0815 HRS
21.07.13

THE HEADLINES:

• Government to roll out model schools under Public Private Partnership mode from Academic Session 2015-16.
• Flood fury continues unabated in Uttar Pradesh affecting nearly 450 villages; Central team in Kerala to assess flood damage.
• Curfew lifted from Srinagar and traffic resumes on Jammu-Srinagar Highway following improvement in situation.
• 46 killed in Iraq in series of explosions
• Indian Women's Archery team to take on China in the World Cup Stage 3 final in Colombia today.
• England are in a commanding position against Australia in the Second Ashes Cricket Test at Lord's in London.

[]<><><>[]

Human Resources Development Minister M M Pallam Raju has said, that model schools are being set up with a view to providing quality secondary education and will be operational from the academic session 2015-16. Talking to mediapersons after meeting stakeholders and planning commission officials in New Delhi, the HRD Minister said, the government plans to open 6,000 model schools in the country including 3,500 in the public mode and 2,500 under Public Private Partnership, PPP mode.

We can anticipate a new level of secondary schooling which would be initiated because of the participation of the private sector. In 12th five year plan, we are very very conscious and focused also on quality factor in education. We are hopeful that this could be brought in large scale through participation of private sector.

Mr Pallam Raju said that his ministry along with Planning Commission officials has finalized a Model Concessional Agreement in this regard. At least 40 per cent of the total number of students in these schools will be from the economically weaker sections and the centre has agreed to bear the expenses on the education of these students.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said the Model Concessional Agreement would now be placed before the inter-ministerial committee headed by Secretary Education on the 31st of this month for approval. He said, under the PPP arrangement, private players will invest in land, building and manage the school and the state government would help them in acquiring land for schools.

[]<><><>[]

In Uttar Pradesh, flood waters continue to ravage eight districts where more than four lakh people of nearly 450 villages are facing the flood fury. Due to widespread rain in most parts of the state, all major rivers continue to be in spate. The river Ganga is surging at Kanpur, Raebareli, Allahabad, Varanasi and Ballia. The Ghaghra, Yamuna, Ken, Betwa, Budhi Rapti, Sai, Ramganga and Gomti are also on the rise. So far 151 people in 28 districts have lost their lives due to rain and flood in the state since the beginning of the monsoon this year. A report:

River Sharda has crossed the danger mark by 1.06 meters at Paliakalan, flooding more villages in Lakhimpur Kheri and Gonda. Ghaghra is flowing 75 cms above the red mark in Bahraich, where it has worsened the condition of already marooned 225 villages. It has eroded away 49 houses and hutments in last 24 hours only. More than 500 acres of agricultural land with crops has been totally eroded away by Sharda in Pilibhit district. The relief and rescue works are in full swing in the flood affected areas of the state. Merajuddin, AIR News, Lucknow.

[]<><><>[]

In Andhra Pradesh, the flood situation has improved with the water level falling in the Godavari River and its tributaries. Though the situation eased in the North Telangana region following a respite from rain yesterday, several villages in East and West Godavari districts face a threat as heavy inflows are being released at Dhavaleswaram downstream.

The break in rain came as a respite in Adilabad, Karimnagar, Warangal and khammam districts. However, several villages still remain water-logged and cut off.

[]<><><>[]

In Tamil Nadu, flood warning has been issued in Hogenekkal as 40,000 cusecs of water is being released from Kabini Dam in Karnataka. The Dharamapuri district collector Vivekanandan has warned tourists from bathing in the Cauvery river and boating in Hogenekkal. The water level in Mettur Dam has risen to 76.75 feet because of heavy rain in the Cauvery catchment areas. In the past 24 hours 11.6 mm rain was recorded.

[]<><><>[]

Delhiites today woke up to a pleasant morning as yesterday's shower that lashed various parts of the national capital brought down the temperature below normal. More from our Correspondent:

Due to the heavy rainfall the city witnessed water logging and traffic snarls in various areas. Yesterday heavy traffic jams were seen at various intersections including ITO, Mathura Road and Ring Road. The city received 123.4 mm rainfall during the past 24 hours. The maximum temperature was recorded 31.1 degree celsius which is three degree below normal while the minimum settled at 23 degree Celsius, which is four degree below normal. The weatherman has predicted generally cloudy sky with possibility of few spells of rain in the next 24 hours. With Anand Kumar, This is Lalima Aneja Dang, for AIR News, Delhi.

[]<><><>[]

In Kerala, the seven member team deputed by the Union Government to make an assessment of the monsoon calamity will begin its tour of the affected areas this morning. The team led by Joint Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, V Vumlunmang will hold a preliminary meeting with the State Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash and other officials in Kochi before visiting the affected areas. More from our correspondent:

Those affected by rain are pinning their hopes on the central team, which will be beginning their tour within a short while from now. Unlike in the past, the team is visiting the state when the monsoons are on, so that they have a first hand experience of the difficulties people are passing through. The central team is holding a preliminary meeting with the State Revenue Minister Adoor Prakash and other government officials in Kochi, before embarking on their tour of the affected areas. The team will meet Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and senior state government officials at Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday. Raj Mohan, AIR News, Kochi.

[]<><><>[]

A Forensic report has confirmed that pesticide five times more than the permissible limit was present in the food substances that caused the death of 23 children in the mid-day meal tragedy in Dharmasati Primary School in Bihar on Tuesday. Additional Director General of Police, Ravindra Kumar has said that forensic scientists have found the presence of Monocrotophos, an organo-phosphorous compound in the oil used in cooking of mid-day food for school children. Worried over students falling ill after eating Mid-Day Meals in schools, the Odisha government has decided to set up squads to check the quality of food being served to students. State School and Mass Education Minister Rabi Narayan Nanda said that a high-level meeting chaired by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has decided that the squads would be set up in district and block levels.

