Sunday, November 30, 2008

Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak was conferred the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for International Understanding by President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi on Tuesday, around 13 years after it was announced.

Mubarak was honoured for his "unique role in providing stability and progress to his country, in upholding the Arab cause, in promoting peace and understanding in the region".

The award, which carries Rs 25 lakh in cash and a citation, was conferred at a glittering function attended by Vice President Hamid Ansari, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, his senior cabinet colleagues among others.

"President Mubarak's unflinching commitment to peace as a considered choice for the West Asian region is well recognised," Patil said.

"India values the contribution of President Mubarak to the efforts of non-aligned and other developing nations for peace, justice and equality in the world," she said.

Accepting the award, Mubarak recalled that the Indo-Egyptian ties went back to the Nehru-Nasser era, which saw the birth of the Non-Aligned Movement.

"It is a real honour to receive an award named after this great leader, and I shall always cherish its value, significance and meaning," he said.

Mubarak said in the face of varied challenges from the economic crisis to international terrorism "the need is greater than ever to further enhance our relations and strengthen our partnership".

The Award is being given away annually since 1965 for outstanding contribution to the promotion of international understanding, goodwill and friendship among peoples of the world

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 44 blocks awarded under NELP VII

 Relations with the Arab world

 Obama’s problems over Guantánamo

 Inflation dips further to 8.9 p.c.

 Pipeline will be a natural thing to do, says Kissinger

 MCOCA slapped on Malegaon blast accused

 Deprived sections denied opportunities: N. Ram

 Equal treatment sought for Gorkha veterans

 Lok Sabha to resume sitting on Dec. 10

 Oil price drops below $50

 Saudis get 10 days to pay ransom

 How far will the U.S. go, wonder Pakistanis

 Jackman “Sexiest Man Alive”

 India, China to get credit from Russia

 Auto chiefs go empty-handed

 UN mandate to tackle pirates essential, feels India

 Tribal stir: parts of West Bengal still inaccessible

 Pact on Kudankulam to be highlight of Medvedev visit

 Cabinet nod for biotech institute at Faridabad

 Government in no mood to revise oil prices

 Indian Navy comes of age

 Relief from Samsara

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2008

NEW DELHI: Nobel laureate and Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency Mohamed ElBaradei has been chosen to receive the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for 2008.

An international jury, chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, announced its decision on Wednesday to honour Dr. ElBaradei for his impassioned opposition to the use of nuclear energy for military purposes and for his steadfast espousal of the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, sustained over many years, according to Suman Dubey, secretary of the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.

‘No’ to nukes

Dr. ElBaradei has consistently argued that states should move away from reliance on nuclear weapons. He advocates a collective, rule-based system of international security.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

 Rupee surpasses 50-mark

 India remains top gold consumer

 Ugly defence of the indefensible

 Inequality in cities

 Indian Navy destroys pirate ship in Gulf of Aden

 Indira Gandhi prize for ElBaradei

 Temple inscriptions point to early Chola inroads into Pallava region

 Doctors now transplant windpipe with stem cells

 Power crisis: industries slash jobs

 Hu, Castro celebrate China-Cuba ties

 Maoists debate Nepal political structure

 Somali pirates warn against fake money

 India could take lead in anti-piracy diplomacy

 Russian team visits site of new reactors

 ‘MPLAD scheme is invalid’: petition in Supreme Court

 Qualities of a Bhakta

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Main points from G20 leaders communiqué( Washington Summit)

G20 leaders agreed to take rapid action, including fiscal stimulus measures as needed, to stabilize financial markets and restore growth in worsening global economy, according to a draft communique.

They also support giving emerging markets more say in the global financial order.

They backed:

- Fiscal measures to boost demand rapidly

- Monetary policy steps as appropriate

- More funds for the IMF to support emerging economies

- Strive for breakthrough this year in the Doha round of trade talks

- Reform of Bretton Woods institutions to give emerging economies more of a voice in line with their changing economic weight

- College of supervisors to review major global banks

- Review of accountancy standards, CEO pay, bankruptcy rules, credit rating agencies and moving credit default swaps to exchange trading

G20 finance ministers were instructed to work on specifics by March 31, 2009, ahead of the next summit.

 Centre working on fresh stimulus package

 Industry says ‘no’ to FM’s plea to cut prices

 NMDC to invest Rs. 1,000 cr. in Birbhum coal project

 Towards more transparent ratings

 A smart approach to public health (Smart card- egovernance)

 Apex court collegium puts its foot down

 India, Egypt to ‘make up for lost time’

 Remains of stone-age nuclear family unearthed

 Yahoo! CEO to step down

 Budget likely in early February

 Dinosaur footprints found in Bolivia

 Lt. Gen. Thamburaj, next Army Vice-Chief

 Two women face off to head French Socialist Party

 Bangladesh, Myanmar talks inconclusive

 Cross-LoC trade runs into problems

 Manmohan: time ripe for transforming ties

 Goa film fete to open with ‘The Warlords’

