National Commission for Minorities celebrated Minorities Rights Day on 18 December 2012. Minorities Rights Day is celebrated on 18th December every year. The day is celebrated to protect rights of the minorities communities as well as bringing the better understanding among religious minorities in India.
The participants of the Minorities Rights Day included the Chairman of the National Commission for Minorities as well as Vice Chairman and other Members of the Commission.
The day is celebrated because on 18th December 1992, United Nations adopted as well as broadcasted Declaration on Rights of Persons who belong to National or Ethnic, Religious and Linguistic Minorities. The United Nations had declared that cultural, religious, linguistic and national identity of the minorities shall be protected by the states. The rights of these minorities shall be respected within the individual territories.The states shall also encourage the conditions for promotion of cultural, religious, linguistic and national identity.
On Minorities Rights Day, i.e. on 18 December 2012, the National Commission for Minorities also released the special issue of publication called Minorities India. This publication highlights activities as well as functions of the Third Statutory Commission of the National Commission for Minorities.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Thursday, December 13, 2012
India lifts World T20 for blind
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Hosts India on December 13 triumphed in the inaugural Blind Cricket
Twenty20 World Cup after defeating Pakistan by 29 runs in the title
clash in Bangalore.
After Ketan Bhai Patel guided India to 258 with a hurricane knock of 98,
the hosts restricted the visitors to 229 for nine in the allotted 20
overs.
Batting first, Prakash Jayaramaiah made useful 42 while vice-captain
Ajay Kumar Reddy contributed 25, helping India to post a competitive
total.
For Pakistan, Mohammed Jameel scored a quickfire 47, Ali Murthaza struck 38 while Mohammed Akram helped himself to 32 runs.
Having won eight matches on the trot in the group stage, Pakistan could not maintain the winning streak when it mattered most.
India had only lost to Pakistan in the group stage and thrashed Sri Lanka in the semifinal.
Pakistan had spanked England by nine wickets in the semifinals.
The victory is India’s first in a World Cup final after they lost to Pakistan in 2006.
Uttarakhand tops in “Environmental Performance Index (EPI)”
Uttarakhand (scored 0.8123) topped the list of best-performing States and Union territories in terms of environmental performance. As per the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) released by Planning Commission:
· Uttarakhand is followed by Himachal Pradesh (0.7316), Chandigarh (0.7270), Sikkim (0.7149), and Andhra Pradesh (0.7147).
· Best states in terms of air quality: Mizoram, Kerala, Goa, Sikkim, Tripura, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar (all with average score of 1)
· Paradoxically, except for Uttarakhand, all the States meet the prescribed national ambient air quality standard in respect of the sulphur dioxide of 20 micrograms per cubic metre.
· More than 10 States do not meet the national standard of 30 microgram per cubic metre for Nitrogen dioxide.
· Except for Goa, Kerala, and Mizoram, no State meets the 60 microgram per cubic metre national standard for particulate matter.
· Himachal Pradesh is the only state with 100 % sewage treatment capacity, in the remaining States it ranges from 0 (13 States) to less than 20 % (8 States) and more than 50 per cent in 4 States.
· Total fecal coliform count is as much as 92 % in most of the States.
· States leading in forest conservation and expansion of green cover are Chandigarh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.
Environmental well-being is one of the considerations for transfer of funds to the States under the Gadgil formula.
Indicators taken under consideration to arrive at water quality:
· Sewage disposal
· water quality of rivers
· dissolved oxygen
· total coliform count
· percentage of water exploitation
The indicators considered for measuring the ambient air quality performance:
· sulphur dioxide
· nitrogen oxide
· particulate matter
· Best states in terms of air quality: Mizoram, Kerala, Goa, Sikkim, Tripura, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar (all with average score of 1)
· Paradoxically, except for Uttarakhand, all the States meet the prescribed national ambient air quality standard in respect of the sulphur dioxide of 20 micrograms per cubic metre.
· More than 10 States do not meet the national standard of 30 microgram per cubic metre for Nitrogen dioxide.
· Except for Goa, Kerala, and Mizoram, no State meets the 60 microgram per cubic metre national standard for particulate matter.
· Himachal Pradesh is the only state with 100 % sewage treatment capacity, in the remaining States it ranges from 0 (13 States) to less than 20 % (8 States) and more than 50 per cent in 4 States.
