drama Festival got off

to a colourful start at Nandyal on19 February. C. Pardhasaradhi,

Commissioner, Information and Public Relations and Managing Director of

AP State Film, Television and Theatre Development Corporation, formally

inaugurated the festival.

The Supreme Court has stated in a case that -If a sessions judge

passes an erroneous or patently unjustified order, the High Court

concerned can suo motu question its correctness by an administrative

decision.

The Gigantic Industrial exhibition 'win-2011' being organised at

Istanbul from feb 3-6.India has been named as "Partner Country" for


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the exhibition over 44,000 firms and 60 other countries are taking part in

the show.

The annual Flemingo festival on Feb 15 & 16 would be conducted

to mark the arrival of migratory birds for their winter sojourn

to Nelapattu Birds Sanctuary near sullurpet.

Orissa Cheif Minister Naveen Patnaik has inaugurated the 3-day All-

India Teluguconference here Khammam (A.P.) This only district from

Andhra Pradesh has been selected for the Central-sponsored 'Bal

Bandhu' Scheme. This scheme has been introduced for-protection of

children's rights in areas of civil unrest 'through the intervention of the

community and enabling the children access education, health, nutrition

and safety provisions.

The central government has selected 10 dt's across five states for

implementing of the scheme.

The Union Health Minister inaugurated the newly - constructed

Central Days Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) Bhavan in

Hyderabad.

Prime Minister inaugurated the 5-day Common Wealth Law

Conference, largest event of its kind in the common law world in

Hyderabad from February 5-9. The one-man justice (Rt) ShivRaj Patil Committee that looked

into the processes and procedures followed by the department of

telecommunications in the allocation of licenses and spectrum between

2001 and 2009 has identified officially responsible for serious lapses in

implementing the telecom policy transparently and fairly. Shivraj Patil

submitted the report to the Union Communications Minister Kapil Sibal.

The annual Surajkund Mela, that highlights the finest

handloom and handicraft traditions of the country has startedfrom February 1st, at surajkund village near South

Delhi. Uzbekistan is the partner country of 25th Surajkund Craft Mela-

2011. The magic of vibrant Andhra Pradesh is the theme state

for this year mela.

Magsaysay award winner and activist Sandeep

Pandey has decided to return the'Mahatma Gandhi National Rural

Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) Achievement Award, that

was presented to him in 2009, February to the government, as no actionhas been taken yet in a 2009 incident in which dalit workers were beaten


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by the husband of a former panchayat leader when the workers had come

to inspect the NREGS documents related to their wages.

A huge amount of foreign currency around Rs 7 cr was seized

during the raids at a transit home of17th Karmapa Ugyen Trinely Dorje

at Sidhbari (Dharmasala), Himachal Pradesh.

The Shunglu Committee submitted its interim-report

on irregularities in awarding broadcasting rights during common

wealth Games. It strongly indicting the suspended Prasar Bharati CEO,

B.S. Lalli and Doordarshan D-G Aruna Sharma for colluding with U.K.

based broadcasting firm SIS live during the CWG's-2010, that resulted in

a loss of Rs. 135 cr to the Government, and called for strict action against

them under IPC and the prevention of corruption Act.

United State's renowned Duke University has decided to set up

its branch in Andhra Pradesh.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh inaugurated the Chief Minsters

conference on Internal security in New Delhi and warned that

serious challenges and threats to the country's internal security still

persist from left-wing extremism, cross-border terrorism and religious

fundamentalism and ethnic violence.

The central bureau of Investigation (CBI) on 2nd February arrestedthe former Union communications and Information technology Minister, A.

Raja and two officers who had worked under him, for their role in the

grant of licenses and allocation of 2G-spectrumduring 2008 in

violation of establishing guidelines and procedures.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh says - the centre proposes to

create a Biometric data base of all workers covered under the

Mahatma Gandhi NREGS. It will be used to authenticate work

applications, work site attendance and wage payments.

The Pepperdine University of California, U.S.A., Considered one

of the top-20 universities in the world has proposed to setup its campus

in the Andhra Pradesh state with an investment of $ 1,000 cr.

Census-2011 termed as the largest peace time mobilisation in the

world, will see the massive exercise ofpopulation enumeration across

the country simultaneously between February 9 and 28. Registrar-

General and Census CommissionC.Chandramouli said that the biggest

ever census attempted in the history of mankindto enumerate the


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country's 1.2 billion population would be conducted across 35 states and

U.T's.

The exercise will mark a mile stone, as the first ever National

Population Register (NPR) will also be prepared.

The population enumeration has already been done in the snow-

based areas ofHimachal Pradesh, J&K and some other parts of the

country.

The IIM-Ahmedabad has been placed 11th in the Financial

Times Global MBA ranking

of the world's top 100 business schools in 2011.

Speaking at the 11th Delhi sustainable development

summit, P.M. Manmohan Singh said that - India is set to reducethe emissions intensity of our GDP by 20% etween 2005 and 2020

and India had setup a National Action Plan on Climate

change which will have 8 national missions to look into different

areas of sustainability and energy efficiency.

The department of posts announced a strategic

partnership with the unique identification authority of

India (UIDAI) for registration and distribution of Unique

Identification (UID) cards to the citizens. Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

Chairman, Nandan Nilekani who also headed the 'Technology

Advisory Group for Unique Projects' (TAGUP) submitted the report

to the Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee.

Railway Minister Mamata Benarjee announced the setting up

of a wagon componentFactory near Nandigram, West Bengal.

The Rail coach factory in Kapurtala rolled out 15 coaches of

the country's first jerk-free Duranto express train to be run on theMumbai -Secunderabad section.

The United Liberation front of Assam (ULFA) said that its

general council had endorsed the resolution of the Central

Executive Council (CEC) to sit for talks with the centre without

any pre-conditions.

The Indian Air Force (IAF) has inducted the tactical aircraft

transport C-130J Super Hercules aircraft at the Hindon Air force

station, Ghaziabad.


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If was manufactured by Lockheed Martin, USA and it can be

used for troop deployment, special operations, air-to-air refueling

& disaster relief etc.

Notorious psychopath killer Nalla Nagender Reddy, 29, who

had been on the run since May 2009, was shot dead in a police

encounter in Benguluru early on (2/1/2011). A native of

Subashnager in Nizamabad.

An Army helicopter crashed at near Nasik residential area in

Maharasta on (2/2/2011), Killing pilot Major 'Bhanu Chandar

Gupta' and co-pilot Major 'Atul Garje'. Bhanu native of

'Vijayanagaram' in Andhra Pradesh. Atul Garje native of

'Maharastra'.

University of Hyderabad singned a MoU with Norway's

largest and oldest public institution, University of Oslo. The thrust

areas of the association include collaborative research, exchange

of scholars and informaion.

The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board organised a

workshop as part of World 'Wetlands Day' It was Inaugurated by

A.Surendar Raj, joint chief environment engineer.

Palamuru University got Guinness World Record, said by VCGopal Reddy for the 'largest barefoot walk', 2500 people in

various age groups participated in university campus. The existing

Guinness record involving 1,141 participants was held by Infinitus

Company Ltd, China.

