1400 HRS

  6th February, 2013

THE HEADLINES

• High dropout rate in schools after elementary level is a matter of concern says the Prime Minister.

• UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi launches universal child Health Screening and Early Intervention service in Thane district of Maharashtra.

• Supreme Court directs Central Government to formulate a policy for regulation of acid sale to prevent acid attacks.

• Government gives approval to DRDO to develop an indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control System for IAF.

• Heavy snowfall and rain disrupt normal life in North India; Five missing and three injured in Avalanche in Himachal Pradesh.

• Sensex trading flat in afternoon trade.

• In US, 18 people including 5 of Indian origin charged for running 200 million dollar global credit card fraud.

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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today called for raising the standard of teaching and to prevent drop out from schools. Inaugurating the Golden jubilee celebrations of the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) in New Delhi, Dr. Singh said, the standards of teaching are not up to the mark and learning outcomes are far below what is expected. The Prime minister said, the high dropout rate in schools after the elementary level is a matter of concern. He asked the Kendriya Vidyalayas be role models for neighbouring schools in setting standards and benchmarks for imparting quality education and skill development. Dr. Singh also urged the Kendriya Vidyalayas to embrace change boldly particularly in the use of modern techniques and technology in imparting quality education. The Prime minister said, an educated and skilled work force can take the country forward as its economy expands.

"Our government has always recognized that India can emerge as a modern, progressive and prosperous country only when all our citizens have access to good quality education. We know that our country is a young country and we can reap the demographic dividend only if we have an educated and skilled workforce that would help our economy to expand and become more productive."

The Prime minister said, the UPA government has given special emphasis on education. Universal access to primary education is important and the Right to Education Act ensures that every child up to class 8 gets free education.

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UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi today launched the universal Child Health Screening and Early Intervention Service at Palghar town in Thane district of Maharashtra. The initiative, called the Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram, is a part of the National Rural Health Mission of the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. The scheme aims to provide comprehensive health care for all children.

Newborns will also be screened for birth defects in health facilities where deliveries take place and during the home visit by ASHA. A report:

"The Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram is aimed at improving overall quality of life of children through early detection of birth defects, diseases and deficiencies, which are among key factors for child mortality. The new initiative would assure a package of health services for all children up to 18 years of age. The programme will also prove economical for poor and marginalized. Birth defects account for 9.6 per cent of all new-born deaths and 4 per cent of under five mortality. According to the programme, a set of thirty common conditions have been identified for screening and further management of child health. The services will be provided through dedicated mobile health teams placed in every block. The scheme, which will be implemented in a phased manner, is expected to benefit approximately 27 crore children across the country. SWEETY KOTHARI, AIR NEWS, MUMBAI."

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The Supreme Court today directed the union home secretary to convene a meeting of chief secretaries of all states and administrators of union territories to formulate policy for effective regulation of the sale of acid to prevent acid attacks. The apex court bench headed by Justice R.M. Lodha said the meeting will also formulate policy for treatment after care and rehabilitation of acid attack victims. The court said the meeting will also evolve policy for compensation to the victims of acid attacks including the creation of a separate corpus for this purpose. The court noted a submission by Additional Solicitor General Mohan Prasaran that the government has already amended the Indian Penal Code making acid attack a separate offence. The court's direction to the union home secretary came in the course of the hearing of a petition seeking treatment, rehabilitation and compensation of acid attack victims.

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The Government has given approval to the DRDO to develop an indigenous Airborne Early Warning and Control System ,AWACS that can help the IAF keep an eye deep inside enemy territory. An 'in principal' approval was granted to the proposal for developing an indigenous AWACS at the recent meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security. DRDO officials said in Bangalore that after the approval, the DRDO will now work towards finalising the further details of the programmes and the number of such aircraft that the IAF would require for giving a complete coverage of India's boundaries, they said. India already has a fleet of three AWACS aircraft supplied byIsrael deployed on the Ilyushin-76 aircraft procured from Russia.

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The National Human Rights Commission, NHRC, has sought a report from the Uttar Pradesh police on the assault of a Vietnamese man last year. It asked Deputy Inspector General of Meerut range to file the report within four weeks on media reports of cops allegedly beating the foreign national and his Indian friend. According to the NHRC statement, on the 12th of December, the two had given a lift to three locals, who requested them to help chase a car which after hitting a woman near Kankarkheda bypass sped away towards Modipuram in western Uttar Pradesh.

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Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar today asked the states to utilise funds available under various central schemes to address major challenges like shortage of feed and fodder, effective control of animal diseases and skill development among others. Emphasising that allied farm sector has the potential to drive total farm growth to the targeted 4 per cent, he asked the state governments to allocate 25 per cent of funds under the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, for livestock and fisheries.

