0815 HRS
6th February, 2013

THE HEADLINES:

• Government gives  in principle approval to a mechanism for price pooling of coal; Also decides to sell 9.5 per cent stake in National Thermal Power Corporation.

• Centre to launch Universal Child Health Screening service for detecting birth defects in Thane district of Maharashtra today.  

• Central team to submit its report to Supreme Court today on crop loss in  Cauvery delta districts of Tamil Nadu.

• United States sues Standard and Poor's over mortgage bond ratings.

• Heavy rain and snowfall in Northern India.

• India crash out of ICC Women's World Cup tournament after losing against Sri Lanka in Mumbai.

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The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, CCEA, has given an in-principle approval to a mechanism for price pooling of coal. The mechanism involves blending the cost of domestic coal with the imported one to offset the high price. Talking to reporters after the CCEA meeting, Minister of Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari said, basic principles and parameters of pooling have been identified. The Coal and Power ministries have been asked to come up with specific data on the issue.

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The government has decided to sell 9.5 per cent stake in power producer National Thermal Power Corporation, NTPC, tomorrow at a likely price of 145 rupees per share. It plans to sell over 78.32 crore shares of the company. Currently it holds 84.5 per cent stake in NTPC. This price is nearly at seven per cent discount on the current market price.
NTPC disinvestment the biggest so far this fiscal, is expected to garner about 12,000 crore rupees for the exchequer.
An Empowered Group of Ministers on disinvestment chaired by Finance Minister P Chidambaram yesterday approved the sale of stake.

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UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi will be launching a new initiative of Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Service at Palghar town in Thane district of Maharashtra today. The initiative, called Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, is part of the National Rural Health Mission and aims to provide comprehensive health care for all children to detect birth defects and deficiencies that can lead to disabilities.
The new initiative would assure a package of health services for all children up to 18 years of age. The programme launched at Palghar, will be extended to cover all districts of the country in a phased manner. When fully implemented, the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram is expected to benefit approximately 27 crore children across the country.

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The Election Commission of India has cautioned Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar against misuse of official machinery for political purposes in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. The action against Sarkar was taken at a meeting of the Election Commission chaired by Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath in New Delhiyesterday, after discussing the issue and the Chief Minister's reply to the allegations against him.
Sarkar was accused of giving an interview to a cable television channel on January 15th in his office in the Secretariat, where he made political comments praising his government and criticised the Opposition.

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In Nagaland, filing of nomination papers will end today for polling in 60 Assembly Constituencies. Around 200 candidates are expected to be in the fray for the Assembly polls to take place on the 23rd February. Our correspondent reports that scrutiny will take place tomorrow, while the last date for withdrawal of nominations is 9th February.

In Nagaland, several prominent candidates have filed their nomination papers till yesterday, including the State Chief Minister, the Speaker and the Home Minister. Former Chief Minister and other Veteran Members of the opposition Congress have also filed their nominations yesterday. A large number of candidates from various parties are expected to file their nominations today. Filing will come to a close at 3 pm this afternoon. Anela Jamir, AIR News, Kohima.

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In Meghalaya, 20 general observers deputed by the Election Commission arrived in the state for the February 23 assembly elections. Chief Election Officer P Naik said four of them would be stationed in Shillong, while the rest would be deployed in 10 district headquarters. Meanwhile, 124 candidates filed their nominations yesterday including Chief Minister Mukul Sangma who is seeking re-election from Ampati constituency in South West Garo Hills.

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In Assam, the second phase of panchayat poll has begun in eight districts from 7 AM. State Election Commissioner Biren Dutta said that 26 thousand 724 candidates are in the fray in this phase. The first phase was held on the 30th of January. The third phase of polls will take place on the 12th of this month. Counting for all the three phases will be held on the 14th and 15th of February.

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The central team which visited the Cauvery delta districts of Tamil Nadu to assess the crop loss will submit its report to the Supreme Court today. The team inspected the samba crop loss in the delta districts of the state including Tiruchirapalli, Thanjavur , Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam.  More from our correspondent:

The delta farmers are awaiting the water released from Mettur Dam as per Supreme court orders. At present 9000 cusecs of water is being released from Mettur Dam which is expected to reach Kallanani by tomorrow. The delta farmers showed their affected crops because of lack of water to the central team who inspected the affected Cauvery delta districts of Tamil Nadu. The farmers said that atleast 8 TMC water is needed to save standing samba crops. K.Devi Padmanabhan, AIR News, Tiruchirapalli.

