Manmohan discusses civil nuclear deal with Barack Obama

The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, has declared that there were “no irritants” in Indo-US ties as he met the US President, Mr Barack Obama, here and discussed the ways to implement the civil nuclear deal.

Dr Singh, who met Mr Obama for the first time after latter’s trip to India last November, also talked about strengthening the bonds of strategic ties put in place during the historic visit of the US President to India in November last year.

“I am very happy to report to you that today there are no irritants whatsoever in our working together in multiplicity of areas both bilaterally and on global issues,” he said in his opening remarks.

Emerging after their over an hour-long meeting on the sidelines of the ASEAN and East Asia Summits, Dr Singh said that he explained to Mr Obama the law of the land on liability issue regarding the civil nuclear deal.

“I explained to him that we have a law in place. Rules have been formulated. These rules will lie before our Parliament for 30 days. Therefore, we have gone some way to respond to the concerns of American companies and within the four corners of the law of the land, we are ready to address any specific grievances,” the Prime Minister said.

He also said India was ready to ratify the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage.

“I also told him (Obama) that we’ll ratify the Supplementary Convention... that’s where the matter stands,” he said.

Recalling the “historic visit” of Mr Obama to India during the same time last year, Dr Singh said: “In the last one year, we have made progress in every direction, strengthening our bilateral cooperation in investment, trade, higher education, clean energy and defence.”

The Prime Minister noted “we have strengthened in many ways the path set out during the historic visit, whether it’s civil nuclear cooperation, whether it’s humanitarian relief, in disaster management, or maritime security, all the issues which unite us in our quest for a world free from war.”

In his opening remarks, Mr Obama referred to his “extraordinary” trip to India during which the two sides strengthened the bonds of friendship, commercial links and security cooperation.

“We continue to make progress on a wide range of issues. The bonds between our two countries are not just at the leadership level but also at personal levels,” he said.

“This is an outstanding opportunity for us to continue to explore how we can work together not only on bilateral front but also at multilateral level,” Mr Obama said, identifying some of the issues as maritime security, non-proliferation and terrorism.

The two leaders exchanged pleasantries while expressing immense happiness on meeting each other once again.

Ahead of the meeting, India asserted that its domestic laws with regard to nuclear liability and compensation will have to prevail and any contention otherwise would not be realistic after the Fukushima incident.

The sources said the rules should address concerns that any foreign company could have as these make it clear that liability cannot be unlimited or unending.

G Ramaswamy, President, ICAI Elected as IFAC Board Member

G Ramaswamy, President, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has been elected as the Board Member of International Federation of Accountants (IFAC) at the IFAC Council Meeting held at Berlin, Germany yesterday ( 17th November 2011). IFAC is a global organization for the accountancy profession, dedicated in serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies. IFAC is comprised of 167 members and associates in 127 countries and jurisdictions, representing approximately 2.5 million accountants in public practice, education, government service, industry, and commerce.

IFAC is the global organization for the accountancy profession dedicated to serving the public interest by strengthening the profession and contributing to the development of strong international economies.

The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) is a statutory body established by an Act of Parliament viz., The Chartered Accountants Act, 1949 in the year 1949 for regulating the profession of Chartered Accountants in the country. The main functions of the Institute are prescribing qualifications for membership, holding examination and arranging practical training of candidates, enrolment of members, publication and maintenance of register of members qualified to practice the profession, carrying on activities for development of the profession and regulation and maintenance of status and standard of professional qualification of the members. The Institute, which functions under the administrative control of Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Government of India, has 5 Regional Councils and 126 branches covering the length and breadth of the country. In addition, it has also set up 21 chapters outside India.

India re-elected to U.N.’s International Law Commission

India was today re-elected to the International Law Commission for a five year term beginning January 1, 2012.

U.N. General Assembly re-elected India’s Narinder Singh as a member of the Commission.

A member of the ILC since 2007, Singh is currently legal adviser and Head of the Legal and Treaties Division of Ministry of External Affairs.

He has served as coordinator of the meeting of legal advisers of foreign offices of the U.N. member states since 2002.

Over the past two decades, Singh has represented India in a number of key conferences on international law and has been a regular participant in the work of the Sixth Committee of the U.N. General Assembly that deals with legal affairs.

ILC consists of 34 members who must be experts on international law. They are elected by the General Assembly from a list of candidates nominated by governments of member states in the U.N.

The other candidates elected from the Asia-Pacific Group come from Japan, China, Jordan, Korea, Indonesia, Qatar and Thailand.

The Commission was established by the General Assembly in 1948 for the “promotion of the progressive development of international law and its codification.”

Central Advisory Committee Meeting on PMAGY

The first Central Advisory Committee (CAC ) on Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY)) met here today under the Chairpersonship of Shri Mukul Wasnik ,Union Minister of Social Justice and Empowerment to review the functioning of the PMAGY. The meeting was Co-chaired by Shri Jairam Ramesh, Minister Rural Development and was attended by the Chairman National Commission for Scheduled Castes Shri P.L Punia, Shri Badri Ram Jakhar, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha and the Ministers in-charge of SC Development from the States of Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan. Representative of various central Ministries were also present in the meeting.

The Minister, SJ&E while reviewing the implementation of the Scheme urged upon the States to accelerate the pace of implementation in the States and the gap between the socio –economic parameters of SCs and others should be bridged within the stipulated time period . The Minister, Rural Development said that the selected villages must fulfill the ‘Nirmal Gram Puruskar’ under the Total Sanitation Campaign.

The Finance Minister, in his Budget Speech, 2009-10, delivered on 6.7.2009, announced launching of a new Scheme, namely “Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana”, on pilot basis, to cover 1000 villages with more than 50% SC population.

