*Sushil Kumar Shinde, Union Home Minister on 30 April, released the Primary Census Abstract-Data Highlights of Census 2011 in a function organized by the Office of the Registrar General & Census Commissioner, India in New Delhi. On the occasion, Union Home Minister distributed Census Medals to G. K. Pillai, former Union Home Secretary and the officers of the Census Organization in recognition to the outstanding services rendered by them during Census 2011.
*A sessions court in New Delhi on 30 April, acquitted senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar of all charges in the murder of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. Among the five other accused, former Municipal Corporation of Delhi councilor Balwan Khokhar, Captain Bhagmal and Girdhari Lal were held guilty of murder and rioting charges, while the former MLA, Mahender Yadav, and Balwan’s brother, Krishan Khokhar, were held guilty of rioting charges. The conspiracy charges pressed by the CBI on all six accused failed to stick. District and Sessions Judge J.R. Aryan will hear arguments on sentence on May 6.
*The Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that there is a need to take immediate action by the non life insurance sector to increase penetration and coverage of the non life insurance in the country. He said that India is one of the most under insured country in the world as non life insurance sector has a penetration of only 0.7 percent in the country. The Finance Minister said that there is a need to increase insurance density in the country as well. The Finance Minister was speaking at a function organized in New Delhi on 24 April, to launch mediclaim facility for the farmers holding Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) issued by Dena Bank. The Finance Minister later handed over medi claim policies and ID cards to six farmers of different States holding KCC of Dena Bank in the presence of Namo Narain Meena, Minister of State for Finance, Shri Rajiv Takru, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Shri Ashok Dutt, Executive Director Dena Bank, Shri Milind Kharat, CMD, United India Insurance Company (UIIC) and other senior officers of the Finance Ministry to mark the occasion. At the launch of the said scheme, the Union Finance Minister P.Chidambaram complimented Dena Bank and United India Insurance Company (UIIC) for introducing an innovative and noble scheme for the benefit of farmers at large. He said though it is a small step, in terms of coverage of farmers in relation to total KCC holders of the country, to provide hassle free cashless mediclaim facility to the farmers yet it is a welcome step. While wishing the scheme all the success, he mentioned that on successful implementation of the scheme, it can be considered for implementation on a larger scale. Dena Bank, celebrating its Platinum Jubilee year, has as an initiative under CSR launched a Nobel scheme for its 2, 25,000 KCC holder farmer customers covering their family members under Mediclaim with maximum cover up to Rupees Thirty Thousand.
*Ministry of Home Affairs, government of India and the NSCN(K) have jointly agreed to extend the current period of cease fire, which is to expire on April 28,2013 for a further of one year stated a press release issued by GoI on 25 April. The extension of the cease fire was signed in New Delhi on 22 April, between a five-member NSCN(K)team led by its kilonser Wangtin Naga, supervisor Lincoln, kilonser P.Tikhat, kilonser Hukato and member-secretary CFSB H.K.Sema and MHA representatives led by union joint secretary(MHA) Shambhu Singh.
*Minister of State for Civil Aviation, K. C. Venugopal informed Rajya Sabha on 25 April, that the concept of Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA) for sharing of airspace between civil and military users has been agreed in principle. The Government has accorded approval for constituting a High Level Airspace Policy Body (HLAPB) with the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation as its Chairperson, and also for establishing sub-committees by the HLAPB to develop modalities for implementing the concept of FUA. Salient features of the airspace sharing settlement includes establishment of three levels of airspace management, viz., ASM Level 1, the strategic level, wherein the per-determined airspace structures will be established, ASM Level 2, the pre-tactical level, wherein day-to-day allocation of airspace according to user requirements will be carried out and ASM Level 3, the tactical level, wherein real-time use of airspace allowing a safer and fuel efficient civil and military flights is effected. The airspace sharing settlement also includes establishment of an Airspace Management Cell (AMC) for conducting ASM Level 2 operations in close coordination with Central Flow Management Unit. The concept of FUA is expected to bring in significant savings in terms of fuel and air travel time.
*The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has proposed to launch a “National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM)” in 12th Five Year Plan, which will replace the existing Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY). NULM would focus on the primary issues pertaining to urban poverty such as imparting skill training, enabling entrepreneurship development, providing wage employment and self-employment opportunities to the urban poor. This was stated by Ajay Maken, Union Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA), in the Rajya Sabha on 25 April, in a written reply to a question by Shri Nand Kumar Sai. The Minister stated that the proposal of NULM is at approval stage. The annual targets under NULM will be fixed after final approval as per budget allocation for its implementation.
*The High Court of Delhi on 24 April 2013 directed the Union Government of India to respond on a plea that questioned how children below the age of 18 were allowed to open an account on social networking sites like Face book and others. The response was sought by the Supreme Court because Indian Majority Act, the Indian Contract Act and the Information and Technology Act don’t permit a child below 18 years to open an account on the social networking sites.
The High Court bench of justices BD Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru ordered the Union Government to file an affidavit on the issue making its stand clear within 10 days. The Court posted the matter for further hearing to 13 May 2013. The Court also ordered Face book Inc and Google Inc, the US based firms to respond to how is the recovery of taxes from the websites on their income from operations in India is done.
*The Indian Railways reduced the advanced booking period of the tickets from four months duration to two months, with effect from 1 May 2013. This has been done to prevent the enormous amount of cancellations after the booking process. The Railway notification issued on 25 April 2013 declared that the advance reservation period (ARP) in order to book the reserved train tickets was being reduced from 120 days to 60 days from 1 May 2013. It was also declared that the bookings which were done up to 30 April 2013 under already-existing ARP of 120 days will not be changed. Railway officials believed that this action would help the genuine travelers and reduced touts that booked bulk tickets in advance. No change was introduced to ARP limit of 360 days for foreign tourists. Cancellation of booking which was made beyond the time duration of 60 days shall be permitted. At present, tatkal tickets are being issued when a person produces self-attested photocopy of a valid identity proof. In order to monitor the tout, Railways conduct raids on the railway stations as well.
