NATIONAL MARCH 2014

NATIONAL MARCH 2014

• The Supreme Court on 24 March ordered the government to withdraw all notifications that make Aadhaar cards mandatory for availing social security benefits. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the body until recently headed by Nandan Nilekani and now headless after the former Infosys boss stepped down to contest Lok Sabha elections, the top court also acceded to its request to not have to share biometric data collected by it with other government agencies or authorities. A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice BS Chauhan and Justice J Chelameshwar ordered the immediate delinking of Aadhaar cards and social security payments. The apex court bench noted that no citizen could be deprived of any benefit for lack of an Aadhaar card if he was otherwise eligible for it. Investigative portal Cobra post.com ran a sting that showed these cards could be obtained for a price by people otherwise ineligible to have them. Aadhaar, which was conceived by UPA in 2009 to help ensure that cash payments and subsidies can be accessed by the really needy, has already been under attack for some time now from political parties. The top court had last September asked the government to refrain from insisting on Aadhaar cards for dispensing social security benefits. But on 24 March judgement, the judges said they had received several complaints that the authorities were insisting on it. The bench also restrained UIDAI from sharing biometric or any other data collected by it without consent from Aadhaar card-holders, effectively shutting the option for law enforcement agencies to use biometric information such as fingerprints and iris identification collected for issue of Aadhaar cards in criminal investigations. It also restrained other authorities from accessing the data currently with UIDAI. 
  
• The Supreme Court on 28th March, refused to lower the age of a juvenile from 18, saying the legislature has fixed the age, which is constitutionally permissible. A three-judge Bench, headed by Chief Justice P. Sathasivam, rejected two petitions, filed by BJP leader Subramanian Swamy and parents of the December 16 gang-rape victim, challenging the constitutional validity of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2000.The judgement states that ‘If the legislature has adopted the age of 18 as the dividing line between juveniles and adults and such a decision is constitutionally permissible, the enquiry by the courts must come to an end. Even otherwise, there is a considerable body of world opinion that all under-18 persons ought to be treated as juveniles and separate treatment meted out to them so far as offences committed by such persons are concerned,’ said the Bench. 
  
• The discovery of two more mounds in January at the Harappan site of Rakhigarhi in Hisar district, Haryana, has led to archaeologists establishing it as the biggest Harappan civilisation site. Until now, specialists in the Harappan civilisation had argued that Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan was the largest among the 2,000 Harappan sites known to exist in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. The archaeological remains at Mohenjo-daro extend around 300 hectares. Mohenjo-daro, Harappa and Ganweriwala (all in Pakistan) and Rakhigarhi and Dholavira (both in India) are ranked as the first to the fifth biggest Harappan sites. “With the discovery of two additional mounds, the total area of the Rakhigarhi site will be 350 hectares,” asserted Professor Vasant Shinde, Vice-Chancellor/Director, Deccan College Post-Graduate & Research Institute, a deemed-to-be university in Pune. The two mounds are in addition to the seven mounds already discovered at Rakhigarhi, about 160 km from New Delhi. The eighth and ninth mounds, spread over 25 hectares each, are situated to the east and west of the main site. A team of archaeology teachers and students of the Deccan College discovered them when they surveyed the site in January. The Harappan civilisation had three phases: the early Harappan from circa 3,500 BCE to circa 2,600 BCE, the mature Harappan which lasted from circa 2,600 BCE to circa 2000 BCE, and the late Harappan from circa 2000 BCE to 1,600 BCE. 
  
• The World Health Organisation (WHO) on 27th March, presented official certification to India for its ‘Polio Free’ status. India is among other countries in its South East Asian region which have been certified as being free of the wild polio virus. The Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad received the official certificate at a function in New Delhi. This achievement makes the South-East Asia Region, the fourth WHO Region to be certified as polio-free, after the Region of the Americas in 1994, the Western Pacific Region in 2000 and the European Region in 2002. Mr. Azad stated that India has been polio free since January 2011. The Health Minister stated that India embarked on the programme to eradicate the nation of polio 19 years ago in 1995, when the disease used to cripple more than 50,000 children in the country every year. He stated that this achievement has been possible with resolute will at the highest levels, technological innovations like the indigenous bivalent polio vaccine, adequate domestic financial resources and close monitoring of polio programme, with which immunization levels soared to 99% coverage and India achieved polio eradication. A 2.3 million strong team of polio volunteers and 150, 000 supervisors worked day and night to reach every child. The Health Minister expressed gratitude towards WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and others stakeholders, including the parents of the children, for their strong technical and operational support to this collective effort in this region.
  
• Khushwant Singh, the renowned author and journalist died on 20 March 2014 at the age of 99 at his home in New Delhi. In 2002, he wrote his autobiography, Truth, Love and Little Malice. Some of his most successful books were Train to Pakistan, I Shall Not Hear the Nightingale and Delhi - A Novel. The Sunset Club was written by him at the age of 95. His acclaimed non-fiction books were A History of the Sikhs written in two volumes. He was born on 2 February 1915 in Hadali (Pakistan’s Punjab).During 1970s to 1980s; he edited the Illustrated Weekly of India, the Hindustan Times and the National Herald. In 1974, he was awarded with Padma Bhushan but he returned it in 1984 in protest of entrance of the Indian Army in the Golden Temple in Amritsar, Punjab. In 2007, he received Padma Vibhushan by Government of India. In 2010, he received Sahitya academy fellowship award by Sahitya academy of India 
  
• The Andhra Pradesh State government has in principle decided to spare 121 hectares of revenue land for the Rs. 1,000-crore Missile Test Launch Facility project proposed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Nagayalanka mandal of Krishna district. According to the DRDO Hyderabad team, which carried out the land suitability study in and around the Sorlagondi Reserve Forest and strategic areas in Nagayalanka, a total of 151 hectares were identified and marked. They include 41 hectares of forest land, including a portion from the Krishna Wildlife Sanctuary (KWL).However; talks with the AP Wildlife Board are yet to materialise in this regard in order to spare the respective forest area in Nagayalanka mandal. 
  
• The government, which owns a little more than a fifth of Axis Bank through the Specified Undertaking of the Unit Trust of India (SUUTI), plans to raise about Rs 5,500 crore by selling a 9% stake, or 4.22 crore shares, through block trades on bourses. The move will boost government's fund mobilisation via share sale to over Rs 21,000 crore, surpassing its revised estimate of a total Rs 19,000 crore from asset disposals for the current fiscal year, as mentioned in the interim budget for 2014-15. This will be the government's largest fund-raising exercise this fiscal year. Earlier this month, the government sold a 10% stake in its largest oil marketing company, Indian Oil Corporation, for Rs 5,340 crore to other state-run companies, ONGC and Oil India. LIC is a co-promoter of Axis Bank along with state-owned, non-life insurers. The other insurance firms together own a 3.16% stake in the lender, one of the largest private sector banks started in the early nineties. In December, the government allowed Axis Bank to increase the cap on stakes held by foreign institutional investors or FIIs to 62% from 49%, a move that will ensure demand for the stock from them. FIIs currently own 44.93% of the bank. After the conclusion of the share sale, SUUTI's stake will come down to 11.72% from 20.72%. Besides its holding in Axis Bank, SUUTI also owns stakes in ITC Ltd and India's largest engineering and construction company Larsen & Toubro. 
  
• India and Russia are set to sign the much delayed techno-commercial agreement for Kudankulam 3 and 4 reactors later this month. Government sources on 20 March, said that all differences resulting from India's contentious Civil Liability for Nuclear Damages Act, 2010 have been taken care of with Russia finally agreeing to bring the pressurised water reactors under the purview of the law. 
  Russia had until now maintained that the liability law, which makes suppliers of equipment financially accountable in the event of an accident, was a recent and an unnecessary invention in its civil nuclear partnership with India. Unlike Kudankulam 3 and 4, the first and second Kudankulam units will function independent of the liability law. Fearing that allowing the same concession for the third and fourth units could lead to similar demands from other countries, India had officially conveyed to Russia in 2012 that both the units will have to operate under the liability law. The cost for the two reactors is expected to be more than $ 7 billion. The agreement, however, was not delayed only because of the liability issue. At one stage, the UPA government deliberately slowed down negotiations as it waited for protests in the coastal town against nuclear reactors to subside. 
  
• The Centre on 18 March brought out the 'draft' notification on Western Ghats reducing the originally earmarked Ecologically Sensitive Area (ESA) by 3,115sqkm. The reduction — from existing 59,940sqkm to 56,825sqkm — is mainly due to the cutting down of the Kerala’s ESA. The ministry of environment and forest had reduced the area following the state's strong protest against the Centre's previous order. The ESA — spreading over six states including Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Kerala — is meant for making the earmarked zone a 'no-go area' for high polluting human activities like mining, quarrying, big constructions and setting up industries. A gazette notification can, however, be made effective only by the new government at Centre. Under the Election Commission's direction, the ministry of environment and forest (MoEF) cannot come out with the 'final' notification till the Parliamentary elections are over. The MoEF, in the meantime, will get the stakeholders' (including villagers) objections or suggestions on the draft notification during the next 60 days, beginning from 18th March. The draft notification carries list of villages and their detailed area maps within the ESA spreading over six states. It also has annexure identifying the industries (Red category) and big constructions which are completely prohibited within the protected zones. Under the draft notification, setting up hydropower plants will not be banned. Such plants will, however, be set up after getting required environmental clearance. The MoEF, through its draft note changing its previous orders on Western Ghats, has made it clear that "the provisions in this notification shall be subject to the final orders of the court in pending litigation”. Kerala had been opposed to the ministry's earlier order saying it would affect livelihood of local population. It had pointed out that while in other states in Western Ghats, only a portion of natural landscape has been recommended as ESA by the High Level Working Group (HLWG), in Kerala the ESA (13,108sqkm) was more than the area of natural landscape (12,477sqkm). Keeping this in mind, the Centre has now reduced the ESA in Kerala from 13,108sqkm to 9,993.7sqkm.
  
• Sarnath in Varanasi (UP) is the place where Lord Buddha gave his first sermon and thus it is also called the place of origin of Buddhism. Archaeological Survey of India has once again started excavations at the Protected Site of Sarnath from 19th February, 2014 after a gap of over 80 years with the main objective of collecting samples for dating in the labs through C14 method from the earliest levels of the site to find out if there are remains of pre-Mauryan era available at the site as the site in the past has yielded remains of the time of King Asoka but Buddha had come to the site more than 200 years before Asoka and stayed there for some time and a well established monastic system existed afterwards which is also mentioned in the pillar edict of Asoka from the site. Dr B.R. Mani, Additional Director General, Archaeological Survey of India who is directing the excavation informed that during the British period in excavations not much emphasis was given on stratigraphy and succession of cultural deposits and as such in spite of so many years of early excavations no section drawing is available. The second objective of present excavation is also to define different strata from the earliest times to the 12th century A.D. when the site was abandoned after medieval period attacks. In one of the trenches near the circular shrine some rare pieces of Gupta art of Sarnath School depicting Lord Buddha in various postures have been found which are considered to be very significant find. 
  
