Weekly Current Affairs update October 10 to 16, 2010

Weekly Current Affairs update

October 10 to 16, 2010

(for BANK PO General Awareness & UPSC General Studies)

Major news of the week

Section A: INDIA

Newsmakers

• P L Punia is new NCSC chairman: P L Punia, retired IAS officer and now a Congress MP, was on October 15, 2010 appointed chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes (NSCS). The post is equivalent in rank to a cabinet minister. The post had been lying vacant since Buta Singh's term ended five months ago. As an IAS officer, Punia had served UP Chief Minister Mayawati thrice as her principal secretary. After his retirement in 2005, Punia joined the Congress and contested the Assembly elections from Fatehpur in 2007, but lost. However, in the Lok Sabha elections in 2009, Punia was elected from Barabanki with a record margin.

• Soon after joining, Punia has made his priorities clear. The new Chairman of NSCS has demanded 15 percent reservation for SCs in private sector. He plans to introduce a Bill in Parliament to this effect if the companies do not comply voluntarily. His comments could also put in a fix the UPA government, which favours reservation through affirmative action on part of industries without making it mandatory through legislation.

• The Commerce and Industry Ministry had some time ago written to industry chambers — CII, FICCI and Assocham — suggesting that companies benefiting from government incentives reserve about 5 per cent jobs for SCs/STs. However, last month, representatives of the industry chambers met Principal Secretary to the PM and conveyed their inability to implement the same.

• Telangana Praja Front launched: A new outfit to fight for the cause of separate Telangana was formally launched in Hyderabad on October 9, 2010 in the name of Telangana Praja Front (TPF) with ballad singer Gadar as president. According to Gadar, the TPF is not a political party in the strict sense, but a political front aimed at uniting Telangana-based joint action committees (JACs) agitating for a separate Telangana state carved out of Andhra Pradesh.

• Priti Kumari is Western Railway's 1st motor-woman: Priti Kumari, 34, took charge as Western Railway's (WR's) first motor-woman on October 12, 2010. She is a direct recruit selected by the Railway Recruitment Board (RRB). Before Priti, the Central Railway had its first motor-woman Surekha Yadav in 2000 and another woman, Mumtaz Quazi in 2005.

• Munda distributes portfolios, keeps Home: Jharkhand Chief Minister Arjun Munda retained ministry of Home, Energy and Road Construction as he distributed portfolios among his cabinet ministers on October 11, 2010, a month after taking the oath, in Ranchi. Deputy CM Sudesh Mahto has been allotted the departments of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj, Water Resources Development, Forest and Environment, Art, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs. Another Deputy CM Hemant Soren has been allotted the ministry of Finance, Commercial Taxes, Urban Development, Housing, Drinking water and Sanitation, Civil Aviation and Mines.

• Akanksha, Rouhan emerge as 'Chhote Ustaad' winners: India's Akanksha Sharma and Pakistan's Rouhan Abbas on October 10, 2010 won the 'Chhote Ustaad' singing reality show, which brought together young talent from both the countries under the religion of music. The winners of the competition received a cash prize of Rs 10 lakhs each. The runners up Rishab (India) and Moon (Pakistan) got Rs 5 lakh each. Renowned singers Sonu Niigaam and Rahat Fateh Ali Khan were the judges on the Star Plus show, which went on air in July.

• Rajapaksa invited as Guest of Honour at CWG closing ceremony: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa will be the Guest of Honour during the closing ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Delhi on October 14, 2010. Foreign Minister G L Peiris accompanied Rajapaksa on his visit to Delhi.

• Indonesian President to be chief guest at R-Day parade: Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono will be the Chief Guest at next year's Republic Day parade in Delhi. Indonesia forms one flank of the crucial Malacca Straits with Malaysia forming the other. The strait is considered vulnerable because of its limited width and the fact that a considerable portion of the world's trade passes through it. Both countries are attempting to improve trade ties, with Indonesia opening a trade promotion centre in Chennai last year.

• DV Singh is new water resources secy: Dhruv Vijai Singh, a 1976 batch IAS officer, was on October 13, 2010 appointed as the water resources secretary.

• Former CEC Lyngdoh protests appointment of new CVC: Former chief election commissioner (CEC) J M Lyngdoh is among a group of people who have filed a petition in the Supreme Court against the appointment of P J Thomas as Central Vigilance Commissioner (CVC). The petition alleges that the government bypassed the essential requirement of "impeccable integrity" in its choice of the former telecom secretary as the head of CVC. On the 2G scam, the petition said Thomas as telecom secretary "has been involved in the cover-up of the 2G Spectrum allocation scam which is widely regarded as India's biggest corruption scandal having cost the exchequer Rs 70,000 crore". The CBI is currently investigating the role of Telecom Minister A Raja and several high-ranking ministry officials in the scam. The petitioners also apprehend that the selection of Thomas as CVC may affect the transparent functioning of the CBI, as a committee headed by the CVC gives crucial recommendations for the appointment of the CBI director.

