Current Affairs :National - January 2013

• Power bills to go up for the next three months
  There's no escaping the price monster. Starting February 1, you'll have to pay more for power for the next three months as the Delhi Regulatory Commission has approved provisional 3% and 1.5% power purchase cost adjustment charges (PPA) for BSES and TPDDL areas, respectively for this period. So if you live in South and East Delhi (BSES areas) and consume 400 units a month, your bill will rise from Rs. 1840 to Rs.1895.20. In West and North Delhi (TPDDL areas), it will go up to Rs.1867.60. Not a big hike. But with new tariffs for 2013 to be out in the next few months, there will be no relief.


• Cops file charge sheet, let minor accused off the hook
  As controversy rages around law governing punishment for juveniles in serious crimes, the Delhi Police appear to have given up their attempt to establish that the most brutal attacker in the December 16 gang rape is an adult. The police filed a supplementary charge sheet against him before a Juvenile Justice Board (JJB), a sign that they are prepared to settle for a light sentence for the youngster- a maximum of three years in a reformatory for a particularly vicious gang rape that resulted in the victim's death. Senior police officials told they were not optimistic of overturning a JJB finding in January that the accused individual is a juvenile. Until this point, the police have maintained that they are exploring all options to ensure the youngsters- described by them as the most brutal of the six assailants gets maximum punishments.


• 'Aam aadmi' wants British pounds
  Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is going places- for funds. The Party is to start raising money through a UK chapter opened in January, according to unit's spokesperson. "Funding is a key aim but we'll be happy even if someone wants to give us 10 pounds," Raj Redij-Gill of Aam Aadmi Party UK told a newspaper. "We will seek funds from NRI's, not UK citizens," said Redij-Gill, alluding to the controversy over alleged foreign corporate funding of the BJP and Congress. All payments would be made online. The party was trying to change the way politics was done in India, he said. "We don't want someone's million pounds in anticipation of something to given to them in the future."
• Kamal, Rushdie pay as TN, Bengal side with culture bullies
  Cultural intolerance stalked the world's largest democracy recently. The ban on Kamal Haasan's new movie was upheld, prompting him to consider moving to another country, and internationally acclaimed writer Salman Rushdie was stopped from attending Asia's largest book fair in Kolkata. J Jayalalithaa's Tamil Nadu government was quick to ban the screening of Haasan's new movie Vishwaroopam after certain Muslim groups thought it was religiously offensive. Mamata Banerjee's West Bengal government pressured the book fair organisers not to have Rushdie over, fearing that the presence of The Satanic Verses author would offend minorities. It was clear that politicians still looked at India's as many castes and communities purely as vote banks, and were willing to bullied by even the smallest and most violently intolerant groups.


• BJP- backed group wins gurdwara polls
  In a political development that is likely to have an impact on Delhi politics, the BJP supported Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) has swept the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) elections, defeating the congress backed Shiromani-Akali Dal (Delhi) group. SAD (Badal) won 37 of the 46 seats to take control after more than a decade as Majinder Singh, the party's candidate defeated SAD (Delhi) chief Paramjit Singh Sarna. Last year in November, the two Akali factions were involved in a violent clash that left 11 injured. The DSGMC is a cash rich body and its president is considered a powerful Sikh leader, who can attract voters in assembly and parliamentary elections. With about 10lakh Sikh Voters in Delhi, the outcome is likely to have an impact on 10-15 seats in the 2013 assembly elections.


• Obama migration reforms to benefit Indian students
  US President Barack Obama unveiled a comprehensive immigration reform plan aimed among other things at holding on to bring foreign students such as those in India. An increasing number of whom are leaving the US after studies because of difficulty in obtaining permission to stay on, against a visa to work or start a business. "There are brilliant students from all over the world sitting in classrooms at our top universities," Obama said in Las Vegas. Once they finish school, he added, there is a good chance they will leave the US to start a business or create jobs in China, India, Mexico or somewhere else." Holding on to them as part of the effort to fix the legal immigration system would be one of the three broad principles of his plan, which tracked closely the one announcement by a bipartisan group of senators.

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