2100 HRS

1st January , 2013

THE HEADLINES:

• Center sets up a special task force to look into the issues of safety of women in the capital.

• Home Minister urges political parties to send their suggestions to J.S.Verma Committee reviewing rape laws.

• The government rolls out Direct Transfer of Benefits scheme in 20 districts in 16 states.

• Severe coldwave conditions pervail in North India.Delhi records season's lowest of 4 degrees celsius.

• Sensex gains 154 points ; Gold jumps 155 rupees.

• Prakash Amritraj enters the second round of the Chennai Open Tennis Tournament.

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The Centre has set up a special task force to look into the safety issues of women in Delhi and review the functioning of Delhi Police regularly. Our correspondent reports that the the force will be headed by Union Home Secretary. It will have Chief Secretary of Delhi, Commissioner of Delhi Police, Special CP-Traffic, Special CP- Law and Order, Chairperson of Delhi Commission for Women and Delhi Transport Commissioner among other members. The Task Force will continuously review action taken by the Delhi Police and Delhi Government.

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Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde today said that he has written letters to all political parties asking them to send their suggestions on laws relating to crimes against women to the Justice JS Verma Committee. He was talking to reporters in New Delhi.

We have written to all parties to give their opinion and legal position to the three-member Committee headed by Justice Verma so that it become easy for the Committee to take decision.

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Peaceful protests on the gang rape case of a medical student continued in Delhi for another day today. A few hundred protesters, including students and women activists, gathered at Jantar Mantar in Central Delhi, demanding strong law to hand out stringent punishment to those held guilty of sexual offences.

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The United Nation Commission for Human rights today expressed deep sadness at the death of the 23-year-old Delhi gang-rape victim and asked India to strengthen its legal regime to get rid of the terrible scourge of rape. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said, she joined people of the country in all walks of life in condemning the attack on the student, expressing confidence that India could emerge reformed in the wake of this terrible crime.

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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa today ordered toughest action against rapists and sexual offenders in the state. This includes setting up of fast track courts in all the districts to speed up the justice delivery system.

In a written order, the Chief Minister also announced the launching of round the clock women's helpline that will be monitored by senior police officials.

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In yet another ceasefire violation in Jammu and Kashmir, Pakistani troops fired on Indian forward posts along the Line of Control in Krishna Ghati Sector of Poonch district last night. Pakistani troops targeted Indian Kripan, Kranti and Nangi posts by resorting to small and medium arms firing. More from our correspondent.

Jammu and Kashmir State witnessed over 70 incidents of cross-border firing along Indo-Pak border in the year 2012 in which seven persons including four security personnel were killed and 15 others injured. There has been increase in the incidents of cross-border firing in the year 2012. During year 2011, 51 cases of cross-border firing and ceasefire violations took place in the State compared to 44 cases in 2010 and 28 in 2009. Chander Kant Sharma, from Jammu.

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Rajni Patil will be the congress candidate for by-election to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra which will be held on 12th of this month. The Congress President Sonia Gandhi approved her candidature. The by-election was necessitated after the death of the sitting member and Former Union Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

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The government rolled out Direct Transfer of Benefits into beneficiaries accounts in 20 districts today in 16 states including Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala. The scheme aims at providing benefits of several government welfare schemes directly to the beneficiaries’ bank accounts to plug leakages and reduce delays in their transfer. The scheme will begin in 11 more districts from 1st of February and in another 12 districts from 1st of March this year. Initially there will be a direct benefit transfer in 7 schemes.

These include pre-matric scholarships for SCs and post-matric scholarships for SCs, STs and OBCs, Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahayata Yojana and stipend to SCs and STs for coaching-cum-guidance and vocational training. The scheme will benefit around two lakh people in the country. Food, fertiliser, diesel and kerosene subsidies are not covered under the scheme. It will be rolled out in phases in other parts of the country during 2013 after its successful implementation in 43 districts. The Scheme will be launched in Puducherry tomorrow.

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Delhi Government today rolled out the Aadhaar enabled direct cash transfer for four Centrally sponsored schemes in two districts of the national capital. Post- matric scholarship scheme for OBCs and Scheduled Caste students, Indira Gandhi Matritva Sahyata Yojna and Janani Suraksha Yojna have been brought under the scheme. It has been introduced in the North East and North West Districts on pilot basis.

Launching the scheme, Delhi Chief Minister Mrs Shiela Dikshit said that five more Centrally sponsored schemes will be covered under the direct cash transfer in the coming days.

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The Centre’s poverty alleviation scheme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ( MGNREGA) has provided employment to 5.49 crore families during the year 2010-11 in all 626 districts across the country. The average number of days of employment under the scheme have been 47 days during the period. This was revealed in the annual review report 2010-11 of Twenty Point Programme released by the Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, Srikant Jena in New Delhi today.

