Weekly Current Affairs Update-December 4 to 10, 2011

7/31/2019 Weekly Current Affairs Update-December 4 to 10, 2011

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For the Week: December 4 to 10, 2011

Weekly Current Affairs updateFor the Week: December 4 to 10, 2011

Major news of the week

Section A: INDIA Report on Lokpal Bill tabled in Rajya Sabha Govt. for regulating content on social networking sites India wanted 358 items removed Google Identity card under NPR not UIDAI Home Ministry SC Committee to intervene in Mullaperiyar dam dispute India and China hold 4 th Annual Defence Dialogue President witnesses Sudarshan Shakti exercises Ukraine seeks defence relationship with India Embraer completes first test flight of AWACS for India Armys logistic service celebrates 251 st anniversary Results of byelections in 8 Assembly, 1 LS seat declared A.P. government survives no-trust motion

Bihar Assembly passes Lokayukta Bill Bill on ST status for Manipur communities introduced Bill to bifurcate cadre for Tripura, Manipur introduced Kudankulam maintained in safe mode AERB Chairman States given 4 weeks to enforce number plate schemeSC Uttarakhand to create four districts Producer challenges TN govt ban on Dam 999 Environmental clearance given to Tipaimukh project All govt schools now have drinking water 1st film with health warnings on smoking scenes released President appoints Governors committee on agriculture Bihar Assembly approves renaming Gaya airport CMS Vatavaran-2011 organised ICSI Foundation Day celebrated Trinidad and Tobago Finance Minister visits India New Delhi, Kabul sign MoU on education Armed Forces Flag Day observed Akbaruddin is new External Affairs spokesperson Dev Anand passes away Sukna scam: Lt Gen Prakash found guilty, dismissed

Section B: WORLD Durban Climate Change talks conclude Hazares movement among top 10 news of 2011 Time India has the highest no. of poor in the world OECD ILOs Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting organised EU nations in tax & budget pact to tackle debt crisis Croatia signs treaty to join EU in 2013 Int. conference on the future of Afghanistan organised Nepal parties agree on new plan to draft constitution Australia lifts ban on uranium export to India Indonesian parliament endorses accession to CTBT International Anti-Corruption Day observed Community of LatAm & Caribbean States launched European Union to slash development aid to India

World Court rules against Greece in Macedonia case US starts vacating Shamsi airbase in Pakistan

New Zealand ruling party agrees to coalition deal India-Sri Lanka ferry, the Scotia Prince, impounded China overtakes India as Diabetes Capital of world World Telugu meet organised in Mauritius UNEP report on Women & Climate Change unveiled Elio Di Rupo appointed new PM in Belgium Kabila declared winner of Congo Presidential election Biden to remain Vice Presidential candidate

Section C: AWARDS Porfirio is Best Film at India International Film Festival Akal Takht honours Punjab CM Badal

Delhis cluster bus scheme wins Urban Transport award S.K. Satheesh wins Earth Sciences Prize

Section D: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Astronomers confirm presence of earth-like planet LHC: Higgs boson may have been glimpsed

Section E: ECONOMY & CORPORATE Government puts FDI in retail on hold Mid-year review trims growth forecast to 7.5% CRISIL cuts 2011-12 GDP growth forecast to 7% C-DoTs broadband technology shared with cos National Common Mobility Card launched 20th World Petroleum Congress organised Urban Mobility India 2011 organised Vedanta completes Cairn India acquisition Govt rules out any changes to RILs D6 contract terms RBI notifies new FDI norms for pharma sector Pharmaceuticals Pricing Policy receives mixed response Bill to amend law governing Prasar Bharati passed World Bank to provide $60 million for urban local bodies Indias exports in April-November 2011 at $ 192.7 billion Per capita income rises to Rs 54,000 in 2010-11 Credit default swaps debut in India 3rd India-Africa Hydrocarbons Conference organised 4th Global Conference on Tax and Inequality organised India, Canada sign MOU to boost diamond sector Bills on CWC and Exim Bank introduced Finance Ministry sets up panel to look into IFCI CAG takes over as Chairman of UN Auditors Panel

Section F: SPORTS India beat West Indies 4-1 in ODI series Australia wins Champions Trophy Hockey McIlroy wins Hong Kong Open golf Footballer Socrates passes away Platini agrees to change calendar for 2022 W Cup


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Section A: INDIA

NEWS ROUND UP

Parliamentary Committee report on Lokpal Bill tabled in Rajya Sabha

Team Anna demands Parliamentary Committees responseComplete inclusion of PM Has left it to the wisdom of ParliamentComplete inclusion of CBI CBI will not come under Lokpal but will investigate after a preliminary

inquiry by LokpalComplete inclusion of lower bureaucracy Group C central govt employees to come under CVC while state

employees to come under LokayuktaComplete inclusion of judiciary Judiciary should be dealt with in the judicial standards and

accountability billInclusion of citizens charter To be dealt with in the grievance redressal billSetting up of Lokayuktas in states Has been accepted by the committee

Differences within the committee Inclusion of PM : Left, BJP, BJD feel PM should be included with safeguards while one member, Prashant Majumdar, wants completeinclusion of PM. Govt had suggested PM should be investigated after he demits officeCVC under Lokpal : 3 Cong members feel CVC should come under LokpalInclusion of Group C employees : Three Congress and all BJP members have demanded inclusion of entire bureaucracy under LokpalCBI autonomy : BJP & BJD demanded appointments of CBI director be done by Lokpal selection panelCitizens charter : BJP has demanded citizens charter be included in Lokpal

The report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel and Law and Justice on Lokpal Bill was tabled in the Rajya Sabha onDecember 9, 2011. The Chairman of the Committee, Abhishek Manu Singhvi, said the report has been adopted subject to various dissentnotes that will be faithfully reflected in the main report.

Dissent within the Committee

The report of the Standing Committee on Law and Justice on the Lokpal Bill, which was tabled in Parliament on December 9, 2011, saw17 of the 30 members recording their dissent.

Three Congress members, Meenakshi Natarajan, P T Thomas and Deepa Dasmunsi have suggested that the CVC be placed under theLokpal and the state vigilance commissions under the Lokayukta. They also want that investigations into corruption cases by the CBI besubjected to the control of Lokpal. Their third demand is that Group C officers be brought under the jurisdiction of the Lokpal.

Apart from the three Congress members, 14 others also advocated inclusion of Group C employees under the Lokpal. These included BJPmembers Kirti Azad, Harin Pathak, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Bal Apte, Madhusudan Yadav and D B Chandre Gowda, Vijay BahadurSingh of the BSP, A Sampath of the CPM, Prasanta Majumdar of RSP and Shailendra Kumar of SP.

The six BJP MPs, Sampath, Majumdar and Pinaki Misra (BJD) also backed bringing the prime minister under the purview of Lokpal.

Team Anna not satisfied

Team Anna called the report as weak, accusing the government of betraying the people of India. Lashing out at the Lokpal draft report,the 74-year-old activist said that it does not include some of his key demands. These include the inclusion of the Prime Minister, lowerbureaucracy and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under the purview of Lok Pal.

While the report remains non-committal on the PMs issue, leaving it instead for Parliament to decide, it does not favour juniorbureaucrats being answerable to the nine-member Lokpal.


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Hazare is also unhappy about the exclusion of the CBI from the Lokpals purview in the draft report. The government as well as theinvestigating agency is opposed to his demand, contending that it will affect the autonomy of the institution.

Norms soon to regulate content on social networking sites SibalThe Government will soon formulate guidelines to regulate content on social networking Web sites, including Facebook, Twitter andGoogle Plus. The Communications and IT Minister, Kapil Sibal, on December 6, 2011 said that the guidelines have been necessitatedbecause the companies that own these Web sites have refused to remove objectionable content despite several requests.

He said that though the Government was not in favour of censorship, it would not allow offensive content on the social networking sites.Though the Minister did not elaborate the meaning of objectionable content, he showed some examples of morphed pictures withreligious connotation uploaded on social networking sites.

Reacting to the Ministers comments, Facebook said it removes any content that violates its own terms but emphasised that it wants to bea platform where people can discuss things freely. The social networking giant has 38 million users in India.

Google said that it removes illegal content regularly but when content is legal and controversial it does not remove it because peoples

differing views should be respected so long as they are legal.

India today has over 10-crore Internet users, third largest in the world after China and the U.S., which is likely to more than double by2015. India also has over 2.8-crore Facebook users and is the fifth largest Facebook user base in the world and is expected to becomesecond largest by the end of 2012.

Sibals demand of deploying resources by websites for pre-screening of offensive content is deemed impossible by experts. According tonoted cyber law expert Pavan Duggal, There is no law at present to deal with pre-screening of material on the web. Pre-publicationscreening is not workable and asking the companies to do so will not help.

