Today's GK (25-9-13)

After 279 years in print, maritime daily to go fully digital

After 279 years in print, Lloyd’s List, the shipping industry’s bible, is going fully digital.

The daily started as a notice pinned to the wall of a London coffee shop that offered information on ships coming in and out of port and what goods they carried. It will stop print publication on December 20, 2013.

“This is just a natural part of our evolution,” says editor Richard Meade. “We haven’t changed that much. But now (customers) can access us in any coffee shop in the world.”

A survey carried out earlier this year found that only 25 customers used the print edition alone.

Mr. Meade says that while nostalgia weighs on the company’s shoulders, customers pay a premium for information and don’t want to wait for it to come by post.

One-third of the sewage treatment capacity goes unused: panel

One-third of the sewage treatment capacity created under one of the key river cleaning funds of the Environment Ministry is going unused, a new report of the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) has said.

152 sewage treatment plants (STPs) in 15 states set up using funds of the National River Conservation Programme, add up to a capacity of 4,716 million litres per day (MLD). But, the study has found that only 3,126 MLD of sewage is being treated in these plants.

Of the 152 STPs, nine are still under construction and 30 are not working at all. The CPCB team found that 28 of those surveyed were not working to satisfaction with levels of pollution of treated water above acceptable levels.

The panel has reported that Tamil Nadu is the worst performing State. Out of the 798.84 MLD capacity of sewage treatment created under the programme, only 394 MLD is being utilised. West Bengal too fared badly with the State being able to treat only 222.5 MLD sewage though the capacity was set up for 458.29 MLD.

The CPCB report has only covered the sewage systems the Environment Ministry has funded across the country. The total sewage capacity in tier I cities in the country, set up through different resources, adds up to 11,553.68 MLD, which even if used optimally, caters to less than one-third of the waste generated every day. The total sewage generated in these cities is 35,558.12 MLD.

In tier II towns, out of the 2,696 MLD of waste generated, only 233 MLD can be treated if the sewage treatment plants work at full capacity.

Significant volumes of the untreated sewage waste gets discharged directly into rivers and water bodies, ending up polluting these water sources to various degrees.

The spread of sewage treatment facilities across the metropolitans is also skewed in favour of two cities — Delhi and Mumbai. Of the entire sewage generation capacity set up in the country more than half is to cater to only these two metropolitans. Delhi is home to 29% of the total treatment capacity of 8,040 MLD in metropolitan cities. Mumbai has the second highest capacity at 2,130 MLD.

RBI bans 0% interest for EMI schemes

The RBI on Wednesday banned zero per cent interest rate scheme for purchase of consumer goods; a move intended to protect customers, which may however dampen the festive spirit.

The central bank has also said that no additional charges can be levied on payment through debit cards.

“...in principle, banks should not resort to any practice that would distort the interest rate structure of a product as this vitiates the transparency in pricing mechanism which is very important for the customer to take informed decision,” RBI said in a notification.

The very concept of zero per cent interest is non-existent and fair practice demands that the processing charge and interest charged should be kept uniform product or segment wise, irrespective of the sourcing channel, as such schemes only serve the purpose of exploiting vulnerable customers, it said.

In the zero per cent EMI schemes offered on credit cards, the interest element is often camouflaged and passed on to customers in the form of processing fee.

“Similarly, some banks were loading the expenses incurred in sourcing the loan (viz DSA commission) in the applicable rate of interest charged on the product,” RBI observed.

The notification further said that the only factor that can justify differential rate of interest for the same product, tenor being the same, is the risk rating of the customer, which may not be applicable in case of retail products where the interest component is generally kept flat, being indifferent to the customer risk profile.

With regard to subvention, it said, the loan amount sanctioned for the purchase should be after taking into account the discount, rather than giving effect to the benefit by reducing the interest.

Union Cabinet Approved Proposal for Multi-Sectoral Programme Addressing Maternal and Child Care

The Union Cabinet on 24 September 2013 approved the proposal for implementation of the multi-sectoral programme to address the maternal and child under-nutrition in 200 high burden districts in the 12th Five Year Plan.