News round up

Yeddyurappa govt. survives 2nd trust vote in 3 days

• The Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka, headed by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, on October 14, 2010 passed the second floor test in under four days. Of a total of 206 members present at the time of voting, the BJP got 106 votes, two more than for a simple majority. The combined Opposition tally was 100.

• After the Speaker disqualified 16 rebel MLAs, 11 from the BJP and five Independents on October 11, the strength of the 225-member Assembly was reduced to 208 — the ruling party still has 106 MLAs, one more than the new halfway mark needed to prove a majority. The Congress with 73 MLAs and the JD(S) with 28 add up to 101.

• Interestingly, Independent MLA Varthur Prakash from Kolar voted for the BJP in the confidence vote. Manappa Vajjal (BJP) from Lingsugur and M.C. Ashwath (Janata Dal- S) from Channapatna abstained from voting and the parties are expected to seek their disqualification, since abstaining during voting on a confidence motion was tantamount to violation of the anti-defection law.

• The trust vote outcome is subject to the verdict of the Karnataka High Court in the case relating to the disqualification of 16 legislators. Considering the time it normally takes for the final judicial determination of a case of this type, there does not seem to be an immediate threat to the government. The High Court verdict may not be final as either of the parties suffering a setback will take the matter to the Supreme Court.

• Governor H R Bhardwaj, October 12, 2010 had asked the Yeddyurappa government to take the test again after he termed the trust vote conducted on October 11 as "improper" and "not in accordance with the law". The disqualified MLAs had withdrawn support to the government on October 6. In his order, Bopaiah said these 16 MLAs have been disqualified under the provision of the anti-defection law as envisaged in the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.

1st Trust vote

• The B.S. Yeddyurappa-led BJP government in Karnataka won a crucial motion of confidence on October 11, 2010 by voice vote amid pandemonium. Speaker K.G. Bopaiah had earlier disqualified 16 legislators, including 11 BJP and five independents MLAs (who the speaker calls associate members of the BJP), under the anti-defection law. The opposition had called the vote a sham, alleging that the even non-MLAs were present in the Assembly during the conduct of the trust vote.

• Soon after the trust vote Karnataka Governor H.R. Bhardwaj recommended to President Pratibha Patil that President's rule be imposed in the State and the 13th Legislative Assembly kept under suspended animation. The 225-member Assembly has completed just 28 months of its term and is left with another 32 months for elections. Parliament has to ratify any proclamation for President's rule (as prescribed under Article 356 (3) of the Constitution) for it to continue beyond 60 days after the proclamation is notified.

Criticism of Governor's role

• Legal experts have criticised the Governor for writing to the Speaker, directing him not to disqualify the rebels before the trust vote on October 11. The Tenth Schedule of the Constitution deals with the issue of anti-defection. Under the Constitution, the Speaker is the authority to disqualify an MLA. It is a quasi-judicial power, which is subject to judicial review. It is for the Speaker to take the view that a member of a party can be proceeded against under anti-defection laws. It is not necessary for the MLA to have parted company with the party. His actions can be the basis of such an action.

• His critics also accuse Governor H.R. Bhardwaj of functioning in a partisan manner unbecoming of his high constitutional office. His initial direction to the Speaker to maintain the strength of the house as on October 6 in order to pre-empt the disqualification of the legislators was unprecedented. His public accusation of the government of corruption in illegal mining, land grabbing, and land de-notification was out of the purview of his authority. His criticism of the state government's functioning has made his position as an impartial and fair constitutional functionary untenable.

Status of Independent MLAs

• The disqualification of independent MLAs under anti-defection law has become a matter of debate. The question now before the Karnataka High Court is: at what point does an independent legislator, elected as an independent, lose that status and become a member of a political party he has been supporting from the outside or even as minister in government?

• The five independents were disqualified by the Speaker a day before the first vote of confidence moved by the CM. The Speaker called them "associate members" of the BJP and invoked the anti-defection law against them. There are differing opinions on this issue.

• Former Lok Sabha Speaker, Somnath Chatterjee, was of the view that "there is no such thing as an associate member of a party." "The correct constitutional position is that an elected independent member remains an independent — and, therefore, cannot be disqualified for defying party discipline — unless and until he joins the party by filling up a form and paying the subscription prescribed by the constitution of that party," the former speaker clarified.

• "There are many instances of independent members associating with a ruling party, supporting it and even accepting ministerial berths. But they do not lose their status as independent members. Neither the Election Commission nor the Constitution recognises anyone as an associate member of a party."

• However, former Secretary-General of the Lok Sabha, Subhash Kashyap, has a different opinion. Kashyap said the constitutional position was that an independent member could lose that status if he were to be associated with a party through his conduct, attendance at party meetings and doing party work, including campaigning for a party. Yes, he would attract disqualification for being so associated, provided a petition was filed before the Speaker.