· Total fecal coliform count is as much as 92 % in most of the States.
· States leading in forest conservation and expansion of green cover are Chandigarh, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh.
Environmental well-being is one of the considerations for transfer of funds to the States under the Gadgil formula.
Indicators taken under consideration to arrive at water quality:
· Sewage disposal
· water quality of rivers
· dissolved oxygen
· total coliform count
· percentage of water exploitation
The indicators considered for measuring the ambient air quality performance:
· sulphur dioxide
· nitrogen oxide
· particulate matter
Vinod Rai re-elected as chair of UN auditors panel
Comptroller and Auditor General of India Vinod Rai has been re-elected as chairman of United Nations Panel of External Auditors for 2013.
"CAG Vinod Rai has been re-elected Chair of the (UN) Panel for the year 2013, while the CAG of the United Kingdom, Amyas Morse, has been re-elected the vice-chair of the Panel".
The Panel headed by Vinod Rai discussed the major business transformations currently underway in the United Nations with Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.
Some of the major issues that came up for discussion during the meeting include the requirement for optimising the process of deriving benefits from the business transformations currently underway.
The need to put in place a mechanism to govern voluntary contributions which form a major portion of funding that the UN receives and the need for strengthening coordination between the panel and the UN secretariat were other issues discussed during the meet.
The panel of external auditors plays an important role in promoting accountability and strengthening governance mechanisms in the UN organisations.
The panel meets annually to discuss emergent issues in the audit of UN organisations. At present, the panel comprises Canada, China, France, India, Italy, Pakistan, Philippines, Switzerland, Tanzania and the UK.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Poland to host next round of UN climate talks
Poland will host the next round of UN climate talks in 2013.
The decision to hold the 19th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP) in Warsaw, capital of Poland, in 2013 was adopted by negotiators from over 190 countries here in the capital of Qatar, Doha, at the 18th session of the COP.
Poland was chosen on the basis of geographical rotation as next year marks the turn of East European countries to host the annual UN event.
Poland, which relies on carbon-intensive coal for nearly all its power needs, has already voiced concern that greater action on climate will harm its economy.
At the latest UN climate conference in Doha, negotiators extended the Kyoto Protocol, the only internationally binding treaty on cutting emissions of greenhouse gases, to the end of 2020.
The Kyoto Protocol is an international agreement linked to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The major feature of the Kyoto Protocol is that it sets binding targets for 37 industrialised countries and the European community for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre
The Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre (ITEWC)
established at Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Sciences,
(INCOIS - ESSO) Hyderabad, autonomous body under Ministry of Earth
Sciences, is being upgraded continuously to provide tsunami advisories
for the events occurring in the global oceans, though it has been
recognized as one of the best systems in the world. The major
upgradation work would be Standardization of the Operating Procedures,
bulletin formats and terminologies with warning centres operating in
other global basins. To achieve this, the Intergovernmental
Oceanographic Commission (IOC of UNESCO) has set up a task team
comprising of experts from tsunami warning centres of all ocean basins,
with India as the Chair. The ITEWC encompasses a real-time seismic
monitoring network of 17 broadband seismic stations to detect
tsunamigenic earthquakes, a network of real-time sea-level sensors with 4
Bottom Pressure Recorders (BPR) in the open ocean and 25 tide gauge
stations at different coastal locations monitor tsunamis and a 24 X 7
operational tsunami warning centre to provide timely advisories to
vulnerable community. It also receives earthquake data from all other
global networks to detect earthquakes of M>6.5. The state-of-the-art
early warning centre at INCOIS - ESSO is operational since October 15,
2007 with all the necessary computational and communication
infrastructure that enables reception of real-time data from seismic
& sea-level sensors, analysis of the data, tsunami modeling, and
dissemination of tsunami advisories guided by a comprehensive Standard
Operating Procedure (SOP). A host of all available communication
technology options have been employed for timely dissemination of
advisories to various designated authorities to deal with effective
emergency response actions as appropriate. The centre is capable of
detecting tsunamigenic earthquakes occurring in the whole of Indian
Ocean region as well as in the Global Oceans within 10 minutes of their
occurrence and disseminates the advisories to the concerned authorities
within 20 minutes through various modes of communication like email,
fax, SMS, GTS and website. Since its inception in October 2007 to till
date, ITEWC has monitored 339 earthquakes of M > 6.5 out of which 63
are in the Indian Ocean region. ITEWC also acts as one of the Regional
Tsunami advisory Service Provider (RTSP) along with Australia &
Indonesia for the Indian Ocean region. As the oceans on the earth are
interconnected, the tsunami waves generated due to any great earthquakes
in the global oceans can affect the Indian Coasts. In order to protect
our coasts from tsunamis up-grading the present system is very
essential. Up-gradation of ITEWC will also enhance its capability to
provide tsunami advisories to the other needy countries in the world.