*India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed an MoU on Air Services, following the two-day bilateral negotiation at Abu Dhabi on 24 April. The UAE had urged India to allocate additional 40,000 seats per week, grant Goa, Pune, Amritsar and Lucknow as additional points of calls, remove the maximum cap prescribed from each point of call in-term of seats/ frequency per week and allow 3rd country /domestic code share facility. India was looking at the negotiations in overall economic interest of India and Government’s policy of liberalization for attracting foreign investment in India, including civil aviation sector. The Indian side had requested the UAE side to grant change of gauge facility at Abu Dhabi to Indian carriers in addition to ensuring full 5th freedom rights from UAE.
*India and Saudi Arabia on 28 April 2013 decided to set up a joint working group to address the concerns of expatriate Indian workers in Saudi Arabia on the Nitaqat law. The India-Saudi Arabia Joint Working Group on Labour will discuss a Memorandum of Understanding on labour co-operation and other issues. The decisions were taken at a meeting of a high level Indian delegation led by the Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi with the Saudi Labour Minister Adel Fakieh in Jeddah. The first meeting of the group will be held in Riyadh on 1 May 2013.The Joint working group led by a Saudi Deputy Minister and India’s Deputy Chief of Mission in Saudi Arabia will discuss and evolve mechanism to address all immediate problems facing the NRI community including issues related to overstaying Indian workers. The process of recruitment of Indian workers would be made more transparent. The Nitaqat law makes it mandatory for local companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. The new policy will result in to denial of job opportunities for many Indians working there. The Nitaqat aims to create more jobs for Saudi citizens. It was enacted following Arab Spring, which happened mainly because of huge unemployment in countries such as Yemen and Egypt.
*With a view to create awareness amongst masses in general and youth in particular about the exceptional biodiversity of India, the Union Minister of Railways, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Environment & Forests, Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan and Smt. Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi flagged off “Science Express Biodiversity Special (SEBS) Train from Safdarjung Railway Station in New Delhi on 9 April. It has been a collaborative initiative of the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) & Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, the Indian Railways, the Vikram Sarabhai Community Science Centre, and the Centre for Environment Education. It has also engaged a large number of knowledge partners, State Biodiversity Boards, State Education Agencies, State Nodal Agencies on NGC and NEAC, Government officials, Peoples’ Representatives, colleges and academia, civil society organizations and the media. Participation of school children and teachers has stood out. Under the second phase of programme, the SEBS will cover 62 stations over next 6 months. Of the 16 coaches of Science Express- Biodiversity Special, 8 are solely dedicated to showcasing the myriad biodiversity spread across all the bio-geographical zones of India through a variety of interactive exhibits, short films & videos that are shown on Plasma & LED TV screens, large format displays, kiosks, backlit panels, and so on. The rest of coaches have interesting & informative exhibits on Climate Change, Energy and Water conservation and topical issues in science. The Science Express Biodiversity Special (SEBS), a mobile biodiversity exhibition train is a Mission to create massive awareness on India’s rich biodiversity. SEBS was showcased as India’s brand ambassador during recently concluded CBD Conference of Parties (CoP). The “Science Express: Biodiversity Special”- is a unique, state-of-the-art exhibition train that brings biodiversity awareness to a cross section of people, particularly children and youths, as it travels across the country. During its first phase, which ended on 22 December 2012 at Ahmadabad, it made halts of 3-4 days duration each at 51 locations and over 23 lakh people, including 6 lakh students and 32000 teachers from 7000 schools enjoyed learning in a fun filled way. The train was also stationed at Secunderabad during 9-19 October 2012 to facilitate visit of delegates to Conference of Parties (CoP-11). India hosted the CoP II meeting at Hyderabad attended by participants from more than 190 countries across the world. SEBS was the brand ambassador to showcase the rich bio diversity of India.
*The High Court of Delhi on 9 April 2013 recommended the Union Government of India to constitute a Statutory Regulatory Body to control Electronic Media. The High Court Bench of Delhi led by Justice Pradeep Nandarajog rejected the idea of self-regulation of the broadcasters. The Court in its judgment ruled that state intervention is necessary to promote the media environment that is characterized by pluralism and diversity. The High Court bench added that a regulatory body was required for ensuring compliance of the provisions mentioned under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994 by the media organizations. The court in its recommendation said that a statutory regulatory body that consists of men and women of eminence from field of law, science, art and culture, literature, history and social sciences to be constituted. Security of tenure needs to be brought into practice for the members of the regulatory body to ensure non-interference from the government. The Court appointed self-regulatory body of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation — Broadcasting Consumers Complaint Committee as the regulatory body to look into the complaints of violation of program and advertising codes and other provisions by the media and give its ruling, until as statutory body is constituted by the Union Government. The court also ruled that the decisions of the Broadcasting Consumers Complaint Committee shall be treated as the foundation stone for taking appropriate action against the offenders.
*The Government has approved a project to create National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) connecting all the 2, 50,000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country through Optical Cable (OFC).The Central Government, through Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), is funding the project while the contribution of State Government would be by providing free Right of Way (RoW) for laying OFC. The project envisages signing a tripartite MoU for free Right of Way (RoW) among Central Government, State Government and Bharat Broadband Network Limited, BBNL (the SPV incorporated for execution of the project). 16 States/UTs have already signed MoUs on 26.10.2012: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and 3 Union Territories viz. Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Puducherry. This arrangement covers 1, 40,727 GPs to be provided with Optical Fibre Network in these States and UTs. Tripartite MoU were signed on 12 April, in the presence of Union Minister of Communications & IT, Shri Kapil Sibal with further 10 States /UTs on 12 april: Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Total of 85731 GPs will get covered by Optical Fibre Network in these States and UTs. With the availability of NOFN at 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats a minimum bandwidth of 100 Mbps will be available at each of GP and will lead to proliferation of broadband services.
