NATIONAL JANUARY 2010

NATIONAL JANUARY 2010

• There were atleast 199,132 farmer suicides between 1997-2008, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB).
  
  The share of the Big 5 states or 'suicide belt' in 2008- Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh remained very high at 10,797 or 66.6 percent of the total farm suicides in the country. Maharashtra remains the worst state in the nation for farm suicides. 
• The brightest and biggest full moon of 2010 will be seen on Saturday. It will be around 15 per cent bigger and 30 per cent brighter than other full moons during the year. 
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the National Tobacco Control Programme to facilitate the implementation of tobacco control laws and to bring about greater awareness of tobacco's harmful effects. The programme will be implemented in the remaining years of XI plan in 42 districts of the 21 states within the National Rural Health Mission framework with financial outlay of Rs. 182 crore, from 2010 - 2011. 
• The 16th Edition of the Partnership Summit 2010 was held in Chennai, organised by the confederation of Indian Industry. 
• The Environment Ministers meeting of the BASIC Countries (Brazil, South Africa, India and China) was held in New Delhi. 
• A currency issued by Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's Bank of Independence has been made public in Bhopal on the eve of his 103rd birth anniversary.
• The Andhra Pradesh government signed three agreements with the world bank to receive loan assistance of Rs 3, 720 crore to fund three projects taken up at a cost of Rs 5699 crore to develop roads, provide safe drinking water and improve infrastructure in urban areas. This is the largest loan amount availed of from the bank in recent times, as the bank's share for the Rs. 4,444 - Crore Nagarjuna Sagar modernization project is only Rs. 2,500 crore.
• Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari Constituted a three - member committee headed by supreme court judge V.S. Sirpurkar, that will investigate the grounds for impeachment of karnataka chief - Justice P.D.Dinakaran whose removal from office has been sought jointly by 75 Opposition members in the Rajya Sabha on corruption and land - grabbing charges. Justice A.R.Dave, cheif Justice of the Andhra Pradesh High court and eminent Jurist P.P.Rao are the other members of the panel.
• President Pratibha Patil released a commemorative postage stamp at a function to mark the platinum jubilee celebration of the Reserve Bank of India.
• The Andhra Pradesh Government unveiled a Rs. 10 crore plan to develop Kondaveedu fort as a major tourist destination in Guntur district.
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched ''Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) at the Solar Energy Conclave 2010, New Delhi.
  
  The Key high lights of JNNSM:
  To create an enabling policy frame work for the deployment of 20,000MW of Solar power by 2022.
  To create favourable conditions for solar manufacturing capability for indigenous production and market leadership.
  To promote programmes for off grid applications, reaching 1000 MW by 2017 and 2000 MW by 2022.
  To achieve 15 million sq-meters solar thermal collector area by 2017 and 20 million by 2022.
  To deploy 20 million solar lighting systems for rural areas by 2022.
• A boatload of sky watchers set sail from Kochi for the Maldives on board the MV Aquamarine, the country’s first eclipse cruise, to chase the Ring of Fire or the millennium’s longest annular solar eclipse.
• Union Environment and Forests minister Jairam Ramesh announced a Rs. 200 crore grant for the Sunderbans, the world’s largest mangrove biosphere as part of the World Bank's Integrated Coastal Zone Management Project.
• The govt. announced that the state-run oil firms will start supplying Euro-IV grade petrol and diesel in 13 big cities from April 1st, 2010.
• A Bench of the Delhi High Court, comprising Chief Justice A.P. Shah and Justices Vikramjit Sen and S.Muralidhar held that the office of the Chief Justice of India (CJI) is a "public authority" and comes within the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act and it is bound to provide information about the declaration of asset details by Supreme Court judges.
• Kite fliers from across 34 countries are expected to participate during the International Kite Festival in Ahmedabad.
• President Pratibha Patil delivering the valedictory address at the Pravasi Bhartiya Diwas (Jan, 9) on the day Mahatma Gandhi returned to India in 1915, pointed out that: Overseas Indian's estimated at over 250 lakhs had come to be recognised as the "Knowledge Diaspora". India's remittances from Overseas Indians estimated at over $ 50 billion last year are the highest in the world.Of these about $ 20 billion comes from Overseas Indian workers in the Gulf consisting of temporary contracted skilled and semi-skilled workers.