December 2012

National Updates:

·        Group of Ministers said yes for Land Acquisition Bill: A group of ministers has approved the controversial Land Acquisition Bill, with few changes from the version presented to the Union Cabinet in September 2012. Despite sharp divisions over the consent requirements, sources at Group of Ministers indicated that the final draft says only two-thirds of the landowners will have to agree before land can be required for private sector projects as well as joint private-public partnerships.

·        Roads Ministry to Upgrade National Highways in North East: To improve road connectivity in the country’s mountainous North-eastern states, over 10,100 km of national highways in the region will be gradually upgraded, as per a top official who said this on Oct. 13, 2012.

·        Prithvi-II Trial Successful: Sharpening its missile powers, India on October 4, 2012 successfully test fired nuclear capable Prithvi-II ballistic missile from a test range at Balasore as part of a user trial by the Army. Prithvi-II is a surface to surface missile which was test fired from mobile launcher from Integrated Test Range’s launch complex-3at Chandipur. This missile is 9 metres long and 1 metre in diameter with win engine liquid propulsion systems. Prithvi radars and electro-optical systems located along the coast tracked and monitored all the parameters of the missile throughout the flight path.

·        Nuclear Capable ‘Dhanush’ Sucessfully Test-fired: India successfully test fired the nuclear capable Dhanush ballistic missile for its full range of 350 km from a naval ship off the coast of Odisha on October 5, 2012. The single stage liquid propelled Dhanush, already inducted in to Indian Army, is one of the five missiles developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation under the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme.

·        Brahmos Missile Test-Fired Successfully: Enhancing lethality to its firepower the Navy on October 7^th, 2012 successfully test fired a highly manoeuvrable version of the 290 km range Brah-Mos supersonic cruise missile from warp-ship off the Goa coast. The cruise missile was test fired from guided missile frigate INS Teg- the Indian Navy’s latest induction from Russia off the coast of Goa.

·        India Poised for Giant Leap into Space (56% jump in the International Research Collaboration with U.S. France, Russia): According to The Times of India, India may have taken a giant leap into the hallowed club of space research, with leaders like the United States and Russia, increasingly joining hands with the Indian Space scientists in quest for the unknown. Latest data on India’s international collaboration in space sciences has shown an almost 56% increase between 2001-05 and 2006-10.

·        World Must Reflect on Gandhi’s Messages and Work Harder: United Nations Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon on October 9^th, 2012, extolled the life experiences of Mahatma Gandhi and said that the world must reflect on his message and work harder in understanding ‘among and within’ religions and communities.

·        Fresh War of Words over Kashmir between India, Pakistan at United Nations:  Just a week after they sparred over Kashmir at the UN General assembly, India and Pakistan got into a fresh wordy duel on the issue after Pakistan made ‘gratuitous’ reference to it at the world body. During the general debate of the Special Political and Decolonisation Committee, Pakistan’s deputy permanent representative Raza Bashir Tarar said the decolonisation agenda of the UN would be “incomplete without resolution of the Kashmir dispute.”

·        Advani says terror is a Key Challenge: United Nations—Terming terrorism as a ‘Frankenstien monster’, senior BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani said global community cannot afford to adopt ‘selective approaches’ in dealing with terrorist groups and use of terrorism as an instrument of State Policy is short sighted. Advani was among the group of visiting Parliamentarians attending the UN general assembly.

·        Prime Minister of India Promises Affordable Electricity in 5 Years: Asserting the lack of access to energy deprives millions of people of minimum living standards, Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on October 9^th, 2012 said that India will ensure affordable electricity to all households in the country in the next five years.

·        United States Offer Stinger Missiles to India: The US is offering  245 stinger missiles to India as a part of weapons package for Apache attack choppers being acquired by the Indian Air Force. The Stinger compliments the advanced performance of the Apache by providing the IAF with critical air-to-air defence capability.

·        Army gets control of attack helicopters: Notwithstanding stiff opposition from the Air Force, government has decided to give the control of attack helicopters to the Army. The Army has been demanding the control over attack and medium lift helicopters saying they are used for its operations and should be under it. The Indian Air Force has been strongly opposing the demand.   

·        President No More ‘His Excellency’: Relegating words like ‘His Excellency to history, President of India Mr. Pranab Mukherjee has approved a new set of protocol to be used in greetings, invitations and addressing VIP’s in the country. This was announced from the President’s office on October 9^th, 2012.