Prior to 2008, under the Information Technology Act, an intermediary (social networking sites fall under this definition) was liable forthird-party content unless it could show the offence was committed without its knowledge or despite its efforts. However, after revamp of the IT Act in 2008, intermediaries are not liable for any third-party information, data or communication link made available or hosted bythem.

Intermediaries, by definition, include web-hosting providers that would include companies like Amazon, cyber cafes, online auction sites,internet service providers like BSNL, Airtel, etc. Blogs fall in this category, too, as networked service providers. The due diligencespecifies intermediaries should not display, upload or publish any information that is harmful , abusive , blasphemous , defamatory, obscene , pornographic , paedophilic , invasive of anothers privacy, racially, ethnically or otherwise objectionable. According tonoted cyber law expert Pavan Duggal, There is no law at present to deal with pre-screening of material on the web. Pre-publicationscreening is not workable and asking the companies to do policing will not help.

Information Technology (Intermediaries guidelines) Rules, 2011, introduced earlier this year, require Internet intermediaries -thatincludes sites like YouTube, Facebook and companies that host websites or provide Internet connections - to respond to any officialdemand to take down offensive content within 36 hours.

While government cannot hold the platform provider, in this case the website, responsible for the data uploaded by the user, they can beheld for a case of defamation if the offensive content has been pointed out to them and they refuse to block it. The IT Act requires emailproviders like Yahoo, Microsoft or Google to cooperate with the government in case access to a users account is required for securityreasons.

India wanted 358 items removed Google


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If the Mullaperiyar dam breaks due to flood or earthquake, a mass disaster would follow, wherein not only the life and property of 50lakh people will be affected in Kerala, but lakhs of farmers of Tamil Nadu will also lose irrigation of about 2.5 lakh acres. Hence, TamilNadu should agree for the construction of a new dam offered by Kerala as a precautionary measure, demands Kerala.

Kerala Cabinet decided to lower the water level in Idukki reservoir as a precautionary measure on November 30, 2011 in view of theprecarious condition of Mullaperiyar dam upstream of Idukki. Water level will be lowered to the extent that waters from Mullaperiyarcould be contained in Idukki reservoir in case of failure of Mullaperiyar dam.

Empowered Committee to intervene

The Supreme Court-appointed committee on Mullaperiyar Dam dispute met in New Delhi on December 6, 2011 during which lawyersrepresenting Tamil Nadu and Kerala made representations on their stands and asked the panel to hear them before submitting its report.The committee headed by former Chief Justice of India AS Anand is expected to submit its report on the controversial issue by February,2012.

At the meeting, Kerala submitted a memorandum before the committee stating that frequent tremors in Idukki district, where the 116-year-old structure is located, was causing damage to the dam and that the state should be heard before the report is finalised.

Tamil Nadu contended before the panel that there was no need for a new dam and that the water level of the existing dam should be raisedfrom the present 136 ft to 142 ft as per a 2006 Supreme Court directive.

TN and Kerala are engaged in a confrontation over the Mullaperiyar Dam issue. While Kerala wants a new dam to be built near theexisting structure, Tamil Nadu wants the water level of the existing dam to be raised to 142 ft.

The empowered committee, headed by former Chief Justice of India A. S. Anand, has decided to send a two-member technical team to thesite of the dam to carry out an on-the-spot assessment of the claims made by both the States.

The committee had earlier conducted a spot inspection of the dam in December 2010.

India and China hold 4 th Annual Defence Dialogue

The 4 th India-China Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) was conducted on December 9, 2011 in the Ministry of Defence in New Delhi. TheIndian side was led by the Defence Secretary, Shashi Kant Sharma. Gen. Ma Xiaotian, Deputy Chief of General Staff, PLA led theChinese side.

The Annual Defence Dialogue (ADD) was established under the provisions of the MOU for Exchanges and Cooperation in the field of Defence, signed between both the countries in May 2006. The 1 st Annual Defence Dialogue was held in Beijing in November 2007,followed by the 2 nd ADD held in India in December 2008. The 3 rd Annual Defence Dialogue was held in Beijing in January 2010.

The 4 th ADD was conducted in an atmosphere of cordiality and both sides were frank and constructive in their approach during thedeliberations. The Indian and Chinese sides shared regional and global security perceptions. Both sides agreed that enhancement of defence exchanges between the Armed Forces of India and China would contribute to better understanding and mutual trust and

confidence building. Both sides also discussed the programme of defence exchanges during 2012 and agreed that the range and scope of exchanges at various levels would be gradually enhanced.

It was noted that the existing confidence building measures on the Line of Actual Control (LAC) have been successful in maintainingpeace and should continue to be implemented. Both sides agreed that the process of dialogue and communication should be strengthenedat various levels to ensure stability in the border areas.

President witnesses Sudarshan Shakti exercises : President Pratibha Patil, Supreme Commander of the armed forces, onDecember 5, 2011 witnessed one of the largest military exercises in recent times Sudarshan Shakti aimed at starting the


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Lokayukta would be free from bureaucratic and political hindrances. The Chairman of the Legislative Council will act as co-coordinatorof the five-member Lokayukta selection committee. The committee will include the Speaker of the Assembly, as also two sitting judges,nominated by the Chief Justice of the Patna High Court and the Chief Minister. Out of this selection committee, a search panel will beconstituted and it will have a time-limit of three months to draw up a list of probable candidates for Lokayukta. The search committeemust include at least two members from the judiciary.

Bill on ST status to Manipur communities introduced : A Bill seeking to give Scheduled Tribe status to Inpui, Rongmei,Liangmai, Zeme, Thangal and Mate communities of Manipur and substitute Galong with Galo the right name of the tribe in the listof Arunachal Pradesh was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 7, 2011. The Bill to amend the original Constitution (ScheduledTribes) Order, 1950 was introduced by Minister of Tribal Affairs V. Kishore Chandra Deo. There are now 33 communities appearing inthe list of Schedule Tribes in Manipur and the amendment will meet a long-standing demand for considering grant of the ST status tothese communities. In the Arunachal Pradesh list, the Galong community was mentioned. The State government has been recommendingfor long that the name Galo be substituted with Galong. Galong is a distorted version of the original world Galo. A change is, therefore,required in the list of ST in Arunachal Pradesh, the Constitution (Scheduled Tribes) Order (Amendment) Bill, 2011 said.

Bill on bifurcation of cadre for Tripura, Manipur introduced : A Bill to bifurcate the joint cadre of IAS, IPS and Forest Servicefor Tripura and Manipur was introduced in the Lok Sabha on December 7, 2011. The North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) AmendmentBill, 2011 was introduced by Minister of State for Home M. Ramachandran to amend the original Act of 1971. Once the new law comesinto force, Tripura and Manipur will have a separate cadre of the IAS, a separate cadre of the IPS and a separate cadre of the Indian ForestService. At present, there is a joint cadre of these services for the two States.

Kudankulam plant being maintained in safe mode AERB Chairman : All measures have been taken to maintain the safemode of critical systems with skeletal staff at the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant in spite of work coming to a halt at the project sitefollowing protests, S.S. Bajaj, Chairman, Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), said in Chennai on December 8, 2011 on thesidelines of the 43 rd annual conference of the Society of Nuclear Medicine (India). Dr. Bajaj said that the AERB was also reviewing safetymeasures at the Kudankulam plant and getting status reports on a periodic basis as a large contingent of Russian and Ukrainian engineersworking on the project have been denied access to the site for several weeks in the wake of the protests. The plant, which was givenvarious clearances after applying stringent parameters, had reached an advanced stage of commissioning before work was halted.

States given 4 weeks to enforce number plate scheme : Giving the State governments the last opportunity to ensure that vehicles

have tamper-proof, high security number plates, the Supreme Court has directed them to implement the scheme within four weeks. In aclear warning on December 8, 2011, a Bench headed by Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia said contempt proceedings would be initiated againstState authorities, without issuing any notice, in case of non-compliance with the scheme within the time limit. No further time would begranted to enforce the scheme. The court passed the order on a PIL petition filed by All-India Anti-Terrorist Front chairman M.S. Bitta,seeking its direction to introduce tamper-proof, number plates and licences.

Uttarakhand to create four districts : The Uttarakhand Government on December 8, 2011 issued an order regarding the creation of four new districts Kotdwar and Yamunotri in the Garhwal Division and Ranikhet and Didihaat in the Kumaon Division. Whenformally created, these will take the number of districts in the State to 17. Kotdwar will be carved out of Pauri Garhwal, Yamunotri out of Uttarkashi, Ranikhet out of Almora and Didihaat out of Pithoragarh district. Chief Minister B.C. Khanduri said the districts will formallybe created after the upcoming Assembly elections due to restrictions by the Election Commission.

Producer challenges Tamil Nadu govt ban on film Dam 999 : The Supreme Court on December 8, 2011 asked the Tamil Nadugovernment to hear the objections of Sohan Roy, producer and director of Hollywood film Dam 999, on December 12 and passappropriate orders by December 16. A Bench of Justices A.K. Ganguly and J.S. Khehar passed the order on a petition filed by Roy thatchallenged the ban on his film by the Tamil Nadu government.

