NEWSLINE 16th January, 2010

National

NRIs to get voting rights: PM

NRIs will be able to vote in the next general elections, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told the annual gathering of the Indian diaspora at the Pravasi Bhartiya Divas, amid indications that the long-held promise may finally be coming to fruition with government planning to change the definition of a "citizen". The Law Ministry is working on amending the definition of the Indian citizen in the Representation of Peoples Act from the current "ordinary resident" to a term that includes those living overseas. Voting rights could be extended to Indian passport holders but holders of Persons of Indian Origin cards would not be eligible.

Babus' assets come under RTI

After politicians and Supreme Court judges, now the assets of babus have been prised open to public scrutiny. In a landmark order, the Central Information Commission has said disclosure of information such as assets of a public servant, routinely collected by the public authority, should be made available to the public under the Right to Information Act.

CJI's office comes within RTI Act: Delhi HC

In a landmark verdict against the Supreme Court, the Delhi High Court on January 12, 2010 held that the office of the Chief Justice of India comes within the ambit of the Right to Information (RTI) Act, saying judicial independence is not a judge's privilege but a responsibility cast upon him.

IOA, CWG panel too under ambit

The Delhi High Court asked the Indian Olympic Association, the Commonwealth Games Organizing Committee and Sanskriti School to shed opacity and set up an office to disseminate information, bringing them under the ambit of the Right to Information. The judgment will have an impact in injecting accountability in all sports federations.

Reena Kaushal is first Indian woman to ski to South Pole

Reena Kaushal on December 31, 2009 became the first Indian woman to ski to the South Pole. Ms Kaushal, 38, made the historic ski run as part of an eight-woman Commonwealth team that crossed a 900 km Antarctic ice trek to reach the South Pole to mark the 60 th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth.

Next only to Gujarat, Bihar grew by 11.03%

Bihar is India's new miracle economy. In the five-year period between 2004-05 and 2008-09, Bihar's GDP has grown by a stunning 11.03% way beyond the definition of 7% growth for a "miracle economy". In this period, Bihar? traditionally a laggard state that actually saw a 5.15% negative growth in 2003-04? is the second fastest growing state, just a shade behind Gujarat's well-publicized growth of 11.05%. Not just Bihar, most of the traditionally backward states, including Orissa, Uttarakhand, U.P., Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, have done well in this period, indicating a more inclusive growth at an all-India level. The growth rate of the other four are: Uttrakhand 9.31%, Orissa 8.74% and Jharkhand 8.45%. The all-India growth during this period was 8.49%.

Indira Gandhi Peace Prize for Sheikh Hasina

The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development was presented to Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina by President Pratibha Patil at a function in Delhi on January 12. Sheikh Hasina had come to Delhi on her first visit as PM.

Rural stint will fetch doctors extra PG marks

A one-year rural stint will get 10% marks in the national medical exam for postgraduate courses. A two-year stint will fetch 20%, three years 30% and so on. The policy said Medical Council of India rules were being modified so that an MBBS graduate would be entitled to additional marks while undergoing the PG course. The move to link marks with the village deputation would get more people to volunteer to work in rural areas, at a time when the National Rural Health Mission (NHRM) is suffering because of the unwillingness of many doctors to serve in remote areas.

104 'restricted' Himalayan peaks now open for treks

In a confidence building measure spelling normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir, the government has given its nod for opening of a whopping 104 peaks for expeditions. The peaks? located in the Leh-Ladakh area ? along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and Line of Control (LoC) were so far 'restricted'.

Chandrayaan-II to take off in 2013: ISRO

The launch of India's next moon mission, Chandrayaan-II, will be in the first quarter of 2013 as per schedule. Chandrayaan II, the second lunar mission, a four year project under Indo-Russian collaboration, is being executed by ISRO after the success of Chandrayaan I. Unlike the first lunar mission, Chandrayaan II will not have 11 payloads. It will also investigate the presence of water.

ISRO develops cryogenic engine

ISRO's will soon launch the GSLV-D3 rocket with an indigenous (Indian) cryogenic stage and engine for the first time in the country's space history. The space agency has so far been launching GSLV rockets on borrowed Russian technology. The GSLV launch, will make India only the fifth or sixth country in the world to launch a rocket with indigenous cryogenic technology. The cryogenic stage is the upper stage of the rocket that will house the cryogenic engine within it. Cryogenic technology involves the use of super-cooled liquid fuel to launch heavy rockets like GSLV with the fuel being a mix of liquid hydrogen and oxygen.

