1400 HRS
21.04.2013
21.04.2013
THE HEADLINES
- Prime Minister calls for vast improvements to address the issues relating to safety, security and status of women.
- Dr Manmohan Singh stresses the need for boosting investment across all sectors to help the economy emerge from the difficult situation.
- Finance Minister says, world economy can bounce back if the advanced economies remove policy uncertainties
- Budget session of Parliament resumes tomorrow after a break.
- North Korea moves two more missile launchers to its east coast.
- In the Monte Carlo Masters Tennis:
- World Number One Novak Djokovic to lock horns with Rafael Nadal for the title today.
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The Prime Minister has called for vast improvements to address the concerns related to safety, security and status of women in the country. Referring to the gang rape incident in Delhi last December and the recent brutal assault on a little child, Dr Manmohan Singh stressed on the need for collective work to root out this sort of the depravity from the society.
In his inaugural address at the 8th Civil Services Day in New Delhi today the Prime Minister said that the government has moved with speed in strengthening the law to deal more effectively with offences against women. Dr Singh said that civil servants as leaders in the government have a greater responsibility to contribute to the social and economic empowerment of women. Stating that the economy is passing through difficult times, Dr Manmohan Singh emphasized on the need for boosting investment across all sectors to help emerge from the present difficult situation.
Dr.Singh called for building an environment to encourage and reward creativity entrepreneurship and enterprise. Appreciating the major initiatives taken by the Cabinet Committee on Investment for fast tracking of mega projects, the Prime Minister urged the civil servants to pay special attention to the need for building enterprise and investment friendly climate. On management of disasters, the Prime Minister asked the civil servants to identify best practices, document them properly and disseminate them widely to make people prepared for a disaster when it hits.
The Prime Minister called upon the civil servants to consider ways and means to meet the major challenge of ensuring good governance and managing the economy. He said the officers in the civil services should be provided top class training to equip them with the tools to understand the complexities of governance and economic systems. He also stressed on putting in place an effective system to incentivise innovation and remove inefficiency learning from best practices across the world. Dr. Singh said the right of citizens for time bound delivery of goods and services and redressal of their grievances Bill 2011 is under consideration of Parliament and once enacted it will give citizens right to receive specified goods and services in a time bound manner. On government's efforts to curb corruption and enhance transparency and accountability in the government, the Prime Minister referred to the Right to Information Act, Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill and the Whistle blowers Protection Bill. He said these bills are also intended to improve the standards of delivery of public services. Dr Singh urged the civil servants involved in the implementation of direct benefit transfer scheme to make it a success. He said the scheme which now covers 121 districts in the country will lead to better targetting of subsidies and reducing delays in the delivery of benefits.
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The condition of the five-year-old girl who was brutally raped in the national capital is stable. The Medical superintendent of the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Dr. D K Sharma told reporters in New Delhi today that she is responding well to treatment and her condition is stable after undergoing surgery. He said her vital parameters are normal and she slept well during the night. Dr Sharma said that there is no threat to her life though she has a mild fever.
"At present, her vital parameters are stable. She is conscious, alert and touching to parents, nurses and doctors. She is having mild
fever which is showing improvement. As such, there is no danger to her life and she is being looked after by a team of experienced doctors."
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Finance Minister P Chidambaram has said that the world economy can bounce back if the advanced economies remove policy uncertainties. In his address to the International Monetary Finance Committee in Washington, Mr. Chidambaram maintained that the Indian economy has been impacted by the global slowdown. He said, there has been a marked improvement in financial market sentiment in the recent period, following some significant measures announced by policymakers in the Euro area and the US. He, however, said the financial market still remains fragile and the global economy continues to face several critical challenges.
Addressing the annual Spring meeting of the IMF, Mr. Chidambaram spoke about India's economic situation, saying that the authorities have taken several measures in the recent period.
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India has emerged as the largest recipient of foreign remittances in the world. A World Bank report says, India received 69 billion dollars in 2012 as foreign remittances. It is followed by China with 60 billion dollars earnings. Analysts in Dubai say that the falling value of the Indian rupee and attractive interest rates on external deposits have helped in attracting an increase in foreign remittances to India. More from our West Asia correspondent:
"World Bank's Migration and Development report attributes India’s top earnings to a large numbers of unskilled Indian migrants working mainly in the oil-rich gulf countries and a large skilled Indian Diaspora in US and other high-income countries. According to estimates, the expatriate Indian workers in the gulf region sent around $30 billion back home in 2012. Analysts say that the growth rate of 15 percent in 2012 was mainly due to a fall in the value of the rupee and attractive interest rates back home on external deposits. They say that the upward trend will continue in the coming years. The World Bank report has forecast that the remittances to the developing countries would grow around 8.8 percent per annum and the volume is expected to cross $515 billion by 2015. The total global remittances are estimated to have reached $514 billion in 2012 which is about $20 billion lower than the $534 billion projections made by the World Bank in its interim report in November last year."ATUL TIWARY/AIR NEWS/ DUBAI.
