OCTOBER CURRENT AFFAIRS

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS:

India on 1 November won a crucial election to the UN Board of Auditors with itsnominee Shashi Kant Sharma, the Comptroller and Auditor General, garnering thelargest number of votes. Sharma won 124 votesout of the total 186 cast in the GeneralAssembly's Fifth Committee on Administrative and Budgetary questions. India won by acomfortable margin against its closest contender the Philippines, which got 62votes.With this, Sharma will be appointed to the UN Board of Auditors for a six yearterm beginning July 1, 2014.The General Assembly had established the UN Board ofAuditors to audit of the accounts of the United Nations organization and its funds andprogrammes and to report its findings and recommendations to the Assembly throughthe Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions. The Auditors-Generals of UN member states are elected to the Board. India had last sat on the boardin 1993 for six years.

China on 31 October 2013 opened a new highway that links Medog to Zhamog-locatednear the border with Arunachal Pradesh. The highway linking Medog, the last roadlesscounty in China, with neighboring Bome County in Tibet formally opened to traffic,ending the county's isolation from the outside world. The 117-km highway, which cost950 million yuan (155 million U.S. dollars), links Zhamog Township, the county seat ofBome, and Medog in Nyingchi Prefecture in southeastern Tibet. The road will beaccessible for 8 to 9 months per year, barring major natural disasters. The Zhamog-Medog starts along the Number 318 National Road in Zhamog Township in BomiCounty. It goes through the 4400-meter high Galung La Mountain and cross 6 rivers, toreach Medog.

The opening of the Medog road will greatly lower transportation costs and will alsoimprove medical care and educational facilities. With this new highway, every county inTibet is now linked through the highway network, underlining the widening infrastructuregulf across the disputed border, even as India belatedly pushes forward an upgrading ofborder roads in more difficult terrain. China first started attempting to build the highwayto Medog – a landlocked county in Tibet’s Nyingchi prefecture – in the 1960s, in theaftermath of the 1962 war with India.

Turkey opened the world’s first underwater rail link between two continents on 29October, connecting Asia and Europe and allowing Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan torealize a project dreamt up by Ottoman sultans more than a century ago.Theengineering feat spans 13 km (8 miles) to link Europe with Asia some 60 meters below

the Bosphorus Strait. Called the Marmaray, it will carry subway commuters in Europe'sbiggest city and eventually serve high-speed and freight trains. The 5.5 billion lira ($2.8billion) tunnel is one of Erdogan's “mega projects”, an unprecedented building spreedesigned to change the face of Turkey. They include a 50-km canal to rival the Suezthat would render half of Istanbul an island, an airport that will be the world's busiest anda giant mosque atop on Istanbul hill.

Mahatma Gandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana, a pension and life insurance fund schemefor blue-collar Indian workers in UAE was launched by the Union Minister of OverseasIndian Affairs, Vyalar Ravi in Dubai on 28 October 2013.The scheme will cover 5 millionoverseas blue collar Indian workers who have the Emigration Clearance Required(ECR) category passports in 17 countries. ECR passports are issued to those workerswho have not passed Grade 10. Around 65 per cent of more than two million Indians inthe UAE are blue collar workers and most of them are in the ECR category.

Blue collar jobs are pertaining to wage-earning workers who wear work clothes or otherspecialized clothing on the job, as mechanics, longshoremen and miners. MahatmaGandhi Pravasi Suraksha Yojana (MGPSY), a special social security scheme foroverseas Indian workers on temporary work permits in 17 Emigration Check Required(ECR) countries. The MGPSY is aimed at helping the workers to save money for theirretirement, their return to India and resettlement and provides life insurance coveragainst natural death during the period of coverage. It provides home and a lifeinsurance cover for Rs. 1 lakh during their work abroad.

Syria has destroyed all of its declared chemical weapons production and mixingfacilities, meeting a key deadline in an ambitious disarmament programme, theinternational chemical weapons watchdog saidon 31 October. The Organization for theProhibition of Chemical Weapons said its teams had inspected 21 out of 23 chemicalweapons sites across the country. The other two were too dangerous to inspect but thechemical equipment had already been moved to other sites which experts had visited, itsaid.

"The OPCW is satisfied it has verified, and seen destroyed, all declared criticalproduction/mixing/filling equipment from all 23 sites," the document said. Under aRussian-American-brokered deal, Damascus agreed to destroy all its chemicalweapons after Washington threatened to use force in response to the killing of hundredsof people in a sarin attack on the outskirts of Damascus on 21 August. It was the world's

deadliest chemical weapons incident since Saddam Hussein's forces used poison gasagainst the Kurdish town of Halabja 25 years ago.

The United States and its allies blamed Syrian president Bashar al-Assad's forces forthe attack and several earlier incidents. Assad has rejected the charge, blaming rebelbrigades. Under the disarmament timetable, Syria was due to render unusable allproduction and chemical weapons filling facilities by 1 November – a target it has nowmet. By mid-2014 it is to have destroyed its entire stockpile of chemical weapons. Thenext deadline is 15 November, by when the OPCW and Syria must agree to a detailedplan of destruction, including how and where to destroy more than 1,000 metric tones oftoxic agents and munitions.

The United States, through the U.S. Agency for International Development ( USAID),has announced a US $ 250,000 grant to the organization UN Women, which is a part ofthe United Nations' Women's Global Safe Cities Initiative. In a press statement on 30October, the US embassy said that the grant is for the ongoing program "Delhi Safe City- Free of Violence against Women and Girls," that will be implemented in partnershipwith Indian civil society organizations.This announcement comes in the same month asthe International Day of the Girl Child and on the eve of the international community's 16Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence beginning late November. U.S.Ambassador to India Nancy J. Powell said, "The United States recognizes gender-based violence as one of the most debilitating factors impeding a woman's activeparticipation in any economy in the world and her ability to access resources andservices. We are pleased to partner with UN Women to help promote safe cities andreduce gender-based violence, which plagues every country in the world."

Australia on 29 October 2013 announced the winding down of its military mission inAfghanistan with the withdrawal of most of its troops by the end of 2014.Approximately,1000Australian troops are posted at the International Force base in Tarin Kot, thecapital of southern Afghan province Uruzgan. In 2001, the US-led war in Afghanistanstarted and 40 Australian soldiers killed and 260 were injured since that time. USA andother foreign combat troops from Afghanistan chalked out a plan to transfer securityresponsibilities to local forces by the end of 2014 and will go back to their countries. Asof early June 2013 there were about 1,00,000 Nato troops serving in Afghanistan from50 contributing nations. Australia is one among the leading nations who havecontributed units of 550 or more.

The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad chaired the sessionfor launching of the “Global Commission on Ageing in Developing Countries” at Beijing,China. Azad said that the goal of the Commission is to enable gender, equity and rightsbased policies and programming that will improve the quality of life of the ageingpopulation in developing countries including the 25 member countries of Partners inPopulation and Development (PPD). India is presently the Chair of PPD. Azad said thatcurrently for most countries of the world the population aged 60 or over is growing at arate faster than any other age group. United Nations has made projections that by 2050there will be more people in the age group of 60 plus worldwide than children agedunder14 years. What is also known is that about 80 per cent of these elderly citizens willbe living in developing countries, he said. The Minister highlighted that 25 membercountries of PPD constitute 48.6 per cent of the world population aged 60 and above,and this is projected to increase to 57.1 per cent by 2050. Moreover, in 2012, nine Asianmember countries of PPD constituted over 76.4 per cent of over 60 years population inAsia, which is estimated to increase to 78.1 per cent by 2050. Azad expressed hisconcern that growing numbers of the ageing populations are posing challenges forexisting health systems, social security and, in some cases, employment especially fordeveloping countries as they are not fully equipped - either in terms of policyinstruments or programmatic interventions to successfully meet the growingrequirements of an aging population. But the Health Minister also expressed happinessthat ageing populations present not just challenges but also opportunities. Thecontributions of an ageing population can be enhanced to create a second“Demographic Dividend” by adopting enabling polices for productive ageing andcreating opportunities for extended economic life. For this investment in the ageinghuman capital and creating infrastructure and social support services is an imperative,he emphasized. The Minister urged PPD member countries and other developingnations to support the Commission in fulfilling its roles of guiding the countries toaddress gender, rights and equity based social protection, health care and incomesecurity of the growing ageing populations. Present at the occasion were H.E. Dr. LiBin, Vice-Chair, PPD Board, Dr. John Beard, Director, Department of Ageing and LifeCourse, World Health Organization, Dr. Joe Thomas, Executive Director, PPD andvarious other dignitaries.

The Second High Level Meeting (HLM) on South-South Cooperation for Child Rights inAsia and the Pacific concluded in New Delhi on October 25th, 2013.The meeting hasbrought together delegates from 33 countries of the region to discuss and share theprogress, experience, problems and challenges in the survival, protection, developmentand participation of the nearly 1.2 billion children in the region. The ‘New DelhiDeclaration on South-South Cooperation for Child Rights in Asia and Pacific’, has beenadopted on October 25th.Speaking at the occasion Smt. Krishna Tirath, Minister ofState (Independent Charge), Ministry of Women and Child Development said that suchhigh level meetings provide an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment towards childrights and recognizing that child rights are fundamental to all cultures and societies andare crucial to children’s growth and upbringing. It is also a reaffirmation of our belief that

child survival, development, protection and participation are vital for the growth of thecountry. Smt. Tirath said that although this Meeting has focused on three crucial themesof adolescence, early child hood care and development and urban settings, werecognise that the rights of children are interrelated and interdependent and each one ofthem is equally important and fundamental to the well-being and dignity of the child. Theapplication of child rights requires a multi-dimensional, integrated and inclusiveapproach for the overall and harmonious development and protection of children, shenoted. Present at the occasion were Mr Sharudin S. Kashim, Deputy Director GeneralPlanning, Government of Malaysia , delegates from 33 countries, officials from UNICEFand various other dignitaries.

The first nuclear power station in the UK in the last 20 years, the Hinkley Point Cnuclear power station, is to be built in Somerset, in southwest England.After the March2011 Fukushima, this is one of the first major nuclear power plants to be built inWestern Europe. According to a release from the UK government’s Department ofEnergy and Climate Change, Hinkley Point C “will begin the process of replacing theexisting fleet of nuclear most of which are due to close in the 2020s”. The UKgovernment and the French EDF Group have reached agreement on the key terms ofthe contract for the construction of the power station, which is expected to generateclean power that from 2023 will power nearly six million homes “or an area twice thesize as London”. EDF and the investors it has rounded up, which includes the ChinaNational Nuclear Corporation and China General Nuclear Power Corporation (that willinvest in the project as minority shareholders), will together put in a total investment of£ 16 billion into the construction of the plant. Construction will be undertaken bythe French state-controlled company Areva. At a time when Germany is in the processof decommissioning its nuclear plants to a 2022 target, and France too is cutting backon the share of nuclear power in its overall energy package, the UK’s decision toactually enhance its nuclear energy capability comes as a contrast.

Ethiopia's government on 24th October 2013 temporarily banned its citizens fromtravelling abroad to look for work.The government took this decision because manyEthiopians had lost their lives or undergone untold physical and psychological traumadue to illegal human trafficking. The Ethiopian government had taken various steps tolimit the suffering of its citizens, including setting up a national council and a taskforce toeducate them. The scarcity of work opportunities contributes mainly fuelling emigrationfrom Ethiopia, which has Africa's second largest population. According to the officialfigures, Youth unemployment was estimated at more than 50 percent. Many Ethiopiansmigrate to Saudi Arabia, travelling via Yemen by sea and entering the country illegally.Thousands of others go to Israel, South Africa and Europe. Most of the migrants end upbeing smuggled, trafficked or subjected to mental and physical torture.

Brunei’s on 22nd October sultan announced that a new Islamic criminal law that couldinclude penalties like amputation for theft and stoning for adultery will be enforced in sixmonths.Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said the Shariah Penal Code, which would be appliedto Muslims only, should be regarded as a form of “special guidance” from God andwould be “part of the great history” of the tiny, oil-rich monarchy on Borneo Island. InBrunei, Muslims comprise about two-thirds of the population of nearly 420,000 people.The minorities are mainly Buddhist, Christians and people of local indigenous beliefs.

Iran and P5+1 (Group of six major world powers comprising the US, France, Britain,Russia, China and Germany) have agreed for the first time on 16th October to hold talkson Iran’s nuclear programme. TheP5+1 group was held two days intense, substantiveand forward looking talks with Iran over its controversial nuclear program on 15 and 16October 2013 in Geneva.

According to the agreed plan between Iran and P5+1 Group, Iran ensured to the P5+1group that it will use nuclear programme for peaceful purpose. According to the agreedplan all nuclear activities in Iran will supervised by the International Atomic EnergyAgency (IAEA). The P5+1 Group, a group of six world countries (United States, Russia,China, United Kingdom, and France plus Germany).

It was formed in 2006 to resolve the nuclear programme in Iran. Iran and the P5+1group were previously held talks in Almaty, Kazakhstan April 5-6 2012. The two sideshad resumed negotiations in Almaty in February 2013 after a nine-month interval. Eachside brought a proposal to the April talks, but failed to reach consensus on a wayforward and no further meetings were scheduled. But Iran and P5+1 group were agreedfirst time to hold talks on Iran’s nuclear programme.

Syria officially joined the United Nations convention banning chemical weapons, thespokesman of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) saidon 14th October. Around 60 members from the UN-backed OPCW is overseeing thedestruction of Syria’s stockpile as well as some of its chemical weapons productionequipment. The Norwegian Nobel Committee last week awarded the OPCW the NobelPeace Prize for “its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical weapons.” In September,Syria said it would sign the Chemical Weapons Convention, following Russia’s proposalthat it hand over its chemical weapons to international supervisors. The Syrian regime inAugust was accused by Western powers and the Syrian opposition of using sarin gas inareas near the capital Damascus. The United States said the attack killed 1,400 people.

Created in 1997, OPCW’s job is to implement the Chemical Weapons Convention, atreaty that requires all countries that join to eliminate their chemical weapons stocks andrelated facilities. Syria is the 190th country to join the convention.

Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Talibanfor campaigning for girls' education, will be granted honorary Canadian citizenship, theCanadian government announced on 16th October.She will join an elite group of foreignhonorees who include South Africa's Nelson Mandela and Myanmar's Aung San SuuKyi. After receiving death threats from the Taliban for defying the Islamist militant groupwith her outspoken views on the right to education, Yousafzai was shot a year ago whileon a school bus near her village in Swat in northwestern Pakistan.

Switzerland, the country which became notorious for its anonymous numbered bankaccounts and tight banking secrecy became the world’s 58th nation on 15th October, tosign the Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters.The agreement prepared by taxation experts from the Paris-based Organization forEconomic Cooperation and Development (OECD),which has led the war against taxhavens in recent years, was signed by Switzerland’s ambassador to the OECD and theOrganization’s Secretary-General Angel Gurria in Paris. This marks “the end of bankingsecrecy” in Switzerland, the head of tax issues at the OECD, Pascal Saint-Amans, saidadding that the Convention “prepares the way for the automatic exchange of taxinformation.” The Swiss Federal Council gave its approval to the treaty on October9.This is a momentous step for Switzerland because it means it will be breaking its owntime-honoured and time-tested laws on banking secrecy.

More than 90 per cent of people living in European cities breathe air that the U.N.’sWorld Health Organization (WHO) says leads to respiratory problems, heart diseaseand shortened lives, according to a study published on 15th October.But because EUlegal limits or targets for some pollutants still lag well behind U.N. recommendations,most countries have been able to downplay the hazards of dirty air despite evidencethat it leads to 430,000 shortened lives in Europe every year and costs governmentstens of billions of pounds in hospital admissions.

According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) study, the past 10 years haveseen a steady decline in the emissions of most air pollutants, leading to “acceptable”levels across the continent for carbon monoxide and lead.“Nevertheless, road transport,industry, power plants and farming continue to emit significant amounts of pollutantswhich leads to acid rain, loss of biodiversity, reduction of visibility and damage to

materials and buildings,” says the report. EU environment commissioner Janez Potocniksuggested he was ready to take countries to the European courts and fine them forconsistently failing to meet targets.

The WHO suggests 85-98 per cent of Europe’s urban population is exposed todangerous levels of both but the EU says only 14-31 per cent of people are exposed.Countries, including Britain, have consistently argued that Europe should not raise airpollution standards and have actively tried to delay implementing EU legal limits toavoid having to remove cars from roads or force industry to invest in better technology.The study found that emissions had not reduced as much as expected in the past 10years. “There have been several success stories in cutting emissions of air pollutantsfor example, sulphur dioxide emissions from power plants, industry and transport havebeen reduced over the last decade, reducing exposure.

The International Day for the Eradication of Poverty was observed on 17th October topromote people’s awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution worldwide,particularly in developing countries. Theme for the year 2013 is: Working togethertowards a world without discrimination: Building on the experience and knowledge ofpeople in extreme poverty.United Nations General Assembly in 1993 by resolution47/196 designated International Day for the Eradication of Poverty to promoteawareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries.

Fighting poverty remains at the core of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) andthe post-2015 development agenda. The observance of the International Day for theEradication of Poverty can be traced back to 17th October 1987. On that date, morethan 1,00,000 people gathered in Paris, France, to honor the victims of extreme poverty,violence and hunger. Since that moment, individuals and organizations worldwideobserved October 17 as a day to renew their commitment in collaborating towardseradicating poverty.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Dutch Mideast expert Sigrid Kaag on 16thOctober, to lead the team charged with destroying Syria's chemical weapons andannounced stepped up efforts to hold a peace conference on Syria in mid-November.The UN chief appeared with Kaag shortly after UN spokesman Martin Nesirkyannounced her appointment and the official establishment of the joint mission of theU.N. and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons that she will lead.Its goal is to destroy Syria's chemical weapons stockpile, all chemical precursors, andthe equipment to produce the deadly weapons by mid-2014.The Organization for the

Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said that inspectors have so far visited 11 of morethan 20 sites linked to Syria's chemical weapons program. The team destroyed "criticalequipment" at six sites as well as unloaded chemical weapons munitions, said theOPCW. The secretary-general said the U.N., the U.S. and Russia are "intensifyingefforts" to hold a new conference in Geneva in mid-November to try to agree on atransitional government in Syria based on a plan adopted in that city in June 2012.

The World Health Organization on 18th October, warned against devastating healthconsequences of lead poisoning, particularly for children, and called upon countries tostrengthen national action to eliminate lead paint. Lead exposure is estimated tocontribute to 6, 00,000 new cases of children with intellectual disabilities every year, itsays. Overall, 99 per cent of the affected children live in low and middle incomecountries, the WHO said in a statement on the occasion of International Lead PoisoningPrevention Week of Action. Lead paint may be found in home, on toys, furniture and onother objects.

Decaying lead paint on walls, furniture and other interior surfaces creates contaminateddust that young children easily ingest. Mouthing lead-painted toys and other objectsalso exposes them to lead. The sweet taste of the paint means some children even pickoff and swallow small chips of it. It is estimated that 1, 43,000 deaths every year resultfrom lead poisoning and lead paint is a major contributor. Its use creates a healthproblem for many years into the future. Even in countries that have banned leaded paintdecades ago, it will continue to be a source of exposure until it is finally stripped andreplaced.