*A Delhi court on 11 April 2013 ruled that a surrogate mother and her husband cannot have any right over a child conceived and delivered through artificial means. The court ruled that definition of term surrogacy in guidelines laid down by Indian Council of Medical Research itself recognizes that the intended parents are parents genetically related to the child and not the surrogate mother or her husband. Additional Senior Civil Judge Sonu Agnihotri's remarks came while declaring a single woman from the UK as the biological mother of a boy delivered by an Indian woman acting as a surrogate mother. The court passed the order on a suit initiated by the UK national who, after having received the custody of the child from the surrogate mother, moved the court praying for a decree declaring her as the biological mother of baby boy to put to rest her apprehension that in future, the surrogate mother or her husband might claim custody of the boy.
*Odisha decided to set up First Public Health University in India
Odisha on 8 April 2013 decided to set up the first public health university in India. This university will be set up under Public-Private Partnership mode at Gramadiha village in Jatni tehsil on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. A MoU has been signed in this regard by State Health Department and Asian Institute of Public Health in Bhubaneshwar. In the first phase, 100 crore rupees will be invested in this University. The University will offer master and postdoctoral degree, diplomas and certificates courses in public health and public health management to both medical and non-medical professionals.
*President PranabMukherjee has given his assent to the Anti-rape Bill which provides for life term and even death sentence for rape convicts besides stringent punishment for offences like acid attacks, stalking and voyeurism. Mukherjee accorded his assent to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill-2013 on 2 April, brought against the backdrop of the country-wide outrage over Delhi gang-rape case, and it will now be called the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.The law, passed by Lok Sabha on March 19 and by Rajya Sabha on March 21, has replaced an ordinance promulgated on February 3.It amends various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. With an aim of providing a strong deterrent against crimes like rapes, the new law states that an offender can be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years, but which may extend to life, meaning imprisonment for the remainder of the convict's natural life and with a fine. It has provisions for handing out death sentence to offenders who may have been convicted earlier for such crimes. The law, for the first time, defines stalking and voyeurism as non-bailable offences if repeated for a second time. Perpetrators of acid attack will attract a 10-year jail. It also defines acid attack as a crime besides granting a victim the right to self-defense. It also has provisions for imposing a minimum 10-year jail term for perpetrators of such acts. The law has fixed age for consensual sex at 18 years. Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the Anti-rape Bill, providing enhanced punishment for rape, making stalking and voyeurism criminal offences and fixing the age of consent for sex at 18.The Bill incorporates suggestions of the Justice JS Verma Committee, formed after the brutal Delhi gang-rape of Dec 16 last year, to make anti-rape laws stronger. It provides for rigorous imprisonment for a minimum of 20 years, extendable to life imprisonment, to those convicted for the offence of gang-rape, and also defines and prescribes punishment for stalking, voyeurism and sexual harassment.
*Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch, Minister of Culture, Government of India inaugurated the Tagore Centre for Global Thought at India Institute, King’s College, London on 2nd April, 2013. Smt. Katoch is currently on a 3- day visit to London. Set up as part of the Tagore Commemoration celebrating 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, this Tagore Centre will enhance Tagore-related, academic intellectual and philosophic work globally. The underlying concept is to promote the study of liberal arts and support programmes connected with all aspects of Tagore’s works and showcase how the Indian thought and intellectual capability was influenced by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. The Tagore Centre has been established in partnership with the India Institute of King’s College, London by signing an agreement. The Centre will take up five core activities promoting global implications and connections of Indian thought besides promoting Tagore’s literary and cultural legacy. The Centre is also expected to promote research in Tagore’s literature and artistic works in all the areas of music, art and films. Besides promoting Tagore’s philosophy it is also expected to promote and support research students working on the Global Intellectual history of Indian Thought. The activities will include Tagore distinguished lectures in Global Thought, Lecture series on Tagore, Doctoral Scholarships and film series based on Tagore Stories and writings. The Tagore Centre is expected to become a vibrant Centre of excellence and an intellectual hub in the field of art and culture. It will not only promote and support research studies on Tagore’s thought and work in art, music, education and traditional literature but also studies in Indian Philosophy and cultural tradition, for which India is known worldwide.
*Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on 3 April, said that the scheme Himayat launched in Jammu and Kashmir in 2011 is progressing well to realize the goal of providing training and jobs to one lakh youth in five year period ( 2011-12 to 2016-17). Addressing a function at Zorawar Auditorium in Jammu University, where 947 youth were given job letters, he said, over 5,000 youth had been provided jobs in various companies within and outside the State since the inception of the scheme and over 15,000 would be given training and placements during the year 2013-14. Priority will be given to youth who are school drop-outs, have studied up to 10th class or 12th class and those who are college drop-outs. As of now, 45 HIMAYAT training centres have been set up across 19 districts (out of the total 22 districts in the state). Ramesh also promised one PC Tablet each to 400 youth who have completed one year of service in various companies under Himayat. He said that the stipend of Rs. 1000 per month for two months being provided to the placed youth in various companies has been enhanced to Rs. 2000 per month for six months. The Minister informed that under Mahila Sahayta Samuh, Rs. 800 crores will be spent on socio-economic welfare of women in Jammu and Kashmir and added that the scheme Umeed has been launched keeping this in mind.