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Market regulator Sebi will hold an auction tomorrow for grant of permission to Foreign Institutional Investors for investments worth up to 29,108 crore rupees in government bonds. At the auction to be held on the BSE platform by Sebi, FIIs would be able to bid for investment limits of 24,621 crore rupees in the long-term government debt securities and the remaining 4,487 crore in other government bonds.
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The second phase of the Budget Session of Parliament begins tomorrow. Our correspondent reports that the government will try its best to pass the important legislations pending in the Parliament. These mainly include Lokpal and Lokayuktas Bill, Food Security Bill and Land Acquisition Bill besides the Finance Bill and vote on several demands for grants.
The NDA has decided to raise the issue of irregularities in the allocation of coal blocks on the first day itself. It has also appealed to all the members of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on the 2G Scam to reject the draft report of JPC entirely. The BJP is worried over the draft report which charges former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee with knowingly causing losses to the government exchequer. The issue of recent assault on the 5-year-old girl in Delhi is also likely to be raised by the political parties in Parliament.
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North Korea has moved two more missile launchers believed to be for Scud missiles to its east coast, where preparations are apparently under way for a missile test as tensions simmer on the peninsula. Citing a senior Seoul official, Yonhap news agency said, Seoul and Washington were closely monitoring the site. The spokesman for Seoul's defence ministry was not immediately available to confirm the report. Previously, the North was reported to have moved seven missile launchers to its coast facing the Sea of Japan in apparent preparations for a test that would further escalate tensions. Angered by the fresh UN sanctions triggered by its third nuclear test in February and joint South Korea-US military exercises, the North has for weeks been issuing threats of missile strikes and nuclear war.
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The death toll in the powerful earthquake that hit China's Sichuan province yesterday, has risen to 203 people with more than 11,000 people injured. Survivors are still being pulled from the rubble.
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A 6.1-magnitude earthquake struck off the south coast of Japan's main Honshu island today. However, no tsunami warning was issued.
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BACK HOME:
In Karnataka, 2948 candidates are left in fray for the Assembly elections scheduled on May 5. Out of these 2778 are male candidates and 170 are female. Chief Electoral Officer of the State Anil Kumar Jha disclosed that 744 candidates withdrew their nominations yesterday.
The Congress is contesting from all the 224 constituencies, BJP from 223, JD(S) from 222 Assembly constituencies. There are also 1223 Independents in fray.
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The West Bengal Government has decided to introduce a bill in the next session of the Assembly to check misuse of drinking water. Giving this information State Public Health Engineering Minister Subrata Mukherjee said that, the proposed legislation name as ‘the West Bengal piped drinking water (misuse, control and regulation) bill 2013 will come into force to ensure supply of safe drinking water to the all citizens.
"The people of Purulia, Bankura and West Midnapore Districts face serious water crisis during every summer. In fact the present water crisis in the state is largely due to misuse or abuse of water. One of the reasons of the actual gap between demand and supply of water is transmission and distribution loss. To plug these loop holes with an aim for better water management and supply of safe drinking water to all citizens particularly in rural areas the proposed bill will impose penalty for misusing drinking water. Under the provisions of the bill imprisonment of minimum two years to maximum seven years and minimum penalty of five thousand rupees to maximum one lakh rupees have been proposed for wastage of drinking water, illegal use of surface water and unauthorised exploitation of ground water. Civic bodies and police will monitor these and they will also keep a strong vigil to check theft of piped used for supply of water."Arijit Chakraborty, AIR News, Kolkata.
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The inclement weather during past few days has hit stone fruits and apple orchards in several parts of Shimla, Kullu and Kinnaur districts of Himachal Pradesh. Our Shimla correspondent reports that the continuous snowfall has affected sowing of peas in the tribal Lahaul valley.
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World Number One Novak Djokovic of Serbia will lock horns with Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the title clash of the Monte Carlo Masters Tennis tournament today. Meanwhile, the top seeded American duo of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan will clash with the French-Serbian combination of Julien Benneteau and Nenad Zimonjic for the Men's Doubles trophy today.
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In today's IPL matches, Delhi Daredevils will take on Mumbai Indians in Delhi at 4 PM, and Kings Eleven Punjab will meet Pune Warriors in Mohali at 8 in the evening.
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A celestial treat is in store for stargazers who can look forward to see fireworks in the form of meteor showers after midnight tonight. The shooting stars will start at 12.30 AM and peak between 3 AM to 5 AM
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