Rape Trials to finish in two months

The amended Code of Criminal Procedure notified comes as a major succor for rape victims. The amended CrPC stipulates that an arrested person shall be examined immediately by a medical officer to protect the interests of the accused. Another significant amendment is meant to encourage rape victims to report their oppressors. It has been laid down that the statement of a rape victim shall be recorded at her residence and, as far as practical, by a woman police officer in the presence of the victim's parents or guardian, or a social worker. Trial in a rape case should be completed within two months as far as possible and provision has been made for video recording of statements or confessions.

Villagers build own railway station

Residents of Tajnagar village near Gurgaon decided to pool in Rs. 21 lakh and built a railway station on their own. The result of their efforts - perhaps the first railway station in the country on which the Railways didn't have to spend a single penny - has started operations.

3 idea-tors from IIT bag NYC prize

A team of 3 idea-tors from the Indian Institute of Technology in Chennai has won New York City's first annual "NYC Next Idea" prize, a competition among entrepreneurs presenting business plans to improve quality of life and create jobs.

Greenext Technology Solutions, the winning team composed of Sriram Kalyanaraman, Vijayshankar Kulkarni and Aashish Dattani, proposed a software system that energy producers might use to store electricity at times of low consumption and distribute it across the city when demand increases.

Infosys Prize 2009

The Infosys Prizes, 2009 have been announced; the awardees included Thanu Padmanabhan of Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, in recognition of his contribution to a deeper understanding of Einstein's theory of gravity in the context of thermo dynamics and largescale structure in cosmology. Ashoke Sen of Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad, won the prize in mathematical sciences in recognition of his fundamental contributions to string theory. K Vijay Raghavan of National Centre of Biological Sciences, Bangalore, received the award in recognition of his contributions as a developmental geneticist and neurobiologist while Abhijit Vinayak Banerjee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology won the award in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the economic theory of development and for his pioneering work in the empirical evaluation of public policy. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's daughter Professor Upinder Singh received the award in recognition of her contribution as an outstanding historian of ancient and early medieval Indian history. The prize was comprised of Rs. 50 lakh, a gold medallion and a citation certificate.

Indian Science Awards 2009

The Indian Science Award declared in connection with the 97 th Indian Science Congress has gone to C.R. Rao, statistician. The award instituted by the Department of Science and Technology of the Union Government, carries Rs. 25 lakh in cash. The recipients of other awards given away by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh are: Srinivas Ramanujan Birth Cenetary Award: Rajinder Jeet Hans Gill, Chandigarh; M.N. Saha Birth Centenary award: S.M. Saha, Visiting Professor, University of Mumbai; P.C. Ray Memorial Award: Ganesh Prasad Pandey, Director Grade Scientist, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; H.J. Bhabha Memorial Award: Anilkumar, scientist, National Chemical Laboratory, Pune; J.C. Bose Memorial Award: N.K. Gupta, IIT Delhi; Vikram Sarabhai Memorial Award: K. Radhakrishnan, Chairman, ISRO; B.P. Lal Memorial Award: Laligi Singh, Director, Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad; Millennium plaques of Honour: R. Gadagkar, Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Bangalore; D. Datta, Scientific Officer (G), BARC, Mumbai; Excellence in science and technology award: Srikumar Banerjee, Director, BARC, Mumbai; Prof. R.C. Mehrotra Memorial Lifetime Achievement Award: R. Ramamurthi, Visiting Scientist, formerly Vice-Chancellor, Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati; M.K. Singal Memorial Award: Satya Deo, Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad; CSIR Award, G.U. Ramachandran Gold Medal: N.R.N. Murthy, IISc, Bangalore; General President Gold Medal: A. Jayakrishnan, Vice-Chancellor, University of Kerala; T.K. Alex, Director, ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore; Roger Yonchien Tsien, Professor Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, San Diego; John Cromwell Mather, senior astrophysicist at the U.S space agency NASA; and U.R. Rao, former Chairman, ISRO.

