NATIONAL AUGUST 2009

NATIONAL AUGUST 2009

• The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has set to make the Class X board examination optional for students who will continue in the same school for the senior secondary level.
• Cabinet has approved 50% reservation for women in Panchayat Raj Institutions. The center shall amend Article 243(d) to implement the reservation.
• India’s largest ICT event e-India 2009 was held at Hyderabad International Convention Center.
• AP Assembly has adopted a resolution urging the center to give SC status to Dalit Christians.
• Oil production was started in Cairn India’s on-land Mangala oilfield, Barmer, Rajasthan. This is the country’s biggest oil find.
• Law Commissions chairperson Justice AR Lakshmanan submitted 234th report to law minister Veerappa Moily.
  • The Law Commission has framed a set of drastic recommendations to deal with rash and negligent driving, including increasing punishment from two years in jail to 10 as well as making the offence non-bailable.
  • The Commission has suggested to amend Section 304A of the Indian Penal Code.
  • It recommended inserting a provision in the Motor Vehicles Act for confiscation of vehicles fitted with LPG cylinders meant for home kitchen and arrest and prosecution of owners/drivers of such vehicles.
• A special cell to deal with the issues of women married to non resident Indians (NRI) will be formally established on August 27. The Commission chairperson Girija Vyas told that the NRI cell will function under the National Commission for Women (NCW).
• The Center has banned the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC). A new council will be formed in place of DGHC.
• AP Govt. has extended the ban on Maoists for a year from August 17^th, 2009 to August 16^th, 2010.
• 227^th Law Commission Report:
  The Law Commission has recommended amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act (HMA) and other personal laws to the effect that a person whose marriage is governed by such legislation cannot marry again even after changing religion unless the first marriage is dissolved or declared null and void. The Commission was headed by Justice A.R. Lakshmanan. It also suggested that amendments be made in the Criminal Procedure Code to make bigamy a cognizable offence.
• Parliament has cleared ‘The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Bill, 2009’ which envisages free and compulsory education to children in the 6-14 age group with the Lok Sabha approving it by voice vote.
• Thiruvavalluvar’s statue was unveiled in Bangalore by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi after a period of 18 years it was put on. 
• President Pratibha Patil inaugurated Armed Forces Tribunal
  An exclusive court for members of the Army, Navy and Air Force, Armed Forces Tribunal, was established by the President.
  
  The keenly awaited AFT will provide a judicial forum for redressal of grievances among the 1.5 million military personnel and over 2 million ex-servicemen.