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The United States has sued Standard and Poor's, S&P, alleging that the credit rating agency lied about its objectivity and independence and filed a civil lawsuit against the firm over the way it rated mortgage bonds.
The US Attorney General, Eric Holder, said inflated ratings by S&P for certain structured debt securities, caused investors to lose billions of dollars.
The lawsuit alleges that investors, many of them federally insured financial institutions, lost billions of dollars on Collateralized Debt Obligations for which S&P issued inflated ratings that misrepresented the securities' true credit risks.

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Heavy rain and snowfall continues in Northern India. In Uttar Pradesh, rain with thunderstorms is lashing many parts of the state including the capital city. Our correspondent quoting official sources reports that four persons died in rain-related incidents in the state. Several trains passing from Lucknow were running late because of heavy rains in west UP and Delhi.
The Jammu-Srinagar National Highway is closed due to landslides and accumulation of snow at various places on the highway in Ramban district of the Jammu region.

Landslides at three places between Ramban and Banihal and accumulation of snow at Jawahar tunnel as well as slippery road conditions have forced the authorities to suspend the traffic on Jammu-Srinagar National Highway. However, according to DIG Traffic, Shakeel Beigh if weather permits and road conditions improved, only the stranded vehicles on the highway will be allowed to move towards their destinations. He said, over 300 vehicles mostly trucks and oil tankers are stranded at different places. With R.K.Raina, Chander Kant Sharma, AIR News, Jammu. Overnight shower lashed several parts of the National Capital plunging mercury downward due to which Delhiites experienced cold weather condition, breaking all previous record of single day rainfall in the month of February in the past 71 years. According to the Met. department, the city has received 23.6 millimeter of rainfall during the last 24 hours.
Snowfall has been reported in Shimla in Himachal Pradesh since last night.

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The Election Commission has detected over 400 confirmed cases of paid news during the recently-concluded Assembly polls in Gujarat.  An official said in New Delhi that the Commission is initiating action against the erring candidates for including such expenses in their poll expenditure. The Commission will also be writing to the Press Council of India for necessary action against media houses indulging in such paid news without calling them  advertisements.

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The Pitroda Committee on Prasar Bharati has constituted eleven groups to undertake in-depth study of various aspects of Broadcasting Corporation of India. Briefing the media after the first meeting of the committee, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Information Infrastructure and chairman of the expert committee, Sam Pitroda said, these groups will submit their reports within one and a half month.
Acknowledging the role of social media in information dissemination, Mr. Pitroda said, the social media has emerged as a driving force and there is an urgent need to integrate it with the traditional media.

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India have been eliminated from the ICC Women's World Cup. Chasing a target of 283 to win against Sri Lanka, the Indian team were bundled out for 144 in 42 overs in a group A match in Mumbai yesterday. In another Group A match, Englandadvanced to the super sixes after beating the West Indies by six wickets in Mumbai.
In the two group B matches played in Cuttack, Australia beat New Zealand by seven wickets and South Africa defeated Pakistan by 126 runs.

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NEWSPAPERS HEADLINES

• The Tribune reports under the headline, "Gang-rape trial begins, victim's friend testifies", that the friend of the Delhi gang-rape victim identified the bus in which Nirbhaya was brutalised as the trial in the case opened yesterday. The Hindu writes that the girl's father says he wants her to be referred to as a brave girl and not as a gang-rape victim.
• The Indian Express reports that a Singaporean man of Tamil origin, Wilson Raj Perumal, was the front man for a Chinese criminal syndicate run from Singapore, and had fixed hundreds of football matches across five continents, generating hundreds of millions of dollars in gambling winnings for Asian and European syndicates.
• The Times of India writes that the credit card industry in India has been hit by a series of frauds involving unauthorised transactions of around 30 crores over the past couple of months through likely data theft at department stores.
• The Asian Age reports that two Marcos squadrons will be deployed in Mumbai and Port Blair with "duck drop" systems fitted on Ilyushin-76 aircraft that will help India's marine commandos to launch a counter-offensive in just over an hour in case of a pirates or terrorist strike through the sea route.
• The Indian Express writes that an all-woman Sufi music troupe from Iran is stumped by the controversy that has caused the all-girl rock band fromKashmir to call it quits.
• Under the headline, "Wettest February day in 71 years, more rain likely", Hindustan Times reports that 46 millimeter rain recorded on Monday-Tuesday was the highest in 24 hours since 1942.
• And finally, The Times of India writes that scientists have found that sunlight cuts diabetes risk by 50% adding that adequate levels of Vitamin D during young adulthood may reduce the risk of adult-onset type 1 diabetes by half