• Fifteen security personnel were killed in a Maoist ambush on 11 March, in Sukma district of south Chhattisgarh. Additional Director-General of Police Mukesh Gupta said 11 of the personnel who died belonged to the CRPF, while four were from the Chhattisgarh police. This is the second major attack on security forces in the past fortnight. 
  
• Supreme Court on 12 March directed the Law Commission of India to look into issue of hate speeches being made by politicians and to consider framing guidelines to prevent such provocative statements. In a PIL filed by an NGO, Pravasi Bhalai Sangathan, asked the court to give directions to stop people from making inflammatory speeches and argued that unrestrained comments made by politicians and religious leaders violate the Constitution. The PIL had named Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh as respondents as the two states witnessed incidents of alleged hate speeches. It had referred to the alleged hate speeches made by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena Chief Raj Thackeray and claimed that no FIR was registered against them in the state. It said that in Andhra Pradesh, All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Akbaruddin Owaisi had allegedly made hate speeches and was arrested for them. But after being released on bail, he had again made similar speeches in Nanded, Maharashtra. The Election Commission had told the court that there are provisions in law for governments to take action against hate speeches. A bench headed by Justice B.S. Chauhan had refused to frame guidelines itself, asked the commission to look into it and give its recommendation to the Centre. 
  
• The Election commission has created a multi-agency grid of revenue and security intelligence agencies to regularly update it about suspected financial movements as part of measures to curb use of black money in Loksabha and assembly polls. In a first-of-its-kind measure, the EC has created a board of senior officials drawn from ten financial and security intelligence departments which will meet twice a week at 'Nirvachan Sadan', the EC headquarters, to generate common leads and flag suspect money instances. The agencies that have been pooled in for the task include Income Tax intelligence and investigations, Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Central Economic Intelligence Bureau, Narcotics Control Bureau and the snoop wings of border guarding forces of SSB and BSF and those of CISF and the Railway Protection Force. This is the first time that these officials will be holding meeting sessions with the EC in comparison to previous times when they would only generate and send reports, the official said. The EC has also asked these agencies to compile their respective information in a standard format so that the poll panel is updated about the use of illegal money and other inducements in the polls. A comprehensive report prepared after these meetings would be shared with the respective Chief Electoral Offices of various states and Union Territories. Sources said EC has put maximum stress on reports generated by the FIU and I-T intelligence in this regard as these two agencies are mandated under law to obtain information from banks and other financial intermediaries across the country. 
  
• After ordering disqualification of MPs and MLAs immediately after conviction for heinous offences, the Supreme Court on 10 March, took a second big step towards cleansing the political process by directing that trial proceedings in cases of corruption and serious crimes against elected representatives must be completed within a year. The apex court's July 10, 2013 judgment had robbed elected representatives of the benefit under Section 8(4) of Representative of People Act which allowed them to save their membership in respective Houses by merely filing an appeal within three months of the order of conviction. However, "tainted" MPs and MLAs drew comfort from the snail-paced judicial process, hoping that cases against them would linger indefinitely, or that they could use delaying tactics to prevent the court from reaching a final conclusion about their alleged guilt and pronounce a judgment. The order, passed by a bench of Justice RM Lodha and Justice Kurian Joseph, ends the last hope of MPs and MLAs of evading early adjudication of their alleged guilt and a possible conviction resulting in a sentence of more than two years or more, which generally follows in a corruption case or in serious offences. In its interim order on a PIL by NGO "Public Interest Foundation", the bench said, "Where sitting MPs and MLAs are facing corruption cases and other serious offences (which involve a punishment of more than two years on conviction), the trial will be completed expeditiously on a day-to-day basis and in no instance later than one year from the date of framing of charges."This means, those who get elected in the coming general elections and have pending criminal and corruption cases against them, the verdict will be out before May next year. If found guilty and sentenced to more than two years of imprisonment they will immediately loose their membership. This order will also have a sanitizing effect on political parties and ensure that they do not field candidates with criminal background. According to an estimate, the order will have a bearing on the political career of 162 MPs who are facing criminal charges. The bench directed all trial courts, which are hearing cases of corruption and serious offences against MPs and MLAs, to strictly adhere to the one-year limit from framing of charges and warned that if they overshot the deadline, then they would have to give written explanation to the chief justice of the high court concerned."In extraordinary circumstances, where the trial court is not being able to conclude the trial within one year of framing charges, it would submit a report to the chief justice of the concerned HC indicating the special reasons for the delay. 
  
• Indian Railways launched yet another innovative scheme called the ‘SMS Gateway’, which will enable passengers to get SMS alerts on the status of reserved tickets. The ‘SMS Gateway’ which was developed by Centre for Railway information Systems (CRIS), an autonomous organization under the Ministry of Railways, was launched by the Minister of State for Railways Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury in New Delhi on 3 March. The ‘SMS Gateway’ project will be used to send SMS alerts to passengers in case of status change in the PRS tickets, as compared to the initial booking status (For example W/L to RAC, RAC to CNF, W/L to CNF). SMS alerts prior to chart preparation will be sent once a day, in case of status change only, beginning from 5 days before the journey date. The SMS alerts after chart preparation (which is normally done 3-4 hours before train departure), will convey the actual Berth No., Coach No. and RAC No. for those passengers whose final Charting status has changed as compared to the initial booked status. In case of any ticket up gradation or seat re-allotment also SMS alerts will be sent. This service will be provided free of cost to the users. This will enhance the image of Indian Railways. Taking the things forward, CRIS took up the project for setting up of SMS Gateway of sending alerts to passengers, sanctioned by the Railways Board. Till now passengers can find about their PNR status through website enquiries or Call Centre (139) or IVRS or SMS enquiry. Railways decided to proactively send the SMS alerts to passengers at no extra charges to them. 
  
• The Supreme Court on 3March, issued notice to the central and all state governments on a petition seeking framing of guidelines to ensure that there is no discrimination against HIV positive children during school admissions. The notice has also been issued to the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights.A bench of Justice B.S. Chauhan and Justice J.Chelameswar issued notice after NGO Naz Foundation (India) Trust urged it to issue directions that HIV positive school children should not be discriminated against for admission to schools or turned out after their HIV positive status is revealed. The PIL has sought directions that no child affected by HIV would be denied admission, suspended, segregated or expelled on the basis of their HIV status or the status of their parents or guardians. It has further sought directions to the government to frame guidelines under the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 to ensure non-discrimination in schools in this regard. The Naz Foundation has also sought direction that children affected by HIV be notified as a “disadvantaged” group under the act, as it would put the central and state governments as well private schools under further obligation to ensure such children’s right to education without discrimination. Seeking directions to the government to take steps for the elimination of discrimination against HIV positive children, the PIL has invoked the fundamental rights to life, education and equality guaranteed under the Indian constitution. The PIL referred to March 2011 statement of Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad in parliament that in 2008-2010, 61 HIV positive children were removed from school. 
  
• According to the second update of the Annual Health Survey released New Delhi on March 6 all major health indicators in the country’s worst-performing States are showing a gradual improvement over the years but inter-State variations persist, Districts with the highest and lowest values of Crude Birth Rate and Infant Mortality Rate remained the same over the three rounds. Top 100 districts constitute about 51 per cent of total infant deaths across 9 States (284 districts), whereas it was 50 per cent during the baseline. The nine States for which AHS is conducted — Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Assam — have 50 per cent of the country’s population, 60 per cent of births, 71 per cent of infant deaths, 72 per cent of under 5 deaths and 62 per cent of maternal deaths. The reference period for the current round is January to December 2011. As far as IMR is concerned, 9 districts — Purbi Singhbhum, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Giridih and Kodarma (Jharkhand); Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh and Almora (Uttarakhand) — have already achieved the Millennium Development Goal-4 national target of 28. During the first update and baseline, there were 7 and 6 districts respectively. Another 11 districts — Ranchi, Deoghar, Hazaribagh and Garhwa (Jharkhand), Nainital, Bageshwar, Champawat, Udham Singh Nagar and Dehradun (Uttarakhand), Patna (Bihar), and Durg (Chhattisgarh) — are in closer vicinity of achieving the target. Importantly, 100 districts account for 52 per cent of under-5 mortality rate whereas it was 63 at the baseline. In U5MR, 15 districts — Pithoragarh, Almora, Rudraprayag, Chamoli, Nainital, Bagheswar, Dehradun and Champawat (Uttarakhand) and Purbhi Singhbum, Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Girdih, Deoghar and Kodarma (Jharkhand) — have already achieved the MDG national level target of 42. During the first update and baseline, there were 12 and 7 districts. Champawat, Hazaribagh, Dhanbad, Bokaro, Kodarma (first update), Giridih, Deoghar and Dehradun (second update) are new additions.Another 11 districts — Ranchi and Garhwa (Jharkhand); Durg (Chhattisgarh); Udham Singh Nagar and Pauri Garhwal (Uttarakhand); Dhemaji and Kamrup (Assam); Indore (M.P.); Kota (Rajasthan); Jharsuguda (Odisha); and Patna (Bihar) — are in closer vicinity. Chhattisgarh and Bihar recorded the highest fall (7), while UP and Uttarakhand recorded the lowest (3) from the baseline to the second update round. More female infants die, compared with males. In Rajasthan, the female IMR is 60, compared with 51 for males, the difference is the highest. In the baseline also, Rajasthan recorded the maximum difference with female IMR as 65 compared with 55 for males. The Annual Health Surveys for these nine States are conducted to monitor the impact of targeted interventions in the low performing districts so as to remove disparities. The indicators in these States also bring down the national averages. 
  
• The Union Minister of Minority Affairs K Rahman Khan on 4 March launched two new initiatives in New Delhi for the welfare of Minorities. The twin initiatives are Maulana Azad Sehat Scheme, and Nalanda Project, a Faculty Development Program for Minorities’ Higher Educational Institutions. The Minister also handed over Sehat Cards to few students. Speaking on the occasion K Rahman Khan said Under the Maulana Azad Sehat scheme, “Sehat Card” would be issued to every student of the Institution financially aided by MAEF. Preventive Health Check-up Camps would be organized by the Institute twice in a year, through Government/Private Hospitals/Nursing Homes. In exceptional and deserving cases for serious ailments, the poor students belonging to notified minorities would be provided financial assistance for treatment in Government/Recognized Hospitals. Serious ailments of Kidney, Heart, Liver, Cancer and Brain or any other life threatening diseases including Knee surgery and Spinal surgery would be covered. The Minister said that “Nalanda Project” is an innovative Faculty Development Program of Ministry of Minority Affairs, Government of India, under its Information, Education and Communication (IEC) strategy for awareness, orientation and development of faculties of Minority Universities/ Minority Managed Degree Colleges (MMDCs) and higher educational institutions located in minority concentration areas in the country. 
  