Maa TV launches two new channels named 'Maa Movies' and

'Maa Junior' on Friday at Hyderabad. Film actor Ram Charan was

inducted as a Director on the board of the channel network.

17th Legal Conference of Common Wealth Nations started atHi-tec Convenction Center in Hyderabad on 5/2/2011. After 40

years First Legal Conference held in India.

"Indian School of Business" Ranked 13th Place for Global

MBA Ranking-2011.The "Financial Times" has released the Global

MBA Rankings.

14 youths, travelling atop Himagiri Express train, were killed

when they hit against an over head bridge near the Rosa station in

Shahjahanpur district of Uttar Pradesh


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Cracker unit blast occurred at 'Shornur' near 'Palakkad' in

Kerala on (1/2/2010).

Two sisters were killed by Lashkare Terrorists at Sopora,

Baramulla District in Kashmir

The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, has been

placed 11th in The Financial Times Global MBA Ranking of the

world's top 100 business schools in 2011.

The population enumeration phase of Census 2011 that is to

start on February 9 and continue till February 28 will feature

several firsts in the history of census in India. For publicising

the Census 2011, the Union Home Ministry has roped in cricket

star 'Sachin Tendulkar' and film actor 'Priyanka Chopra' to

campaign free of cost. Deputy General Rigistar Mr. Banerjee said,

the UNICEF partner of Census 2011- has roped in the two

personalities and they will be seen in ads with the slogan You

count, so we count.

March

o The Gujarat government has banned JosephLelyveld's controversial book, Great Soul: Mahatma Gandhi and Hisstruggle with India, which allegedly calls the Father of the Nation aracist and bisexual. A resolution to ban the sale, distribution and reprintof the book was moved in the Assembly on by Chief Minister NarendraModi and promptly supported by Leader of the Opposition ShaktisinhGohil of the Congress.

oCensus 2011

o India's population has jumped to 1.21 billion, an increase ofmore than 181 million during 2001-11, according to provisional dataofCensus 2011 released on 31 March. Though the population is almostequal to the combined population of the U.S., Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan,Bangladesh and Japan (1,214.3 million), the silver lining is that after1911-21 the past decade (2001-11) witnessed the addition of smallerpopulation than the previous decade's growth.

o Of the total provisional population of 1,210.2 million, thenumber of males stood at 623.7 million and females at 586.5 million. The

percentage growth in 2001-11 was 17.64 males 17.19 and females18.12. India's population accounts for 17.5 per cent of the world's.


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o Registrar-General and Census Commissioner of India C.Chandramouli released the provisional data in New Delhi, in thepresence ofUnion Home Secretary G.K. Pillai.

o Among the States and the Union Territories, Uttar Pradesh is

the most populous State with 199 million people, followed by Maharashtrawith 112 million people. Lakshadweep is the least populated at 64,429people.

o The percentage decadal growth rates of the six most populousStates have declined during 2001-11 compared with 1991-2001. Theoverall sex ratio nationwide has increased by seven percentage points to940 against 933 in Census 2001. Kerala with 1,084 has the highest sexratio followed by Puducherry with 1,038. With 618, Daman and Diu hasthe lowest ratio.

o The provisional data showed that the child sex ratio [0 to 6

years] came down to 914 females per 1,000 males against 927 in Census2001. It showed a continuing preference for male children in the lastdecade.

o The literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to74.04 per cent, an increase of 9.21 percentage points.

o Andhra Pradesh has retained its place as the fifth mostpopulous State in the country with a head count of 8.46 crore, recordingan 11.10 per cent growth rate over 2001 census. The increase inpopulation was 84.55 lakh.

o The provisional 2011 census figures showed a male

population of 4.25 crore and 4.21 crore that of female. The Stateregistered 11.10 per cent growth rate as against 14.59 per cent in 2001,down by 3.49 per cent. The declining trend started in 2001, apparentlybecause of the implementation of the small family' norm. The Staterecorded a sex ratio of 992 females (for every 1,000 males) as against978 in 2001, a 14-point increase during the decade. The density ofpopulation also increased from 277 to 308 persons per sq. km. Theliteracy rate went up from 60.47 per cent to 67.77 per cent. Proportion ofchildren in the age group of 0-6 years to total population came down from13.35 per cent in 2001 to 10.21 per cent.

o The census figures showed that Nizamabad retained its topposition with regard to the sex ratio in the State with 1,038 females forevery 1,000 males. In 2001, the sex ratio in the district was 1,017.BehindNizamabad were Vizianagaram and Srikakulam districts with 1,016 (1,009in 2001) and 1,014 (same in 2001) females, respectively.The lowest sexratio was recorded in Hyderabad with 943 females, while Ranga Reddyand Mahbubnagar had 955 and 975 females, respectively, for 1,000males.

o Ranga Reddy had overtaken East Godavari in termsofpopulation with a decadal growth rate of 48.15 per cent. Ranga Reddy

topped the table with a population of 52.96 lakh, while East Godavari was


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second with 51.51 lakh persons. On the other hand, West Godavarirecorded the lowest growth of 3.45 per cent.

o The density of population was found to be the highest inHyderabad with 18,480 persons per square km., against 17,649 persons

in 2001. Ranga Reddy had only 707 persons per sq. km, while the lowestin the category was Adilabad with 170 persons per sq. km. The densitywas equally low at 175 and 188 persons in Khammam and Kadapadistricts, respectively.

o The literacy rate was the highest in Hyderabad at 80.96 percent (percentage of literates to total population above 7 years of age).Ranga Reddy accounted for 78.05 per cent and Krishna 74.37 per cent inthe category.

o The proportion of child population in the age group 0 to 6 tototal population was the highest in Kurnool at 11.79 per cent.The lowest

was Karimnagar with a percentage of 8.47.o The National Bank for Agriculture and RuralDevelopment (NABARD) has sanctioned Rs.1,237 crore under the RuralInfrastructure Development Fund to Andhra Pradesh during 2010-11.TheState occupied third position in the country in terms of assistancesanctioned under RIDF during the year after Uttar Pradesh andRajasthan.

o The Gujarat Information Commission for the firsttime released a Braille version of the Right to Information Act andits rules in Gandhi Nagar for the benefit of the visually challenged.