Mess of CM's own making

• Eager to re-establish his authority over his government — badly eroded last November when he caved in to the demands of the Reddy brothers of Bellary — Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa unwittingly paved the way for the chain of events that followed last month's Cabinet expansion. The CM tried to send out a strong political signal that he was his own man and could do as he liked in Karnataka. He brought back to the Cabinet Shobha Karandlaje, who was dropped expressly at the insistence of the powerful mining lobby represented by the Reddys, and simultaneously dropped three Ministers reported to be close to them.

• Those who were dropped and others who had expected to join the Cabinet became the nucleus of the dissidents. The seeds of discontent were sown when the Cabinet reshuffle took place on September 22. Initially, the Reddy brothers and others opposed to the CM encouraged the dissenters, but later when the Janata Dal (Secular) and the Congress jumped in and started a serious bid to topple the government, they backed out and even tried to save the government.

Government appoints interlocutors for J&K

• The Union government on October 13, 2010 appointed a group of three interlocutors to hold sustained dialogue with all sections of the people in Jammu and Kashmir. They are, Dr. Dileep Padgaonkar, a noted journalist, Prof. M.M. Ansari, Information Commissioner and Prof. (Mrs) Radha Kumar, trustee, Delhi Policy Group. Dr. Dilip Padgaonkar will chair the meetings of the Group.

• The three interlocutors appointed by the Govt. have been entrusted with the responsibility of undertaking a sustained dialogue with the people of Jammu & Kashmir to understand their problems and chart a course for the future. All the three interlocutors have done credible work in public life and bring with them significant understanding of political and economic issues, especially in the context of Jammu & Kashmir.

• Dileep Padgaonkar is a journalist, editor and author. He worked in various capacities in journalistic field including Executive Editor and Editor of the Times of India. He is presently with the Asia Pacific Communications Pvt. Ltd.

• Prof. M.M. Ansari is currently Information Commissioner in the Central Information Commission, New Delhi. He has the background of an Economist and Education Specialist and has served several institutions in senior positions and provided research and consultancy service to national and international organizations

• Prof. (Mrs) Radha Kumar is Director of the Mandela Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution at Jamia Millia Islamia University and trustee of the Delhi Policy Group. She is a specialist on ethnic conflicts and peace processes and has held several important positions in the international bodies dealing with peace studies and conflict resolution.

• Keeping in view the immediate objectives to maintain peace and order and defuse the situation in J&K through confidence building measures, Government of India had taken certain decisions and one of the decisions was to appoint a Group of Interlocutors under the chairmanship of an Eminent person to hold a sustained dialogue with all sections of the people in Jammu and Kashmir.

Govt. constitutes special task force on Ladakh

The Ministry of Home Affairs on October 13, 2010 decided to constitute a Special Task Force in order to examine the development needs of the Ladakh region with particular reference to deficiencies in infrastructure and make suitable recommendations. Dr. Narendra Jadhav, Member, Planning Commission will be the Chairperson. Members are: Joint Secretary, (Plan Finance-II), Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure, Divisional Commissioner, Kashmir (having jurisdiction over Ladakh), Govt. of J & K, Prof. Akhtar Majeed, Director, Centre for Federal Studies and Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Hamdard University, New Delhi and Dr. Navnita Chadha Behera Prof. Department of Political Science, University of Delhi. Director (Kashmir), Ministry of Home Affairs will be the Convenor. The terms of reference of the Task Force: 'To identify the special development needs of the region and suggest measures for addressing the same' & 'to examine the allocation to the region in terms of infrastructure needs and to make suitable recommendations to overcome the deficiencies'.

Govt. constitutes special task force on Jammu

The Ministry of Home Affairs on October 13, 2010 decided to constitute a Special Task Force in order to examine the development needs of the Jammu region with particular reference to deficiencies in infrastructure and make suitable recommendations. Dr. Abhijit Sen, Member, Planning Commission will be the Chairperson. Members are: Joint Secretary, (Plan Finance-I), Ministry of Finance, Department of Expenditure, Divisional Commissioner (Jammu), Government of J&K, Dr. Najeeb Jung, Vice Chancellor, Jamia Millia Islamia University, Delhi and Dr. Amaresh Dubey, Prof. of Economics, Centre for the Study of Regional Development, School of Social Sciences, JNU. Joint Secretary (Kashmir), Ministry of Home Affairs will be the Convenor. The terms of reference of the Task Force: 'To identify the special development needs of the region and suggest measures for addressing the same' & 'to examine the allocation to the region in terms of infrastructure needs and to make suitable recommendations to overcome the deficiencies'.

IIMs get more freedom in faculty salaries, expansion abroad

• A meeting was organised on October 13, 2010 under the Chairmanship of Human Resources Minister, Kapil Sibal with the Chairpersons and Directors of IIMs on the future vision of the IIMs and the necessary steps to be taken to achieve them. The meeting considered the reports of Committees constituted in the last meeting in Bangalore on certain key issues and took the following decisions.

