1400 HRS
11th January , 2013

THE HEADLINE:

• India says, ceasefire violations by Pakistani Army at Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, cause of serious concern.

• Supreme Court sets aside the appointment of Justice (retd.) Chandrashekaraiah as Upa-Lokayukta of Karnataka.

• Government has taken several initiatives and anti corruption measures to reform administration, says Union Minister Narayanasamy.

• Industrial output contracts by 0.1 per cent in November 2012.

• Nation pays tributes to late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on his 47th death anniversary.

• In the first Cricket ODI at Rajkot, England were 162 for 1 in 28.5 overs against India, a shortwhile ago.

[]><><><[]

Defence Minister A K Antony today said the ceasefire violations by the Pakistan Army at the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, are cause of serious concern. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of an Air Force function in Gurgaon, Haryana, he said, infiltration attempts and ceasefire violations have been increasing for the last one year.

"We are closely monitoring the whole development. We are closely monitoring our entire border, our people are alert. At the same time we have directed the DGMO to be in touch with their counter parts. Let us see the result of their talk."

When asked if more troops need to be deployed in Jammu and Kashmir, Mr. Antony said, there are enough troops in the state.

"There are enough troops there and our Jawans and officers are capable and they are determined to face any situation. So everything enough there."

[]><><><[]

The Supreme Court today set aside the appointment of Justice (retd.) Chandrashekaraiah as Upa-Lokayukta of Karnataka on the ground that he was appointed by the government without consultation with the Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court. A Bench of Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Madan B Lokur held that the consultation with the Chief Justice is mandatory before appointment of the Upa-Lokayukta. The Bench said, the Chief Minister has committed error by not consulting the Chief Justice and held that the appointment of the Upa-Lokayukta is to be treated as invalid from the outset. The Bench, however, made it clear that there is nothing against Justice Chandrashekaraiah and he can be again considered by the state government for the post.

[]><><><[]

The Karnataka State Government will re-initiate steps for the appointment of Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta after the Supreme Court verdict today. Speaking to our Bangalore Correspondent, the State Law Minister Suresh Kumar said they welcome the Supreme Court order and will immediately begin the process of appointing the Ombudsmen. 

He further added that Supreme Court has clarified that the primacy of appointing Lokayukta lies with the Government and not with the Chief Justice as was opined by the Karnataka High Court. On the other hand, reacting to the Apex court order, the leader of the Opposition in the legislative Council, S R Patil said the Government should not act according to its whims and fancy and follow proper procedure to appoint the Lokayukta and Upa-Lokayukta immediately. 

He felt that without these appointments, the Lokayuktha office is working under the influence of the Government and filing B reports in a number of cases against Ministers. The Karnataka High Court verdict earlier had said that appointing Justice Chandrashekariah as the Upa- Lokayukta is not in conformity with law and hence, the appointment is illegal, unconstitutional and void. It had also urged the state government and Chief Minister to expeditiously start a fresh selection process as mandated by the Lokayukta Act to find a new Upa Lokayukta as the post cannot be held vacant for long.

[]><><><[]

The Government has taken a number of initiatives over the years to reform administration, the systems of public service delivery and to put anti-corruption measures in place. Addressing a two day conference of districts collectors in New Delhi today, Minister of State in the Prime Minister's office, Personnel, Public Grievances and pensions V Narayanasamy said that the government is not going to amend the Right to Information Act and is committed to greater transparency and accountability. 

Mr. Narayanasamy called upon the Collectors to devote more time to field work and understand the problems of implementation of government sponsored schemes and come out with suggestions for any modification in their implementation. Mr Narayanasamy said the Collectors should lead by example in the district and should always be accessible to the public. They should fine-tune the service delivery mechanism and cut down the bureaucratic red-tape to ensure reaching out to the needy people.

[]><><><[]

President Pranab Mukherjee has lauded the Registrar General and Census Commissioner for the timely completion of the Census 2011 in the country. Speaking at a function in New Delhi today, Mr Mukherjee said Census taking in India is a very challenging task in view of its multi-ethnic, multi-lingual and multi-cultural society. 

He said the successful conduct of Census without any break since year 1872 makes the Indian census unique and unparalleled in the world. He said, the unique feature of Census 2011 is that Schedules for preparation of National Population Register were also canvassed along with House listing Schedules. The President said, the basic benchmark statistics on the state of human resources, demography, culture and economic structure thrown by Census 2011 will not only help planners, policy makers and other stakeholders in evaluating the success of on-going schemes. It will also assist in formulating future developmental plans. 

Earlier, he gave away Census Medals, to the staff engaged in the enumeration of the socio-economic and caste-based data in recognition of their dedicated services. The President gave gold medals to Union Ministers--Ajay Maken and Jitendra Singh and former Minister Gurudas Kamath for their contributions. Speaking on the occasion, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said, 2.5 million people were engaged in the collection of the data.

[]><><><[]

In Assam, security forces have rescued four abducted employees of Brahmaputra Infrastructure Limited at Margherita in Tinsukia district today. The additional SP of Tinsukia said that acting on specific information, security forces rescued all of them. Unidentified miscreants had kidnapped four employees of Brahmaputra Infrastructure Limited, a private company engaged under Coal India Limited, yesterday from Tikak Colliery under Margherita police station.

[]><><><[]

Growth in the country's industrial output contracted to a four-month low of 0.1 per cent in November 2012, year-on-year, due to poor performance of the manufacturing, mining and capital goods sectors. Industrial output, as measured by the Index of Industrial Production, had grown by 8.3 per cent in October 2012. According to official data released in New Delhi, today, the manufacturing sector, which constitutes over 75 per cent of the index, grew just 0.3 per cent in November 2012. Mining output contracted 5.5 per cent in November, and capital goods output declined 7.7 per cent during the month. The Growth in industrial output stood at 1 per cent in the April to November 2012 period, down from 3.8 per cent in the same period in the previous fiscal.