According to Chief Information Commissioner R.N. Das, Gujarat is the firstState to bring out a Braille version. He said the Commission was alsoworking on bringing out an audio CD for the visually challenged and otherdifferently abled people.

o State bank of India started its first ATM center in AndhraPradesh for the Blind in Hyderabad. This is the second ATM center forthe blind in the country.

o India has emerged as the largest arms importer in theworld, overtaking even China, claims a report by a Swedish think-tank,the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). India

accounted for 9% of all international arms imports between 2006 and2010 making it the worlds largest weapons importer.

o Sixteen charges of corruption and irregularities havebeen slapped by a Rajya Sabha constituted panel against Chief Justiceof the Sikkim high court Justice P D Dinkaran, who is facingimpeachment proceedings in Parliament. The committee comprisingSupreme Court Justice Aftab Alam, Karnataka high court Justice K SKhehar and eminent jurist P P Roy issued the charge sheet to Dinakaranon March 16 and has sought his response by April 9.

o Nirmal Gram Puraskar, the incentive award which, theMinistry of Panchayati Raj gives annually to the Panchayati Raj


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Institutions to take up sanitation promotion schemes somehow doesn'tseem to be a motivating factor anymore with the number of panchayatsgetting the award declining drastically over the years. Only 2,808 grampanchayats and just one block panchayat have been chosen for the 2010award, which will be given away by President Pratibha Patil at a functionin New Delhi on 22 March. Instituted in 2005, the award is given toPanchayati Raj Institutions which attain full sanitation coverage with atotally open, defecation-free environment.

o The Union government has decided to declare April 14, 2011as a holiday on account of the birthday of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar for all itsoffices, including industrial establishments.

o The country's oldest lioness, Rehana (23), has died in thegovernment-run zoo Van Vihar, Bhopal on March 21. The lioness wasnot well for sometime, following a digestive system failure.

o The foundation stone for Sankhya, the National Museum ofStatistics at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) campus would be laidby former President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on March 30. UoH Vice-Chancellor Seyed E. Hasnain described the proposed museum as one ofits kind in the world. Eminent statistician and the man behind theproject, C.R. Raosaid statistics was poised to play a crucial role in thecoming days.

o Excavations conducted by the State Department ofArchaeology and Museums, Andhra Pradesh at pre- Satavahana historicsite ofKotilingala in Karimnagar district has unearthed antiquities

datable to 4th century BC to 2nd century AD, throwing new light onhistory of Telemann region. Located on the right bank of Godavari River,Kotilingala was the capital of Assakajanapada, considered one of the 16great janapadas of early India. The site and its neighbourhood hadcontacts with Magadha during the time of Buddha, as attested bySuttanipata, according to P. Chenna Reddy, Director of Archaeology andMuseums. The site yielded coins issued by pre-Satavahana kings. Coins ofChimukha, the founder of Satavahana dynasty and those cast in leadcopper issued by later kings were found.

o Andhra Pradesh continues to occupy first rank in egg

production and broiler production in the country with an annualproduction of 1,940 crore eggs and 18 crore broilers.

o India's top nuclear bodies said they would revisit all safetyaspects of atomic plants in the country and analyse the nuclear crisisarising in Japan after the tsunami as it had offered new lessons to fine-tune existing emergency preparedness. This was the general practiceadopted by the World Association of Nuclear Operators (WANO) and theNPCILwould closely work with the Department of Atomic Energy and theAtomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) to revisit the safety aspects.Nuclear experts says, in the International Nuclear Event Scale, the Three

Mile Island accident was at level 5, Chernobyl was at level 7, whereas thecurrent Japanese incident is at level 4.


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o A High power committee headed by N.R.MadhavaMenon constituted to evolve a comprehensive policy for autonomyof central educational institutions has called for sweeping changes inthe higher education system.

o

Recommendations: It recommends that the office of theVisitor for central universities be done away with and the powerstransferred to the Chancellor; and that all legislative framework underwhich these universities are established be uniformly revised and broughtunder a common Act.The committee recommends that every central educational instituteestablish an office of ombudsman to intervene in times of crisis and findsolutions acceptable to the stakeholders so that minor disputes do notdisrupt the academic calendar and peace.The committee says the central educational institutes should be free todecide the fees to be charged, the scholarships to be granted and therecoveries to be made, subject to the government's broad policyguidelines. And to improve the performance of teachers, it recommendsthat all faculty members be subjected to a review once in five years by acommittee appointed by the executive council. The committee suggeststhat the Indian Institutes of Management be allowed to grant degrees tomake them more autonomous.

o The 20th international World Wide Web Conference willbe held in Hyderabad from March 28 to April 1.

o Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee announced Rs 2,370-crore

bonanza for MPs byraising allocations under Member of ParliamentLocal Area Development Scheme(MPLAD) scheme from Rs 2 crore toRs 5 crore, even as he expressed concern over inflation and recalled thesteps to bring back funds stashed abroad.

o The Supreme Court on March 7 allowed passive mercykilling of a patient in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) by withdrawingthe life support system with the approval of a medical board and on thedirections of the High Court concerned. A Bench of Justices MarkandeyKatju and Gyan Sudha Misra, however, did not accept the plea of PinkyViranai seeking permission to withdraw life support to her friend, Aruna

Ramachandra Shanbaug, who has been lying in a PVS in the KEM hospitalMumbai for 37 years

President Pratibha Patil launched the Sanchar Shakti' project of the

Department of Telecommunications, a suite of mobile value-added

services (VAS) to provide a variety of useful information to women and

women's self-help groups about government schemes and health and

social issues, besides inputs related to and training in livelihood, over the

mobile phone. Financed by the Universal Service Obligation Funds

(USOFs), the unique ICT scheme envisages empowering women,


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especially in rural areas, with the help of NGOs and other national and

international organisations working for the uplift of women. Union Minister

for Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal said: The

Sanchar Shakti scheme includes four categories of projects aimed at rural

women SHGs giving subsidised VAS subscription; setting up mobile

repair, modem repaid centres in rural areas; and installing solar-based

mobile charging centres in rural areas.

To mark the International Women's Day, Air India, for the second

consecutive year, is operating on March 7 night an ultra long haul flight

from Delhi to Toronto, with an all-women crew.

The Pune-based stud farm owner and real estate agent, Hasan Ali

Khan, who has been under the scanner for alleged money-laundering was

interrogated and later taken into custody by officials of the Enforcement

Directorate (ED) on March7.

The Second Vishwa Kannada Sammelan has begun on 11 March

in Belgaum . The first sammelan was organized in Mysore in 1985.

Following the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission

(NHRC), the Orissa government has banned the practice ofbartansystem under which upper caste families extract work from barbers and

washer men during important family occasions in return for just 15 kg of

paddy for the whole year. The age-old practice has ended with the

Panchayat Raj Department issuing the notification abolishing it.

Somali pirates on March 9 freed all crew members of a hijacked ship

M.V. Rak Afrikanaincluding 11 Indians, who have since been shifted to a

Spanish naval ship.

In yet another step towards modernizing India's postal services, Union

Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal on 10

Marche launched e-post office,' the e-commerce portal of India

Post that will provide various postal services online. The portal will enable

customers to transact postal business anytime and from anywhere

through Internet and by using either debit card or credit card.


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More than 500 Indian nationals, including a large number of women

and children, stranded in strife-torn Libya, arrived New Delhi from Tripoli

in the early hours of 27 February, while more people are crossing overland to neighbouring Tunisia. These people returned under the

multimode Operation Safe homecoming,' launched by India to

evacuate 18,000 Indian nationals in Libya.

The sixth BASIC (Brazil, South Africa, India, China) ministerial meeting

on climate change was held in India.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony has inaugurated the country's first

titanium sponge plant (TSP) on the Chavara complex of the public

sector Kerala Minerals and Metals Limited (KMML)near kollam. The TSP

is a joint venture of KMML, Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) and the

Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory. The VSSC has fully funded the

Rs.147-crore TSP project. With the inauguration of TSP, India becomes

the 7th country in the world having the technology for producing titanium

sponge, which is the raw material for titanium metal.

