Free medicine scheme 2014
current affairs 20 september 2012
Agni-IV scores a hit
yet again
India has
successfully flight-tested the surface-to-surface Agni-IV missile for its “full
range of 4,000 km.”The payload systems withstood a searing temperature of more
than 3,000 degrees Celsius during the re-entry phase. Agni-IV is a modified
version of the Agni-II strategic missile and was originally called Agni-II
Prime whose first test in December 10, 2011failed.. The Defence Research and
Development Organisation (DRDO) has designed and developed Agni-IV, which is 20
metres long and weighs 17 tonnes. The two-stage vehicle, which uses solid fuel,
can carry a one-tonne nuclear warhead. V.K. Saraswat, Scientific Adviser to the
Defence Minister and DRDO Director-General, told “The second success of the
Agni-IV confirms the reliability of its design. India’s missile technological
programme has become mature, and we can now design any missile for any mission,
depending on the threat profile.”
Aamir to lead new
campaign against malnutrition
The Union Women &
Child Development Ministry is calling it a virtual coup having roped in
Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan for its new Information Education &
Communication (IEC) campaign against malnutrition which is to be inaugurated on
November 14. Buoyant with the success of having brought in one of Bollywood’s
best names, the Ministry is now looking towards actor Priyanka Chopra to be the
face for its campaign against female foeticide. WCD Minister Krishna Tirath
said, “The actor had problem settling on a date, but we had an understanding
with him about the free-of-cost and totally volunteer-based contribution of the
actor to the programme.”
Information
Commissioners are not judges in most nations
Not one serving or
retired judge was found in a recent survey of Information Commissioners
conducted across 35 national and provincial jurisdictions around the world. The
survey, conducted by Venkatesh Nayak of the Commonwealth Human Rights
Initiative’s Access to Information Programme, covered a range of countries such
as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Ireland,
Switzerland, Mexico, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Nepal. There are no Information
Commissioners in the U.S. and all Freedom of Information appeals lie with the
courts. The Indian Supreme Court ruled that Information Commissions are quasi-judicial
in nature and must, therefore, work in benches of two members, one of whom
should be a judicial member. The Court said the Information Commissioner should
preferably be a High Court judge while the Chief Information Commissioner at
the Centre and in the States should “only be a person who is or has been a
Chief Justice of a High Court or a Judge of the Supreme Court”.
Leprosy resurgence:
Min seeks Rs700-cr for 12th plan
Resurgence of leprosy
in various States has left the Union Health Ministry worried. It has now sought
funds to the tune of over Rs700 crore in the XIIth Five Year Plan, which is
three times higher than that sought in the previous Plan, to upgrade human
resource and infrastructure to tackle the disease. Around 300 endemic
districts in 16 States such as Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha have
been already identified for focused measures for complete elimination of
leprosy. This is for the first time since 2005 when the leprosy was declared
eliminated that the Ministry has realised the growing threat from the bacillus
bacterium, Mycobacterium leprae, causing leprosy. As many as 1,27,200 fresh
cases of leprosy were reported in 2011-12 against 126,800 cases in 2010-11.
Uttar Pradesh topped the list with 24,627 cases, followed by Maharashtra with
17,892 cases and Bihar with 17,801. The reason for worry is not without
reasons. Out of the 2.1 lakh cases in the world, 55 per cent of the total
leprosy is from India.
Now, films will have
to justify smoking scenes
Come October 2, directors and producers of
all new films will have to show "strong editorial justification" to
Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) for using smoking scenes in movies
and TV programmes before it is cleared for public viewing. In case of both old
and new films, a 30-second anti-tobacco health spot has to be mandatorily
played before and in the middle of the film, if it shows a smoking scene. There
also has to be a 20-second audio visual disclaimer prepared by the Union health
ministry, which will also have to be shown by the movie theatre owners at the
beginning and in the middle of the screening. In all new films, a static Page
2 of 4 20th
August
2012
anti-tobacco message
will also have to flash during a smoking scene.
Free medicine scheme
gets Rs 1,300 crore boost
India has made its first major move towards
providing free medicines for all. Union health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has
cleared Rs 1,300 crore under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) for
states to support their purchase of medicines. The largesse will not only help
buy general drugs for government-run hospitals but also those needed under the
Janani-Shishu Suraksha Karyakram (JSSK). Under the JSSK, all pregnant women
delivering in public health institutions are entitled to free and cashless
delivery, free C-section, exemption from user charges, free medicines, blood,
consumables and diagnostics and free diet for three days in case of normal
delivery and seven days in case of C-section. The free medicines for all the programmes
are estimated to cost Rs 28,560 crore during the 12th five year plan.