*The Union Government of India on 5 April 2013 sanctioned 4065.81 crore rupees for pollution abatement schemes of rivers and lakes in different states. Of all the states, Uttar Pradesh received 1385.95 crore rupees. The sanction cost of projects and expenditure includes the State Governments share under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP) and the National Lake Conservation Programme (NLCP).National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) started in June 2001 with a funding scheme of 70:30 fund sharing between centre and state. The main objective of the scheme is to restore and conserve the urban and semi-urban lakes of the country degraded due to waste water discharge into the lake and other unique freshwater eco systems, through an integrated ecosystem approach. National River Conservation Programme (NRCP) is the centrally sponsored Scheme implemented by the central Government jointly with the State Government on a cost-sharing basis. The pollution abatement works under NRCP presently cover identified polluted stretches of 39 major rivers in 185 towns spread over 20 States in the country.
*Andhra Pradesh Government on 1 April 2013 launched the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation’s online services for entrepreneurs and grievance redressal system. The platform is proposed to be a link between the APIIC and entrepreneurs which would make the process of application and registration of land for setting up industries a paperless one. The online services for entrepreneurs will enable them to file their request for sale endeavor, change in line of activity or change in the name of firm. Information about the status of their application will be sent through Email and SMS. The online grievance redressal system, Parishkaram, is a 24x7 service, facilitating entrepreneurs in tracking grievances, including infrastructure issues and maintenance of industrial parks. With this, the Minister also launched a Citizen Charter of APIIC, which is meant to provide a stipulated period of response for 13 different requests. The response include -finalization of action on valid applications for allotment of lands (within 45 days), issue of provision allotment letter (seven days), execution and registration of Agreement of Sale (21 days) and execution, registration of sale deed on receipt of documents (45 days). The corporation was in the process of setting up industrial parks in the 14 revenue divisions in the State that do not have this infrastructure.
*The Supreme Court of India on 1 April 2013 rejected the plea of Novartis, the Swiss drug maker, to patent the updated version of cancer drug called Glivec. A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai dismissed the patent plea to Novartis on the basis that there was no inventiveness or novelty in the new version of the drug. In its ruling, the Supreme Court of India declared that because the application for patent on beta-crystalline salt did not meet any inventiveness or novelty standard, therefore the company’s plea for patent was dismissed. The judgement implied that patents in India would only be granted to companies that were involved in genuine inventions. Litigative patenting would be dismissed. Glivec is used for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia along with certain other kinds of cancers. The cost of this drug is around 2600 US dollar per month. The generic of Glivec is equivalent to 175 US dollar in India.
Some of the salient features of the data released are as below:
- Total population of the country is 1.21 billion showing an increase of 181.96 million persons in absolute numbers of population in India during the decade 2001-2011. During this decade, population of India grew by 17.7% as against 21.5% in the previous decade.
- As per Census 2011, 833.5 million persons live in rural areas and 377.1 million persons lives in urban areas. Thus, more than 2/3rd of total population of India lives in rural areas.
- Density of population as per current Census is 382 persons per sq.km against 325 persons per sq.km. in 2001.
- Child population in the age group 0-6 years in 2011 Census is 164.5 million as against 163.8 million showing an increase of 0.4% in the last decade.
- Sex ratio in Census 2011 is 943 females per 1000 males as against 933 in 2001 Census.
- Population of Scheduled Castes in this Census is 201.4 million as against 166.6 million in 2001 registering an increase of 20.8% whereas Scheduled Tribes population increased to 104.3 million in 2011 from 84.3 million in 2001.
- As per Census 2011, number of literates is 763.5 million as against 560.7 million in 2001.
*A sessions court in New Delhi on 30 April, acquitted senior Congress leader Sajjan Kumar of all charges in the murder of five Sikhs in the Raj Nagar area of Delhi Cantonment in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case. Among the five other accused, former Municipal Corporation of Delhi councilor Balwan Khokhar, Captain Bhagmal and Girdhari Lal were held guilty of murder and rioting charges, while the former MLA, Mahender Yadav, and Balwan’s brother, Krishan Khokhar, were held guilty of rioting charges. The conspiracy charges pressed by the CBI on all six accused failed to stick. District and Sessions Judge J.R. Aryan will hear arguments on sentence on May 6.
*AP third-best in sex ratio, lags in literacy
Census 2011, released by home minister Sushilkumar Shinde on 30 April, said India's total population as on March 1, 2011 stands at 1.21 billion, 17.7 per cent more than the previous decade. In an encouraging sign, growth of females was higher than that of males, with Andhra Pradesh at third place with 993 females for 1,000 males. The other four top performing states on female-male ratio were Kerala (1,084 females), Tamil Nadu (996), Chhattisgarh (991) and Odisha (979). The worst performing state on female-male ratio is Haryana with just 879 females for 1,000 males. AP however has failed to replicate its sex ratio success on the literacy front, failing miserably at 67.01per cent. The state is fifth from the bottom, with Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Arunachal Pradesh and Bihar bringing up the rear. According to the census, Andhra Pradesh has a recorded population of 8,45,80,777 with a male population of 4,24,42,146 and a female population of 4,21,38,631. The figures show that 5, 63, 61,702 people stay in rural areas of the state while only 2, 82, 19,075 stay in the urban areas. The Telangana districts, including Hyderabad, have a population of 3, 51, and 70211. 5, 05, 56,760 of the total population are literate. The density of population in the country has also increased from 325 in 2001 to 382 in 2011 in per sq km. Among the major states, Bihar occupies the first position with a density of 1106, surpassing West Bengal which occupied the first position during 2001.