• The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation announces on 4 march, the establishment of the R.C. Bose Centre for Cryptology and Security in the Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata, at a cost of Rs. 115 crores in the 12th Five Year Plan Period. The Permanent Centre is an important element of the overall efforts and framework to enhance capabilities to ensure holistic security of Indian cyber space. It represents a significant step forward in augmenting indigenous capabilities in the critical fields of Cryptology and Information Security. The centre will act as a hub for all cryptographic requirements, cutting edge research and technology development within the country. The centre will host an eminent body of permanent faculty members as well as a continuous flux of eminent personalities connected with this field. The Centre will harness and foster scientific talent in India by offering facilities for degree and diploma courses as well as dedicated programs in Cryptology, Cyber Security and allied disciplines.

NATIONAL FEBRUARY 2014

NATIONAL FEBRUARY 2014

• India’s navy chief, Admiral D.K. Joshi resigned as chief of the Indian navy, owning “moral responsibility for the accidents and incidents during the past few months”. Admiral Joshi is the first Indian military commander to have resigned since General Kodandera Subayya Thimmaiah in 1959 -- and the only to have his resignation accepted by the government. The naval chief's resignation came hours after a fire on board the newly-refitted Sindhuratna claimed the lives of two naval officers and injured seven -- the third in a series of submarine accidents, including an explosion on the Sindhurakshak which exploded and sank in Mumbai’s naval dockyard in August, 2013, killing 18 crew. Last month, the Sindhughosh ran aground on its way to Mumbai harbor, though without loss of life. The INS Sindhughosh, Sindhudhaj, the Sindhuraj, Sindhuvir and ill-fated Sindhuratna, all Russian-manufactured Kilo-class submarines, were all inducted between 1986 and 1988. The most recent of the Kilo-class fleet, the Sindhushastra, was purchased in 2000, preceded by the Sindhurakshak in 1997, and the Sindhuvijay was inducted in 1991.The Sindhurakshak had suffered an earlier fire accident in 2010, which claimed the life of a sailor. The Navy has long complained of delays in submarine fleet modernization, at a time when regional navies, notably China, are dramatically expanding their fleets. India also does not have a full-fledged submarine rescue vessel. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 28 February, approved financial support of Rs.434 crore for establishing four new National Institutes of Design (NID) at Jorhat (Assam), Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh), Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) and Kurukshetra (Haryana). The proposed design institutes will offer both under-graduate and post graduate education in design disciplines meeting the regional needs. 
  
• Union Minister for Urban Development, Kamal Nath and the Minister for Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, Dr. GirijaVyas have laid the Foundation Stone for the Urban Institute of India in New Delhi. The Urban Institute of India, under the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation, is proposed as an apex National level institution, to facilitate inclusive and sustainable urban development and provide effective capacity building in the urban sector. The Institute would be an autonomous, not–for–profit institution, registered under the Societies Registration Act and would be partly funded by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation through the allocations under Rajiv Awaas Yojana (RAY). Mc Kinsey, which is a leading global firm and has a pre-eminent position in urban advisory services, would be the knowledge partner for this Institute. This Institute, will conduct high quality research on relevant and contemporary urban issues and policies, design, and implementation and engage in systematically creating and disseminating standards and best practices to all tiers of Government, support existing institutions like State Administrative Training Institutes and National Network of Resource Centres (NNRCs) and build synergies with other Government programmes and will create a platform for collaboration between Governments, private sector, civil society and academia in urban management. The Institute would be set up on fast track mode and would be the first institute for the Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and the first of its kind institute in the country. 
  
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 28 February approved setting up of 3500 model schools in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) in 27 States/UTs with certain modifications. This is under the scheme for setting up of 6000 model schools at block level as a benchmark of excellence. For the year 2013-14, an amount of Rs.1000 crore has been allocated under the scheme. Any financial liability arising out of continuation of the present sharing pattern of 75:25 would be taken care of within the said allocation. Each school will have 560 students. The total beneficiaries for 3500 schools would therefore be 19.60 lakh students. The Model School Scheme was launched in November, 2008. The objective of the scheme is to set up one senior secondary school of high quality in 6000-blocks as a benchmark of excellence. 3500 of these schools are to be set up under State/UT Governments in EBBs and the remaining 2500 schools are to be established under the Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode in blocks which are not educationally backward. The State Sector component of the scheme is operational since the launch of the scheme. The major impact of the scheme will be availability of quality senior secondary education to meritorious rural / semi-urban students, thereby nurturing talent. These schools are expected to act as pace-setting institutions of excellence and to have a demonstration effect on neighbouring schools. 
  
• The Committee on Economic Affairs on 28 February approved the opening of 54 new Kendriya Vidyalayas (KVs) under Civil Sector during the 12th Five Year Plan as recommended by the Expenditure Finance Committee. These 54 KVs will be located in 53 districts in 17 States. The total cost of opening of these new KVs is projected at Rs. 927.40 crore. The non-recurring costs covering constructions cost, furniture, fixture will be Rs. 793.58 crore and recurring cost covering pay and allowance and other expenses will be Rs.133.82 crore. Per unit cost of construction of a school building is Rs. 14.55 crore. These new KVs when fully functional will provide quality education to approximately 54,000 students in addition to 12 lakhs students already studying in the present KVs. The main objective of KVS is to cater to the educational needs of children of transferable Central Government employees including defence and para-military personnel by providing a common programme of education. There are at present 1094 functional Kendriya Vidyalayas including three abroad. These are in Moscow, Kathmandu and Tehran. 
  
• The Cabinet on 28 February, approved amendment of the Conduct of the Election Rules, 1961 and revised the limit of election expenditure for incurred by a candidate for Parliamentary Constituencies to Rs.70 lakh in all States except Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Sikkim, Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Lakshdweep and Puducherry which has been kept at Rs.54 lakh. This is due to the increase in the number of electors, polling stations as well as the increase in the cost inflation index. In case of assembly constituencies, the maximum limit has been increased to Rs.28 lakh in all States except Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura and Puducherry where it will be Rs.20 lakh. 
  
• The government on 26 February set up an expert committee to study and examine the demand of a separate Bodoland state to be carved out of Assam. The one-man expert committee of former Union Home Secretary G K Pillai will consult all sections of the society on the viability of a separate state of Bodoland and submit its report within nine months. This is for the first time the central government has set up such a committee to examine the demand of Bodoland. After the government's decision to carve Telangana out of Andhra Pradesh, several Bodo outfits have intensified their agitation to press for their demand of a separate state for Bodo tribals, mostly living in a few districts on the northern bank of the Brahmaputra river in Assam. The government set up an autonomous Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) in 2003 by signing an accord after years of violent agitations that claimed hundreds of lives. The BTC area had witnessed ethnic clashes between Bodo tribals and immigrant Muslims in 2012 that killed more than a hundred people. 
  
• Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India dedicated to the Nation “Indira Paryavaran Bhawan” in New Delhi on 25 February. The centrally air conditioned office building which has provision to accommodate about 600 officials of the Ministry of Environment and Forests is located on Jorbagh Road and in proximity to other Central Government Ministries/Departments. Indira Paryavaran Bhawan is India’s first on site Net Zero Building built by adoption of solar passive design and energy efficient building material. This building is expected to be a trend setter in the country and shall inspire people towards adoption of green technology. The building has been designed as the highest green rated building, i.e., GRIHA 5-Star and LEED India Platinum.
  
• The Union Cabinet on 28 February gave its approval for setting up a new rail coach manufacturing unit at Kolar, Karnataka to manufacture 500 coaches per annum at an estimated cost of Rs 1460.92 cr. (excluding cost of land) with active participation of State Government. The Ministry of Railways will finance 50 percent of the cost and the Government of Karnataka shall provide the required land, free of cost as well as meet the remaining 50 percent of the project completion cost with escalation. Land to the extent of about 1118.38 acres shall be provided free of cost by the Government of Karnataka. The proposed plant shall help Indian Railways in ensuring timely availability of passenger coaches to meet the increasing demands of passenger transportation. 
  
• Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, the government on 2 February decided to include the Jat community in the central list of OBCs in nine states, a move that is expected to benefit about nine crore people from the community. The decision would pave the way for the community members to avail benefits of reservation in central government jobs and central education institutions as per the existing norms. Union cabinet approved the inclusion of the Jat community in the Central list of OBCs for the states of Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and the National capital territory of Delhi. 
  
• The Centre on 2 February launched a massive programme of School Leadership to provide training to about 9 lakh principals /headmasters in Government and Government-aided schools to enable improvement of standards of education in the country. The scheme was launched by Human Resources Development Minister Dr. M. M. Pallam Raju in New Delhi. Launching the National Programme for School Leadership Development, Dr. Raju said that it is a massive task to initiate a nation-wide programme owing to an array of diversity in our schools. The Minister added that Regional Centres of School Leadership would be set up by National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NUEPA), in collaboration with other regional institutes of repute to bring about long term sustained engagement and capacity building in schools. The prime purpose of the programme is to transform current schools into schools of excellence, eventually bringing about improvement in the entire school system through leadership development. The School Leadership Programme ensures internalization and application of learning to bring about transformation in the school. It envisages a one-year long engagement with follow-up provisions for review and feedback as an integral part of the programme. 
  
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) on 28 February gave its approval for continuation of the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) in the XII Plan, with enhanced financial norms. The total financial implication for the XII Plan period would be Rs. 3000.33 crore, which includes a Central share of Rs. 2350 crore and a State share of Rs. 650.33 crore. The approval of the revised scheme with enhanced financial norms at par with other existing government schemes and flexibility in staffing and structural patterns etc. will: 
  1. Prevent attrition and help in recruitment of skilled child protection personnel; 
  2. Ensure sufficient nutrition and minimum required facilities are provided to children; 
  3. Promote convergence with other schemes being run by government or NGOs to reduce staff cost and build linkages between existing programs; and
  4. Help State/UTs to provide child protection services in a more cost effective manner. 
  The ICPS is a centrally sponsored program for child protection, being implemented across the country from 2009-10. It was conceived at the beginning of the XI Plan period, when children were placed at the "centre of development` by the XI Plan and protection of children from abuse and exploitation was stated to be integral to their holistic growth and development. 
  