The cost of replacing lead paint means people living in older, poorly maintained housingare particularly at risk, and this disproportionately affects economically-deprivedcommunities. Worldwide, 30 countries have already phased out lead paint use. TheGlobal Alliance to Eliminate Lead Paint, co-led by the WHO and the United NationsEnvironment Programme, has set a target of 70 countries by 2015.At high levels ofexposure, lead damages the brain and central nervous system to cause coma,convulsions and even death.Children who survive poisoning are often left withintellectual impairment and behavioral disorders. The WHO has identified lead as one ofthe 10 chemicals causing major public health concern,and lead requires action bymember-states in order to protect the health of workers, children and women ofreproductive age. It includes adopting regulations and procedures to eliminate the useof lead decorative paints and providing information to the public on renovation of homeswhere lead paint may have already been applied.

Saudi Arabia has rejected a rotating seat at the Security Council, as a mark of protestagainst the perceived inaction by the world body against Syria.On 17th October, thekingdom had for the first time been elected by the General Assembly to become a non-permanent member. The Saudi monarchy, a staunch supporter of military action totopple President Bashar al-Assad said the Security Council is incapable of tacklinginternational conflicts. Riyadh said the UNSC had also failed to settle the Israel-Palestinian issue. It also drew attention to the Council’s inability to turn West Asia into azone free of weapons of mass destruction — an apparent reference to Israel’s allegedstockpile of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

Ireland will become the first Euro zone country to exit its bailout in December, PrimeMinister Enda Kenny said on 13th October, warning however there was still some wayto go to full recovery. Ireland was forced to turn to the European Union and theInternational Monetary Fund for an 85-billion-euro ($115 billion) bailout in 2010 after itsbanks collapsed and its overheated property market went into meltdown. Kenny told aconference of his Fine Gael party on 12th October, there were "fragile times" ahead anda budget due would be tough, but that Ireland was ready to leave the bailout.

Ireland enjoyed double-digit economic growth for a decade from the mid-1990s, earningit the nickname of the "Celtic Tiger", but it was hammered by the 2008 global financialcrisis. In return for the bailout, the government was forced to introduce stringentausterity measures. But it has been described as a "poster boy" for bailed-out EUeconomies, exiting recession in the second quarter of this year with growth of 0.4percent thanks to solid expansion of its construction and export sectors. If Ireland doesleave the scheme in December, it will be the first of the four bailed-out euro zonecountries to do so. Financial packages have also been given to Cyprus, Greece andPortugal.

International Finance Corporation (IFC) on 10th October launched a $1 billion offshorerupee bond in Washington, marking an important step forward in India's efforts tointernationalize the currency.IFC has already raised local currency bonds in Chineserenminbi, Russia ruble and Brazilian real.IFC, the private finance arm of the WorldBank, will use these funds to finance private sector investment in the country. "Vibrantdomestic capital markets ensure access to long-term, local-currency finance for theprivate sector—the key engine of job creation in emerging markets," said Jin-Yong Cai,IFC's chief executive officer (CEO) announcing the bond offering.

Under the programme, the IFC will issue rupee-linked bonds to global investors,providing another method of funding Indian corporate. "IFC's offshore bond programme

will help bring depth and diversity to the offshore rupee market and pave the way for analternative source of funding for Indian companies," International Finance Corporationsaid in a statement. In an offshore local currency bond, the foreign investor will firstconvert his currency into rupees and then invest in the bonds. His maturity proceedswould also be in rupees. The benefit to the issuer is that the currency risk is borne bythe investor, unlike a hard currency like dollar denominated bond where the currencyrisk is with the issuer as he has to pay interest and principal in dollars. Investors inthese bonds get the benefit of asset diversification and high yields, particularly insituations when the underlying currency is expected to appreciate.

The bigger benefit of these bonds for India is that it internationalizes the currency.Indian government has been keen to internationalize the rupee as part of its plan tomake the currency more acceptable. On the first day of taking over as the ReserveBank of India governor, Raghuram Rajan had talked of the need to internationalize therupee. The announcement coincides with finance minister P Chidambaram's US visitthat also includes a meeting with the investor community here besides the annualInternational Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings. Chidambaram is expected totell the investor community about how the India story remains intact and an attractiveinvestment destination.

US President Barack Obama on 9th October 2013 nominated Janet L. Yellen as thenew head of the Federal Reserve Board. Janet Yellen replaced Ben Bernanke as Chairof the Federal Reserve Board.Janet Yellen was previously vice Chairman of the Boardof Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Janet Yellen is the first woman to lead theFederal Reserve Board and also the first Democrat to head the Board since 1979. JanetLouise Yellen (born on 13 August 1946) is an American economist and professor who isthe Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Janet LouiseYellen took office as Vice Chair of the Board of Governors of the Federal ReserveSystem on 4 October 2010, for a four-year term. The Federal Reserve Board ofGovernors is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is chargedwith overseeing the Federal Reserve Banks and with helping implement monetarypolicy of the United States.

Wilfred Martens, nine-time Prime Minister of Belgium and who led the European Union'sChristian Democrat group, diedon 9th October 2013 at Lokeren, in East Flanders. Hewas 77 years old. He served as the Prime Minister of Belgium from 3rd April 1979 to 6thApril 1981 and 17 December 1981 to 7 March 1992. He served as the PM in ninecoalition governments during these tenures. He was the Chairman of Belgian ChristianPeople's Party, which is now renamed as Christian Democratic and Flemish party from1972–79. He was the co-founder of the European People's Party (EPP) in 1976 and

remained its President since 1992. He was preceded by Jacques Santer. He washonored with Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Falcon, Grand Cross of the Orderof Merit of the Italian Republic, Grand Cross of the Order of Christ and Grand Cross ofthe Order of Prince Henry.

Ethiopia's parliament on 7th October 2013 elected Mulatu Teshome as the country'snew president for a six-year term. Mulatu Teshome will replace Girma Wolde Giorgis,who first took the post in 2001 and was re-elected in 2007.Mulatu Teshome was electedat a joint session of the House of Peoples Representatives (HPR) and the House ofFederation (HoF). Mulatu Teshome is the Fourth president of Ethiopia. Before beingelected president, Mulatu also held government positions including that of speaker ofthe House of Federation, state minister of finance and economic development andminister of agriculture. In Ethiopia, the office of presidency is a largely symbolic andceremonial post and real power rests in the hands of the prime minister. The presentPrime Minister of Ethiopia is Hailemariam Desalegn.

China on 10th October 2013 signed a 350 Billion Yuan (45 billion Euros) currency swapagreement with the European Union,marking a major step in internationalizing itscurrency. The agreement signed between the People's Bank of China (PBOC) and theEuropean Central Bank (ECB). The pact aimed to support bilateral trade and protectfinancial stability. The agreement lasts three years and can be extended if both partiesagree. The new arrangement will provide more liquidity to the Renminbi market in theEuro area, promote overseas use of the Yuan, and help facilitate trade and investment.

The U.N. Security Council on 11th October formally approved a first joint mission withthe Nobel Peace Prize winning global chemical arms watchdog to destroy Syria'sweapons.The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the U.N.already have a team of 60 experts and support staff in Syria destroying Syria’sproduction facilities while the country’s civil war rages on. The 15-member SecurityCouncil sent a letter to Ban on 11th October, backing his plan on carrying out the fulleradication of Syria’s banned chemical arms.“The Security Council authorizes theestablishment of the OPCW-UN join mission as proposed,” said the sources. The formalbacking was given as it was announced that the OPCW had been awarded the NobelPeace Prize. A chemical weapons attack in Damascus on August 21, which lefthundreds dead, sparked an international crisis that led to threats of a US military strikeagainst Syrian government targets. However the Security Council passed a resolutionon September 27 backing a Russia-U.S. plan to destroy President Bashar al-Assad’schemical weapons. The team has been doubled to about 60 people in recent days, theUN said on 11th October.

India on 10th October, signed agreements with seven countries, who pledged theircommitment to the ambitious Nalanda University project being built near the ruins of theancient academic institution. The Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signedwith Australia, Cambodia, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Lao PDR and Myanmar inBrunai. These agreements are key to India's plans to establish Nalanda University inBihar as an institution of international repute. Addressing the East Asia Summit inBrunai, where these MoUs were signed, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh alsoexpressed his gratitude to the countries supporting the project."I would like to thank theEast Asia Summit participating countries for their support for the establishment ofNalanda University as an international institution of excellence.

Prime Minister had arrived Brunai to participate in the ASEAN-India Summit and theEast Asia Summit (EAS), which is a forum for cooperation between various countries ofthis region with ASEAN and includes Australia, China, India, Japan, Republic of Korea,New Zealand, Russia and the US, in addition to the ten ASEAN (Association of SouthEast Asian Nations) countries. The 10 ASEAN nations are Brunei, Cambodia,Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Laos, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.The idea to revive Nalanda University was first mooted in 2005 by then President A.P.J.Abdul Kalam. The University is being built near the ruins of the historic academic placeby the same name in Bihar and those involved with this project include Nobel laureateAmartya Sen. According to sources, China has already committed US $ one million forthe project, Singapore has pledged US $ 5-6 million, Australia about US $ one millionAustralia dollar and all these funds have been committed on voluntary basis.

India was re-elected in the new Council of International Civil Aviation Organization(ICAO) as one of the states making the largest contribution to the provision of facilitiesfor international civil air navigation.The 38th session of the Assembly of ICAOcompleted the election of the Council in Montreal on 1October 2013. The 36- memberCouncil is the governing body of the Organization and is elected for a three-year term. Aspecialized agency of the United Nations, ICAO was created in 1944 to promote thesafe and orderly development of international civil aviation throughout the world. It setsstandards and regulations necessary for aviation safety, security, efficiency, capacityand environmental protection, amongst many other priorities. The Organization servesas the forum for cooperation in all fields of civil aviation among its 191 Member States.

The Gambia on 2nd October 2013 announced that it is pulling out of the Commonwealthwith immediate effect. Gambia, a West African country joined the Commonwealth ofNations in 1965. The Gambia also stated that it will never be a member of any neo-

colonial institution and will never be a party to any institution that represents anextension of colonialism. The decision came after the Government rejected a proposalby the Commonwealth in 2012 to create commissions in Banjul (capital of Gambia) toprotect human rights, media rights and fight against corruption. The last country to bewithdrawn from the Commonwealth group was Zimbabwe in 2003. The Commonwealthof Nations is a voluntary association of 54 countries, many of them former territories ofthe British Empire. It was established in 1949.

The Maldivian government on 4th October has decided to sell of part of its gatewayairport, the Ibrahim Nasir International Airport, in capital Male, to its citizens.The airportwas developed by Indian infrastructure major, GMR. A government source confirmedthe development, and added that the process will be set in motion “sometime nextweek”. Asked if the people will hold majority stake, the official said that the modalitieshad to be worked out, but the government will hold most of the shares of the airport.The Waheed government, which was formed in controversial circumstances after formerPresident Mohamed Nasheed resigned on February 7, 2012, cancelled the contract inDecember 2012.GMR handed over the airport to the Maldives Airports CompanyLimited on December 7, 2012, and launched arbitration proceedings in Singapore to thetune of $ 1.5 billion. Last month, Mr. Nasheed had declared that if elected President, hewould invite back GMR, subject to conditions.

The United Nations food agencies (Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO),International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme(WFP)) released a report on The State of Food Insecurity in the World on 1st October2013. It highlighted that about 842 million people or roughly one in eight suffered fromchronic hunger in 2011-13 not getting enough food to lead active and healthy lives. Itstates that-atotal of 842 million people in 2011–13 or around one in eight people in theworld were estimated to be suffering from chronic hunger, regularly not getting enoughfood to conduct an active life. The total number of undernourished has fallen by 17percent since 1990–92.

The vast majority of hungry people 827 million live in developing regionswhere theprevalence of undernourishment is now estimated at 14.3 percent where as 15.7 millionpeople live in developed countries. While the estimated number of undernourishedpeople has continued to decrease, the rate of progress appears insufficient to reachinternational goals for hunger reduction in developing regions the 1996 World FoodSummit (WFS) target, which is to halve the number of hungry people by 2015, and the2001 Millennium Development Goal (MDG) hunger target, which is to halve theproportion of hungry people in the total population by 2015.

While at the global level there has been an overall reduction in the number ofundernourished between 1990–92 and 2011–13,different rates of progress acrossregions have led to changes in the distribution of undernourished people in the world.Most of the world’s undernourished people are still to be found in Southern Asia, closelyfollowed by sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Asia. The regional share has declined mostin Eastern Asia and South-Eastern Asia. Meanwhile, the share has increased inSouthern Asia, in sub-Saharan Africa and in Western Asia and Northern Africa. Africaremains the region with the highest prevalence of undernourishment with more than onelive in people estimated to be undernourished.Both the number and proportion of peopleundernourished have decreased significantly in most countries in Asia, particularly inSouth-Eastern Asia, but progress in Southern Asia has been slower, especially in termsof the number of people undernourished.

The International Day of Non-Violence was observed on 2nd October across the worldon the occasion of birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.The International Day of Non-Violence is also known as Gandhi Jayanti in India. In the year 2004, Shirin Ebadi, theIranian Nobel laureate took the proposal of International Day of Non-Violence to theWorld Social Forum in Bombay. On 15th June 2007 the United Nations GeneralAssembly established 2nd October as the International Day of Non-Violence. Theresolution of the UN General Assembly asked the members of UN system tocommemorate 2 October as the International Day of Non-Violence and disseminate themessage of non-violence through public awareness and education. People, NGOs aswell as the Governments across the world observe this day through different activitiesas well as events. These activities and events include:

India and United States of America (USA) signed a joint declaration on 27th September2013 in defense cooperation in research in defense, defense technology transfer, co-development and co-production of defense articles and services and protecting eachother’s sensitive technology and information. Highlights of the Joint declaration indefense cooperation -

1) The United States and India share common security interests andplace each other at the same level as their closest partners. This principle will apply withrespect to defense technology transfer, trade, research, co-development and co-production for defense articles and services, including the most advanced andsophisticated technology.

2) Both countries will work to improve licensing processes, and, whereapplicable, follow expedited license approval processes to facilitate this cooperation.

3) The U.S and India are also committed to protecting each other’ssensitive technology and information.

4) The two sides will continue their efforts to strengthen mutualunderstanding of their respective procurement systems and approval processes, and toaddress process-related difficulties in defense trade, technology transfer andcollaboration.

5) The two sides look forward to the identification of specificopportunities for cooperative and collaborative projects in advanced defensetechnologies and systems, within one year. Such opportunities will be pursued by bothsides in accordance with their national policies and procedures, in a manner that wouldreflect the full potential of the relationship.

6) The U.S. continues to fully support India`s full membership in thefour international export control regimes, which would further facilitate technologysharing.

The US government on 1st October has begun a partial shutdown after the two housesof Congress failed to agree a new budget. The Republican-led House ofRepresentatives insisted on delaying President Barack Obama's healthcare reform -dubbed Obamacare - as a condition for passing a bill. More than 700,000 federalemployees face unpaid leave with no guarantee of back pay once the deadlock is over.It is the first shutdown in 17 years.Goldman Sachs estimates a three-week shutdowncould shave as much as 0.9% from US GDP this quarter. On 1 October, Mr Obamablamed the House of Representatives for the stalemate and said he would "keepworking to get Congress to reopen the government [and] restart vital services".

The World Bank report entitledMigration and Remittance Flows: Recent Trends andOutlook-2013-16 released on 2nd October 2013 revealed that India emerged as thelargest recipient of foreign remittances among developing economies in 2013.In 2013Non-Resident Indians (NRI) sent a record US $ 71 billion home compared to US $ 70billion in 2012. According to a Word Bank report NRIs are estimated to remit up to US $85 billion a year by 2015.World Bank in its report stated India and China will representnearly a third of total remittances to the developing world in 2013. The surge inremittances continues despite the recent decline in Rupees against the Dollar. The gulfcountries account for nearly 40 per cent of remittances in India while it was 48 percentto South Asian countries. The top recipients of officially recorded remittances for 2013areIndia (with an estimated US $ 71 billion), China (US $ 60 billion), the Philippines (US$ 26 billion), Mexico (US $ 22 billion), Nigeria (US $ 21 billion), and Egypt (US $ 20billion). Other large recipients include Pakistan, Bangladesh, Vietnam, and Ukraine.

In Tunisia, rival political groups arrived at an agreement to end the political crisis in thecountry on 5 October 2013.The ruling Islamist Ennahda-led Government will step downto allow the formation of a Government of independents in three weeks. It will befollowed by the adoption of a new constitution and of holding elections in the country.Under the deal, an independent Prime Minister will be in place in Tunisia by the end ofnext week.He will have two weeks to form a new cabinet. The National Dialogue whichbegan on 4 October 2013 will cover groups and parties across the political spectrumover the next four weeks. The new constitution will be adopted in this time and timetable for elections will be decided. The political roadmap was prepared by fourmediators led by Tunisia's powerful trade unions confederation, UGTT. The deal isexpected to put an end to the simmering tension among the rival groups in the countrywhich was sparked off by the assassination of a secular opposition leader MohamedBrahimi in July 2013.

NATIONAL AFFAIRS:The Supreme Court on 31 October 2013 directed the Government of India and theStates to pass order within three months on giving the fixed tenure to civil servants. TheSupreme Court has also directed to constitute a Civil Services Board at nation and statelevels for management of the transfers, posting, reward, inquiries and process ofpromotion, punishment and disciplinary matters of bureaucracy.The decisions weretaken to bring bureaucracy out from political interference and to give end to regulartransfers of the civil servants from political executive. The Supreme Court benchheaded by Justice K S Radhakrishnan said that the fixed tenure of the bureaucratswould help to promote the professionalism, efficiency and good governance. TheParliament has been also directed by the Supreme Court to enact a law to regulatetransfer, posting and disciplinary action on the IAS officers and to immunize them frompolitical interference. The Court directed on a petition submitted by 83 former civilservants, like former cabinet secretary T. S. R. Subramanian, former Indianambassador to the US Abid Hussain, former chief election commissioner, N.Gopalaswami and others, demanding reforms to ensure bureaucracy to get them outfrom the political influences.

Railways Minister Mallikarjun Kharge launched the High Speed Rail Corporation of IndiaLtd (HSRC), a subsidiary of Rail Vikas Nigam Ltd. (RVNL), on 29 October 2013.Themain objective of the HSRC is to develop High Speed Rail (HSR) Corridors in India torun passenger trains at speeds up to 350 Kilo Meter per hour. While inaugurating theHSRC, Railways Minister told that most countries consider high speed capability to be

in the range of 250 to 300 kmph which requires a dedicated track with fencing and canbe prohibitively costly.

For a country like ours track fencing also has its own set of associated issues. Thus,leveraging Rolling stock technologies may provide a lower cost solution to meet theimmediate needs of achieving speeds of 160 to 200 kmph and that too on the existingtrack. For speeds above 200 kmph the costlier and time consuming solution of providinga separate dedicated track with fencing becomes inescapable. He launched the HSRCwhile inaugurating a two-day international technical conference on High Speed RailTravel: Low Cost Solution, in New Delhi on 29 October.