[]><><><[]

The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange surged 176 points, or 0.9 per cent, to 19,840 in early trade, today, mainly on the back of a rally in IT stocks, after Infosys posted better-than-expected third quarter earnings. But the Sensex later pared its initial gains, to stand a more modest 40 points, or 0.2 per cent in the green, at 19,703 in afternoon deals, a short while ago. Stock markets in China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore and South Korea had lost between 0.1 percent and 0.5 percent, today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average had ended 0.6 per cent higher in yesterday's trade.

[]><><><[]

The rupee was trading up by 6 paise to at 54 rupees 51 paise against the dollar in late morning deals today on steady dollar selling by banks and exporters amid firm equities and a weak US currency overseas. Earlier, the rupee had resumed sharply higher at 54 rupees 40 paise a dollar. Later, some American currency demand from importers led the rupee to pare its earlier gains.

[]><><><[]

Oil was mixed in Asia today with some traders taking profits after stronger-than-expected trade data out of China. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in February, gained 10 cents to 93.92 dollars a barrel in morning trade. Brent North Sea crude for February dropped 18 cents to 111.71 dollars a barrel.

[]><><><[]

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is understood to have advised general entertainment channel Sony TV not to telecast a dramatic reconstruction of the Delhi gang-rape case in its popular crime show 'Crime Patrol - Dastak'. The Ministry has asked to avoid the telecast of any dramatic reconstruction of the case that led to nation-wide protests against rising number of crimes against women. Our Correspondent reports, the Ministry has also extended its advisory to all television channels, asking them to be sensitive to ground realities. The January 11 episode of the serial was to show reconstruction of the brutal gang-rape of 23-year-old paramedical student in Delhi on the 16th of last month.

[]><><><[]

President Pranab Mukherjee today led the nation in paying tributes to late Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on his 47th death anniversary. Mr Mukherjee and Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari visited Vijay Ghat, and paid floral tributes at his Samadhi in the national capital. Shastri died of a heart attack in Tashkent after signing a declaration of ceasefire with Pakistan President Ayub Khan to end the 1965 war. Under Lal Bahadur Shastri’s leadership, India faced and repulsed the Pakistani invasion of 1965 which is not only a matter of pride for the Indian Army but also for every citizen of the country. Shastri’s slogan "Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan" reverberates even today through the length and breadth of the country. Our Correspondent reports that a series of functions are being organized throughout the country today to mark the occasion.

[]><><><[]

The government has decided to undertake the commemoration of 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda at the Rashtrapati Bhawan auditorium tomorrow. President Pranab Mukherjee will inaugurate the commemoration in the presence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister A.K. Antony and Finance Minister P. Chidambaram. The programme will consist of addresses by dignitaries on the importance and relevance of this commemoration, in the present context. Children from the Ramakrishna Mission, New Delhi will render a singing performance. A set of commemorative coins and commemorative stamps on Swami Vivekananda will also be released on the occasion. A National Committee under the Chairmanship of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh was constituted to consider policies, lay down guidelines for commemoration and decide on the time frame for its related activities.

[]><><><[]

Puducherry is to extend the Direct Cash Transfer Scheme (DCTS) to all welfare programmes of the Union Territory. Taking cue from the Direct Cash Transfer Scheme of the Union Government, Puducherry Government has decided to disburse all cash assistance through Aadhar linked Bank Accounts. The district of Puducherry is among the districts chosen for the first phase of the Central Government's DCTS. Talking to newsmen, Mr. Vivek Pande, Secretary, Welfare and Agriculture of Puducherry government said, the Union Territory's scheme will cover Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam apart from Puducherry. There are around 2 lakh beneficiaries under various State schemes and many of them do not have a bank account.

[]><><><[]

The 11th Pune International Film Festival opened yesterday at the City Pride in Kothrud, the western suburb of Pune, with the screening of the Israeli film "Hayuta and Berl" by Amir Manor. We have a report from our correspondent:

"It was a nostalgic trip down memory lane for the Pune audience when veteran actors Jeetendra Kapoor and Ramesh Deo were presented with lifetime achievement awards . Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma and Pandit Hariprasad Chaurasia were also felicitated with the S D Burman international award for creative music and sound. The festival, which ends on 17th of this month, opened with the screening of Israeli film Hayuta and Berl by Amir Manor. Seven Marathi films will vie for the state government's 'Sant Tukaram' trophy during the festival, while 13 films will compete in the world cinema category. Besides retrospective segment, the festival will feature 80 contemporary films from more than 50 countries. A special students' film competition section will comprise 23 films made by students from various countries. SWEETY KOTHARI, AIR NEWS."

The screening of the films during the 8-day festival will take place at seven different theatres across the city of Pune. The Pune International Film Festival, recognised as Maharashtra's official film festival since 2010, is organised by the Pune Film Foundation.

[]><><><[]

In the first one day cricket international of the 5-match series, at the SCA Stadium in Rajkot, England were 174 for 2 in 32.3 overs against India when reports last came in. Earlier, England won the toss and chose to bat first. Fiery opener Virender Sehwag has been dropped from the Indian squad for the first three matches and in-form batsman Cheteshwar Pujara is his replacement. India recently lost to Pakistan 1-2 in the 3-match ODI series. Before the Pakistan series, England defeated India 2-1 in the 4-match Test series, while the 2-match Twenty-20 series ended square.