NATIONAL DECEMBER 2013

NATIONAL DECEMBER 2013

• The Prime Minister has asked the University Grants Commission (UGC) to play the role of a national Think Tank for the promotion of Higher Education in the country. Addressing the Diamond Jubilee celebration of the Commission in New Delhi on 28 December, Dr. Manmohan Singh appreciated the role of Commission as a principal regulator of Higher Education in the country. The Prime Minister in this regard, announced instituting awards in the name of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru for individual excellence in the areas of Science, Humanities and Social Sciences, Technology, Fine Arts and Culture. 
  
  He also said the Government has put unprecedented emphasis on education at all level in the last ten years. Giving details of the expansion in the Higher Education in this period, the Prime Minister said, Gross Enrolment Ratio has gone up from 11% in 2005-06 to 19.4% i 2010-11. Twenty three Central Universities, 7 IIMs,9 IITs, 10 NITs and 4 IIITs have been set up by the Central Government .Highlighting the role recently launched Rashtriya Uchttar Shiksha -Abhiyan(RUSA) will play in promoting Higher Education in the Country, Dr. Singh said the scheme aims to create 278 new universities and 388 new colleges and to convert 266 colleges to Model Degree Colleges by the end of the current five year plan ending 2017. 
  
  The scheme will also provide infrastructure grants to 286 state universities and 8500 state colleges. Speaking on the occasion the HRD Minister, Dr. M. M. Pallam Raju said that UGC will launch Chair in the name of the Indian Nobel Lauerates including in the name of C.V. Raman, Rabindra Nath Tagore, and Mother Teresa. He said the government has focused on access for the weaker sections of the society and the minorities by giving scholarships and equal opportunities. He said that the government is keen to promote Research and more funds are being earmarked for them. Dr. Raju informed that the government is keen to give more autonomy to universities. The Chairman of the UGC, Dr. Ved Prakash said the Commission has been given the additional charge of Distance Education. It is also taking several steps to ease the constraints caused by the paucity of quality faculty by engaging Recharge Programs and appointing contractual faculty. 
  
• A Nuclear University will be set up in Haryana soon at a cost of Rs 2,200 crore, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on 28 December announced at Ambala. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will lay the foundation for the institution on January 3, Hooda said.
  
  
• The Centre on 26 December, cleared a proposal for setting up of National Cancer Institute at the Jhajjar campus of All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi, at a cost of Rs 2,035 crore. The cancer institute will be located in Badhsa village in Jhajjar of Haryana, near Delhi and will be completed in a period of 45 months. Approving the health ministry's proposal, the Union cabinet cleared a long-pending demand of Haryana government i.e. expanding cancer care. AFP The step is being considered as a landmark in the area of cancer research in the country and shall lessen the deficit of tertiary cancer care in the northern region. Cancer is emerging as a major public health concern in India, where 11 lakh new cases are diagnosed every year and the mortality rate is 5.5 lakh per year. Cancer treatment facilities in India are lagging behind when compared to WHO standards that require a radiotherapy machine per million population. 
  
  
• In a landmark judgment, the Himachal Pradesh High Court on 26 December cleared the decks for a complete ban on sale of potato chips, wafers, kurkure and all other junk food-items packed in non-biodegradable and plastic material. The ban would come into effect from January 26, 2014.The court also vacated its stay on the notification issued by the department of Science, Technology and Environment on June 26, 2013 imposing ban on sale, storage, entry, supply and manufacture of these items in the state. It directed the government to strictly enforce the ban on these non-essential packaged food items, which however will not include drinking water - both packed and mineral.
  
  The order was passed by a division bench comprising Justice Rajiv Sharma and Justice V.K. Sharma which while hearing the petition filed by some dealers and manufacturers of these items challenging the government's notification. The court directed the government to ensure that the edible oils/fats shall not be sold in the plastic bottles or pouches and shall be packed in tin containers. Also, from March 31, 2014, the milk and milk products along with edible oils, fats, fruits and vegetables and meat products will be manufactured, transported, sold, packaged and distributed as per regulations of the Food Safety & Standards (Packaging & Labelling) Regulation, 2011, the court ordered.
  
• The Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Paban Singh Ghatowar in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on 17th December, that the North East Rural Livelihood Project (NERLP) is being implemented in four North Eastern States of Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. NERLP is implemented in Aizawl and Lunglei Districts of Mizoram State, Peren and Tuensang Districts of Nagaland State, South Sikkim, West Sikkim Districts and 15 poorest Panchayat wards of East Sikkim of Sikkim and undivided North and West Districts of Tripura State (now 5 Districts). It will cover three lakh households in 1624 villages in the above mentioned districts. As the objective of NERLP is to improve livelihoods of the poor, especially that of women and the disadvantaged people in the project area, identification of Districts for the project was done by the State Governments based on social and economic backwardness. There is no plan to extend NERLP to other Districts except to the newly carved districts out of the existing 8 districts. 
  
• The Minister of State for Civil Aviation, K.C. Venugopal informed the Rajya Sabha on 17th December, that the Government has granted "in principle" approval for the setting up of the following Greenfield airports across the country: Mopa in Goa, Navi Mumbai, Shirdi and Sindhudurg in Maharashtra, Bijapur, Gulbarga, Hasan and Shimoga in Karanataka, Kannur and Aranmula in Kerala, Durgapur in West Bengal, Dabra in Madhya Pradesh, Pakyong in Sikkim, Karaikal in Pudducherry and Kushinagar in Uttar Pradesh. The Government has a vision to establish low-cost small airports which may include existing airports also for providing connectivity to the tier-II and tier-III cities in the country including in the state of Jharkhand. 
  
• The Minister of Culture Smt. Chandresh Kumari Katoch has said that- as the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an attached office to the Ministry of Culture, Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with other countries to promote cultural exchange development expert relationship, exchange of experience and mutual awareness and understanding of cultural diversity etc. are signed as per approval of Ministry of Culture and Ministry of External Affairs. At present ASI has MoU with one country, namely National Museum of the Czech Republic. In a written reply in the Lok Sabha on 17 December Smt. Katoch said, the Ministry of Culture has signed 126 cultural agreements with foreign countries and enters into Cultural Exchange Programmes with various countries from time to time for specific periods. It is also exploring possibilities of having Cultural Agreements and entering into Cultural Exchange Programmes with remaining countries in consultation with our Missions abroad. 
  
• Mr. Ghulam Nabi Azad, the Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare in a written reply to -the Rajya Sabha on 17th December, stated that, As per Office of Registrar General of India SRS reports, the Infant mortality rate has declined from 50 per 1000 live births in 2009 to 42 per 1000 live births in 2012. Under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) the following programmes/schemes and awareness campaign is launched by the Government to reduce infant mortality rate:
  
  --Establishment of Sick New Born Care Units at District Hospitals, newborn stabilization Units at Community Health Centres (CHCs) and New Born Care corners at 24x7 Primary Health Centres (PHCs) to provide new born and child care services. 
  
  -- Navjaat Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (NSSK), a programme for training health care providers on essential newborn care and resuscitation. -- Home Based New Born Care (HBNC) through ASHAs with series of home visits. 
  
  --Integrated Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illness (IMNCI) and Facility Based Integrate Management of Neonatal and Childhood Illnesses (F-IMNCI).
  
  -- Early identification and appropriate management of Diarrhoea disease and Acute Respiratory Infections. 
  
  --Establishment of Nutritional Rehabilitation Centres to address severe and acute malnutrition 
  
  -- Promotion of institutional deliveries through JananiSurakshaYojana (JSY) 
  
  --Mother and Child Protection Card in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development to monitor service delivery for mothers and children. 
  
  --Antenatal, Intra-natal and Postnatal care including Iron and Folic Acid supplementation to pregnant & lactating women for prevention and treatment of anaemia.
  
  -- Engagement of more than 8.8lakhs Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) to generate demand and facilitate accessing of health care services by the community.
  
  --Village Health and Nutrition Days in rural areas as an outreach activity, for provision of maternal and child health services. 
  
  --Health and nutrition education to promote dietary diversification, inclusion of iron and foliate rich food as well as food items that promote iron absorption. 
  
  --Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakaram (JSSK) has been launched on 1st June, 2011, which entitles all pregnant women delivering in public health institutions to absolutely free and no expense delivery including Caesarean section. The initiative stipulates free drugs, diagnostics, blood and diet, besides free transport from home to institution, between facilities in case of a referral and drop back home. Similar entitlements have been put in place for all sick infants accessing public health institutions for treatment. 
  
  --Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK), an introduction of child health screening for 4Ds i.e. defects at birth, deficiencies, diseases, development delays and their management among the children 0-18 years of age. 
  