In pursuance of above, Government of India have, in March, 2010, approved a pilot Centrally Sponsored Scheme called, "Pradhan Mantri Adarsh Gram Yojana (PMAGY)" for integrated development of 1,000 SC-majority villages. The Scheme is presently being implemented in five states viz. Assam (100 villages), Bihar, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu (225 villages each).

The Scheme intends to achieve these objectives primarily through convergent implementation of existing schemes of Central and State Governments in the selected villages, and by providing Gap-filling funds from PMAGY in which Central Government’s contribution will be at the average rate of Rs. 20.0 lakh per village (revised recently from the earlier Rs. 10 lakh per village), with State Government making a suitable, preferably matching, contribution, for meeting specifically identified developmental requirements of the selected villages which cannot be met under the existing schemes of the Central and State Governments.

The Scheme also has a provision for financial support for strengthening of administrative machinery for its planning and implementation, capability building of key personnel, developing a proper management information system etc.

Full admissible Central assistance of Rs. 101 crore, under the Scheme, was released to the 5 States till last year. The central component for the ‘gap-filling’ has been recently revised upwardly to Rs. 20 per village. The Ministry has already released the additional amount to the PMAGY States, except Assam, to which Rs. 3.00 crore out of Rs. 10.00 crore has already been released.

The CAC, for PMAGY was constituted on 23.8.2011 with the Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment and Minister Rural Development as Chairman and Co-chair of the Committee.

India and British Columbia to Extend Cooperation in the Field of Renewable Energy

Ms. Christy Clark, Premier of British Columbia, Canada met Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy in New Delhi and held detailed discussions on Cooperation between India and British Columbia in the field of Renewable Energy. Both the Ministers were accompanied by High Level Delegations.

Dr. Farooq Abdullah gave an overview of the progress made by India in different fields of Renewable Energy. It was observed that India has already signed an Umbrella Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Canada in the field of Energy including Renewable Energy and it was agreed the two sides would explore Cooperation between Institutions of repute of India and British Columbia in identified fields. Fuel Cells, Storage batteries, Bio-Energy and Small Hydro Programs were identified as possible areas of Cooperation.

British Columbia side informed that they are holding a Global Conference in Energy on 12-15 March, 2012 and requested India to depute a delegation to this Conference where Renewable Energy will be one of the focus areas of Cooperation. India agreed to explore the possibility of sending a business delegation to the Conference on receipt of invitation.

Scheme for Anti-Erosion Measures Approved

The Planning commission has given investment clearance for “Anti Erosion measures to protect Moisa and Belguri village from erosion of River Gangadhar”, Assam, with an estimated cost of Rs.14.97 Crore The project will be completed by the financial year 2012-13 and Plan account would be closed by 31st March 2013. Project may accordingly be executed as per the approved outlays in the State Annual Plans.

The project proposes to provide 600 m long revetment and RCC porcupine screens along the bank as well as across the bank at various locations. The project area consisting of thickly populated village of Moisa, Belguri, Agomoni, Pub-Kaldoba, Bhangaduli, Maragadadhar are situated at the right bank of river Gangadhar at a distance of about 48 km from district headquarter town of Dhubri and 300 km from Guwahati. The scheme will benefit an area of 2267 ha comprising of cultivated and homestead land.

Eurasian Union emerging to integrate Soviet era economies

Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus have agreed to create a Eurasian Union, an economic body designed to reintegrate the former Soviet economies.

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Kazakhstan and Belarus counterparts, Nursultan Nazarbayev and Alexander Lukashenko, signed a package of agreements to promote Eurasian economic integration at a summit in Moscow on November 18.

The three countries set up a customs union last year that will pave the way for a “single economic space,” a closer-knit union, next year. The Eurasian Union, which would have its own executive body, would mark a further step in economic integration on the lines of the Brussels-based European Union.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin first formulated the idea of a Eurasian Union to act as a bridge between Europe and Asia in a newspaper article published shortly after he announced plans to return to the Kremlin as President in the 2012 elections.

Mr. Medvedev said at the signing ceremony that Russia, Kazakhstan and Belarus will build a new economy as the countries that share common history and similar development patterns. He said the new union would be open to other countries to join, but only on the basis of “a roadmap that may take a year, two years or 15 years to cover” to qualify for membership.

Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan have already applied to join the customs union, and Ukraine is mulling the option.

Agni - IV successfully test fired

Giving a boost to India's strategic defence preparedness, missile technologists successfully test-fired the 3,000 km plus nuclear weapons capable ballistic missile, Agni 2 prime, which has now been renamed as Agni-IV, from Wheeler Island off the Orissa coast on November 15.

The advanced surface-to-surface ballistic missile fired from a road mobile launcher zeroed in on to the pre-designated target in the Bay of Bengal with a high degree of accuracy after a flight duration of about 20 minutes.

Designed to increase the kill efficiency of the vehicle with a higher range performance, the missile was equipped with state-of-the-art technologies, including indigenously developed ring laser gryo and composite rocket motor.

The missile's payload was reduced from 1,000 kg to 800 kg to give the missile better range.

The two stage surface-to-surface missile is 20 meters-tall and weighs 17 tonnes.

All the radars, telemetry and electro-optical instruments tracked the entire flight of the missile until its splash down.

Scientific Advisor to Defence Minister V.K.Saraswat, Chief Controller, Defence Research and Development Organisation (Missiles and Strategic Systems) Avinash Chander and Advanced Systems Laboratory Director Sekharan were among those present.

Dr. Saraswat told The Hindu that it was a 'copybook' launch, which met all the mission objectives. He said the launch demonstrated the complete maturity of India in surface-to-surface missile technoogy. It also confirmed the capability of the country in strategic defence, he added.

Mr. Chander described the launch as a breakthrough in the missile capability of India.

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