*The Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh inaugurated the National conference to celebrate the National Panchayati Raj Day in New Delhi on 24 April. On the occasion, annual awards under “Panchayat Empowerment and Accountability Incentive Scheme” (PEAIS) and “Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar” (RGGSP)) were conferred upon the best performing States and Panchayats. 18 top ranking Gram Panchayats were awarded with “Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Purskar. 193 Panchayats were also received awards for best performance. The Panchayat Strengthening Index Awards (PSI) were given to States this year. Under the Cumulative PSI Awards 1st Prize is won by Maharashtra, while 2nd Prize is bagged by Karnataka, 3rd Prize Kerala and 4th Prize Tripura. Under the Incremental PSI Awards 1st Prize is won by Karnataka, 2nd Prize Rajasthan, 3rd Prize Maharashtra and 4th Prize is won by Odisha. The prize money for “Rashtriya Gaurav Gram Sabha Puraskar” award is Rs. 10 lakhs. The Award money will be utilized by the Panchayats for public purposes such as augmentation of civic services like primary education, primary health care, safe drinking water, public utilities; provision rural infrastructure in the Panchayat jurisdiction.*The Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said that there is a need to take immediate action by the non life insurance sector to increase penetration and coverage of the non life insurance in the country. He said that India is one of the most under insured country in the world as non life insurance sector has a penetration of only 0.7 percent in the country. The Finance Minister said that there is a need to increase insurance density in the country as well. The Finance Minister was speaking at a function organized in New Delhi on 24 April, to launch mediclaim facility for the farmers holding Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) issued by Dena Bank. The Finance Minister later handed over medi claim policies and ID cards to six farmers of different States holding KCC of Dena Bank in the presence of Namo Narain Meena, Minister of State for Finance, Shri Rajiv Takru, Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Shri Ashok Dutt, Executive Director Dena Bank, Shri Milind Kharat, CMD, United India Insurance Company (UIIC) and other senior officers of the Finance Ministry to mark the occasion. At the launch of the said scheme, the Union Finance Minister P.Chidambaram complimented Dena Bank and United India Insurance Company (UIIC) for introducing an innovative and noble scheme for the benefit of farmers at large. He said though it is a small step, in terms of coverage of farmers in relation to total KCC holders of the country, to provide hassle free cashless mediclaim facility to the farmers yet it is a welcome step. While wishing the scheme all the success, he mentioned that on successful implementation of the scheme, it can be considered for implementation on a larger scale. Dena Bank, celebrating its Platinum Jubilee year, has as an initiative under CSR launched a Nobel scheme for its 2, 25,000 KCC holder farmer customers covering their family members under Mediclaim with maximum cover up to Rupees Thirty Thousand.
*Ministry of Home Affairs, government of India and the NSCN(K) have jointly agreed to extend the current period of cease fire, which is to expire on April 28,2013 for a further of one year stated a press release issued by GoI on 25 April. The extension of the cease fire was signed in New Delhi on 22 April, between a five-member NSCN(K)team led by its kilonser Wangtin Naga, supervisor Lincoln, kilonser P.Tikhat, kilonser Hukato and member-secretary CFSB H.K.Sema and MHA representatives led by union joint secretary(MHA) Shambhu Singh.
*Minister of State for Civil Aviation, K. C. Venugopal informed Rajya Sabha on 25 April, that the concept of Flexible Use of Airspace (FUA) for sharing of airspace between civil and military users has been agreed in principle. The Government has accorded approval for constituting a High Level Airspace Policy Body (HLAPB) with the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation as its Chairperson, and also for establishing sub-committees by the HLAPB to develop modalities for implementing the concept of FUA. Salient features of the airspace sharing settlement includes establishment of three levels of airspace management, viz., ASM Level 1, the strategic level, wherein the per-determined airspace structures will be established, ASM Level 2, the pre-tactical level, wherein day-to-day allocation of airspace according to user requirements will be carried out and ASM Level 3, the tactical level, wherein real-time use of airspace allowing a safer and fuel efficient civil and military flights is effected. The airspace sharing settlement also includes establishment of an Airspace Management Cell (AMC) for conducting ASM Level 2 operations in close coordination with Central Flow Management Unit. The concept of FUA is expected to bring in significant savings in terms of fuel and air travel time.
*The Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation has proposed to launch a “National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM)” in 12th Five Year Plan, which will replace the existing Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY). NULM would focus on the primary issues pertaining to urban poverty such as imparting skill training, enabling entrepreneurship development, providing wage employment and self-employment opportunities to the urban poor. This was stated by Ajay Maken, Union Minister of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation (HUPA), in the Rajya Sabha on 25 April, in a written reply to a question by Shri Nand Kumar Sai. The Minister stated that the proposal of NULM is at approval stage. The annual targets under NULM will be fixed after final approval as per budget allocation for its implementation.
*The High Court of Delhi on 24 April 2013 directed the Union Government of India to respond on a plea that questioned how children below the age of 18 were allowed to open an account on social networking sites like Face book and others. The response was sought by the Supreme Court because Indian Majority Act, the Indian Contract Act and the Information and Technology Act don’t permit a child below 18 years to open an account on the social networking sites.
The High Court bench of justices BD Ahmed and Vibhu Bakhru ordered the Union Government to file an affidavit on the issue making its stand clear within 10 days. The Court posted the matter for further hearing to 13 May 2013. The Court also ordered Face book Inc and Google Inc, the US based firms to respond to how is the recovery of taxes from the websites on their income from operations in India is done.
*The Indian Railways reduced the advanced booking period of the tickets from four months duration to two months, with effect from 1 May 2013. This has been done to prevent the enormous amount of cancellations after the booking process. The Railway notification issued on 25 April 2013 declared that the advance reservation period (ARP) in order to book the reserved train tickets was being reduced from 120 days to 60 days from 1 May 2013. It was also declared that the bookings which were done up to 30 April 2013 under already-existing ARP of 120 days will not be changed. Railway officials believed that this action would help the genuine travelers and reduced touts that booked bulk tickets in advance. No change was introduced to ARP limit of 360 days for foreign tourists. Cancellation of booking which was made beyond the time duration of 60 days shall be permitted. At present, tatkal tickets are being issued when a person produces self-attested photocopy of a valid identity proof. In order to monitor the tout, Railways conduct raids on the railway stations as well.