• The Rajya Sabha passed the Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2011 on December 17th and the Bill has been passed by the Lok Sabha on 18th December. Some of the important features in the Bill are as below:- 
  --Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta at the level of the States. 
  -- The Lokpal will consist of a Chairperson and a maximum of eight Members, of which fifty percent shall be judicial members. 
  -- Fifty per cent of members of Lokpal shall be from amongst SC/ST/OBCs, Minorities and Women. 
  --The selection of Chairperson and Members of Lokpal shall be through a Selection Committee consisting of:- 
  1. Prime Minister;
  2. Speaker of Lok Sabha;
  3. Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha;
  4. Chief Justice of India or a sitting Supreme Court judge nominated by CJI;
  5. Eminent jurist to be nominated by the President of India on the basis of recommendations of the first four members of the Selection Committee.
  -- Prime Minister has been brought under the purview of the Lokpal. 
  -- Lokpal’s jurisdiction will cover all categories of public servants. 
  --All entities receiving donations from foreign source in the context of the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA) in excess of Rs. 10 lakhs per year are brought under the jurisdiction of Lokpal. 
  -- Provides adequate protection for honest and upright Public Servants. 
  -- Lokpal will have power of superintendence and direction over any investigation agency including CBI for cases referred to them by Lokpal. 
  --A high powered Committee chaired by the Prime Minister will recommend selection of the Director, CBI. 
  --Directorate of Prosecution headed by a Director of Prosecution under the overall control of Director; 
  --The appointment of the Director of Prosecution, CBI on the recommendation of the Central Vigilance Commission; 
  --Transfer of officers of CBI investigating cases referred by Lokpal with the approval of Lokpal; 
  --The Bill also incorporates provisions for attachment and confiscation of property acquired by corrupt means, even while prosecution is pending. 
  --The Bill lays down clear time lines for Preliminary enquiry & investigation and trial and towards this end, the Bill provides for setting up of Special Courts. 
  -- A mandate for setting up of the institution of Lokayukta through enactment of a law by the State Legislature within a period of 365 days from the date of commencement of the Act. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 19th December approved the following as suggested by the Group of Ministers. Jats are already included in the State List of OBCs in nine States. Formal reports of the State Backward Class Commissions on the subject for the States of Haryana (2012) and Himachal Pradesh (2002) and books relating to socio economic status of farming communities in northern India and caste, land and political power in Uttar Pradesh are available. These may contain valuable and relevant material which can be utilized by the National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC) to give its advice on the demand for inclusion of Jats in the Central List of OBCs in the States of Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan (two districts), Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Uttarakhand and Bihar. This decision would enable the Jat Community to avail the benefits of reservation available to the Other Backward Classes for employment/ admission in /to Central Government services and posts/ educational Institutions. Jat Community has been demanding inclusion in the Central List of Other Backward Classes for various states. The NCBC which was set up under the NCBC Act 1993, has been entrusted with the function of examining requests for inclusion of any Class of citizens as a backward class in the lists (Central List of Other Backward Classes) and hear complaints of over inclusion or under inclusion of any backward class in such lists, and tender advice to the Central Government as desired appropriate. At present, the Jat Community is included, in the Central List of OBCs for the States of Gujarat - Jat (Muslim) and Rajasthan (except in Bharatpur and Dhaulpur districts). They are, at present, included in the State Lists of nine States. The requests of Jats for inclusion in the Central List of OBCs for the States of Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Bharatpur and Dhaulpur districts of Rajasthan was earlier rejected by NCBC in 1997. The NCBC under the NCBC (Power to Review Advice) Rules 2011, decided to consider requests for inclusion of the Jat community after collecting additional socio-economic data through the ICSSR, in addition to data from the SECC. A GoM was constituted on 20.8.2013 to (i) engage with the representatives of the Jat community periodically; and (ii) apprise itself of the progress of the survey being conducted by NCBC through ICSSR in six states. 
  
• The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the twenty-eighth Indian Engineering Congress on the theme “Engineering Advancements and Accelerated Nation Building” on 20 December, 2013 at Chennai. The Congress is convened by The Institution of Engineers (India). Speaking on the occasion, the President said our immediate challenge is to reverse the economic deceleration and nurse our growth back to the eight per cent plus levels clocked by us in the past. Positive factors such as continuing rise in per capita incomes, expanding middle-class consumers, and a young and energetic workforce gives confidence that as the global economy revives, we will be able to secure faster growth. The President called upon every engineering and technical institution in the country to make an all-out effort to help India develop a large pool of proficient scientific and technical manpower. He also asked the Institution of Engineers (India) to think of establishing an Institute of Excellence in Engineering and Technology to create synergy between industry and academia through high quality engineering education and innovative research. 
  
• The Minister of State for HRD, Dr. Shashi Tharoor in a written reply to a Rajya Sabha question on 9 December, that the Ministry of Human Resource Development has constituted an overarching coordinating body named Higher Education Apex Coordination Committee in October, 2013. The Committee is chaired by the Human Resource Minister with Chairman, University Grants Commission (UGC); Secretary, Higher Education; Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) and President, Council of Architecture (COA) as members. The essential mandate of the Committee is to remove the conflicts arising out of regulatory and other provisions of the regulatory bodies and professional councils. The Committee would also work towards finding common ground and take measures to promote inter-disciplinary learning and research, especially in the new and emerging fields of knowledge. 
  
• The Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code making gay sex an offence punishable with up to life imprisonment on 11 December 2013. A bench of justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. Mukhopadhaya set aside the Delhi High Court's verdict which had in 2009 decriminalized gay sex among consenting adults in private. The Supreme Court bench allowed the appeals filed by various social and religious organizations challenging the Delhi high court verdict on the ground that gay sex is against the cultural and religious values of the country. The Supreme Court ruled that there is no constitutional infirmity in section 377 of the Indian Penal Code, IPC which makes gay sex an offence punishable with up to life imprisonment. With the apex court verdict, the operation of penal provision against gay sex has come into force. The bench stated Parliament is authorized to delete section 377 of IPC but till the time this penal provision is there, the court cannot legalize this kind of sexual relationship. The Delhi High Court had on 2 July 2009 decriminalized gay sex as provided in Section 377 of the IPC and had ruled that sex between two consenting adults in private would not be an offence. 
  
• The President Pranab Mukherjee launched an ‘In-Residence’ Programme for writers, artists and innovation scholars on 11th December at Rashtrapati Bhavan on the occasion of his birthday. He also kicked off a scheme to issue Smart ID Cards to residents of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The ‘In-Residence’ programme open to all Indian nationals, aims at providing writers and artists an opportunity to stay in Rashtrapati Bhavan for one month and be a part of the life of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The initiative is an attempt to encourage young and upcoming writers and artists by facilitating them stay close to nature in the picturesque and serene surroundings of Rashtrapati Bhavan. The Programme seeks to provide an environment which will inspire creative thinking and rejuvenate artistic impulses. Various activities like reading sessions, exhibitions of works of art and interaction with the residents of Rashtrapati Bhavan, etc. are also to be organized in consultation with the selected writers/artists under the scheme. Persons with an established track record in the field of art and literature can apply. Preference would be given to writers / artists who have won national / state awards. A maximum of four writers / artists would be selected under this scheme every year.
  
• The Supreme Court of India on 10th December 2013 ordered red beacons are allowed to be used only by persons holding Constitutional posts and high dignitaries. The decision came to prevent the misuse of red beacons by local politicians as a symbol of status. The Supreme Court bench was headed by Justice G.S. Singhvi has asked the centre to issue a fresh list of people eligible to use red beacons on their vehicles. The apex court has also asked the Government to amend the rule within three months. It has also said that the State Governments cannot enlarge the list of VIPs eligible for the red beacons. The Courts order came on a PIL filled by a resident of Uttar Pradesh, Abhay Singh on misuse of the beacons. Earlier, the bench had said that misuse of red beacon and siren, granted by government to VIPs, was a menace to society and it must be stopped. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 12th December 2013 approved the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill, 2011. The Bill is a comprehensive measure that covers a whole spectrum of problems from physical disabilities to mental illness and multiple disabilities. It will replace the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunity Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act of 1995. The Bill has been prepared on the basis of recommendations made by Sudha Kaul Committee. The Committee was appointed in 2010 by the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. The bill Provides for 5% reservation in public sector jobs and makes the private sector more accountable for creating a disabled-friendly environment. It provides incentives for the private sector to take such measures. To ensure political participation, the Bill says that every person with disability who fulfils eligibility requirements is entitled to be registered as a voter. He/she should not be disqualified from exercising the voting right on the grounds of disability, irrespective of any stipulation to the contrary in any law for the time being in force. 
  
• A legislation outlawing the age-old practice of employing manual scavengers and making provisions for their rehabilitation came into effect on 6th December. People who had performed the degrading practice hailed the decision, saying it will help them lead a dignified life. Passed by parliament Sep 7 during the monsoon session, the Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, 2013, provides for the prohibition of employment as manual scavengers, rehabilitation of manual scavengers and their families, among others. 
  
• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has completed issuance of 51 crore Aadhaar numbers on 4 December. With generation of about 11 lakh Aadhaar numbers every day, the flagship programme appears all set to complete its mandate of covering 60 crore population in the next few months. Established as an ‘Attached Office’ of the Planning Commission through a Government Notification in January 2009, UIDAI issued the first Aadhaar Number on 29 September 2010 after completing necessary preliminaries including establishing various standards relating to collection of data and biometric information such as finger prints and iris images. UIDAI issued 8 crore Aadhaar number in the period up to November 2011, another 15 crore in the next one year until November 2012, and has issued a further 28 crore Aadhaar number in the past 12 months. Eleven States and Unions Territories now have Aadhaar saturation levels of 75% or above, with several of them such as Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Tripura, Delhi and Chandigarh at levels above 90%. Enrolment for Aadhaar is entirely voluntary and the Aadhaar number is already used as a Proof of Identify or Proof of Address or both by several programmes and schemes run by Central and State Governments. A number of regulatory authorities such as Reserve Bank of India (RBI), Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA), Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) have declared Aadhaar number as a valid ‘know your customer’ (KYC) and ‘electronically know your customer’ (eKYC) for purposes under their respective domains. This has led to Aadhaar being leveraged not only as a tool for financial inclusion and empowerment, but also as a major convenience for Aadhaar number holders in their dealings with banks, insurance companies, and other providers of financial services. Recently, RBI has also accepted Aadhaar number as a second factor of authentication along with “EMV Chip and pin’ for all future deployment of point-of-sale (POS) devices and ATMs. The largest biometric data-base of its kind in the world, Aadhaar has many firsts to its credit. The online authentication and eKYC services are not only reliable, low cost, instantaneous and environment-friendly, but are also un-paralleled in the world, in their scope and magnitude. 
  
• The Supreme Court on 5th December 2013 favored punishment of life imprisonment to people indulging in production and marketing of adulterated milk. The court has also asked the state governments to make amendment in laws as has been done by the Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha. The Supreme Court bench that comprised of Justice K. S. Radhakrishnan and Justice A. K. Sikri said that the punishment of six months jail term mentioned in Food Safety Act is grossly inadequate. The decision of the Supreme Court came after hearing the Public-Interest Litigations (PIL) seeking its direction to state governments to stop practice of milk adulteration, which is rampant in various states. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) was established under the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006. It consolidates various acts and orders that have hitherto handled food related issues in various Ministries and Departments. FSSAI has been created for laying down science based standards for articles of food and to regulate their manufacture, storage, distribution, sale and import to ensure availability of safe and wholesome food for human consumption. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 5 December 2013 approved the 10 districts Telangana draft Bill. The Cabinet approved the recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM) set up to look into bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh for carving out a new state of Telangana. The 29th state of India, Telengana will consist of ten districts, whereas Andhra Pradesh will have 13 districts. Hyderabad will be the common capital for Andhra Pradesh and Telangana for a period of 10 year. The bill approved by the cabinet will be sent to the President, Pranab Mukherjee for making a reference to the state assembly to obtain their views. When the bill will be signed and returned by the President, it will be brought to the Parliament. 

NATIONAL NOVEMBER 2013

NATIONAL NOVEMBER 2013

• With the vision of enhancing the use of improved cook stove technologies, envisaged under the National Biomass Cookstove Programme (NBCP), Minister of New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah inaugurated the India Clean Cook stove Forum 2013 organized jointly by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and Deutsche Gesellschaft für International Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH operating on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) on 26 November in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, Abdullah said “increased use of clean and efficient cook stoves is crucial to reduce the burden of disease from indoor air pollution as well to avoid the overuse of biomass resources. Efficient cooking technologies have a direct tangible impact on the livelihoods of the poor, as they save time and money that previously had to be spent on procuring cooking fuels.” During the Forum, the Minister launched a new initiative on biomass cook stoves developed under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) of the United Nations Frameworks Convention on Climate Change to reduce the cost of improved stove technologies to rural customers through the sale of carbon credits. He added that this is just one of several joint efforts to provide clean and reliable energy to rural areas and these initiatives have further endorsed the close relations and cooperation between India and Germany. 
  
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 28 November, has approved the Ministry of Culture’s proposal of the scheme for up gradation of libraries providing services to the public under the National Mission on Libraries (NML). The scheme would benefit students, researchers, scientists, children, artists, differently-abled persons, the general public, neo and non-literates and would entail an expenditure of Rs.400 crore during the 12th Plan period. The scheme envisages creating a National Virtual Library of India for facilitating a comprehensive database on digital resources on information about India and on information generated in India. This would be facilitated in an open access environment. The scheme would develop six libraries under Ministry of Culture, 35 state Central Libraries and 35 District Libraries, with particular emphasis on economically backward districts, as model libraries. In addition, 629 district libraries across the States would be provided network connectivity. The scheme also proposes to enhance the professional competence of library personnel. While the survey of libraries would be completed within one year, the other objectives of the scheme would be achieved by the end of the 12th Plan period. In pursuance of National Knowledge Commission recommendation for setting up a National Mission on Libraries to revamp the Library and Information Service Sector, the Ministry of Culture had set up a high level committee as the National Mission on Libraries. 
  
• Secretary, Department of Sports Ajit M. Saran, and Secretary, Department of AIDS Control Lov Verma on 29 November, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Objectives of the MoU are to reach large number of youth engaged in sports activities at village, district and state level with information on STI/HIV/AIDS prevention and related services; build the capacity of sports educators, administrators and coaches on “Minimizing the risk of HIV transmission on and outside the sports field; involve youth organization, sports federations in HIV/AIDS prevention activities; promote awareness generation through hoarding and banners at eminent places and sports infrastructure during state/national events and tournaments; and involve eminent sports personalities for addressing social stigma and discrimination associated with HIV/AIDS .The Department of AIDS Control provide technical support in capacity building on HIV/AIDS for sportspersons, trainees and staff of sports organizations and federations; provide technical support by sharing of IEC materials for awareness generation activities; provide technical assistance to Department of Sports for inclusion of HIV in ongoing activities etc. 
  
• The Supreme Court on 26 November 2013 constituted a ten-member Gender Sensitization and Internal Complaints Committee (GSICC) to deal with complaints of sexual harassment within its premises. The committee was constituted by the Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam. The committee is headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai. The committee has six other female members. Two members are outsiders and not connected with the Supreme Court. The panel is in consonance with the guidelines laid down by the apex court in its judgment in the Vishaka case for dealing with complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace. 
  
• In an exercise unprecedented for its sheer scale, India’s creaking legal machinery swung into action on 24 November, to dispose of over 28 lakh cases in less than seven hours through lok adalats organized across the country. This is only a fraction of pending cases — over 3 crore at last count — but represents a significant step in clearing the massive backlog, especially as it could now become an annual event. Lok adalats are an alternative dispute resolution mechanism where parties are encouraged to amicably settle cases outside the formal court system. Generally, cases where parties can reach an amicable settlement, including bounced cheque and bank recovery cases, civil suits, motor accident claims, service matters, family matters and traffic challan cases are taken up by lok adalats. The adalats, organized by National Legal Services Authority (NALSA), state legal services authorities and district legal services authorities, took up 39 lakh cases. NALSA organizes lok adalats on a regular basis but this is for the first time that it has been organized on such a huge scale. In Delhi alone 300 benches, including at the high court, cleared 3,66,000 cases — which means each bench cleared more than 3 cases every minute on average. This was possible because many cases were bunched together and much of the legal work was done in advance. 
  
• Election Commission decided to use Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) on a large-scale for the first time in the country in the Mizoram Assembly polls on 25 November 2013.The VVPAT is a machine attached to EVMS which allows voters to verify that their vote has been cast in the way they wished. The VVPATs are being used in only ten assembly constituencies of Aizwal District of the total 40 assembly segments in Mizoram. The VVPAT system was first experimented in the Noksen Assembly by poll in Nagaland on 4 September 2013 and Mizoram would be the first state where it would be introduced on a large scale. The VVPAT system is a new initiative of the Election Commission to ensure free and fair elections. The VVPT will enable electors to see a printout of their ballot -displaying the name, election symbol and serial number of the chosen candidate. However the voter cannot take the printout home. 
  
• Five new Information Commissioners are appointed to the Central Information Commission (CIC) on 22 November 2013. Chief Information Commissioner Deepak Sandhu administered the oath of office to them in New Delhi. The new commissioners are Yashovardhan Azad, Sharat Sabharwal, Manjula Parasher , M A Khan Yusufi and Madabhushanam Sridhar. With this the total number of Information Commissioners including the Chief Information Commissioner has gone up to 10.Yashovardhan Azad is a former IPS Officer, before joining the Office of Information Commissioner in Central Information Commission, was holding the post of Secretary (Security) in Cabinet Secretariat.Sharat Sabharwal is a career diplomat, retired as High Commissioner of India in Pakistan before joining the Office of Information Commissioner. Manjula Parasher is a former Indian Postal Service Officer had retired as Secretary from the Department of Posts before joining the Office of Information Commissioner. MA Khan Yusufi is a former Indian Legal Service Officer, before joining the Office of Information Commissioner in CIC was holding the post of Chairperson in Airport Appellate Tribunal. Madbhushanam Sridhar was working as Professor at NALSAR, before joining the Office of Information Commissioner in CIC. 
  