The direction in the judgment dated 27 September, 2013 of the Supreme Court is toprovide aNone of the Above (NOTA) optionon the EVM and ballot papers so that theelectors who do not want to vote for any of the candidates can exercise their option insecrecy. The Supreme Court held that the provisions of Rule 49-O under which anelector not wishing to vote for any candidate had to inform the Presiding Officer abouthis decision, are ultra vires Article 19 of the Constitution and Section 128 of theRepresentation of the People Act, 1951. As per the provisions of clause (a) of Rule 64of Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, read with Section 65 of the Representation of thePeople Act, 1951, the candidate who has polled the largest number of valid votes is tobe declared elected by the Returning Officer.

Therefore, even if the number of electors opting for NOTA option is more than thenumber of votes polled by any of the candidates, the candidate who secures the largestnumber of votes has to be declared elected. Under the provisions of Section 53(2) ofRP Act, 51, if the number of contesting candidates is equal to the number of seats to befilled, the Returning Officer has to declare all the contesting candidates to be dulyelected. In the case of elections to the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies, in caseswhere there is only one contesting candidate in the fray, the Returning Officer has to, inaccordance with the provisions of the said Section 53(2), declare the sole contestingcandidates as elected. The provision of NOTA option which is an expression of decisionnot to vote for the contesting candidates is not relevant in such cases.

The Union Cabinet on 30 October gave its approval for declaring the Bhubaneswar andImphal airports as international airports to fulfill the long pending demand of people aswell as the State Governments of Odisha and Manipur.Declaration of these airports asinternational airports will offer improved connectivity, wider choice of services at

competitive cost to the air travelers resulting in boosting international tourism andeconomic development of the region and the country.

Biju Patnaik Airport or Bhubaneswar Airport belongs to Airport Authority of India and issuitable for operation of Code `D` aircraft of type B-767-400. The airport is alsoequipped with facilities for night operations, runway 14/32 of dimension 2743m X 45m,apron to park six aircrafts and navigational aids. A new domestic terminal building withall modern amenities for handling 400 arriving and 400 departing passengers has beenconstructed and inaugurated in March 2013. Imphal Airport belongs to Airports Authorityof India and is suitable for `C` type (A-320/321) of aircrafts operations in all weatherconditions. Major facilities including night operations, runway of dimension 2746m X45m, Apron to park 3 nos. A-320 and 1 No. ATR-72 at a time, terminal building havingan area of 6592 sqm.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on 31 October 2013 laid the foundation stone ofthe Statute of Unity-a 182-metre tall statue (World’s largest statue) of iron man SardarVallabhbhai Patel on his 138th birth anniversary at Sardar Sarovar Dam site in Bharuchdistrict in Gujarat.The Statue of Unity will be double of the height of the Statue of Liberty(93 metres) in the USA. Sardar Vallabhai Patel was an Indian freedom fighter and oneof the great social leaders of India. He is one of the leaders of the Indian NationalCongress and one of the founding fathers of the Republic of India. After India'sindependence, he became the first Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of India.He was the man behind the consolidation of 565 semi-autonomous princely states toform a united India.

IRCON International Limited, a Public Sector Undertaking in construction sector underthe Ministry of Railways, was selected as the Top Infrastructure Company under thecategory Construction Infrastructure Development – Mid at the “Dun and BradstreetInfra Awards 2013” for delivering exemplary performance by Dun & Bradstreet (D&B),the world’s leading provider of global business information, knowledge and insight,announced and presented the third edition of Infra awards.Mohan Tiwari, Chairman andManaging Director, IRCON, received the award at a grand ceremony held at the ITCMaratha Mumbai on 29thOctober, 2013. Dun & Bradstreet also released the sixthedition of its premier publication “India’s Leading Infrastructure Companies 2013” at theaward ceremony.

During the last five years, IRCON has achieved spectacular and enviable growth.Turnover of the Company has increased at a CAGR of about 17 per cent. Profit (PBT)

of the company has reached to a record level of Rs. 1014 crore in 2012-13 with aCAGR of 44.61 per cent. Growth of the company in terms of Profit is unmatched by anyPublic Sector or Private construction company. In addition, Quazigund–Banihal sectionof J&K Rail link project executed by Ircon International Limited was selected as the bestproject under the category Railways at the “Dun and Bradstreet Infra Awards2013”.Award was given at a grand ceremony held at the ITC Maratha Mumbai on 29thOctober. IRCON completed the Banihal- Quazigund section of 18 km length involving11.2 km long transportation tunnel with modern Ventilation & SCADA system, thusfulfilling the dream of connecting Jammu area to Valley across Pir Panjal range with all-weather transportation system.

Prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh on 29 October 2013 inaugurated the SardarVallabhbhai Patel National Museum at Ahmedabad, Gujarat.Sarda Vallabhbhai PatelNational Museum was established in the memory of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, who wasan Indian freedom fighter. Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Museum has beendeveloped at the cost of Rs. 28.54 crore in 36,000 sq meter area. Eight feet tall statueof Sardar Patel along with Mahatma Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru is the main attractionof this National museum. Museum has rich and rare collection of personal belongings ofSardar Patel apart from valuable gifts received by him. Miniature of Sardar Patel’sresidence, school, jail and other places associated with his life are also created in thismuseum. Visitors can also see the special 3D film on role of Sardar Patel in India’sfreedom struggle apart from 14 multimedia interactive displays.

Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh declared Kannur in Kerala as thefirst zero-landless district in the country on 1 November 2013.Kannur District Authoritiesprovided land to as many as 11,118 beneficiaries, including 85 families belonging to theScheduled Tribes category. The prestigious Zero Landless programme of the UnitedDemocratic Front was flagged off by Congress president Sonia Gandhi in October 2013.The Zero Landless programme envisages distribution of three cents of land each to243928 families identified across the State. Kannur District is one of the 14 districts inthe state of Kerala, India.

The Chairman of National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST) Dr. RameshwarOraon and Member, B.L. Meena, on 25th October, presented the Sixth Report onworking of safeguard for Scheduled Tribes for 2010-11 to the President of India.TheNational Commission for Scheduled Tribes was constituted w.e.f. 19th February, 2004consequent to the amendment of Article 338 of the Constitution of India and insertion ofa new Article 338A vide the Constitution (Eighty-ninth Amendment) Act, 2003 which,inter-alia, enjoins upon the Commission to oversee the implementation of varioussafeguards provided to Scheduled Tribes under the Constitution or under any other law

for the time being in force or under any other order of the Government and to evaluatethe working of such safeguards. Article 338A of the Constitution, also, mandates theNCST to present to the President annually and at such other times as the Commissionmay deem fit, reports on the working of the safeguards extended to the members ofScheduled Tribes and to make in such reports recommendations as to the measuresthat should be taken by the Union or any State for effective implementation of thosesafeguards and other measures for protection, welfare and socio-economicdevelopment of the Scheduled Tribes. The Report is comprised of seven chapters.Adherence to Clause 9 of Article 338A of the Constitution which mandates the Unionand every State Government to consult the Commission on all major policy mattersaffecting Scheduled Tribes is presented in Chapter 6 on Consultation on Policy RelatedIssues. As per the constitutional provisions, the report of the Commission has to be laidin both houses of the Parliament along with a Memorandum explaining the action takenor proposed to be taken on the recommendations relating to the Union. Similar actionhas to be taken by the State Governments while laying the Report in the LegislativeAssembly of the State concerned, in relation to the recommendations concerning theState.

Harald Sandberg, the Swedish Ambassador on 25th October 2013 inaugurated theNobel Memorial Wall in Kolkata. The Nobel Memorial Wall has been set up at theEsplanade Metro Station in Kolkata. Seven of the Nobel Laureates from India areportrayed in the metro station along with the Rabindranath Tagore. The Memorial Wallwas inaugurated marking the centenary of Tagore reception of the Nobel Prize forLiterature. The portraits on the Memorial Wall also carry the information related to thelife and achievements in the respective field of the Nobel Laureates with the year whenthey were awarded the Nobel in three languages, namely English, Hindi and Bangla.Two more memorial walls would be established at metro stations of Gitanjali andJorasanko. The work on the Nobel Memorial Wall was done as the part of the seventhedition of the Sweden-India Nobel Memorial wee.

India was on 25th October, ranked 101 out of 136 countries on a global gender gapindex.The index, compiled by Geneva-based World Economic Forum, ranked thecountries on the division of resources and opportunities between men and women in theareas of economy, education, politics, education and health.

The Union Cabinet on 17th October, gave its approval for constitution of the 3-MemberSupervisory Committee on the Babhali Barrage to implement the directions of theSupreme Courtin its order dated 28.02.2013. The Committee will comprise onerepresentative from the Central Water Commission who will be the Chairman of the

Supervisory Committee and one representative each from the State Governments ofAndhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, respectively.

The Centre is set to give the green signal to a vital road-link project in Kashmir that willconnect the strategically important region of Kargil and Leh to the rest of India through a14-km-long all-weather tunnel.Currently, these two regions remain cut off from Srinagarand the rest of the country for about six months during the winter season on account ofheavy snowfall and inclement weather. The Union cabinet is likely to approve theproposed Rs. 9,000-crore tunnel project passing through Zojila – one of the highestmountain passes in India – on 15 October. Located at an altitude of about 12,000 feeton National Highway-1, the Zojila tunnel along with another 6.5 km long tunnel at Z-Morh in Sonmarg — cleared for construction last year — will provide road connectivityto these areas round the year.“The twin tunnels once complete will not only usher inmuch-needed economic development in the region but also bring respite to people livinghere who get stranded during the treacherous winter months,” a senior road ministryofficial said. Located at an altitude of about 12,000 feet on National Highway-1, theZojila tunnel along with another 6.5 km long tunnel at Z-Morh in Sonmarg — cleared forconstruction last year — will provide road connectivity to these areas round the year.

Seventeen persons were killed as the very severe cyclonic storm, Phailin, hit the Odishacoastnear Gopalpur in Ganjam district late on 12th October evening; Special ReliefCommissioner P.K. Mohapatra said the press. More than 1.26 crore people were hit bythe cyclone that damaged lakhs of thatched and kutcha houses in the coastal districts.Ganjam district was the worst hit.Electricity supply was badly affected in most of theaffected areas. Power supply was likely to resume in a day or two. The cyclone, whichmade its landfall near Gopalpur at 8.30 p.m. on 12th October with a wind speedreaching up to 220 km per hour, moved into the interior parts of Odisha. Train servicesremained cancelled on the Howrah-Visakhapatnam route. However, services betweenHowrah and Bhadrak were resumed partially to help passengers stranded at variousstations.

Co-operative societies do not fall within the ambit of Right to Information Act, theSupreme Court has said while quashing a Kerala government circular to bring all suchsocieties within the scope of the transparency law. A bench of justices K. S.Radhakrishnan and A. K. Sikri said mere supervision or regulation of a body bygovernment would not make that body a public authority and quashed the Kerala HighCourt's order holding the circular valid."Societies are, of course, subject to the control ofthe statutory authorities like Registrar, Joint Registrar, the Government, etc. but cannotbe said that the State exercises any direct or indirect control over the affairs of thesociety which is deep and all pervasive."Supervisory or general regulation under the

statute over the co-operative societies, which are body corporate does not renderactivities of the body so regulated as subject to such control of the State so as to bring itwithin the meaning of the State or instrumentality of the State," the bench said.

The largest Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower of India was inaugurated outside theChhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbaion 18 October 2013. The tallest ATCtower stands at the length of 84 meters or around 30 storey building. The tower wasinaugurated by the Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh and Maharashtra Chief MinisterPrithviraj Chavan. Because of its height, the ATC tower will enable all the controllers inhaving easy and nonstop view of complete operational area. It will also help inoptimizing the separation of the air traffic, while enhancing the traffic handling capacityat the same time. The ATC tower is spread over an area of 2800 square meter area andis also equipped with state-of-the-art technology such as electronic flight strips that canreduce the workload of controllers and enhance safety and capacity of the airport. It isimportant to note that India is the 9th largest aviation market of the world and has thetraffic increasing at 10 percent annually. The designing of the ATC was done by HongKong-based architectural firm HOK as well as the international engineering designerARUP. These were chosen after the global competition.

The Supreme Court has ruled that Courts cannot impose a fine of more than twice theamount in bounced cheques on 16 October 2013. A bench of Justice T.S. Thakur andJustice Vikramajit Sen while ruling this direction explained that even in a case where thecourt may be taking a lenient view in favor of the accused by not sending him to prison,it cannot impose a fine more than twice the cheque amount. That statutory limit isinviolable and must be respected. The Supreme Court of India ruled this direction in thebackdrop of the case where a person was asked by the Trial Court as well as the HighCourt of Calcutta to pay more than twice the amount of the cheque bounced, which isagainst the statutory provisions.

The HRD Ministry will soon launch 50 DTH educational channels. This was stated bythe Secretary (HE) Ashok Thakur in New Delhi on 8th October. He said these channelswill be different from the existing programmes on air including Gyan Darshan as newone will be more interactive. He said these channels will air programmes which will belive and not pre recorded. Saying thatthe new initiatives will be one of the largestanywhere in the world of its kind, Sh. Thakur said later on the number of the channelswill be increased to one thousand. He said that the Ministry has spent more than onebillion dollars for ICT. Over 400 universities and twenty thousand colleges have beenlinked with bandwidth. He said there is a great potential to increase its usage.Highlighting the potential of the National Programme on National Mission on Educationthrough Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT), the Secretary said that

the entire country can be made into a big classroom which will help improve quality ofinstructions in engineering colleges particularly belonging to the remote areas. He saidthat the Ministry may approach AICTE to make on-line education mandatory andintegral part of education system. Asking to promote virtual lab, Sh. Thakur said itshould be possible to share classes from IITs to other engineering colleges by makingthe system more user friendly.

The Supreme Court of India on 8th October 2013 directed the Union and all stategovernments to provide 3 percent job reservation to disabled persons in all theirdepartments, companies and institutions.The bench headed by Chief Justice of India P.Sathasivam clarified that the principle of not exceeding more than 50 percentreservation would not be applicable while granting quota for disabled persons. SupremeCourt of India also directed the authorities to compile the number of vacancies in alltheir departments to give jobs to disabled persons under 3 percent reserved quotawithin 3 months. While giving this direction the bench also said that Government hascategorical obligation to protect the right of disabled persons and passed a slew ofdirections for providing jobs to the Disabled Persons.

With the Supreme Court on 8th October, declining to modify its order that the Aadhaarscheme was not compulsory for availing benefits of government schemes, the UnionCabinet has cleared a bill granting statutory status to UIDAI and providing legal backingto the Unique Identity numbers to Indian residents. Sources said the Union Cabinetapproved the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, with someamendments, which will now be placed before the Rajya Sabha for discussion andpassing in the Winter Session.In a setback to the Centre, the Supreme Court on 8thOctober, Tuesday stuck to its stand on the Aadhar card saying it is not mandatory. TheCentre had moved the Supreme Court seeking modification of an earlier order whichsaid Aadhar card is not mandatory and no person should be deprived of anygovernment schemes for want it. Earlier, the Supreme Court had said that the Aadharcard, being issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), was notmandatory for availing any government services and nobody should be deprived of anysuch facilities for the want of the card.

This year’s World Egg Day falls on 11th October. The second Friday of October hasbeen declared as World Egg Day by the International Egg Commission to help raiseawareness about nutritional benefits of egg. India is the third highest producer of egg inthe worldbut the per capita availability of eggs in India is only around 55 per person peryear as against the National Institute of Nutrition recommendation of 180 eggs percapita per year. The egg is a wholesome, nutritious food with high nutrient densitybecause, in proportion to its calorie count, it provides 12% of the daily value of protein

and a wide variety of other nutrients such as vitamins, essential amino acids andminerals. While protein itself is an important constituent of healthy diet, the egg hasbeen found to have two newly-recognized nutrients - lutein and zeaxanthin - that hasput the egg in the "functional food" category. A functional food is one that provideshealth benefits beyond its basic nutrient content. Recent studies have shown thatconsuming lutein and zeaxanthin can significantly lower risk of age-related maculardegeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness affecting people over the age of 65.In addition, these reduce the likelihood of cataracts.

Approximately, 60 people were feared killed and over 100 injured in a stampede on 13thOctober 2013 near a temple at Ratangarh in Madhya Pradesh's Datia district. Thestampede was caused by rumors that a bridge they were crossing was about tocollapse. The unfortunate incident occurred when a large number of devotees arrivedfrom Datia and neighboring Uttar Pradesh at the Durga temple at Ratangarh, about 60kms from the district headquarters. Nearly 100 people have been injured in the mishapand they have been admitted in close by hospitals.

The Union Cabinet on 8th October 2013 approved a notification for issuing Presidentialorder to establish a separate development board for Hyderabad-Karnataka region inKarnataka.Article 371-J of the Constitution grants special status to six backward districtsin Hyderabad- Karnataka region, with provision for reservation in education and jobs forlocals. Under the Article 371-J, the President is empowered to entrust the stateGovernor to establish a separate board to ensure equitable allocation of funds in thestate's budget to meet the development needs of the region. Six backward districts ofNorth Karnataka - Gulbarga, Yadgir, Raichur, Bidar, Koppal and Bellary - fall in theregion. The Development Board will ensure1) Equitable allocation of funds to meet thedevelopment needs of the region from the State Budget. 2) Promote employment fromthe region by providing for local cadres in service. 3) Provide for reservation ineducational and vocational training institutions. Hyderabad-Karnataka region was givena special status under Article 371 J of the Constitution by the parliament on 20December 2012. A new Article 371 J was inserted in the Constitution through theConstitution (Ninety-Eighth Amendment) Bill, 2012.

The Supreme Court of India proposed a three-member panel on 7th October 2013headed by former Punjab and Haryana Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal to examine the IPLspot-fixing scandal.The other members of the panel are senior advocate and AdditionalSolicitor General N. Nagehswar Rao and Assam Cricket Association member NilayDutta. The panel would conduct an independent inquiry into the allegations andexamine the IPL spot-fixing scandal. It will submit its report to the Supreme Court.

The Union Government on 8th October 2013 reconstituted the Group of Ministers(GoM) on Telangana, reducing the number of ministers from ten to six.Union HomeMinister Sushilkumar Shinde and Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram have beenretained. The new entrants are Union Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Union HealthMinister Ghulam Nabi Azad, Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister M. Veerappa Moilyand Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh.V. Narayanasamy, Minister ofState in the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions and Minister ofState in the Prime Minister’s Office, who was part of the GoM, will now be a specialinvitee to the new GoM. The Union Ministers dropped from the GoM are HumanResource Development Minister M. Pallam Raju, Law Minister Kapil Sibal, WaterResources Minister Harish Rawat, Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, RoadTransport Minister Oscar Fernandes, Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia and PlanningCommission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia.The Union Cabinet on 3rdOctober 2013 approved the creation of a new State of Telangana by bifurcating theexisting State of Andhra Pradesh.The Union Cabinet also approved the setting up of aGroup of Ministers (GoM) to work out the various legal and administrative measures toensure the safety and security of the residents of all the regions of the State includingthe guarantee of the Fundamental Rights.