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In Madhya Pradesh, property over 50 crore rupees have been recovered in raids by Lokayukta police from several houses owned by a Chief Conservator of Forest . According to Ujjain Superintendent of police, eight lakh rupees have been recovered from the houses of this officer at Ujjain and Bhopal beside one kilogram of gold and jewellery. The searches are on.

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Heavy rain and snowfall continue to disrupt normal life across Northern India. In Himachal Pradesh, five persons are missing while three others were injured when an avalanche hit a cluster of houses in Kafnu village under Kinnaur district. Kinnaur Deputy Commissioner J.M Pathania said that relief and rescue teams were immediately rushed to the spot. In Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, normal life has been completely paralyzed due to heavy snowfall during the last twenty four hours. Our Leh Correspondent reports that both air and surface connectivity in the region have been badly affected. All the scheduled flights between Delhi, Jammuand Leh have been cancelled for the second consecutive day today. Our correspondent reports that the traffic authorities have decided to allow one way traffic on the highway and traffic has been allowed from Jammu to Srinagar today. In Uttar Pradesh, the weather is cloudy in most of the eastern districts. People are experiencing shivering cold due to icy wind and rainfall during past 48 hours. OurGorakhpur correspondent reports that Gorakhpur, Basti, Azamgarh, Mahrajganj and Deoria districts have experienced mild showers during the period. Overnight showers lashed several parts of the National Capital plunging mercury downward.

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In Tripura,with 8 more days to go for the polls, Campaigning has reached its peak. Our Correspondent reports all together 249 candidates are in the fray for the 60 member assembly election to be held on the 14th of this month.

"In Tripura security has been briefed up all across the state due to the ensuing assembly election to be held on 14th of February. All the Central paramilitary Forces who have come from outside the state for election duty are in full deployment in the state. CEO Tripura Asutosh Jindal informed that apart from few, all the Central paramilitary forces for polling duty have reached in the poll bound state of Tripura. While on the other hand Postal ballot voting is also going on in state on the third day today. The postal ballot voting will end on 10th of February. All together 249 candidates are in fray for 60 member assembly election to be held on 14th of February." SUDIPTA KAR, AIR NEWS, AGARTALA."

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In Assam, voting is on in eight districts for the second phase of panchayat election. Voting is being held for 121 Zila Parishad, 5 hundred 98 Anchalik Parishad and Gaon Panchayat President and five thousand 980 Gaon Panchayat constituencies. Official sources said that 26 thousand 724 candidates are in the fray in this phase. Over 30 lakh 40 thousand voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.

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Asia’s biggest, biennial air show and aviation exhibition, Aero India-2013, got off to a flying start in Bangalore today. Defence Minister A K Antony inaugurated the five-day event in the presence of Civil Aviation minister Ajit Singh, Chief Minister of Karnataka Jagadish Shetter, minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh among other dignitaries. Speaking at the inaugural function, Mr.Antony said the Indian Aviation sector is growing at a fastest pace and will evolve into major hub for Aerospace operations and outsourcing in the coming days. He underscored the need to create a strong defence industrial base in the country.

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The Government is to set up two hundred community colleges on pilot basis in existing colleges and polytechnics from the academic session 2013. Addressing an international conference on community colleges in New Delhi this morning, Human Resources Development minister M.M. Pallam Raju said this will assist in providing high quality relevant skills education at low cost to learners to enhance employment, including self-employment opportunities locally. He said industry, including business, services, agriculture and allied sectors will be associated at all levels of activities in these colleges such as development of curriculum and training of trainers and teachers. Mr Raju said there are gaps in the skilling level and education system which needs to be bridged.

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Erasing all its initial gains, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange stood 6 points in negative territory, at 19,654 in afternoon deals, a short while ago. Earlier in the morning, however, the Sensex had opened with a good gain of 87 points, or 0.4 per cent, at 19,747, on fresh buying by funds and retail investors, amid largely firm Asian markets.

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The rupee trimmed its initial gains against the US dollar this morning amid selling of the American currency by banks and exporters and capital inflows from foreign funds as well as a weak dollar in the overseas forex market. The rupee opened higher at 52.96 per dollar as against the last closing level of 53.13 at the Interbank Foreign Exchange Market and firmed up further to 52.90.

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In the US, at least five men of Indian-origin are among 18 others charged for running a whopping 200 million US Dollars global credit card fraud under which they used thousands of fake identities to dupe businesses and financial firms and wired millions of dollars to Pakistan and India. In one of the largest credit card fraud schemes ever charged by the US Department of Justice, the men fabricated identities to obtain credit cards and doctored credit reports to pump up the spending and borrowing power associated with the cards.

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An official in the Solomon Islands said four people have died and two others are missing after a Tsunami in the southern Pacific Ocean. Waves just under a metre high swept 500 metres inland forcing residents to make for higher ground. The town of Lata was hit and three villages were badly damaged.