• India's first fully privately funded Rapid Metro Gurgaon announces the start of its commercial operations from Gurgaon in Haryana on 14 November. Sanjiv Rai, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, IL&FS Rail Ltd., inaugurated the commercial operation of Rapid Metro Gurgaon in Gurgaon. Rapid Metro Gurgaon line will be open to commuters from 6.05 am till 12:20 (midnight). Five fully automated trains with a frequency of 4 minutes will be running between the six stations (currently five stations) with each train carrying over 800 passengers on each trip. The country's first fully privately-financed developed metro system has been launched in the public-private partnership mode. It was built at a cost of nearly Rs.1,100 crore and took 30 months to reach the present stage. The launch of Rapid Metro will boost connectivity within Cyber City, the corporate and retail hub of Gurgaon. Nearly one lakh people work or visit the hub each day. 
  
• With a view to foster and reinforce the spirit of Communal Harmony, National Integration and pride in vibrant, composite culture and nationhood, the “Quami Ekta Week” (National Integration week) will be observed all over the country, from the 19th to 25th November, 2013. The National Foundation for Communal Harmony (NFCH), an autonomous organization with the Ministry of Home Affairs also organizes communal harmony campaign coinciding with the Qaumi Ekta Week. The foundation also provides financial assistance for relief and rehabilitation of children rendered orphan or destitute in communal, caste, ethnic or terrorist violence. The week long programmes to be observed during Quami Ekta Week (Nov.19-25th,2013) include National Integration Day (Nov.19), Welfare of Minorities Day (Nov.20), Linguistic Harmony Day (Nov.21), Weaker Sections Day (Nov.22), Cultural Unity Day (Nov.23), Women’s Day(Nov. 24) and Conservation Day (Nov.25) . 
  
• The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee released a commemorative postal stamp at an event organised on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the Times of India on, November 13, at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Speaking on the occasion, the President referred to the statement by the Managing Director of the Times Group that it has no political master and no hidden agenda and said let that be the motto of this great institution. The President recalled how Times of India has documented every twist and turn of India’s history. It reported on the coronation of Queen Victoria as the empress of India. It welcomed the formation of the Indian National Congress in 1885 with the following words: “Surely, never had so important and comprehensive an assemblage occurred in recent times on the soil of India.” Minister for Communications and Information Technology Kapil Sibal also attended the function. 
  
• The Union Government on 13 November 2013 gave its nod to the Union Health Ministry to go ahead with the scheme aimed at creation of the mid-level rural health cadre of professionals. To give the nod of creation of the mid-level rural health cadre of professionals, the government overruled the Parliamentary Committee recommendation to scrap the course in community health. The Union Cabinet in its meeting gave its nod to the health ministry to start a new three-year B.Sc. Community Health program. The program would help in creation of the new cadre of health professionals to improve the rural medicare infrastructure in India. The proposal was pending for few years but after the Ministry came up with the idea to create a new cadre of health professionals in rural areas as the doctors were unwilling to serve there.
  
• The Vice President of India, M. Hamid Ansari on 7 November released the book “India’s Nuclear Energy Programme: Future Plans, Prospects and Concerns” edited by Prof. R. Rajaraman at a function organized by Indian National Science Academy (INSA) in New Delhi. Addressing on the occasion he said that given the population and economy of our country, we are and will remain short in energy. Today, nuclear energy is contributing to a very small segment and by 2032, it will be around 10%. The real question is to focus on can we do without this 10%. Our energy requirement is a serious one. He opined that the book is very useful and will surely help in creating a public opinion on nuclear energy. The book contains state-of-the art discussions by top experts of a whole range of diverse issues that constitute this complex subject. It brings together expert contributions both from apex leaders of the Indian nuclear programme and from those who have serious reservations about the programme.
   
• The Union Cabinet on 7 November 2013 approved the visa waiver agreements with Poland, Slovenia and Lithuania. This move will help the Indians with diplomatic passports to visit the three countries. The agreements would be signed very soon. The CCEA (Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs) cleared a proposal to disinvest 17 percent of paid up capital for Follow on Public Offering (FPO) of the state owned power grid corporation of India. As per the Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, 13 percent of fresh equity by the Public Sector Company and 4 percent stake sale by the government includes under the FPO. A similar agreement was cleared with Cuba in first week of November 2013.By now India has similar agreements with about 50 countries that include Japan, Russia and Israel.
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• The Gauhati High Court has quashed the Union Home Ministry resolution by which the Central Bureau of Investigation was constituted way back in 1963. The court held that the CBI was neither an organ nor part of the Delhi Special Police Establishment and thus could not be treated as a “police force” constituted under the DSPE Act. In their 89-page judgment, Justices I.A. Ansari and Indira Shah said on 6 November. “While we decline to hold and declare that the DSPE Act, 1946 is not a valid piece of legislation, we do hold that the CBI is neither an organ nor part of the DSPE and the CBI cannot be treated as a police force constituted under the DSPE Act, 1946.” Though the Division Bench had directed the respondents to produce the original records on creation of the CBI, they just submitted a certified copy of the records from the National Archive. “However, even a perusal of the entire records makes it clear that the Resolution, dated April 1, 1963, was neither produced before the President, nor did it ever receive the assent of the President. Hence, strictly speaking, the Resolution cannot even be termed the decision of the Government of India. That apart, it is apparent from the records that the CBI is a newly constituted body and not the same as DSPE.”
• Bowing to political pressure, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will not be attending the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) beginning on 8 November, in Colombo, highly placed government sources have said on 9 November. This came at the end of a day in which the government dropped ample hints that it was not necessary for the Prime Minister to attend every commonwealth conclave. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid, who is anyway going to Colombo mid-week, will therefore represent India at CHOGM; there will be no stopover at Jaffna, capital of Sri Lanka’s Northern Province, where most of the alleged human rights abuses occurred in the final stages of the conflict in 2009.Meanwhile, a senior Congress functionary stressed that it was not important for the Prime Minister to attend CHOGM, especially if it went against the sentiments of a section of the Indian population — the people of Tamil Nadu, in this case. For the Congress, with a difficult election ahead in 2014, the goodwill of potential alliance partners is of paramount concern. Diplomats pointed out that over the last two decades, an Indian Prime Minister had participated in five of 10 CHOGMs. On four occasions, a Central Minister led the Indian delegation and at the previous CHOGM at Perth, Vice-President Hamid Ansari had represented the country.

NATIONAL OCTOBER 2013

NATIONAL OCTOBER 2013

• The Supreme Court on 31 October 2013 directed the Government of India and the States to pass order within three months on giving the fixed tenure to civil servants. The Supreme Court has also directed to constitute a Civil Services Board at nation and state levels for management of the transfers, posting, reward, inquiries and process of promotion, punishment and disciplinary matters of bureaucracy. The decisions were taken to bring bureaucracy out from political interference and to give end to regular transfers of the civil servants from political executive. The Supreme Court bench headed by Justice K S Radhakrishnan said that the fixed tenure of the bureaucrats would help to promote the professionalism, efficiency and good governance. The Parliament has been also directed by the Supreme Court to enact a law to regulate transfer, posting and disciplinary action on the IAS officers and to immunize them from political interference. The Court directed on a petition submitted by 83 former civil servants, like former cabinet secretary T. S. R. Subramanian, former Indian ambassador to the US Abid Hussain, former chief election commissioner, N. Gopalaswami and others, demanding reforms to ensure bureaucracy to get them out from the political influences.
  
• Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge launched the High Speed Rail Corporation of India Ltd (HSRC), a subsidiary of Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL), on 29 October 2013.The main objective of the HSRC is to develop High Speed Rail (HSR) Corridors in India to run passenger trains at speeds up to 350 Kilo Meter per hour. While inaugurating the HSRC, Railways Minister told that most countries consider high speed capability to be in the range of 250 to 300 kmph which requires a dedicated track with fencing and can be prohibitively costly. 
  
• For a country like ours track fencing also has its own set of associated issues. Thus, leveraging Rolling stock technologies may provide a lower cost solution to meet the immediate needs of achieving speeds of 160 to 200 kmph and that too on the existing track. For speeds above 200 kmph the costlier and time consuming solution of providing a separate dedicated track with fencing becomes inescapable. He launched the HSRC while inaugurating a two-day international technical conference on High Speed Rail Travel: Low Cost Solution, in New Delhi on 29 October.
  
• The direction in the judgment dated 27 September, 2013 of the Supreme Court is to provide a None of the Above (NOTA) option on the EVM and ballot papers so that the electors who do not want to vote for any of the candidates can exercise their option in secrecy. The Supreme Court held that the provisions of Rule 49-O under which an elector not wishing to vote for any candidate had to inform the Presiding Officer about his decision, are ultra vires Article 19 of the Constitution and Section 128 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. As per the provisions of clause (a) of Rule 64 of Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, read with Section 65 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the candidate who has polled the largest number of valid votes is to be declared elected by the Returning Officer.
  