Environmental clearance given to Tipaimukh project : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on December 3, 2011 said thatenvironmental clearance had been given to the proposed Tipaimukh dam project on the River Barak in Manipur to be funded by the WorldBank. Addressing a public meeting in Imphal, the Prime Minister said that the forest clearance process for the project was underway. The1500 MW joint venture Tipaimukh Hydro Electricity Project is proposed to be constructed on the tri-junction of Manipur, Mizoram andAssam over the Barak River which originates in Manipurs Senapati district. Earlier, media reports had said that the Bangladeshgovernment had reservations on the project as they had said it would affect their water management. Earlier the Prime Minister and the


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UPA chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, inaugurated new buildings in the Manipur capital, including the new Assembly complex and CityConvention Centre, during a days day visit to the state. They also inaugurated the Manipur Film Development Corporation complex andthe Inter State Bus Terminus.

All govt schools now have drinking water : India has crossed a major milestone by being able to provide drinking water in allgovernment run schools, though it took 65 years since independence and a lot of persuasion followed by coercion from the SupremeCourt. The case started in the SC in 2004 with an NGO Environmental and Consumer Protection Foundation complaining about lack of drinking water facility in the national capital. Later, the court expanded the scope of the PIL and asked all state and Union Territories togive status report about availability of drinking water in all government run schools. On December 5, 2011, a bench of Justices DalveerBhandari and Dipak Misra announced that all states have on oath told the apex court that they have provided drinking water facility in allschools. The court also asked for status report about toilet facilities in the schools. The bench said, It is imperative that all schools mustprovide toilet facilities. Wherever separate toilets are not provided, parents are reluctant to send their daughters to schools. It clearlyviolates a girl childs right to education guaranteed under Article 21A of the Constitution.

First film with health warnings on smoking scenes released : Bezawada is the first feature film to carry health warnings onevery smoking scene as required under the just notified second amendment of the Rules of the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products(Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003. Released in thefirst week of December 2011, the Telugu film has 10 smoking scenes, all of which depict health warnings by way of scroll. A similarwarning smoking is injurious to health is shown at the beginning of the movie, also as required under the new rules that came intoeffect from November 14.

President appoints Governors committee on agriculture : President Pratibha Patil on December 1, 2011 constituted a Committeeof Governors under the chairmanship of Shivraj Patil, Governor of Punjab & Rajasthan to study and recommend measures for enhancingproductivity, profitability, sustainability and competitiveness of the agriculture sector in India with special reference to rainfed areafarming. The Committee will deliberate on the need for formulating requisite policy initiatives and legislative measures, institutionalreforms including restructuring and convergence of schemes at local level so as to integrate with the village economy and avenues andprospects for investment in agriculture and allied sectors. It will also discuss on measures for transfer of innovations and new cutting edgetechnologies to the farm and allied sectors, steps to meet the emerging scenario of farm labour and farm mechanization and also torecommend the role and participation of agriculture related Public Sector Undertakings, agriculture Universities and Research Institutionsboth at the Central and State levels in the promotion of sustainable agriculture and knowledge management and a way forward for Farmer-

Industry Partnership.

Bihar Assembly approves renaming Gaya airport : The Bihar Assembly on December 5, 2011 unanimously passed a resolutionrenaming Gaya international airport as Bhagwan Buddha International Airport to mark the 2600 th year of attainment of enlightenment byLord Buddha. The resolution was introduced by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who said that the re-naming will boost religious tourism inGaya which has the world famous Mahabodhi temple and Mahabodhi tree which are revered by Buddhists.

CMS Vatavaran-2011 organised : A five-day film festival on wildlife and environment, CMS Vatavaran-2011 Environment andWildlife Film Festival, India was organised at the Convention Centre, New Delhi City Centre (NDCC) in New Delhi from December 6 to10, 2011. A total of 114 films were screened. In addition to film screenings, the festival, themed around Biodiversity Conservation,hosted an award ceremony for young environment journalists and film-makers, a summit for Asian film-makers, special programmes forchildren throughout the event and discussions on the environment with more than 50 speakers and 300 delegates from 15 countries. Kosi:Injustice with Millions of Villagers and Revolt by Kosi River by Vishal Nityanand was declared Best Indian film while SoLa: Louisiana

Water Stories by Jon Bowermaster of the US was the Best film in international category.

ICSI Foundation Day celebrated : The Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas and Corporate Affairs, R.P.N. Singhdelivered the inaugural address at the ICSI Foundation Day Celebrations, in New Delhi on December 9, 2011.

Trinidad and Tobago Finance Minister visits India : The Finance Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Winston Dookeran called onthe Union Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, in New Delhi on December 8, 2011.


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New Delhi, Kabul sign MoU on education : The Union Minister for Human Resource Development and Communications andInformation Technology, Kapil Sibal and the Education Minister of Afghanistan, Farooq Wardak exchanging the signed an MoU in thefield of education between India and Afghanistan, in New Delhi on December 8, 2011.

Armed Forces Flag Day observed : The Armed Forces Flag Day was observed on December 7, 2011.

NEWSMAKERSSyed Akbaruddin is new spokesperson of External Affairs MinistrySyed Akbaruddin will be the new spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs replacing Vishnu Prakash, who will be the nextAmbassador to South Korea. Akbaruddin has served in Indias Permanent Mission in New York, on deputation to the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency and in Indian missions in Cairo, Riyadh and Islamabad. An order naming him to the Foreign Offices highvisibility post has been issued in the first week of December 2011.

Dev Anand passes awayHindi cinemas legendary hero Dev Anand passed away on December 3, 2011 in London at the age of 88. Born Dharamdev PishorimalAnand in Gurdaspur of undivided Punjab to a well-to-do advocate Pishorimal Anand on September 26, 1923, he graduated in English

literature from the Government Law College in Lahore. He was the second of three brothers born to Kishorimal Anand. His brothersChetan Anand and Vijay Anand were also into filmmaking. Ruling the roost in Hindi cinema for decades, Dev Anand won the FilmfareBest Actor Awards for his role in Kala Pani in 1958 and for Guide in 1966. He also won the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award in1991. In 2001, he was bestowed Padma Bhushan, the countrys third highest civilian honour. In 2002, he won the Dadasaheb Phalkeaward for cinematic excellence. Dev Anand turned to direction later in his career. His movie Chargesheet was recently released under thebanner of Navketan International Films, a production company he launched in 1949. Anand was offered his first big break by Ashok Kumar who picked him as the hero for the Bombay Talkies production, Ziddi (1948), co-starring Kamini Kaushal, which became aninstant success. His autobiography Romancing with Life was released in September 2007.

Sukna scam: Lt Gen Prakash found guilty, dismissedFormer military secretary Lt Gen Avadesh Prakash was on December 3, 2011 found guilty on three counts by an Army court in Guwahatiin the Sukna land scam case following which he was dismissed from service. The dismissal means he will not get any benefits likepension. However, the court gave Lt Gen Prakash, the senior-most Army officer to face court martial, benefit of doubt on the fourth countof committing a civil offence. Prakash was held guilty of misusing his position under the Army Act section 45 (conduct unbecoming of his position as an officer) and section 52 (intent to defraud) by the General Court Martial. The court martial was conducted after Prakashwas indicted by an Army court of inquiry in 2010 for his role in the illegal transfer of 71 acres of land adjacent to the Sukna militarystation near Siliguri in West Bengal to a private realtor for constructing an educational institution in 2008.

Section B: WORLD NEW ROUND UPDurban Climate Change talks conclude

The UN Climate Change talks at Durban, South Africa concluded on December 11, 2011 with an agreement that the chair said had savedtomorrow, today.

The European Union will place its current emission-cutting pledges inside the legally-binding Kyoto Protocol, a key demand of developing countries.

Talks on a new legal deal covering all countries will begin next year and end by 2015, coming into effect by 2020.

Management of a fund for climate aid to poor countries has also been agreed, though how to raise the money has not.


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Talks ran nearly 36 hours beyond their scheduled close. The conclusion was delayed by a dispute between the EU and India over theprecise wording of the roadmap for a new global deal. India did not want a specification that it must be legally binding. Eventually, aBrazilian diplomat came up with the formulation that the deal must have legal force, which proved acceptable. The roadmap proposaloriginated with the EU, the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the Least Developed Countries bloc (LDCs). They argued thatonly a new legal agreement eventually covering emissions from all countries - particularly fast-growing major emitters such as China -could keep the rise in global average temperatures since pre-industrial times below 2C (3.6F), the internationally-agreed threshold.

Delegates from the Basic group - Brazil, South Africa, India and China - criticised what they saw as a tight timetable and excessivelegality. India believes in maintaining the current stark division where only countries labelled developed have to cut their greenhousegas emissions. Western nations, Jayanthi Natarajan, Indias environment minister said, have not cut their own emissions as they hadpledged; so why should poorer countries have to do it for them? Xie Zhenhua, head of the Chinese delegation, agreed.

