Employment news 2 October 2013
US House approves $40 billion cut in food stamps for the poor
US House of Representatives voted to cut spending on food stamps for the poor by $40 billion over 10 years on Thursday, defying a veto threat from the White House in the name of fiscal reform.
Representatives passed the bill on a party-line vote, 217-200.
Speaker John Boehner said passage would trigger long-awaited negotiations with the Democratic-controlled Senate over a new $500 billion farm bill, already a year overdue.
Senators voted in May for $4.5 billion in food stamp reductions, about 1/10th of the House proposal. With nutrition programs as the sticking point, analysts are skeptical that a compromise farm bill can be written that would pass in the sharply partisan Congress.
David Beckman, president of the charity Bread for the World, said the cuts included in the House bill, roughly $5 billion a year, were equal "to doing away with all the food charity in the country.
While the Senate in May passed a comprehensive farm bill, with statutes ranging from crop subsidies and food stamps to conservation and rural development, the House, in an unprecedented move, divided its bill.
Phone lines allotment: CBI books Dayanidhi Maran,
The CBI has filed a case against the then Telecom Minister Dayanidhi Maran and BSNL officials for allegedly allotting 300 high-speed telephone lines to Maran’s residence in Chennai which were extended to his brother’s channel.
CBI sources said an FIR was filed following its preliminary enquiry when it found enough material to proceed with a regular case against Maran and BSNL officials — the then CGM K. Bramhanathan and MP Veluswami.
The sources said these 323 residential lines were allegedly in the name of BSNL General Manager connecting the Boat House residence of Maran with the office of Sun TV through a dedicated underground cable during his tenure as Telecom Minister.
The probe had started in 2011, nearly four years after getting complaints that a ‘virtual’ telephone exchange was allegedly set-up at the then Telecom Minister’s for facilitating data transfer from Sun TV.
The CBI in its report to the Telecom Secretary had alleged that these lines were for the use of large commercial enterprises to meet special needs such as video conferencing or transmission of huge volume of digital data for which heavy fee is charged but Sun TV got it for free.
Gujarat passes new Lokayukta Bill, empowers govt., not Chief Justice
Gujarat government and Governor Kamla Beniwal, the State Assembly on Tuesday passed for the second time the Gujarat Lokayukta Aayog Bill, 2013, which was returned by Dr. Beniwal — who had called it a travesty of the institution of the ombudsman — for reconsideration.
The new Bill seeks to replace the existing Gujarat Lokayukta Act, 1986 and empowers the State government with regard to the appointment of the Lokayukta by doing away with the role of the High Court Chief Justice.
The new bill empowers a selection committee chaired by the Chief Minister to appoint the Lokayukta. The panel comprises the Speaker of the Assembly, a Minister, the Leader of Opposition, a High Court Judge to be nominated by the Chief Justice, and the State Vigilance Commissioner.
The bill provides for four ‘Up-Lokayuktas’, unlike the current Act, and has provisions for retirement of the Lokayukta and the ‘Up-Lokayukta’.
The ombudsmen will hold office for the term of five years or till attaining 72 years of age, whichever is earlier.
As against the present act that qualifies a retired High Court Judge to assume the office of Lokayukta, the new bill says that “the Lokayukta shall be a person who is or has been a Judge of the Supreme Court of India or Chief Justice of a High Court in a substantive capacity, while the retired High Court Judges will qualify for the position of Up-Lokayukta.
Twitter suspends al-Qaeda’s handle
Al-Qaeda’s Twitter account has been suspended, five days after it appeared on the social networking site, attracting over 1,500 followers.
Tweets began appearing on the Twitter handle — which was connected to al-Qaeda’s online forum — on September 24, 2013 and the account was suspended on Sunday.
Twitter did not give any reasons for the suspension of the account, the New York Daily News reported.
Using the handle, the terrorist organisation began posting tweets in Arabic. The account gained more than 1,500 followers.
Delhi govt seeks to reserve 12,000 Delhi University seats for locals
Sheila Dikshit government on Tuesday sought to give Delhiites a major gift by reserving for them approximately 68% of undergraduate seats across 28 Delhi University colleges which receive city government grants.
However, is unlikely to be cleared by the Centre. Union human resource development ministry reacted with surprise at the decision and ministry sources said the fact that this order has come at a time when college admissions are over shows it has been done with the elections in mind.
decision was announced by Delhi higher education minister A K Walia, who said reservations for students from Delhi will be 90% in 12 DU colleges which are 100% funded by the city. In 16 other colleges which receive 50% capital grants and 5% recurring grants from Delhi government, the local quota would be 50%.
Based on 2012-13 enrolments across these 28 colleges, the move will translate into 12,000 first-year seats being reserved for city students.