• Therefore, even if the number of electors opting for NOTA option is more than the number of votes polled by any of the candidates, the candidate who secures the largest number of votes has to be declared elected. Under the provisions of Section 53(2) of RP Act, 51, if the number of contesting candidates is equal to the number of seats to be filled, the Returning Officer has to declare all the contesting candidates to be duly elected. In the case of elections to the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies, in cases where there is only one contesting candidate in the fray, the Returning Officer has to, in accordance with the provisions of the said Section 53(2), declare the sole contesting candidates as elected. The provision of NOTA option which is an expression of decision not to vote for the contesting candidates is not relevant in such cases.
  
• The Union Cabinet on 30 October gave its approval for declaring the Bhubaneswar and Imphal airports as international airports to fulfill the long pending demand of people as well as the State Governments of Odisha and Manipur. Declaration of these airports as international airports will offer improved connectivity, wider choice of services at competitive cost to the air travelers resulting in boosting international tourism and economic development of the region and the country. 
  
• Biju Patnaik Airport or Bhubaneswar Airport belongs to Airport Authority of India and is suitable for operation of Code `D` aircraft of type B-767-400. The airport is also equipped with facilities for night operations, runway 14/32 of dimension 2743m X 45m, apron to park six aircrafts and navigational aids. A new domestic terminal building with all modern amenities for handling 400 arriving and 400 departing passengers has been constructed and inaugurated in March 2013. Imphal Airport belongs to Airports Authority of India and is suitable for `C` type (A-320/321) of aircrafts operations in all weather conditions. Major facilities including night operations, runway of dimension 2746m X 45m, Apron to park 3 nos. A-320 and 1 No. ATR-72 at a time, terminal building having an area of 6592 sqm.
  
• Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on 31 October 2013 laid the foundation stone of the Statute of Unity-a 182-metre tall statue (World’s largest statue) of iron man Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on his 138th birth anniversary at Sardar Sarovar Dam site in Bharuch district in Gujarat. The Statue of Unity will be double of the height of the Statue of Liberty (93 metres) in the USA. Sardar Vallabhai Patel was an Indian freedom fighter and one of the great social leaders of India. He is one of the leaders of the Indian National Congress and one of the founding fathers of the Republic of India. After India's independence, he became the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India. He was the man behind the consolidation of 565 semi-autonomous princely states to form a united India.
  
• IRCON International Limited, a Public Sector Undertaking in construction sector under the Ministry of Railways, was selected as the Top Infrastructure Company under the category Construction Infrastructure Development – Mid at the “Dun and Bradstreet Infra Awards 2013” for delivering exemplary performance by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B), the world’s leading provider of global business information, knowledge and insight, announced and presented the third edition of Infra awards. Mohan Tiwari, Chairman and Managing Director, IRCON, received the award at a grand ceremony held at the ITC Maratha Mumbai on 29thOctober, 2013. Dun & Bradstreet also released the sixth edition of its premier publication “India’s Leading Infrastructure Companies 2013” at the award ceremony. 
  
• During the last five years, IRCON has achieved spectacular and enviable growth. Turnover of the Company has increased at a CAGR of about 17 per cent. Profit (PBT) of the company has reached to a record level of Rs. 1014 crore in 2012-13 with a CAGR of 44.61 per cent. Growth of the company in terms of Profit is unmatched by any Public Sector or Private construction company. In addition, Quazigund–Banihal section of J&K Rail link project executed by Ircon International Limited was selected as the best project under the category Railways at the “Dun and Bradstreet Infra Awards 2013”. Award was given at a grand ceremony held at the ITC Maratha Mumbai on 29th October. IRCON completed the Banihal- Quazigund section of 18 km length involving 11.2 km long transportation tunnel with modern Ventilation & SCADA system, thus fulfilling the dream of connecting Jammu area to Valley across Pir Panjal range with all-weather transportation system.
  
• Prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 29 October 2013 inaugurated the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Museum at Ahmedabad, Gujarat. Sarda Vallabhbhai Patel National Museum was established in the memory of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who was an Indian freedom fighter. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Museum has been developed at the cost of Rs. 28.54 crore in 36,000 sq meter area. Eight feet tall statue of Sardar Patel along with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru is the main attraction of this National museum. Museum has rich and rare collection of personal belongings of Sardar Patel apart from valuable gifts received by him. Miniature of Sardar Patel’s residence, school, jail and other places associated with his life are also created in this museum. Visitors can also see the special 3D film on role of Sardar Patel in India’s freedom struggle apart from 14 multimedia interactive displays.
  
• Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh declared Kannur in Kerala as the first zero-landless district in the country on 1 November 2013. Kannur District Authorities provided land to as many as 11,118 beneficiaries, including 85 families belonging to the Scheduled Tribes category. The prestigious Zero Landless programme of the United Democratic Front was flagged off by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in October 2013. The Zero Landless programme envisages distribution of three cents of land each to 243928 families identified across the State. Kannur District is one of the 14 districts in the state of Kerala, India. 
  
• The Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) Dr. Rameshwar Oraon and Member, B.L. Meena, on 25th October, presented the Sixth Report on working of safeguard for Scheduled Tribes for 2010-11 to the President of India. The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes was constituted w.e.f. 19th February, 2004 consequent to the amendment of Article 338 of the Constitution of India and insertion of a new Article 338A vide the Constitution (Eighty-ninth Amendment) Act, 2003 which, inter-alia, enjoins upon the Commission to oversee the implementation of various safeguards provided to Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution or under any other law for the time being in force or under any other order of the Government and to evaluate the working of such safeguards. Article 338A of the Constitution, also, mandates the NCST to present to the President annually and at such other times as the Commission may deem fit, reports on the working of the safeguards extended to the members of Scheduled Tribes and to make in such reports recommendations as to the measures that should be taken by the Union or any State for effective implementation of those safeguards and other measures for protection, welfare and socio-economic development of the Scheduled Tribes. The Report is comprised of seven chapters. Adherence to Clause 9 of Article 338A of the Constitution which mandates the Union and every State Government to consult the Commission on all major policy matters affecting Scheduled Tribes is presented in Chapter 6 on Consultation on Policy Related Issues. As per the constitutional provisions, the report of the Commission has to be laid in both houses of the Parliament along with a Memorandum explaining the action taken or proposed to be taken on the recommendations relating to the Union. Similar action has to be taken by the State Governments while laying the Report in the Legislative Assembly of the State concerned, in relation to the recommendations concerning the State. 
  
• Harald Sandberg, the Swedish Ambassador on 25th October 2013 inaugurated the Nobel Memorial Wall in Kolkata. The Nobel Memorial Wall has been set up at the Esplanade Metro Station in Kolkata. Seven of the Nobel Laureates from India are portrayed in the metro station along with the Rabindranath Tagore. The Memorial Wall was inaugurated marking the centenary of Tagore reception of the Nobel Prize for Literature. The portraits on the Memorial Wall also carry the information related to the life and achievements in the respective field of the Nobel Laureates with the year when they were awarded the Nobel in three languages, namely English, Hindi and Bangla. Two more memorial walls would be established at metro stations of Gitanjali and Jorasanko. The work on the Nobel Memorial Wall was done as the part of the seventh edition of the Sweden-India Nobel Memorial wee.
  
• India was on 25th October, ranked 101 out of 136 countries on a global gender gap index. The index, compiled by Geneva-based World Economic Forum, ranked the countries on the division of resources and opportunities between men and women in the areas of economy, education, politics, education and health. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 17th October, gave its approval for constitution of the 3-Member Supervisory Committee on the Babhali Barrage to implement the directions of the Supreme Court in its order dated 28.02.2013. The Committee will comprise one representative from the Central Water Commission who will be the Chairman of the Supervisory Committee and one representative each from the State Governments of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, respectively. 
  
• The Centre is set to give the green signal to a vital road-link project in Kashmir that will connect the strategically important region of Kargil and Leh to the rest of India through a 14-km-long all-weather tunnel. Currently, these two regions remain cut off from Srinagar and the rest of the country for about six months during the winter season on account of heavy snowfall and inclement weather. The Union cabinet is likely to approve the proposed Rs. 9,000-crore tunnel project passing through Zojila – one of the highest mountain passes in India – on 15 October. Located at an altitude of about 12,000 feet on National Highway-1, the Zojila tunnel along with another 6.5 km long tunnel at Z-Morh in Sonmarg — cleared for construction last year — will provide road connectivity to these areas round the year.“The twin tunnels once complete will not only usher in much-needed economic development in the region but also bring respite to people living here who get stranded during the treacherous winter months,” a senior road ministry official said. Located at an altitude of about 12,000 feet on National Highway-1, the Zojila tunnel along with another 6.5 km long tunnel at Z-Morh in Sonmarg — cleared for construction last year — will provide road connectivity to these areas round the year.
  
• Seventeen persons were killed as the very severe cyclonic storm, Phailin, hit the Odisha coast near Gopalpur in Ganjam district late on 12th October evening; Special Relief Commissioner P.K. Mohapatra said the press. More than 1.26 crore people were hit by the cyclone that damaged lakhs of thatched and kutcha houses in the coastal districts. Ganjam district was the worst hit. Electricity supply was badly affected in most of the affected areas. Power supply was likely to resume in a day or two. The cyclone, which made its landfall near Gopalpur at 8.30 p.m. on 12th October with a wind speed reaching up to 220 km per hour, moved into the interior parts of Odisha. Train services remained cancelled on the Howrah-Visakhapatnam route. However, services between Howrah and Bhadrak were resumed partially to help passengers stranded at various stations.
  