A K Jain new NHRC
secretary general
Senior IAS officer Arun Kumar Jain has been
appointed as the new secretary general in National Human Rights Commission.
Jain, a 1977-batch IAS officer of Nagaland cadre, is presently adviser of Inter
State Council Secretariat under Ministry of Home Affairs, a Department of
Personnel and Training. His appointment came following retirement of Rajiv
Sharma, a 1976-batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.
Russia closes USAID
Russia has ordered
the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to halt its operations as
the Kremlin tightens the screws on the opposition. The Foreign Ministry said
the agency was being kicked out for “attempts to influence political processes
including elections at different levels through its distribution of grants”.
The USAID closure will affect the work of many NGOs funded by the U.S. agency,
such as Golos (Voice), Russia’s main election monitoring group. Golos exposed
massive vote falsification in the December parliamentary election, which
sparked a wave of anti-Kremlin demonstrations giving rise to a new civic
protest movement. USAID has worked in Russia since the collapse of the Soviet
Union 20 years ago, spending about $2.7 billion on a variety of programmes,
such as economic development, fighting infectious diseases, protecting wildlife
and combating human trafficking. In recent years, however, it has shifted its
focus towards promotion of democracy and human rights.
Pak to observe Sept
21 as ‘Love the Prophet Day’
Pakistan Government
has decided to observe the coming Friday(September 21) as ‘Love the Prophet
Day’ and declared it a national holiday, condemning an anti-Islam film that has
triggered violent protests across the Muslim world. Prime Minister Raja
Pervez Ashraf called on people to protest peacefully against the film. The
Cabinet set aside its agenda to condemn the anti-Islam film and decided to
observe September 21 as ‘Youm-e-Ishq-e-Rasool’ or ‘Love the Prophet Day’ to
convey the government’s protest against the film. The day was also declared a
national holiday.
Hindu Marriage Act in
Bangladesh
Aiming to provide
legal and social protection to Hindu women from marriage-related cheating, the
Bangladesh Parliament has passed the Hindu marriage registration law. Passed on
September 18, the law, first of its kind, has kept the provision of marriage
registration optional. The ‘Hindu Marriage Registration Bill-2012’ authorises
government authorities to appoint a Hindu Marriage Registrar at every ward and
'upzilla' across the country. The registrar will not register marriage of a
woman below 18 years of age and a man under 21 years.
IRDA issues draft IPO
norms for general insurance companies
General insurance
companies will be allowed to tap the capital market only if they have completed
10 years in business. Also, they need to get prior approval from the insurance
regulatory. “No general insurance company shall approach SEBI (Securities and
Exchange Board of India) for public issue of shares and for any subsequent
issue, by whatsoever name called, under the ICDR (Issue of Capital and
Disclosure Requirements) regulations without the specific previous written
approval of the authority concerned,’’ said the Page 3 of 4 20th August 2012
Insurance
Regulatory and Development Authority (IRDA) in its draft guidelines for IPO
(initial public offer) by general insurance companies. Titled the “IRDA
(Issuance of Capital by General Insurance Companies) Regulations, 2012’’. The
guidelines will cover divestment by promoters either through the issue of
capital under ICDR Regulations or via divestment of equity by one or more of
the promoters through a public offer for sale under the ICDR Regulations.
HCL Info unveils ultrabook
HCL Infosystems, has
unveiled its first ultrabook here, priced Rs.51, 990 onwards. It would be
available in retail stores, while two others would be launched in November
2012. The Ultrasmart ME Series 3074, powered by third generation Intel Core i3 processors,
is sleek (less than 18mm with metal casing) and comes with a 39-month warranty.
It has 4 GB RAM (upgradeable to 8 GB), an internal 32 GB hard disk storage, 1.3
MP VGA camera and Bluetooth. The company has also launched a new marketing
campaign focussed on print and digital media for the ultrabooks, featuring
brand ambassador Nargis Fakhri. Companies such as Acer, Asus, HP, Samsung and
Toshiba have already introduced their ultrabooks in the Indian market.
Tata Steel gets
high-speed rail order from France
Tata Steel has
received a letter of intent (LoI) from Eiffage Rail for the supply of
high-quality rail for a new 182 km (113 mile) high-speed line in France. The
order value is likely to be around 50 million euro (about Rs.315.15 crore).
