Current Affairs : Newspaper cuttings

India’s 29th State Telangana

The process that will culminate in the creation of what will be India’s 29th State promises to be complicated.
The Centre, , would send the CWC resolution to the State Assembly to seek its views (its approval is not required), after which it will go to the Union Cabinet. A Group of Ministers to address all the issues of Telangana and Seemandhra — the sharing of waters, revenue, land, power, assets and liabilities — will then be set up.
The Union Cabinet will then ask the Union Law Ministry to draft a bill that will be sent to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly for its comments. Next, the Union Home Ministry will make adequate provisions, incorporating the suggestions. After this, the government-approved draft bill will be sent to the President; Parliament will then have to pass the bill in both the Houses by a simple majority.
The final step: it will go back to the President for notification.
As for the provisions of Article 371 (D), which provides for special provisions for the State, the Union Cabinet would examine whether it would remain relevant after the creation of Telangana.
For the moment, the proposal to include two districts of Rayalaseema — Anantapur and Kurnool — in Telangana has been put in cold storage.
The new State will have 10 districts, while the remaining Andhra and Rayalaseema regions will together constitute Seemandhra.

Pakistan elected businessman Mamnoon Hussain as its 12th President, Lawmakers from both Houses of the national Parliament and four provincial Assemblies voted in the two-man race for the largely ceremonial post.
Mr. Hussain (73), a businessman and close ally of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Pakistan’s financial capital Karachi, had been considered certain to replace Mr. Zardari. A long-serving member of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N) party, he briefly served as Governor of the southern province Sindh under Mr.Sharif’s last premiership in 1999.

Irish President Michael D Higgins signed a landmark bill on abortion into law, allowing women in the predominantly Catholic country to have an abortion in case of fatal foetal abnormality. The law was drafted after the death of Savita Halappanavar, 31, on October 28 last year
Senior IPS officer Sharad Kumar, a 1979-batch Haryana cadre officer, was appointed the new chief of the National Investigation Agency .

Global biotechnology company Life Technologies has launched India’s first private DNA forensics laboratory here, which is expected to accelerate sampling process, thus reducing the burden on existing forensic laboratories.
“Life Technologies DNA Forensics Laboratory will reduce the burden on existing forensic system and address the requirements of DNA database generation for un-identified dead bodies or other crime investigations
Currently, there are 28 laboratories for forensic DNA investigation and testing in the country. But, many of them are overburdened with an increasing number of cases and have sample backlogs.

The Indian Railway added another feather in its cap with the historic milestone of connecting Kashmir Valley with the Jammu region.
the newly constructed railway line between Banihal (Jammu region) – Qazigund (Kashmir valley) section and flagged off the first DEMU train from Banihal through
the Pir Panjal tunnel- the longest transportation tunnel of India, from Banihal Railway station on 26th June 2013. On commissioning of this section, the first rail link has been established between the Jammu Region and Kashmir Valley providing all weather connectivity with significantly reduced travel time through the Pir Panjal mountains.
This is an alternative connection between the two regions for the Jawahar Tunnel too,which is often snow bound during the winter months. With this section the distance between Banihal-Qazigund section has been reduced to 17.7 kms by railway line instead of 35 kms long road length. With the completion of this section the Kashmir Valley has come a step closer to being connected to the remaining Indian Railway network, signifying the dedication and resolution of Northern Railway in providing rail connectivity to the farthest corners under its jurisdiction.

Cochin Shipyard Limited (CSL) launched the third Fast Patrol Vessel (FPV) named ‘ABHINAV’ being built for the Indian Coast Guard (ICG).
The vessel is the third in a series of 20 numbers Fast Patrol Vessels contracted by Cochin Shipyard Limited for the Indian Coast Guard.
The contract was signed in 2010 with delivery of the last vessel slated for 2017.
The primary role of the vessel include fisheries protection and monitoring, patrol within Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) and coastal patrol , anti smuggling, search and rescue operations and for anti piracy operations.
The vessels have a secondary role of providing communication link and escort convoys during hostilities and war time.