• Co-operative societies do not fall within the ambit of Right to Information Act, the Supreme Court has said while quashing a Kerala government circular to bring all such societies within the scope of the transparency law. A bench of justices K. S. Radhakrishnan and A. K. Sikri said mere supervision or regulation of a body by government would not make that body a public authority and quashed the Kerala High Court's order holding the circular valid."Societies are, of course, subject to the control of the statutory authorities like Registrar, Joint Registrar, the Government, etc. but cannot be said that the State exercises any direct or indirect control over the affairs of the society which is deep and all pervasive."Supervisory or general regulation under the statute over the co-operative societies, which are body corporate does not render activities of the body so regulated as subject to such control of the State so as to bring it within the meaning of the State or instrumentality of the State," the bench said.
  
• The largest Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower of India was inaugurated outside the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai on 18 October 2013. The tallest ATC tower stands at the length of 84 meters or around 30 storey building. The tower was inaugurated by the Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. Because of its height, the ATC tower will enable all the controllers in having easy and nonstop view of complete operational area. It will also help in optimizing the separation of the air traffic, while enhancing the traffic handling capacity at the same time. The ATC tower is spread over an area of 2800 square meter area and is also equipped with state-of-the-art technology such as electronic flight strips that can reduce the workload of controllers and enhance safety and capacity of the airport. It is important to note that India is the 9th largest aviation market of the world and has the traffic increasing at 10 percent annually. The designing of the ATC was done by Hong Kong-based architectural firm HOK as well as the international engineering designer ARUP. These were chosen after the global competition.
  
• The Supreme Court has ruled that Courts cannot impose a fine of more than twice the amount in bounced cheques on 16 October 2013. A bench of Justice T.S. Thakur and Justice Vikramajit Sen while ruling this direction explained that even in a case where the court may be taking a lenient view in favor of the accused by not sending him to prison, it cannot impose a fine more than twice the cheque amount. That statutory limit is inviolable and must be respected. The Supreme Court of India ruled this direction in the backdrop of the case where a person was asked by the Trial Court as well as the High Court of Calcutta to pay more than twice the amount of the cheque bounced, which is against the statutory provisions. 
  
• The HRD Ministry will soon launch 50 DTH educational channels. This was stated by the Secretary (HE) Ashok Thakur in New Delhi on 8th October. He said these channels will be different from the existing programmes on air including Gyan Darshan as new one will be more interactive. He said these channels will air programmes which will be live and not pre recorded. Saying that the new initiatives will be one of the largest anywhere in the world of its kind, Sh. Thakur said later on the number of the channels will be increased to one thousand. He said that the Ministry has spent more than one billion dollars for ICT. Over 400 universities and twenty thousand colleges have been linked with bandwidth. He said there is a great potential to increase its usage. Highlighting the potential of the National Programme on National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), the Secretary said that the entire country can be made into a big classroom which will help improve quality of instructions in engineering colleges particularly belonging to the remote areas. He said that the Ministry may approach AICTE to make on-line education mandatory and integral part of education system. Asking to promote virtual lab, Sh. Thakur said it should be possible to share classes from IITs to other engineering colleges by making the system more user friendly. 
  
• The Supreme Court of India on 8th October 2013 directed the Union and all state governments to provide 3 percent job reservation to disabled persons in all their departments, companies and institutions. The bench headed by Chief Justice of India P. Sathasivam clarified that the principle of not exceeding more than 50 percent reservation would not be applicable while granting quota for disabled persons. Supreme Court of India also directed the authorities to compile the number of vacancies in all their departments to give jobs to disabled persons under 3 percent reserved quota within 3 months. While giving this direction the bench also said that Government has categorical obligation to protect the right of disabled persons and passed a slew of directions for providing jobs to the Disabled Persons.
  
• With the Supreme Court on 8th October, declining to modify its order that the Aadhaar scheme was not compulsory for availing benefits of government schemes, the Union Cabinet has cleared a bill granting statutory status to UIDAI and providing legal backing to the Unique Identity numbers to Indian residents. Sources said the Union Cabinet approved the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, with some amendments, which will now be placed before the Rajya Sabha for discussion and passing in the Winter Session. In a setback to the Centre, the Supreme Court on 8th October, Tuesday stuck to its stand on the Aadhar card saying it is not mandatory. The Centre had moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of an earlier order which said Aadhar card is not mandatory and no person should be deprived of any government schemes for want it. Earlier, the Supreme Court had said that the Aadhar card, being issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), was not mandatory for availing any government services and nobody should be deprived of any such facilities for the want of the card.
  
• This year’s World Egg Day falls on 11th October. The second Friday of October has been declared as World Egg Day by the International Egg Commission to help raise awareness about nutritional benefits of egg. India is the third highest producer of egg in the world but the per capita availability of eggs in India is only around 55 per person per year as against the National Institute of Nutrition recommendation of 180 eggs per capita per year. The egg is a wholesome, nutritious food with high nutrient density because, in proportion to its calorie count, it provides 12% of the daily value of protein and a wide variety of other nutrients such as vitamins, essential amino acids and minerals. While protein itself is an important constituent of healthy diet, the egg has been found to have two newly-recognized nutrients - lutein and zeaxanthin - that has put the egg in the "functional food" category. A functional food is one that provides health benefits beyond its basic nutrient content. Recent studies have shown that consuming lutein and zeaxanthin can significantly lower risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness affecting people over the age of 65. In addition, these reduce the likelihood of cataracts.
  
• Approximately, 60 people were feared killed and over 100 injured in a stampede on 13th October 2013 near a temple at Ratangarh in Madhya Pradesh's Datia district. The stampede was caused by rumors that a bridge they were crossing was about to collapse. The unfortunate incident occurred when a large number of devotees arrived from Datia and neighboring Uttar Pradesh at the Durga temple at Ratangarh, about 60 kms from the district headquarters. Nearly 100 people have been injured in the mishap and they have been admitted in close by hospitals.
  
• The Union Cabinet on 8th October 2013 approved a notification for issuing Presidential order to establish a separate development board for Hyderabad-Karnataka region in Karnataka. Article 371-J of the Constitution grants special status to six backward districts in Hyderabad- Karnataka region, with provision for reservation in education and jobs for locals. Under the Article 371-J, the President is empowered to entrust the state Governor to establish a separate board to ensure equitable allocation of funds in the state's budget to meet the development needs of the region. Six backward districts of North Karnataka - Gulbarga, Yadgir, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal and Bellary - fall in the region. The Development Board will ensure1) Equitable allocation of funds to meet the development needs of the region from the State Budget. 2) Promote employment from the region by providing for local cadres in service. 3) Provide for reservation in educational and vocational training institutions. Hyderabad-Karnataka region was given a special status under Article 371 J of the Constitution by the parliament on 20 December 2012. A new Article 371 J was inserted in the Constitution through the Constitution (Ninety-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2012. 
  
• The Supreme Court of India proposed a three-member panel on 7th October 2013 headed by former Punjab and Haryana Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal to examine the IPL spot-fixing scandal. The other members of the panel are senior advocate and Additional Solicitor General N. Nagehswar Rao and Assam Cricket Association member Nilay Dutta. The panel would conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations and examine the IPL spot-fixing scandal. It will submit its report to the Supreme Court.
  
• The Union Government on 8th October 2013 reconstituted the Group of Ministers (GoM) on Telangana, reducing the number of ministers from ten to six. Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram have been retained. The new entrants are Union Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M. Veerappa Moily and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh.V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister of State in the Prime Minister’s Office, who was part of the GoM, will now be a special invitee to the new GoM. The Union Ministers dropped from the GoM are Human Resource Development Minister M. Pallam Raju, Law Minister Kapil Sibal, Water Resources Minister Harish Rawat, Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, Road Transport Minister Oscar Fernandes, Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia. The Union Cabinet on 3rd October 2013 approved the creation of a new State of Telangana by bifurcating the existing State of Andhra Pradesh. The Union Cabinet also approved the setting up of a Group of Ministers (GoM) to work out the various legal and administrative measures to ensure the safety and security of the residents of all the regions of the State including the guarantee of the Fundamental Rights.
  
• Forced by Rahul Gandhi's open trashing of the government, the Union Cabinet on 2nd October, decided to withdraw the controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers as well as a related bill in the face of mounting public opinion against the measure. In a 20-minute meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Cabinet overturned its earlier decision of September 24 to provide immunity to convicted lawmakers from immediate disqualification. The reversal by the Cabinet is seen as a rare instance of the government being forced to take back a measure that was cleared after many deliberations in the ruling party and the Council of Ministers after resistance from within. The decision came on a day of hectic consultations at the highest levels in the Congress party, allies and the government on how to bring a closure to the raging controversy after Rahul's denunciation of the ordinance as "complete nonsense" that deserved to be "torn and thrown away". Sources said the Cabinet also decided to withdraw Representation of the People (Second Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013 as the proposed legislation has no relevance after the withdrawal of the ordinance. After the decision to withdraw the bill and the ordinance, the July 10 Supreme court ruling on immediate disqualification of convicted MPs, MLAs and MLCs is the law of the land. A request now will be placed before the President to allow the government to withdraw the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (Amendment) Ordinance (Second), 2013. As regards to the bill pending in the Rajya Sabha, government will move a resolution in the upper house during the Winter session. Meanwhile, Chairman Rajya Sabha and Chairman of the Parliamentary Committee before which the measure is pending will be informed about the decision of the Cabinet.
  