However, Bangladesh and some other developing countries weighed in on the side of AOSIS, saying a new legally-binding deal wasneeded.

AOSIS and the LDCs agree that rich countries need to do more. But they also accept analyses concluding that fast-developing countriessuch as China will need to cut their emissions several years in the future if governments are to meet their goal of keeping the rise in globalaverage temperature since pre-industrial times below 2C.

Once the roadmap blockage had been cleared, everything else followed quickly.

A management framework was adopted for the Green Climate Fund, which will eventually gather and disburse finance amounting to$100bn per year to help poor countries develop cleanly and adapt to climate impacts.

There has also been significant progress on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation (REDD).

Environment groups were divided in their reaction, with some finding it a significant step forward and others saying it had done nothing tochange the course of climate change. Many studies indicate that current pledges on reducing emissions are taking the Earth towards atemperature rise of double the 2C target.

Anna Hazares movement among top 10 news stories of 2011: Time magazine

Anna Hazares anti-corruption movement that saw Indians rally in support has been named among the top 10 news stories in the worldthis year by Time magazine on December 8, 2011. Top 10 World-News Stories are:

1. The Arab Spring Blooms in Tunisia and Egypt

When a young man set himself aflame on a street in the Tunisian town of Sidi Bouzid, his cry of anguish at the hardship of life under astifling autocracy echoed across the region. Within weeks, his protest had sparked a full-blown people-power revolution that spreadquickly throughout the Middle East. Nowhere were its effects more dramatic than in Egypt, the most populous country in the Arab worldand its cultural epicentre. The regime of President Hosni Mubarak, backed by considerable aid from the U.S., had held sway for threedecades and entrenched itself in all corners of Egyptian society.

But the spectacle of Tunisians ousting their long-ruling President, Zine el Abidine Ben Ali, gave courage to myriad Egyptian dissidentgroups. Through social media and the Internet, protesters organized a Day of Revolt on Jan. 25, with tens of thousands taking to the streetsagainst Mubarak. Cairos Tahrir Square once a pedestrian-unfriendly traffic circle became the locus of protest and symbolic homeof the revolution. In a matter of weeks, a regime that for so long seemed invincible simply unravelled; authorities announced Mubaraksdeparture on Feb. 11. Hes now on trial, at the order of the interim military government, on corruption charges and for the brutalcrackdown by state security forces that led to the deaths of nearly 1,000 protesters. Egypt held its first democratic elections Nov. 27, butits struggles are far from over: for weeks ahead of the vote, thousands massed at Tahrir Square yet again, voicing their disquiet with themilitarys dubious commitment to real democracy. With Egypts Islamist parties buoyed by a strong showing in the Nov. 27 vote, thestruggle for power only grows trickier.


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2. The Killing of Osama bin Laden

On Sunday night, May 1, 2011, President Barack Obama made a televised declaration from the White House, heralding the discovery anddeath of Osama bin Laden, the U.S.s most wanted foe. Bin Laden had been tracked to a compound in Abbottabad, a leafy town not farfrom Islamabad, Pakistans capital. The clandestine raid that followed carried out by a crack unit of Navy SEALs took the world(and likely Pakistans leaders) by surprise. Bin Ladens body was reportedly given Muslim rites of burial and dumped into the ArabianSea.

The repercussions of his death were legion. It capped the decade-long manhunt that had originally driven the U.S. to war in neighboringAfghanistan, while sounding a death knell for al-Qaeda, a group that had already lost much of its allure and capabilities in the decade thatfollowed the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. More crucially, the discovery of the location of bin Ladens hideout not in a mountain cave butin a quiet suburb just down the road from Pakistans main military academy raised obvious alarms over Islamabads commitment tofighting extremists. The ensuing months saw a steady deterioration of ties between Washington and Islamabad, with growing calls in theU.S. Congress to cut aid to Pakistans murky military, whose intelligence agency, the ISI, is considered to have a long history of abettingmilitant groups in Afghanistan and India

3. Japans Triple Disaster

James Nachtwey, an award-winning photographer for TIME who has spent years documenting the ravages of war, was awed by thedestruction caused by the March 11 earthquake off the northeast coast of Japan and the cataclysmic tsunami it spawned. The scale of thisis beyond belief. Its apocalyptic, he said after visiting Japan in the quakes aftermath. Measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale, the temblorwas one of the worst natural disasters in modern history, so powerful it knocked the whole planet off its axis by a foot. It also posed thegreatest challenge to Japan since the end of World War II.

The quake and the waves it produced decimated towns and cities along an entire stretch of the northeastern Honshu coast. Nearly 16,000residents are estimated dead, and the price of the disaster may reach into the hundreds of billions of dollars. Thats in part because of athird crisis that followed the earthquake and tsunamis one-two punch: a major meltdown at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant,caused after tsunami waves overwhelmed the facility and corrupted its coolant systems. The problems at Fukushima proved to be thequakes most enduring aftershock, causing months of frantic emergency efforts, scares over radioactive contamination and global hand-

wringing over the safety and viability of nuclear energy around the world.

4. Europes Financial Crisis

The after-effects of the financial crisis laid bare the clumsy and at times irresponsible state of affairs underlying growth and prosperity in anumber of euro-zone economies, particularly in Greece, where a proposed IMF and European bailout package mandated crippling budgetcuts and other austerity measures. In response, tens of thousands took to the streets in Athens and elsewhere to protest the prevailingfinancial institutions and feckless political elites that got them into the mess in the first place. Similar anti-austerity demonstrations rockedSpain, where the indignados, the outraged, occupied Madrids iconic Puerta del Sol square for weeks.

In both countries, incumbent governments fell and beleaguered Prime Ministers departed. The threat of fiscal contagion from Greecespreading elsewhere pushed Italy the euro zones third biggest economy to the brink and forced the departure of controversial PrimeMinister Silvio Berlusconi, a man who had been unbowed by an earlier string of sex and corporate scandals. The crisis has strained the

very fabric of the E.U. and threatened the dissolution of the common euro currency, as disgruntled voters in Germany the continentsmain economic engine and biggest lender and elsewhere chafe at Brussels-imposed austerity measures and at their own governmentsobligation to bail out struggling neighbours

5. The Fall of Gaddafi

Muammar Gaddafis four-decade-long dictatorial rule over the oil-rich North African nation of Libya came to a grisly end Oct. 20, 2011,but the months preceding his death were similarly bloody. In early March, uprisings sparked by the Arab Spring unrest in neighboringEgypt and Tunisia exploded into full-fledged civil war, as barely trained militias rose up against Gaddafis forces, and several prominentallies and generals defected to their cause. Prompted by a rumoured threat of genocide should Gaddafi overrun the rebel stronghold of


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Benghazi, the United Nations adopted a resolution in March that in essence legitimated a foreign intervention. NATO operations formallybegan at the start of April and steadily rolled back Gaddafis forces. But the war drifted on for months as Libyas rebels struggled to holdtheir regained ground, while their Western allies led by the U.K., France and the U.S. remained wary of putting their own boots onthe ground. By the end of fighting, an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 Libyans had died; hundreds of thousands more had been displaced asrefugees. The steady toll of air strikes enabled rebel advances to seize the capital, Tripoli, sending Gaddafi and the last vestiges of hisregime scurrying to his hometown of Sirte. On Oct. 20, after being discovered cowering in a sewage ditch, Gaddafi was seized by rebelsand killed, his body placed on display in a meat locker in the port city of Misratah

6. The Arab Spring in the Weeds

In Tunisia and Egypt, the popular protests of the Arab Spring sent long-ruling dictators tumbling. But similar uprisings in Syria andYemen havent played out that way. Both Syrian President Bashar Assad and Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh have long presidedover fractious, complex societies and consolidated their rule through webs of patronage spread across sectarian, tribal lines. The upheavalsof 2011 unravelled that status quo in spasms of violence.

Saleh, after months of tribal insurrections, an Islamist insurgency and the defections of key military men, agreed in November to stepdown from power. Roughly 2,000 protesters have been slain in the process, and its unclear what sort of political order will emerge inwhat is one of the Arab worlds poorest nations. In Syria, the calculus is even more grim. The Assad regime has bitterly clung to power,confronting protesters weekly with tanks and rocket fire. The bloodshed the U.N. estimates that more than 3,500 have been slain hashorrified Damascuss neighbours and allies, with some calling for Assads departure. The Arab League has demanded an immediatecessation of hostilities and recently levelled sanctions against the Syrian state, an act that appeared only to push Assad and his remainingloyalists further into a blood-soaked corner.