• On the report of the Committee constituted to recommend a new Governance Structure for IIMs (chaired by R.C. Bhargava, Chairman BOG-IIM, Ranchi): It was decided that the number of Board Members of IIMs would be reduced to 14. It was also decided, in principle, that Directors of IIMs will now be appointed through a process wherein the Board of Governors of the IIMs suggests three names to the Government from which the Government chooses one.

• On the second report of the Committee on Faculty and Research at the IIMs, chaired by Ajit Balakrishnan, Chairman, IIM, Calcutta: It was decided that the IIMs can top up the salaries of their Directors also in addition to the Faculty from the funds generated by them on their own. It was also decided that the Faculty members would give individual work plans at the start of the year.

• On the recommendations of the Committee on Fund Raising by IIMs (chaired by Hari S. Bhartia, Chairman of IIM, Raipur): It was decided that the IIMs have a development office especially for the purpose, each IIM have a fund raising policy and thereafter to have road shows.

Steps taken by the HRD Ministry to provide autonomy to the IIMs include:

�� Full powers to the Boards of IIMs to create posts within the approved norms

�� Freedom to open centres in India and abroad

�� Amend Rules of the IIM within the framework of Memorandum of Association and Rules

�� Power to acquire and dispose property not fully or partially funded by the Ministry of HRD

�� Powers to approve their own Budget, and also to manage the funds generated by the IIMs on their own

IIM-A submits report on AIIMS governance

• The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has recommended major changes in the governance system to make the New Delhi-based All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) a world-class institution, in its report submitted to the government in October 2010. The report cautions against political interference in the functioning and management of the AIIMS. It has also suggested opening up the AIIMS to international faculty.

• Reduce political interference: The report says that the Union Health Minister should not be the chairperson of the AIIMS — the highest decision-making body — and president of the Governing Board. The Ministry asked the IIM to draw up a governance plan to make the AIIMS more efficient and restore its glory. At present, the governing board is dominated by government officials and three MPs, and the AIIMS itself has very little representation. The presence of the Minister as chairperson, influences decisions and the MPs are often used by faculty to push their case.

• Promote research: Pointing out that nearly 75 per cent of the faculty's time is spent on clinical services in clinical departments, leaving them inadequate time for research, the IIM-A has said research publications should be given weightage for promotion. Faculty members should be promoted on the basis of their contribution to research and years of experience.

• Foreign faculty: To improve faculty, the provision for emeritus faculty should be started, and a recruitment drive from the top medical colleges of the world initiated.

India ranked 67th on Global Hunger Index

• India has been ranked 67, much lower than neighbouring China, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Nepal in the 2010 Global Hunger Index (GHI) Report released on October 11, 2010 by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a US-based policy think tank. India is placed in the 'alarming' category, a notch lower than the 'extremely alarming' bracket. The biggest contributor to India's low GHI is child under-nutrition, which accounts for almost half the score.

• While world's GHI has reduced from 19.8 in 1990 to 15.1 in 2010, India's score improved from 31.7 to 24.1 during the same period. China's score improved by about 50 per cent from 11.6 to 6 during the same period. A higher GHI score suggests higher prevalence of hunger. A decline in hunger index scores suggests improvement in any country's hunger situation.

• The "2010 Global Hunger Index — The Challenge of Hunger: Focus on the Crisis of Child Under-Nutrition" was prepared by the IFPRI in collaboration with the German Group, Welthungerhilfe and Concern Worldwide.

• The 2010 GHI was calculated for 122 developing countries and countries in transition, 84 of which were ranked.  Countries were rated on the basis of three equally weighted indicators — prevalence of child mortality rate, underweight children below five, and the proportion of undernourished (caloric deficient) people. It advises governments to make nutrition, especially for young children during the first 1,000 days, a political priority. Medical evidence shows that the most critical stage when adequate nutrition is essential is the first 1,000 days of life, between conception and the second birthday of the child. The ill-effects of undernourishment are irreversible after the age of two.

India at 67th position

• Deep inequalities have resulted in India slipping from 65th position last year to 67 this year, despite an economic growth rate of about 8.5 per cent. According to the IFPRI, unlike in China, higher growth rate in India has not translated into hunger reduction.

• The reason given for India's low ranking was that it was not investing as much as its neighbours in basic indicators such as health, water, sanitation, education and women's social status. Because of the country's large population, India is home to 42 per cent of the world's under-weight children. Low nutritional, educational and social status of women is among the major factors that contribute to a high prevalence of malnutrition in children under five. The health of women, specifically mothers, is crucial to reducing child malnutrition. Mothers who are poorly nourished as girls tend to give birth to under-weight babies perpetuating the cycle of malnutrition.

Analysis

• There is indeed no denying the fact that India has made perceptible progress in alleviating hunger in the past decade. But this progress is far from satisfactory, considering that even some poorer countries have done far better. Recent data show that malnutrition is pervasive in India, and the extent of food insecurity not just in rural areas but also in towns and cities. Food insecurity can get acute in urban settings, particularly when prices spiral up, as the poor have limited purchasing power and there is no homegrown food to fall back on. With migration from rural to urban areas set to rise further, and most of it in an unplanned manner, the problem would only exacerbate in the years ahead.