• The Union Cabinet on 3rd October approved the proposal to establish a Central Armed Police Forces Institute of Medical Sciences (CAPFILMS), along with a 500-bed General Hospital, a 300-bed Super Specialty Hospital, a Nursing College and a School of Paramedics. The Institute shall be registered as a Society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 and shall have a Governing Body and a Governing Council, under the Ministry of Home Affairs The creation of the Institute will facilitate attraction of talented professionals in the Central Armed Police Forces and their retention, besides providing in-house training/ specialization/Post Graduate /Super Specialty Post Graduate courses to in-service health care professionals. This will not only boost the morale of the force personnel, but also provide required trained technical hands in the medical set up of CAPFs for the benefit of their personnel and families. The total project cost is Rs. 1366.53 crore and is expected to be completed over a period of five to six years. About 48 acres has already been purchased at Maiden Garhi, New Delhi through the Central Public Works Department (CPWD). 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 3rd October approved the National Policy on Universal Electronic Accessibility that recognizes the need to eliminate discrimination on the basis of disabilities as well as to facilitate equal access to electronics and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). This policy has been prepared after incorporating comments and suggestions from various stakeholders. The policy will facilitate equal and unhindered access to electronics and ICTs products and services by differently-abled persons (both physically and mentally challenged) and to facilitate local language support for the same. This shall be achieved through universal access to electronics and ICT products and services to synchronize with barrier free environment and preferably usable without adaptation. Differently-abled persons all over the country will benefit from this policy. The following strategies are envisaged for the implementation of the policy: 
  
  • Creating awareness on universal electronics accessibility and universal design.
  • Capacity building and infrastructure development.
  • Setting up of model electronics and ICTs centres for providing training and demonstration to special educators and physically as well as mentally challenged persons.
  • Conducting research and development, use of innovation, ideas, technology etc. whether indigenous or outsourced from abroad.
  • Developing programme and schemes with greater emphasis for differently-abled women/children.
  • Developing procurement guidelines for electronics and ICTs for accessibility and assistive needs.
  
  
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 3rd October, has approved the Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS) for reforming the state higher education system. During the 12th Plan period, 80 new universities would be created by converting autonomous colleges/colleges in a cluster to State universities. 100 new colleges, including professional/technical colleges would be set up and 54 existing colleges would be converted into model degree colleges. Infrastructure grants would be given to 150 universities and 3,500 colleges to upgrade and fill critical gaps in infrastructure especially libraries, laboratories etc. RUSA would also support 5,000 faculty positions. In the 12th Plan period, RUSA would have a financial outlay of Rs. 22,855 crore, of which Rs.16, 227 crore will be the Central share. In addition, allocation of Rs. 1,800 crore in the 12th Plan for the existing scheme Sub-Mission polytechnics would also be subsumed in RUSA. Thus the total central share, including the existing scheme of polytechnics will be Rs. 18,027 crore during the 12th Plan. Centre-State funding would be in the ratio of 90:10 for North-Eastern States, Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and 65:35 for other States and Union Territories. RUSA will be a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme spread over two plan periods, for improving access, equity and quality in the state higher education system. With over 96 percent of students enrolled in the state higher education system, there is a need for State colleges and universities to be strengthened through strategic Central funding and implementing certain much needed reforms. RUSA also aims to incentivize States to step up plan investments in higher education. The National Development Council (NDC) approved RUSA as part of the 12th Plan. It was subsequently included in the list of 66 schemes approved by the Cabinet on 20th June 2013, as part of the restructured CSSs for implementation in the 12th Plan. 
  
• The Ministry of Human Resource Development has taken the initiative to constitute a Council of National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR) to facilitate better coordination and synergy between the four NITTTRs located at Chandigarh, Bhopal, Calcutta and Chennai. The Council shall be chaired by the Minister of Human Resource Development (ex-officio) with Chairman and Directors of the four NITTTRs and other academicians as members. The Council has been envisaged as an advisory body to the Central Government on matters relating to Central policies, administration, development of plans and rules, curriculum and institutional resources for the NITTTRs. The Council shall meet at least two times a year. The four NITTTRs were established as resource institutes in the year 1964 with the mandate to train technical teachers, develop curriculum and institutional resources, assist Central and State Governments and technical institutes towards improving related process and products. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 3rd October approved the creation of a new State of Telangana by bifurcating the existing State of Andhra Pradesh.
  1. The city of Hyderabad will function as the common capital for both the States for a period of ten years. The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a Group of Ministers (GoM) to work out the various legal and administrative measures to ensure the safety and security of the residents of all the regions of the State including the guarantee of the Fundamental Rights.
  2. The Union Cabinet further approved that the GoM will go into the various issues which concern both the States and suggest appropriate measures to address them.
  3. The GoM will also work out the modalities for the provision of special financial disbursements required for the setting up of a new capital for the residuary State of Andhra Pradesh and to meet the special needs of the backward regions and districts of the two States.

NATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2013

NATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2013

• K. Rahman Khan, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs launched two new schemes namely “Seekho aur Kamao (Learn & Earn)” and “Jiyo Parsi” in New Delhi on 23rd September. The Minister launched the pilot project of 500 minority trainees through IL&FS Skill Development Corporation at five locations in the country. These locations are Delhi, Kolkata, Shillong, Barnala and Bengaluru. Fifty five trainees comprising Muslims, Sikhs and Christians which started training from July this year were given advance job letters today to ensure employment. Referring to members of the batch from three important minority communities, the Minister assured to reach Buddhists and Parsis, the remaining minority communities. The Minister also launched another very essential scheme “Jiyo Parsi” for containing population decline of Parsis in India. It is a 100% central sector scheme. Referring to the alarming total fertility rate of Parsis that has gone down below one ,Shri Khan said Government of India is very much concern about the declining trend of the Parsi population in the country. Therefore, with the involvement of Parsi community and on their demand, Ministry of Minority Affairs has come up with an ambitious programme i.e. ‘Jiyo Parsi”.
  
• The Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology of India allotted Customized Pin Code to the Supreme Court of India for the first time on 26 September 2013. The Customized Pin Code of the Supreme Court is 110 201.The event took place on the occasion that marked the completion of 41 years of the introduction of Pin Code in the country. The PIN was introduced on 15 August 1972 in India. The Department of Posts also started a Locality Based Online Pin Code Search Directory of Delhi on this occasion for the first time in India. Postal Index Number (PIN) or PIN Code is a 6 digit code of Post Office numbering used by India Post. The PIN was introduced on 15 August 1972. There are 9 PIN regions in the country. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 24th September approved the proposal for implementation of the multi-sectoral programme to address the maternal and child under-nutrition in 200 high burden districts in the 12th Five Year Plan. The multi-sect oral nutrition programme would address the maternal and child malnutrition in 200 high burden districts by bringing together various national programmes through strong institutional, programmatic and operational convergence at the State, District, Block and Village levels. The scheme will cost Rs. 1,213.19 crore for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with a Centre : State cost sharing ratio of 90:10 for all components in the North Eastern Region States and special category States and 75:25 for other States and Union Territories. The Central share would be Rs. 944.39 crore and the state share would be Rs. 268.80 crore. The programme targets to contribute to the following as Outcomes i) Prevention an d reduction in child under-nutrition (underweight prevalence in children under 3 years of age); and ii) reduction in levels of anemia among young children, adolescent girls and women. 
  
• A six-member expert committee constituted by the Centre on fixing a new criterion for determining the backwardness of Indian states on 26th September, gave its reports, claiming Odisha, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are the least developed states in the country. The panel led by Raghuram Rajan, former Chief Economic Adviser in the Finance Ministry and the incumbent Governor of Reserve Bank of India, said in its report that Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the most developed states in the country. The Raghuram Rajan panel report has made a case for ending the 'special category' criteria for providing additional assistance to poorer states and suggested a new methodology for devolving funds on states based on a 'Multi Dimensional Index (MDI)'. Giving details of the report, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the committee has suggested that the 28 states be split into three categories - least developed, less developed and relatively developed - depending upon their MDI scores. As regards the allocation of funds, the report suggested that each state should get a basic fixed allocation and an additional allocation depending on its development needs and development performance. The panel was formed by the Centre to finalize the new criteria to determine backwardness of states for granting special category status and was asked to submit its report in two months. The panel was set up in the wake of the demand for special category status for Bihar by its Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who held a rally in Delhi to push for this in March. Granting of special category status would allow Bihar to receive “untied” central funds or grants as 30% of total government assistance is kept aside for such states. The committee was asked to look at the gap between a state’s statistics and the national average in terms of per-capita income and other human development indicators, and evolve a composite development index. 
  
