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National:
French honour for first V-C of VidyapeethaThe awarding of the
French Governments coveted title of Chevalier to noted Sanskrit
scholar N.S.Ramanuja Tatacharya has been welcomed by his disciples
in Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh. French ambassadorto India Francois
Richier formally presented the Ordre National de laLegion dhonneur
to Dr.Tatacharya atPuducherry. The Chevalier title is the highest
recognition to Sanskrit at the international level and it is
yetanother jewel on Dr. Tatacharyas already-dazzling crown, who is
a recipient of a dozen awards and titlesincluding the Presidents
Certificate of Honour from the Government of India in 1986.
Himachal to tag satellite collars on snow leopardsTheyve been
captured on camera. Wildlife officials now want to tag satellite
collars on the elusive and highlyendangered snow leopard in the
steep and rocky cliffs of Himachal Pradeshs Spiti Valley, the
countrys firstcollaring attempt on this wildcat species. The States
Wildlife Department is already monitoring the snowleopards through
cameras in the Spiti Valley, the states northernmost part which
borders Tibet. Thedepartment, in partnership with Mysore-based
Nature Conservation Foundation, has installed 60 cameratraps
(automatic cameras) in the valley. This (collar installation) is
part of the Central Governments SnowLeopard Conservation Project
which was launched in five trans-Himalayan States, including
Himachal, inJanuary 2009. The presence of a sizable population of
prey species like the Asiatic ibex, a wild goat species,the
Himalayan blue sheep and the wolf indicates the valley supports a
good population of the wildcats.The snow leopard, a graceful
golden-eyed animal with thick fur, padded paws and a long tail, is
found inrocky regions at an altitude of 2,700 to 6,000 metres.
Apart from the Spiti Valley, the States Pin ValleyNational Park,
the Kibber Wildlife Sanctuary, the Great Himalayan National Park
and the Pangi andBharmour areas of Chamba district have a sizeable
population of the snow leopard.
Cash transfer finds place in Govt calendarThe much-talked about
Direct Cash Transfer Scheme is the first among the various
Government schemeshighlighted in the Government of India- Wall
Calendar 2013 released. The calender based on the themeBharat
Nirman- Sabka hit, Sabka Haq, was released by the Department of
Audio Visual Publicity. While themonth of January displays the
Aadhar-based Direct Cash Transfer Scheme, February shows PMs
15-pointprogramme for welfare of minorities. March displays Sarva
Shiksha Abhiyan, April the - Mid Day MealScheme while Mahatama
Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGA) is the
picturefor the month of May. Immunisation (June), Saakshar Bharat
Abhiyan (July), Janani Shishu SurakshaKaryakaram (August),
Empowerment of scheduled castes (September), Pradhan Mantri Gram
Sadak Yojana(October), Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana
(November) and the Indira Awas Yojana (December)are the other
schemes displayed in the calendar. Frank Noronha is chief of
DAVP.
Only 5 of 53 pvt varsities inspected by UGC in orderIn a poor
reflection of the countrys regulatory mechanism in the education
sector, the HRD Ministry hasinformed the Rajya Sabha that only five
private universities of the 53 inspected by the UGC were found to
bein order. The University Grants Commission (UGC) has inspected
over a third of the 145 private universitiesin the country and
found only five of them in order. Private universities can be
established either by theCentral Government by an Act of Parliament
or by State Governments by an Act of State legislature.
Bhanu Athaiya returns Oscar fearing theftRenowned Bollywood
costume designer Bhanu Athaiya has returned her Oscar statuette,
the first to be wonby an Indian, to its original owner, the Academy
of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences, Los Angeles, forsafekeeping
fearing it could meet the same fate as Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel
medal which was stolen.The statuettes were couriered in a special
container and have been received by the Academy.
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International:
CIA tortured and sodomised terror suspectCIA agents tortured a
German citizen, sodomising, shackling, and beating him, as
Macedonian state policelooked on, said the European court of human
rights in a historic judgement. In a unanimous ruling, it alsofound
Macedonia guilty of torturing, abusing, and secretly imprisoning
Khaled el-Masri, a German ofLebanese origin allegedly linked to
terrorist organisations. Mr. Masri was seized in Macedonia in
December2003 and handed over to a CIA rendition team at Skopje
airport and secretly flown to Afghanistan. It is thefirst time the
court has described CIA treatment meted out to terror suspects as
torture. European Court ofHuman Rights unanimously found that Mr.
el-Masri was subjected to forced disappearance, unlawfuldetention,
extraordinary rendition outside any judicial process, and inhuman
and degrading treatment.
90 nations sign Net treaty amid splitEnvoys from nearly 90
nations signed the first new U.N. telecommunications treaty since
the Internet age,but the U.S. and other Western nations refused to
join after claiming it endorses greater government controlover
cyberspace. The head of the U.N. telecoms group pushed back against
U.S. assertions, defending theaccord as necessary to help expand
online services to poorer nations and add more voices to shape
thedirection of modern communications technology. The negotiations
pitted the Wests desire to preserve theunregulated nature of the
Net against developing countries yearning for better Web access and
strongarmstates such as Iran and China that closely filter
cyberspace.
Around 1.06 lakh people missing after war in Sri LankaAuthor of
a book on the internal conflict in Sri Lanka involving its armed
forces and rebel LTTE said around1.06 lakh persons were missing in
LTTE-controlled areas after the war. Having worked as a
BBCcorrespondent in Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2004, Frances Harrison
said she had accessed World Bankpopulation data in this regard to
substantiate her claim. Harrison said she had accessed the World
Bank dataon population of Mullaitheevu, Kilinochi, Vavuniya and
Mannaar in the island nation, which she said, revealedthat 1.06
lakh persons were "missing" after the war. Author of the book
"Still Counting the Dead," which is setto be released in Tamil
soon, said it was based on tales of survivors including a former
rebel, a nurse, a nunand a teacher, among others.