• Policy failure in managing food security is all too apparent. It is not limited to mismanagement of food stock, poor forecasting of production and continuing with practices that keep yield low. Undernourishment is not due to scarcity of food but because available stocks are either not reaching the needy — especially children and pregnant and lactating mothers — or, cannot be sold at a price they can afford. Access to food can improve only with higher and regular incomes. In urban areas, that would mean expanding employment opportunities and ensuring better wages for those in the unorganised and informal sectors.

• The hunger index ranking comes at a time when the government is confronted with the problem of high foodgrain stocks on one hand and the administrative challenge of implementing a Right to Food law on the other hand.

• The government cannot afford to ignore the food security of its people, especially the young if inclusive growth targets are to be achieved

Global Hunger Index is based on:

�� proportion of undernourished population

�� proportion of underweight children below the age of five

�� child mortality rate

• IAF to hold joint aerial exercise with British RAF: The Indian Air Force (IAF) will conduct a joint aerial exercise with the British Royal Air Force (RAF) from October 20, 2010. The 17-day exercise, called Exercise Indra Dhanush, will be held at Kalaikunda air base in West Bengal. While the RAF will deploy their new Eurofighter jets for the exercise, the IAF fleet will be led by the Sukhoi-30MKI fighters.

• BJP makes a clean sweep in Gujarat municipal corporation elections: The Bharatiya Janata Party has recaptured all six municipal corporations in local bodies' elections organised on October 10, 2010. The BJP secured a more than two-thirds majority in Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot and Bhavnagar. It missed the two-thirds majority target in Jamnagar by three seats.

• Japanese Film Festival organised in Chennai: A five-day Japanese Film Festival was organised from October 12- 16, 2010 in Chennai. The festival was a retrospective of the celebrated Japanese director Kon Ichikawa, who has made numerous award-winning films based on novels. Consul-General of Japan Kazuo Minagawa, who inaugurated the festival, said Ichikawa's films gave a new definition to Japanese cinema by introducing it to the international audience. He is considered on a par with stalwarts such as Akira Kurosawa and Keisuke Kinoshita, for his inimitable style of filmmaking.

• Union Cabinet approves Bengal engineering university takeover: The Union Cabinet, in October 2010 approved the takeover of the Bengal Engineering and Science University (BESU) at Shibpur in West Bengal for converting it into an Indian Institute of Engineering Science and Technology (IIEST). The BESU will be turned into the IIEST by amending the National Institutes of Technology (NIT) Act, with the inclusion of special clauses, reflecting its exclusive character. The IIEST will be an ' institute of national importance' covered under the NIT Act and its organisational and governing structure will be on the lines of the National Institutes of Technology (NITs).

• Indo-Russia conduct military drill Indra 2010: India and Russia conducted a 10-day joint anti-terrorism exercise from October 14-23, 2010 at Chaubattia in Uttarakhand's Ranikhet district. Termed Indra 2010, Indian and Russian military personnel formed a joint task force and plan and carried out a series of mock anti-terrorism missions in the mountains. Indra-2010 is intended to enhance defence cooperation and military-to-military relations between the two armies.

• India sends first ROV to ocean bed: India joined a select club of nations on October 10, 2010, when it deployed its first Remotely Operable Vehicle (ROV), key for observation and exploration of mineral wealth, in the Central Indian Ocean Basin. The ROV has been developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai in association with Russia-based Experimental Design Bureau of Oceanological Engineering (EDBOE). According to marine scientists, ROVs are becoming the primary tool for studying the bio-diversity of the deepest oceanic ecosystems and a key technology in Census research. They are linked to a surface support research vessel that controls their underwater activity and transports them to and from the research site.

• 3 Indian cities in Forbes's world's fastest growing cities: Three Indian cities – Ahmedabad, Bangalore and Chennai – have made it to US magazine Forbes's list of the world's 19 fastest growing cities of the next decade. The Forbes 'Next Decade's Fastest-Growing Cities' list excludes "established global centres", urban centres which were in the limelight for the last two decades and "dysfunctional" megacities which are also among the most populous.

• INS Kalpeni commissioned: The indigenously built INS Kalpeni, the latest fast attack craft, was on October 14, 2010 commissioned into the Indian Navy. The ship will operate under Flag Officer Commanding- in-Chief of the Southern Naval Command and would be based at Kochi.

• All India Bar Examination mandatory for all law graduates: The Bar Council of India (BCI) on October 15, 2010 made All India Bar Examination (AIBE) mandatory for all law graduates who have passed in the academic year 2009- 10 to practice law in India. The BCI will conduct the AIBE in nine languages across 27 cities in India on December 5, 2010.

• National Voters' Day announced: January 25 will, hereafter, be celebrated as National Voters' Day, Chief Election Commissioner S. Y. Quraishi announced in Chennai on October 9, 2010. The day marks the foundation day of the Election Commission of India. On that day, young voters, who attain the age of 18 years on January 1, will be given Electors' Photo Identity Cards (EPIC).