The basic infra-structure and the necessary computational facilities are
established while setting up the Indian Tsunami Early Warning Centre
and hence no major hardware upgradations are proposed. The maintenance
of the entire early warning system is carried out with a budget
allocation of Rs. 17.00 Crores per annum. Model simulations required for
global operations would be run as part of this itself. Additional data
required for the enhancement of ITEWC for global operations can be
obtained by collaborations with centres operating in other countries.
Currently, there are 1800 coastal forecast points covering coastal areas of the entire Indian Ocean region. The necessary actions have been initiated to upgrade the same for covering other the coastal regions.
Currently, there are 1800 coastal forecast points covering coastal areas of the entire Indian Ocean region. The necessary actions have been initiated to upgrade the same for covering other the coastal regions.
Reconstitution of Inter-State Council
The Inter-State Council has been reconstituted under the chairmanship of Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister.
The Council will have Chief Minister of all States, Chief Ministers of Union Territories having a Legislative Assembly and Administration of Union Territories not having Legislative Assembly and six Union Ministers Shri Sharad Pawar, Minister of Agriculture & Minister of Food Processing Industries, Shri P.Chidambaram, Minister of Finance, Shri Sushilkumar Shinde, Minister of Home Affairs, Shri M. Veerappa Moily, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Kamal Nath, Minister of Urban Development and Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Railways as members.
Five Union Cabinet Ministers/Minister of State (Independent Charge) namely Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Shri S. Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Science & Technology, Shri C.P.Joshi, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shri M.K.Alagiri, Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Shri Ashwani Kumar, Minister of Law & Justice are permanent invitees for the Inter-State Council.
The Council will have Chief Minister of all States, Chief Ministers of Union Territories having a Legislative Assembly and Administration of Union Territories not having Legislative Assembly and six Union Ministers Shri Sharad Pawar, Minister of Agriculture & Minister of Food Processing Industries, Shri P.Chidambaram, Minister of Finance, Shri Sushilkumar Shinde, Minister of Home Affairs, Shri M. Veerappa Moily, Minister of Petroleum & Natural Gas, Shri Kamal Nath, Minister of Urban Development and Shri Pawan Kumar Bansal, Minister of Railways as members.
Five Union Cabinet Ministers/Minister of State (Independent Charge) namely Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad, Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Shri S. Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Science & Technology, Shri C.P.Joshi, Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Shri M.K.Alagiri, Minister of Chemicals & Fertilizers and Shri Ashwani Kumar, Minister of Law & Justice are permanent invitees for the Inter-State Council.
Thursday, December 6, 2012
Govt wins FDI vote in Lok Sabha
Foreign Direct Investment in multi-brand retail on December 5 got the approval of the Lok Sabha as the Opposition motion seeking immediate withdrawal of the decision was rejected convincingly as the Bahujan Samaj Party and Samajwadi Party walked out.
The House also rejected the motion seeking amendment to the rules notified by the Reserve Bank under Foreign Exchange Management Act to enable FDI in multi-brand retail.
Members of SP and BSP, with respective strength of 22 and 21, did not participate in the voting as they walked out alleging that interests of farmers and small retailers had been ignored.
Wednesday, December 5, 2012
India ranks 94 in list of corrupt nations
India was ranked 94 out of 176 countries surveyed in the Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) 2012, with a score of 36 on a scale from 0 (highly corrupt) to 100 (very clean), the Transparency International India (TII) said.
Last year India ranked 95 out of 183 countries. However, due to an update in the methodology, CPI scores of 2011 cannot be compared with this years' score, S.K. Agarwal, vice-chairman of TII told IANS. He added that India had the same score of 36 in 2011 as well.