• Purushottam Express is slated to become the first train in the country to have a Braille- embedded AC coach for visually-challenged passengers. In a first of its kind, Railways has manufactured an AC three-tier coach with Braille signages to be operational by end of this month in the Delhi-Puri superfast Purshottam Express as part of its social commitment to make trains and stations friendlier towards specially abled passengers. At present, coaches are provided with signages, instructions, seat numbers, etc, which are mostly in the form of vinyl stickers or metallic plates and have no Braille characters and cannot be read by visually-impaired passengers. The first coach with Braille signages, manufactured at Integrated Coach Factory in Chennai is ready. The AC coach is equipped with Braille-embedded signages on berths, toilets, wash basins and doors as well. The visually-impaired friendly AC coach was made with the inputs received from Research Designs and Standards Organisation, Railways' research arm, and consultation with blind associations. It was announced in the Rail Budget of 2013-14, that Braille stickers will be introduced for visually-challenged passengers. 
  
• India's first Minority Cyber Village was inaugurated by the Minister for Minority Affairs K Rehman Khan on 19 February 2014 in "Chandoli" in Alwar district of Rajasthan. The Cyber village project will provide computer education to people in the age group of 15 to 59.Institution under the project will be instituted in the villages with substantial population of minority. 
  
• The Telengana bill dividing Andhra Pradesh was passed in the Lok Sabha on 18 February 2014. The Lok Sabha passed the Andhra Pradesh Re-organization Bill 2014 that aims to create the 29th State of India. The Bill saw the light of the day in the Lok Sabha due to support from the main opposition party in the Lok Sabha Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP).Moving the bill for consideration and passage, the Centre announced that the Union Government will give special financial package to Seemandhra, residual part of Andhra Pradesh, to address the grievances of the people of Seemandhra region. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 20 February gave its approval for classifying Odia as classical language. This will give impetus to scholarship in this language. There has been a demand that Odia, which is one of the oldest languages and has no resemblance to Hindi, Sanskrit, Bengali, Telugu, etc., be declared as a classical language. So far Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam have been declared as classical languages. The following benefits are available for languages which are declared as classical languages: -
  i. Two major annual international awards for scholars of eminence in the concerned language.
  ii. A `Centre of Excellence for Studies in Classical Languages` can be set up.
  iii. The University Grants Commission can be requested to create, to start with at least in Central Universities, a certain number of professional chairs for classical languages, for scholars of eminence in the concerned language. 
  
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 20 February, approved a proposal of the Ministry of Environment and Forests for a National Mission for a Green India (GIM) as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme. Of the total expenditure of Rs. 13,000 crore envisaged in the 12th Plan, the plan outlay is Rs.2000 crore. The source of funding for the scheme would be from the Plan outlay, and convergence with MGNREGA activities, CAMPA and the NAP. The sharing pattern for the plan outlay would be 90 Centre and 10 State for the North Eastern States and 75 Centre and 25 State for the rest of the States. The 13th Finance Commission grant funds may be counted towards the States' share, to the extent that this is in conformity with the Commission’s award. The objectives of the Mission during 12th Plan period includes increased forest/tree cover and improved quality of forest cover in two to eight million hectares, along with improved ecosystem services including biodiversity, hydrological services, increased forest-based livelihood income of households, living in and around the forests, and enhanced annual CO2 sequestration. Mission implementation will be on a decentralized participatory approach with involvement of grass root level organizations in planning, decision making, implementation and monitoring. The gram sabha and the committees mandated by the gram sabha, including revamped JFMCs will oversee implementation at the village level. 
  
• The foundation stone of NTPC`s Gadarwara Super Thermal Power project in Madhya Pradesh was laid on 19 February Jyotiraditya Scinda, Union Minister of State for Power (I/C). The Project, comprising 2 units of 800 MW is situated in Narsingpur Distt. of the State. Speaking on the occasion, he announced that the project shall have ultimate capacity of 3200 MW at a total investment of nearly Rs. 25000 crore. Narsinghpur will become energy capital of the state with Gadarwara super thermal power project of NTPC, he added. The Union Power Minister said that the aim of the Government is to make the country self sufficient in power along with efficient transmission and distribution systems. He appreciated NTPC `s capacity program with the company projected to become 1.28 GW Company by the year 2032. The coal requirement of the project will be met from Talaipalli block from Mand –Raigarh coalfields and water sourced from river Narmada.NTPC’s largest power plant, Vindhyachal Super Thermal Power Station of 4,260 MW installed capacity is situated in Singrauli District of Madhya Pradesh. 
  
• Parliament on 19 February 2014 passed the Street Vendors (Protection of Livelihood and Regulation of Street Vending) bill-2014. The Bill provides protection of livelihoods rights, social security of street vendors, regulation of urban street vending in the country and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. The Street Vendors Bill aims at protect the rights of the urban street vendors and regulating street vending activities. It also aims towards creation of a conducive atmosphere where street vendors will be eligible to carry out their business in a fair and transparent manner, without fear of eviction and harassment. 
  
• At the very fag end of the 15th Lok Sabha, Parliament on 20 February, passed the Whistleblower Protection Bill. The Rajya Sabha cleared this crucial anti-corruption law, two years after it was passed by the Lok Sabha. In fact, the Bill, seeking to ensure the safety of those exposing corruption in government, was passed exactly the way it was cleared by the Lower House. The Whistleblower Bill seeks to provide "adequate protection to persons reporting corruption or wilful misuse of discretion which causes demonstrable loss to the government or commission of a criminal offence by a public servant". The Bill will also ensure punishment for false or frivolous complaints. The bill was passed by Lok Sabha in 2011 and was taken up by the Upper House in 2012 for consideration. However, it could not be passed because of the death of Union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. Another important Bill that squeaked past on the last day was one amending the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act to ease the availability of morphine (an opium derivative) for medicinal purposes. Morphine is used for pain management in cancer and AIDS cases, but was difficult to procure because of the stiff provisions of the NDPS Act. 
  
• Union Cabinet approved the setting up of an Equal Opportunities Commission (EOC) on 20 February 2014. The proposal for EOC was made by the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs on the recommendations of the Justice Sachar Committee on Social, Economic and Educational Status of Muslim Community in India. The Equal Opportunities Commission will address the grievances of people from the minority communities when minorities are discriminated against by government agencies. Its role is advisory in nature and will have no jurisdiction over private agencies.EOC is a three-member body and will be headed by a retired judge of the High Court. It will not have any powers to impose penalties. 
  
• The Bezbaruah committee, set up by the government to suggest measures to address concerns of people from the Northeast following outrage over the death of a student from Arunachal Pradesh, has been expanded on 22 February, with the inclusion of four members. The four members drafted in the committee, headed by former IAS officer M P Bezbaruah, are Marina Nido, mother of the student Nido Tania who died after being allegedly beaten by some shopkeepers in south Delhi's Lajpat Nagar, former IPS officer S T Sangliana and student’s leaders J Mavio and J T Tagam from Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh respectively. Former IAS officers H W T Syeim, Allen Temshi Jamir, Tape Bagra and P Bharat Singh will be members of the committee which will have Deputy Secretary in Ministry of Home Affairs S Saha as Member-Secretary. The government on 22 February announced the Terms of Reference of the Committee. 
  They are: 
  (i) To examine the various kinds of concerns, including concerns regarding security, of the persons hailing from the North Eastern states. 
  (ii) To examine the causes behind the attacks/violence and discrimination against the people from North-Eastern states. 
  (iii) To suggest measures to be taken by the government to address these concerns. 
  (iv) To suggest legal remedies to address these concerns. 
  
• In about two to three months’ time, the Indira Gandhi Zoological Park (IGZP), Visakhapatnam will be the first zoo in the country to have a conservation breeding centre for the endangered wild dog or ‘dhole.’ Selected by the Central Zoo Authority to carry out this project at a cost of Rs. 50 lakh, the zoo authorities have earmarked an area on the premises for the centre. After a series of successful in-breeding of wild dogs in the zoo, its population witnessed a massive increase within the protected area from just two to 22, the highest number of wild dogs in captivity in the country, according to current records. Similar in-breeding of wild dogs was carried out in zoos in Chennai and Mysore without much success. Classified as endangered by the IUCN, wild dogs or ‘dholes’ are dwindling in numbers due to habitat loss, depletion of prey base, and destruction of forest corridors leading to fights with other predators and diseases from domestic and feral dogs. 
  
• Minister of State for HRD, Dr Shashi Tharoor on 18 February, launched ‘Maulana Azad Taleem-e-Balighan’ under Sakshar Bharat at New Delhi. It will be a target focused approach to impart functional literacy, HUNAR (comprising up scaling of basic education and vocational skill training) and continuing education activities to cover around one crore non-literate Muslim adults. Launching the scheme Dr Shashi Tharoor said that our effort should aim at enhancing adult education in our country with special focus on groups that have remained untouched by the enabling promise of education. National Literacy Mission Authority has designed a target focused approach to enhance literacy among Muslim adults under the name of Maulana Azad Taleem-e-Balighan. It will provide opportunities for up scaling basic education to around 2.5 lakh adults and impart livelihood skill training covering around 3 lakh beneficiaries and provide opportunities of continuing education to the community. 410 Sakshar Bharat Districts will be covered with a financial outlay of Rs 600 crores during the current Plan Period. 
  
• The Union Minister for Health & Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad will launch fourth phase of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP-IV) of the Department of AIDS Control (DAC) on 12th February, 2014 to accelerate the country’s AIDS programme. NACP-IV has been designed based on the lessons learnt from previous phases. The strategic plan for NACP-IV for the period 2012–17 has been developed through an elaborate multi-stakeholder consultative planning process. Consolidating the gains made till now, the NACP-IV aims to accelerate the process of epidemic reversal and further strengthen the epidemic response in India through a cautious and well defined integration process over the five-year period. The objectives of NACP-IV are to reduce new infections and provide comprehensive care and support to all PLHIV and treatment services for all those who require it. A number of new initiatives have been planned under NACP-IV. The national programme will continue to innovate and generate lessons from its performance management system and disseminate the best practices across the globe. The total budgetary allocation for the fourth phase of the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP-IV) for five years is Rs 14,295.05 crore. The project will be partly funded through grants from the Global Fund and credit from the World Bank. India has demonstrated an overall reduction of 57% in the annual new HIV infections (among adult population) from 2.74 lakhs in 2000 to 1.16 lakhs in 2011, reflecting the impact of various interventions and scaled-up prevention strategies under the NACP. The adult HIV prevalence has decreased from 0.41% in 2001 to 0.27% in 2011. Besides, the estimated number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) has decreased from 24.1 lakhs in 2000 to 20.9 lakhs in 2011. Wider access to Antiretroviral therapy (ART) has resulted in a 29% reduction in estimated annual deaths due to AIDS related causes between 2007 and 2011. It is estimated that around 1.5 lakh lives have been saved due to ART till 2011. 
  