Business & Economy:
RBI extends deadline for new cheque standardThe Reserve Bank of
India (RBI), has extended the deadline given to migrate to new-look
cheques (CTS-2010 Standard cheques), with more security and
standardised features, to March 31, 2013. Earlier, it had seta
December 31 deadline. Banks were in the process of issuing new-look
cheques to all its customers byDecember 31, 2012. Cheque Truncation
System (CTS)-2010 standard is a set of benchmarks towardsachieving
standardisation of cheques issued by banks across the country.
These include provision ofmandatory minimum security features on
cheque forms such as quality of paper, watermark, banks logo in
invisible ink, void pantograph and standardisation of field
placements on cheques.
IOC retains top slot in Fortune 500 India listIndian Oil
Corporation (IOC) is the biggest company in terms of revenue,
followed by Reliance Industries,according to the Fortune 500 list
of Indian companies for 2012. IOC is the biggest company with
annualrevenue of Rs.4,20,287 crore, followed by Mukesh Ambani-led
RIL with a full-year revenue of Rs.3,67,539crore. Bharat Petroleum
Corporation is at the third spot with a revenue of Rs.2,14,866
crore. The three firmsIOC, RIL and BPCL have retained their last
years respective ranks. Hindustan Petroleum Corporation isranked
fourth with annual revenue of Rs.1,87,693 crore and State Bank of
India is ranked fifth withRs.1,77,033 crore revenue.
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CBEC cuts import tariff value of goldCentral Board of Excise and
Customs ( CBEC) has slashed the import tariff value of gold
marginally to $550per 10 grams amid weak global prices of the
precious metal. The tariff value of silver has, however, beenhiked
marginally to $1,062 a kg. The tariff value is the base price on
which the customs duty is determined toprevent under-invoicing. The
import tariff value of brass scrap has been increased to $4069 from
$4,029 atonne in the review period.
Delhi's Nehru Place among world's top 30 notorious IT
marketsIndian capital's famous Nehru Place market has been placed
among the top 30 notorious IT markets of theworld that deal in
goods and services infringing on intellectual property rights.
"Nehru Place is reportedly oneof the many markets in major cities
throughout India that are known for dealing in large volumes of
piratedsoftware, pirated optical media containing movies and music,
and counterfeit goods," said US TradeRepresentatives (USTR). Among
other internet and physical markets that exemplify marketplaces
that dealin infringing goods and services, facilitating and
sustaining global piracy and counterfeiting include UrduBazaars in
Karachi and Lahore. However, China has the largest number of
notorious markets listed in thereport.
Pratyush Kumar to head Boeing IndiaUS-based Boeing, a leading
maker of airplanes, has named Pratyush Kumar as President of Boeing
India.He succeeded Dinesh Keskar, who returned to Boeing Commercial
Airplanes. Kumar, an IIT graduate, wasDelhi-based president and CEO
of GE Transportation for South Asia. Before joining GE in 2003,
Kumarfounded a biotech start-up in Boston. He began his career as a
McKinsey and Company managementconsultant in its Atlanta and Delhi
offices.
Second biggest SIM card supplier in IndiaA Chinese company has
emerged as the second biggest supplier of SIM cards for mobile
phones in Indiathis year. The government-controlled Eastcompeace
Technology is supplying the phone chips to RelianceCommunications,
Tata Teleservices, Airtel and Vodafone, besides providing SBI with
smart cards. Thecompany is the biggest player in Pakistan. Its
India operation is the largest, with revenue worth $18
millionfollowed by Pakistan ($9m), Russia ($6m) and South Africa
($4m).
Sport:Anjali clinches a bronzeAnjali Bhagwat managed to win a
bronze medal behind two Chinese who set a World record 400 out of
400in womens air rifle in the fifth Asian Air Gun championship in
Nanchang, China. Anjali had to fight it out forthe bronze against
another Chinese and won the medal by a 0.2 point margin, with a
total of 500.4. She shot397 in qualification and 103.4 in the final
to outwit the Chinese Chang Jing who shot 398 in qualification
butonly 102.2 in the final. It was only her third Asian level medal
for Anjali who had won the air rifle bronze inNanjing in 2008 and
the standard rifle prone silver in Langkawi in 2000.
Ashour regains world crownFormer champion Ramy Ashour regained
the world title with a marathon 2-11, 11-6, 11-5, 9-11, 11-8 win
over
Egyptian compatriot Mohammed El Shorbagy. Earlier, Ashour was
assured of the world No. 1 ranking afterhe beat defending champion
Nick Matthew in the semifinals. The 21-year-old Shorbagy had beaten
the top-seeded world No. 1 James Willstrop in the semifinals.
Narain and Karun win ROC AsiaIndias Narain Karthikeyan and Karun
Chandhok won the 2012 Race of Champions Asia and qualified for
theNations Cup where they will be in the same group as defending
champion Germany, which has SebastianVettel and Michael Schumacher
in its ranks. Team India defeated Japan 2-0 in the final with four
wins out ofsix races. Both the Indian drivers won three out of
their four races. The ROC, being staged for the 25thconsecutive
year, brings together the worlds best drivers from motorsports main
disciplines, includingFormula One, world rally, touring cars, Le
Mans, MotoGP, Indycar and the X-Games. The drivers battle it
outhead-to-head in identical machinery.