Forced by Rahul Gandhi's open trashing of the government, the Union Cabinet on 2ndOctober, decided to withdraw the controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers aswell as a related bill in the face of mounting public opinion against the measure.In a 20-minute meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Cabinetoverturned its earlier decision of September 24 to provide immunity to convictedlawmakers from immediate disqualification. The reversal by the Cabinet is seen as arare instance of the government being forced to take back a measure that was clearedafter many deliberations in the ruling party and the Council of Ministers after resistancefrom within. The decision came on a day of hectic consultations at the highest levels inthe Congress party, allies and the government on how to bring a closure to the ragingcontroversy after Rahul's denunciation of the ordinance as "complete nonsense" thatdeserved to be "torn and thrown away". Sources said the Cabinet also decided towithdraw Representation of the People (Second Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2013as the proposed legislation has no relevance after the withdrawal of the ordinance. Afterthe decision to withdraw the bill and the ordinance, the July 10 Supreme court ruling onimmediate disqualification of convicted MPs, MLAs and MLCs is the law of the land. Arequest now will be placed before the President to allow the government to withdraw theRepresentation of the People Act, 1951 (Amendment) Ordinance (Second), 2013. Asregards to the bill pending in the Rajya Sabha, government will move a resolution in theupper house during the Winter session. Meanwhile, Chairman Rajya Sabha andChairman of the Parliamentary Committee before which the measure is pending will beinformed about the decision of the Cabinet.

The Union Cabinet on 3rd October approved the proposal to establish a Central ArmedPolice Forces Institute of Medical Sciences (CAPFILMS), along with a 500-bed GeneralHospital, a 300-bed Super Specialty Hospital, a Nursing College and a School ofParamedics.The Institute shall be registered as a Society under the SocietiesRegistration Act, 1860 and shall have a Governing Body and a Governing Council,under the Ministry of Home Affairs The creation of the Institute will facilitate attraction oftalented professionals in the Central Armed Police Forces and their retention, besidesproviding in-house training/ specialization/Post Graduate /Super Specialty PostGraduate courses to in-service health care professionals. This will not only boost themorale of the force personnel, but also provide required trained technical hands in themedical set up of CAPFs for the benefit of their personnel and families. The total projectcost is Rs. 1366.53 crore and is expected to be completed over a period of five to sixyears. About 48 acres has already been purchased at Maiden Garhi, New Delhi throughthe Central Public Works Department (CPWD).

The Union Cabinet on 3rd October approved the National Policy on Universal ElectronicAccessibility that recognizes the need to eliminate discrimination on the basis ofdisabilities as well as to facilitate equal access to electronics and Information andCommunication Technologies (ICTs).This policy has been prepared after incorporatingcomments and suggestions from various stakeholders. The policy will facilitate equaland unhindered access to electronics and ICTs products and services by differently-abled persons (both physically and mentally challenged) and to facilitate local languagesupport for the same. This shall be achieved through universal access to electronicsand ICT products and services to synchronize with barrier free environment andpreferably usable without adaptation. Differently-abled persons all over the country willbenefit from this policy. The following strategies are envisaged for the implementation ofthe policy:

Creating awareness on universal electronics accessibility and universal design.

Capacity building and infrastructure development.

Setting up of model electronics and ICTs centres for providing training anddemonstration to special educators and physically as well as mentally challengedpersons.

Conducting research and development, use of innovation, ideas, technology etc.whether indigenous or outsourced from abroad.

Developing programme and schemes with greater emphasis for differently-abledwomen/children.

Developing procurement guidelines for electronics and ICTs for accessibility andassistive needs.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 3rd October, has approved theRashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), a Centrally Sponsored Scheme (CSS)for reforming the state higher education system.During the 12th Plan period, 80 newuniversities would be created by converting autonomous colleges/colleges in a clusterto State universities. 100 new colleges, including professional/technical colleges wouldbe set up and 54 existing colleges would be converted into model degree colleges.Infrastructure grants would be given to 150 universities and 3,500 colleges to upgradeand fill critical gaps in infrastructure especially libraries, laboratories etc. RUSA wouldalso support 5,000 faculty positions. In the 12th Plan period, RUSA would have afinancial outlay of Rs. 22,855 crore, of which Rs.16, 227 crore will be the Central share.In addition, allocation of Rs. 1,800 crore in the 12th Plan for the existing scheme Sub-Mission polytechnics would also be subsumed in RUSA. Thus the total central share,including the existing scheme of polytechnics will be Rs. 18,027 crore during the 12thPlan. Centre-State funding would be in the ratio of 90:10 for North-Eastern States,Sikkim, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand and 65:35 for otherStates and Union Territories. RUSA will be a new Centrally Sponsored Scheme spreadover two plan periods, for improving access, equity and quality in the state highereducation system.With over 96 percent of students enrolled in the state highereducation system, there is a need for State colleges and universities to be strengthenedthrough strategic Central funding and implementing certain much needed reforms.RUSA also aims to incentivize States to step up plan investments in higher education.The National Development Council (NDC) approved RUSA as part of the 12th Plan. Itwas subsequently included in the list of 66 schemes approved by the Cabinet on 20thJune 2013, as part of the restructured CSSs for implementation in the 12th Plan.

The Ministry of Human Resource Development has taken the initiative to constitute aCouncil of National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR) tofacilitate better coordination and synergy between the four NITTTRs located atChandigarh, Bhopal, Calcutta and Chennai.The Council shall be chaired by the Ministerof Human Resource Development (ex-officio) with Chairman and Directors of the fourNITTTRs and other academicians as members. The Council has been envisaged as anadvisory body to the Central Government on matters relating to Central policies,administration, development of plans and rules, curriculum and institutional resourcesfor the NITTTRs. The Council shall meet at least two times a year. The four NITTTRswere established as resource institutes in the year 1964 with the mandate to train

technical teachers, develop curriculum and institutional resources, assist Central andState Governments and technical institutes towards improving related process andproducts.

The Union Cabinet on 3rd October approved the creation of a new State of Telanganaby bifurcating the existing State of Andhra Pradesh.

The city of Hyderabad will function as the common capital for both the States for aperiod of ten years. The Union Cabinet has approved the setting up of a Group ofMinisters (GoM) to work out the various legal and administrative measures to ensurethe safety and security of the residents of all the regions of the State including theguarantee of the Fundamental Rights.

The Union Cabinet further approved that the GoM will go into the various issues whichconcern both the States and suggest appropriate measures to address them.

The GoM will also work out the modalities for the provision of special financialdisbursements required for the setting up of a new capital for the residuary State ofAndhra Pradesh and to meet the special needs of the backward regions and districts ofthe two States.

Bilateral affairs:The Vice President M. Hamid Ansari officially launched the Indian Chambers ofCommerce (INCHAM) during his visit to Peru at special function jointly organized by theEmbassy of India, Peru and INCHAM in Lima, Peru on 28 October. Ambassador ofIndia to Peru Mr. Manpreet Vohra and President of INCHAM, Mr. Ravi Krishna, seniorofficials and business leaders from both India and Peru were present on the occasion.INCHAM aims to facilitate Indian Trade & Industry to do business in Peru and othercountries of Latin America. Addressing the gathering on the launch, the Vice Presidentsaid that the new organization promises to fill what has so far been a vacuum in India-Peru commercial and economic relations. The official website of INCHAM was alsolaunched during the occasion.

INCHAM will seek to increase awareness of either country’s business opportunities inthe other, it will offer information and advisory services, and it will provide the importantbridge between businesses and governments that is vital when economic relationsreach a take-off stage, as they have between India and Peru. India-Peru bilateral tradeis increasing very quickly and has gone up by 7 times in the last 5 years. The growth

rate last year was 35%. In the first six months of this year, it rose by over 44%. Peru israpidly becoming one of the more important trade partners for India in this region.Looking at the potential, the Governments of India and Peru are hoping to startnegotiations soon for a Free Trade Agreement. Indian investments in Peru are alsorising. The number of Indian companies with offices here is increasing steadily, as alsothe number of Indian professionals working here. Another document that we hope tofinalise with Peru soon is the Bilateral Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement.

In the framework of the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment ofdiplomatic relations between Peru and India, the Vice President of India, MohammadHamid Ansari, accompanied by a high level delegation, paid an official visit to Peru from26th to 28th October, 2013. During his visit, the Vice President of India had a specialmeeting with the President of the Republic of Peru, Ollanta Humala Tasso. The VicePresident held detailed discussions with the First Vice President of Peru, MarisolEspinoza and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Peru, Eda Rivas Franchini.

He also had a meeting with the Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism,H.E. Ms. Magali Silva. In addition, he visited the National Congress of Peru where hemet the President of the Congress, Mr. Fredy Otarola and members of the Peru-IndiaParliamentary Friendship League. The Vice President inaugurated the Festival of Indiain Peru. He also launched INCHAM; the new Indian Chamber of Commerce in Peru.

The two sides agreed to establish a Joint Commission,chaired jointly by their Ministersof Foreign Affairs, with the objective of strengthening political, security, judicial, humanresource development, economic, technical, scientific, social and cultural cooperation,and signed a Memorandum of Understanding to this effect.It was further agreed thattheir senior officials will meet in Lima in the second half of 2014 to decide on detailedmodalities for beginning the work of the Joint Commission and prepare for its firstmeeting. The two sides noted with satisfaction the impressive increase in bilateral tradewhich was over US$ 1.1 billion in the year 2012.

The two sides underlined that India and Peru are cradles of great civilizations. In thiscontext they both underscored the importance of further deepening bilateral culturalrelations through cultural exchanges and cooperation in diverse art forms such aspainting, dance, theatre, literature, craft, etc. as well as holding of cultural festivals ineach other´s countries from time to time.

With this objective, the Cultural Ministers of the two sides signed a Letter of Intent forenhancing cooperation in the fields of museology, conservation of movable culturalproperties and dissemination and promotion of cultural heritage of each other´scountries. The two sides concluded their negotiations and signed a DefenseCooperation Agreement.This will enable the enhancement of cooperation between Peruand India in the fields of defense and defense technology through establishment ofappropriate mechanisms. The two Governments expressed their satisfaction with thecelebration this year of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of Peru - Indiadiplomatic relations,and the organization of various activities to commemorate this.

This occasion, has provided a further opportunity for strengthening the ties of friendshipand cooperation between them. They particularly appreciated the visit to India in April2013 of a parliamentary delegation from Peru, the first ever between the two countries,and agreed to encourage more such exchanges. The Government of Peru thanked theGovernment of India for organizing the Festival of India in Lima on the occasion of theofficial visit of Vice President Ansari.

The Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Minister of Public Security ofVietnam Mr. Tran Dai Quang signed in New Delhi a treaty on transfer of sentencedprisoners on 1 November.The Treaty will help the Indian prisoners imprisoned inVietnam or vice-versa to be near their families for serving remaining part of theirsentence. This would facilitate the process of their social rehabilitation. The Governmentof India has so far signed such Agreements with the Governments of U.K., Mauritius,Bulgaria, Cambodia, Egypt, France, Bangladesh, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sri Lanka,UAE, Maldives, Thailand, Turkey, Italy, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel andRussia.Negotiations have also been concluded with the Government of Canada, HongKong, Brazil, and Spain. These treaties have helped in repatriation of 43 Indianprisoners from Sri Lanka, Mauritius and UK.

Similarly 7 prisoners of UK and France where repatriated to their respective countries.The Seventh United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment ofOffenders adopted the Model Agreement on the Transfer of Foreign Prisoners in 1985and since then many countries have arrived at bilateral and multilateral treaties. TheRepatriation of Prisoners Act, 2003 was enacted for achieving the above purpose. Forachieving the objectives of the Act, a treaty is required to be signed with countrieshaving mutual interest on this matter. In addition to the above, the two Ministers alsoheld bilateral talks on security matters, issues of training, capacity building, cybersecurity, cyber crime, trans-national crime, terrorism and disaster management. Theyreiterated the resolve of both the countries of working together on different issues ofmutual interest.

India and Cuba on 30 October 2013 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) forcooperation in broadcasting between Prasar Bharati and Cuban Radio and TelevisionInstitute (ICRT). The MoU was signed by India's ambassador to Cuba ChinthapalliRajasekhar and vice-president of the ICRT Emillio Moises Garcia Borroto. Under theagreement both countries will explore co-production opportunities on matters of mutualinterest. The pact would facilitate exchange programmes in fields of culturalentertainment, education, science, sports and news. It also opens up avenues for co-production of broadcast content for creative ventures including films and coverage ofevents. The MoU was signed during the official visit of India’s vice President HamidAnsari to Cuba.

India and China signed 9 MoUs/ agreements including the Border Defence CooperationAgreement (BDCA) to maintain peace and tranquillity on the Line of Actual Control, on23 October 2013 during the official visit of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh toChina.India and China signed nine agreements/ Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)including the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement (BDCA) on 23rd October 2013.The main objective of the Border Defence Cooperation Agreement is to avoid bordertensions and army face-offs along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) by deciding thatneither side will use military capability to attack the other side nor tail patrols along theborder.

The nine agreements/Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)were as follows-

S. No.

Name of Agreement / MoU

Gist of the MOU

1.

Agreement on Border Defence Cooperation

An additional confidence building measure to ensure peace and tranquility on theborder.

2.

MoU on Nalanda University

Cooperation on Nalanda as part of East Asia Summit process.

3.

MOU to Strengthen Cooperation on Trans-Border Rivers

Provides for expanded cooperation on trans-border rivers.

4.

Cultural Exchange Programme 2013-15

A listing of cultural exchanges till 2015.

5.

MoU on Cooperation in Road Transport and Highways

Enabling agreement for cooperation in the roads sector.

6.

MoU on Power Equipment Service Centres in India

Provides for establishment in India of Chinese power equipment service centres.

7.

Agreement between Delhi-Beijing on Establishment of Sister City Relationship

Establishes sister city relations between Delhi and Beijing.

8.

Agreement between Bengaluru – Chengdu on Establishment of Sister City Relationship

Establishes sister city relations between Bengaluru and Chengdu.

9.

Agreement between Kolkata – Kunming on Establishment of Sister City Relationship

Establishes sister city relations between Kolkata and Kunming.

The 14th India-Russia Annual Summit was held at Moscow on 21st October 2013. Thesummit was co-chaired by the Prime Minister of the India Dr. Manmohan Singh and thePresident of the Russia Vladimir V. Putin.During the meeting they discussed priorityareas of bilateral cooperation and noted common positions on current international andregional issues. Both sides stressed their continued commitment to promote andstrengthen in every possible way their special and privileged strategic partnership.During the 14th India-Russia Annual Summit, India and Russia have signed bilateralDocuments on transfer of Sentenced Persons, in the Field of Energy Efficiency, in thefield of Standardization and Conformity Assessment between Bureau of Indian

Standards (BIS) and Federal Agency on Technical Regulation and Metrology, and in theFields of Science and in the area of Biotechnology.

List of Bilateral Documents signed during 14th India-Russia Annual Summit

<table border="1">

S.No

Name of the Document

Details of the agreement

1.

on Transfer of Sentenced Persons

The Treaty shall facilitate the process of social rehabilitation of persons sentenced inthe other country by providing them the opportunity to serve out their remainingsentences (under certain conditions) in their country of nationality. It is expected toboost consular cooperation between the two countries.

2.

MoU in the Field of Energy Efficiency

The MoU shall enhance cooperation in the field of energy saving and energy efficiency,including through joint implementation of activities and projects byorganisations/companies of both the countries. The forms of cooperation envisagedinclude exchange of best practices in smart grids, energy audits, energy efficientbuilding designs, industrially efficient technologies, etc.

3.

MoU in the field of Standardization and Conformity Assessment

The objective of this MoU is to facilitate closer technical cooperation in the field ofstandardization through exchange of information, practices and expertise. It is expectedto have beneficial effects for trade and commerce where standards/conformityassessments form an integral basis for transactions.

4.

Programme of Cooperation in the Fields of Science, Technology and Innovation

The Programme aims to deepen cooperation in the field of innovation and S&T throughimplementation of Joint Programs and projects/exchanges involving educational, R&Dand industrial institutions. The joint projects may also facilitate transfer of technology.The broad areas of cooperation include ‘sunrise’ sectors such as IT, nano-technology,environmental sciences and alternate energy. This Programme shall also reinforce theexisting robust exchanges between the scientific institutions of the two sides.

5.

Programme of Cooperation in the Area of Biotechnology for the period 2014-2017

The Programme aims to broaden cooperation in the field of biotechnology andencourage industrial R&D & related investment flows. This is intended to be achievedthrough implementation of Joint Programs and projects/exchanges, etc.

India and Peru jointly celebrated the 50th year of establishment of diplomatic tiesbetween the two countries on 27th October 2013 in Lima. The occasion was celebratedduring the three day visit of Indian Vice President Mohammed Hamid Ansari to Peru.Hewas on a three-day visit to Peru. His visit assumes significance as India seeks to furtherstrengthen India-Peru ties. Indian music and classical dance performance at the miniIndia cultural festival was showcased for Peruvians. India established diplomaticrelations with Peru in March 1963. India-Peru relations have traditionally been cordial

and friendly. Since the 1990s, there has been an increasing economic and businesscontent to the relationship. On the Peruvian side, an enhanced interest in the Asianregion due to APEC membership, coupled with India’s image as a technologicallyadvanced democratic developing country, as well as increased bilateral trade in recentyears, has enhanced India’s importance. Peru is also a member of NAM and G-77.India and Peru cooperate closely on multilateral matters.

India, on 21st October, agreed to initiate an exercise for a free trade agreement with thecustoms union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia, to enhance economic ties. “Bothsides agreed to work towards the creation of a Joint Study Group for studying thepossibility of signing a Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA)between India and the Customs Union of Belarus, Kazakhstan and Russia,” a jointstatement said. The joint statement was issued after the 14th India-Russia annualsummit meeting between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Russian PresidentVladimir Putin in Moscow. The Customs Union between Russia, Kazakhstan andBelarus had formally come into existence few years ago. The three countries took theireconomic integration to a new level with the implementation of the common economicspace, which provides for free movement of goods, services and people. Under theCECA, two sides aim to significantly reduce duties on the maximum number of tradablegoods besides liberalising norms for service and investments. It also aims at facilitatingmovement of professionals. The statement also said that both sides welcomed theincreasing business interactions Further, India and Russia underlined the significantpotential for cooperation in sectors such as oil and gas, pharmaceutical, infrastructure,mining, automobiles, fertilizers, aviation, as well as in modernisation of industrialfacilities located in the two countries. The bilateral trade between India and Russiastood at US US $6.52 billion in 2012-13.