• The Government of India and Asian Development Bank (ADB) on 11 February signed a $275 million loan agreement to continue improving rural roads in five States including the States of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal. The loan represents the second tranche of a $ 800 million financing facility under the Rural Connectivity Investment Program. The loan will construct 3,693 kilometers of all-weather rural roads in the five states, benefiting nearly 1,800 rural habitations. The Ministry of Rural Development (MORD) is the executing agency of the project at the central level, while the governments of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal are charged with overall implementation at the state level for a period of 43 months. The second tranche is expected to be completed in June, 2017. The implementing agencies at the state level will be the respective State Rural Roads Development Agencies. The Government of India will provide counterpart funds of $81.56million for a total second tranche project investment cost of $356.56 million. 
  
• The Central Vigilance Commission organized a two day national seminar on “Combating Corruption, Role of Accountability Institutions, Investigating Agencies, Civil Society and Media” to mark the Golden Jubilee Celebrations on 11 February in New Delhi. Pranab Mukherjee, President of India as the Chief Guest said that the CVC was the result of the SanthanamCommittee’s recommendation that an apex body be set up exercising general superintendence over vigilance administration in Government. The President said that over the years, successive Governments have progressively strengthened the institutional framework for addressing corruption with the establishment of the Central Bureau of Investigation, the Directorate of Enforcement, State Anti-Corruption agencies and Lokayuktas. Manmohan Singh, the Prime Minister in his Presidential address mentioned that the CVC is a very important part of the institutional framework for fighting corruption and ensuring probity, transparency and accountability in the work of conduct of public servants. On the occasion of Golden Jubilee Celebrations, the President released the commemorative stamp and the Minister Kapil Sibal presented the first copy of the stamp album to the President. The Prime Minister released coffee table book and presented its first copy to the President. 
  
• The Minister of State in the Ministry of External Affairs Smt. Preneet Kaur on 12 February, said in reply to a question in Lok Sabha that India has Extradition Treaties in operation with 37 countries: Australia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Belgium, Bhutan, Bulgaria, Canada, Egypt, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Republic of Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, Oman, Poland, Portugal, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Tajikistan, Turkey, Tunisia, UK, USA, Uzbekistan, UAE, Ukraine and Vietnam. In 2013, India extradited five criminals - four to USA for murder, intimidation, fraud, child rape & sexual abuse and one to UK for kidnapping and false imprisonment. Three criminals were extradited to India from UAE on charges of criminal conspiracy and terrorism. Extradition Treaties define an offence as an extraditable offence if it is punishable under the laws in both the Contracting States by imprisonment for a period of at least one year. 
  
• Human Resources Development Minister Dr. M. M. Pallam Raju, released the UGC publication titled “Saksham” in New Delhi on 12 February. “SAKSHAM”, a Report of the Task Force set up by UGC to “Review the Measures for Ensuring Safety of Women on Campuses and Programmes for Gender Sensitization” has come up with several fundamental and far-reaching recommendations which are in consonance with the Justice Verma Committee Report and the Vishaka Guidelines. It is as follows: 
  1. UGC should set up a Gender Sensitization Unit and develop a Handbook on gender sensitization on sexual harassment.
  2. All members of higher educational institutions must undergo processes of gender sensitization.
  3. All Institutions must formulate guidelines for dealing with sexual harassment.
  4. Modules on gender sensitization to be offered to students in higher education institutions.
  5. Counselling services must be provided on a full time basis.
  6. Adequate infrastructure, such as lighting in and around campuses, reliable public transport, toilet facilities and girls’ hostel accommodation must be provided in the higher education institutions.
  7. Women’s study centres in universities and women’s development cells in colleges must be strengthened.
  Dr. Meenakshi Gopinath of UGC was the Chairperson of the task force constituted to review the remedial measures to address the concerns of all girls and women studying in diverse university campuses of the country. The task force was set up in the wake of the aftermath of the Nirbhaya incident of December 16, 2012 in the Capital. 
  
• The Department of Pension & Pensioners’ Welfare on 14 February, launched a web based Pension Sanction and Payment Tracking System “ BHAVISHYA” which provides for on-line tracking of sanction and payment processes by the individual as well as the administrative authorities. The new proposed system will capture information relating to the pensioner’s personal and service data including contact details like mobile number and e-mail etc. It will also have electronic Forms required to be submitted to pension sanctioning authority. The system will keep retiring employees informed of the progress of pension sanction process through SMS/E-mail in future. The application will help in monitoring the delays which take place in sanction of pension and retirement benefits to a retiring Government Servant. The software has been launched on a pilot basis in fifteen Ministries/Departments of the Government viz. Department of Home, D/o Electronics & Information Technology, M/o Statistics & Programme Implementation, M/o Steel, D/o Health, D/o Family Welfare, D/o Ayush, M/o Urban Development/o Textiles, D/o Commerce, D/o Industrial Policy & Promotion, Planning Commission, D/o Personnel & Training/o Administrative Reforms &Public Grievances and D/o Pension & Pensioners Welfare. 
  
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has approved composition of the 7th Pay Commission, which will revise the salaries of over 50 lakh central government employees. Former Supreme Court Justice Ashok Kumar Mathur has been appointed as chairman of the Commission, with Oil Secretary Vivek Rae as full time Member. Rathin Roy (Director, NIPFP) will be part-time Member and Meena Agarwal (OSD, Department of Expenditure) its Secretary. Earlier in September 2013, the Prime Minister had approved setting up of the 7th Pay Commission. The Commission has been mandated to submit its report in two years time and its recommendations would be implemented from January 1, 2016.The setting up of the Commission, whose recommendations will benefit about 50 lakh central government employees, including those in defense and railways, and about 30 lakh pensioners, comes ahead of the general elections. The government constitutes Pay Commission almost every ten years to revise the pay scales of its employees and often these are adopted by states after some modification. The sixth Pay Commission was implemented with effect from January 1,2006. 
  
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 5 February approved the proposal of the Ministry of Home Affairs to establish an Integrated Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) platform. This is an emergency response system for women and other vulnerable groups who may face violence. The Geographical Information System (GIS) based call taking and Geographical Positioning System (GPS) based Police vehicle dispatch system will be able to respond to distress calls and ensure speedy assistance to women. Distress/emergency alarms generated by panic buttons/landlines/mobiles through individual devices pioneered by the Dept. of Information Technology (DIT) or mobile phone applications would be tracked and Emergency Response (ER) units will be dispatched to attend the call. This project would obtain funding from the Nirbhaya Fund. The key objectives and features of the initiative are: 
  1. Providing 24 Hours and 7 Days (24X7) helpline service to women in distress and an efficient and effective response system to attend to their calls as well as for alarms related to other emergency services such as medical and disaster (fire etc.) by other responders in an integrated manner.
  2. Handling of emergency situations of children and other vulnerable sections of society.
  3. Speedy assistance for helpless women / children of a defined area, who face any form of violence, such as eve teasing, dowry demands, sexual assault, molestation or any other abuse either in public or at home.
  4. Integration with existing Dial 100 system for seamless operation and coordination between both systems
  The project involves setting up of city wise hi-tech Control Rooms to cover 114 cities and districts in different States and Union Territories of India, as identified by the Ministry of Women and Child Development, which includes 71 cities having a population of more than a million or which are headquarters of the State/UT as well as headquarters of 41 highly crime prone districts. 
  The Union Finance Minister P. Chidambararn in his 2013 Union Budget speech announced that a corpus called `Nirbhaya Fund` would be setup by the Government of India. An integrated `Public Emergency Response System` was also suggested in the Justice (Retd.) Verma report as well as in the Justice (Retd.) Usha Mehra report and was also recommended by the Cabinet Committee of Secretaries (CoS). 
  
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 6 February approved the proposal to convert and expand the pilot programme of Burn Injuries of the 11th Plan period into a full fledged National Programme on Prevention & Management of Burn Injuries during the remaining part of the 12th Plan Period. Infrastructural facilities for burn management and rehabilitation in 67 state Government Medical Colleges will be established in different States at an estimated cost of Rs. 407.21 crore. In addition, Rs. 17.16 crore has also been approved for completing three Burn Units of the 11th Plan Pilot Programme. The Programme also aims to improve awareness among the population, especially the vulnerable groups, that is, women and children and industrial workers regarding prevention of burn injuries, apart from creating trained personnel for specialized treatment of burn injuries. 
  
• Government on 6 February constituted a Committee to look into the various kinds of concerns of the persons hailing from the North Eastern States who are living in different parts of the country, especially the Metropolitan areas and to suggest suitable remedial measures. The Committee has been asked to submit its report within two months. The Committee has been asked to examine the various kinds of concerns, including the concerns regarding security of the persons hailing from the North Eastern States. It will also examine the causes behind the attacks/ violence and discrimination against the people from the North Eastern States and suggest measures to be taken by the Government to address these concerns. The Committee will be chaired by M.P.Bezbaruah, IAS (Retd.). The Chairman of the Committee shall co-opt members, one each from the other North Eastern States, viz. Tripura, Mizoram and Sikkim as well as one lady member. Robin Hibu, IPS, Joint Commissioner of Police, Delhi will also be in the team of the Ministry of Home Affairs which will assist the Committee.

NATIONAL JANUARY 2014

NATIONAL JANUARY 2014

• The Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Ajit Singh on 27 January, decided to remove restrictions on flights of Airbus A-380 to India. Now, flights of A-380 to India will be allowed to airports which are equipped to handle them. At present only 4 airports, i.e. Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore have the required infrastructure for operations of A-380. The decision has been taken after due consultations with the DGCA, Air India and Airports Authority of India. The operations of A-380 aircraft would be subject to overall traffic entitlements within the bilateral Air Service Agreements (ASAs) with different countries. It has also been decided that wherever the entitlements are not expressed in terms of seats per week, the same should be rationalized and converted into seats per week before allowing A-380 operations to India from these countries. If any Air Service Agreement (ASA) specifically prohibits operation of A-380 to India, the same will also be required to be amended before A380 operations from that country are allowed. The operation of A 380s will help airports to generate more revenue, give more comfortable and luxurious travel to passengers, liberalize the Civil Aviation milieu in India and boost the image of Indian civil aviation in the international market. As per available information, Singapore Airline, Emirates and Lufthansa are interested in operating A-380 aircrafts in India on various international routes. 
  
• Acceding to Rahul Gandhi’s demand to raise the annual cap on subsidized LPG cylinders, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs on 30 January, raised the quota from nine to 12.It also decided to put on hold the Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG consumer (DBTL) under which consumers receive subsidy in cash. Every household will get one cylinder each in February and March in addition to the quota of nine. From April, they will be entitled to 12 cylinders, one a month at subsidized rates. At the All India Congress Committee session on January 17, Mr. Gandhi had appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to increase the quota to 12 cylinders. Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M. Veerappa Moily said the rise in quota would result in an extra outgo of Rs.5,000 crore annually toward subsidy. Terming the increase in LPG cylinder quota “misdirected subsidies”, RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan said the move would end up benefiting people who could afford to pay market rates. 
  