7. Famine in the Horn of Africa

The Horn of Africa seems to be one of the most perennially unstable parts of the world, plagued by myriad insurgencies, Islamistextremism and the frailty of the Somali government in Mogadishu. Deepening the sense of crisis in the region this year was a terribledrought the worst, by some accounts, in more than 60 years. In July, the U.N. declared much of southern Somalia to be in a state of famine a complicated calculation that, among other metrics, states that over 30% of the local population faces acute malnutrition nota term to be taken lightly. Hundreds of thousands of starving Somalis fled to refugee camps on the Kenyan border at a rate of more than

1,000 a day. The camp at Dadaab, already the worlds largest sanctuary for refugees, was overwhelmed. Relief efforts in much of southernSomalia have been complicated by the dominance there of al-Shabab, an Islamist militia linked to al-Qaeda. While U.N. officials are waryof providing an exact death toll from the famine, some estimates place the figure in the tens of thousands

The Horn of Africa seems to be one of the most perennially unstable parts of the world, plagued by myriad insurgencies, Islamistextremism and the frailty of the Somali government in Mogadishu. Deepening the sense of crisis in the region this year was a terribledrought the worst, by some accounts, in more than 60 years. In July, the U.N. declared much of southern Somalia to be in a state of famine a complicated calculation that, among other metrics, states that over 30% of the local population faces acute malnutrition nota term to be taken lightly. Hundreds of thousands of starving Somalis fled to refugee camps on the Kenyan border at a rate of more than1,000 a day. The camp at Dadaab, already the worlds largest sanctuary for refugees, was overwhelmed. Relief efforts in much of southernSomalia have been complicated by the dominance there of al-Shabab, an Islamist militia linked to al-Qaeda. While U.N. officials are waryof providing an exact death toll from the famine, some estimates place the figure in the tens of thousands

8. The Utoya Massacre

On July 22, Norway experienced its worst single spasm of violence since World War II. In Oslo, a car bomb detonated near a set of prominent government buildings, killing eight people and shocking Norwegians who watched TV footage of smoke pouring from theheart of the otherwise sleepy seaside capital. The news was about to get far grislier: at a youth summer camp run by Norways rulingcenter-left Labour Party on the island of Utoya, a gunman had mowed down 69 people.

While some commentators leaped to pin the attacks on Islamist terrorists, authorities eventually found one culprit: Anders BehringBreivik, a 32-year-old Norwegian and far-right fanatic who shortly before the attacks posted online a manifesto filled with hate forimmigrants, multiculturalists and leftists. Breivik, who has admitted his guilt, has been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic by a panel


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of psychiatrists who ruled he was insane during the attacks. The ruling could see him eventually be committed to a psychiatricinstitution rather than prison at the conclusion of his trial, set to resume in April 2012. Breiviks hideous deeds prompted a moment of introspection in Norway whose government has played such a prominent role in trying to author peace in other parts of the world regarding the rise of far-right extremism there and elsewhere in Europe

9. Dream of Palestinian Statehood Deferred

With the Mideast peace process as moribund as it has ever been, the leaders of the Palestinian Authority this year chose to appeal directlyto the United Nations in their pursuit of statehood. In the months preceding the September U.N. General Assembly, Israeli and Americanofficials warned against the move, arguing that such recognition could be gained only by first directly negotiating with Israeliinterlocutors. But the Palestinians countered that the current right-wing Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hasshown little inclination to achieve a formalized peace and, particularly with its continuing expansion of Israeli settlements in the WestBank and in East Jerusalem, seemed antagonistic to the idea.

When Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas appeared at the U.N. in September and, with a stirring speech before the GeneralAssembly, announced the attempt to achieve full recognition at the Security Council, he was greeted as something of a hero back home.But in subsequent months, the effort proved stillborn: the certainty of a U.S. veto, as well as pressure applied by Washington on othermembers of the Security Council, has almost guaranteed that the Palestinians bid wont get off the ground and may not even reach theGeneral Assembly, where the occupied territories could receive at least the symbolic gloss of international legitimacy.

10. Anna Hazares Hunger Fasts Rock India

In a year with more than its share of protests worldwide, perhaps the most striking act of dissent took place in India, where the countrysruling coalition took flak for a host of corruption cases implicating a number of leading politicians. Anna Hazare, a 74-year-old activistwith a Gandhian air, commanded something of the Mahatmas aura when he embarked on a series of hunger strikes in protest of the graftthat his supporters say pervades all strata of Indian society. Hazares fasts even the threat of them triggered mass demonstrations of support across Indias major cities and heaped pressure on the government to create an independent ombudsman body capable of investigating the nations political elites even the Prime Minister and bringing the corrupt to justice. The anticorruption bill, whichcritics fear could erode Indias robust, albeit imperfect, democracy by placing it under the authority of an unelected institution, is stillbeing debated in Parliament. But the mass support Hazare commanded, particularly from Indias burgeoning middle class, is a sign of thegrowing frustrations and aspirations of those in the worlds largest democracy.

India has the highest number of poor in the world OECD

Inequality in earnings has doubled in India over the past two decades, a new report says, making it one of the worst performers amongemerging economies. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), in its report released on December 7, 2011,says that the top 10% of wage-earners make 12 times more than the bottom 10%, compared to six times 20 years ago. The OECD saysIndia has the highest number of poor in the world. Some 42% of its 1.21 billion people live on less than $1.25 a day. Brazil, Indonesiaand, on some indicators, Argentina have recorded significant progress in reducing inequality over the past 20 years, the report, entitledDivided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising, says. By contrast, China, India, the Russian Federation and South Africa have allbecome less equal over time.

In India, the report says, the ratio between the top and the bottom wage-earners has doubled since the early 1990s. India has also not fared

well in poverty reduction, the report says. It says 42% of Indians live below the poverty line, as against the official Indian figure of 37%.

The Paris-based OECD is a grouping of 34 advanced and emerging economies. Recently, the Indian government was criticised for sayingthat an individual income of Rs. 32 a day in urban areas and Rs. 25 a day in rural areas would help provide for adequate privateexpenditure on food, education and health.

Many experts said the income limit to define the poor was too low and aimed at artificially reducing the number of people below thepoverty line. A World Bank report in May said attempts by the Indian government to combat poverty were not working. It said aidprogrammes were beset by corruption, bad administration and under-payments


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ILOs Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting organised

The 15 th Asia and the Pacific Regional Meeting (ARPM) of the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was organised in Kyoto, Japanfrom December 4 to 7, 2011 amid concerns of huge unemployment among youth in the region, a widening gender gap and the promise of green jobs. About 500 people, including Ministers, representatives of workers and employers organisations, and academics from morethan 46 countries in Asia, the Pacific and the Arab States attended the four-day deliberations. The main thrust of the meeting was todebate how employment, economic and social progress can be safeguarded in the face of the uncertain global economic outlook,according to the ILO.

Director-General of the ILO, Juan Somavia in a statement said, The existing unbalanced growth cannot continue. It has failed to deliver jobs of the quality and quantity needed to assure women and men and their families a decent life. Today, unemployment levels in Asia andthe Pacific have yet to reach the pre-crisis low of 76.9 million in 2007. Nearly 60 per cent of the regions workers are in vulnerableemployment. The crisis of youth employment demands urgent action. Young people make up around 20 per cent of the regionspopulation but are half of the jobless. Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda said that the gap between the rich and the poor waswidening in many countries, including industrialised nations, and a trend depicting an ongoing polarisation of society could be seen.

A report on the Asia-Pacific Labour Market Update produced for the ILOs 15 th ARPM, says that the global outlook is increasinglyuncertain. Asia will not be immune from turbulence and weak demand. While the regions economic performance remains positive insome countries impressively so there are signs of slowing growth, with economic and social vulnerabilities appearing in bothindustrialised and developing Asia.

EU countries agree on tax and budget pact to tackle eurozone debt crisis

European leaders say 26 out of 27 EU member states have backed a tax and budget pact to tackle the eurozone debt crisis. Only the UKhas said it will not join. Prime Minister David Cameron said he had to protect key British interests, including its financial markets. The 17countries that use the euro have all agreed to the deal on December 9, 2011. Nine other countries have said they will sign up, somepending consultations with their parliaments. Hungary originally said it would also remain outside the deal but has now changed itsstance.

Eurozone members and others will adopt an accord with penalties for breaking deficit rules. It will be backed by a treaty betweengovernments, not an EU treaty. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said the UK was the only country to have expressed reservations, butthat Cameron had recognised that a stable euro was in Britains interest. Of the nine other EU countries outside the euro, Hungary, theCzech Republic and Sweden have said they must consult their parliaments. Six others - including Denmark, Poland and Latvia - haveagreed to join the new deal. EU leaders aim to have the pact - known as a fiscal compact - ready to take effect by March.

Its main provisions include: a cap of 0.5% of GDP on countries annual structural deficits; automatic consequences for countries whosepublic deficit exceeds 3% of GDP; the tighter rules to be enshrined in countries constitutions; the EUs permanent bailout facility, theEuropean Stability Mechanism (ESM), to be accelerated and brought into force in July 2012; the adequacy of 500bn-euro limit for theESM to be reassessed; eurozone and other EU countries to provide up to 200bn euros to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to helpdebt-stricken eurozone members.

