Business affairs march 2014
CBSE
Bill makes States jittery over their diminished role
A proposed
legislation to make the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) a statutory
body, the draft
of which is in
circulation among the States for comments, has made Education Department
officials of States
apprehensive. They
fear that it will result in hundreds of elite schools affiliated to the Board
going completely
beyond their
monitoring mechanism. While the rules of the Right to Education (RTE) Act give
an important
role to the
Education Departments in ensuring compliance with the Central legislation on
free and universal
education, the
draft of the CBSE Bill, 2013, is completely silent on their role.
Emissions
from coal plants causing high mortality, diseases
Emissions from
coal-fired power plants are taking a heavy toll on human life across large
parts of India. In
2011-2012, a
first-of-its-kind study in the country estimates it resulted in a whopping
80,000 to 1,15,000
premature deaths
and more than 20 million asthma cases from exposure to a total PM10
(particulate matter)
pollution. Titled
‘Coal Kills — An Assessment of Death and Disease caused by India’s dirtiest
energy source,’
by Urban
Emissions.info and Greenpeace India, with support from Conservation Action
Trust (CAT) by
Sarath K.
Guttikunda and Puja Jawahar, the study says emissions from coal-fired power are
responsible for
a large mortality
and morbidity burden on human health. While comprehensive studies of health
impacts
caused by
particulate air pollution attributable to coal power plants have been carried
out in the U.S. and
parts of Europe,
such data is hard to come by in India. With approximately 210 gigawatts (GW),
India is the
fifth largest
generator of electricity in the world. At present, 66 per cent of this power
generation capacity is
from coal. The
12th Five Year Plan (2012-2017) includes an addition of 76 GW and the 13th Five
Year Plan
(2017-2022)
includes 93 GW, most of which is coal based. In 2011-12, 111 coal-fired power
plants with a
total generation
capacity of 121 GW, consumed 503 million tonnes of coal, and generated an
estimated 580
ktonnes (one
ktonnes = 1000 tonnes) of particulates with diameter less than 2.5 micrograms,
2100 ktonnes
of sulphur
dioxides, 2,000 ktonnes of nitrogen oxides, 1100 ktonnes of carbon monoxide,
100 ktonnes of
volatile organic
compounds and 665 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually. Using a
conservative value of
Rs. 2,000,000
($40,000) per life lost, the premature mortality estimates from this study
would result in a
health cost of Rs.
16,000 to 23,000 crore ($3.2 to 4.6 billion) annually. The largest impact of
emissions is
over Delhi,
Haryana, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Indo-Gangetic plain, and
most of centraleast
India.
‘Serious
gaps’ in EIA of Mithivirdi nuclear plant
Environmental
experts and activists, who have alleged that Engineers India Limited (EIL) is
not qualified and
accredited as yet
to conduct an environmental impact assessment (EIA) of the Mithivirdi nuclear
power plant
in Gujarat’s
Saurashtra region, have found serious gaps in the EIA report itself in its
present form. They have
demanded that the
EIA presented by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) as
submitted
by EIL should be
reviewed by an independent experts committee.
Kolar
troupe bags five prizes at META
Matte Ekalavya , a
drama by Kolar’s Adima troupe bagged five prizes at the Mahindra Excellence in
Theatre
Awards, held in
New Delhi from March 3 to 8. Out of around 350 entries, Matte Ekalavya was one
of the 10
dramas that made
the final of the 8th edition of the prestigious contest. The drama attempted to
depict
Ekalavya as a
symbol of the oppressed classes rather than one of sacrifice as traditionally
portrayed.
Japan
funds for Chennai’s grade separators
Several new grade
separators coming up in the city are likely to be funded by the Japan
International
Corporation Agency
(JICA). The Chennai Corporation Council has to pass a resolution on a list of
grade
separators it
wants funding for, and the list will then be submitted to the Chennai
Metropolitan Development
Authority . The
CMDA, which is JICA’s nodal agency for the city, will pass on the list and
facilitate the
funding.
TN
registers more students for Hindi among southern States
Among the four
southern States, Tamil Nadu has been registering more number of students for
learning
Hindi, and sending
them for examinations conducted by Dakshin Bharat Hindi Prachar Sabha (DBHPS).
The
Sabha’s Tamil Nadu
branch has been able to register over two lakh students every year. Ever since
its
inception in 1918,
the DBHPS has been propagating Hindi in south India and helped students,
teachers, and
workers learn the
national language.
Kerala
bags tourism award at Berlin fair
Kerala Tourism has
won the silver prize at ITB Golden City Gate Awards with its campaign theme of
Ayurveda. Kerala
Tourism won the Das Goldene Stattdor (Golden City Gate) award in the print
campaign
section. The
awards at the prestigious ITB Berlin fair are considered to be the best
ecognition for tourism
communications.
This is the fifth time in the past decade that Kerala has won award. Last year,
Kerala had
won the same award
for its campaign `Your Moment is Waiting.’ The campaign was conceived and
carried
out by Stark
Communications, the creative partner of Kerala Tourism.
Army
modernising 2 firing ranges
The Army has
embarked on modernisationof its field firing ranges at Pokhran in Rajasthan and
Babina in
Madhya Pradesh, at
a cost of Rs. 20 crore each. The Army has also taken up upgrade of
infrastructure and
other facilities
at its largest field firing range, “Mahajan,” which spreads over Bikaner and
other adjoining
districts and
measures 50 km in length and 30 km in breadth. Sources in the Army said as many
as 250 units
could train at
this range every year and 17 to 18 units could take up training course
simultaneously under
simulated battle
field conditions.
