1400 HRS

14th February, 2013

THE HEADLINES

• Peaceful polling on for Assembly election in Tripura; 58 per cent of voting reported so far.
• One lakh twenty thousand crore rupees to be spent as subsidy on Food Security, says Union Food Minister.
• Political standoff in Male continues with former President Mohamed Nasheed calling for dropping charges against him; Asks India to take a lead to resolve crisis.
• Wholesale Price Index inflation falls to 6.62 per cent in January for the fourth straight month.
• Justice Y Bhaskar Rao sworn in as the new Lokayukta of Karnataka.
• Sensex drops over 30 points in volatile afternoon trade; Rupee declines 12 paise to 53.94 against the dollar.

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In Tripura, the Polling for the Assembly Elections is going on peacefully. The Chief Electoral Officer said the polling percentage is 58 per cent so far. Chief Minister Manik Sarkar cast his vote from Sishu Vihar Polling Booth of Agartala today. A total of 249 candidates including 15 women are in fray in the Assembly Election.

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In Meghalaya, the security has been beefed up across the state for the forthcoming Assembly elections. More from our correspondent;

"The State will avail services of 71 companies of para-military forces during election. Only 10 companies of the Para-Military companies have been deployed mostly in Garo hills to maintain law and order. The Chief electoral officer B.Nayak said, 61 companies of the Central para-military forces would arrive after the Tripura Election. 1272 polling stations have been declared either hyper sensitive or sensitive of the total 2,485 polling stations in the state. With Manoj Kumar Jalli. This is Vinod Shankar Barwa/ Air News/ Shillong."

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Justice Yarabati Bhaskar Rao was sworn in as the new Lokayukta of Karnataka. Governor HR Bharadwaj administered the oath of office to the anti Corruption ombudsman in Bangalore today. The post of Lokayukta was lying vacant since September 2011, after Justice Shivaraj Patil, resigned following allegations of false declaration while obtaining a housing site. The 74-year-old former Chief Justice Bhaskar Rao was acting Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court for three months in 1999 and later served as Chief Justice for four months. After retirement, he was appointed Chairman of Andhra Pradesh Human Rights Commission and later became a member of the National Human Rights Commission.

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Subsidy on food grains will go up by 20 thousand crores more over the existing one lakh crore rupees if the National Food Security Bill is passed in the Budget Session of Parliament. Food Minister Prof. K V Thomas said the food grains requirement is likely to touch 62 million tonnes as against the present 55 million tonnes. Talking to reporters in New Delhi today, Prof. Thomas said the procurement of the foodgrains will also go up from the present 25 per cent to 35 per cent of the country's foodgrains production under the provisions of the food security bill. Prof Thomas said the Food Security Bill will ensure better distribution of the highly subsidised foodgrains besides providing legal entitlement of food and nutritional security to the people. He said the bill provides for coverage of upto 75 per cent of the rural population.

"Basically we find that the proportion of Standing Committee that 75 percentage of the rural areas and 50 percentage of the urban areas has to be in the priority sector and the extrusion and inclusion of 67 percentage and 33 percentage has to be left with the state governments."

Mr.Thomas said about two third of population will be entitled to receive subsidized foodgrains under Targeted Public Distribution under the Food Security Bill. Replying to a question, the Minister said the centre will protect the present entitlement of foodgrains even after the implementation of the food security bill.

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In Jammu and Kashmir, curfew has been relaxed in almost all the major towns in the valley. More from our Correspondent:

"After the relaxation of curfew in many areas of Kashmir valley, the people heaved a sigh of relief. People are seen purchasing essential commodities and the vehicles are plying normally. According to police, accept down town in Srinagar district, curfew has been lifted from rest of the areas. However, curfew continue in the towns of Sopore, Kangan, Pulwama, Shopian, Baramullah, Handwara, Bijbihara and Anantnag. The situation is normal and no untoward incident has been reported so far from any part of the valley."

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The water released from Krishna Raja Sagar Dam into Cauvery by Karnataka has reached Tamil Nadu border Biligundulu today. More from our correspondent:

"As per Supreme Court’s order to release 2.44 TMC water to Tamil Nadu, Karnataka had released water from its KRS Dam last Saturday. This water has reached Biligundulu today morning according to Union Water resources officials who are monitoring the inflow. This water is expected to reach Mettur Dam through Hogenekkal by today evening. " K Devi Padmanabhan/ Air News/ Tiruchirapalli.