Tata will supply about 50,000 tonnes of rail for the new Brittany-Loire Valley
line, which will connect the cities of Le Mans and Rennes. The steel will be
manufactured in Scunthorpe, U.K., before being rolled into rail at Tata Steel’s
mill in Hayange, northeast France, for delivery from 2015.
Aditya Aluminium
achieves financial closure
The Aditya Aluminium
smelter project of Hindalco Industries has achieved financial closure with a
debt-equity ratio of 75:25. The Rs.13,195-crore greenfield project is coming up
at Lapanga in Odisha. The project’s debt component of Rs.9, 896 crore carries a
tenor of 12.5 years, and is priced at 11.25 per cent per annum. SBI Capital
Markets and IDBI Bank led the debt syndication, and 28 commercial banks and
financial institutions participated in the transaction.
HCL Tech signs
multi-million dollar deal
HCL Technologies, has
announced that it had bagged a five-year multi-million dollar deal with
Texas-based Freescale Semiconductor, an embedded processing solutions provider.
HCL would, in addition to serving as an exclusive technology partner for
Freescale, transform its IT infrastructure. HCL will deliver services to
Freescale across 20 countries, allowing Freescale to also leverage HCL’s global
delivery centres in Poland and Shanghai for helpdesk support.
Rio Tinto eyes
marriage gifting market in India
Australia-based Rio Tinto is eyeing the
Indian marriage gifting market with its ‘Nazrana’ brand of diamond jewellery
marketed through various retailers across the country.
Mahindra opens
technical centre in U.S.
Mahindra & Mahindra, said it had opened
its first technical centre in the U.S. to provide design and consulting
services to automotive customers, mainly in the Michigan region.
Fiat plans to have 80
dealers by March 2013
Italian carmaker Fiat, which has severed its
ties with Tata Motors, plans to have 80 full service stations by March 2013.
Before the onset of festive season the company has introduced new variants of
its sedan Linea and hatchback Punto under the ‘Absolute’ range offering
freebies worth up to `78,000 and `67,000
respectively.
Huawei may launch
India's first 4G phone
Huawei, the China-based telecom giant, said
that it was testing a 4G phone on Airtel's network and might launch the device
as early as December 2012. Airtel had launched 4G, also called Long Term
Evaluation (LTE), in Kolkata and Bangalore earlier this year. But the service
is only available through USB dongles and doesn't work with any phone yet. In
May 2012, Airtel had appointed Huawei to plan, design, supply and deploy its
LTE network in Karnataka.
Genpact inks deal
with Calypso Technology
BPO major Genpact has said it has signed a
master partnership agreement with Calypso Technology to implement the latter's
capital markets software platform for global clients. No financial details were
disclosed. Under the terms of the agreement, Genpact's Enterprise Applications
Services (EAS) group will be able to provide a range of support services
including implementations and upgrades for the Calypso Trading and Risk
Management application software suite utilised by major financial institutions
globally.
Adams receives
long-awaited Olympic gold
New Zealand shot
putter Valerie Adams received her long-awaited Olympic gold medal at an
emotional ceremony in New Zealand more than six weeks after being denied the
honour in London. Adams, the defending Olympic champion, finished second in
London to Belarusian Nadezhda Ostapchuk who was later stripped of the title
after testing positive for banned steroids. A three-time world champion and
defending champion in London, Adams had hoped to pick up the medal in Europe
while she was competing in Diamond League events.
Saina signs 40-crore
deal with Rhiti Sports
India’s badminton
queen Saina Nehwal has signed a Rs. 40-crore deal with Rhiti Sports Management
company, making her the country’s highest paid sportsperson outside cricket.
The London Olympics bronze-medallist shuttler had a three-year contract with
Deccan Chargers which expired early in September. Saina, who signed a
three-year contract with Rhiti Sports. Rhiti Sports will now manage Saina’s
endorsements and brand associations, corporate profile, patents and digital
rights, images and all other commercial rights exclusively.
Chandrika wins two
bronze medals
Chandrika Tarafdar has became the first Indian to win a
medal in the youth World weightlifting championships after she bagged two
bronze medals in the girls’ 44kg category on the opening day at Kosice,
Slovakia. Chandrika won a bronze each in clean and jerk and total lift. She
lifted 55kg in snatch and 74kg in clean and jerk for a total effort of 129kg.
This is the first time that an Indian has taken home a medal in the history of
the Youth Worlds. India is being represented by eight lifters in the
championships two boys and six girls.
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