• Ketan Desai's licence suspended: The Medical Council of India has suspended the licence of its former President Ketan Desai to practise medicine. It has also asked the World Medical Association not to hand over its presidentship to him. He was arrested in May after he allegedly took a bribe of Rs. 2 crore for granting recognition to a medical college in Punjab. In a letter to Desai in October 2010, the MCI Board of Governors said: "Permission granted to you to practise medicine will be suspended during the pendency of appeal with the Board of Governors in supersession of the MCI."

• Leh enters Guinness for planting record no. of saplings: Leh on October 10, 2010 entered the Guinness Book of World Records after 50,300 saplings were planted at Changa village, nearly 40 km from Leh town, in less than an hour by 9,000 volunteers under a drive supported by Buddhist monks to mark the 'green' Commonwealth Games in Delhi. The earlier record was held by Peru, where 40,000 saplings were planted in 60 minutes by 8,000 volunteers. A team of three members from the Guinness World Records was in the village to monitor the event. Chairman and adjudicator of the team Tarika Vara announced that 9,000 people had successfully planted 50,300 saplings in less than an hour, a new world record. The saplings were planted by in an initiative taken by Chairman of the NGO 'Live to Love' Gyalwang Drukpa.

• Silver jubilee of the FBTR observed at Kalpakkam: Even as India looks forward to expand its nuclear power programme with imported reactors and fuel, "there will be no compromise with our commitment to the indigenous three-stage nuclear power programme, to our own research and our own technology," Union Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithiviraj Chavan said on October 18, 2010 at a function to mark the silver jubilee of the Fast Breeder Test Reactor (FBTR) attaining first criticality on October 18, 1985, at Kalpakkam, near Chennai. The Minister was responding to fears that India's plans to import 36 reactors would lead to dilution of Homi Bhabha's vision of a three-stage nuclear electricity programme. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured the country that he would stand by the programme. India Post released a special cover on the FBTR's silver jubilee.

• 25th foundation day of AGP celebrated: Asom Gana Parishad celebrated its 25th foundation day on October 14, 2010 in Guwahati. AGP founder president and former Chief Minister Prafulla Kumar Mahanta had launched the sixyear- long Assam agitation, which ended with the signing of the Assam Accord on Independence Day in 1985 by the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and All-Assam Students Union (AASU), which was headed by Mahanta. AASU formed AGP later that year and overthrew the Congress Government of Hiteshwar Saikia in the Assembly polls in 1986.

• FAO drops reference to J&K, Arunachal as separate countries: The United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has dropped the references to Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as "independent entities" in its 2010 report and has initiated a review of system for designating countries and territories. In its report, the FAO had shown Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as separate countries along with India. The two States figured in country grouping for East Asia. The FAO representative to India on October 15, 2010 had stated that the country grouping was based on the FAO's Global Administrative Unit Layers (GAUL) and that "controversial" boundaries cannot be ignored.

Section B: WORLD

Newsmakers

• Mark Rutte sworn in as new Dutch prime minister: Mark Rutte of the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) was sworn in as Prime Minister of the Netherlands on October 14, 2010. Rutte's right-wing VVD, 31 seats, and the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA), 21 seats, formed a minority coalition government supported from the outside by the Party for Freedom (PVV), 24 seats, in the 150 seat House of Representatives. Jan Peter Balkenende of the CDA is the outgoing Prime Minister. The 2010 Dutch general election was held in June 2010.

• New PM appointed in Somalia: Somalia's President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed on October 14, 2010 appointed a Somali-American diplomat Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed as his Prime Minister. Abdullahi, 49, takes over from Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke, who resigned in September after a long-running power struggle with the President.

• Khagendra Thapa Magar is world's shortest man: Nepalese Khagendra Thapa Magar turned 18 on October 14, 2010 and was officially declared the world's shortest man by Guinness record officials in Pokhara, Nepal. Magar,  whose height is 67 cm, displaced the former record holder, Edward Nino Hernandez of Colombia, who measures 70 cm. Magar, who was handed a world record certificate by Guinness, is to serve as a government-appointed goodwill ambassador as his nation celebrates Visit Nepal Year.

• Nobel economics laureate Allais passes away: Maurice Allais, the only Frenchman to win the Nobel Prize for economics and an early critic of shortcomings in the global financial system, passed away at the age of 99 on October 9, 2010. Allais was a prolific theorist whose ideas on balancing supply and demand helped rebuild France's postwar economy. He won the Nobel for economics in 1988.

• Opera legend Dame Joan Sutherland is no more: 83-year old Australian opera legend Dame Joan Sutherland, hailed as "La Stupenda" and "voice of the century", passed away on October 12, 2010. The star impressed European audiences with her vocal range and ability from the 1950s until her retirement in 1990.