The country's first Coast Guard Academy is going to be set upin Kerala.

Chief Minister of A.P. N. Kiran Kumar Reddy launched the first phase

ofCarbon Black Projectestablished at Pudi village in Visakhapatnam

district at a cost of Rs.1,500 crore by the Continent Carbon Company. It

is expected to provide jobs to 3,000 people

As chairman of the working group on consumer affairs, Gujarat

Chief Minister Narendra Modi has recommended that futures trading inessential commodities be banned and that organised retail in agri-produce

be encouraged to make a dent in food inflation. The working group,

comprising the Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra and

Andhra Pradesh, was set up in April last. Mr. Modi submitted its report to

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 2 March. Among the 20 specific

recommendations is a suggestion to set up a ministerial coordination

mechanism at the national and regional levels for coordinated policy-

making and for evolving a single national agriculture market.


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A federal district court in New York has issued summons to the

Indian National Congressin connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots,

acting on a Sikh rights group's petition charging it with conspiring, aiding

and abetting organised attacks against the community. The law suit was

filed by the Sikhs for Justice,' which has offices in New York and India.

The Sikh group has charged the Congress with conspiring, aiding,

abetting and carrying out organised attacks on the Sikh population of

India in November 1984.The proceedings are still at the pre-trial stage in

New York. Senior Congress leader and Urban Development

Minister Kamal Nath is a defendant in the lawsuit.

In a major blow to the Centre, the Supreme Court quashed the

appointment of P.J. Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner

(CVC).A Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices K.S.

Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar set aside his appointment acting on

the writ petitions filed by the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, the

former Chief Election Commissioner, J.M. Lyngdoh, and others. And within

hours of the judgment, Mr. Thomas stepped down from the post. Mr.

Thomas had been appointed CVC pursuant to a recommendation made by

a high power committee (HPC) headed by Prime Minister Manmohan

Singh. Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, who

was a HPC member, disagreed with the decision. The other member was

Home Minister P. Chidambaram.

The Union Cabinet on 3 March cleared a Bill seeking to prevent sexual

abuse of children, with provisions for stringent punishment for such

offences. The proposed legislation aims at protecting children against

offences of sexual assault, sexual harassment, pornography and providesfor establishment of special courts for trial of such offences. Section 7 of

the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Bill, 2011, does not

provide for any punishment if the consent for sexual act has been

obtained with a person between the age of 16 and 18.

The second Vishwa Kannada Sammelan is going to be held

in Belgaum.


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The recent excavations at Kondapur, one of the well-known, early,

historic Satavahana sites in Medak district, approximately spread over 81

acres represent the Brahmanic culture in addition to Buddhist culture.The excavations have been continuing here for the past one year, headed

by G. Maheswari, Superintending Archaeologist, Archaeological Survey of

India, with a team of about 15 members.

Election commission announced the Assembly elections in Assam, West

Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry would be held from April 4 to

May 10.

A special fast track court in Ahmedabad on 1 march sentenced 11

convicts to death and 20 others to life imprisonment in the 2002 Godhra

train burning case. The court, however, gave the convicts 90 days to

appeal against the judgment in the Gujarat High Court.

The Haryana Government has constituted a Commission of

Inquiry headed by Justice T. P. Garg, a retired Judge of the Punjab

and Haryana High Court, to inquire into the killing of Sikhs in the

November 1984 riots in Haud-Chillar village of Rewari district. ChiefMinister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that the Commission would also

inquire into the damage caused to properties of Sikhs living there. The

Commission would submit its report to the State Government within six

months from the date of its first sitting and its headquarters would be at

Hisar.

Setting a New benchmark in e-governance, Haryana has achieved the

rare distinction of being the first State in the country to successfully

hold the annual B-1 test totally online for its police force for the fourthconsecutive year since 2008. Officials said on that the objective, fair,

transparent and instant online system facilitates simultaneous and

instant screening of more than 6,000 constables at more than 25 different

centres set up all over the State.

The protests for cancellation of the project took place at

the Kakarapalli area of Andhra Pradesh, where the 2,640 megawatt

thermal power project covering 800 hectares has been proposed by East

Coast Energy (ECE). At least two protestors were killed, allegedly as a


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result of police firing, and five others sustained injuries as police tear-

gassed them.

April

o The Supreme Court refused to lift the ban on sale oftobacco products such as gutka and pan masala in plastic sachets. Thebench clearly stated that the stay on the use of plastic sachets for Guthka

could not be vacated.o Committee on Zonal Cultural Centres headed by ManiShankar Aiyar presented its Report to the Union Culture Minister KumariSelja on 11 April 2011. The recommendations will be processed byMinistry of Culture and appropriate steps will be taken to revamp thefunctioning of the ZCCs to further enhance their outreach.

o India will overtake China in terms of population by2025, an analysis of the provisional Census, 2011 data suggests. Withmore than 1.2 billion people, India has about 17.5 per cent (every sixthperson in the world is an Indian) of humanity. China is the only country

with a larger population, with 144 million more people. The UnitedNations has estimated that the Indian population grew at an annual rateof 1.43 per cent during 2005-10. In comparison, China registered a muchlower annual growth rate of 0.7 per cent during the corresponding period.In fact, the population growth is now almost on a par with that of thedeveloped nations. Demographers expect India's population to surpassthat of China. At that time, India is expected to have a population of morethan 1.4 billion, which will begin to drop in subsequent years.

o The provisional Census 2011 figures suggest that twocontrasting demographic nations are emerging in the country with all

four south Indian States Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and TamilNadu already having achieved the replacement level fertility of 2.1children per women required to initiate the process of populationstabilization, while the four large north Indian States Bihar, MadhyaPradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh have still a long way to gobefore they achieve the required level. Replacement level fertility is thenumber of children a woman should have to replace herself and her matefor a stable population, and it has been fixed at 2.1 globally due to childmortality. A stable population is that where fertility and mortality areconstant. This kind of population will show an unvarying age distribution

and will grow at a constant rate


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o The Central Advisory Board on Culture, in a meeting chairedby the Prime Minister in his capacity as the then Culture Minister hadsuggested a review of the functioning of theSeven Zonal CulturalCentres (ZCCs) with their headquarters at Patiala, Udaipur, Nagpur,Thanjavur, Allahabad, Kolkata and Dimapur over the last 25 years. To

review the functioning and performance of the seven ZCCs, the Ministry ofCulture, had constituted a Committee on ZCCs. The committee includedMani Shankar Aiyar (Chairman), Dr. Sitakant Mahapatra and AmolPalekar.

o The Union Sports Ministry formed a committee, headedby Justice Mukul Mudgal, retired Chief Justice of the High Court of Punjaband Haryana to fine-tune the draft National Sports DevelopmentBill. The committee will also include badminton legend Prakash Padukoneand former sprinter Ashwini Nachappa, who is also the Vice-President ofCleansports India.