"The 2012 index ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption and assigns scores of between one (highly corrupt) and 100 (clean).
While Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan were the most corrupt countries with a score of eight, Denmark, Finland and New Zealand tied for the first place of the least corrupt with a score of 90.
China had a CPI score of 39, which is better than India, while Pakistan's was 27.
CPI scores and ranks countries based on how corrupt a country's public sector is perceived to be. It is a combination of surveys and assessments of corruption collected by a variety of reputable institutions.
Last year India ranked 95 out of 183 countries. However, due to an update in the methodology, CPI scores of 2011 cannot be compared with this years' score, S.K. Agarwal, vice-chairman of TII told IANS. He added that India had the same score of 36 in 2011 as well.
"The 2012 index ranks countries by their perceived levels of public sector corruption and assigns scores of between one (highly corrupt) and 100 (clean).
While Somalia, North Korea and Afghanistan were the most corrupt countries with a score of eight, Denmark, Finland and New Zealand tied for the first place of the least corrupt with a score of 90.
China had a CPI score of 39, which is better than India, while Pakistan's was 27.
CPI scores and ranks countries based on how corrupt a country's public sector is perceived to be. It is a combination of surveys and assessments of corruption collected by a variety of reputable institutions.
Bangalore better than Delhi, Mumbai in quality of living: Survey
Bangalore ranks better than New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata
amongst Indian cities in overall global quality of living index,
according to a Mercer 2012 Quality of Living Survey.
Mercer conducts this survey annually to help multinational companies and
other organisations compensate employees fairly when placing them on
international assignments. According to the global consulting firm, its
Quality of Living index list covers 221 cities, ranked against New York
as the base city.
Global ranking by infrastructure
This year’s ranking separately identifies the cities with the best
infrastructure based on electricity supply, water availability,
telephone and mail services, public transportation, traffic congestion
and the range of international flights from local airports, a statement
said.
Singapore is at the top of this index, followed by Frankfurt and Munich.
Copenhagen (4) and Dusseldorf (5) fill the next two slots, while Hong
Kong and London share sixth place. Port-au-Prince (221) ranks at the
bottom of the list.
Indian cities
Bangalore’s overall quality of living rank went up from 141 in 2011 to
139 in 2012 and is highest amongst other Indian cities. While New Delhi
ranks (143), Mumbai (146), Chennai (150), and Kolkata (151) in overall
Quality of living.
Bangalore’s rise in its quality of living ranking can be attributed to
positive ratings for international schools which are suitable for
expatriates, the survey says.
Mumbai ranks highest on city infrastructure category (134) amongst
Indian cities followed by Kolkata (141), New Delhi (153), Chennai (168),
and Bangalore (170).
Vienna retains top slot
In a statement issued here, Mercer said, Vienna retains the top spot as
the city with the world’s best quality of living. Zurich and Auckland
follow in the second and third place, respectively. Munich is in the
fourth place, followed by Vancouver, which ranks fifth.
Düsseldorf dropped one spot to rank sixth followed by Frankfurt in
seventh, Geneva in eighth, Copenhagen in ninth, and Bern and Sydney tied
for the 10th place.
Asia-Pacific cities
Qualifying the Asia-Pacific cities, the survey says that Australian and
New Zealand cities rank higher on the index with Sydney (11), Wellington
(13), Melbourne (18) and Perth (21) following Auckland (3).
At the bottom
Globally, the cities with the lowest quality of living are Khartoum,
Sudan (217); N’Djamena, Chad (218); Port-au-Prince, Haiti (219); and
Bangui, Central African Republic (220). Baghdad, Iraq (221) ranks last.
Region-wise
Honolulu (28) is the city in the United States with the highest quality
of living, followed by San Francisco (29) and Boston (35). Chicago is at
42 and Washington, DC ranks 43. New York, the base city, ranks 44.
In terms of city infrastructure, Vancouver (9) tops the ranking for the
region with Atlanta and Montreal following at 13. In the United States,
Dallas ranked 15, followed by Washington, DC (22), Chicago (28) and New
York (30).
Europe has 15 cities among the world’s top 25 cities for quality of
living. Vienna retains the highest-ranking for both the region and
globally. With six cities in the top 10, European cities also fare well
in the city infrastructure ranking.
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