The extradition treaty between Bangladesh and India came into effect on 23rd October,with the handing over of the instruments of ratification of the much-awaited pact. Thetwo countries will now be able to exchange convicts or under trials as and whenrequired.Bangladesh Home Secretary C.Q.K. Mostak Ahmed and Indian HighCommissioner to Bangladesh Pankaj Saran signed the documents in Dhaka. The treatywill allow exchange of convicts sentenced for more than a year in prison but will not beapplicable to political prisoners and asylum seekers. Both sides have the option tocancel the treaty in six-month notice. India can now take back ULFA leader AnupChetia, who has been lodged in a Bangladesh’s prison for many years. Dhaka too canbring back fugitive crime lords such a Subrata Bain and Sazzad Hossain and put themon trial. Dhaka and New Delhi have decided to leave two important land ports openseven days a week from January to support greater trade. The land customs stations atBenapole-Petrapole and Akhaura-Agartala will remain operational seven days a weekfrom 1st January. The ninth Joint Group of Customs (JGC) also identified 16 stations as‘high bilateral trade importance’ and agreed to take measures for synchronisation of

working hours and days. It agreed on extending the car pass system to those stations toallow movement of trucks of the importing country for unloading cargo. Both sides alsoagreed to consult relevant stakeholders to simplify the travel in ‘Maitree Express,’ thelone direct train service between Dhaka and Kolkata.

In an important initiative taken byIndia and Hungary, which have signed a bilateralagreement for promotion and development of traditional systems of medicine. TheMemorandum of Understanding was signed on behalf of India by Santosh Chowdhary,Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare and Mr. Zolton Banog, Minister ofNational Resources of Hungary in the presence of Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Ministerof India and Mr. Viktor Orban, Prime Minister of Hungary, at Hyderabad House, in NewDelhi on 17th October.

The Republic of Hungary has considerable interest in Indian traditional systems ofmedicine especially Ayurveda. The main objective of this MoU is to strengthen, promoteand develop cooperation in the field of traditional systems of medicine between the twocountries on the basis of equality and mutual benefits. The MoU encourages andpromotes cooperation to enhance the use of traditional systems of medicine, exchangeof regulatory information on operational licensing to practice traditional medicine and onmarketing authorization of medicines in both countries, promote the exchange ofexperts for training of practitioners, para-medics, scientists, teaching professionals andstudents in traditional systems of medicine. The signing of MoU will give boost tobilateral cooperation between the two countries in the areas of traditional medicineswhich will open new vistas for exploring the potential of economic, commercial andtourism development in both the countries.

India, on 15th October, signed an agreement with Finland to produce indigenousethanol to promote use of clean technologies and cut down the oil import bill.Oil andNatural Gas Corporation (ONGC) and Finnish clean technology firm Chempolis will setup a pilot project to produce ethanol, bio-chemicals and bio-coal from biomass residualmatters. The agreement was inked by Finnish Minister for European Affairs AlexanderStubb and Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Panabaka Lakshmi in NewDelhi. ONGC Chairman Sudhir Vasudeva told reporters at an event here. “Since 75 percent of India’s ethanol requirements are met through imports, there is a largerequirement which is not being met by indigenous production,” he added. A feasibilitystudy will soon be carried out to assess the quantity of feedstock that is required.

India and Japan have signed MoU to undertake a joint feasibility study of High SpeedRailway system on the Mumbai-Ahmadabad route. This is in pursuance of the JointStatement between the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, and the Prime

Minister of Japan, Mr. Shinzo Abe, dated May 29, 2013, which provided that the twosides will co-finance a joint feasibility study of this High Speed route. The MOU wassigned by Katsuo MATSUMOTO, Director South Asia Division JICA from the Japaneseside and Mr Girish Pillai, Adviser Infrastructure, Ministry of Railways from the Indianside on 7th October, 2013. The objective of the Joint study is to prepare a feasibilityreport of High Speed Railway system on the Mumbai-Ahmadabad route with speed of300-350kmph. The cost of the study will be shared 50:50 between India and Japan. Thestudy shall be completedwithin18 months from its commencement. The study will dotraffic forecasting, alignment surveys and undertake comparative Study of High SpeedRailway Technology and System.

To address the issue of volatility in food prices, India and Asean countries will sharetheir expertise to boost their food security planning activities. The issue was discussedat the 11th India-ASEAN Summit held in Brunei on 10th October.Sultan of Brunei HajiHassanal Bolkiah, who chaired the Summit, in a statement said Asean leaderswelcomed India’s ‘Look East Policy’ within the framework of their strategic partnership.Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh at the8th East Asian Summit, at BruneiDarussalamon 10 October 2013. “We took note of the enhancement and strengtheningof co-operation on food security through the widening of food production base andexchange of expertise between Asean and India to enhance resilience in food securityplanning to address price volatility of food commodities,” he said. Prime MinisterManmohan Singh addressed the summit and said that over two decades, India andAsean have established a comprehensive agenda of cooperation and a wide-rangingframework to pursue it. Asean (Association of South East Asian Nations) is a groupingof ten nations — Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand andVietnam.Leaders from the region also encouraged India to support the implementationof the roadmap for an Asean Community (2009-15). Besides, they asked India tocontribute to Asean Community Post-2015 Vision, among others.

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee, paid a state visit to Belgium from 2ndOctober 2013 to 5th October 2013, at the invitation of the King of the Belgium.It was thefirst visit by an Indian President to Belgium. The President inaugurated Europalia-India2013-14jointly with King Philippe. After his State Visit to Belgium, the President paid astate visit to Turkey from 5 October 2013 to 7 October 2013, at the invitation of thePresident of Turkey. It was the third visit by an Indian President to Turkey, after thevisits by the President of India in 1993 and 1998.

India and Indonesia on 11th October, strengthened bilateral cooperation by inking sixpacts in diverse areas, ranging from health and disaster management to combating illicittrafficking of drugs.The Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed during the

first bilateral visit of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Indonesia, where he arrived on10th October. A MoU has been inked to promote and develop co-operation in the fieldof health and medicine. This would cover areas of maternal and child health, nursing,traditional medicine, communicable and non-communicable diseases, health technologyinformation, research and development, active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) and IT-based medical equipment. Another pact is to facilitate and enhance cooperation incombating illicit trafficking of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and theirprecursors through exchange of information, collaboration, assistance in investigationsincluding in money laundering. The two nations also signed a MoU to cooperate in thearea of disaster managementthrough exchange of information, training and capacitybuilding. India and Indonesiasigned pacts for co-operation in the area of training ofpublic officials and capacity building, also strengthening collaboration by way of sharingand exchange of studies.The two countries inked a MoU for collaborative institutionalrelationsthrough facilitation of dialogue involving eminent persons from various fieldsincluding culture, economy, trade, education, social sciences, communications and themedia.

The Union Minister of Commerce and Industry, Anand Sharma visited Mozambique ona two-day visit from September 27-28, 2013. On September 27, Sharma met the PrimeMinister of Mozambique, Mr. Alberto Vaquina and discussed the bilateral and historicalrelations between the two countries. Later, Sharma met Mr. Armando Inroga, Minister ofIndustry and Trade of Mozambique, where they discussed bilateral cooperation andagreed on the need for further diversifying trade and investments. Sharma said thatowing to the impressive growth in trade between the two countries, the bilateral tradecould reach US $ 3 billion by 2016 from the current level of US $ 1.28 billion. India hasbeen assisting Mozambique in its developmental efforts and has provided Lines ofCredit of US $ 640 million for various projects, apart from providing other assistance,grants and technical training, university scholarships, etc. Large quantities of coal andnatural gas have recently been discovered in Mozambique. There are various Indiancompanies which have acquired stakes in these coal and gas fields, particularly therecent acquisition by ONGC Videsh and Oil India Limited in the Rovuma Basin in theNorth of Mozambique at cost of approximately US $ 5 billion for the natural gasconsortium led by Anadarko of the United States and planned investment of US $ 4billion for setting up of integrated fertilizer plans in Mozambique. Mr. Sharma alsoinvited Mr. Inroga to visit India for participating in the Partnership Summit scheduled tobe held in Bengaluru in January, 2014.

India Signs Credit Agreement with the International Fund for Agricultural Development(IFAD) for Jharkhand Tribal Empowerment Livelihood Project to Benefit Small RuralProducers, Women, Scheduled Caste Households and Youth in the Hill Districts ofJharkhand.An agreement for credit of US $ 51 million from IFAD for the JharkhandTribal Empowerment Livelihood Project (JTLEP) was signed in New Delhi on 4 October.

The agreement was signed by Nilaya Mitash, Joint Secretary, Department of EconomicAffairs, Ministry of Finance on behalf of the Government of India and Mr.Nigel Brett,Country Prorgamme Director, IFAD, India on behalf of IFAD. JTELP would continue tillSeptember 2021. Similarly a project agreement was signed by L. Khiangte, PrincipalSecretary, Jharkhand on behalf of the Government of Jharkhand with IFAD. TheObjective of the project is to enable rural households to take-up sustainable livelihoodopportunities. The project shall benefit small rural producers, women, scheduled castehouseholds and youth in the hill districts of the State of the Jharkhand. The goal of theproject is to reduce poverty in the hill districts of the State of Jharkhand. The newproject has four main components: (i) Community Empowerment (ii) Integrated NaturalResource Management (iii) Livelihood Project (iv) Project Management.

Economic affairs:India ranked to the 134th spot in the ease of doing business list according to the annualDoing Business report released on 29 October 2013 by World Bank and InternationalFinance Corporation (IFC).The top ten nations in the Ease of Doing Business rankingare Singapore (1), Hong Kong (2), New Zealand (3), United States (4), Denmark (5),Malaysia (6), Korea (7), Georgia (8), Norway (9) and United Kingdom (10). AmongBRICS countries, Russia is placed at 92nd spot, Brazil is ranked 116, South Africa isranked the 41st rank and China ranked at 96th position. India is also ranked lowestamong the BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa). Otherneighboring nations of India Nepal (105), Pakistan (110) and Bangladesh (130) are alsoranked above India.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 29 October 2013 released the Second QuarterReview of Monetary Policy 2013-14.According the released statement by the RBI, theRepo rate increased by 25 basis points from 7.5 percent to 7.75 percent.

The highlights of the Second Quarter Review of Monetary Policy 2013-14 are -

1) RBI reduced the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate by 25basis points from 9.0 percent to 8.75 percent with immediate effect. 2) RBI alsoincreased the policy repo rate under the liquidity adjustment facility (LAF) by 25 basispoints from 7.5 percent to 7.75 percent with immediate effect. 3) The liquidity providedthrough term repos of 7-day and 14-day tenor has been increased from 0.25 percent ofnet demand and time liabilities (NDTL) of the banking system to 0.5 percent withimmediate effect. 4) Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) unchanged at 4 Percent 5) Repo rate

hiked due to upturn of inflation and other factors. 6) RBI downward FY14 GDP growth to5 percent from 5.7 percent.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has approved the launching of anew Integrated Processing Development Scheme (IPDS) with a total cost of Rs. 500crore during the 12th Five Year Plan on 30 October. The CCEA also granted permissionto establish four to six brown field projects and three to five green field projectsaddressing the environmental issues faced by Textile Processing Units. The eligibleprojects under the scheme would cover the following:

(i) Common Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), (ii) Captive powergeneration on technology preferably renewable/green technology, (iii) Infrastructuresuch as storm water management, necessary roads and pipelines for water &wastewater and (iv) Facility for testing and R&D centres.

The Scheme will facilitate the textiles industry become globally competitive usingenvironmentally friendly processing standards and technology and create newprocessing parks. This scheme will support the up gradation of existing processingclusters/centres specifically in the area of water and waste water management and alsoencourage research and development work in the textiles processing sector.

Total wireless subscriber base increased from 874.88 million in July 2013 to 876.72million at the end of August 2013, registering a monthly growth of 0.21%.The share ofurban wireless subscribers has declined from 60.10% to 59.98% whereas share of ruralwireless subscribers has increased from 39.90% to 40.02%. As per the latest datareleased by TRAI on telecom subscribers, the overall wireless Teledensity in India hasreached 71.21 from 71.13 of previous month.

Wireless subscription in urban areas increased from 525.78 million in July 2013 to525.84 million at the end of August 2013. The wireless subscription in rural areasincreased from 349.09 million to 350.88 million during the same period. The urbanwireless Teledensity has decreased from 139.87 to 139.65 whereas rural Teledensityhas increased from 40.88 to 41.05. Private operators hold 88.38% of the wirelessmarket share (based on subscriber base) where as BSNL and MTNL, the two PSUoperators hold only 11.62% market share. On the other hand, the wire line subscriberbase declined from 29.58 million at the end of July 2013 to 29.46 Million at the end ofAugust 2013.

Net reduction in wire line subscriber base was 0.12million at the rate of 0.41%. Theshare of urban subscribers has increased from 78.22% to 78.31% whereas share ofrural subscribers has decreased from 21.78% to 21.69%. The overall wire lineTeledensity has decreased from 2.40 in July 2013 to 2.39 in August 2013, with urbanand rural Teledensity being 6.13 and 0.75 respectively. BSNL and MTNL, the two PSUoperators hold 78.48% of the wire line market share.

Mahindra Aerospace, a venture of the Mahindra Group, inaugurated its aero-structuresfacility at Narsapura, about 50 km from Bangaluruon 21st October. “The facility is aimedat positioning the Indian footprint in the global aero-structures supply chain,” said AnandMahindra, Chairman, Mahindra Group. Mr. Mahindra also announced that MahindraAerospace had entered into a “strategic” technology partnership with the Spanish Tier-Iaero-structures supplier, the Aernnova Group. Mr. Mahindra said the company hadinvested about Rs.150 crore in the facility, which could generate an initial turnover ofRs.200 crore per annum. The facility, spread over 25,000 sq. metres, will employ about400 personnel. Mr. Mahindra said the Group’s acquisition in 2010 of two Australiancompanies — Gippsland Aeronautics, a manufacturer of small aircraft, and Aerostaff, anaircraft component manufacturer — had given it a toehold in the global aircraftcomponent supply chain. He said smaller turboprop aircraft had a bright future,especially in connecting smaller towns and inaccessible locations in the country. Hesaid the company had developed capabilities in three segments — aerospaceengineering, aero-structural and in the development of utility aircraft.

The Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs (IICA), an autonomous institute functioningunder the aegis of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, on 24th October, signed 5memoranda of understanding with country’s five leading research, academic andbusiness institutions,namely: Indian School of Business (ISB); Institute of PublicEnterprise (IPE); Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS); The Energy and ResearchInstitute (TERI) and YES Bank Limited. Sachin Pilot, Minister of Corporate Affairs, waspresent on the occasion. IICA provides opportunities for research, education, andadvocacy and also serves as a knowledge-centre for policy makers, regulators andother stakeholders related to the domain of corporate affairs. The Institute supports thegrowth of the corporate sector in India through an integrated and multi-disciplinaryapproach. IICA is also an academy for the Indian Corporate Law Service (ICLS)officers. The Minister had an intense interaction with the probationers of the ICLS,discussing their training needs and how IICA’s course modules could be enhanced tocater to everyday practical requirements. Mr. Pilot emphasized the importance ofgauging and assessing the specific needs of industry and business and stressed on thefact that all the courses should add value to the participants’ potential and ability thereby

creating a demand in the Corporate Sector for employees to undergotraining/development at IICA.

The Central Public Works Department (CPWD) on 24th October, signed amemorandum of understanding to undertake project management consultancy forconstruction of a permanent campus of IIM Tiruchirappalli. The MoU was signed here inthe presence of CPWD DG V K Gupta and IIM TiruchirappalliDirector Dr PrafullaAgnihotri, a statement issued by the Urban Development Ministry said. The campus willcome up in 68 hectares of land allotted by the Tamil Nadu government. It willaccommodate 1500 students, besides 300 faculty and staff members and comprise ofacademic facilities, world-class hostels, accommodation for faculty and staff,recreational facilities and a well-equipped management development centre. Themaster planning and designing of the campus has been entrusted to a firm of leadingarchitects. The construction of the Rs 450 crore-project (aprox.) will begin in March-Aprilnext year, and is expected to be completed by March 2016. IIM Tiruchirappalli aims tohave a green campus, and will be self-sufficient in terms of its water requirements in fiveto seven years of its coming up. IIM Tiruchirappalli is country's 11th IIM, where thesession began in 2011.

A significant oil discovery has been made in an ultra-deep water block off Brazil whereBharat Petroleum Corp Ltd. (BPCL) and Videocon Industries together hold 40 per centinterest.Brazilian oil giant Petrobras, which is the operator of the block, has confirmedthe Farfan-1 oil discovery in the ultra-deep waters of the Segipe-Alagoas basin, offBrazil, Videocon said in a statement on 21st October. The state-owned firm hasconfirmed excellent productivity of good quality crude following a drilling test. PetrBrasileiro SA (Petrobras) has completed a test in well 3-BRSA-1178D-SES (3-SES-176D), informally known as Farfan 1, to test the production capacity of the accumulationin the BM-SEAL-11 concession area of Block SEAL-M-426.Farfan-1 is located 104 kmnorth of Aracaju, the capital of the northeastern Brazilian state of Sergipe. It lies in awater depth of 2476 metres, about 5 km from the Farfan discovery well. Petrobras is theoperator of the block with a 60 per cent interest while IBV Brasil (a 50:50 joint venture ofBPCL and Videocon) holds the remaining 40 per cent stake. A 51-metre reservoir wasdiscovered at Farfan-1 well. The discovery has been estimated to hold more than 1billion barrels of oil.

China’s biggest power companies have, for the first time, agreed to set up a permanentpresence in India by opening power equipment service centres to address concerns oftheir increasingly large customer base, according to an agreement signed by the twogovernments in Beijing on 23rd October.Under the XI Plan (2007-12), 18 GW of thermalpower projects were commissioned, using Chinese-manufactured equipment. Besides,

40 GW of power projects are now being built using equipment from China — more thanfrom any other country. The 23rd October’s pact, whichwas signed by Wu Xinxiong,Administrator of China’sNational Energy Administration, and India’s Ministry of Power,was one of nine agreements signed between both countries, following talks in Beijing ,between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his counterpart, Chinese Premier LiKeqiang.A move, earlier this year, to impose a 20 per cent import duty on powerequipment from China — on account of concerns expressed by the domestic industry —has prompted Chinese companies to revise their plans for the Indian market. The importduty has also concerned Indian industry, particularly as there is a growing shortfall incapacity. Chinese power companies had, so far, limited their business to sellingequipment, despite the growing import demand from India and needs for servicing.Otheragreements signed on Wednesday included an MoU between the two Ministries ofTransport to co-operate in the roads sector, and exchange ideas on transport policy andtransport technology, as well as ‘sister cities’ agreements between New Delhi andBeijing, Kunming and Kolkata, and Chengdu and Bengaluru aimed at boostingtourism.The two countries also discussed ways to bridge the increasingly wideningtrade imbalance, which, this year, is on track to exceed even last year’s record US $28billion. After nine months of this year, the deficit reached US $24.7 billion, with India’sexports down by 22.5 per cent. Bilateral trade last year reached US $66 billion. Bothcountries were, however, unable to reach an agreement on industrial parks, officialssaid, with the Chinese side yet to decide on a location with around five sites underconsideration. A joint statement issued after talks said both countries would also explorethe feasibility of taking forward a Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economiccorridor — an initiative that the Chinese side has been pushing since Mr. Li’s May visitto India.