·        Cabinet Clears Proposal to Expand Scope of Indecent Representation of Women Act:  The Union Cabinet on October 11, 2012 cleared a proposal to broaden the scope of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986 and make the punishment prescribed under the law harsher. Penalty under the law may be enhanced to a maximum of three years of imprisonment and a fine between Rs.50,000 and Rs. 100000 for the first conviction. Second time can be awarded a jail of not less than 2 years which may be extended to 7 years and asked to pay a fine between Rs. 100000 and Rs. 500000.

·        India Russia Line up Mega Defence Deals: Despite aircraft career Admiral Gorshkov’s delivery being further delayed to the end of 2013 and India chaffing at Russia’s proclivity to jack up costs and overshoot deadlines the two countries have set the stage for another flurry of bilateral defence projects over the next few months. This came through after Indo-Russian intergovernmental commission on military technical cooperation chaired by Defence Minister A.K.Antony and his counterpart Anatoly Serdyukov on October 10^th, 2012.

·        UN Biodiversity Meet (COP 11)Hyderabad: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on October 16^th, 2012 launched the Hyderabad pledge and announced that India had decided to earmark a sum of $ 50 million during its two year presidency of the Conference of Parties (COP) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) to strengthen the institutional mechanism for bio diversity conservation in India.

·        Major United Public Alliance UPA Council of Ministers Reshuffled: Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on October 28^th 2012 carried out a major reshuffle of his council of Ministers resigning, a number of faces inducted and changes in the portfolios of some ministers. The list of such changes is given below:

NEW MINISTERS LIST

Ministers of Cabinet

1.    Minority Affairs: K. Rahman Khan.

2.    Mines: Dinsha J Patel.

3.    Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation: Ajay Maken.

4.    Human Resource Development: M.M. Pallam Raju.

5.    Law and Justice: Ashwani Kumar.

6.    Water Resources: Harish Rawat.

7.    Culture: Chandresh Kumari Katoch.

Minister s of State (Independent Charge)

1.    Information and Broadcasting: Manish Tiwari.

2.    Tourism: K. Chiranjeevi.

Ministers of State

1.    Human Resource Development:  Shashi Tharoor.

2.    Labour and Employment: Kodikunnil Suresh.

3.    Agriculture and Food Processing Industries: Tariq Anwar.

4.    Railways: K.J. Surya Prakash Reddy.

5.    Health and Family Welfare: A.H. Khan Choudhary.

6.    Road Transport and Highways: Sarvey Sathyanarayana.

7.    Minority Affairs: Ninong Ering.

8.    Urban Development: Deepa Dasmauni.

9.    Social Justice and Empowerment: Porika Balram Naik.

10. Communication and Information Technology: Kruparani Killi.

11. Defence: Lalchand Kataria.

OLD MINISTER’S CHANGE IN PORTFOLIOS LIST

Ministers of Cabinet

1.    Petroleum and Natural Gas: M. Veerappa Moily.

2.    Science and Technology and Earth Sciences: S. Jaipal Reddy.

3.    Urban Development and Parliamentary Affairs: KamalNath.

4.    Overseas Indian Affairs: Vayalar Ravi.

5.    Communication and Information Technology: Kapil Sibbal.

6.    Road Transport and Highways: C.P. Joshi.

7.    Social Justice and Empowerment: Kumari Shailja.

8.    Railways: Pawan Kumar Bansal.

9.    External Affairs: Salman Khursheed.

10. Rural Development:  Jairam Ramesh.

Minister s of State (Independent Charge)

1.    Power: Jyotiraditya Madhavrao Scindia.

2.    Micro Small and Medium Enterprises: K.H. Munniappa.

3.    Drinking Water and Sanitation: Bharatsingh Madhavsingh Solanki.

4.    Corporate Affairs: Sachin Pilot.

5.    Youth Affairs and Sports: Jitendra Singh..

Ministers of State

1.    External Affairs: E. Ahmed.

2.    Commerce and Industry: D. Purandeswari.

3.    Defence and Human Resource Development: Jitin Prasada.

4.    New and Renewable Energy Minister: S. Jagatrakshakan.

5.    Home: R.P.N. Singh.

6.    Civil Aviation: K.C. Venugopal.

7.    Parliamentary Affairs and Planning: Rajeev Shukla.