International

U.K. Indians in New Year's honours

Two prominent Britons of Indian origin? a jurist and a businessman were honoured for their contribution to British society. Mota Singh, QC, Britain's first Asian Judge, has been given a knighthood and would now be known as Sir Mota and Paramjit Singh Bassi, Chairman of a private investment firm, an MBBE. They are among more than 900 British citizens named in the New Year's Honours list, a much awaited annual event.

In a record, value of Pi calculated to 2.7tn digits

A French computer scientist claims to have set a new record in the calculation of mathematical constant pi. Fabrice Bellard says he has calculated the value of pi to nearly 2.7 trillion digits, some 123 billion more than the previous record. These Herculean computations form part of a branch of mathematics known as arbitrary-precision arithmetic.

Cuba trips up 'Hagen pact

The Copenhagen Accord will not become an official consensus decision under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change with Cuba formally rejecting it. The formal submission by Cuba to the UN opposing the controversial accord, comes after four countries? Venezuela, Bolvia, Cuba and Sudan? had opposed it during the recently concluded climate meet. With confusion still prevailing on the legal status as well as implications of signing on to the Copenhagen Accord, the hosts of the recently concluded acrimonious climate talks, Denmark, have asked countries to indicate their approval of the accord by January-end. The accord, for the first time in the history of climate negotiations, requires developing countries to list their domestic actions for mitigation in an international document.

At 350 kph, China has world's fastest train

China launched what it described as the world's fastest train, one that can travel at an average speed of 350kph and devour distances. By comparison, the average for high speed trains in Japan is 243kph while in France it is 277kph. The train reached a maximum speed of 394.2kph during trial runs.

Dubai opens Burj

Dubai opened the world's tallest structure on January 4, 2010. Dubai's ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum renamed the 2, 717 ft tower 'Burj Khafila' after the President of the United Arab Emirates and the ruler of the neighboring emirate of Abu Dhabi. The tower pips all its nearest rivals in height, including the 101-storey high Taipei Tower in Taiwan.

Sports

Somdev 161 in the latest ATP rankings

The early exit from Chennai Open cost Somdev Devvarman 35 places as the wiry Indian dropped to 161 in the latest ATP singles ranking issued on January 11, 2010. However, doubles specialists Mahesh Bhupathi (7) and Leander Paes (8) had their rankings unchanged. Meanwhile, in the WTA singles rankings, Sania Mirza rose a rung to 56 despite a second round exit from the Auckland event.

Sri Lanka wins the final ODI against India

Sri Lanka defeated India by four wickets in a low scoring final to lift the Cricket Tri Series on January 13, 2010.

News and Views

• Harry Potter is "the greatest entertainer of the decade". The child-witch character, created by author JK Rowling, beat every television show, film and song as well as popular social networking sites such as YouTube and Facebook to land the title, according to the U.S. magazine, Entertainment Weekly.
• France's Eiffel Tower has been named the most favourite building of the world, leaving behind the Taj Mahal and New York's Statue of Liberty, according to a new survey. The other structures in the top 10 are the Sydney Opera House, Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, the Acropolis in Athens and Christ the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro.

Science and Technology

Bivalent oral vaccine against polio

A new weapon will now lead India's fight against polio. The government launched first-of-its-kind bivalent oral polio vaccine (BOPV), a single drop to protect against two deadly strains of polio presently existing in the country? P1 and P3. The vaccine currently being used in the country is a monovalent one. It protects against a single strain causing the crippling disease. MOPV1 protects against the P1 strain of polio virus that causes large outbreaks and paralyses one out of every 200 children infected. MOPV3, on the other hand, protects against the P3 strain which causes paralysis in one out of every 1,000 infections.

Hubble takes earliest photo of toddler universe

The US Hubble Space telescope has captured the earliest image yet of the universe, just 600 million years old, after the Big Bang, when the universe was just a toddler. It is the most complete picture of the early universe so far, showing galaxies with stars that are already hundred of millions of years old, along with the unmistakable primordial signs of the first cluster of stars. These young galaxies haven't yet formed their familiar spiral or elliptical shapes and are much smaller and quite blue in colour. That's mostly because at this stage, they don't contain many heavy metals.