• The Supreme Court of India on 27 September 2013 held that citizens have the right to reject all candidates contesting an election. The Supreme Court also directed the Election Commission of India to provide none of the above options at the end of the list of candidates contesting an election in a constituency. A bench headed by Chief Justice P Sathasivam while pronouncing the judgment viewed that negative voting would foster purity and vibrancy of elections .It also ensure wide participation as people who are not satisfied with the candidates in the fray would also turn up to express their opinion rejecting contestants. The bench noted that the concept of negative voting is prevalent in 13 countries. Even in India parliamentarians are given an option to press the button for abstaining while voting takes place in the Parliament. The bench also observed that right to reject candidates in elections is part of fundamental right given by the Constitution in article 19 (freedom of speech and expression). The court passed this order on a Public Interest Litigation(PIL) filed by an NGO, People's Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), which had submitted that voters be given the right to negative voting.
  
• The Ministry of Tourism on 27th September launched “777 Days of the Incredible Indian Himalayas” campaign to centre stage the Incredible Indian Himalayas on the World Tourism Map. On this occasion, Minister of Tourism(I/C) Dr. K.Chiranjeevi announced that the Ministry of Tourism has decided to meet 50% of Peak fee chargeable by Indian Mountaineering Foundation from the climbing expeditions during the period of 777 days of the campaign. The Minister added that the campaign has been designed to spread awareness around the globe that 73% of Himalayan range lies in India. Describing the Incredible Indian Himalayas as a greatest show on the earth, Dr. Chiranjeevi said that the purpose of the campaign was to tell the entire world that Himalayas provide opportunity for a round-the-year tourism right from hard adventure to soft adventure, rich flora and fauna to bio-diversity hotspots, high altitude peaks to beautiful lakes, from varied culture to the realm of spirituality and wellness. The Ministry also launched a Himalayan Map and a Directory of Events that would contain the activities to be undertaken during this period of “777 days of the Incredible Indian Himalayas” campaign. A book on safety regulations brought out by ATAOI was also release on the occasion. The Ministry also released two short films titled “Greatest Show on the Earth” and “Life Altering Journey”. The Adventure Travel Association of India (ATAOI) is collaborating with the Ministry of Tourism in this campaign and they have designed special adventure programmes running over the next 777 days. 
  
• The Union Minister for Culture Chandresh Kumari Katoch on 16th September unveiled the Brass Plate World Heritage Plaque at the Chittorgarh Fort, Rajasthan and released brochures on the Fort in Hindi & English. Chittorgarh Fort is one of the six hill forts of Rajasthan recently inscribed in the World Heritage List by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO. The selection was approved in June 2013 in the 37th Session of the Committee. The Union Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Dr. Girija Vyas was also present on the occasion as a distinguished guest. Both the Ministers also jointly inaugurated the restored topkhana and a photo exhibition in kumbha palace on the occasion. Smt. Katoch lauded the people of Rajasthan for preserving rich cultural heritage of the country for centuries and said, both the international and domestic tourists always list Rajasthan as their preferred destination. 
  
• 'Kanoon Lugat', an Urdu law dictionary, billed as a first of its kind in the country, was released in Mumbai on 15th September, in the presence of legal luminaries. The dictionary, encompassing 52,000 legal terms, has been translated in Urdu for the first time, said chief translator and Supreme Court advocate Muhammad Irshad Hanif. Advocate Hanif has also translated Indian Penal Code and Indian Evidence Act in Urdu, besides publishing two books 'Taziraat-e-Hind' and 'Qanoon Shahadat-e-Hind'. The Urdu legal dictionary has a foreword written by Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir. Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra legal panel member, lawyer Shahid N Ansari said this is the first time that line-to-line translation of the two laws is available in Urdu. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 20th September, approved the following proposals of the National Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Policy : i) to implement and monitor of the Policy through National and State ECCE Councils; ii) to develop National Early Childhood Care and Education Curriculum Framework and Quality Standards and circulate to the States/Union Territories (UTs) for preparation of Action Plans and implementation by States /UTs; and iii) to delegate of power to the Ministry of Women and Child Development to make necessary changes. 
  
• The Policy would help to 158.7 million Indian children under six years of age who need holistic and integrated early childhood care. In particular it would enable preschool education inputs for their optimum development to realize their potential. The vision of the National ECCE Policy is to promote inclusive, equitable and contextualized opportunities for promoting optimal development and active learning capacity of all children below 6 years of age. The Policy focus is on early preschool learning for every child below six years. The key areas of this policy are universal access with equity and inclusion, quality in ECCE, strengthening capacity, monitoring and supervision, advocacy, research and review.
  
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 21st September laid the foundation stone of the Kishangarh Airport in Ajmer district. Dr. Singh said Kishangarh has become fully accessible to tourists, which will rake in economic progress for the state. Dr. Singh stated that commercial airports are expected to grow throughout the country as the number of air travelers is expected to appreciate to 30 million by 2020.“Kishangarh airport started to be developed under this effort (airports in smaller cities) is the first project. This number is expected to grow in the coming time,” Dr. Singh said the airport, which is likely to start operations in 2016, would cater to pilgrims who visit the Ajmer Dargah and Pushkar Lake.
  
• The project for development of Chhindwara as a Tourist Circuit in Madhya Pradesh, with Central Financial Assistance from Government of India was launched on September 21, 2013 by the Union Minister of Tourism (Independent charge), Dr K. Chiranjeevi and the Union Urban Development & Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Dr. Kamal Nath. The Ministry of Tourism is continuously striving for creating better infrastructure, developing new tourism destinations and bringing them on the national and international tourism map. Dr Chiranjeevi informed that in view of the immense tourism potential in Chhindwara the scope of the tourist destination development project was agreed to be enhanced as the development of Chhindwara as a tourist circuit, with the inclusion of the famous Khedapati Mandir, Chakravyuha water falls in the Ananjangaon Harrai, development of surroundings of Pataleshwar Mandir, Chhote Mahadev Temple Tamia, Sharda Ghat Burman, Narsinghpur and Mundhara, Distt. Seoni etc, thereby considering additional funds of approximately Rs. 300.00 lakh. 
  
• The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the 11th Asian Pacific Postal Union (APPU) Congress on 3 September at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, the President said that the Asian Pacific Postal Union, an inter-governmental organization of 32 countries of the region is actively working to improve cooperation among member nations in the field of postal services. He stated that the changing global scenario calls for postal administrations around the world to think differently. He called upon postal administration to be proactive to change. They must leverage their strengths to provide quality service to the people. He stated that worldwide, postal administrations enjoy the trust of people. The President said that globalization and easier movement of workforce across nations have opened a great window of opportunity for the postal sector. With increasing requirement for remittance channels, it can, with the guidance of the Asian Pacific Postal Union, make a difference. He added that there is a huge scope for postal services to be engaged in e-commerce, and gain from the rising demand for such business products. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 3rd September, approved the proposal for setting up of the Bharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF) as an independent charitable society under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 to facilitate and upscale civil society action in partnership with Government for transforming livelihoods and lives of rural households, with an emphasis on women, particularly in the Central Indian Tribal Region. It will provide financial grants to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to meet their human resource and institutional costs for up scaling of proven interventions; invest in institutional strengthening of smaller CSOs and capacity building of professional resources working at the grassroots. Projects supported by BRLF would be able to reach 10 lakh poor families by the end of the fifth year. BRLF would also have supported the capacity building of 1,000 CSO professionals and institutional strengthening of a significant number of smaller CSOs within the above time frame. Even though BRLF will have an India wide mandate, the initial focus of the organization will be on the Central Indian Tribal Region, centered on blocks having significant tribal population across 170 districts in the States of Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat. Rs 500 crore will be released for creating the corpus fund of the new Society, in two tranches. The society will be constituted as a partnership between Government on the one hand and private sector philanthropies, private and public sector undertakings (under Corporate Social Responsibility) on the other hand. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 3rd September approved the proposal for setting up of an autonomous "National Institute of Solar Energy" (NISE) to assist the Ministry and function as the apex national centre for research and technology development and related activities in the area of solar energy technologies in the country. The National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) is to be set up immediately by converting the Solar Energy Centre (SEC), Gurgaon with a long term vision to develop it as a world class institute. A broad based national team in the form of a Review-cum-Strategy Formulation Committee would be set up with representation from industry, the scientific community, financial institutions etc. to prepare a blue print. This committee would look at various models available in the country and outside and prepare a roadmap for the Institute. Setting up of an apex national centre for Solar Energy is a part of the JNNSM, which was considered by the Prime Minister`s Council on Climate Change in August, 2009. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) and other related proposals were approved by the Govt. in November, 2009. While approving the JNNSM, the Govt. also approved specific targets and budget for the first phase of the Mission till March, 2013. This includes R&D in solar energy, including setting up of a Centre of Excellence as an apex centre on different aspects of solar energy technologies.