2100 HRS.

20th June, 2013

THE HEADLINES:

• Over 32 thousand people evacuated in disaster affected Utterakhand; Rural development Ministry working on special package for re-constructing village roads and bridges .

• Cabinet approves merging of 170 Centrally sponsored schemes into 66, for efficient monitoring and flexibility to states.

• US supports India's inclusion as a permanent member of an expanded UN Security Council.

• Posting its biggest single day fall in nearly two years, Sensex tumbles 526 points as global markets tank.

• Rupee drops 87 paise,to an all time low of 59.57 against the dollar.

• Sri Lanka set a target of 182 for India in the Champions Trophy

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In Uttarakhand properties of estimated 5 thousand crore rupees have been lost in the current unprecedented natural calamity in different districts. State government has said about a week is required for evacuation of pilgrims, tourists and local residents stranded in the flood affected areas. Above 32 thousand pilgrims and tourists have been evacuated till now from different areas. An official spokesperson has expressed his apprehension that hundreds of people have lost their lives in the calamity but accurate number of deaths is yet to be ascertained and it will be cleared after removal of debris.

Our correspondent reports from Dehradun, a total of 24 helicopters from army and four from private sectors have been pressed into service for evacuation of stranded pilgrims and tourists.

The state government has said there are several remote places in the Kedar valley region where hundreds of pilgrims have taken shelter but relief teams are unable to reach there. About 80 commandos and personnel from Army, ITBP and NDRF have been dropped in the region to locate the people in remote areas and preparing the places for landing of helicopters. People stranded in Kedar valley are being brought at Gupt Kashi in Rudraprayag district to send them Tehri and Rishilkesh by road. First of all concentration is being made to evacuate people stranded in remote Kedar valley and in next phase, being start from day after tomorrow evacuation will be beginning in Badrinath region. The government has said most of the pilgrims stranded in Sikh shrine Hemkund Sahib have been evacuated. The state government has provided 139 crore rupees to all districts for rescue and relief operations. With Sunil Shukla, this is Sanjeev Sundriyal AIR News Dehradun.

Principle Secretary Civil Aviation of the state Rakesh Sharma has said most of the pilgrims stranded in Sikh shrine Hemkund Sahib have been evacuated. Uttarakhand government has received 49 crore rupees from different States including 25 crore from Uttar Pradesh and 10 crore from Delhi governments for rescue and relief operations. About 150 buses have been deployed to bring pilgrims and tourists from safe places to different district headquarters.

The state government says bad weather and facilities for landing of helicopters in remote areas are major challenges for effective relief operations.

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The Supreme Court today directed the Centre and Uttarakhand government to make all out efforts to rescue thousands of people stranded in the state due to flash floods and provide them food and drinking water. The two judge bench directed the governments to deploy sufficient number of helicopters to rescue flood-affected people in the area. The court passed the order on a PIL seeking its direction to Centre and state government to rescue people stranded in the state.

The bench asked the Centre to file a report on the relief and rehabilitation work in the state on June 25 when the case will be taken up for further hearing.

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Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has requested all citizens to stand with distressed fellow countrymen affected by cloud burst and floods in Uttrarakhand. In an appeal, Dr. Singh urged the people to donate generously to the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund(PMNRF) and actively participate in the national efforts to support the affected people. He said the affected people need help to tide over the calamity that has fallen upon them to survive and to rebuild their lives.

Payment may be made by cheque or draft in the name of the PMNRF and sent to the Prime Minister Office, South Block, New Delhi. The public sector banks will not charge any commission on drafts favouring the PMNRF. The contributions can also be made through money orders and also directly in the account of PMNRF. People can also make contributions online through www.pmindia.nic.in. All contributions to PMNRF are exempt from income tax.

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In Himachal Pradesh, after clear weather throughout the day today, the relief and rescue works get further momentum in calamity affected tribal district of Kinnaur. About 300 stranded persons were evacuated by Indian Air Force and state government choppers from district headquarter Reckong Peo, Sangla , Pooh, Nako and Karcham. According to reports more than 400 persons are still stranded in various parts of Kinnaur.

The road conditions due to calamity and no communication network in the most parts of the district has forced the State Election Office in Shimla to recommend postponement of polling process for Mandi Parliamentary Bye-Election.

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In Uttar Pradesh, the flood situation remained grim as water level of major rivers, including the Ganga and Yamuna, Sharda, Ghaghra, Rapti and Kuanon continue to rise at several places in the state. The Mavi Satpudha Dam breached on the left bank of the Yamuna river in Shamali district and efforts were on to plug it with the help of locals, authorities said.

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The Cabinet today approved a proposal to condense 170 centrally sponsored schemes into 66 to improve their monitoring and provide greater flexibility to states. Briefing reporters after the Cabinet meeting in New Delhi, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia said now District Collectors would have to deal with fewer schemes.