News round up

India elected to UNSC as non-permanent member

• India was elected as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council at the U.N. General Assembly meeting at UN headquarters in New York on October 12, 2010. Out of the 191 countries that voted, India received 187 votes. India won well over the two-thirds required to win (at least 128 votes out of the total strength of 192). Hardeep Singh Puri, India's Ambassador to the UN, said that this was the highest vote that any country has got in the last five years. India, which is a founding member of the UN, is returning to the Security Council after a gap of 19 years. It has been on the Council six times before – having last served in 1992.

• Other countries elected as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council for a two-year term are South Africa, Colombia, Germany and Portugal. The five new countries will be replacing Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda. Three of the new members are part of the G4 (India, Brazil, Japan and Germany), which want to become permanent members.

• India will take over as a UNSC non-permanent member from Japan on January 1, 2011, for the seventh time. The UNSC has five permanent members — the United States, Russia, China, France and the United Kingdom — who have veto rights. There are also 10 rotating (non-permanent) members who have the right to vote, but cannot veto a resolution.

• While India, South Africa, and Colombia were not challenged by any other country from their region, the two seats of the Western European and Others Group were contested between Portugal, Germany and Canada. Germany made it in the first round of voting with 128 votes – just enough to scrape through, while Canada received the least number of votes and eventually withdrew after the second round of voting.

Analysis

India's economic rise in the past decade and its new strategic relationships with several major and rising powers have all contributed to this impressive vote in its favour. India's win is a stark contrast from 14 years ago when India was beaten 40: 142 votes by Japan for the Asian seat as a non-permanent member in 1996. Some analysts say that the election does not change India's prospects of getting a permanent seat in the UNSC. All that the Indian win really means is that the world perceives this country as a responsible power. External affairs minister S.M. Krishna is right when he suggests that the pattern of the vote is indicative of India's increased weight in world affairs. Had Kazakhstan not withdrawn from the fray earlier this year, India would have had to contest elections against the Central Asian country. India's real diplomatic victory was perhaps when India was able to persuade Almaty to withdraw in its favour.

BASIC Group meet on 'climate change' organised in Tianjin

• The BASIC group of large developing nations–India, China, Brazil and South Africa–have intensified their efforts to win the crucial support of small island States on the climate change debate ahead of the year-end U.N. summit at Cancun in Mexico. Representatives from Grenada, current chair of the AOSIS, attended a two-day meeting of the BASIC group, which concluded in Tianjin on October 11, 2010. There remain, however, persistent differences on emission reduction targets between the Association of Small Island States (AOSIS) and the BASIC countries.

• The AOSIS has emerged as a key voice in the climate debate, given the particular susceptibility of small islands to the consequences of climate change and rising sea-levels. The West, in the past, used the interests of the AOSIS countries to pressure large developing nations like China and India to take on greater commitments.

• The AOSIS has been calling for a climate deal that would limit global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees centigrade by 2050. The BASIC, however, wants a 2 degree cap, citing the need for the developing countries to be able to continue their growth, and the absence of any agreement with developed nations on equity in using carbon space. The small island States have argued that their very survival is at stake.

ASEAN Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus organised in Hanoi

• Defence Ministers from India and several Asia-Pacific countries, including China and the United States, on October 12, 2010 affirmed their collective "commitment to enhance peace, security, and prosperity in the region" at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Defence Ministers' Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) organised in Hanoi. The participants are all 10 members of the ASEAN and their key dialogue partners — Australia, China, India, Japan, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Russia, and the United States.

• Addressing the ADMM-Plus conference, Defence Minister A. K. Antony called for the development of "synergy" among the participating powers to address non-traditional security challenges. The Defence Minister said that the Indian Navy was actively engaged in providing anti-piracy patrolling and escort operations in the Gulf of Aden. New Delhi was also proactive in promoting a cooperative approach among the Asia-Pacific States towards the security of sea-lanes.

• The Vietnamese Prime Minister and host, Nguyen Tan Dung, suggested that the participating countries harmonise

security-related standards and evolve codes of conduct so as to enhance regional peace.

• Global Gender Gap Report 2010 unveiled: Europe's Nordic countries remain global leaders in the campaign to close the gender equality gap, according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2010 released on October 12, 2010. Iceland, Norway and Finland topped the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual gender gap index, while Pakistan, Chad and Yemen were at the bottom of the 134-nation rankings. The report—which assesses how equitably income, resources and opportunities are distributed between the sexes—gave particular praise to the Philippines in Asia and Lesotho in Africa, which were both in the world top 10.

• World's longest tunnel completed in Switzerland: The world has a new champion for 'world's longest tunnel.' After 15 years and $19.7 billion dollars, the Gotthard Base Tunnel is complete. The tunnel, running underneath the mountainous rocks of the Swiss Alps, connects Zurich in northern Europe to Milan in southern Europe. The 57-km long tunnel, which has led to Switzerland reclaiming the record from Japan's Seikan Tunnel, is an important milestone in the creation of a highspeed transportation network across Europe. The tunnel was completed on October 15, 2010 and is expected to be 100% operable in 2017. Conceived in 1947 by Eduard Gruner, it aims to reduce the damage to the Alpine landscape.