The Tax Administration Reform Commission (TARC), set up by the Finance Ministry tosuggest measures to prevent economic offences among other things, is expected tosubmit its report in six months, TARC Chairman and Advisor to Finance MinisterParthasarathi Shome saidin New Delhi on 21st October. The Commission held its firstmeeting in New Delhi on 21st October. The term of the 7 member TARC is 18 months,and it will work as an advisory body to the Ministry of Finance.The terms of reference ofthe Commission include a review of the existing mechanism of dispute resolution andmethods to widen tax base.The TARC will also recommend measures to strengtheninter-agency information sharing between Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), theCentral Board of Excise and Custom (CBEC), the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), theEnforcement Directorate, and also with banking as well as financial sectors. It willreview the existing mechanism and recommend measures to enhance predictiveanalysis to detect and prevent tax and economic offences, said an official statement.Besides, it will recommend a system to enforce better tax mechanism — by size,segment and nature of taxes and taxpayers that should cover methods to encouragevoluntary tax compliance. The members of the Commission are: Y. G. Parande, SunitaKaila, M. K. Zutshi, S. S. N. Moorthy, M. R. Diwakar and S. Mahalingam.

The Finance Ministry, on 23rd October, announced that it would infuse Rs.14,000 crorecapital in various banks this fiscal, including Rs.2,000 crore in State Bank of India andRs.1,800 crore each in IDBI Bank and Central Bank of India.Apart from the capitalsupport from the government, public sector banks have the headroom to raiseRs.10,000 crore from the market though rights issue, qualified institutional placement(QIP) or follow-on public offer (FPO) without diluting the existing government stake.Financial Services Secretary Rajiv Takru said the money had been given to enhanceequity capital. For the moment, this was good enough to see them through; he added.The capital infusion had been done with the twin objective of adequately meeting thecredit requirement of the productive sectors as well as to maintain regulatory capitaladequacy ratios in public sector banks (PSBs). The government, as the majorityshareholder, was committed to keep all PSBs adequately capitalised, a statement saidin New Delhi on 23rd October. Infusion of capital by government in PSBs is in additionto their internally generated capital to enable them maintain a comfortable level of Tier-Icapital. Towards this end, the government had been infusing need-based capital inPSBs, the statement said. An amount of Rs.12, 517 crore was infused in 13 PSBsduring 2012-13.

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Videsh Ltd. (OVL), on 14th October, announced that ithad bought an additional 12 per cent stake in a Brazilian oilfield for US $ 529million.OVL, which had a 15 per cent stake in block BC-10 along with Royal DutchShell, exercised a pre-emption right to block China’s Sinochem group from buying a 35per cent interest in the oilfield from Petrobras of Brazil. While the Indian firm will pick upa 12.08 per cent stake, Shell will acquire the remaining 23 per cent. “In August,Petrobras entered into a sales transaction with Sinochem for disposal of their 35 percent interest in BC-10 for $1.543 billion. This agreement was subject to pre-emptionrights of the partners, Shell and OVL,” OVL says in a statement. The acquisition ofadditional participating interest in the block is subject to approval of the Brazilian anti-trust and regulatory authorities. Shell and OVL served the pre-emption notice to jointlyacquire 35 per cent on September 17. On closing, OVL’s stake in the block wouldincrease to 27 per cent, the statement says. Block BC-10, also known as Parque dasConchas, is in the Campos Basin of Brazil, and includes four offshore deep-water fields- Ostra, Abalone, Argonauta and Nautilus, and a few identified exploration prospects. Itis located about 120 km from Vitoria town.

After the International Monetary Fund and the Asian Development Bank, the WorldBank on 16th October cut India's economic growth forecast for the current financial yearto 4.7%, from 6.1% earlier."Although output growth in the first quarter of the currentfiscal year fell to 4.4%, growth is expected to rebound strongly in the second half of2013-14 with core inflation trending down, a bumper crop expected in agriculture (where

a 5% increase in area sown is expected to raise agricultural growth to 3.4% from 1.9% ayear ago), and exports likely to benefit substantially from the rupee's depreciation," themultilateral agency said in its latest India Development Update.

Last week, IMF lowered the growth outlook to 4.25%, drawing strong protests from thegovernment, which believes that the economy will expand by 5-5.5% this year.Severalprivate economists have also predicted sub-5% growth. In Washington, RBI governorRaghuram Rajan on 16th October said economic activity will gain momentum towardsthe end of the year. "The effects of that (project) clearance will show up towards the endof the year. So, growth will start picking up because these large projects will startcoming back on-stream," he said, adding that the monsoon will help create demand.

The Indian economy grew 5% last year, the slowest pace in a decade as industry put upa poor show and farm sector grew under 2%.The World Bank also warned that Indiamay have to dip into its foreign exchange reserves to finance the current account deficit(CAD) in 2013-14. "International reserves could decline somewhat in 2013-14 but wouldstill amount to a comfortable import cover of approximately five months." India's foreignexchange reserves are sufficient to cover the import bill for around seven months atpresent and the government is hoping to contain the current account deficit at $70billion and avoid dipping into reserves.

As per the latest telecom subscription data released by the Telecom RegulatoryAuthority of India on 31st July 2013, total Broadband subscriber base in India increasedfrom 15.19 million at the end of June 2013 to 15.24 million at the end of July 2013.Thisis a monthly growth of 0.33 percent. Yearly growth in broadband subscribers is 3.79percent during the last one year (July 2012 to July 2013). At present, there are 161Internet Service Providers (ISPs) which are providing broadband services in thecountry. Out of these, 121 ISPs (having 98.48 percent market share) have providedbroadband subscription data for the month of July 2013, for the rest of the ISPs datafrom previous month has been retained. Top five ISPs in terms of market share (basedon subscriber base) are: BSNL (9.97 million), Bharti Airtel (1.43 million), MTNL (1.10million), Hathway (0.37 million) and You Broadband (0.32 million).

Anand Sharma, Union Minister of Commerce and Industry on 7th October in New Delhi,met the Director General of the World Trade Organization, Mr. Roberto Carvalho deAzevêdo. This was Mr. Azevêdo’s first visit to India after he assumed charge as thesixth Director General of the WTO on 1 September 2013. Sharma commended Mr.Azevêdo on his efforts to inject a new momentum into the discussions which has led to

some progress and an intensification of discussions in recent weeks. With less than 10weeks remaining before the Ninth Ministerial Conference of the WTO in December2013, Sharma and Mr. Azevêdo had a detailed discussion on the issues beingnegotiated for an outcome in the Bali Conference. Sharma stressed that the centrality ofmultilateral processes must be retained. All Members need to work together tostrengthen the WTO as an institution. Though Bali is not the end of the road, it is to beseen as a stepping stone to conclusion of the Doha Round. The success of this round iscritical for multilateralism. Sharma urged Mr. Azevêdo to persuade all parties to discussthe food security proposal constructively.

He observed that developing countries are finding themselves hamstrung by theexisting rules in running their food stockholding and domestic food aid programmes.The developed world too had market price support programmes and was able to moveaway from market price support - though not fully even now - because of their deeppockets. This is not possible for developing countries. It is important for developingcountries to be able to guarantee some minimum returns to their poor farmers so thatthey are able to produce enough for themselves and for domestic food security. Sharmaand Mr. Azevêdo agreed that a lopsided outcome of the Doha Round is not in anyone’sinterest. It is up to all of us to participate actively in the negotiations in order to arrive atthat balance. Sharma assured the DG of India’s cooperation in striving to achieve abalanced outcome at Bali and an early resolution of remaining issues in the DDA post-Bali.

India Post (Department of Posts) has signed an agreement with Wall Street Exchange,a company of the Emirates Post Group of UAE for launch of an International ElectronicMoney Transfer service through ‘Instant Cash’ product of the Emirates Post Group.Theservice was launched in New Delhi on 11th October, by P. Gopinath, Secretary,Department of Posts, by receiving the first payment from United Arab Emirates at afunction organized by her Department for signing the tie-up between the Department ofPosts and the Emirates Post Group. The service will be rolled out nationally in a phasedmanner and will be made available at approximately 17,500 post offices across India bynext month. The service will be provided through the International Financial System(IFS) of Universal Postal Union.This tie-up offers the Indian diaspora worldwide -especially in the gulf region - a safe, secure and reliable money transfer service for theirfamilies back home.This new service has its own significance going by the fact thatglobally, India is the largest recipient of remittances with over US $ 70 billion annually,half of which come from the Gulf. ‘Instant Cash’ is a wholly owned subsidiary of theEmirates Post Group, and its services are available in 59 countries through more than60,000 locations. They provide instant money transfer service so that the money isavailable to the customers within minutes of completing the transaction.India Post is thelargest postal network in the world and has completed 158 years of existence.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India released the latest telecom subscription data on31 July 2013. As per this data, the total number of subscribers has increased to 904.46million with a net addition of 1.37 million subscribers during the month – showing amonthly growth of 0.15 percent. Out of the total subscriber base, 548.85 million are fromthe urban areas and the remaining 355.60 million are the rural subscribers. The totalTeledensity at the end of July 2013 was 73.54 out of which the share of urbansubscribers was 60.68 percent and that of rural subscribers was 39.32 percent. MobileNumber Portability (MNP) requests increased from 95.59 million subscribers at the endof June 2013 to 97.82 million at the end of July 2013. In the month of July 2013 alone,2.23 million requests have been made for MNP.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 3rd October has approved theimplementation of the National Mission on Oilseeds and Oil Palm (NMOOP) during the12th Plan Period with financial allocation of Rs. 3507 crore.This would help inenhancing production of oilseeds by 6.58 million tones. This would also bring additionalarea of 1.25 lakh hectares under Oil Palm cultivation with increase in productivity offresh fruit bunches from 4927 kg/ha to 15,000 kg/ha and increase in collection of treeborne oilseeds to 14 lakh tone. Implementation of the proposed Mission would enhanceproduction of vegetable oil sources by 2.48 million tones from oilseeds (1.70 milliontones), oil palm (0.60 million tones) and tree borne oilseeds (0.18 million tones) by theend of the 12th Plan Period. NMOOP is built upon the achievements of the existingschemes of Integrated Scheme of Oilseeds. Oil Palm and Maize (ISOPOM), Tree BorneOilseeds Scheme and Oil Palm Area Expansion (OPAE) programme during the 11thPlan period. Implementation of these schemes have shown increase in production andproductivity of oilseeds, area expansion with increased production of FFBs under oilpalm and augmented availability of quality planting materials, pre-processingtechnologies and awareness about TBOs.

The Union Culture Minister Chandresh Kumari Katoch on 3rd October, launched aunique project to take India’s Heritage online in New Delhi.Under the project,Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has agreed with Google to create 360-degreeonline imagery of 100 of India’s most important heritage sites, including the Taj Mahal,Khajuraho and the Ajanta and Ellora caves. Speaking on the occasion the Minister saidthese details images will be placed for public viewing over the Internet. The aim of thiscollaboration is to generate interest and consciousness among the Indian population ingeneral and the youth in particular towards safeguarding the national cultural heritage ofIndia. She said, this information, which will be readily available over the Internet forpublic viewing, will help in bringing our monuments closer to the public. The Ministerexpressed the hope that under this project the experience of visiting heritage sitesacross a vibrant nation would be more accessible and enjoyable and also to bring it to

the notice of billions of people connected globally via the Internet. Once published, thisnew imagery of Indian heritage sites will be available on Google Maps and on the WorldWonders site within the Google Cultural Institute so that people across India and aroundthe world can virtually view and explore these areas, and in the process, learn moreabout thousand years of Indian history.

The Central Government has decided in principle to enhance the amount of capital tobe infused into Public Sector Banks (PSBs), on 3rd October.It may be recalled that inthe Budget for 2013-14, a sum of Rs. 14,000 crore was provided for capital infusion.This amount will be enhanced sufficiently. The additional amount of capital will beprovided to banks to enable them to lend to borrowers in selected sectors such as twowheelers, consumer durables etc, at lower rates n order to stimulate demand. While thiswill bring relief to the consumers, especially the middle class, it is also expected to givea boost to capacity addition, employment and production. This decision is based on thediscussions between Dr. Raghuram Rajan, Governor, Reserve Bank of India (RBI) andthe Union Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram when Dr Rajan called on the FinanceMinister on 3rd October. The issue of credit growth in different sectors was discussed.At the end of September 2013, growth of Gross Bank Credit stood at about 18 per cent,year-on-year. However, credit growth is sluggish in some sectors leading to theconclusion that demand in these sectors remains subdued. Based on the discussions,the Government has decided in principle to enhance the amount of capital to be infusedinto Public Sector Banks.

SEBI approved major reforms to attract overseas investors. It has announced newForeign Portfolio Investor regulations for easier registration process and operatingframework for investors from abroad.The new class of investors - FPIs - will encompassall Foreign Institutional Investors, their sub-accounts and Qualified Foreign Investors.They will be divided in three categories as per their risk profile. The Know Your Client -KYC requirements and other registration procedures will be much simpler for FPIscompared to current practices. The SEBI has also decided to grant them a permanentregistration. SEBI also approved setting up 'Designated Depository Participants whichwill register FPIs on behalf of the market regulator subject to compliance with KYCnorms.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 3rd October, gave its approval to theproposal of M/s. Etihad Airways PJSC, United Arab Emirates for subscribing2,72,63,372 equity shares of Rs.10 each of M/s. Jet Airways (India) Limited amountingto 24 percent of the post issue paid up equity share capital for an amount not exceedingRs.2057.66 crore.The Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) has recommended

the proposal. The approval would result in foreign investment amounting to Rs.2057.66crore in the country.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 3rd October, has approved theproposal of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas to authorize ONGC VideshLimited (OVL) and Oil India Limited (OIL) to acquire 20 percent Participating Interest(PI) in Rovuma Area 1 Offshore Block in Mozambique (Area 1). The transactioncomprises acquisition of:- (a) 100 percent of shares in Videocon Mozambique Rovuma1 Limited, the company holding a 10 percent PI in Area 1, from Videocon MauritiusEnergy Limited, a subsidiary of Videocon Industries Limited, jointly by OVL and OIL forUS$ 2,475 million. Closing is expected before 31st December 2013; and (b) another 10percent PI in Area 1 from Anadarko Mozambique Area 1 Limitada, a subsidiary ofAnadarko Petroleum Corporation solely by OVL for US$ 2,640 million, with closing inFebruary, 2014.

An agreement to set up the India’s largest Forged Wheel Plant at Lalganj, Raebareli, inUttar Pradesh was signed in the presence of the Minister of Steel, Beni Prasad Vermaand the Rail Minister, Mallikarjun Kharge on 3rd October. The Railway MinisterMallikarjun Kharge said that the forged wheels are essentially required in the rollingstock for running longer trains at higher speed.He said imports substitution, indigenousdevelopment and inclusive growth is the driving force for setting up this project throughmutual coordination between Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Steel.

Science & Tech:The first unit of Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) was synchronized on22nd October, and is now generating 160 MW electricity.On this occasion Narayansami,Minister of State in the Prime Ministers Office said the power will be further raised to500 MWe, 750 MWe and 1000 MWe in stages. For this at every stage various testshave been conducted and the technical parameters have also been verified. Based onthe results of the tests at each of the stages and with the Atomic Energy RegulatoryBoard (AERB) clearences, subsequent stages are reached. With the addition of KKNPPUnit-1 of 1000 MWe capacity, the Nuclear Power contribution in the country willincrease from 4780 MWe to 5780 MWe.KKNPP Unit-1 is the 20th Nuclear PowerStation of Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), connected to power gridin the country.

The India-France Technology Summit, organized by Department of Science andTechnology, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and French Embassy on 23rdOctober, witnessed 11 Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) between India andFrance in the field of Science and Technology and Education.

The MOUs were signed in the presence of Mr S Jaipal Reddy, Minister of Science andTechnology and Earth Sciences.

Signature of MOU between Department of Science and Technology and InstitutNational de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), on Joint TargetedProgram in Information and Communication Science and Technology.

Signature MOU between Department of Biotechnology (DBT) and CNRSfor establishingan International Associated Laboratory in the area of Systems Immunology andGenetics of Infectious Diseases, LIA SIGID.

MOU between SGRI and CEFIPRA for Habitat in hot and humid climate.

Signature Letter of Intent to launch “The EADS-CEFIPRA Aerospace Program” betweenEuropean Aeronautic Defense and Space Company (EADS) and The Indo FrenchCentre for the Promotion of Advanced Research.

Signature of MOU to set up an International Associated Laboratory on Transcriptomicsand Metabolomics for Liver Diseases between the French National Institute for Healthand Medical Research, INSERM and the Institute of Liver and Bilary Sciences, ILBS.

Signature of MOU for International Joint Laboratory on Neuosciences, LIA PROTECTbetween IISc and INSERM.

Statement of intent between Safran-Morpho (SMPL) and Gujarat Forensic SciencesUniversity for Training, Research and Development (GFSU), to explore the possibility ofestablishing cooperation through the program.

MOU “ASTech-Systematic India Hub between ASTech Cluster, Systematic Cluster,Paris Region CCI, India Desk and IFCCI.

MOU for an institutional partnership between Sciences Po Paris and Ashoka University,covering undergraduate and postgraduate student exchange program and facultyexchange.

MOU for a partnership awarding a double Master’s Degree between DTU, India and N+IEngineering Network, France.

MOU for a partnership for Last Semester of Bachelor or Master as an internationalexperience in France/India between BITS Pilani and N+I Engineering Network, France.

Union Minister for Mines, Dinsha Patel dedicated a deep sea exploration ship ‘RVSamudra Ratnakar’ to the nation at Kandla Port on 12th October.RV SamudraRatnakar, the research vessel is a state-of-the-art acquisition of GSI, designed to meetthe fast-growing challenges of the modern geo-scientific oceanographic researches.The ship is equipped with high-end technologically advanced instruments needed forgeological, geophysical and geochemical explorations in the offshore areas. The vesselis a unique multitasking and multi-disciplinary ship with modern on-board laboratories,designed to carry out sea-bed mapping, mineral exploration etc. in the deep waters andalso research activities. The Ship has been built by M/s. Hyundai Heavy Industries(HHI), Ulsan, South Korea, one of the largest ship building yards in the world.

RV Samudra Ratnakar is an all-weather ship fitted with Differential Global PositioningSystem (DGPS), Heading and Motion sensors and Dynamic Positioning System to keepit stationary during coring operations. With the induction of this multi-disciplinaryresearch vessel, Marine and Coastal Survey Division of GSI is poised to --explore thedeep ocean and unravel the hitherto- unknown complexities besides searching fordeep-sea mineral resources both within the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of Indiaand International Waters. Its endurance capacity and on-board facilities will enable GSIto carryout Multichannel Seismic Survey, Gravity Survey, Magnetic Survey, Deep SeaImaging, Sub-bottom Profiling, Deep Coring and Dredging in any part of the world. R.V.Samudra Ratnakar has the capability to explore and identify the favorable zone ofaccumulation of Gas Hydrates, which are known to be the future source of hydro-carbonenergy.

