NEWSLINE 1st August, 2009

NATIONAL NEWS

India 's First indigenous Nuclear Powered Submarine

India 's first indigenous nuclear powered submarine equipped with ballistic missiles, dubbed an SSBN or a 'boomer' in military paralance, INS Arihant was launched by flooding the dry dock at the Shipbuilding Centre at Vishakapatnam. Nuclear Submarine is an underwater vessel powered by a nuclear reactor. Other submarines need to surface for recharging, but a N-Sub can stay submerged for long periods. INS Arihant (Sanskrit for 'Destroyer of enemies') puts India in the elite club of 6 nations (along with US, Russia , France, UK and China ). INS Arihant will have to undergo harbour, sea and weapon trials for two years before being termed fully operational.

New Governors for States

Raj Bhavan announced some much-awaited appointments with Uttarakhand Governor B.L. Joshi moving to politically sensitive UP. Syed Sibte Razi has been transferred from Jharkhand to Assam while K Shankarnarayanan has been moved from Nagaland to Ranchi . Jagannath Pahadia, Congress veteran and former CM of Rajasthan, is the new Governor of Haryana. Margaret Alva has been appointed Governor of Uttarakhand. Congress leader Iqbal Singh is the new L-G of Puducherry .

President's rule in Jharkhand

Parliament approved the extension of President's rule in Jharkhand, with the Rajya Sabha turning down a motion seeking its revocation after the Government promised Assembly elections in the State at the earliest opportunity.

SC: Long Leave is not a right

In a significant judgment, the Supreme Court ruled that an employer can deny long leave of an employee. A Bench comprising Justices S.H. Kapadia and Aftab Alam said even if an organisation had a policy of allowing employees a long leave, the final decision would have to rest with the employer. 

HC approves Child Labour Abolition Action Plan

The Delhi High Court approved Delhi Action Plan for total Abolition of Child Labour in the Capital and issued a series of directions to the public bodies concerned for its implementation. The Action Plan has been prepared by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) following consultations with various stakeholders and conduct of a survey and research.

The highlight of the Action Plan is that it provides rescue for all children between 14 and 18 years of age though the Act defines a child as a person who has not completed 14 years of age. The Court further said that the responsibility of lodging a police complaint against an employer employing child labourers would lie with the Delhi Police, not with the Labour Department of the Delhi Government, as suggested in the Action Plan.

High Court directed Government role in freeship

The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi government to help private unaided schools, which have not got applications to fill 15% freeship for poor children in the academic year 2009-10. The schools will now have to admit the poor students provided by the Directorate of Education (DOE) to them. A divison bench comprising Chief Justice of Delhi High Court AP Shah and Justice Manmohan directed the schools to either admit the children provided by the DOE or face Contempt of Court.

SC backs Sting Operations

The Supreme Court virtually gave legitimacy to sting operations saying the methods per se are not objectionable as long as they serve larger public interest and purpose. The Court also asked the media channels to exercise due care not to commit minor mistakes. The court refrained to lay down any guidelines or reformist agenda for the electronic media.

Contempt of Court Case

The Supreme Court made an example of seasoned lawyer RK Anand by upholding his conviction on Contempt of Court charges for trying to pollute the criminal justice system by attempting to influence a key prosecution witness in the infamous BMW hit and run case. Earlier the Court had reduced the key accused's Sanjiv Nanda's sentence from 5 years to 2 years .

Empowered Group of Ministers for 3G Telephony

The Centre constituted an Empowered Group of Ministers (e-GOM) to look into the issues related to pricing and other aspects of spectrum for 3G (third generation mobile services). The nine- members e-GOM will be headed by Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee. The members are: Home Minister P. Chidambaram, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Communications and Information Technology Minister A. Raja, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Law Minister M. Veerappa Moily, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

PIN- New Requirement for Online Purchases

The Reserve Bank of India has directed that all Credit and Debit card holders need to have an additional authentication pass code verified by Visa or MSC (Master card Secure Code). All online purchases from August 1, 2009 will have a mandatory requirement of Personal Identification Number (PIN) in addition to other information already on the card like name, card number, expiry date and CVV (Card Verification Value) number.