o A five-member high-powered committee, led by Dr VMohini Giri submitted final draft ofNational Policy on Senior Citizens2011 to the Indian Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. Thecommittee recommended that recipients of national honours like Padmaawards or gallantry awards in the armed forces or national recognition forarts and culture must be given lifelong healthcare facilities for free on thelines of Central Government Health Services. The National Policy onSenior Citizens 2011calls for the setting up of a department of seniorcitizens and also a National Council for Senior Citizens. Rates of monthlypension will be increased to Rs 1000 per person and revised at intervals

to prevent its deflation. Covering the oldest under the National Old AgeAssistance which would provide additional grants in case of disability andloss of adult children was also suggested.

o Communications and Information Technology MinisterKapil Sibal on 11 April said the Department of Telecommunications (DoT)would give fresh licences and renew the old ones for 10 yearsinstead of the current norm of 20 years. The government was alsoplanning to come out with a National Spectrum Act for bettermanagement of this scarce resource, while merger and acquisition (M&A)rules would also be liberalised to help consolidation of the mobile telecomsector. Mr. Sibal said all these important norms and guidelines would bepart of the National Telecom Policy 2011 (NTP-2011), which is likely tocome into effect by this year-end. The DoT was also looking at introducinga new licensing regime to replace the Unified Access Service LicenceSystem.

o A State Innovation Council' for Andhra Pradesh will beset up for evolving a new process, and structures to enhance the deliveryof services and improve the governance. Union government had alreadyset up a 15-member National Innovation Council under the chairmanshipof Sam Pitroda, following a suggestion by Chief Minister N. Kiran KumarReddy during the Secretaries' conference in January. The Council willprepare a road map for the Decade of Innovations 2010-2020. The Centre


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for Good Governance will serve as a Nodal Agency for the State Councilcomprising a small expert group with government and outside membersfrom relevant and crucial sectors. The tasks to be assigned to the Councilinclude evolving an Indian model of innovation, with focus on inclusivegrowth, public service delivery, delineating policy initiatives, exploring

new strategies and alternatives for innovations and collaborations andencouraging universities, R&D institutions to innovate.

o The Maharashtra Assembly late on 13 April unanimouslyapproved 50 per cent reservation for women in local bodies. Thegovernment had promised reservation for women in elections topanchayat samitis, zilla parishads, municipal councils and municipalcorporations in the State.

o The Supreme Court on 15 April granted bail to rightsactivist Dr. Binayak Sen, observing that no case of sedition was madeout against the rights activist, who was convicted and sentenced to lifeimprisonment by a trial court in Chhattisgarh. Dr. Sen sought bail andsuspension of the life sentence awarded by the trial court on charges ofconspiring to commit sedition and providing assistance to those said to beNaxalites. The High Court had rejected his bail petition during thependency of the hearing of his appeal against the trial court verdict.

11.

12.

Chief Minister of A.P, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy haslaunched the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Empowerment ofAdolescent Girls (RGSEAG)- Sabala in Hyderabad on 15 April inseven districts Visakhapatnam, West Godavari, Ananthapur,Chittoor, Adilabad, Mahbubnagar and Hyderabad on a pilot basis forthe empowerment of adolescent girls. Introduced by the Uniongovernment in 200 districts across the country with Anganwadis as

nodal centres, the scheme would improve self-development,nutrition and health status of girls in the age group of 11 to 18,create awareness about hygiene, reproductive and sexual health.

o The Supreme Court on 18 April banned the employmentof children in circuses and directed the Union government to takeimmediate steps to rescue those engaged in such employment toimplement the fundamental right of children under Article 21A [right toeducation].

o The Prime Minister's Office (PMO) gave permission to theEnforcement Directorate (ED) to interrogate Puducherry Lt.

Governor Iqbal Singh for his reported links to Hasan Ali Khan, a Pune


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stud farm owner, alleged to be the country's biggest money launderer andtax evader.

o The latest data of the Planning Commission indicatesthat poverty has declined to 32 per cent in 2009-10 from 37.2 percent five years ago. The preliminary estimates are based on the formulasuggested by the Tendulkar Committee for computing the number ofpoor. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on20 April told reporters that the 2009-10 data shows a decline in povertyfrom 37.2 per cent in 2004-05 to 32 per cent in 2009-10 as the per thepreliminary data worked out by the Planning Commission member AbhijitSen. The Tendulkar Committee had suggested that poverty beestimated on the basis of consumption based on the cost of living indexinstead of caloric intake. It said that the basket of goods should alsoinclude services such as health and education. The new poverty line, assuggested by the Tendulkar Committee, is different for rich and poor

States, and for rural and urban areas within a State. The National SampleSurvey, which conducts large sample surveys every five years, will launchits next round in 2011-12. Estimates of poverty are important becausethe cheap grains under the proposed Food Security law will be providedbased on these numbers.

o The Full Planning Commission meeting chaired by PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh agreed on 21 April, to work towards agrowth target of 9.0-9.5 per cent for the 12th Plan (2012-17). Itendorsed the objectives and challenges outlined by the Commission forthe five-year period involving special focus on policy and governance

reforms and redesigning of government programmes.

o The Planning Commission gave a presentation on the ongoing11th Plan and objectives of the 12th Plan which include 100 per centliteracy, inclusive growth and development of physical and socialinfrastructure within the overall target of fiscal consolidation. According tothe Commission's presentation, for aiming at 100 per cent adult literacy,the 12th Plan (2012-17) would have to increase expenditure on healthfrom 1.3 per cent to at least 2.0-2.5 per cent of GDP (gross domesticproduct).The country was estimated to have recorded an annual growthrate of 8.2 per cent during 11th Plan as against the target of nine percent. In particular, the economic performance was impacted by the globalfinancial crisis and drought.

o The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure on 20 Aprilapproved the Scheme of National Rollout of e-District Mission ModeProject at a cost of Rs 1663.08 crore to be implemented in all 640districts (including the 41 districts where e-District Pilot Projects havealready been initiated) of the country for a period of 4 years. National eGovernance Plan (NeGP) was approved by the Government in May 2006,with the vision of Make all Government Services accessible to thecommon man in his locality, through common service delivery outlets andensure efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services ataffordable costs to realize the basic needs of the common man.