 Man of wisdom

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

 Agri & Business Expo 2008

 RBI to ensure adequate liquidity in the system

 Egypt for further strengthening of trade ties with India

 Rupee ends 33 paise lower

 Suzlon Energy to make foray into solar power

 The pirates of Somalia

 Inflation not the only concern

 55 p.c. turnout in J&K polls

 Centre plans stimulus package for exporters

 Yuvraj comes up with another regal performance

 Murdoch upbeat on future of newspapers

 Panel to study tourism industry’s proposals

 On the roof of the world, a lesson in democracy

 Suspected military chief of ETA held

 Another LTTE base falls to advancing Sri Lankan Army

 “BRIC played crucial role at G-20 summit”

 Obama presidency and some question marks

 India to boost oil, defence ties with Ecuador

 Russia for closer nuclear ties

 Yechury suggests BRIC coalition to deal with crisis

 Maharashtra makes job preference for locals more stringent

 “British varsities can help address skills gap”

 India condemns Gaza violence

 A community loses 500 homes to California’s fires

 Import of the Vedas

 Huge problems but subdued expectations

 Baffling problem of liquidity crunch

 Coping with benching

 Study reveals rise in banks’ NPAs

 Setting the agenda

 Obama and Afghanistan

 We anticipated global slowdown, our fiscal stimulus is in place: Manmohan

 PM moots coordinated fiscal stimulus to mitigate severity of recession

 Laser instrument on board Chandrayaan-1 activated

 Developing nations get a say in economic talks

 Keynesian warning is one of seven ‘big messages’: Manmohan

 Djokovic claims Masters Cup

 California fire destroys hundreds of houses

 Army on Kilinochchi’s outer perimeter, says Sri Lanka

 Indian aid reaches Colombo

 Bridge urban-rural divide, China told

 China, Russia to enhance coordination

 New Nepal Constitution by May 2010

 Call to resist protectionism, revive Doha Round

 Big rise in incidents of sea piracy this year

 Call for abolition of child labour

 IFFI: 2 Indian entries in competition section

 Preventive detention cannot be quashed for non-supply of papers: Supreme Court

 Strategies for green growth

 Absolute surrender

Sunday, November 16, 2008

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 Poor steel demand may lead to production cuts: Rastogi

 More telecom giants eye Indian market

 Bid date extended for Tilaiya UMPP

 Credit default by Chinese banks hits iron ore exporters

 Summit declaration is a hybrid, Obama advisers ‘dismissive’

 PM moots coordinated fiscal stimulus to mitigate severity of recession

 RBI unveils a slew of measures to propel economy

 Land route opened up to Jaffna: Sri Lanka

 Exporters get relief to tide over crisis

 G-20 cannot solve global crisis: Karat

 Djokovic takes on Davydenko in final

 First woman four-star General in U.S.

 Nordic toppers in gender scores

 Parents of child labourers too were so in their childhood, says study

 Y.V. Reddy in U.N. panel of experts

 $7.6-billion IMF loan for Pakistan

 Fourth Indian in Obama transition team

 France: knives out as Socialists seek a leader

 Blair’s plea to Obama on W. Asia

 A long haul for ISRO

 Soli Sorabjee for justice with mercy

 France, EU hail India’s moon probe

 Canada, India to hold nuclear talks

 India, ASEAN clear FTA hurdle

 V.R. Krishna Iyer turns 94

 Preventive detention can’t be quashed for non-supply of papers

 2 Indian entries in competition section of 39th IFFI

 First 3-D image of Moon on Monday

 Centre to build outlets to market rural products

 Dhumal launches road project

 Indian foreign policy looks towards Middle East

 Supreme Court to frame guidelines on encounter deaths

Saturday, November 15, 2008

Hindu Nov 15th

 World Economic Forum to work for solutions to tackle crisis

 No impact of recession as of now: bank official

 India to strengthen partnership with Egypt

 Opening up new options (Shaurya and others)

 Dealing with campus violence

 INDIA LEAVES ITS FOOTPRINTS ON MOON

 Indigenous effort all the way

 55% turnout of voters in Chhattisgarh

 What’s in store for the Washington Summit

 Credibility problem facing Washington summit

 Joshna Chinappa makes history

 Planets outside the solar system

 U.S. trade mission to visit hubs of Indian nuclear industry

 Panel to evolve e-security policy

 Savitri Jindal tops richest Indian woman list

 High priority to ties with India: Obama

 Neyyar not an inter-State river, says Premachandran

 Government, CII join hands to revamp PDS shops

 U.S. missile plan not welcome: France

 Russia: coping with financial crisis

 Not for us to make political parties file IT returns: apex court

 Spiritual practices

Three points will be highlighted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at the Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy, which is being held in Washington on November 14 and 15. The first point is the need for greater inclusivity in the international financial system. The second is the need to ensure that developing country growth prospects do not suffer. The third is the need to avoid protectionist tendencies.