Croatia signs treaty to join EU in 2013 : Croatia has signed a treaty to make it the 28th member of the European Union from mid-2013, becoming the EUs second ex-Yugoslav member after Slovenia. EU Council President Herman Van Rompuy on December 9, 2011welcomed the historic treaty signed at the EU summit in Brussels after seven years of negotiations. Territorial disputes with Sloveniaand demands for the arrest of war crimes suspects had dogged the bid. Croatian President Ivo Josipovic told the leaders of the 27 existingEU states: Today Croatia is entering Europe, but more importantly Europe is entering Croatia. Yugoslavias split into independent statesin the early 1990s sparked conflicts, the last of which enveloped the Serbian region of Kosovo. Belgrade has refused to recogniseKosovos 2008 declaration of independence.


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International conference on the future of Afghanistan organised : Afghanistan will need the financial support of theinternational community for at least another decade beyond the 2014 departure of international troops, said Afghan President HamidKarzai at the international conference on the future of Afghanistan in Bonn, Germany on December 5, 2011. Pakistan boycotted theconference to protest an apparently errant U.S. air strike in November 2011 that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers along the rough border withAfghanistan. Pakistan is seen as instrumental to ending the insurgency in Afghanistan because of its links to militant groups and itsunwillingness, from the U.S. and NATO perspective, to drive insurgents from safe havens on its soil where they regroup and rearm.During the one-day conference, about 100 nations and international organisations, including the United Nations, jointly pledged politicaland financial long-term support for war-torn Afghanistan to hinder it from falling back into chaos or becoming a safe haven for terrorists.Afghanistans western neighbour, Iran, did join the conference, represented by Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi. Iran stands ready tosupport Afghanistan and an Afghan-led reconciliation process, said Salehi, while strongly condemning the idea of any military basesremaining after 2014.

Nepal CA endorses new work plan to draft constitution : The Nepalese Constituent Assembly (CA) on December 6, 2011endorsed a new work plan to draft the countrys new constitution in a time bound frame keeping in view the last extension given for thepurpose. The new work plan was required to adjust the extended deadline of drafting a new constitution, which was due to expire onNovember 30. On November 29 the CA term has been extended for another six month as the political parties failed to complete the task of writing the new constitution within the extended deadline. The 11 th meeting of the CA (formed in 2008) on December 6 unanimouslypassed the calendar and 13-point work plan prepared by the Dispute Resolution Sub-Committee of Constitutional Committee (CC) tofollow as the guidelines for the plan of action.

Australia lifts ban on uranium export to India : The ruling Australian Labor Partys national conference in Sydney on December 4,2011 voted by a very narrow margin to overturn its long-standing policy banning uranium sales to India. Till now, party policy dictatedthat uranium could only be sold to countries signatory to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT). Prime Minister Julia Gillard hadurged delegates to support the motion, emphasising it would boost trade and enhance the bilateral relationship. The PMs motion wasfinally endorsed by a 206-185 split, revealing deep dissensions even among ministers in the Gillard government. Australia has no nuclearpower stations but has almost 40 per cent of the worlds known uranium reserves. It supplies 19 per cent of the world market. Australiacurrently exports uranium to China, Japan, Taiwan and the United States. While defence minister Stephen Smith, resources ministerMartin Ferguson and South Australian Premier Jay Weatherill spoke of India as a close friend which deserves to be respected as agrowing superpower and its citizens shouldnt be denied access to clean energy, Australian Workers Union national secretary PaulHowes called the NPT a dead-letter treaty which had failed to stop nuclear proliferation.

Indonesian parliament endorses accession to CTBT : The list of countries still outside the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty(CTBT) thinned by one with Indonesias parliament voting to ratify Jakartas accession to the treaty, according to an announcement by theComprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organisation (CTBTO) on December 6, 2011. This leaves India and seven other countriesincluding China, North Korea, Egypt, Iran, Israel, Pakistan and the United States, out of the CTBT, which has been signed by 182countries and ratified by 156. Annexe 2 of the CTBT essentially asks all 44 designated nuclear technology holder countries to sign andratify the Treaty in order to bring it into law. Among the countries which have not signed the CTBT, the U.S, India, China, North Koreaand Pakistan are declared nuclear weapon states. Israel neither confirms nor denies it has nuclear weapons and due to this stand by TelAviv as well as the collapsing Middle-East peace process, Iran and Egypt have linked their accession to the demand for a Middle EastNuclear Weapons Free Zone.

International Anti-Corruption Day, observed : In a reference to the peoples revolutionary movements against corruption in WestAsia and countries like India, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on December 9, 2011 asked nations to join forces in fighting the

cancer of corruption which he says breeds inequality and injustice. Ban, in his message on the occasion of International Anti-Corruption Day, observed annually on December 9, said the poor and vulnerable sections of society may be marginalised bycorruption, but they cannot be silenced. He also called on businesses to adopt anti-corruption measures in line with the convention,noting that the private sector, too, stands to gain from effective action.

Community of Latin American and Caribbean States launched : The U.S. and Canada were excluded from a new organisationrepresenting Latin American and Caribbean States. The Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), launched onDecember 5, 2011 in Caracas, Venezuela, comprises more than 33 member-nations. Among the attendees were Venezuelan PresidentHugo Chavez, Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, Cuban President Ral Castro, Mexican President Felipe Calderon, ArgentineanPresident Cristina Kirchner, and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. The inclusion of Cuba in CELAC reflects some Latin


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American nations desire to rebalance the structure and power of regional organisations, as Cuba has long been blacklisted by the U.S. andits membership of the U.S.-dominated OAS was suspended between 1962 and 2009.

European Union to slash development aid to India: European Union has decided to slash development aid to India with effectfrom 2014, as part of its efforts to focus on extending help to the poorer nations. The proposed move is part of an exercise, under whichthe 27-nation bloc of European region would lower its aid for a total of 19 developing countries that also includes China. The decisionannounced on December 8, 2011 comes at a time when Europe is facing a worsening debt crisis in several EU countries. Among othercountries, the development aid would be slashed for India and Indonesia, which have been described by European Union (EU) as twolarge middle income countries whose GDP is larger than one per cent of global GDP. Explaining the rationale behind the decision,European Commission said the countries that can generate enough resources to ensure their own development would no longer receivebilateral grant aid. European Commission is the executive arm of the EU.

World Court rules against Greece in Macedonia case : The Hague, Netherlands-based International Court of Justice ruled onDecember 5, 2011 that Greece was wrong to block Macedonias bid to join NATO in 2008 because of a long-running dispute over thefledgling countrys use of the name Macedonia. In a 15-1 ruling, the court found that Greeces veto breached a 1995 deal under whichGreece had agreed not to block Macedonias membership in international organizations if it used the name The Former YugoslavRepublic of Macedonia while the matter was submitted to U.N. mediation. More than 15 years later, discussions over the name are stillunresolved. There was little opposition from Athens to the Yugoslav territory using the name Macedonia until it declared independence in1991. The country occupies some of the territory in the region that was known as Macedonia after the conquests of Alexander the Great inthe 4th century B.C. Under the 1995 interim agreement, Greece dropped economic sanctions against Macedonia in exchange for thetemporary compromise on the name. Macedonia also stopped using an ancient Macedonian flag and amended articles of its constitutionwhich could be seen as hinting at claims to Greek territory

US starts vacating Shamsi airbase in Pakistan : The US on December 4, 2011 started pulling out its nationals from Shamsi airbase,reportedly used by CIA- operated drones, on the orders of Pakistan government after a deadly NATO cross-border air-strike killed 24 of its soldiers. Pakistan asked the US to vacate the remote airbase in Balochistan within 15 days and blocked routes used to transport suppliesto US and allied forces in Afghanistan after a cross-border NATO air strike on two military posts killed 24 Pakistani soldiers onNovember 26.

New Zealand ruling party agrees coalition deal : New Zealands National Party on December 5, 2011 sealed a coalition deal with

two small parties, nine days after almost securing an outright victory in the general election. The ruling party will govern with the ACTparty and the United Future party, which both have one seat in parliament. The National Party, led by PM John Key, secured 60 of 121parliamentary seats and this deal gives them a majority. It will be Keys second term in office.

India-Sri Lanka ferry, the Scotia Prince, impounded : The ferry boat between India and Sri Lanka was impounded by thecommercial high court in Colombo on December 6, 2011 over a dispute involving its Indian caterer. The ferry service was resumed inJune after a gap of almost 30 years caused by the islands civil war. The Scotia Prince travels twice a week between Tuticorin in TamilNadu and the Sri Lankan capital. The boat has been anchored in Colombo since the middle of November. The commercial high courtordered the retention of Scotia Prince in Colombo port until the settlement of a dispute involving its Indian caterer. The ruling came aftera firm based in Chennai alleged that the ferry owed it 15 million rupees.