• The Healthy ministry on 27 January says that the health indicators across the country have shown significant improvements. The life expectancy has increased by 5 years in the past decade. What used to be 62.3 years for male and 63.9 years for female in 2001-2005 is now 67.3 years for male and 69.6 years for female in 2011-2015. There has been reduction in new HIV cases by as much as 57%. Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) has come down to 42 in 2012 from 58 per 1000 live births in the year 2005. Maternal Mortality Ratio has declined from 301 per 100,000 live births in 2001-03 to 212 in 2007-09. The pace of decline has shown an increasing trend from 4.1% annual rate of decline during 2001-03 to 5.5% in 2004-06 and further to 5.8% in 2007-09.
  
• Total Fertility Rate has come down to 2.4 in 2011 from 2.9 in 2005. Adding a new feather in the cap is declaration of India as Polio Free Nation. On the 13th January, 2014, India made history by completing three years without a single case of wild polio. This feat was unimaginable till 2009, when India accounted for more than half of the global polio burden. The appreciable developments in the healthcare sector are attributable to the strengthening of the health infrastructure in the country, and a focused approach by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The Government has increased budget outlay by 335% to Rs 3 lakh crore in 12th Plan for healthcare to achieve universal and inclusive healthcare for all citizens. Moreover, under the National Health Mission (NHM) there are two subcomponents namely National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) and National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) which aim to provide accessible, affordable and quality health care to the rural as well as urban population. 
  
• The National Urban Health Mission (NUHM) as a sub-mission of National Health Mission (NHM) was approved by the Cabinet on 1st May, 2013. It envisages to meet health care needs of the urban population with the focus on urban poor. In the 12th Plan an allocation of Rs. 15,143 crores has been made for National Urban Health Mission. The Janani Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK), launched in June 2011, entitles all new-borns and children under one year of age besides pregnant women to absolutely free and no expense services including free diagnostics, drugs, consumables, food and blood, if required, besides free transport from home to institution, between facilities in case of a referral and drop back home. Nearly 1 crore 23 lakh pregnant women and more than 12 lakh children have benefitted in 2012-13. Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram (RBSK) was launched in February, 2013. It entitles children in the age group of zero to eighteen years across the country to receive free health screening services and free treatment including surgeries, where required. An estimated 27 crore children are to be covered across the country eventually, with screening for 30 common health conditions for early detection of: Defects, Diseases, Deficiencies and Developmental disorders. The Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram (RKSK), launched recently, aims to bring in several new dimensions like- mental health, nutrition, substance misuse, gender based violence and non-communicable diseases. The programme introduces community based interventions through peer educators. The strategic approach to RMNCH+A (Reproductive, Maternal, New born, Child Health + Adolescent) in which `A` denotes adolescents. The National Programme for the Health Care of Elderly (NPHCE) addresses health related problems of elderly people. The basic aim of the NPHCE programme is to provide separate, specialized and comprehensive health care to the senior citizens at various levels of state health care delivery system including outreach services. Government of India initiated an integrated National Programme for Prevention and Control of Cancers, Diabetes, Cardiovascular Diseases and Stroke (NPCDCS). 
  
• A first of its kind, “Mahatma Gandhi for Children” a web portal was launched by Sam Pitroda, Advisor to the Prime Minister, during a Twitter Conference on 31 January, as a tribute to the Father of our nation, on his 66th death anniversary. The portal - “Search for Gandhi" – targets children from the age of 6 to 15 years and is available in English as well as Hindi. The portal brings Gandhi’s life story to educate and inspire children through audios, videos by creatively integrating facts, games and quizzes. A freedom fighter, a visionary and a leader, Gandhi’s life is filled with lessons that are imperative even in today`s life. Games and quizzes have been designed to drive the visitors to know more about Gandhi and how they could put his message to practice in their own lives. Unlike text books, the portal provides an interactive, innovative and technology driven platform. 
  
• The Cabinet on 30 January, approved the enactment of a new Stand-alone legislation named ‘Waqf Properties (Eviction of Unauthorized Occupants) Bill, 2013’ moved by K. Rahman Khan, Minister of Minority Affairs. The Sachar Committee in its report dated 17.11.2006 recommended to treat Waqf as Public Premises as these properties are for the benefit of public and not for individual and encroachment on these properties to be treated as encroachment on Government Land. In view of this, the Ministry of Minority Affairs moved a proposal to the Cabinet to have a Stand-alone legislation to protect Waqf Properties from encroachments and alienation, in consultation with the Ministry of Law, and the Cabinet has approved the feasibility of such legislation. The new legislation when passed by the Parliament will be highly beneficial for the entire Muslim community as it will provide a perfect mechanism for protection of the Waqf properties from encroachment. 
  
• The Cabinet on 30 January approved the Bangalore Metro Rail Project Phase-2. This project will improve the public transport system in the city of Bangalore and provide the much needed additional public transport infrastructure for the city. The total completion cost of the project is estimated at Rs.26,405.14 crore at the price levels of 2011-12. In the total project cost, the Government of India’s (GoI) share will be Rs.5281 crore and the Government of Karnataka’s (GoK) share will be Rs.8983 crore. The share of GoK includes a Grant of Rs.1689.90 crore. The balance amount of Rs.12,141.14 crore will be raised through Senior Debt.The project will be executed by the existing Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) of GoI and GoK having 50:50 equity of each, that is Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. The project is scheduled to be completed in five years from the date of start of work. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 30 January, gave its approval on the recommendations of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on uniformity of tenure, retirement age, re-appointment, pension, salary and allowances including medical facilities, leave and travelling allowances for chairpersons/members of Tribunals and other quasi-judicial bodies set up for through central legislations. The recommendations of the GoM, as accepted by the Cabinet, will have prospective effect through an overarching legislation. In order to expedite delivery of justice and make available domain expertise in adjudication, the Government has set up various Tribunals under Central Acts, The terms of appointment and conditions of service of chairpersons and members of these Tribunals are different in many cases. The Government, constituted a GOM aimed at providing uniformity across all Central Tribunals. The Supreme Court has also observed the need for such uniformity.
  
• The Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 29 January 2014 inaugurated National Waqf Development Corporation Limited (NAWADCO) that is a new Central Public Sector Enterprise in New Delhi. It will be remain under the Ministry of Minority Affairs. National Waqf Development Corporation (NAWADCO) has been established with an authorized share capital of Rs.500 Crore. An official release said that the Waqf Corporation is an important institution that will work for development of Waqf properties for the community welfare. It will also facilitate and mobilize financial resources for the development of Waqf properties for community development purposes in a joint venture with the state and Union Territory Waqf Boards and the Mutawallis. The corporation has been establishment as a follow-up of the recommendation of Sachar Committee.
  
• The Union Cabinet on 20th January gave its approval for setting up of a Rail Tariff Authority, as an advisory body, through a Government Resolution, pending amendment of the Railway Act, 1989. The setting up of such an authority will institutionalize a regulatory mechanism at arms length for pricing of passenger and freight services. The Rail Tariff Authority shall comprise a Chairperson and four Members at the apex level and will be vested with the function to develop an integrated, transparent and dynamic pricing mechanism for the passenger and freight segments of the Indian Railway`s business. It will also advise the Central Government on fixation of tariff, based on cost of operations and factors impinging it, to help generate requisite surpluses for healthy growth in the future. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 20 January, gave its approval for inclusion of Jains as a minority under Section 2 (c ) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 and the Attorney General through the Ministry of Law and Justice has opined that this would be neither be illegal nor unconstitutional. The Cabinet approved the inclusion of Jains in the list of notified minority communities under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992 pending the outcome of court cases in addition to the five communities already notified as minorities under Section 2(c) of the National Commission for Minorities Act, 1992. Under Section 2(c) of National Commission for Minorities (NCM) Act, 1992, five religious communities; Muslims, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis are declared as minority communities through a Government Notification issued in October 1993. Thereafter, the Ministry of Minority Affairs has been receiving regular representations and RTI applications for inclusion of Jains as a minority community under this Section. 
  
• Chilika lagoon has been named 'Destination Flyways' by United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) after its inclusion in a list of eight such sites worldwide. It is the only site in Asia to be thus recognized by UNWTO. Official sources said on 19 January that the lagoon was so named because it is a sustainable and resilient destination for migratory water birds, said official sources."UNWTO is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of universally accessible tourism. Over the years, Chilika has proved to be the ideal destination for migratory birds, which is the reason why it is also a globally-acclaimed tourist destination ," said chief executive of Chilika Development Authority (CDA) Ajit Kumar Pattnaik. The name was recommended by Secretariat of the Convention of Biological Diversity (SCBD), the Convention of Migratory Species (CMS), the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, the World Heritage and Man and the Biosphere Programmes of (WHC and MAB), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Wetlands International and Birdlife International.The number of winged visitors to Chilika Lake fell this season with 1.58 lakh fewer migratory birds sighted than the previous season. Ornithologists said the number of birds had perhaps dwindled due to the effect of cyclone Phailin. The annual bird count conducted in the 1,100sqkm lake a week ago put the count at around 7.19 lakh birds belonging to 58 species. Around 8.77 lakh birds of 180 species had visited the lake last winter and 8.83 lakh birds of 167 species had visited the blue lagoon in 2012, the sources said. 
  
• Union Minister for Shipping G K Vasan on 20 January inaugurated the Karaikal campus of the Indian Maritime University (IMU) in the Union Territory of Pondicherry. In order to fulfill the aspirations of the youth in maritime training, education and career building, the Union government has decided to open campuses of the IMU in all the maritime states of the country. The government has already opened campuses of the University at Kandla and Cochin. A feasibility study conducted by the Ministry of Shipping concluded that new campus at Karaikal would benefit the rural youth to pursue a career in the maritime field. Speaking at the occasion, the Minister told that the efforts of the government as set out in the Maritime agenda 2020 has made the country a major supplier of the most efficient and cost effective manpower. As set out in the Maritime Agenda 2020, India aspires to substantially increase its seafarers to 9% of the world share. Earlier in September, 2013, a Maritime Training Institute of Shipping Corporation of India was inaugurated in Thoothukkudi to cater to the needs of southern districts of Tamil Nadu. As there are many fishermen in Karaikal, the Minister expressed the hope that this campus would help the fishermen and the youth to take up maritime profession in the days to come. The ministry plans to open campuses of IMU in the states of Karnataka, Goa and Odisha as well.
  
