Employment News Today 14 July 2013
Kudankulam nuclear plant cleared, with caveats
The Supreme Court has cleared the decks for the commissioning of the Kudankulam nuclear plant. A bench of Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Dipak Misra, in concurring judgments, however, made it clear that the plant should not be made operational unless the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB), the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd (NPCIL) and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) gave their final clearances.
Justice Misra said: The AERB as the regulatory authority and the MoEF are obliged to perform their duty that safety measures are adequately taken before the plant commences its operation.
The Bench said: “To sustain rapid economic growth, it is necessary to double the supply of energy. Energy tariff is also increasing, and nuclear power in the long run will be much cheaper than other forms of energy.
Nuclear power plant is being established not to negate the right to life but to protect the right to life guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.
The benefits we reap from KKNPP are enormous since nuclear energy remains an important element in India’s energy mix which can replace a significant part of fossil fuels like coal, gas oil etc.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday asked the
states ruled by the party to implement in “letter and spirit” the food security
scheme, which it sees as a “game-changer” in the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections.
Delhi, where Assembly polls are due by year-end, will be the first state to roll out the scheme on August 20, the birth anniversary of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme and the Food Security Act are being considered as major moves by Congress ahead of the 2014 General Elections as was the farmers' loan waiver scheme and MNREGA announced in UPA-I.
The loan waiver and MNREGA schemes were credited among other things for return of UPA to power in 2009.
Several states, including Congress-ruled Karnataka and Uttarakhand, BJP-governed Chhattisgarh, SP-ruled Uttar Pradesh and JD(U)-run Bihar, could see early roll out of the programme.
Lajja Goswami wins silver in shooting World Cup
Indian woman shooter Lajja Goswami has bagged a silver
medal in 50 meter riffle three position in I S S F, World Shooting Championship
in Spain.
Italy's Petra Jublesing bagged gold in this
event.
Shiva seals gold at Asian Boxing Ch'ships
Shiva Thapa reaffirmed his status as the rising star of
Indian boxing as he became the youngest pugilist to clinch a gold medal in the
56 kg category at the Asian Championships in Amman, Jordan on Monday.
The silver medals came through L Devendro Singh (49kg) and Mandeep Jangra (69kg), while the bronze was bagged by Manoj Kumar (64kg).
Shiva fought an excellent bout. He applied his brain and dominated all three rounds. The decision may have been split but he was clearly the better boxer among the two," national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu informed.
Two Lankan umpires banned for match fixing
Sri Lankan umpires Sagara Gallage and Maurice de La
Zilwa, who were caught in a TV sting willing to fix cricket matches for money,
have been suspended for 10 and three years respectively while Gamini
Dissanayake, the other accused umpire, was exonorated due to lack of evidence.
After hearing the accused, the Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) have found their involvemnet into the matter.
Though Dissanayake has escaped punishment but he has been stripped of his seniority.
In October last year, an Indian news channel
purportedly caught on camera six ICC umpires from Sri Lanka, Pakistan and
Bangladesh agreeing to help certain players, fix decisions as well provide
pitch and team information predominantly in the Sri Lanka Premier League.
China to adjust liquidity, keep credit growth steady
China's central bank pledged on Sunday to use a mix of
policy tools to adjust banking liquidity to
ensure steady credit
growth, in an apparent bid to soothe market concerns about tighter monetary
conditions.
The central bank allowed short-term interbank borrowing
costs to spike to close to 30 percent on June 20, a blunt warning to
overstretched lenders that they must bring risky lending under control.
China
is set to release its second-quarter economic growth report on Monday, expect growth to have slipped to 7.5 percent between
April and June, from 7.7 percent in the first three months of the year.
Annual growth of the broad M2 money supply also slowed to 14
percent in June, its slackest pace of expansion in six months.
Australia to scrap carbon tax for trading scheme
Australia
Sunday announced it will scrap its carbon tax in
favour of an emissions trading scheme that puts a limit on pollution from 2014,
a year earlier than planned.
Chris Bowen
said that the fixed Aus$24.15 ($21.90) per tonne carbon tax would be dumped in
favour of a floating price of between Aus$6 and Aus$10 per tonne from July 1,
2014, to ease cost of living pressures for families and help support the
non-mining sectors of the economy.
Australia is among the world's worst per capita polluters
due to its reliance on coal-fired power and mining exports and introduced a
"carbon tax" in 2012, charging big polluters for their emissions.
Former Labor prime minister Julia Gillard's popularity sunk
after she announced plans for the carbon tax in early 2011
After pledging
before her 2010 election that it would not be introduced by a government she
led.
Quattrocchi dies, buries Bofors secrets with him
Controversial Italian businessman Ottavio
Quattrocchi died of a heart attack on Saturday, perhaps taking with him
crucial secrets of the Bofors howitzer
scam that led to Rajiv Gandhi
dramatically losing power in 1989 amid corruption allegations.
The death of the 74-yearold Italian will almost certainly bring
the curtains down over a scandal that shook politics in the late 80s and
catapulted rebel Congress leader V P Singh as the PM on the back of an
Opposition alliance that included both the BJP and the Left parties.
The last time Quattrocchi came within the grasp of Indian
agencies was when an Interpol red corner notice tripped him in Argentina in
February, 2007.
A tough vacation magistrate even sent him to custody but India
failed to get him extradited.
The red corner notice was subsequently withdrawn.
Quattrocchi's name cropped up in documents in Sweden that
claimed kickbacks were paid to several middlemen and others by Swedish firm
Bofors for selling its 155 mm artillery guns to the Indian Army.
The deal was signed on March 24, 1986, and a year later the Swedish radio
alleged that at least Rs 64 crore was paid as kickbacks. Some estimates said
the bribe was as much as Rs 120 crore.
On February 6, 2007, Quattrocchi was detained in Argentina
on an Interpol warrant .
The CBI was accused of a half-hearted attempt to
extradite him.
Finally, India lost the case in June 2007, with the local judge
saying New Delhi did not even present proper legal documents.
No comments:
Post a Comment