China overtakes India as Diabetes Capital : China has overtaken India to wrest the title of the Diabetes Capital of the World,going by the latest figures revealed by the 5 th edition of Diabetes Atlas on December 4, 2011. At 90.0 million, China today has the largest

number of people with diabetes. India follows with about 61.3 million, and the third on the list is far behind United States at 23.7million. These figures revealed by the Diabetes Atlas, an effort of the International Diabetes Federation (IDF), in mid-November haveonce again stressed the rampant progress of the epidemic in a world that seems largely under-prepared to tackle the growing numbers.

World Telugu meet organised : The World Telugu Conference was organised under the aegis of Potti Sriramulu Telugu Universityand Mauritius Telugu Cultural Centre Trust in Mauritius from December 8 to 10, 2011. Prime Minister Naveen Ramgoolam formallyinaugurated the conference on December 8. The Conference appealed to the state government to set up a world-standard secretariat topromote the Telugu language. Participating as chief guest in the valedictory, AP Legislative Council chairman A Chakrapani announcedof constitution of a House Committee with members from both the Assembly and Council to address the problems being faced by Telugupeople.


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UNEP report on Women & climate change unveiled : Women, particularly those living in the mountainous regions in developingcountries, face disproportionately high risks to their livelihoods and health from global warming, says a U.N. report on Climate Change.The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) report titled Women at the Frontline of Climate Change: Gender Risks and Hopessays investing in low-carbon and efficient green technologies, water harvesting and fuel wood alternatives can strengthen climate changeadaptation and improve womens livelihoods. The report was released at the U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP17) in Durban, SouthAfrica, according to a press release issued by the ICIMOD (International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development) headquartered inKathmandu on December 7, 2011.

NEWSMAKERS Elio Di Rupo appointed new PM in Belgium : Belgium has sworn in a new government, ending a record-breaking 541 days of political deadlock. New Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo was sworn in by King Albert II at the royal palace in Brussels along with his 12cabinet ministers and six secretaries of state on December 6, 2011. Belgium had been run by a caretaker administration since the lastgovernment resigned in April 2010. The delay in forming a new government revolved around arguments over budget and immigrationissues, but originally started with a row over the distribution of voting rights between the French-speaking and Flemish communities.Belgium now holds the modern-day record for the country which has gone the longest without a government - beating previous title

holder Cambodia by 182 days. Di Rupo, 60, is Belgiums first French-speaking prime minister in three decades and the first Socialist totake the premiership in Belgium since 1974.

Kabila declared winner of Presidential election in DR Congo : Incumbent Joseph Kabila has won a new five-year term asPresident of the Democratic Republic of Congo, said the Election Commission on December 9, 2011, announcing the poll results. Kabilahad obtained 49 per cent of the vote to 32.3 per cent for his nearest rival, veteran opposition leader Etienne Tshisekedi. Kabila, in powersince 2001, ran against a divided opposition field of 10 candidates in the November 28 polls.

Biden to remain Vice Presidential candidate : an end to speculation the White House on December 3, 2011 said that Joe Biden willremain the Vice Presidential candidate of the Democratic Party for the elections in 2012.


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Section D: SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGYAstronomers confirm presence of earth-like planet 600 light-years away

Astronomers at NASAs Ames Research Center have confirmed the existence of an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone around a starnot unlike our own. The planet, Kepler 22-b, lies about 600 light-years away and is about 2.4 times the size of Earth, and has atemperature of about 22C. It is the closest confirmed planet yet to one like ours - an Earth 2.0.

However, the team does not yet know if Kepler 22-b is made mostly of rock, gas or liquid.During the conference at which the result was announced on December 5, 2011, the Keplerteam also said that it had spotted some 1,094 new candidate planets - nearly doubling thetelescopes haul of potential far-flung worlds.

Kepler 22-b was one of 54 exo-planet candidates in habitable zones reported by the Kepler teamin February, and is just the first to be formally confirmed using other telescopes.

More of these Earth 2.0 candidates are likely to be confirmed in the near future, though a

redefinition of the habitable zones boundaries has brought that number down to 48. Ten of those are Earth-sized.

The Kepler space telescope was designed to look at a fixed swathe of the night sky, staringintently at about 150,000 stars. The telescope is sensitive enough to see when a planet passes in front of its host star, dimming the starslight by a minuscule amount.

Kepler identifies these slight changes in starlight as candidate planets, which are then confirmed by further observations by Kepler andother telescopes in orbit and on Earth.

The results were announced at the Kepler telescopes first science conference, alongside the staggering number of new candidate planets.The total number of candidates spotted by the telescope is now 2,326 - of which 207 are approximately Earth-sized.

LHC: Higgs boson may have been glimpsed

The most coveted prize in particle physics - the Higgs boson - may have been glimpsed, say researchers reporting at the Large HadronCollider (LHC) in Geneva on December 12, 2011.

The particle is purported to be the means by which everything in the Universe obtains its mass. Scientists say that two experiments at theLHC see hints of the Higgs at the same mass, fuelling huge excitement. But the LHC does not yet have enough data to claim a discovery.Finding the Higgs would be one of the biggest scientific advances of the last 60 years. It is crucial for allowing us to make sense of theUniverse, but has never been observed by experiments. This basic building block of the Universe is a significant missing component of the Standard Model - the instruction booklet that describes how particles and forces interact.

Two separate experiments at the LHC - Atlas and CMS - have been conducting independent searches for the Higgs. Because the StandardModel does not predict an exact mass for the Higgs, physicists have to use particle accelerators like the LHC to systematically look for itacross a broad search area.

The Higgs boson The Higgs is a sub-atomic particle that is predicted to exist, but has not yet been seen It was proposed as a mechanism to explain mass by six physicists, including Peter Higgs, in 1964 It imparts mass to other fundamental particles via the associated Higgs field It is the last missing member of the Standard Model, which explains how particles interact


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Crisil Research has lowered Indias GDP growth forecast for 2011-12 to 7 per cent, from its earlier October estimate of 7.6 per cent. Theforecast has been scaled down in view of deterioration in the global economic outlook led by the Euro zone recession, a weaker-than-anticipated domestic investment climate and limited fiscal space to stimulate the economy, said a press release issued by Crisil onDecember 8, 2011. GDP growth is expected to slip further to 6.7 per cent in the second half of 2011-12 from 7.3 per cent in the first half.This will restrict the overall GDP growth for 2011-12 at 7 per cent. This would be the second-lowest growth in the past nine years after6.8 per cent in 2008-09, said Roopa Kudva, Managing Director and CEO, Crisil.

Industry, services to see a slowdown : Industrial growth is projected to decline to 4.5 per cent in 2011-12; given that industry grew at asluggish 4.2 per cent in the first half and a limited upside in growth during the second half. The industrial growth will remain constrainedby lagged impact of Reserve Bank of Indias interest rate hikes, weak exports due to slipping demand, particularly from Europe andgrowing bottlenecks in the mining sector. We have cut down our services sector growth forecast to 8.9 per cent this fiscal as slowingindustry growth will reduce the demand for services, Kudva added.

Agriculture growth : Crisil Research has raised its agriculture sector growth forecast to 3.8 per cent from 3.2 per cent earlier, on accountof the timely and steady progress of the monsoon, which enabled better sowing during the Kharif season and improved prospects for theRabi crop.

Fiscal Deficit : Crisil Research expects the fiscal deficit to stay at 5.5 per cent of GDP for 2011-12 versus the Governments budgetedestimate of 4.6 per cent. The revision takes into account rising expenditure burden due to ballooning subsidies and slow revenue growthdue to a tepid growth outlook.

Exchange rate : A mild recession in the Euro zone is expected during the first half of calendar year 2012, to be followed by a moderaterecovery. In this scenario, the supply of dollars from portfolio inflows will be lower than previous expectations of a recession-free Eurozone in 2012. Hence Crisil Research has lowered its forecast for the rupee against the US dollar to 48, from the earlier forecast of 45-46.This will keep inflation at higher levels than expected earlier, the report said.

Inflation forecast : Crisil has revised its forecast for Wholesale Price Inflation for 2011-12 upwards to 9.2 per cent from its earlierforecast of 9.1 per cent. This is because the continuous weakening of the rupee has exerted additional pressure on the imported componentof inflation. Despite raising the average inflation forecast for 2011-12, Crisil expects it to head down from the current levels by March

2012. A normal monsoon and hence a good harvest has kept food inflation in check. Also, the impact of monetary tightening on domesticdemand growth aided by a base effect will help in moderating inflation going ahead. In addition, recession in Euro zone could bring downglobal food and commodity prices, and help lower inflation to RBIs year-end projection of around 7.0 per cent, the report said.