*India and United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed an MoU on Air Services, following the two-day bilateral negotiation at Abu Dhabi on 24 April. The UAE had urged India to allocate additional 40,000 seats per week, grant Goa, Pune, Amritsar and Lucknow as additional points of calls, remove the maximum cap prescribed from each point of call in-term of seats/ frequency per week and allow 3rd country /domestic code share facility. India was looking at the negotiations in overall economic interest of India and Government’s policy of liberalization for attracting foreign investment in India, including civil aviation sector. The Indian side had requested the UAE side to grant change of gauge facility at Abu Dhabi to Indian carriers in addition to ensuring full 5th freedom rights from UAE.
*India and Saudi Arabia on 28 April 2013 decided to set up a joint working group to address the concerns of expatriate Indian workers in Saudi Arabia on the Nitaqat law. The India-Saudi Arabia Joint Working Group on Labour will discuss a Memorandum of Understanding on labour co-operation and other issues. The decisions were taken at a meeting of a high level Indian delegation led by the Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vyalar Ravi with the Saudi Labour Minister Adel Fakieh in Jeddah. The first meeting of the group will be held in Riyadh on 1 May 2013.The Joint working group led by a Saudi Deputy Minister and India’s Deputy Chief of Mission in Saudi Arabia will discuss and evolve mechanism to address all immediate problems facing the NRI community including issues related to overstaying Indian workers. The process of recruitment of Indian workers would be made more transparent. The Nitaqat law makes it mandatory for local companies to hire one Saudi national for every 10 migrant workers. The new policy will result in to denial of job opportunities for many Indians working there. The Nitaqat aims to create more jobs for Saudi citizens. It was enacted following Arab Spring, which happened mainly because of huge unemployment in countries such as Yemen and Egypt.
*With a view to create awareness amongst masses in general and youth in particular about the exceptional biodiversity of India, the Union Minister of Railways, Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Environment & Forests, Smt. Jayanthi Natarajan and Smt. Sheila Dikshit, Chief Minister of Delhi flagged off “Science Express Biodiversity Special (SEBS) Train from Safdarjung Railway Station in New Delhi on 9 April. It has been a collaborative initiative of the Ministry of Environment & Forests (MoEF) & Department of Science & Technology (DST), Government of India, the Indian Railways, the Vikram Sarabhai Community Science Centre, and the Centre for Environment Education. It has also engaged a large number of knowledge partners, State Biodiversity Boards, State Education Agencies, State Nodal Agencies on NGC and NEAC, Government officials, Peoples’ Representatives, colleges and academia, civil society organizations and the media. Participation of school children and teachers has stood out. Under the second phase of programme, the SEBS will cover 62 stations over next 6 months. Of the 16 coaches of Science Express- Biodiversity Special, 8 are solely dedicated to showcasing the myriad biodiversity spread across all the bio-geographical zones of India through a variety of interactive exhibits, short films & videos that are shown on Plasma & LED TV screens, large format displays, kiosks, backlit panels, and so on. The rest of coaches have interesting & informative exhibits on Climate Change, Energy and Water conservation and topical issues in science. The Science Express Biodiversity Special (SEBS), a mobile biodiversity exhibition train is a Mission to create massive awareness on India’s rich biodiversity. SEBS was showcased as India’s brand ambassador during recently concluded CBD Conference of Parties (CoP). The “Science Express: Biodiversity Special”- is a unique, state-of-the-art exhibition train that brings biodiversity awareness to a cross section of people, particularly children and youths, as it travels across the country. During its first phase, which ended on 22 December 2012 at Ahmadabad, it made halts of 3-4 days duration each at 51 locations and over 23 lakh people, including 6 lakh students and 32000 teachers from 7000 schools enjoyed learning in a fun filled way. The train was also stationed at Secunderabad during 9-19 October 2012 to facilitate visit of delegates to Conference of Parties (CoP-11). India hosted the CoP II meeting at Hyderabad attended by participants from more than 190 countries across the world. SEBS was the brand ambassador to showcase the rich bio diversity of India.
*The High Court of Delhi on 9 April 2013 recommended the Union Government of India to constitute a Statutory Regulatory Body to control Electronic Media. The High Court Bench of Delhi led by Justice Pradeep Nandarajog rejected the idea of self-regulation of the broadcasters. The Court in its judgment ruled that state intervention is necessary to promote the media environment that is characterized by pluralism and diversity. The High Court bench added that a regulatory body was required for ensuring compliance of the provisions mentioned under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and the Cable Television Network Rules, 1994 by the media organizations. The court in its recommendation said that a statutory regulatory body that consists of men and women of eminence from field of law, science, art and culture, literature, history and social sciences to be constituted. Security of tenure needs to be brought into practice for the members of the regulatory body to ensure non-interference from the government. The Court appointed self-regulatory body of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation — Broadcasting Consumers Complaint Committee as the regulatory body to look into the complaints of violation of program and advertising codes and other provisions by the media and give its ruling, until as statutory body is constituted by the Union Government. The court also ruled that the decisions of the Broadcasting Consumers Complaint Committee shall be treated as the foundation stone for taking appropriate action against the offenders.