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Northern India continues to shiver in bitting cold. A severe cold wave continued to sweep across the national capital, leaving Delhites to shiver and the minimum temperature plummeted to four degree Celsius, the lowest of the season so far. The foggy condition are likely to continue. Airport official said that due to the poor visibility at Indira Gandhi International Airport, about 60 flights were delayed and 38 cancelled. Northern Railway spokesperson said that due to the late arrival of several trains, their departure timings have been rescheduled.

In Uttar Pradesh, death toll in the cold wave has gone up to 100 with more deaths reported from different parts of the state.

In Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh, a thick blanket of fog enveloped the entire region, affecting all modes of traffic due to reduced visibility today.More from our correspondent.

In country side fog remained more thick as the wheat fields are irrigated these days. Road and rail traffic has been affected in both the states. Almost all trains are running late. While traffic on road moved with head light during the day due to low visibility, flights were affected at Chandigarh airport. J.S. Randhawa fromChandigarh.

In Himachal Pradesh, higher reaches of Dhauladhar ranges in Kangra and Kinnaur district are experiencing snowfall since morning.

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THE BUSINESS WORLD

The Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange rose 154 points, or 0.8 per cent, to close at a 20-month high of 19,581, on the first day of 2013, today, on across-the-board buying by investors, after the US Senate voted to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff. The Nifty gained 46 points, or 0.8 percent, to 5,951.Key Asian and European markets were closed for a holiday.But ushering in the new year on an upswing, the rupee strengthened 31 paise, to end at a nearly two-week high of 54.68 against the dollar. And gold jumped 155 rupees, to 31,145 rupees per ten grams in Delhi. Silver rose 740 rupees, to 57,740 rupees per kilo. Pradeep Kumar, AIR News.

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Union Tourism Secretary Parvez Diwan today said that there has not been a single cancellation of visits by foreign tourists to India in view of protests over gang rape case in Delhi. He was answering a media query whether travel advisories by some countries to their citizens prompted the cancellations. Mr. Diwan said, the UK and the US have, indeed, reviewed their travel advisories asking their citizens to only avoid central Delhi during their stay in the city. He said the Ministry has written to all 14 offices in 13 countries to put things into perspective regarding the protests.

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Tourism Ministry will set up a multi-lingual helpline to provide general information and assistance to tourists. Besides, Hindi and English, the helpline will be in the languages of the important source countries. Union Tourism Minister K. Chiranjeevi has directed that the toll free helpline should be accessible from everywhere in the country and start functioning in the new calendar year.

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Unidentified gunmen ambushed a car carrying workers of an NGO in Pakistan's restive northwest today, killing seven persons and injuring one more, police said.

The gunmen ambushed the car near the remote area of Swabi district in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province this afternoon.

The NGO workers were returning from a community centre.Six women and a man were killed in the shooting. 

The victims worked for the NGO Ujala that is engaged in health and education programmes. Four gunmen were involved in the attack, officials said. Police launched a search operation but were unable to trace the attackers.No group claimed responsibility for the incident.

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In Ivory Coast, a New Year's Eve fireworks display turned from celebration to tragedy early today when more than 60 children were crushed to death in a stampede. According to media reports, the victims ranged in age from eight to 15. The report said more than 200 people were also injured in the stampede.

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The US Senate overwhelmingly approved a legislation to avoid the so-called fiscal cliff today, with 89 voting in favour and 8 against. The proposal would extend tax rates on annual household income under 4,50,000 Dollars and postpone automatic spending cuts for two months. The Bill will now have to be passed by the House of Representatives.

The agreement passed by the Senate, protects 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small business owners from a middle class tax hike.

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Afghan peace negotiators today welcomed the release of eight Taliban prisoners who had been held in Pakistan, hailing the move as a significant boost to efforts to end 11 years of war. The High Peace Council, set up to conduct negotiations with the Taliban, said the releases underlined that neighbouring Pakistan was supporting talks as US-led NATO combat troops withdraw from Afghanistan. Support from Pakistan, which backed the 1996-2001 Taliban regime, is seen as crucial to peace in Afghanistan after NATO's departure.

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In the 15-nation UN Security Council, Argentina, Australia, Luxembourg, South Korea and Rwanda, today began to serve their two-year terms as the five new non-permanent members. The new Council members were elected by the UN General Assembly on October 18, 2012. Colombia, Germany, India, Portugal and South Africa ended their terms in the Council yesterday.

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Two people were killed by exploding fireworks and 361 were injured as New Year revelry turned deadly in Italy despite multiple campaigns to encourage Italians to tone down the partying.

A 49-year-old builder was killed by a rocket flying into his face and a 51-year-old restaurant owner died when a firecracker went off near his head as he was trying out a firework battery just before midnight, the police said. Both accidents occurred in the Campania region in southern Italy, where powerful illegal fireworks are widely available and popular among residents.

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Prakash Amritraj has entered into second round of the Men's Singles of Chennai Open Tennis Tournament. He defeated Gilam Raphin of France by 6-7, 6-2 and 6-3.

In an another match of first round of Men's doubles India's Leander Paes and Edward Rozer Vaislin of France, will take on with Sanchai Rativatna and Sonchat Rativatna of Thailand later tonight.