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o One person was killed in police firing and several were injuredas the protest against thenuclear power plant in Jaitapur located inRatnagiri district in Maharashtra, turned violent on 18 April. Thirtyprotesters including Shiv Sena MLA Rajan Salvi were arrested in thisincident.

o Union Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh,along with Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, on 27 April 2011launched a programme giving tribals the right to harvest bamboo asa forest produce in Gadchiroli. Transit passes were handed over totribals of Lekha Mendha village thereby according them the right ofharvesting and managing bamboo. It will bring about a change in the lifeof tribals and other forest dwellers.

o The state government of Maharashtra announced on 15April 2011 that women would be allowed entry inside the sanctumsanctorum of the Sri Mahalakshmi temple in Kolahapur from nowon. It was decided to allow special puja by women at a specified time andto fix specific hours for women to enter the sanctum sanctorum.According to the priests of the temple, only women belonging to royalfamilies were allowed entry to the temple which was opposed by thewomen activists

o Government panel that was set up to recommend rulesfor pricing of all natural resources has declared that all futureallocations of airwaves must be done through auctions. Thegovernment panel is headed by former finance secretary, AshokChawla.In the draft report of the government panel, it has also called forspectrum trading to be permitted amongst telcos. This panel was set upin the backdrop of the 2G spectrum scam, rampant cases of illegalmining, controversies related to pricing of natural gas, and the potentialthat shale gas and other natural resources of Indias economy. In additionto airwaves, the committee also examines other natural resources such asoil, gas, coal, mining, other minerals, water and land owned by thegovernment.

o The Supreme Court of India on 19 April 2011 declaredKhap panchayats illegal and termed them as kangaroo courts. A benchof the Supreme Court gave the Judgement stating that honour killings,khap panchayats in northern India and katta panchayats in Tamil Naduwere illegal and barbaric. The Supreme Court termed honour killings asshameful and asked for the harshest punishment who perpetrates thiskind of crimes. The Supreme Court also directed State Governments toinitiate action against any official such as District Magistrate or SP whodoes not prevent the incident in spite of having prior knowledge.

o 11 of its 21 members of the of the Public AccountsCommittee(PAC) on 2Gspectrum issue recorded their vote to rejectthe draft report circulated to the members by the Lok Sabha Secretariat

on 27 April. Those who rejected the draft report said they intended tosend recorded rejection slips to the Speaker as well as PAC Chairman


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Murli Manohar Joshi.`

o Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare called off his five-day hunger strike on 9 April morning after receiving a gazettenotification from the Centre on the constitution of a joint committee,comprising members from the government and civil society, forpreparation of the draft Lokpal Bill. The notification said the Joint DraftingCommittee would commence its work forthwith and evolve its ownprocedure to prepare the proposed legislation. It is supposed to completeits work the latest by June 30, 2011.The 10-member Joint DraftingCommittee will have five Cabinet members Finance Minister PranabMukherjee (chairman), Home Minister P. Chidamabaram, Law MinisterVeerappa Moily (convener), Telecom and HRD Minister Kapil Sibal andWater Resources Minister Salman Khurshid.Apart from Mr. Hazare, civilsociety will be represented by the former Law Minister, Shanti Bhushan

(co-chairperson), the former Supreme Court Judge, Justice N. SantoshHegde, lawyer Prashant Bhushan and RTI activist Arvind Kejriwal.

o Concerned over the sharp decline in the child sex ratio asreflected in the provisional Census figures, the Centre reconstitutedthe Central Supervisory Board set up under the Pre-conception & Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act, 1994 (PC & PNDT Act).Chaired by theUnion Minister for Health and Family Welfare and co-chaired by theMinister of Women and Child Development, the Board consists of ex-officio members; 10 non official members The new Board will have 35members including Ghulam Nabi Azad, Union Minister of Health & Family

Welfare as the chairperson; Krishna Tirath, Minister of State (Women &Child Development) as Co-Chair;

o In an effort to conserve water and ensure its optimumutilisation in the country, the union cabinet approved a comprehensivecharter for the National Water Mission, one of the eight missions in theNational Action Plan for Climate Change. The objective of the NationalWater Mission is 'conservation of water, minimising wastage and ensuringits equitable distribution both across and within states through integratedwater resources development and management'. Its five goals includesetting up of a comprehensive water database in public domain andassessment of the impact of climate change on water resources,promotion of citizen and state actions for water conservation, focusedattention to vulnerable areas, increasing water use efficiency by 20percent, and promotion of basin level integrated water resourcesmanagement. An apex board will be set up at the central level with theminister of water resources as its chairman while at the state level, amonitoring committee headed by the principal secretary or the secretarywill be constituted.

o Andhra Pradesh government has amended some rules in thePanchayat Raj Act providing50 per cent reservation for women inPanchayat Raj institutions. According to the amendments in the APPanchayat Raj (Reservation of seats and offices of Gram Panchayats,


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Mandal Parishads and Zilla Parishads) Rules, 2006, half the seats in theseinstitutions would henceforth be earmarked for women. Previously,women had a one-third quota in these institutions.

o May

o

Union Government on 28 May 2011 decided to set up ahigh level committee under the chairmanship ofCentral Board of DirectTaxes (CBDT) to tackle the menace of black money. The members of thecommittee include the director, Enforcement Directorate(ED), Director-General, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Director-General(Currency), and other top tax and revenue department officials. Thecommissioner of income tax (Investigations) of the CBDT would be itsmember secretary. The panel was set up to examine tightening of laws tocurb the growth of black money as well as to suggest ways to declareillegally generated wealth as national asset.

UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi laid the foundation stonefor the construction of apermanent bridge over river Ravi at Basohliin Kathua district of Jammu region. The bridge upon competition willlink Jammu & Kashmir with the neighbouring states of Himachal Pradeshand Punjab. The construction of the bridge is likely open up new areas fordevelopment and tourism in Kathua and Doda districts and along the

Ranjit Sagar Dam. The 592 meter bridge is to be built by the BorderRoads Organization of the Ministry of Defence at a cost of 145 Crorerupees and will open up an alternative route to National Highway 1A andto the Kashmir Valley via Basohli, Bani, Bhaderwah, Kishtwar, Chhatrooand Anantnag, boosting development and better connectivity. The Bridgeis scheduled to be completed by September 2014.

The UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientificand Cultural Organisation) shortlisted Western Ghats for inclusion inthe World heritage List. This will help in protecting this biodiversity richarea from land-use change and other development activities. The

UNESCO shortlist comprised four sites in Maharashtra (Sahyadri)- KasPlateau, Radhanagri wildlife sanctuary, Chandoli national park, Koynawildlife sanctuary. The other sites which are shortlisted by UNESCO arespread across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Maharashtra.

The Union Cabinet of India gave approval for conductingthe Below Poverty Line (BPL) Census in rural and urban areas. TheCensus would be conducted by the Ministry of Rural Development inassociation with the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation(HUPA) and the Registrar General of India (RGI). The BPL Census wouldpave the way to identify the households living below the poverty line in

rural and urban areas of the country. The entire process will be completedby December 2011. The results of the BPL Census would be utilized in the


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12th Five Year Plan (2012-13 to 2016-17). The enumeration of castes willalso be done simultaneously along with the BPL census.

The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare decidedto provide free nutritious food, transportation and treatment to allpregnant women who visit government facilities for delivery. Moreover,free health care services will also be given to the newborn babies. Theministry took this decision with the objective of improving the maternaland infant mortality in India. This scheme will be launched on 1 June2011 from Mewat, Haryana. It will apply for all women from the sub-centre to the district level hospital levels, covered under the NationalRural Health Mission. Whatever the costs involved in transportingpregnant women to and from medical centres, it will be incurred by thegovernment of India.

A memorandum of Understanding was signedbetween OP Jindal Global University and the National Institute ofAdministrative Research of the Lal Bahadur National Academy ofAdministration, Mussorie. The MoU will provide for exchange of faculty,hosting of visiting academic delegations, research scholars, training of IASofficers and organisation of conferences. The National Institute ofAdministrative Research of the Lal Bahadur National Academy ofAdministration, Mussorie is the premier national-level training institutionfor IAS officers.