Boxing
Babylon to be screened at Norway Film Festival
A documentary on
boxer V. Devarajan who was the first Indian to win a World Cup medal abroad,
Boxing
Babylon , made by
Alfredo De Braganza of Spain, has been selected for screening in the Norway
Film
Festival. De
Braganza, who has been living in India for nearly 12 years, and is based in
Jaipur at the
moment, had
stumbled upon a newspaper advertisement about boxing classes at the Nehru
Stadium during
his stay in
Chennai. He was charmed by the simplicity of boxer Devarajan, a Railway
employee, who had
competed in the
Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and had gone on to win the bronze medal in the World
Cup in
1994.
Suu
Kyi re-elected party chief amid calls for new blood
Aung San Suu Kyi
was re-elected Myanmar opposition chief at a landmark congress that
disappointed some
members hoping for
new blood in the wider leadership ahead of a key 2015 election. Hundreds of
National
League for
Democracy (NLD) members gathered in Yangon for their first national conference
— a display of
political strength
that would have been unthinkable under the former junta.
Falkland
Islands vote in referendum with eye on world
Falkland Islanders
hold a referendum to send a message to the world that they want to stay
British, although
Argentina has
already dismissed the vote as illegal.
Tax-free
bonds from JNPT
Jawaharlal Nehru
Port Trust (JNPT) has launched a public issue of tax-free bonds in the nature
of secured
redeemable
non-convertible debentures to raise Rs.500 crore with an option to retain
oversubscription up to
Rs.1,500 crore.
The overall size of the issue can’t exceed Rs.2,000 crore. According to L.
Radhakrishnan,
Chairman, the
bonds, with a tenure of 10 years, will carry a fixed interest of 6.82 per cent
per annum.
Additional
interest rate of 0.50 percentage points, that is 7.32 per cent per annum, will
be paid to the original
retail investors.
SEBI
unveils norms for listing preference shares
With an aim to
bring in more transparency in raising of funds through non-convertible
preference shares,
market regulator
SEBI, has announced a new set of regulations to govern issuance and listing of
such
securities. To
safeguard the interest of small investors from such high-risk securities, SEBI
also said the
listing of
privately placed non-convertible redeemable preference shares would require a
minimum
application size
of Rs.10 lakh for each investor. Besides, the public issuance of such shares
would require a
minimum three-year
tenure for the instruments and a minimum rating of ‘AA’ or equivalent
investment grade.
Study
spikes notion atherosclerosis is lifestyle disease
A study published
in The Lancet disproves the notion that atherosclerosis (hardening and
narrowing of the
arteries) that
causes heart attack and stroke is a predominantly lifestyle-related disease and
product of
industrialisation.
The researchers, who studied 137 mummies from four populations spread across
geographically
using whole body CT scanning, provide hard evidence that the condition was seen
in preindustrial
humans. The
populations studied were from ancient Egypt, ancient Peru, the ancestral
Puebloans
of southwest
America and the Unangan of the Aleutian Islands (modern Alaska). Definite
atherosclerosis
was seen in 25
mummies and probable atherosclerosis in 22.
Blade-free
lasik surgery launched at Sankara Eye Centre
An advanced eye
treatment procedure which is “100 per cent blade-free” was launched at the
Sankara Eye
Centre at
Coimbatore. Known as ‘iLASIK,’ it combines a highly accurate measurement
technology with two
sophisticated
computer-guided LASIK lasers, making this procedure one of the safest in the
world, according
to Sankara Eye
Centre.
Gurmeet
wins bronze in 20km walk
National champion
Gurmeet Singh claimed the third spot in the Asian 20km race walking
championship in
Nomi City, Japan.
Even as severe cold and rain affected the performances of the athletes,
Gurmeet, a silver
winner in 2012,
overcame the challenges to clock 1:21:38. This was Gurmeet’s fourth fastest
time and
second fastest in
overseas events. Second-placed Li Tianlel of China was 10 seconds better than
Gurmeet.
Local favourite
Yusuke Suzuki won the race with a timing of 1:18:34.
In the women’s
competition, Khusbir Kaur timed 1:37:32 to take the fourth place. Japanese Kumi
Otoshi
(1:33:49) bagged
the title. Vietnam’s Thi Thnh Phuc Nguyen (1:35:26) and Korean Yeon Geun Jeon
(1:35:49)
finished second
and third respectively.
A
wonderful Day for India
India had a
wonderful day in the Hero Cycles Asian cycling championship as it won its
second bronze medal
at the Indira Gandhi
Sports Complex Velodrome in New Delhi. The team of Deborah and T. Manorama
Devi,
after qualifying
for the play-off earlier in the day, pipped Malaysia by 0.148 seconds to win
third place in the
women’s junior
team sprint.
Ashraful
and Rahim in record stand
Mohammad Ashraful
and Mushfiqur Rahim smashed impressive centuries in a record stand as
Bangladesh
dominated the
third day of the opening Test against Sri Lanka at Galle. Ashraful hit an
unbeaten 189, the
highest by a
Bangladeshi in Tests, on his comeback and Rahim made a career-best 152 not out
as the
tourists posted 438 for four in
their first innings at stumps in reply to Sri Lanka’s 570 for four declared.