The Indian Navy on 15 October 2013 inducted into service its largest offshore patrolvessel (OPV), INS Sunayna, at the Southern Naval Command.The ship was designedand built by the public sector Goa Shipyard. The ship is equipped with the mostadvanced communication, navigation and electronic warfare equipment besides a 76-mm SRGM (Super Rapid Gun Mount), and close-in weapon system (CIWS). INSSunayna will strengthen the Indian Navy capability to safeguard the maritime interests.The vessel is expected to fill the vital gap in the Southern Naval Command’s patrolcapability. The vessel also has the ability to embark an advanced light helicopter (ALH)or a Chetak search and rescue helicopter. Two more vessels of this class will bedelivered to the Navy between this year-end and mid-2014.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 3rd October, has approved theimplementation of a scheme for setting up of 750 MW of Grid-connected Solar PVPower Projects under Batch-1 of Phase-11 (2013-17) of the Jawaharlal Nehru NationalSolar Mission (JNNSM) with Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support from the NationalClean Energy Fund (NCEF).The total VGF requirement for implementation of thescheme is estimated as Rs. 1,875 crore at the rate of Rs.2.5 crore/ MW The actualrequirement will, however, depend on the bid prices. This VGF support is estimated toleverage private investment to the tune of Rs. 5000 crore in setting up of the projects.

The VGF scheme will facilitate setting up of the 750 MW grid connected solar powerprojects, in mainly the private sector on Build, Own and Operate (BOO) basis at variouslocations,which will help supplement grid power generation in the country. Theseprojects will also lead to an associated development of their surrounding areas withpositive impact on the socio-economic conditions of the local population. The JNNSMwas launched by the Government in January 2010.The main objective of this Mission isto create a policy and regulatory environment for large scale diffusion of solar energytechnologies across the country as quickly as possible. It has laid down, a long-termgoal of adding 20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power by 2022, to be achieved inthree phases (Phase-l up to 2012-13, Phase-ll from 2013 to 2017 and Phase-Ill from2017 to 2022).

The Union Health and Family Welfare Minister, Ghulam Nabi Azad launched theindigenously produced Japanese Encephalitis (JE) vaccine JENVAC, in New Delhi on4th October. The vaccine has been jointly developed by scientists of NIV, ICMR andBharat Biotech Ltd.Azad said that JENVAC is a completely indigenous vaccine and anoutstanding example of public private partnership (PPP), and a remarkable milestone inthe emergence of our country as an innovative and self-sufficient technology hub.Speaking at the occasion, the Health Minister termed the Acute Encephalitis Syndrome(AES) as a serious public health challenge for India.

Of the more than 100 viruses and other agents that can cause thissyndrome, about a dozen odd are reported from India. Beginning with first report in1955 from Vellore in Tamil Nadu JE virus has spread to over 171 districts in 19 states.The Health Minister stated that so far a vaccine imported from China was being used.But its availability was an issue for comprehensive and quick augmentation of thenational programme, he stated. The launch of JENVAC, manufactured by BharatBiotech is a welcome much needed and historic occasion, he mentioned. He said that itis not only the first fully indigenous vaccine, but it is also based on an Indian strain.Therefore, it is expected to improve the efficacy besides availability and affordability.

Awards:Former Indian Tennis player-turned film producer Ashok Amritraj was presented withthe 'Soul of India Award' for his outstanding achievements in the film industry on 29October 2013.NRI industrialist Dr. Rami Ranger presented the award to the AshokAmritraj at the Indian Journalists Association's meet held at the Bombay Palace inLondon. Mrs. Paul, wife of Dr. Virendra Paul, formally launched Amritraj'sbook'Advantage Hollywood' onthe occasion. Ashok Amritraj is a former tennis playerand has represented India on an international level. He played in all major tennistournaments during his nine-year career including Wimbledon and the US Open. Hisbrothers, Vijay Amritraj and Anand Amritraj, are also accomplished tennis players.Amritraj has produced 109 Hollywood films. His hits, starting with 'Double Impact' in1991, have included 'Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance', 'Bandits', 'Machete andPremonition'.

Bollywood actress Kareena Kapoor was honoured in the House of Commons, Londonfor her contribution to the global entertainment industry, on 29 October 2013.The 33-year old actress was presented with a framed golden coloured plaque by NRI MP KeithVaz, Chairman of Britain’s Home Affairs Committee. Kareena was also honoured by theAsian Sunday Newspaper. Besides Kareena, singer Kimberley Walsh and magicianDynamo (Aka Steven Frayne) was honoured by the Asian Sunday Newspaper for theircontributions to the global entertainment-industry. Kareena is the only Bollywood artistto be honoured at British Parliament after Amitabh Bachchan and she is the firstBollywood actress to be honoured by UK Parliament.

Renowned Bharatnatyam exponent Geeta Chandran was honoured with the prestigiousGuru Debaprasad Award for outstanding contribution in the field of dance on 29 October2013. The award was presented to Geeta Chandran and three others by OdishaGovernor S. C. Jamir at in Bhubaneswar. Guru Debaprasad Award is an annual awardinstituted in memory of eminent Odissi exponent Guru Debaprasad Das. The award wasconstituted by Tridhara Dance Institute in the year 2007. Geetha chandran is India’srenowned Bharatanatyam dancer. She was recipient of Padmashri and a celebratedartist, Geetha Chandran is almost synonymous with the Indian classical dance form ofBharatanatyam.

Former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen on 27 October 2013 conferred with the MotherTeresa Memorial International Award by NGO the Harmony Foundation for her effortstowards achieving social justice in Mumbai.Bollywood actress Sushmita Sen, who isassociated with different charitable projects and NGOs, received the award for herefforts towards achieving social justice and her contribution to society. Along with

Sushmitha Sen, seven individuals and an association, India Rescue Mission, were alsoawarded the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice 2013 fortheir contributions in the field of human rights and community development. The MotherTeresa International Award is an annual award, constituted by Harmony Foundation,which was founded in October 2005 by Dr. Abraham Mathai to establish communalharmony between various communities, castes and work towards the benefit of all thecommunities without any discrimination as to religion, caste, creed, gender or region.

Anjali Gopalan on 25th October 2013 was awarded with French highest civilian awardChevalier de la Legion d’Honneur. She was awarded for her work on transgenders andHIV positive patients.She was awarded at a function, by Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, theFrench Cabinet Minister for Women’s Right. Gopalan is an Indian Human Rights andAnimals Rights Activist. She started the Naz Foundation (India) Trust as its executivedirector, which further changed the lives of the HIV Positive, transgenders andhomosexuals in New York. She started her career as a social worker working for themigrants of the south East Asian who lacked valid documents.

Aung Suu Kyi, on 23rd October 2013, has received the Sakharov Prize for ‘Freedom ofThought’ at Strasbourg, France. She was chosen by the European Parliament in1990.The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought announced by the EuropeanParliament in 1990 when she was under house arrest. The Sakharov Prize for Freedomof Thought is awarded each year by the European Parliament. The prize was set up in1988 to honour individuals or organisations for their efforts on behalf of human rightsand fundamental freedoms. The Sakharov Prize for free speech is awarded annually inmemory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov

The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences on 14 October 2013 decided to award TheSveriges Riksbank Prize inEconomic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel for 2013 toEugene F. Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert J. Shiller for their empirical analysis ofasset prices. 1. Eugene F. Fama of University of Chicago, IL, USA 2.Lars Peter Hansenof University of Chicago, IL, USA 3.Robert J. Shillerof Yale University, New Haven, CT,USA The three American Economists awarded for their work on creating a deeperknowledge of how market prices move. The prize is worth 8m Swedish krona (775,000Pounds; 1.2m Dollars), which will be shared equally among the three winners. TheNobel Prize in Economic Sciences is not one of the original Nobel prizes. It was createdin 1968 by the Swedish Central Bank in memory of Alfred Nobel, who established theprizes for Chemistry, Medicine, Physics, Literature and Peace in 1895. The firstEconomics prize was awarded in 1969.The Nobel Foundation does not officiallyrecognize it as a Nobel Prize, but as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciencesin Memory of Alfred Nobel. The Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences inMemory of Alfred Nobel has been awarded 45 times to 74 Laureates between 1969 and2013.

Eleanor Catton, the New Zealand author, at the age of just 28 years, became theyoungest ever winner of the Man Booker Prize for her novel The Luminarieson 15thOctober 2013 at the London's Guildhall. Her novel The Luminaries is the story of 19th-century goldfields, which won 50000 Pound Man Booker Prize 2013 along with a trophy,and Emmanuel Roman. It is important to note that The Luminaries is also the longestwork to win this prize in the history of 45 years of Man Booker Prize. She is the secondNew Zealander to win the Man Booker Prize, after Keri Hulme for The Bone People in1985.The last Prize was won by Hilary Mantel for Bring Up the Bodies, which was thesequel of the Wolf Hall. It is important to note that in the year 2014, the Man BookerPrize will open its doors for the authors writing in English from all over the world. Atpresent, it is awarded to the English-language authors only from the Commonwealthnations, including the Zimbabwe, Ireland and the United Kingdom. At present, the ManBooker Prize is one of the richest literary prizes of the world.

In a tribute to the legendary filmmaker Yash Chopra on the eve of his first deathanniversary, melody queen Lata Mangeshkar was conferred the first Yash ChopraMemorial Awardat a glittering function in Mumbai on 19th October. Union Minister forInformation and Broadcasting Manish Tewari presented the award. Dedicated to thememory of the late producer-director; the Yash Chopra Memorial Award has beeninstituted by the TSR Foundation of T Subbarami Reddy. Chopra was a victim ofdengue in Mumbai Oct 21 last year, spelling the end of a romantic and passionate eraof filmmaking. Carrying a cheque of Rs1 million and a citation, the memorial award willbe given annually to people in recognition of their outstanding contribution in the field ofart and culture. Lata has been conferred several national and international honours,including Bharat Ratna, India's highest civilian award, three national film awards andand the One Time Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2008 to commemorate the 60thanniversary of India's Independence.

The Nobel Prize in Physics 2013 was awarded jointly to François Englert and Peter W.Higgs "for the theoretical discovery of a mechanism that contributes to ourunderstanding of the origin of mass of subatomic particles, and which recently wasconfirmed through the discovery of the predicted fundamental particle, by the ATLASand CMS experiments at CERN's Large Hadron Collider" .François Englert was born on6th November 1932, Etterbeek, Belgium. He is the professor in Universit&eacute; Librede Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium.Peter W. Higgs was born on 29 May 1929, Newcastleupon Tyne, United Kingdom.He is the professor in University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh,United Kingdom.

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2013 was awarded jointly to Martin Karplus, MichaelLevitt and Arieh Warshel "for the development of multiscale models for complexchemical systems". Martin Karpluswas born on 15 March 1930, Vienna, Austria. Heworks in the Universit&eacute; de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Harvard University,and Cambridge, MA, USA. Michael Levittwas born on 9 May 1947, Pretoria, SouthAfrica. He works in the Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA.Arieh Warshelwas born on 20 November 1940, Kibbutz Sde-Nahum, Israel. He works inthe University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2013 was awarded jointly to James E.Rothman, Randy W. Schekman and Thomas C. Südhof "for their discoveries ofmachinery regulating vesicle traffic, a major transport system in our cells". James E.Rothmanwas born on 3 November 1950, Haverhill, MA, USA. He works in the YaleUniversity, New Haven, CT, USA. Randy W. Schekmanwas born on 30 December1948, St. Paul, MN, USA. He works in the University of California, Berkeley, CA, USA,Howard Hughes Medical Institute.Thomas C. Südhofhad born on 22nd December 1955Goettingen, Germany. He works in the Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, HowardHughes Medical Institute.

Canadian author Alice Munro has won the 2013 Nobel Prize for Literature.Making theannouncement, Peter Englund, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, calledher a "master of the contemporary short story". The 82-year-old, whose books includeDear Life and Dance of the Happy Shades, is only the 13th woman to win the prizesince its inception in 1901. Presented by the Nobel Foundation, the award - which ispresented to a living writer - is worth eight million kronor (&pound;770,000).Munro, whobegan writing in her teenage years, published her first story, The Dimensions of aShadow, in 1950.In 2009, she won the Man Booker International Prize for her entirebody of work - but she downplayed her achievements. Often compared to AntonChekhov, she is known for writing about the human spirit and a regular theme of herwork is the dilemma faced by young girls growing up and coming to terms with living ina small town. The Nobel academy praised her "finely tuned storytelling, which ischaracterized by clarity and psychological realism". Her writing has brought her severalawards. She won The Commonwealth Writers' Prize, the National Book Critics Circleprize for Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, and is a three-timewinner of the Governor General's prize. Other notable books include Lives of Girls andWomen, Who Do You Think You Are, The Progress of Love and Runaway.

The Nobel Peace Prize 2013 was awarded to Organization for the Prohibition ofChemical Weapons (OPCW) "for its extensive efforts to eliminate chemical

weapons".The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) hasbecome the surprise choice for this year's Nobel peace prize, a decision the Oslocommittee said recognized both its current, hazardous mission to destroy Syria'schemical weapons stocks and 16 years of wider global efforts. The internationalchemical weapons watchdog, a relatively new global body, set up in1997 in TheHague,with a relatively tiny annual budget of about &pound;60m, trumped theestablished bookmakers' favorites of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl turnedadvocate for female education, and Denis Mukwege, the Congolese gynecologist whohas helped huge numbers of rape victims. The OPCW, which has 500 staff, is the 25thinstitution among the 94 winners in the prize's history, and the second in succession,after the controversial choice of the EU in 2012.However, the Nobel committee's citationsaid the prize was a more general one, to mark "its extensive efforts to eliminatechemical weapons" and nudge the few remaining nations that had not yet signed up tothe organization. The work of the OPCW, which has 189 member states, had "definedthe use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law", the committee said,adding that events in Syria had "underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do awaywith such weapons". The OPCW was set up to implement the 1992 global chemicalweapons convention. It says it has managed to oversee the destruction of more than80% of the world's declared stocks of chemical weapons, excluding those now declaredin Syria.

A young man from India is among 10 people from around the world selected for aprestigious United Nations award on 11th October, in recognition of their work asentrepreneurs and use of technology to change the world. The winner from India isVarun Arora who created 'Open Curriculum', an online educational material forstandard, primary and secondary schooling.The recipients of the 10 Young InnovatorsCompetition organized by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU)Telecomcome from a wide range of countries including India, Uganda and Vietnam and haveworked on diverse issues such as marine protection, reduction of food waste andimmigration."These are bright young minds with creative technological solutions todevelopmental challenges both in their communities and in the wider world," said ITUsecretary-general Hamadoun Toure. The UN competition is open to young socialentrepreneurs between the ages of 18 and 26 and seeks innovative digital solutions inthe form of start-ups or initial concepts meeting global developmental challenges.Thewinners would heading to the ITU Telecom World 2013 in Bangkok in November.

Eminent agricultural scientist M.S. Swaminathan on 10th October 2013 selected for theIndira Gandhi Award for National Integration for the year 2012.MS Swaminathan is anIndian geneticist and former member of Rajya Sabha. M.S. Swaminathan contributed tothe agricultural renaissance in the country and led the nation to achieve greenrevolution. The Indian national congress (i), in its centenary year 1985, instituted anIndira Gandhi award for national integration to give recognition to outstanding

contribution to this cause by distinguished individuals or institutions. The award carriesa citation and cash award of 5 lakh rupees.

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen shot by the Taliban for championing girls'education won the European Union's (EU) Sakharov human rights prize 2013on 10thOctober 2013. Past winners of the Sakharov Prize include South African anti apartheidhero Nelson Mandela and former UN secretary general Kofi Annan. The Sakharov Prizefor Freedom of Thought is awarded each year by the European Parliament. The prizewas set up in 1988 to honour individuals or organizations for their efforts on behalf ofhuman rights and fundamental freedoms. The Sakharov Prize for free speech isawarded annually in memory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov.

Karan Thapar, television journalist chosen for the International Press Institute (IPI) –India award for excellence in journalism 2013on 8th October 2013 for his interviews onthe Devil's Advocate programme on CNN IBN. He was selected by a distinguished juryof editors and publishers headed by the former Chief Justice of India, A. S. Anand.Previous winners of the International Press Institute award include The Indian Express,NDTV, Outlook, Tehelka, Tribune and The Week. Karan Thapar is an Indian televisioncommentator and interviewer. He is conducting programmes like Devil's Advocate, TheLast Word on CNN-IBN and India Tonight on CNBC TV 18. The International PressInstitute is a global network of editors, media executives and leading journalists.

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee presented the ‘Lal Bahadur Shastri NationalAward for Excellence in Public Administration, Academics and Management’ 2013 toDr. Rajendra Achyut Badwe, Director, Tata Memorial Centre, Professor and Head,Department of Surgical Oncology Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbaiat a function atRashtrapati Bhavan on October 01, 2013. The award carries a cash prize of Rs.5 lakhs,a citation and a plaque. He is an international opinion leader in oncology, developingbreast cancer care strategies, innovative research, integrating delivery systems,improving quality and cancer management programs and capacity building of staff oncancer care delivery strategy and practice issues.

His original research "On Timing of Surgery during The Menstrual Cycle for OperableBreast Cancer" has led to a paradigm shift in understanding of cancer biology andevolved cost- effective life-saving treatment globally. A Dorab Tata Scholar (1974-1978), Dr Badwe has been a recipient of several prestigious international and nationalawards including Padmashree. His significant accomplishments in leadership in cancercare are a testimony to his role as a mentor in developing the cancer care strategy forGovernment of India and WHO. He leads the Innovation Council for Cancer Researchand the team that is planning the national cancer centre for Government of India.

A senior Indian journalist, Ravi Shankar Narsimhan, on 29th September 2013 waspresented with Friendship award by China-the highest honor given to foreigners.Narsimhan is the executive editor in the overseas edition of the Beijing based ChinaDaily. Ravi Shankar hails from Andhra Pradesh.He has worked with China Daily for 11years. He was given the award for helping China better tell its stories to the outsideworld. He is one among the 50 foreign experts from 20 countries and diverse fields, whohave been rewarded. The Friendship Award is an annual award given by the Chinesegovernment to honour outstanding foreign experts in China.

Rafiq Kathwari, an Indian-American poet on 29 September 2013 selected for 2013Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award for the collection of his debut poems. Rafiq Kathwari isthe first non-Irish person to win the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry Award. Rafiq Kathwari'scollection of 20 unpublished poems In another Country was selected for the covetedaward amidst 112 contestants from across the world. Rafiq Kathwari, a Kashmiri bydescent has become the first non-Irish to have won the award and will recieve 1000Euros as the prize money. He has translated selected Urdu poems of Alama Iqbal,creating his own version. His poems are mostly inspired by loss of innocence inKashmir and from his mother's long time illness. The award was founded by the PatrickKavanagh Society in 1971 to commemorate the Irish poet Patrick Kavanagh.

SPORTS:India's ace Squash player Dipika Pallikal, on 20th October 2013, won the ‘Macau Opentitle’ at Macau, China.In the title clash Dipika defeated former World Number OneRachel Grinham of Australia, 12-10, 5-11, 11-7, 11-9. This was Dipika Pallikal's seventhWomen's Squash Association title. The Macau Open 2013 is a squash tournament heldin Macau, China on 15 to 20 October 2013. It is part of the PSA World Tour and theWSA World Tour. The prize money for the Macau Open is 35000 Dollars.