India and the World Bank signed IDA (InternationalDevelopment Association) credit of 162.7 million dollars forRajasthan Rural Livelihoods Project, which will finance livelihoodopportunities for some 400000 village households in 17 districts ofRajasthan. The funding for the Rajasthan Rural Livelihoods Project willhelp improve economic opportunities for rural communities, especiallywomen and marginal groups, in 9000 villages of the state.

J Jayalalithaa was sworn in as the Chief Minister ofTamil Nadu on 16 May 2011 by Governor SS Barnala along with 33cabinet ministers at the Madras University. Her party All India AnnaDravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) stomped to victory in the stateelections, landing 203 of the 234 seats in the Tamil Nadu Assembly. TheDMK and the Congress parties contested the election jointly, and werehammered, with the DMK delivering one of its worst performances ever,managing barely 22 seats.

Tarun Gogoi from the Congress Legislature Party (CLP)was sworn in Assam Chief Minister for the third consecutive term on18 May 2011 by Governor Janaki Ballav Patnaik at the Raj Bhavan inGuwahati. Gogoi contested and won the election from the Titabarconstituency.

Data on infant deaths across states in India wasreleased in May 2011. The data revealed that infant mortality rate for

India as a whole stood at 50 in 2009, down by 30% compared to adecade ago. The rate is much higher than developed countries but the


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pace at which it is declining is encouraging. The data, a part of the latestSample Registration Survey (SRS) report released by the Census office atNew Delhi covered a sample of 15 lakh households or nearly 72 lakhpersons. The survey was done in 2009. Kerala continues to top therankings by having the lowest Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) of 12 among all

Indian states. Delhi is the only major state which has registered aworsening of the IMR over the past decade, driven by an increase ininfant mortality in the rural areas. Three states Tamil Nadu, WestBengal and Maharashtra emerged as front runners in reducing babydeaths over the past decade. Tamil Nadu reduced infant mortality by awhopping 46%, West Bengal by 37% and Maharashtra by 35%.

The Working group ofNAC (National AdvisoryCouncil) drafted a detailed note on land acquisition and relief andrehabilitation. The two bills that the Working Group proposed to mergeare the Land Acquisition (Amendment) Bill, 2009 which proposed

amendments to the Land Acquisition Act 1894 and the resettlement andRehabilitation Bill, 2009 a statutory framework for Rehabilitation andResettlement of persons and affected by any development project.

Human rights activist Binayak Sen wasappointed member of the Planning Commission's 40 memberSteering Committee on Health, which will advise the panel on theTwelfth Five-Year Plan (2012-2017). He will represent the Bilaspur-basedhealthcare organisation, Jan Swasthya Sahyog. His experience of havingworked as a paediatrician in Chhattisgarh's tribal belt will enable him toprovide his input on the health of tribal children. It will be expected to

suggest effective initiatives for the monitoring and evaluation of healthprogrammes and recommend measurable indicators for the 12th Plan.

Karnataka on 12 May 2011 became the first statein India to launch an e-payment system for commercial taxpayers. With e-payment system in place, the dealers can remit theircommercial taxes anytime, anywhere. They need not approach an officeof Commercial Taxes Department (CTD) in person. At present, e-remittances can be made from six banks-SBI, SBM, SBH, Syndicate Bank,Canara Bank and Union Bank of India. The CTD collection is more than Rs2,000 crore per month and till now, these collections were made throughcheques by the dealers.

Supreme Court of India stayed the Allahabad HighCourt Judgment on Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjiddispute according to which two-thirds of the disputed site was given toHindu Claimants while keeping aside the rest for Muslim groups. A benchof Supreme Court comprising Justices Aftab Alam and RM Lodha gave thestay order after hearing the petitioners Sunni Waqf Board, NirmohiAkhara and guardian of the idol of Lord Ram. The Supreme Courtreasoned that by dividing the disputed land among the groups the highcourt gave a very new dimension to the case. The partition of land wasnever sought by any party as a solution. The Supreme Court termed theHigh Court judgment as surprising and strange. The Allahabad High Court


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had given the judgment on 30 September 2010 which gave two-thirds ofdisputed Ram Janmabhoomi- Babri Masjid site to Hindu Claminants whilekeeping aside the rest for Muslim groups.

The Supreme Court of India directed the high courtsand trial courts in India to award the death sentence to peopleconvicted in crimes related to honour killings. A bench of SupremeCourt comprising Justice Markandey Katju and Justice Gyan Sudha Mishragave the judgment. The bench stated that honour killings come within thecategory of rarest of rare cases deserving death punishment. The benchobserved that death penalty is needed to stamp out the barbaric andfeudal practice of honour killings.

A division bench of the Bombay High Court ruled thatdying declarations could not be accepted as truth and set aside the lifeimprisonment given to Ashok Jadhav by a trial court. The wife of AshokJadhav, Sangita had suffered 98 percent burns in June 2002 and gave twodying declarations stating that her husband had set her on fire following aquarrel. Bombay high Court stated that there was no circumstantialevidence to prove the authenticity of the statements. The dyingdeclarations made in this case lack any trustworthiness.

The Central Information Commission(CIC) overturned its own decision and ruled that the Supreme Courtcannot refuse information on judicial matters if an applicant has asked forit under the Right to Information Act. At present, information disclosurerelated to a persons own case could be applied to the Supreme Courtunder the RTI act. However, in case of a third party, the Supreme Courtruled that application must be made under court rules. According to Rule2 of the Supreme Court, the applicant must establish good cause beforethe court if he wants information regarding any case. But CIC objected tothat by saying it goes against the RTI act. Information commissionerShailesh Gandhi gave the order stating that all citizens have the right toaccess information under Section 3 of the Right to Information Act.

Mamata Banerjee terminated the Left Front's 34-yearstranglehold on West Bengal. The Banerjee-led alliance was set to captureover two-thirds majority by winning over 225 seats in the 294 seatassembly. Banerjee, railway minister at the Centre, did not contest theelections.

Jayalalitha wrested power with a landslide victoryover DMK in the T.N assembly elections. Congress added to Left'sdiscomfiture by snatching power in Kerala by a slender margin while itscored a spectacular hat trick in Assam bagging a near two-third majorityto retain power. However, the party surrendered power to a rebel,Rangasvamy in Puducherry who left the party only a few months ago andteamed up with AIADMK to secure two-thirds majority in the 30-memberassembly.

The Congress was humiliated in Kadapa in AndhraPradesh. YS Jagan Mohan Reddywon with a majority of around 5. 45


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lakh votes and his mother Vijayamma won in Pulivendula with a majorityof around 85 thousand votes.

The Indira Gandhi National Open University(IGNOU), in collaboration with the Centre for Science Development andMedia Studies (CSDMS) and Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd decided to host aWorld Education Summit (WES) 2011 from 13 to 15 July 2011 inNewDelhi. IGNOU will give away World Education Awards during the summitunder the categories of School Education, Higher Education, Vocationaland Skills Education, Government Initiatives and Private Initiatives. Theseawards were instituted with the aim of felicitating and acknowledgingunique and innovative initiatives in the field of education globally.