Cabinet has approved a list of 17 Centrally Sponsored schemes which are called flagship project, of which the smallest is about 4,200 crore, except the capacity building schemes for the Panchayati institutions which is 577 crore allocation. That allocation is small but because it is building capacity in a very important area, we have treated this also as a flagship scheme.

The Cabinet also approved a list of 17 flagship schemes with significant outlays for major interventions required in key sectors including health, education, irrigation, urban development and infrastructure.

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UPA chairperson Mrs. Sonia Gandhi today laid the foundation stone of Rajasthan rural drinking water and fluoride mitigation project at Jayal town of Nagaur district in Rajasthan. After the completion of this project six town- Ladnu, Parbatsar, Makrana, Didwana, Degana, Kuchaman and more than 890 villages of the district will be benefited. On the occasion she said that UPA government has introduced various schemes and programs for welfare of tribal, backward class, minority, women and other sections of the society. She said centre has increased the minimum support price-MSP in order to uplift the farmers economically. UPA chairperson said that through the food security bill Congress led government will provide Right to Food to the poor people of the country.

We want to bring food security legislation, so that no one goes to sleep hungry. If our opponents had not obstructed we could have done that long back. But, unfortunately it has become their habit to oppose the efforts of Congress done for public good.

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The Andhra Pradesh State High Court today rejected bail to Karnataka former Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy and his co- accused Srinivasa Reddy in the Obulapuram illegal mining case. Dismissing the bail petitions filed by the accused, Justice K G Sankar has issued orders to this effect. Agreeing with CBI’s argument, the High Court has observed that there is a chance for tampering evidences if bail granted especially when the probe is underway in full swing. Earlier, trail court also rejected bail petitions filed by Janardhan Reddy and his brother-in-law Srinivasa Reddy. Both of them were arrested in September 2011 in the illegal mining case.

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Commodity Transaction Tax (CTT) at 0.01 per cent will be levied on various non-agricultural commodities, including gold, sugar and edible oils, with effect from 1st July Notifying the CTT today, the Finance Ministry said 23 agricultural commodities, including wheat, barley, chana, cotton and potato, would be exempted from the levy. The tax would be levied on futures trading and not on spot trading in the commodities. It said besides gold, silver, crude oil and base metals, processed farm items like sugar, soya oil and guar gum will come under CTT. Coriander, cardamom and guar seed is also out of the CTT.

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THE BUSINESS WORLD

Falling in line with slumping global markets, the Sensex at the Bombay Stock Exchange tumbled 526 points--its biggest single-day fall in nearly two years--to close below the 19,000-level, at 18,719, today. The Nifty plummeted 166 points, or 2.9 percent, to 5,656. Global markets also sank, with the bourses in Japan,China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Singapore beaten down by between 1.7 percent and 2.8 percent. European equities also took a hammering. We asked stock analyst, Rajiv Nagpal about the reasons behind the big market fall:

The rupee weakened a hefty 87 paise, to an all-time closing low of 59.57 against the dollar. Gold tumbled 400 rupees, to 28,000 rupees per ten grams in Delhi. Silver plunged 1,500 rupees, to 43,100 rupees per kilo. Overseas, gold tumbled 3.4 per cent, to its lowest in more than 2.5 years, at 1,305 dollars an ounce.

And Brent crude oil futures dropped below 104 dollars a barrel, while US crude declined more than 2 dollars, to 96 dollars a barrel. Pradeep Kumar, AIR News

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The US has welcomed India as a rising power and backed its inclusion as a permanent member of a reformed and expanded UN Security Council. Secretary of State John Kerry, in a video message for Indians ahead of the next week's Indo-US strategic dialogue in New Delhi said that this is a critical ongoing conversation between the two countries.

Kerry said, a strong India is in America's national interest. He said, President Barack Obama supports India's inclusion as a permanent member, of a reformed and expanded United Nations Security Council.

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India and Iraq have decided to take their relationship to a higher level by enhancing cooperation in oil and hydro carbon sector. The joint economic commission headed by the Oil Ministers of the two countries is expected to meet early next month in Baghdad to finalise the modalities. The agreement to this effect was taken up at the bilateral delegation level talks between the Indian and Iraqi foreign Ministers in Baghdad today. External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid met the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki in Baghdad and extended a formal invitation to him to visit India which he accepted.

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India Srilanka semi-final match of the Champions Trophy is now going on at Cardiff, the UK. India were 80 for one in 18 overs against the target of 182 set by Srilanka when reports last came in. Earlier, Srilanka made 181 for 8 in their stipulated 50 overs.

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India's Saina Nehwal entered the quarterfinals of the women's singles after posting a hard-fought victory over Eriko Hirose of Japan in the Singapore Badminton Super Series today. The world number two Indian took a little more than an hour to pack off the Japanese 16-21 21-16 21-9 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

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Four Indians assured themselves of a bronze medal each after reaching semifinals in their respective categories in the 3rd China Open boxing tournament at Guiyang today.