• Dinsha Patel, Minister of Mines, dedicated the Advanced Light Helicopter “Garuda Vasudha” of Geological Survey of India equipped with Heliborne Geophysical Survey System (HGSS) to the nation in New Delhi on 22 January through video-conferencing. The helicopter was launched from the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) Complex, Bangalore. The Minister also laid the foundation stone of a Centre of Excellence Laboratory building of GSI at its Bangalore complex at a cost of Rs. 42 crore. The Garuda Vasudha a ‘Dhruv’ category helicopter has been indigenously built by HAL and the HGSS comprising four aero geophysical sensors, namely Time Domain Electromagnetic, Magnetic, Spectrometric and Gravimetric along with Data Acquisition Systems, have been procured from Pico Envirotec Inc., Canada. The installation and integration of the sensor system has been carried out at HAL. The total cost of the HGSS is about Rs. 63 crores. Dinsha Patel, Minister of Mines, expressed his pleasure in dedicating Garuda Vasudhawhich would be used for extensive surveys by the GSI for locating hidden mineral wealth. The Minister further added that the state-of-the-art HGSS will bolster the probing prowess of aero geophysical surveys for locating concealed and deep seated mineral deposits of the country. 
  
• The Union Government on 24 January, decided to take up development of the stretch of 37 Kms of the National Waterway-four (NW-4) between Sholinganallur to Kalpakkam in South Buckingham Canal. Launching the project the Minister of Shipping G.K. Vasan said that the main components of the project include dredging and excavation to develop navigational channel, construction of three terminals and navigational locks, replacement of one existing bridge at Kelambakkam, and installation of navigational aids. Over Rs.123crores has been sanctioned by the central government for the purpose and the project is expected to be completed in two years. The minister said that other stretches of the National Waterway-4, which covers the states of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry, would also be taken up for development subsequently. NW-4 covers a total length of 1078 Km consisting of Kakinada-Pondicherry canal systems integrated with Godavari and Krishna Rivers. 
  
• The Expert Committee constituted by Information and Broadcasting Ministry to review the institutional framework of Prasar Bharti has submitted its report on 25 January 2014. The committee was headed by the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure, Sam Pitroda. The committee was set up on 29 January 2013.Committee has recommended to amend the Act of 1990 to give effective freedom to the Prasar Bharti with administrative and financial powers.
  Some of the recommendations are-
  1. To develop a funding mechanism for Prasar Bharati to address the need for autonomy with financial accountability.
  2. The organization should have the power to frame rules and regulations for its employees without requiring government approval.
  3. There should be an reorganization of the Prasar Bharati board to make it a professionally managed body effective in guiding the organization.
  4. Complete transfer of ownership and management of assets and human resource to Prasar Bharati to make the organisation administratively and financially autonomous of government.
  5. Setting up of a regulatory body to ensure public accountability of the organization with respect to all content broadcast on its television and radio network. It should be a sub-committee of the Prasar Bharati board.
  6. Prasar Bharati should create a world-class broadcasting service benchmarked with the best in the world.
     
• The Women and Child Development Minister, Krishna Tirath launched the Multi Sectoral Nutrition Programme (MSNP) and National Resource Platform (NRP) on the occasion of National Girl Child Day, in New Delhi on 24 January. The National Girl Child Day is celebrated on 24th January to commemorate the day when late Smt. Indira Gandhi was sworn in as the first woman Prime Minister of the country. This year’s theme of Girl Child Day is ‘Safety and Development of girl child’. Speaking at the occasion Smt. Krishna Tirath said that the Multi -Sectoral Nutrition Programme (MSNP) aims to bring inter-sectoral convergence and coherence in policy, planning and action with core focus on both direct interventions and indirect interventions for maternal and child under nutrition, thus providing a continuum of care and follow a life cycle approach. The programme will be implemented as a special intervention in 200 high burden districts spread over 19 States, beginning with 100 districts in the current financial year. The Minister also launched the Nutrition Resource Platform (NRP) that aims to collect, collate and make available resources and materials on nutrition and child development to various stakeholders. It will also be an interactive knowledge resource base which facilitates real time interaction, exchange of ideas and discussions. NRP is functional at National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD) and is a virtual repository with the support of Food and Nutrition Board and NIC. 
  
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 13th January, laid the foundation stone for a 2,800 megawatt nuclear power plant near Gorakhpur village in the Fatehabad district of Haryana. The Haryana Anu Vidyut Pariyojna project will have four units, each of 700-MW capacity, and is to come up at a cost Rs 23,502 crore. Among those present on the occasion were Haryana Governor, Jagannath Pahadia, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Union Minister Kumari Selja and Sirsa MP, Ashok Tanwar. A total of 1,503 acres of land has been acquired for the plant, of which the lion's share of 1,313 acres belongs to Gorakhpur village. 
  
• The Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare, Ghulam Nabi Azad on 13th January, announced that not a single case of wild polio has been reported from any part of the country since the past three years. Azad said that 36 months ago the last case was reported on 13th Jan, 2011 when a two year old girl suffered polio paralysis in Howrah district of West Bengal. Until 2009, India accounted for more than half the world’s polio incidence. While 741 cases reported in 2009, 42 in 2010 and just one case in 2011. The Health Minister further stated that it is a matter of great pride for all of us. He said that this monumental milestone was made possible due to unwavering political will at the highest levels, commitment of adequate financial resources, technological innovations like the bivalent vaccine and tireless efforts of millions of workers, including more than 23 lakh vaccinators and volunteers, and more than 1.5 lakh supervisors. The official announcement of a polio free nation will be made on 11 February 2014, he stated. 
  
• Union Government on 17th January, asked all the Gram Panchayats in the country to hold special Gram Sabha meetings on various programmes relating to economic well-being of people on any day in January/ February-2014. It has been emphasized that in these meetings, officials in-charge of programmes relating to Agriculture, Horticulture, Dairy, Fisheries National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Backward Region Grant Found (BRGF), Watershed, Soil conservation, Irrigation, Electrification, Handlooms, Handicraft, Food processing, Small and Micro enterprises etc. should remain present. The District and Block level officials will coordinate the dates of the meeting so that the above mentioned functionaries will be able to participate in all Gram Sabha meetings. The officials in-charge of all the above Departments, Schemes and Programmes should attend these meetings because this will improve the progress in their schemes and also make them transparent thereby resulting in making the programmes more effective. The Gram Panchayats have been asked to report the participation to the Block/ District Administration and in particular any instance of non-cooperation. The purpose of special Gram Sabha meetings is to make Gram Sabhas more active as well as empowering people and making panchayats accountable. 
  
• The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee launched the Pulse Polio Immunization programme 2014 at the Rashtrapti Bhavan, on 18 January, in the presence of the Union Health Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad and MoS (Health), Smt. Santosh Chowdhary. Six small children were administered polio vaccine by the President of India. Azad pointed out that in this round more than 17 crore children will be vaccinated. Also, 23 lakh frontline workers and volunteers will fan out in every nook and corner of the country to reach every child up to five years of age so that we maintain high immunity of our children against the polio virus. Besides setting up 102 polio vaccination posts along international borders, it has been decided that any case of wild polio shall be treated as public health emergency, the Health Minister added. Azad, addressing the gathering, stated that India has not recorded even a single case of wild polio in the last three years, which is a historic achievement. The Health Minister noted that the response to the last polio case in Howrah in West Bengal was razor sharp and is globally cited as the fastest response time. The Ministry stepped up surveillance so as not to miss even a single case of polio, he added. Azad stated that from a position when India had more than 2 lakh children getting crippled by polio each year, we have come to a time in history where not a single child has suffered wild polio for the last three years. This is monumental victory- and has paved the way for India`s formal certification by WHO as a polio free nation, he informed. He thanked various partners such as the State governments, lakhs of supervisor and vaccinators, volunteers, WHO, UNICEF, Rotary International, World Bank, USAID, DFID and many more who have made this achievement possible. 
  
• India and South Korea (i.e. Republic of Korea) in New Delhi on 17th January, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Digital Signatures for facilitating the effective and efficient paperless Bilateral Trade and Commerce. It was signed in the presence of Kapil Sibal, Minister for Communications and Information Technology and Mun-kee Choi, Minister for Science, ICT and Future Planning, Republic of Korea. It was signed between the Controller of Certifying Authorities, Ministry of Communications and IT, Government of India and the Korea Internet & Security Agency, Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, Republic of Korea. Digital Signatures are being widely used in India and South Korea for various domestic applications relating to e-Governance, e-Trade, e-COO (Certificate of Origin), e-Tendering/ e-Procurement, e-IPO (Intellectual Property Office), e-Income Tax etc. However, a Certifying Authority recognized in Republic of Korea is currently not recognized in India and vice-versa. Hence, Digital Signatures created under regulatory regime in Republic of Korea are not recognized as legally valid in India and vice-versa. This causes impediment to the best practices of International Trade and Commerce. This MoU will see cooperation between the two countries which will finally lead to mutual recognition of digitally signed documents. This arrangement will further boost bilateral trade between the two countries and pave way for similar landmark Multilateral/ Bilateral arrangements. 
  
• Central Vigilance Commission (CVC), the apex anti-corruption integrity institution of India is entering into 50 years of its existence. The CVC is celebrating its Golden Jubilee on 11th-12th February, 2014. The Golden Jubilee Celebrations will be inaugurated by Shri Pranab Mukherjee, President of India on 11th February, 2014 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi and presided over by Dr.Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India. A commemorative stamp is being released on the occasion. The Commission is also releasing a Coffee Table Book and a documentary film on CVC during the celebrations. Hon’ble Justice P.Sathasivam, Chief Justice of Supreme Court of India will preside over the valedictory function on 12th February 2014 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi. 
  
• The Union Cabinet on 9 January gave its approval for introduction of the National Youth Policy-2014 (NYP-2014), replacing NYP-2003 currently in force. The vision of NYP-2014 is to empower youth to achieve their full potential, and through them enable India to find its rightful place in the community of nations. For achieving this vision, the Policy identifies five well-defined objectives and 11 priority areas and suggests policy interventions in each priority area. The priority areas are education, skill development and employment, entrepreneurship, health and healthy lifestyle, sports, promotion of social values, community engagement, participation in politics and governance, youth engagement, inclusion and social justice. The focused approach on youth development and empowerment involving all stakeholders, as envisaged in NYP-2014, would result in development of an educated and healthy young population, who are not only economically productive, but are also socially responsible citizens contributing to the task of nation-building. It will cover the entire country catering the needs of all youth in the age-group of 15-29 years, which constitutes 27.5 per cent of the population according to Census-2011, that is about 33 crore persons. It will replace NYP-2003, to take care of developments since 2003 and future policy imperatives. The NYP-2014 proposes broad policy interventions for the youth consistent with the 12thPlan priorities and does not propose any specific programme/ scheme, having financial implications. All concerned Ministries/ Department would be requested to bring focus on youth issues within the framework of their plans/ programmes/ schemes etc. 
  