Arunachal Pradesh chief minister Dorji Khandu ona flight from Tawang died along with four others after their helicoptercrashed in bad weather in the mountains. The Pawan Hans helicoptercarrying among others Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister, Dorjee Khanduhad gone missing on 30 April 2011. The search operation that followedcame to an end on 4 May 2011 when Dorjee's body was found among thewreckage of the Pawan Hans at 15,000ft near Luguthang, 60 km fromTawang town. Luguthang is one of the world's highest villages and India'sremotest polling station. The chopper was spotted in a place betweenKyela and Lobothang in the north east of the Sila pass in the mountainousregion of Arunachal Pradesh. A total of five people including the pilotperished in the crash of single-engined EuroCopter B8 of Pawan Hans.Khandu who was born in Tawang District of North East Frontier Agency on3 March 1955 belonged to Monpa tribe. Khandu had worked in the

military intelligence and participated in the Bangladesh liberation war of1971. He had received a gold medal for meritorious service during thewar.He belonged to the Indian National Congress and was the sixth ChiefMinister of Arunachal Pradesh.

The Postal Department on 3 May 2011 launched thenew social security scheme for Gramin Dak Sevaks (GDS) toprovide post-retirement financial security to over 2.73 GDS. The PostalDepartment decided to deposit Rs.200 per GDS per month. Union Ministerof State for Communications and IT Sachin Pilot launched the ServiceDischarge Benefit Scheme (SDBS) for GDS .The scheme has beendesigned to benefit the GDSs working mainly in the rural, remote and far-flung areas across the country. Some modifications in the NPS-Litescheme were made under the SDBS to suit the needs of the GDS.

The new Foreign Contribution Regulation Act cameinto force on 1 May 2011. Under the new law, no political party canreceive foreign funds as donation. The legislation is set to prevent powerswhich want to use foreign funds to divide India on religious basis.According to the new law, in case, any organisation receives funds overRs. 10 lakh, the bank will immediately inform the government to enablethe agencies to track the funds.


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The Indira Gandhi National Open University(IGNOU) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) withIntel on 5 May 2011. The MoU was signed with an objective to announcea national initiative for empowering teachers through in-serviceprogrammes. The programme will be delivered through IGNOU Institute

of Competency Advancement of Teacher (iCAT) centres.

o

June

o The Election Commission of India on June 17 launched the

India International Institute of Democracy and ElectionManagement- an advanced resource centre of learning, research,training and extension for participatory democracy and electionmanagement. The first phase of this premier institute was inauguratedjointly at the Commission premises in New Delhi by Chief ElectionCommissioner of India Dr. S. Y. Quraishi and Election Commissioner fromKenya Mr. Ken Nyaundi. The two Election Commissioners Shri V.S.Sampath and Shri H. S. Brahma, also were present.

o The Indian Government created an email id, [email protected] on 15 June 2011, to help the Indian public in taking

part in the tackling of the Black Money issue. The Indian public can sendtheir ideas on tackling the issue of black money to this email id. The emailwas created on the server of the National Informatics Centre .Thegovernment of India already constituted a committee headedby Central Board of Direct Taxes Chairman,Prakash Chandra to devisenew strategies to deal with black money.

o India signed three agreements with the WorldBank for cleaning the Ganga River on 14 June 2011. World Bankagreed to provide one billion US Dollars (approximately Rs 4,600 crore)for the Ganga river cleaning project. It also agreed for a credit worth

approximately 24 million dollars for the twoprojects, i.e. strengthening Rural Livelihoods andBiodiversity Conservation of India. The Ganga faces great challengesfrom expanding population, urbanization and industrial growth. To stopthe flow of untreated municipal sewage and industrial effluent into theGanga River by 2020 is the objective of Ganga project.

o The Government will shortly be launching a scheme to makeavailable contraceptives at door steps, in a bid to boost population controlefforts. Speaking at the 53rd Convocation of the International Institute ofPopulation Sciences in Mumbai on june 17, the Union Health & Family

Welfare Mr. Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the ASHA health volunteerwould promote the use of contraceptives at the household level in


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targeted districts. Under the scheme, the Centre will make availablecontraceptives free of cost at the Block level, from where ASHAvolunteers will pick up their supplies. He said the funding to the healthsector is going to be increased from the present level of less than 1 percent of GDP to 2 to 3 percent of GDP during the 12th Fiver Year Plan

(2012-17).

o The Maritime States Development Council (MSDC) on june 14,urged those coastal states of the country that are yet to constitutemaritime boards to complete the task at the earliest. The 13th MaritimeStates Development Council Meeting held at Hyderabad.TamilNadu, Maharashtra and Gujarat are the three coastal states which havetheir Maritime Boards. The Union Minister for shipping,G K Vasan said themeeting agreed that all the ports, including major and non-major, willgive priority for berthing of Navy and Coast Guard vessels. Keeping inview the security aspect at various ports, it was agreed that all the ports

dealing with EXIM cargo (Export- Import) should install Vessel TrafficManagement System (VTMS). The functioning of VTMS should be mannedby appropriately qualified and trained personnel.

o The West Bengal Government and the Gorkha JanmuktiMorcha (GJM) on 7 June 2011 signed a pact to set up a new electedbody in the Darjeeling hill areas. The elected body will have fulladministrative, executive and financial powers and will be moreautonomous in nature than DGHC.Till this body was set up, a fivemember committee will constitute a board of administrators forsupervising the development process in the Gorkha hills.

o The Kolkata Metro was included in the Indian Railways' logoon 13 June 2011, as the 17th star on the logo. It followed the notificationby the Union Ministry of Railways, onKolkata Metros inclusion as the17th Zonal Railway. The notification was issued on 29 December2010.The Railway Board decided to include a 17th star in the existingIndian Railways' logo to mark the inclusion of the Metro Railway as the17th Zonal Railway. The Indian Railways' logo contains an image of asteam engine encircled by a number of stars symbolising the number ofRailway zones. Before Kolkata Metros inclusion, the number of stars was16 on the Indian Railways' logo.

o The Union Cabinet of India on 9 June 2011 lowered the agelimit for the purpose of pensions from 65 to 60 years. The decisiontaken by the cabinet will be effective from 1 April 2011. It is like tobenefit an additional 72.32 lakh people in the age-group of 60-64 years.The decision would lead to an additional expenditure of 1736 crorerupees.In 2007, the government had launched the Indira Gandhi NationalOld Age Pension scheme to provide assistance to senior citizens falling inthe Below Poverty Line (BPL) category.The Union Cabinet also decided toraise the rate of pension to persons of 80 years and above from 200rupees to 500 rupees.


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o The Cabinet Committee on Security of India on 6 June 2011cleared a proposal to buy ten C-17 heavy lift military aircraft fromthe USA. It is considered the biggest defence deal ever entered betweenthe two countries. The deal is worth of 4.1 billion US dollars. Under thedeal, the US defence Company Boeing, will invest 30 percent of the

contract amount for setting up defence facilities in I

National Affairs 2011

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Transcript of National Affairs 2011