International News

Indian Army marches down the Champs Elysees

The Indian armed forces achieved a significant landmark in their history when they led the massive Bastille Day military parade down Paris 's majestic Champs Elysees to the backdrop of concert music, fireworks and garden parties in the presence of French President Nicholas Sarkozy and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who was the guest of honour at the event. This was the first time a foreign head of government was given the honour. The parade celebrates the 1789 storming of the infamous Bastille prison that marked the start of the French Revolution.

Aung San Suu Kyi wins Mahatma Gandhi International Award

The pro-democracy Myanmar Leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been felicitated with Mahatma Gandhi International Award for Peace and Reconciliation. The award was bestowed by the South African- based Mahatma Gandhi Foundation at the Durban City Hall .

Visa-Free EU Travel to the European Union

The EU executive has allowed citizens of Macedonia , Montenegro and Serbia , which have been promised eventual EU membership, to travel to the European Union without visa from the start of the next year.

Microsoft and Yahoo in new Alliance

After long drawn speculation, Yahoo! and Microsoft have come together to forge a formidable alliance in Internet search and advertising space to challenge the dominance of Google that holds more than 60% share in the search market. The 10 year agreement will bring together both companies in which Yahoo! Search will be powered by Microsoft while Yahoo will become the exclusive world wide relationship sales force for both companies' premium search advertisers. 

Sports Snippets 

Khel Ratna for Three Sports persons

The Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna for 2009 will be conferred on three sports persons- boxers MC Mary kom and Vijender Singh and wrestler Sushil Kumar. Khel Ratna is the country's highest sporting honour.

Marykom is four times women's world boxing champion and Vijender Singh and Sushil Kumar are Olympic Bronze Medalists.

Alberto Contador as the New Cycling Boss

Alberto Contador emerged as the new cycling boss when the Spaniard wrapped up his second Tour de France title on the Champs- Elysees on seven times champion Lance Armstrong's return to the race. Andy Schleck of Luxemborg and Armstrong of U.S. finished second and third respectively.

Gaganjeet Bhullar as the next Big Golfing Star

Gaganjit Bhullar became the youngest Indian to win a title on an International tour as he won the Indonesia President Invitational 2009 at Jakarta . He notched three straight top-10 finishes in 2009 in PGTI including tied 2 nd in the SAIL Open. He was India 's No. 1 amateur in 2004 and 2006 and also won World Junior Masters in 2005.

Gautam Gambhir No. 1 in Test Player Rankings

Gautam Gambhir became the number one batsman, replacing Pakistani run-machine Mohammad Yousuf in the latest ICC Test Player Rankings.

Sania Mirza Clinches ITF Challenger Title

Sania Mirza clinched the $50,000 ITF Challenger title in Lexington , USA after an upset win on Julie Coin.

Top-ranked Dinara Safina wins her 12 th WTA Tournament of Tennis

Top ranked Dinara Safina won her 12th WTA tournament, rallying to beat defending champion Sara Errani at the Slovenia Open.