• A newly built railway platform in Gorakhpur (U.P), has entered into the record books as the longest railway platform in the world, according to the Railways. General Manager North Eastern Railways (NER) K K Atal unveiled the certificate given by the Limca Book of Records to Platform No. 1 of the railway station at a press conference in Gorakhpur on 9 January. According to the certificate, the length of the platform is 1,355.40 meter. It was inaugurated on October 6 last year. Till now, the record was held by the railway platform at Kharagpur in West Bengal. The platform is 1,072.5 meter long. 
  
• Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is observing 25th National Road Safety Week from 11th-17th January this year. The “National Road Safety Week” is observed throughout the country, in the month of January every year, to highlight the need to make roads safe and to give all stakeholders an opportunity to take part in concerted efforts for the cause. To mark 25 years of road safety, the Ministry is launching a new Logo on Road Safety, with an aim to encourage every section of society to join hands towards making roads safer. The theme of this year’s Road Safety awareness is “When on road, always say Pehle Aap”, to educate all drivers in this etiquette of “Lukhnavi Tehzib” requiring them to be more generous and considerate towards fellow road users. This attitude of “Pehle Aap” will help prevent many avoidable road accidents and make road journeys less stressful. In its endeavor to make road safety a social movement, the Ministry has planned a Road Safety Walk on 12th January at 10 am at India Gate ,for involving youth, school and college students and all stakeholders including Police, Transport Departments and others to work together to raise awareness about road safety issues, promoting responsible road use, need to help road accident victims in time and to mitigate sufferings to victims and their families that result from crashes and casualties. All States and Union Territories( UT’s) have been asked to organize Walks on 12th January during morning hours. During the last two years, the number of road accidents has shown a decreasing trend. Number of fatalities has also decreased in 2012.However there is no scope for being complacent. The road safety scenario in India needs urgent improvement with over 1.38 lakh lives lost in 4.9 lakh accidents in 2012. 
  
• SAMARTH 2014 – Celebrating Diversity is a national festival for showcasing the abilities of Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) is being organized by the Department of Disability Affairs under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India during 15 – 16 January, 2014 at Siri Fort Auditorium, New Delhi. This event will be inaugurated by Smt. Sonia Gandhi, Chairperson, United Progressive Alliance. As per Census 2011, there are 2.68 crore persons with disabilities and constitute 2.22 percent of the total population of the country. The persons with disabilities form a very diverse group and include persons with impairments such as visual (18.8%), hearing (18.9%), speech (7.5%), loco- motor (20.3%), mental retardation (5.6%) mental illness (2.7%) and multiple disability (7.9%).The Constitution of India ensures equality, freedom, justice and dignity of all individuals and implicitly mandates an inclusive society for all including persons with disabilities. The Government recognises that persons with disabilities are valuable human resource for the country and seeks to create an environment that provides them equal opportunities, protection of their rights and full participation. The Department of Disability Affairs under the Ministry of Social Justice & Empowerment’s mandate and rehabilitation and empowerment of PwDs. As rehabilitation is multidisciplinary, the Department has adopted a multi-pronged collaborative approach involving all the appropriate partners: Governments/UTs, Central/State undertakings, local authorities, NGOs etc. India has also signed and ratified the United Nations Convention for protection and promotion of the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities. Among the many commitments towards the said Convention, a major one is building capacity among people with disabilities and raising awareness about disability issues. SAMARTH is an important step in this direction. The objectives of organizing Samarth are to showcase the abilities and potential of PwDs; create awareness about their rights and entitlements; and provide PwDs and those working for them an opportunity for an interface with each other. 
  
• Union Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs and Defence Jitender Singh announced that Rajiv Gandhi National Institute for Youth Development to be Established at Chandigarh. Addressing the Inaugural Function of 18th National Youth Festival at the Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana on 12 January, he said that the National Institute will cater the needs of the Youth of Northern India. The National Youth Festival organized jointly by Ministry of Youth Affairs & Sports, Government of India and The Punjab Government. Every year 12th January, the birth Anniversary of Swami Vivekanand is observed as the National Youth Day. Over 5000 Youth from all States and UT are participating in the festival. 32 Youth from different part of the Country were awarded with National Youth Award for the year 2012-13 and 2 voluntary organizations were also honored. 
  
• The much talked-about Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, 2013, got President Pranab Mukherjee’s assent on 1 January. The Bill, which was passed by Parliament in the just-concluded winter session, provides for creation of an anti-graft ombudsman to investigate corruption charges against public functionaries including the Prime Minister, Ministers and Members of Parliament. Among other provisions, the Bill makes it incumbent upon States to make within a year their own law for setting up Lokayuktas on the lines of the Lokpal. 
  
  The Bill was sent to the President on 31 January. It will now be notified in the official gazette for it to become an Act. The Act shall be notified by the Law Ministry. The Bill was passed by the Lok Sabha in 2011 and was taken up in the Rajya Sabha but could not be voted upon. It was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. Later the Bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha and referred to the select committee. The amended Bill was again tabled in the Rajya Sabha on December 16 and passed by voice vote. The next day, it was passed by the Lok Sabha without debate.
  
• As a “New Year gift to the female fraternity of the Capital,” the Delhi Multimodal Transport System (DIMTS) has come out with “Telltail”, a security application on android and smart phones. Soon it may be available on other phones. The free application will be launched in the third week of January and can be easily downloaded from Google Play. Telltail, once downloaded on the phones, will help users reach their friends and family by pressing a button in case of an emergency. It will help the user raise a security alert by contacting the police, friends and family simultaneously. The application will also provide visual tracking information of the user. 
  
  The application will have three button options — “Track Me,” “Track By Vehicle” and “Panic Button” — by clicking which the user will reach her primary contacts within seconds. The “Track Me” button will help the primary contact locate the tracking route of the user through the ‘map location’ icon on the screen. In the “Track By Vehicle” option, the user will just have to enter the vehicle number. This will help DIMTS track the vehicle status, and subsequently link the user with the monitored vehicle. And on pressing the “Panic Button” for just three seconds, the user can generate an alert to the backend server of DIMTS. It will send detailed information of the location to the primary as well as other registered contacts through an SMS.
  
• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has dedicate to the nation the Rs.4, 200-crore LNG (liquefied natural gas) import terminal at Kochi in Kerala on 4 January. Petro net LNG, the largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG), had in August commissioned the five million tones a year LNG import and regasification facility at Kochi. At present, Petronet has an import and regasification terminal at Dahej in Gujarat with a capacity of 10 million tonnes per annum and is setting up a 5 million tones per year terminal on the east coast. 
  
  "Built at a cost of about Rs 4500 crore, it will put Kochi on the world LNG map and contribute to making Kerala an industry oriented and investor friendly destination. It will also contribute to our efforts to promote clean energy and reduce carbon emissions. It will help in protecting Kerala’s environment, green cover and natural beauty," the prime minister said.Dr Singh said the location of the terminal had been chosen so that it could provide the whole of Southern India with a cleaner and greener form of energy.He also said Kochi is strategically located on the East-West trade route and a centre for transit and trans-shipment services. The shipping industry too will benefit greatly from this terminal as more ships are mandated to use cleaner fuels like LNG, he said. Dr Singh noted that Petronet LNG had already tied up supply of 14.4 lakh tons of LNG per year for the Kochi terminal from the Gorgon project in Australia for a 20-year period. He also noted that the company is also at an advanced stage of discussion with other LNG suppliers for long term contracts. 
  
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 2 January, approved setting up of a unified system at the national level (National Vehicle Security and Tracking System) and State level (City Command and Control Centre) for Global Positioning System (GPS) tracking of the location of emergency buttons in and video recording of incidents in public transport vehicles, in 32 cities of the country with a population of one million or more according to the 2011 census.
  
  The implementation of the project will help in:
  i) Mapping of routes of public vehicles;
  ii) Tracking of vehicles on the route;
  iii) Highlighting of violations through visual and text signals;
  iv) Panic button alert to transport and police through visual, text and voice.
  v) Permit, registration and licence cancellation based criteria for enforcement.
  (vi)Providing safety and security to women / girl child in distress in minimum response time. 
  
  The total estimated cost of the project is Rs.1405 crore. The project will be implemented within a period of two years after allocation of funds to set up a National Level Vehicle Security and Tracking System and City Command & Control Centre with installation of GPS / CCTV / Panic buttons in public road transport. The Justice J.S. Verma Committee constituted in December, 2012 to look into the possible amendments in the criminal laws related to sexual violence against women made various recommendations for public transport vehicles in its report. The Report of Justice (Retired) Ms. Usha Mehra, Commission of Enquiry constituted under the Commission of Enquiry Act, 1952 to look into the incident of gang-rape and assault on a woman on 16.12.2012 in Delhi suggested measures for safety and security of women in the NCT of Delhi and NCR. 
  
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 2 January approved the proposal of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare relating to the centrally sponsored scheme for establishment of new medical colleges attached with existing district/referral hospitals. The approval is for establishment of 58 new medical colleges by up gradation of existing district hospitals in deficient states with intake capacity of 100 MBBS seats in each medical college. This will result in an increase of about 5800 seats. The central assistance share will be of Rs. 8457.40 crore and State/UT share of Rs. 2513.70 crore. The funding pattern will be 90:10 by Central and State Governments respectively for North Eastern States and special category States and in the ratio of 75:25 for other States. The total cost of establishment of the one medical college is approximately about Rs.189 crore. The distance between the district/referral hospital and the medical college shall be within 10 kms and on two pieces of land. 
  
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 2 January, approved the implementation of the Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project for Low Income States (RWSSP-LIS) of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh with World Bank assistance over a period of six years (from 2013-14 to 2019-20).The project is expected to directly benefit a rural population of about 78 lakh persons including 44 lakh Scheduled Castes and more than 8 lakh Scheduled Tribes, with improved piped water supply covering approximately 17,400 habitations in 2,150 Gram Panchayats (GPs) in the 33 districts of the four States: a). Assam- 7 districts with an estimated population coverage of about 14 lakh. b). Bihar-10 districts with an estimated population coverage of about 24 lakh. c). Jharkhand- 6 districts with an estimated population coverage of about 12 lakh. d). Uttar Pradesh- 10 Eastern UP districts with an estimated population coverage of about 28 lakh. 
  
  The project will improve access and usage of piped drinking water supplied into individual homes. Women and children will benefit significantly from project intervention as they currently bear most of the burden of securing daily water supplies. The Project will improve sanitation conditions in the targeted districts by adopting the convergence approach with the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) and the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) and saturate the project area in terms of access to water supply, household and institutional toilets and solid and liquid waste management. 
  
  The total Project cost of Rs. 6,000 crore will be financed through Government of India [from the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP) allocation – 33 percent], State Government (fund sharing as per NRDWP guidelines – 16 percent), beneficiary contribution (1 percent) and external financing (World Bank-IDA funds – 50 percent).Government of India will repay the amount of US$ 500 million extended as credit by the World Bank over a period of 25 years with 1.25 percent interest rate.