Friday, November 14, 2008

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Friday, November 14, 2008

 India, Nepal give major thrust to power projects

 The growth conundrum

 Ensure safety of Tamils at all costs: Manmohan

 Sharp fall in inflation rate

 India wants World Bank and IMF strengthened

 Call for early conclusion of free trade pact

 “Shourya missile cannot be easily detected”

 You can’t put a price tag on moon mission: ISRO

 U.S. Congress to discuss $700-billion bailout plan

 Panel to look into labour issues in IT sector

 Brown clouds making Delhi, Beijing ‘darker’: U.N.

 Chandrayaan-II launch by 2012

 3,000 more U.N. troops for Congo

 Iranian diplomat abducted in Pakistan

 The present crisis and the way forward

 Increase people’s purchasing power, says Yechury

 When preventive detention is illegal, why should court stay its hand?

 India will be most populous by 2050: UN report

 Egyptian President to visit India from November 16

 Acme of devotion

SC Verdict: Arts.21,22,32 and 226

The reputation of a person is a facet of his ‘right to life’ under Article 21 of the Constitution and to protect this right, illegal preventive detention orders can be quashed even at pre-execution stage through habeas corpus petitions, the Supreme Court has held.

“If a person against whom a prevention detention order has been passed can show to the court that the order is clearly illegal, why should he be compelled to go to jail? To tell such a person that although such a detention order is illegal he must yet go to jail and he will be released later is a meaningless and futile exercise,” said a Bench consisting of Justices Altamas Kabir and Markandey Katju on Wednesday.

Writing the judgment, Justice Katju said: Article 21, which gives the right of life and liberty, is the most fundamental of all Fundamental Rights in the Constitution. Though, no doubt, restrictions can be placed on these rights in the interest of public order, security of the state, etc, they are not to be lightly transgressed.”

The Bench said: “If a person is sent to jail then even if he is subsequently released, his reputation may be irreparably tarnished. The liberty of a person is a precious fundamental right under Article 21 and should not be transgressed.”

Quoting a sloka from the Gita which says, “For a self-respecting man, death is preferable to dishonour,” the Bench said: “If a person against whom a preventive detention order has been passed comes to court at the pre-execution stage and satisfies that the order is clearly illegal, there is no reason why the court should stay its hand and compel the petitioner to go to jail even though he is bound to be released subsequently [since the detention order was illegal].”

Writ of habeas corpus

On the contention that a writ of habeas corpus would lie only when there was illegal detention, the Bench said: “We regret we cannot agree. Firstly, Article 226 and Article 32 permit the High Court and the Supreme Court to not only issue the writs which were traditionally issued by British courts but these Articles give much wider powers to this court and the High Court. Hence, even if the petitioner is not in detention, a writ of certiorari and/or mandamus can be issued.”

The Bench said: “The celebrated writ of habeas corpus has been described as ‘a great constitutional privilege of the citizen’ or ‘the first security of civil liberty.’ The imperative necessity to protect those precious rights is a lesson taught by all history and all human experience. Our founding fathers have lived through bitter years of the freedom struggle and seen an alien government trample upon the human rights of our citizens.”

Detention set aside

In the instant case, the Maharashtra government passed a detention order, dated May 22, 2008, against Deepak Gopaldas Bajaj under the Conservation of Foreign Exchange and Prevention of Smuggling Activities Act. He challenged the order directly in the apex court contending that his reputation would be tarnished if it was executed. Quashing it, the Bench said: “The detention order in our opinion was clearly illegal and deserves to be set aside.”

Thursday, November 13, 2008

 Industrial growth slips to 4.8%

 Sharp fall in rupee

 Slowdown, an adjustment process, says U.S. official

 ISB to set up campus in Mohali

 A gigantic stimulus

 Reforming India’s public institutions

 Shourya test-fired successfully

 Chandrayaan-1 truly home

 Pact on counter-terrorism likely

 Gaza Strip shut to fuel, journalists

 Swiss violinist Paul Giger’s concert launches music fest

 Huge job cut for immigrants in U.K.

 Part of deterrent doctrine: Iran

 World Bank to come to poor nations’ aid

 Waiting for the promise of change

 Narayanan Award for Madhavan Nair

 Yunnan reaches out to India

 A delayed silence descends on Verdun

 Crisis is opportunity

 Interpreting scriptures

Shourya

India on Wednesday successfully test-fired a new surface-to-surface missile called “Shourya” from the Integrated Test Range (ITR) at Balasore in Orissa.

The two-stage missile took off from a silo at 11.25 a.m. and reached its targeted site 600 km away in the Bay of Bengal. Shourya can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads.

It is the land version of the underwater-launched missile called K-15 (Sagarika), which was fired in February 2008 from an underwater pontoon.

Shourya is a product of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and its Programme Director is A.K. Chakrabarti. M. Natarajan, Scientific Adviser to the Defence Minister, was at Balasore to watch the launch.

The flight-test of Shourya is a significant milestone in building capability for the nation in the field of missiles both for strategic and tactical applications. Just as the K-15 (Sagarika) missile could rise from the water and knife into the air, Shourya could lift off from a silo on the ground and pierce the sky. Since the missile is fired from underground, it cannot be detected by conventional satellite imaging.

Both its stages were powered by solid propellants.

While the K-15 missile has an underwater booster and an air booster, Shourya has a booster underground and an air booster.