North Zone and South Zone were declared joint winners of the Duleep Trophy 2013-14after the fifth day's play of the final match was called off due to bad weather in Kochi on21st October 2013.It was the fourth instance in the history of Duleep Trophy when thetitle has been shared. Previous instances were West Zone/South Zone in 1963-64),North Zone/West Zone in 1988-89 and Central Zone/West Zone in 1997-98.East Zonewon the Duleep Trophy in 2012-13 on the basis of their first innings lead against CentralZone at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The BCCI on 26th October 2013 terminated Pune Warriors from the IPL after theSahara-owned franchise failed to pay its payments and refused to furnish the bankguarantee for the next season.The decision was taken at the Cricket Board's all-powerful working committee meeting. BCCI wanted the team to furnish a bankguarantee of 170.2 crore rupees to remain a part of the league next year. Sahara hasbeen demanding the completion of the arbitration proceedings on the issue of franchisefee, which, it feels, should be lowered since the BCCI did not deliver on its promisednumber of IPL matches for the team.Pune Warriors were purchased by Sahara for 370million US dollars (1702 crore rupees) in 2010 and it was the most expensive franchiseon the IPL roster.

The Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) on 21st October 2013 unanimously elected KanwarDeep Singh as the president of the Indian Hockey Federation (IHF) for a four-yearterm.He was succeeded by Dinesh Reddy, Andhra Pradesh's Director General of Police(DGP).He is the Chairman emirate of the Alchamist Group of Companies. He is themember of the Rajya Sabha (Upper House) of the Indian Parliament. He belonged toTrinamool Congress Party. He received the jewel of India award from InternationalSolidarity in New York.

Simona Halep of Romania defeated Samantha Stosur of Australia 7-6 (1), 6-2 to win theKremlin Cup on 20th October 2013 at Moscow, Russia.It was the fifth WTA singleschampionship for Simona Halep. With the victory, Halep raised to a career high 15th inthe WTA Tour rankings on 21st October 2013. In men’s singles, top-seeded RichardGasquet of France defeated Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the finalof the Kremlin Cup. It was the 10th WTA singles championship for Richard Gasquet.

A.S.S. Siril Verma of India won the boys’under-15 singles crown defeating Gatja Putra21-11, 21-17 in the final of the Bibli.com Flypower Asia youth badmintonchampionshipin Kudus, Indonesia, on 13th October.In the boys’ under-17 doubles final,the top-seeded Indian pair of M.R. Arjun and Chirag Shetty clinched the title with a 21-16, 21-15 victory over the pair of Wangcharoen Kantaphon and Narongrit Mek.

World number two Novak Djokovic retained his Shanghai Masters title with a thrilling 6-13-6 7-6 (7-3) win over Juan Martin Del Potro of the Argentina.The Shanghai crown isDjokovic's fifth ATP Tour title of the year. The victory also caps a good two weeks in the

country for the six-time major winner, who came into the tournament having beatenworld number one Rafael Nadal to land his fourth China Open title.

Top English club Liverpool launched a residential football academy in Pune on 16October 2013 in partnership with city-based DSK Shivajians FC. The academy wasnamed as LFC International Football Academy DSK.It will have a world class residentialcomplex, full size pitches, practice areas, classrooms, residential, medical facilities,lecture theatre and canteen. The academy will support young footballers up to the ageof 18. It will provide the players with the opportunity to develop their game in aprofessional academy environment. Coaches from Liverpool FC will work on the projectin India and will provide technical expertise to the players and coaches involved in theAcademy. Over time, more full time coaches will come from Liverpool FC to overseeeach age group players at the Academy. This is the first time an English football clubhas partnered with an Indian team to help them bring through local talent.

India’s tennis player Rohan Bopanna with French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin wonthe Rakuten Japan Open tennis championship (Men's Doubles) on 6th October 2013 inTokyo.They won the cash prize of the US $ 12,97,000. The fourth seeded Indo-Frenchpair emerged victorious with a 7-6 (5) 6-4 scoreline against the Briton-Australian pair ofJemie Murray and John Peers in one hour and 17 minutes. Bopanna had won his firsttitle of the 2013 season in February 2013 when he triumphed at ATP 250 event inMarseille, France paired with Colin Fleming of Britain.

Afghanistan Cricket team on 4 October 2013 qualified for its maiden ICC World Cupafter defeating Kenya by seven wickets at World Cricket League Championship inSharjah. With this win Afghanistan also became the 20th team to gain entry into thetournament overall.Afghanistan will play its opening match in the ICC Cricket World Cup2015 against Bangladesh at Manuka Oval, Canberra, on 18 February 2013.In 2010,Afghanistan qualified for the ICC World Twenty20 West Indies 2010 by winning the ICCWorld Twenty20 Qualifier UAE 2010. It then finished second to Ireland in the ICC WorldTwenty20 Qualifier UAE 2012, to qualify for the ICC World Twenty20 Sri Lanka2012.Afghanistan also played in the ICC U19 Cricket World Cup 2010 in New Zealandand the 2012 edition in Australia.

Sania Mirza of India and Cara Black of Zimbabwe won the Toray Pan Pacific Opentennis championship women's doubles title by defeating Hao-Ching Chan (ChineseTaipei) and Liezel Huber (USA) 4-6, 6-0, 11-9 in final at Tokyo on 28 September2013.The Pan Pacific Open is a WTA Tour affiliated professional tennis tournament for

women, held every year since 1984 in Tokyo, Japan. It is classified on the WTA Tour asa Tier I tournament since 1993.

Sania Mirza won the China Open tennis championship trophy (women’s Doubles) withCara Black of Zimbabwe on 5 October 2013 in Beijing.They defeated Vera Dushevina ofRussia and Arantxa Parra Santonja of Spain in straight sets 6-2, 6-2. The Indo-Zimbabwean pair was eighth seeded. Sania and Cara had won Pan Pacific Open inTokyo last week.It is fifth title of the season for Sania Mirza and 19th overall. Sania hadwon the New Haven event with Chinese Zheng before she teamed up with Cara.Early inthe season, Sania Mirza won titles in Dubai and Brisbane with American partnerBethanie-Mattek Sands.

N. Srinivasan was on 29th September 2013 re-elected as the President of the Board ofControl for Cricket in India (BCCI) for a third term at its 84th annual general meeting(AGM) held at Chennai. He was unanimously re-elected as the president of BCCI forthe term of 2013-14. Other office bearers were also elected on the same day. Otherswho were elected at the 84th annual general meeting (AGM) included Sanjay Patel(honorary secretary), Anurag Thakur (Joint Secretary), Anirudh Chaudhry (HonTreasurer), S. P. Bansal (Vice-President - North Zone): Rajeev Shukla (Vice-President -Central Zone) Shivlal Yadav (Vice-President - South Zone), Ravi Savant (Vice-President - West Zone) and Chitrak Mitra (Vice-President - East Zone).However, N.Srinivasan will not assume charge of the office immediately because of the directive ofthe Supreme Court of India. Other office bearers will assume the charge of the officewith an immediate effect.

Kalapana Devi on 5th October 2013 won bronze medal at the Judo tournament inTashkent, Uzbekistan. It was India’s first IJF Grand Prix medal.Competing in 52kgweight category, Kalpana defeated Zarifa Sultonova of Uzbekistan but lost to Gili Cohenof Israel. Kalpana, who is with Indo-Tibetan Border Police, had also won a bronzemedal in the Women's World Cup Judo Championships held in September 2010 inUzbekistan. India has sent an eight-member team in the IJF Grand Prix JudoChampionships, which will conclude on 7 October 2013.

PERSONS:Air Marshal Arup Raha --- The Government of India on 29 October 2013 decided toappoint Air Marshal Arup Raha as the next Chief of the Air Staff.He will take the chargeafter the retirement of present Chief of the Air Staff N.A.K. Browne on 31 December2013. Air Marshal Arup Raha is presently the Vice Chief of Air Staff. Arup Raha wascommissioned into the IAF on 14 December 1974 in the Fighter Stream of the FlyingBranch. During a career spanning over nearly 39 years, he has held various command,staff and instructional appointments. He has commanded Central Air Command andWestern Air Command. He is one of the Honorary ADCs to the Supreme Commander.

Subhash Goswami-----The director of the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National PoliceAcademy appointed as the Director General (DG) of Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP)on 30 October 2013. He will succeed Ajay Chadha, IPS. Subhas Goswami is anIndian Police Service (IPS) officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. He served as IGP ofCRPF between February 2001 and February 2008. He was decorated with the IndianPolice Medal for Meritorious Service in 2001 and the President’s Police Medal forDistinguished Services in 2007.The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is an Indian forceconceived on 24 October 1962 for security along the India's border with the TibetAutonomous Region of China.ITBP is a specialized mountain force.

Srishti Rana---- Srishti Rana of India was crowned Miss Asia Pacific World 2013 inBusan, South Korea, on 30 October 2013. Srishti Rana, 21, is the second Indian in arow to win the oldest Miss Asia Pacific World 2013. Earlier, Zeenat Aman (1970), TaraAnne Fonseca (1973), Dia Mirza (2000) and Himangini Singh Yadu(2012) won MissAsia Pacific World titles. She was Finalist of Femina Miss India 2013 on 24 March 2013.She was also crowned Femina Miss Fashion Icon.

G.K. Pillai --- The former Union Home Secretary G.K. Pillai was appointed as theChairman of the MCX-SX on 1 November 2013.Thomas Mathew .T, the former actingchairman of the Life Insurance Corporation has been appointed as the Vice President ofthe bourse. The appointments were cleared by the board of directors on 24 October2013 and have been also cleared by the Securities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI). In October 2013, SEBI had also renewed the license of the exchange afterextensively exam the same. MCX-SX (MCX Stock Exchange Limited) is a new stockexchange of India. It is recognized by the Securities and Exchange Board of India underSection 4 of Securities Contracts (Regulation) Act, 1956.MCX-SX became therecognized stock exchange by the Union Ministry of Corporate Affairs on 21 December2012, under Section 2(39) of the Companies Act, 1956

P.S. Raghvan ---- P.S. Raghvan was appointed as the next Ambassador of India toRussiaon 28 October 2013. At present, Raghvan, the IFS of 1979 batch is serving asthe current Secretary in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA). He will succeed AjaiMalhotra, who will retire on 30 November 2013. Raghvan is expected to join theassignment shortly.

Vijay Soni (76) ---- Noted painter and theatre personality Vijay Soni passed awayon 27October 2013 in New Delhi. Vijay Soni travelled for studying the innovative methods oftheatre to America and Europe in 1960s and beginning of 1970s. He came as the facein the theatre scene during 1970s. He polished his skill as a theatre director while hewas at the Bread and Puppet Theatre, Odin Theatre in Stockholm and the TheatreLaboratory of Jerzy Grotowski at Wroclaw He was popular with the name Viko.

Manna Dey (94), the legendary singer diedon 23rd October 2013 in Bangalore hospital.He was treated for respiratory illness died of cardiac arrest. He sang many songs indifferent languages like Malayalam, Kannada, Gujarati, Marathi, Bengali, Hindi,Assamese, Punjabi and Bhojpuri. In 2005 he also received the Padmabhusan Award bythe Government of India. In 2007 he was given the Dadasaheb Phalke Award fromGovernment of India

Shah Rukh Khan, the star actor of Bollywood, was on 23rd October 2013, appointed asthe goodwill ambassador for South Korea. He was appointed as the public diplomat aswell as an ambassador of India’s soft power. Shah Rukh Khan will visit South Koreabefore the maiden visit to the President of South Korea- Park Geun-hye. Shah RukhKhan was also invited by the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak on his first visit toIndia at the formal dinner with the prime minister. In the year 2008, Shah Rukh Khanwas given the title of Datuk,which is equivalent to the British Knighthood. This title wasgiven to him by the Governor of Malaysia’s southern Malacca state, Mohamad KhalilYaacob.

Arunendra Kumar -----Arunendra Kumar has been appointed as Chairman, RailwayBoard (Ministry of Railways) and ex-officio Principal Secretary to Government ofIndia.Kumar took charge as Chairman Railway Board on 16th October. Prior to thisArunendra Kumar had been holding additional charge of Chairman, Railway Boardsince 1st July 2013 besides his regular posting as Member (Mechanical) Railway Boardand ex officio Secretary to the Government of India.

Kumar Mangalam Birla---- The Central Bureau of Investigation on 15th October, filed anFIR naming Aditya Birla Group chairman Kumar Mangalam Birlaand former CoalSecretary P.C. Parekh for having allegedly entered into a criminal conspiracy tofacilitate the partial allocation of an Odisha coal block to the group’s subsidiary HindalcoIndustries about eight years ago. The FIR said the Coal Ministry Screening Committee’srecommendation that the block be allocated to public sector units (PSUs) was, in a way,circumvented to “accommodate” aluminum major Hindalco. According to the CBI, Mr.Birla would soon be examined along with the other accused.

Gireesh B. Pradhan---- Union Government of India appointedon 17th October 2013Gireesh B. Pradhan, former Secretary of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, as theChairperson of the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).Gireesh B.Pradhan , a Maharashtra Cadre IAS officer of the 1977 batch. He retired from the postof Secretary, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy in June 2013.Central ElectricityRegulatory Commission is a statutory body functioning under section 76 of theElectricity Act 2003.It was initially constituted under the Electricity RegulatoryCommissions Act, 1998 on 24 July 1998.

Dr. Ravuri Bharadwaja---- Eminent Telugu writer and Gyanpeeth award recipient, Dr.Ravuri Bharadwaja passed away in Hyderabadon 18th October 2013. He was 86.Ravuri Bharadwaja won Gyanpeeth award for the year 2012 for his well known Telugunovel, Paakudu Raallu, which depicted the real life behind the silver screen of the filmindustry. Bharadvaja was born in 1927 and is a Telugu novelist, short-story writer, poetand critic. He studied only till Class VIII, but his works and write-ups turned up to be abasis for many research works and are prescribed as text books in universities. He haswritten six short novels for children namely Kadambari, Pakudurallu, JeevanaSamaram, Inupu Tera Venuka and Koumudi – these novels have been translated intoseveral Indian languages as well as English. Earlier he has been awarded with awardslike Sahitya Akademi Award, Soviet Land Nehru Award, Balsahitya Parishad Award,and Telugu Akademi Award. He was also awarded with an honorary doctorate fromNagarjuna University.

Syed Ibne Abbas----Government of Pakistan decided on 9th October 2013 to appointPakistani veteran diplomat Syed Ibne Abbas as the new Pakistani envoy to India. Hewill succeeded by Salman Bashir. He served as Counsellor (Political) at the PakistanHigh Commission in New Delhi. His appointment comes at a time when tensions along

the LoC have increased. He also served as the Director of Kashmir Affairs at theMinistry of Foreign Affairs.

Arundhati Bhattacharya(57) ---- Arundhati Bhattacharya on 7th October 2013 took overas the Chairperson of the State Bank of India (SBI).She is the first woman to takecharge as the Chairperson of SBI, the largest bank of India. She succeeded PratipChaudhuri who retired on 30 September 2013.Before being elevated to the post ofChairperson of SBI, she was the Managing Director and the Chief Financial Officer ofSBI. She is the first woman Chairperson of the State Bank of India, which has the longhistory of 206 years. Apart from this, she is the only woman banker on the list of Fortune500 company giants anywhere in the world.

Justice D. K. Jain---- The President of India has accepted the resignation of Justice D.K. Jain from the post of Chairperson, Law Commission of India,with effect from theafternoon of 5th October 2013.Justice D. K. Jain has taken over as the President,National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission,on the afternoon of 5th October2013.

Sitaram Sharma---- Sitaram Sharma has been nominated by Govt. of India as Chairmanof Maulana Abul Kalam Azad Institute of Asian Studies (MAKAIAS), Kolkata, anautonomous body under Union Ministry of Culture,for a term of two years. Late Prof. S.Nurul Hasan, the then Governor of West Bengal was the first Chairman of the Institute,founded in January 4, 1993. Mr. M.K. Narayanan, Governor of West Bengal is thePresident of the MAKAIAS, Society. The Institute is a centre for research on the life,times and work of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad, and the study of social, cultural, politicaland economic developments in Asia from the middle of the 19th century. The MaulanaAzad Museum is located in one of the earlier residences of Maulana Azad (at 5 AshrafMistry Lane), where it maintains a museum of memorabilia, photographs anddocumentary film.

Lalu Prasad Yadav----Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad was sentenced to five-year rigorous imprisonment in a corruption caseon 1 October. The sentenceimmediately disqualifies him from Parliament and bars him from elections for 11 years,raising questions over the leadership of his party ahead of Lok Sabha elections duenext year. Special CBI Judge Pravas Kumar Singh sentenced the two-time former ChiefMinister, another former Chief Minister Jagannath Mishra, Jagdish Sharma, JD(U) MPfrom Jahanabad, and other convicts, lodged in the Birsa Munda Central Jail in Ranchi,through videoconferencing. Mr. Prasad, 65, who was convicted on September 30 in a

fodder scam case, was also fined Rs. 25 lakh. Like other politicians, he was convictedunder the Prevention of Corruption Act. He claimed he was innocent. Mr. Mishra, 76,was sentenced to four-year rigorous imprisonment and was asked to pay a fine of Rs. 2lakh. Mr. Sharma also faces disqualification in the light of a Supreme Court judgmentthat an MP or MLA would lose his seat immediately after he was convicted by a courtfor crimes with a punishment of two years or more.

Ranjan Mathai--- Former Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai on 20 September 2013 wasappointed as India's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom. He will succeed notedeconomist and veteran diplomat Dr. Jaimini Bhagwati. However, he will take up thecharge of the office later. Ranjan Mathai joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1974 andhas served in Indian embassies in Vienna, Colombo, Washington, Tehran and Brussels.He played a critical role in the Indo-Bangla Ganges Water Sharing accord during SheikhHasina's first stint as the Prime Minister. Ranjan Mathai served as Foreign Secretary fora period of two years and handed over the charge to his successor Sujatha Singh inJuly 2013.

Ranjib Biswal---- NCA Chairman Ranjib Biswal was on 29 September 2013 appointedas chairman of the IPL during the Annual General Meeting of the Board of Control forCricket in India (BCCI) at Chennai. Prior to this appointment Ranjib Biswal wasmanager of the Indian Cricket team during the ICC World Cup 2011 and the ICCChampions Trophy 2013. He is also the head of Orissa Cricket Association. RanjibBiswal was replaced Rajeev Shukla as chairman of Indian Premier League (IPL).RajivShukla, who resigned at the end of his tenure.Ranjib Biswal was currently NationalCricket Academy (NCA) chairman.

Rahul Dravid---The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 5th September 2013announced former Indian cricket team captain Rahul Dravid as Brand Ambassador forits National Tobacco Control Campaign.The national anti-tobacco control campaign hasto continue till it achieves desired results. It shows that India is committed towardstobacco control. World Health Assembly aims a target of 30 per cent relative reductionin tobacco use by 2025.