*The Government has approved a project to create National Optical Fiber Network (NOFN) connecting all the 2, 50,000 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the country through Optical Cable (OFC).The Central Government, through Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF), is funding the project while the contribution of State Government would be by providing free Right of Way (RoW) for laying OFC. The project envisages signing a tripartite MoU for free Right of Way (RoW) among Central Government, State Government and Bharat Broadband Network Limited, BBNL (the SPV incorporated for execution of the project). 16 States/UTs have already signed MoUs on 26.10.2012: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Manipur, Mizoram, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and 3 Union Territories viz. Dadra & Nagar Haveli, Daman & Diu and Puducherry. This arrangement covers 1, 40,727 GPs to be provided with Optical Fibre Network in these States and UTs. Tripartite MoU were signed on 12 April, in the presence of Union Minister of Communications & IT, Shri Kapil Sibal with further 10 States /UTs on 12 april: Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Maharashtra, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. Total of 85731 GPs will get covered by Optical Fibre Network in these States and UTs. With the availability of NOFN at 2,50,000 Gram Panchayats a minimum bandwidth of 100 Mbps will be available at each of GP and will lead to proliferation of broadband services.
*A Delhi court on 11 April 2013 ruled that a surrogate mother and her husband cannot have any right over a child conceived and delivered through artificial means. The court ruled that definition of term surrogacy in guidelines laid down by Indian Council of Medical Research itself recognizes that the intended parents are parents genetically related to the child and not the surrogate mother or her husband. Additional Senior Civil Judge Sonu Agnihotri's remarks came while declaring a single woman from the UK as the biological mother of a boy delivered by an Indian woman acting as a surrogate mother. The court passed the order on a suit initiated by the UK national who, after having received the custody of the child from the surrogate mother, moved the court praying for a decree declaring her as the biological mother of baby boy to put to rest her apprehension that in future, the surrogate mother or her husband might claim custody of the boy.
*Odisha decided to set up First Public Health University in India
Odisha on 8 April 2013 decided to set up the first public health university in India. This university will be set up under Public-Private Partnership mode at Gramadiha village in Jatni tehsil on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. A MoU has been signed in this regard by State Health Department and Asian Institute of Public Health in Bhubaneshwar. In the first phase, 100 crore rupees will be invested in this University. The University will offer master and postdoctoral degree, diplomas and certificates courses in public health and public health management to both medical and non-medical professionals.
*Indian Railways Carried 1009.73 Million Tones of Freight during Fiscal 2012-13
-Indian Railways carried 1009.73 million tonnes of revenue earning freight traffic during the financial year 2012-13 as per the data released by Ministry of Railways. The freight carried shows an increase of 39.95 million tonnes over the freight traffic of 969.78 million tonnes actually carried during the corresponding period last year, registering an increase of 4.12 per cent. During the month of March 2013, the revenue earning freight traffic carried by Indian Railways was 98.20 million tonnes. There is an increase of 4.35 million tonnes over the actual freight traffic of 93.85 million tonnes carried by the Indian Railways during the same period last year, showing an increase of 4.64 per cent.*AP Government launched GPS-GIS based Emergency Response System Dial 100
-State Government of Andhra Pradesh on 11 April 2013 launched a GPS-GIS based Central Emergency Response System Dial 100 in Hyderabad. The emergency response system is designed to enable police reach the area of complaint within minutes of receiving the complaint. The project with state-wide network was launched by the states Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy. The project is jointly being exercised by State Police and a Private Firm that will operate the GPS-GIS based state of the art emergency response system that will operate on a single command and control centre for complete state. The same centre of Dial 100 will coordinate in cases of other emergencies like fire, medical as well as the disaster related response. This facility will enable citizens of the state to Dial 100 and register the complaints via mobile or landline phone.*AP launched ‘Amma Hastham’ to Provide Food Items to Poor at Subsidized Rates
-The State Government of Andhra Pradesh on 11 April 2013 on occasion of Ugadi Festival launched a new scheme named Amma Hastham (mother's hand) to supply nine essential food items to poor at subsidized rates. The Amma Hstam scheme was named after the name of Late Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. Chief Minister of the state Kiran Kumar Reddy has formally launched the scheme at Hyderabad. About 2 crore 20 lakh poor families will be benefitted with the launch of the scheme that is to be run on an additional annual burden of 660 crore rupees on the state exchequer. The nine essential item mentioned in the scheme includes a kilo of Wheat, Wheat Flour, Palm Oil, Salt Red Gram, half a kilo of Sugar and Tamerind, quarter kilo of Red Mirchi powder and 100 grams Termaric Powder.*World Bank announced a Multi-billion Dollar Plan for Poverty Alleviation in Indian States
-The World Bank in the second week of April 2013 announced a multi-million dollar four-year plan that is to be initiated in seven low-income states of India to bring down the poverty levels. The World Bank’s Country Partnership Strategy for India proposed to lend 3 billion to 5 billion US dollars every year for a period of next four years. The recognized states are Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh. The states have been identified depending upon the number of poor’s that live in these states.*President PranabMukherjee has given his assent to the Anti-rape Bill which provides for life term and even death sentence for rape convicts besides stringent punishment for offences like acid attacks, stalking and voyeurism. Mukherjee accorded his assent to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill-2013 on 2 April, brought against the backdrop of the country-wide outrage over Delhi gang-rape case, and it will now be called the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.The law, passed by Lok Sabha on March 19 and by Rajya Sabha on March 21, has replaced an ordinance promulgated on February 3.It amends various sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Code of Criminal Procedure, the Indian Evidence Act and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. With an aim of providing a strong deterrent against crimes like rapes, the new law states that an offender can be sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than 20 years, but which may extend to life, meaning imprisonment for the remainder of the convict's natural life and with a fine. It has provisions for handing out death sentence to offenders who may have been convicted earlier for such crimes. The law, for the first time, defines stalking and voyeurism as non-bailable offences if repeated for a second time. Perpetrators of acid attack will attract a 10-year jail. It also defines acid attack as a crime besides granting a victim the right to self-defense. It also has provisions for imposing a minimum 10-year jail term for perpetrators of such acts. The law has fixed age for consensual sex at 18 years. Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to the Anti-rape Bill, providing enhanced punishment for rape, making stalking and voyeurism criminal offences and fixing the age of consent for sex at 18.The Bill incorporates suggestions of the Justice JS Verma Committee, formed after the brutal Delhi gang-rape of Dec 16 last year, to make anti-rape laws stronger. It provides for rigorous imprisonment for a minimum of 20 years, extendable to life imprisonment, to those convicted for the offence of gang-rape, and also defines and prescribes punishment for stalking, voyeurism and sexual harassment.
*Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch, Minister of Culture, Government of India inaugurated the Tagore Centre for Global Thought at India Institute, King’s College, London on 2nd April, 2013. Smt. Katoch is currently on a 3- day visit to London. Set up as part of the Tagore Commemoration celebrating 150th Birth Anniversary of Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, this Tagore Centre will enhance Tagore-related, academic intellectual and philosophic work globally. The underlying concept is to promote the study of liberal arts and support programmes connected with all aspects of Tagore’s works and showcase how the Indian thought and intellectual capability was influenced by Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore. The Tagore Centre has been established in partnership with the India Institute of King’s College, London by signing an agreement. The Centre will take up five core activities promoting global implications and connections of Indian thought besides promoting Tagore’s literary and cultural legacy. The Centre is also expected to promote research in Tagore’s literature and artistic works in all the areas of music, art and films. Besides promoting Tagore’s philosophy it is also expected to promote and support research students working on the Global Intellectual history of Indian Thought. The activities will include Tagore distinguished lectures in Global Thought, Lecture series on Tagore, Doctoral Scholarships and film series based on Tagore Stories and writings. The Tagore Centre is expected to become a vibrant Centre of excellence and an intellectual hub in the field of art and culture. It will not only promote and support research studies on Tagore’s thought and work in art, music, education and traditional literature but also studies in Indian Philosophy and cultural tradition, for which India is known worldwide.
*Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on 3 April, said that the scheme Himayat launched in Jammu and Kashmir in 2011 is progressing well to realize the goal of providing training and jobs to one lakh youth in five year period ( 2011-12 to 2016-17). Addressing a function at Zorawar Auditorium in Jammu University, where 947 youth were given job letters, he said, over 5,000 youth had been provided jobs in various companies within and outside the State since the inception of the scheme and over 15,000 would be given training and placements during the year 2013-14. Priority will be given to youth who are school drop-outs, have studied up to 10th class or 12th class and those who are college drop-outs. As of now, 45 HIMAYAT training centres have been set up across 19 districts (out of the total 22 districts in the state). Ramesh also promised one PC Tablet each to 400 youth who have completed one year of service in various companies under Himayat. He said that the stipend of Rs. 1000 per month for two months being provided to the placed youth in various companies has been enhanced to Rs. 2000 per month for six months. The Minister informed that under Mahila Sahayta Samuh, Rs. 800 crores will be spent on socio-economic welfare of women in Jammu and Kashmir and added that the scheme Umeed has been launched keeping this in mind.
*The Union Government of India on 5 April 2013 sanctioned 4065.81 crore rupees for pollution abatement schemes of rivers and lakes in different states. Of all the states, Uttar Pradesh received 1385.95 crore rupees. The sanction cost of projects and expenditure includes the State Governments share under the National River Conservation Programme (NRCP) and the National Lake Conservation Programme (NLCP).National Lake Conservation Plan (NLCP) started in June 2001 with a funding scheme of 70:30 fund sharing between centre and state. The main objective of the scheme is to restore and conserve the urban and semi-urban lakes of the country degraded due to waste water discharge into the lake and other unique freshwater eco systems, through an integrated ecosystem approach. National River Conservation Programme (NRCP) is the centrally sponsored Scheme implemented by the central Government jointly with the State Government on a cost-sharing basis. The pollution abatement works under NRCP presently cover identified polluted stretches of 39 major rivers in 185 towns spread over 20 States in the country.
*Andhra Pradesh Government on 1 April 2013 launched the AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation’s online services for entrepreneurs and grievance redressal system. The platform is proposed to be a link between the APIIC and entrepreneurs which would make the process of application and registration of land for setting up industries a paperless one. The online services for entrepreneurs will enable them to file their request for sale endeavor, change in line of activity or change in the name of firm. Information about the status of their application will be sent through Email and SMS. The online grievance redressal system, Parishkaram, is a 24x7 service, facilitating entrepreneurs in tracking grievances, including infrastructure issues and maintenance of industrial parks. With this, the Minister also launched a Citizen Charter of APIIC, which is meant to provide a stipulated period of response for 13 different requests. The response include -finalization of action on valid applications for allotment of lands (within 45 days), issue of provision allotment letter (seven days), execution and registration of Agreement of Sale (21 days) and execution, registration of sale deed on receipt of documents (45 days). The corporation was in the process of setting up industrial parks in the 14 revenue divisions in the State that do not have this infrastructure.
*The Supreme Court of India on 1 April 2013 rejected the plea of Novartis, the Swiss drug maker, to patent the updated version of cancer drug called Glivec. A bench of justices Aftab Alam and Ranjana Prakash Desai dismissed the patent plea to Novartis on the basis that there was no inventiveness or novelty in the new version of the drug. In its ruling, the Supreme Court of India declared that because the application for patent on beta-crystalline salt did not meet any inventiveness or novelty standard, therefore the company’s plea for patent was dismissed. The judgement implied that patents in India would only be granted to companies that were involved in genuine inventions. Litigative patenting would be dismissed. Glivec is used for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia along with certain other kinds of cancers. The cost of this drug is around 2600 US dollar per month. The generic of Glivec is equivalent to 175 US dollar in India.
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