The objective of the multi-sectoral nutrition programme is to address the maternal and child malnutrition in 200 high burden districts by bringing together various national programmes through strong institutional, programmatic and operational convergence at the State, District, Block and Village levels.

The scheme will cost 1213.19 crore Rupees for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17) as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with a Centre and State cost sharing ratio of 90:10 for all components in the North Eastern Region States and special category States. In the other states and union territories, this ratio will be 75:25. In this case, the centre will bear 944.39 crore Rupees while the state will share 268.80 crore Rupees.

Basically, the programme will set a goal to bring coherence in policy, planning and action with core focus on nutrition interventions by including specific pro-nutrition and nutrition sensitive actions in different programmes and schemes through intensified direct and indirect approach. It will bring in strong nutrition focus in various sectoral plans and provide for a limited gap filling support towards key nutrition related interventions. The programme targets to achieve following two objectives:

• Prevention and reduction in child under-nutrition (underweight prevalence in children under 3 years of age)
• Reduction in levels of anemia among young children, adolescent girls and women

Ramchandra Guha Wrote a Book Titled ‘Gandhi Before India’

Chinese Paddler Liu Shiwen won 2013 Women's Table Tennis World Cup

33rd Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators (APCCA) Inaugurated

The Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde inaugurated the 33rd Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators (APCCA) in New Delhi on 24 September 2013.

Major points explained during the conference

• Society’s expectations from the Criminal Justice System, particularly from the prison and correctional administration
• Imprisonment of the main punitive measure imposed on individuals who have been convicted of a criminal offence and over emphasis on imprisonment
• The trauma of the imprisonment of a member of the family together with economic factors
• Alternative modes to imprisonment
• Activities focusing on vulnerable groups, including children, women, and prisoners with special needs and inclusion of these in prison reform programmes
• A large number of innovative initiatives aimed at reformation and rehabilitation of offenders implemented at the Indian prisons
• Regular Academic Education, Distance Education; Industrial Training Institutes and other Vocational Facilities such as computer literacy being provided to the prisoners of several States in order to equip them with skills to earn their living after release
• Innovative Banking Schemes to provide funds for released prisoners to establish their own wage earning units
• Use of individual talents in order to sustain special skills of offenders in the field of painting, drawing, sculpturing, singing, dance and dramatics
• Rules of employment in government jobs for accommodating released prisoner if they acquire sufficient academic or vocational skills during their incarceration unless they have been convicted of an offence involving moral turpitude

About the Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators (APCCA)

• Asian and Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators (APCCA) is the prestigious event for the correctional officers to share ideas and learn from others’ experiences and give direction to innovative ideas in correctional administration and welfare.
• In the 33rd APCCA, apart from delegates from 23 member countries, the delegates from States and UTs dealing with correctional administrations are also attending the conference.
• Every year an annual conference is organised by the member countries on rotational basis where Correctional Administrators of member countries exchange ideas in relation to the prison reforms in the Asia Pacific region.
• The conference gives correctional officers a chance to express their knowledge and exchange best practices being adopted in various countries.

Prime Minister of India Approved Constitution of Seventh Central Pay Commission

The Finance Minister P.Chidambaram announced on 25 September 2013 that the Prime Minister of India Manmohan Singh approved the constitution of the Seventh Central Pay Commission. The average time taken by a Pay Commission to submit its recommendations is around 2 years. In context with this, it is expected that the recommendations of 7th CPC will be implemented with effect from 1 January 2016.

The names of the Chairperson as well as the members along with their terms of reference (ToR) will be finalised and announced after consultation with the major stakeholders. Since the year 1947, six pay commissions have been set up from time to time in order to review as well as make recooemndations on the work and pay structure of civil and military divisions of the Government of India.