• Russia to build nuclear plant in Venezuela: Russia and Venezuela on October 15, 2010 signed an agreement during a visit by President Hugo Chavez to Moscow for Russia to build and operate Venezuela's first nuclear power plant. The agreement was signed by the head of Russia's atomic energy agency Sergei Kiriyenko in the Kremlin with Chavez and President Dmitry Medvedev.

• World Standards Day observed: World Standards Day was observed on October 14, 2010. The day is celebrated internationally each year on October 14. The day honours the efforts of the thousands of experts who develop voluntary standards within standards development organizations such as the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), International Organization for Standardization (ISO), and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The aim of World Standards Day is to raise awareness among regulators, industry and consumers as to the importance of standardization to the global economy.

• Global Handwashing Day observed: The Global Handwashing Day programme was observed worldwide on October 15, 2010. The Day is being observed from 2008 with the aim of meeting the United Nations' millennium goal of reducing mortality rate by two-thirds among children under the age group of five by 2015.

• World Sight Day observed: World Sight Day is an annual day of awareness to focus global attention on blindness, visual impairment and rehabilitation of the visually impaired held on the second Thursday in October. The day, observed on October 14, 2010, is also the main advocacy event for the prevention of blindness and for "Vision 2020: The Right to Sight", a global effort to prevent blindness created by WHO and the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness.

• Miners trapped in Chilean Mine rescued: The 33 miners trapped in the San Jose Mine in Chile for 69 days were rescued on October 13, 2010. The men were sealed into the mine's lower reaches by an August 5 collapse of 700,000 tonnes of rock. Florencio Avalos was the first to be rescued in the presence of President Sebastian Pinera. Three rescue capsules were built by Chilean navy engineers, named Phoenix for the mythical bird that rises from ashes and painted in the white, blue and red of the Chilean flag.

• Election results announced in Kyrgyzstan: Five parties crossed the 5-percent threshold in the parliamentary elections in Kyrgyzstan, according to results announced on October 11, 2010. The voter turnout was 55.90 percent. The Ata-Zhurt party topped the election with 8.88 percent of the vote nationwide followed by the Social Democratic Party (8.04 percent), Ar-Namys (7.74 percent), Respublika Party (7.24 percent) and the Ata-Meken party (5.6 percent). In all 29 political parties competed for 120 seats in the Kyrgyz new government in which the prime minister will have more power than the president. According to the election rules, seats will be distributed proportionately to parties passing the 5-percent threshold nationwide.

• Iran rids nuclear facilities of Stuxnet virus: Iran's nuclear chief said that the West had managed to infiltrate its nuclear facilities but Tehran had emerged successful in combating espionage. Iran acknowledged, in the second week of October 2010, that the computer virus Stuxnet had found its way in the computers at Iranian nuclear power facilities at Bushehr. It has been widely suspected that the sophisticated Stuxnet malware which hijacks industrial software of equipment provided by the German firm Siemens was developed by a government agency. Access to information inside Iran's nuclear establishment had now been restricted as part of heightened security measures

• Millennium celebrations organised in Hanoi: Celebrations to commemorate thousand years of foundation of Vietnamese capital Hanoi were organised on October 10, 2010. King Ly Thai To moved the capital of Vietnam to Hanoi in 1010 and called it Thang Long, or "soaring dragon", symbolising the desire for independence after a millennium of Chinese domination.

Section C: AWARDS

Howard Jacobson wins Booker Prize

• Author and columnist Howard Jacobson has won the Man Booker Prize for his comic novel 'The Finkler Question'.

Jacobson, who beat contenders including double winner Peter Carey, received the £50,000 prize at London's Guildhall on October 12, 2010. Chair of judges, Sir Andrew Motion, described the 68-year-old author's book as "very funny, of course, but also very clever, very sad and very subtle". It explores Jewishness through the lives of three friends - two of them Jewish and one who wishes he was. Jacobson's novel is about a former BBC radio producer, Julian Treslove, who is attacked on his way home from an evening out reminiscing with friends.

• Other contenders: Others short-listed for the award included Tom McCarthy for 'C', Peter Carey (who had earlier won in 1998 for 'Oscar and Lucinda' and in 2001, for 'True History of the Kelly Gang') for 'Parrot and Olivier in America', Damon Galgut for his semi-autobiographical novel 'In A Strange Room', Emma Donoghue for 'Room' and Andrea Levy's 'The Long Song'.

2010 Nobel economics prize awarded

Two Americans and a British-Cypriot economist won the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences 2010 (Nobel economics prize) on October 11, 2010 for developing a theory that helps explain why many people can remain unemployed despite a large number of job vacancies. Federal Reserve board nominee Peter Diamond was honored along with Dale Mortensen, an economics professor at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and Christopher Pissarides, a 62-year-old professor at the London School of Economics, with the 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.5 million) prize for their analysis of the obstacles that prevent buyers and sellers from efficiently pairing up