News & Views

• Microsoft founder Bill Gates received the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace on behalf of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation from President Pratibha Patil at Rashtrapati Bhavan.
• India named senior IFS Officer S. Jaishankar as the new Ambassador to China , succeeding Nirupama Rao, who has been appointed as the next Foreign Secretary. Nalin Surie, Secretary (West), Minister of External Affairs will be the next High Commissioner to the U.K.
• President Pratibha Patil launched a new website, http:// helpline.rb.nic.in to simplify the process of grievance redress. The new portal is expected to reduce the mail to the Central and State Government departments concerned, following up on the action taken and finally maintaining the record.
• The UPA Government has named Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma as Chairman of the Board of Trade (BOT).
• Bharti Enterprises Chairman and Group CEO Sunil Mittal has been awarded the degree of Doctor of Laws Honoris Causa by the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom .
• India 's first green-field airport is to be set up as a joint venture with Changi Airports International (CAI) of Singapore and will be ready by 2011-12. The project is set to come up as part of Rs. 10,000 crore airport City in Durgapur .
• One of the foremost exponents of the Kirana Gharana, Gangubai Hangal, died on 21 st July, 2009 following cardiac arrest at the age of 96. She was a recipient of more than 50 awards, including the Padma Vibhushan and the Central Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, four honorary Doctoral Degree and 24 titles.
• The Railways will launch on August 1 st , the "Izzat" monthly season tickets (MSTs) for Rs. 25 to persons working in the unorganized sector with a monthly income not exceeding Rs. 1500. The season ticket will be issued for travel upto 100 Km.
• C.N.R. Rao, National Research Professor at the Jawahar Lal Nehru Center for Advanced Scientific Research, has been awarded the prestigious Royal Medal by the Royal Society, London , for his contributions to Solid State and Materials Chemistry. Professsor Rao will receive the award in London on November 30.
• The Government has decided to appoint Pradeep Kumar as new Defence Secretary.
• Former Grand Slam doubles Champion Todd Woodbridge has been appointed as Australia 's Davis Cup and National Men's Coach.
• The world's longest golf course, stretching along 1,365 kilometres (848 miles) of desert highway with holes at 18 towns and service stations, is to open in Australia this year.
• The Oberoi Hotels have been ranked amongst the 10 best in the world in the prestigious Travel+ Leisure's World's Best Awards 2009. In the survey t he Oberoi Vanyavilas, Ranthambhore; The Oberoi Udaivilas, Udaipur; The Oberoi Amarvilas, Agra and The Oberoi Rajvilas, Jaipur have been rated 1st, 3rd, 5th and 10th respectively on the list of Top Resorts in Asia.
• One of the celebrated icons of Indian Classical music, D.K. Pattamal, passed away at the age of 90. She was known for her rich repertoire, and particularly for her rendition of compositions of Muthuswami Dikshitar.
• The Obama administration has appointed Indian American Rajen Anand to a key agriculture post that will give him the responsibility to improve the nutrition status of 306 million people of the country.
• Cricketer-turned- Parliamentarian Mohammad Azharuddin and five other members were elected to the Court of the Aligarh Muslim University (AMU). Shafiqur Rahman Barq (BSP), Sheikh Saidul Haque (CPI-M), Monajir Hassan (JD-U), Syed Shahnawaz Hussain (BJP) and MI Shanavas (Congress) are the other members of the Court.
• Delhi Police launched a new website -www.dpacilaim.net- to cater to Motor Accident Claim Tribunal (MACT) cases and speed up their disposal.
• Seema Jakhar set a new National record in women's hammer throw on the day one of the ninth National Federation Cup Junior Athletics Championships at the 35 th Battalion PAC Stadium.

Science and Technology

Swine Flu Virus might be More Effective 

The Swine-origin Influenza A (H1N1) virus that is responsible for the current pandemic clearly has the ability to leap from one human to another. A chain of transmission aided by global air travel, has taken the virus from Mexico . Many scientists who have been studying the virus say that changes in its genetic makeup could make it even more efficient at spreading and infecting people.

Based on the study it is anticipated that mutations in the receptor binding site of hemagglutinin (HA) combined with mutations of Polymerase basic Protein (PB 2 ) would increase the transmission efficiency of Swine-virus.

Longest Solar Eclipse 

The Solar Eclipse of July 22, 2009 was the longest total Solar Eclipse during the 21 st Century, not to be surpassed until June 2132. It lasted a maximum of 6 minutes and 39 seconds off the coast of Southeast Asia . An eclipse occurs when the moon obscures all or part of the sun. On this occasion moon fully covered the sun. It then raced across India , blacking out the holy city of Varanasi on the banks of the Ganges, squeezing between the northern and southern tips of Bangladesh and Nepal before engulfing most of Bhutan , traversing the Chinese mainland and slipping back out to sea off Shanghai .