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In Madhya Pradesh, at least 8 devotees including three women were killed and six others injured. The accident occurred when their jeep, fell from a bridge into a 20-feet-deep ditch under Gulganj of Chhatarpur district. The jeep carrying 15 passengers was going from Vidisha to Kumbh Mela in Allahabad. The injured have been admitted to local Government Hospital.

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The political stadoff in Male continues with former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed calling for dropping of what he called, politically motivated charges against him and 800 of his party-men. In a statement issued by Maldivian Democratic Party spokesperson Ms Mariya Didi early today, Nasheed asked India to take a lead in securing an end to the political crisis in the country. Maldives government has not taken any official stand on the issue so far. Indian officials are in touch with Maldivian authorities in a bid to resolve the crisis. A report:

"Former Maldivian President Mohamed Nasheed continues to be in the Indian High Commission, where he spent the night even as his partymen took out a rally in the streets in his support. His party has called for resignation of President Waheed and formation of a caretaker government to oversee the Presidential elections. There has been no official reaction on the crisis by the government of Maldives. Nasheed has expressed apprehension that the case filed against him is a politically motivated move to prevent him from appearing as a candidate in the Presidential election slated for September this year." Abhishek Dayal/ Air News/ Colombo.

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French President Francois Hollande, who is on a two-day visit to India, was given ceremonial reception at Rashtrapati Bhawan today. Later he visited Rajghat in New Delhi and paid floral tribute to Mahatma Gandhi.

External affairs Minister Salman Khurshid called on Mr Hollende this morning. French President also held delegation-level talks with the Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh. Both the sides will also sign agreements on various bilateral issues of mutual interest.

During his stay in Delhi, the visiting dignitary will call on President Pranab Mukherjee and meet top leadership of the country. He will honour Professor Amartya Sen with Commander de la legion d'Honneur. Mr Hollande will also visit Mumbai on Friday to attend an economic conference and hold business meetings with captains of Indian industry.

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The European Union Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Marie Ashton has said that Iranshould show flexibility for a substantial progress in the upcoming nuclear talks. Addressing a UN Security Council Session in New York, she said that Iran's nuclear issues remains high on the agenda and the support of IAEA and the international community is crucial. Immediately after her address, the Iranian mission to the UN in New York issued a statement saying Iran is fully committed to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty and to cooperate with the IAEA. It said that Iran's legitimate rights to have a fuel cycle, including enrichment of uranium, should be fully recognized by the P5+1group comprising of US, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. The statement comes ahead of the next round of nuclear talks betweenIran and the six world powers in Kazakhastan capital Almati on February 26. Meanwhile the ninth round of talks between Iran and IAEA came to an end in Teheran yesterday.

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Declining for the fourth straight month, Wholesale Price Index, WPI inflation fell to 6.62 per cent in January despite rise in prices of food items like vegetables, onions and rice. An official data released today said that the WPI had stood at 7.18 per cent in December and 7.24 per cent in November. It was at 7.23 per cent in January, 2012.

Inflation in manufactured items category too witnessed a decline and stood at 4.81 per cent in January. Inflation in food articles, which have a 14.3 per cent share in the WPI basket, however witnessed an increase as onion prices shot up during the month. Inflation in the food articles category was at 11.88 per cent from 11.16 per cent in December. Onions became expensive by 111.52 per cent during January, from 69.24 per cent in December, 2012. Our correspondent reports that the Reserve Bank of India had last month lowered interest rates by 0.25 per cent saying that with inflation showing signs of remaining range bound, it was now critical to arrest the loss of growth momentum.

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Giving up all its initial gains, amid volatility, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange stood 38 points, or 0.2 percent in negative territory, at 19,570 in afternoon trade, a short while ago. Earlier, in the morning, however, the Sensex had opened with a gain of 20 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 19,628, on selective buying by funds and retail investors. The Sensex had climbed over 147 points in the previous two trading sessions. Stock markets in Japan, Hong Kong, Indonesia,Singapore and South Korea were trading mixed, today. The US Dow Jones Industrial Average had fallen 0.3 percent, yesterday.

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The rupee declined by 12 paise to 53.94 against the dollar at the Interbank Foreign Exchange market in early trade today on fresh demand for the American currency from banks. Forex dealers said fresh demand for the US dollar from banks mainly put pressure on the rupee but a higher opening in the equity market restricted the loss.

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Oil prices climbed in Asian trade today after the OPEC crude cartel raised its demand forecast for this year. New York's main contract, light sweet crude for delivery in March rose 19 cents to 97.20 a barrel and Brent North Sea crude for April gained seven cents to 117.95 dollars.