About the Central Pay Commission

• The first Central Pay Commission was constituted in May 1946 and its report was submitted by 1947 under the Chairmanship of Srinivasa Varadachariar. The first Central Pay Commission was based on the basic idea of living wages to employees.
• The approval of last or the sixth Central Pay Commission was given in July 2006. The commission was established under the Chairmanship of B.N.Srikrishna with the time duration of 18 months.
• The constitution of the Seventh Pay Commission will include salaries, allowances and pensions of around 80 lakh employees as well as pensioners.
• Recommendations of the Commission will provide benefit to around 50 lakh employees of the Central Government, who also include defence and railways. Apart from this, it will also provide benefit to 30 lakh pensioners.
• The Union Government of India constitutes the Pay Commission after almost 10 years time frame in order to revise the pay scales of employees. The recommendations of Pay Commission are always adopted by all the states in India after a few modifications

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs Gave Nod for Shale Gas Exploration and Exploitation

Union Cabinet Approved an Ordinance to Shield Convicted MPs and MLAs

The Union Cabinet on 24 September 2013 approved an ordinance to protect convicted law makers from facing immediate disqualification.

The ordinance, once promulgated, will allow the convicted MPs or MLAs to continue in office if their appeal is admitted by a higher court within 90 days of conviction by the trial court. However, they will not be allowed to vote or draw salaries till the case is decided.

The Union government decided to bring the Ordinance after failing to get a bill to this effect passed in Parliament during the Monsoon Session 2013.

The ordinance is a reversal of the Supreme Court judgement that had not only disqualified lawmakers convicted of offences with 2 years or more in jail but also also barred from contesting elections.

The Supreme Court had struck down Section 8 (4) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, which protects convicted legislators from disqualification if they appeal before a higher court within three months.

The Supreme Court on 10 July 2013 had ruled that an MP or an MLA will stand disqualified immediately if convicted by a court for crimes with punishment of two years or more.

To negate the Supreme Court order, the Union Government moved to amend the law and brought the Representation of the People (Second Amendment) Bill, 2013 in Rajya Sabha during the Monsoon session. However, the bill could not be passed.

Ramlubhya Appointed as Rajasthan State Election Commissioner

Salman Khurshid Visited Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan

External Affairs Minister of India Salman Khurshid paid an official visit to Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan since 12 September 2013 to 15 September 2013. In Bishkek, he attended the 13th Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Council of Heads of State Summit on 13 September 2013. India has been an Observer at the SCO since 2005 and has generally been participating at the Ministerial level at these Summits. The External Affairs Minister also met bilaterally with dignitaries from other participating states on the margins of the Summit.

During his visit to Uzbekistan, the External Affairs Minister held bilateral discussions with the Uzbek Foreign Minister and also chaired a conference of Indian Head of Missions in the region.

Pawan Goenka Appointed as Executive Director of Mahindra & Mahindra

Mahindra & Mahindra Limited on 23 September 2013 appointed Dr Pawan Goenka as the executive director of the company for the period of five years.

Before this, Dr Pawan Goenka was President of Automotive and Farm Equipment sectors, a position he held since April 2010.

About Dr Pawan Goenka

Dr Pawan Goenka started his journey with Mahindra in 1993 as General Manager R&D and is responsible for the development of several new products, inducing the potent and highly popular, Scorpio SUV.

Dr Pawan Goenka became executive vice president of Product Development in September 2001 and, was promoted to the position of chief operating officer of the Automotive Sector in April 2003.

In September 2005 he was appointed president of Automotive Sector and in April 2010 he became president of Automotive and Farm Equipment Sector.

Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (M&M) is India’s largest utility vehicle and tractor maker.

Russia and China held Joint Military Exercise called Peace Mission 2013

 

BN Talukdar appointed Director General of DGH

BN Talukdar, director for exploration in Oil India Ltd. (OIL), on 13 August 2013 was appointed the new director general of Directorate General of Hydrocarbons (DGH). He replaced Rajiv Nayan Choubey. Talukdar is 58 years old.

DGH is oil ministry’s technical advisory arm for exploration and production.Talukdar is a petroleum engineering graduate from the Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad. He was head of OIL’s exploration, development, reservoir management and drilling activities since December 2007.

B.N. Talukdar was selected for this job by a search committee headed by oil secretary Vivek Rae.

The term of director general, DGH will be for five years or till the incumbent completes the age of superannuation of 60 years, whichever is earlier.