C-DoT developed broadband technology transferred to manufacturers

Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Communications and IT transferred a telecom technology, designed and developed by Centre forDevelopment of Telematics (C-DOT) to telecom manufacturers on December 5, 2011. The minister said that Gigabit Passive OpticalNetwork (GPON) is one of the game changer technologies after Nano and Akash during recent years.

Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) technology is the pivotal component required for broadband connectivity over optical fiber. C-DOT has indigenously designed and developed GPON technology, which can be used to provide triple play (voice, video and data)through Fiber based services (FTTX). It consists of a central office equipment OLT (Optical Line Termination) and customer premises

equipment called ONT (Optical Network Termination). The information from central office to the customer premises and back, flowsthrough optical fiber cable, which is essentially a light pipe. Light energy flows through this pipe and carries large amounts of data. Theinformation carrying capacity of an optical fiber is practically limitless. The present GPON standards specify 2.5 Gbps (Gigabit perSecond) downstream and 1.25 Gbps upstream data capability to customer premise.

Apart from urban areas, especially multi-dwelling units, the large data carrying capability is important for Indian villages too whereprevailing low literacy levels will necessitate information with greater graphic and audio content for better dissemination.

Besides, voice telephony, high speed internet access and IPTV, the C-DOT GPON has provision to carry cable TV signal too, all on asingle optical fiber. Another important advantage of GPON is that it can carry information from a central office to subscribers up to 60


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Km away without needing any intermediate repeaters thus doing away with the requirement of power, shelter and upkeep services at theintermediate locations.

The GPON technology has been tested, validated, field evaluated and then became operational in the BSNL Network at Ajmer, Rajasthan.The technology is now being transferred to seven manufacturers in public and private sectors M/S Indian Telephone Industries Ltd.(ITI), Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL), VMC Systems Ltd, United Telecoms Ltd. (UTL), Sai InfoSystem (India) Limited, S M CreativeElectronics Ltd. In addition, an agreement has also been signed with M/s Tejas Networks Limited for customized development andElectronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL) is in the advance stage of agreement.

With this transfer, a requisite production infrastructure has been set-up for state-of-the-art technology manufacturing in the country withassociated eco-system through a comprehensive C-DOT Transfer-of-Technology Package, which have been the hallmark for convertingR&D concept from lab-to-manufacturing and then to the field deployments to fulfill the objectives of NTP-2011 which aims to provide asecure, reliable, affordable and high quality converged telecommunication services in the country. The policy, therefore, has given majorthrust for Broadband on Demand, R&D for Indigenous Technology Development and Indigenous Manufacturing to achieve self-reliancein Telecom / ICT equipment design and manufacturing

National Common Mobility Card launched

The Union Minister for Urban Development Kamal Nath on December 6, 2011 launched the National Common Mobility Card (NCMC),by the name More, on the concluding day of the four day Urban Mobility India 2011 Conference-Cum-Exhibition organised in NewDelhi. The brand name has been chosen More signifying the national bird Peacock as also literally in English meaning more toconvey that you get more and more by using this card.

The idea of NCMC is to promote the user to perceive it as a single transport system and provide the commuter with a seamless, efficientand hassle free travel experience across the length and breadth of the country. Seamless connectivity across multiple modes of transportation will increase the popularity and acceptability of public transport nationally and make public transport more appealing to theend user. The Ministry of Urban Development, under the National Urban Transport Policy, envisages a single ticketing system over notonly all modes of public transport but also for parking and toll. For this purpose, it is spearheading a national program of inter-operableAutomatic Fare Collection (AFC) systems. This means that a single CMC card can be used across cities and different modes of transport.The implementation of More will be partly funded by Central Government under the JNNURM scheme covering the buses sanctioned

under the scheme.

It is hoped that NCMC would benefit the Public Transport Organisations by significantly increasing overall efficiency; provide controland better management of tariff structure; reduce cash handling and hence lesser pilferage & fraud; better planning based on passengerstatistics.

To roll-out the card on all India basis, to ensure the standardization of the CMC Project, UTI Infrastructure Technology and ServicesLimited (UTIITSL) has been appointed as the technology aggregator to implement the CMC project. UTIITSL is a Government of India,Ministry of Finance Company. So far Agreement has been signed with JCTSL, Jaipur and by the end of this financial year, roll-out inJaipur is anticipated. Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation, Bangalore and Bhopal Municipal Corporation are also at advance stageof entering into the agreement.

The Minister also honoured exemplary work shown by State organizations and gave away Awards for Excellence in Urban Transport, on

the occasion. In the category of Best PPP Initiative in urban transport , Bhopal Municipal Corporation won the award. GraduatesWelfare Association, Fazilka won the Best non-motor transport practice award for their project of Fazilka Ecocabs dial-a-rickshaw.Award for Best Clean Development Mechanism Project for modal shift was won by Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. PuneCommissionerate of Police were awarded in the category of Best Intelligent Transport System Project (runners up). For New Initiativin Traffic Engineering and Management , the Joint winners were also Pune Commissionerate of Police and Karnataka Commissionerateof Bangalore. The Mumbai Air Traffic Control System were awarded in the Commendable Emerging Initiatives Category. FoInclusive development KSRTC were awarded for Introduction of Modern City Bus Service in Tumkur

20th World Petroleum Congress organised


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The 20 th World Petroleum Congress, hosted by Qatar Petroleum, was organised at the Qatar National Convention Centre (QNCC) inDoha, Qatar, from December 4 to 8, 2011. Held every three years, the World Petroleum Congress and Exhibition is the largest and mostreputable oil and gas industry gathering in the world. Since its establishment in 1933, this was the first time that the WPC was hosted inthe Middle East. Energy Solutions for All - Promoting Cooperation, Innovation and Investment was the theme of the WPC. TheConference discussed issues such as providing global access to reliable, affordable and sustainable energy in both the near and long termfuture.

Indias initiatives in Oil & Gas sector

Petroleum Minister S Jaipal Reddy, who lead the Indian delegation to the WPC, highlighted the growth and development in Indiaspetroleum sector in recent times.

Indias crude oil production is expected to reach about 38 million tonnes (MMT) in 2011-12. The balance recoverable reserves from theknown oil and gas reservoirs are about 2041 million tonnes. The incremental oil production in recent years is largely from Barmer fieldsin Rajasthan, and in case of gas, it is from Krishna Godavari Basin. The production of natural gas in the current year is expected to beslightly more than 50 billion cubic meters (BCM).

The liberalized policy environment and the New Exploration Licensing Policy (NELP) of Government of India have been instrumental inbringing about incremental growth in oil and gas production. 100% Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) has been permitted in explorationand production of oil and gas. Indias objective is to rapidly increase the extent of area explored from the present 65% to 100% by theyear 2015. 9 rounds of bidding under the NELP have been held so far. An investment of US $ 16.5 billion has been made in explorationand production activities. The process of award of 9 th bid round will be concluded in the near future. More than two dozen foreigncompanies are working in E&P sector which include global majors.

In the last one year, two major investment decisions made by major companys viz. BP and Vedanta in blocks held by RIL and Cairnrespectively. While RIL-BP consortium has stated that its investments in exploration and marketing would be up to US $20 billion,Vedantas acquisition costs are likely to be about US $8 billion excluding future investments.

In addition to the accelerated domestic efforts, to enhance oil and gas production, ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL) and other Oil PublicSector Undertakings have taken exploration acreages abroad. Indian companies are present in 20 countries. OVL has produced about 9

million tonnes of oil and gas from its overseas assets.

Indias refinery sector has seen phenomenal growth in recent years. The installed capacity which was at 62 million tonnes in 1998 hasincreased to 193 million tones in 2011. This will be further increased to 232 million tones by 2012. This has enabled the country tobecome an exporter of petroleum products to the tune of 59 million tones valued at $ 43 billion.

Indias coal reserves, fourth largest in the world, are prognosticated to hold about 92 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of Coal Bed Methane(CBM). Exploration and production of CBM has commenced in India. Amongst other unconventional sources of gas, we are exploringpossibilities in shale gas and gas hydrates.

Indias LNG regasification capacity is being expanded to meet the energy needs of the growing Indian economy.

LPG coverage is being enhanced in rural areas. The over-all LPG coverage is being increased from 57% to 75% of the population by

providing 55 million new LPG connections by 2015.

Urban Mobility India 2011 organised

India with 1.2 billion; over 31 per cent in cities; three mega cities with 10 million plus population,53 million pus cities and rapid pace of urbanization is poised at a critical threshold. Urban renewal and development has become a policy priority of the Government of India.Cities that are livable, clean, green, energy efficient and sustainable need to be built. The most challenging impact of this urban growthand the rising income levels is the mobility crisis. This makes urban transport as the most important urban infrastructure for urbanisationand to ensure that lack of mobility does not become a bottleneck for economic growth, major investments shall have to be done in thefield of urban transport in next 20 years.


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In a continuing effort to get a better understanding of this critical issue, the Ministry of Urban Development, Government of India, hasbee

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Weekly Current Affairs Update-December 4 to 10, 2011

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