NATIONAL
The hottest debates that kept the nation engrossed were about the post assembly poll scenario in states of UP ,Uttarakhand, Goa ,Punjab and Manipur. While Mr Akhilesh Yadav is all set to be sworn in at Lucknow ....daddy dear now braces for the bigger battle of Delhi. However, as the editorial in Indian express puts it.....SP now faces the challenge of fighting its own notorious reputation of binding hands of the other SP...ie the superintendent of police. In the last tenure SP had earned a bad name for emasculating the police force in face of state propagated goondaraj. At Goa down south Mr Manohar Parrikar of BJP took oath as CM. The saving grace for congress was Manipur where Mr Ibobi is the next CM to be...in his editorial article in the hindu Mr Pradip Phanjoubam says that the people of Manipur chose to back congress because the alternatives looked even grimmer. While in the hilly state of Uttarakand discussions are on in leadership of Gulam Nabi Azad saab as the congress claims to have requisite numbers.
Another news that hogged limelight was the retirement announcement by Rahul Sharad Dravid. Dravid chose to bid adieu to his cricketing career after 16 successful years on pitch. Second only to Sachin Tendulkar he scored a total of 13,288 runs in 164 matches...This “w all” of Indian cricket team walked out with a certain sense of elan and pride. Talking about pride ,a news that makes heads hang in shame comes from morena MP. A young IPS officer was killed as he dared to stand against corruption in a sector that lies neck deep in filth. Mr Narendra kumar tried dealing with unfair practice in sandstone mining and quarrying.
While on the issue of the two kids of Indian origin held by the Norwegian Child Welfare Services, Stavanger, things still look bleak. Authorities in Stavanger are unwilling to let the children get back without proper and timely paperwork.. Back in india down south NPCIL {nuclear power corporation of India has regretted the fact that it failed to take locals into confidence regarding the koodankulam plant esp. after Fukushima disaster.
From the world of cinema the sayonara boy of “love in Tokyo”, shagird” ,”love in shimla” Joy Mukherjee left the film fraternity grieving after his death.
EDITORIALS
As far as major editorial articles are concerned, Shalini singh writes an enlightening piece on why governments petition for review of 2G judgement holds no water. The supreme court had cancelled122 telecom licences andasked the gov to allocate via the auction route rather than first come first serve basis(as had happend earlier)The main pts she puts forth are-
*gov argues that auction cannot be only method of allocation.It fails to explain how selling the resource via auction will lead to “arbitrary consequences and hurt public sentiments”
*gov itself has been using auction as a chosen method for sale of spectrum in 1995, 2001, 2010.
*fails to explain how first come first serve basis of allocation works when demand is so high and supply is low.
*ridiculous attempts have been made by comparing allocation of spectrum to award of contract without auction for resin tapping in Kashmir, saal oil seeds in MP etc
*gov fails to register that auction can be designed for a specific outcome by imposing conditions such as price caps for voicecalls or low rural tarrif etc
*gov is openly uncaring of the fact that except auction all other methodologies{FCFS or beauty parades} etc particularly violate article 14 0f constitution while auction method supports the policy provision of national telecom policy 1999.
A.SRIVATSAN in his article in hindu gives some suggestions for managing the highly vulnerable urban spaces in india. He claims that these solutions have always been around but authorities have never cared-
*the locus of city planning cannot be the geographical boundary of the city but should also include the surrounding region for balanced urban dev. With this view dandakaranya and Chandigarh have been formulated
*there should be transfer of urban planning powers to local bodies.
*promoting symbiotic development urban centres and rural hinterland
*working group on urban strategic planning has suggested that FSI {floor space index )needs to be increased. this perception is flawed.
ECONOMY
From the world of economy, two major events remained the vantage point of discussion-firstly the surprising move by RBI to cut the CRR by75 basis points from 5.5 to 4.75 percent w.e.f 10th march. This move is aimed at injecting liquidity into the banking sector. Cash reserve ratio is the percentage of deposit that the commercial banks must keep with RBI. Banks were witnessing liquidity tightness in last few weeks.
The second report is regarding the ban on cotton exports which has left cultivators and textile mills in lurch. This ban has been invoked by the commerce ministry causing fiction between agriculture minister s for and commerce minister. Commerce ministry says it wants to ensure adequate supply of cotton bales for domestic mills. India is world’s second largest cotton producer after Australia. Therefore Australia is likely to benefit most from the move. Indian express editorial has condemned gov’s ban on export cotton. It says a third year consecutive ban on cotton export has hit India’s reputation as a reliable exporter. Moreover the decision comes when India is expecting a bumper crop of cotton. Also the last season was tough for cultivators because of falling international prices of cotton.
INTERNATIONAL
On the international front, two beverage giants coke and Pepsi have received major jolts on account of presence of 4 methylmidazole also called 4MI or 4MEI in its products because it has been labelled as a carcinogen by FDA. This compound is used to give the rich caramel texture to pepsi n coke
Moving towards the Arab world which has been long on boil,...Now kofi annan desends on the Syrian land to whip his magic wand. After recently being named the special envoy on Syria for UN and the Arab league , Annan in his first public statement has made it clear that instead of further militarisation he would like to stess on a political solution. Meanwhile US says it continues its diplomatic efforts with Russia even as Russia continues to show opposition to the arab league and US supported UN resolution on Syria that would call upon Syrian prez basar al assad to allow humanitarian aid into the country and step aside for transitional gov. Even china had been opposed to the resolution but now seems to soften its stance.
Talking internationally it would not be right to leave our immediate neighbour Pakistan out of loop. Zahir ul islam has been named the new ISI cheif after ahmed shuja pasha descends. Presently ISI’s role is under scanner with supreme court hearing a 1996 vintage petition wherein ISI has been accused of financing politicians like nawaz sharif to keep PPP out of power.
US gave the secretary’s innovation award to an indian NGO – CHINTAN for empowering girls and eliminating child labour among waste pickers. Founder of chintan ms bharati chaturvedi who has been part of several international projects like UNHABITAT 2010 REPORT ON SOLID WASTE IN CITIES and European union’s ISSOWAMA PROJECT.