Aga Khan, a Swiss-Born Philanthropist and Muslim Spiritual Leader Visited India
Aga Khan, a Swiss-Born Philanthropist and Muslim Spiritual Leader visited India.
During the official visit, Aga Khan the unveiled restored Humayun’s Tomb in New Delhi on 18 September 2013.
The task of restoration was done by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, in partnership with the Archaeological Survey of India, and with the support of the Sir Dorabji Tata Trust.
The restoration work took place on the public private partnership (PPP) model and it is first of its kind on the India’s heritage site. The project was funded primarily by the Aga Khan Trust.
Vice President of India released a commemorative postage stamp of Baba Jumdev
The Vice President of India, M. Hamid Ansari released a commemorative postage stamp in the memory of Baba Jumdev at a function in Gondia, Maharashtra on 30 September 2013.
Baba Jumdev was a prominent spiritual leader and revered social activist. He was a spiritual guide and a social reformer for who worked towards the service of humanity.
M. Hamid Ansari explained that through a postage stamp, the social and spiritual message of Baba Jamudev will reach all over the country.
Baba Jamudev made valuable contributions towards reforming and improving the society. He called upon his followers to be good human beings by adhering to compassion and forgiveness.
Rasheed Masood gets 4 years in jail, set to lose RS seat
Rajya Sabha member and Congress leader, Rasheed Masood, was sentenced to four years in jail by a Delhi court in a corruption case, becoming the first MP to lose his seat after a recent Supreme Court judgement had removed the immunity for convicted lawmakers.
67 year old Masood, who attains the dubious distinction of being the first lawmaker to be disqualified after the 10th July Supreme Court judgement, was immediately taken into custody by the court.
Special CBI Judge J P S Malik on Tuesday handed down the jail term to Masood after holding him guilty of fraudulently nominating undeserving candidates to MBBS seats allotted to Tripura in medical colleges across the country from the central pool as Health Minister in the National Front government of 1990. The court also imposed costs of Rs 60,000 on Masood.
Besides Masood, the court has awarded four-year jail term each to two other public servants, Gurdial Singh, a former IPS officer, and retired IAS official Amal Kumar Roy, the then secretary of Tripura Chief Minister Sudhir Ranjan Majumdar.
The court, which has convicted nine students in the case, has also given one year imprisonment each to nine of them.
The nine students, who had fraudulently got admission in the medical colleges, were convicted for cheating.
Salve Challenger Trophy 2013-14 Won by India Blue
India Blue cricket squad won the NKP Salve Challenger Trophy by defeating Delhi by 50 runs in the final at the Holkar Cricket Stadium, Indore on 29 September 2013.
Electing to bat first, the Indian blue posted a total of 274 for nine in their 50 overs before bowling out the strong Delhi batting line-up for 224 in 44.4 overs. Bhuvneshwar Kumar selected for Man-of-the match for his four wickets.
Yuvraj singh captained the India Blue team, whereas Virat Kohli captained the Delhi team.
The teams which are participated in the tournament are India Blue, India Red and Delhi.
The 2012-13 edition of the tournament was won by India B Squad.
Indian basketball team win bronze at KFC U-21 3 ON3 International Challenge
Indian basketball team has won bronze medal at KFC under-21 3ON3 International Challenge in Beijing.
In quarterfinals, India beat China 21-17. In semifinal, India lost to Australia 13-16.
Lovneet also secured a gold medal for India in KFC 3ON3 International Challenge 3-Pointer shooting competition.
Petra Kvitova Won Singles Title at WTA Toray Pan Pacific Open
The Czech Republican tennis player Petra Kvitova defeated Germany's Angelique Kerber in the final to win singles title at WTA Pan Pacific Open at Tokyo.
Seventh seed Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, won 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 over fifth-seeded Angelique Kerber to claim the tournament title for the first time.
It was her 11th WTA title and evened her tournament finals appearances at 2-2 in 2013.
Petra Kvitova won her first Grand Slam by defeating fifth seed Maria Sherapova from Russia 6-3, 6-4 in the Wimbledon women’s final on 3 July 2011
NASA finds plastic ingredient on Saturn’s moon
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has detected propylene, a chemical essential for creation of plastic, on Saturn’s moon Titan.
This is the first definitive detection of the chemical — used to make food-storage containers, car bumpers and other consumer products — on any moon or planet, other than Earth.
A small amount of propylene was identified in Titan’s lower atmosphere by Cassini’s Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS), which measures the infrared light, or heat radiation, emitted from Saturn and its moons.
Propylene is the first molecule to be discovered on Titan using CIRS. By isolating the same signal at various altitudes within the lower atmosphere, researchers identified the chemical with a high degree of confidence.
Voyager identified many of the gases in Titan’s hazy brownish atmosphere as hydrocarbons, the chemicals that primarily make up petroleum and other fossil fuels on Earth.
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