[]<><><>[]

In Jammu and Kashmir, with an improvement in the situation, authorities have lifted curfew from Srinagar today after a high level meeting last evening. However, police and paramilitary forces will remain deployed in sensitive areas. Tension had erupted in the state following the killing of four civilians in the alleged BSF firing on Thursday. More from our correspondent:

District magistrate Srinagar told AIR that the deployment of forces in sensitive areas will continue for the time being till the situation stabilizes. District magistrates in other districts were asked to take similar action in tune with the demand of the situation in respective areas. Curfew was lifted from Ramban town last evening and traffic on Srinagar-Jammu national highway resumed. A fresh batch of yatris for Amarnath Cave shrine left Jammu for valley. Mushtaq Ahmed Tantray, AIR News, Srinagar.

[]<><><>[]

Iraq was rocked by a series of car bomb explosions yesterday, leaving at least 46 killed while around 200 people were injured. The attacks targeted Shiite neighborhoods and security personnel. No group has claimed responsibility but the security agencies have said that the manner in which the blasts were coordinated indicates the hand of Al Qaeda affiliate, the Islamic State of Iraq. More from our West Asia correspondent:

Nine people were killed while 17 other were injured in car bomb explosion in a shopping street in the central Baghdad neighborhood of Karada last evening around iftar time. Simultaneous explosions were in the northwestern Tobchi district and in Baiyaa in western Baghdad left 11 people dead. Another blast struck Zafaraniyah in southeastern Baghdad, killing six and wounding 15 others. Two car bombs exploded in the New Baghdad neighborhood in the southeast, killing five people. Yet another car bomb blast in a Shiite part of the western neighborhood of Shurta left four people dead. Three persons including the leader of a local Sunni militia opposed to Al Qaeda and two of his bodyguards were gunned down by unidentified militants near the city of Baqubah. In Mosul, Gunmen kidnapped and shot dead two policemen while a suicide bomber blew himself up near a military post targeting soldiers. Atul Tiwary, AIR News.

[]<><><>[]

The Indian Women's trio of Deepika Kumari, Laishram Bombayla Devi and Rimil Biruly will today take on the top seeded Chinese London Olympics team silver medallists in the final of the Archery World Cup Stage 3 being held in Medellin, Colombia. The Indian recurve team seeded No.2, yesterday ousted their US opponents to reach the final. The Indian men's recurve team crashed out of the event with their 220-223 loss to Canada in the quarter finals.

[]<><><>[]

England are in a commanding position against Australia in the Second Ashes Cricket Test at Lord's in London. The hosts had taken a massive lead of 556 runs at stumps on the third day yesterday with the help of Joe Root's unbeaten 178 runs. England will resume their second innings at the overnight score of 333 for 5 today. The scores so far: England : 361 and 333 for 5 and Australia : 128

[]<><><>[]

Kumar Sangakara's 169 runs helped Sri Lanka defeat South Africa by 180 runs in the first of the five one-day international cricket matches at the R. Premadasa Stadium in Colombo last evening. This is the career-best innings off 136 balls for the veteran Sri Lankan batsman Sangakara. Put into bat first, Sri Lanka made 320 for 5, but under pressure South Africa could only manage 140.

[]<><><>[]

NEWSPAPER HEADLINES
Pictures of a rain battered Delhi with flooded roads and traffic snarls dominate the front pages of most papers. The irony in the Pioneer caption cant be missed as it writes, "Delhi turns Venice". The paper goes on to add "Hell on roads after 123 mm downpour".
The Hindustan Times reports that the CBI is planning to give a clean chit to Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav in the disproportionate assets case. Highlighting the opposition reaction, the Pioneer writes, "Opposition slams Congress for using CBI to gain support to Food Bill".
Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray's clarification about his remark that he did not see a credible face for the post of Prime Minister gets wide attention. The Times of India reports him as saying "Was targetting Congress, not Modi".
All the papers report that there has been swift justice for a Swiss woman who was gangraped in Madhya Pradesh in March this year. "Six get life in gangrape of Swiss woman" reports the Asian Age as it writes about the sentence handed out by a special court in the Datia district of the state.
An interesting question -Which is the linguistically richest state in India? The Hindu writes that according to a baseline survey of Indian languages by the Peoples Linguistic Survey of India, Arunachal Pradesh is the richest state with 90 languages out of a total of 780 different languages in the country.
The Times of India carries a story on an initiative by the Central Board of Secondary Education or CBSE to provide online learning resources to the tune of one lakh questions, 80 hours of live lectures and 4500 animations. The paper says that 11 million CBSE students will benefit from this.
And finally, you may not see too many of them on the roads these days, but our good old Ambassador car has been hailed as the worlds best taxi in BBC's popular television show Top Gear, reports the Hindustan Times.

[]<><><>[]

The CPI-M has said that it will move amendments to the food security bill when it comes up for discussion and passage in Parliament. Issuing a statement after the Party's politburo meeting yesterday, the CPI-M said it will move concrete amendments to the bill to make it universal with a minimum entitlement of 35 kgs of rice and wheat at maximum of two rupees a kg.

[]<><><>[]

The Maharashtra government has granted tax exemption to Hindi film 'Bhaag Milkha Bhaag'. The film is based on the life of the legendary athlete Milkha Singh. Speaking to media person in Mumbai, a senior official said that considering the nature of the film which encourages sports among the youth, the State government has decided to grant tax exemption to the film for six months. The film, which has been co-produced by the National Film Development Corporation, was released on the 12 of this month.