may month "current affairs" - national events

8/13/2019 May Month "Current Affairs" - National Events

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May 2013 Current Affairs National Events

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1he Union Cabinet on 1st May, has approved the proposal of the Ministry of Railways forsetting up of an Electric Locomotive Factory at Madhepura, Bihar and a Diesel

Locomotive Factory at Marhowra, Bihar,to start afresh the bidding processes for

these projects. Estimated costs for settingup the Electric Locomotive Factory andDiesel Locomotive Factory, as approvedby CCEA and included in the RailwayBudget are Rs. 1293.57 crore and Rs.2052.58 crore respectively, with limitedequity contribution by Ministry ofRailways. Over a ten-year period, thefactories will provide Indian Railwayswith 800 electric locomotives of 12,000horse power (h.p.) each and a mix of 1,000 diesel locomotives of 4,500 and 6,000 h.p. with

high level performance guarantees similar to international practices.

he Union Cabinet on 1st May gave its approval to launch a National Urban HealthMission (NUHM) as a new sub-mission under the over-arching National Health Mission

(NHM). Under the Scheme, the following proposals have been approved:

One Urban Primary Health Centre (U-PHC) for every fifty to sixty thousandpopulation.

One Urban Community Health Centre (U-CHC) for five to six U-PHCs in bigcities.

One Auxiliary Nursing Midwives (ANM) for 10,000 population. One Accredited Social Health Activist ASHA (community link worker) for

200 to 500 households.

The estimated cost of NUHM for 5years period is Rs.22, 507 crore with theCentral Government share of Rs.16, 955crore. Centre-State funding pattern willbe 75:25 except for North Eastern statesand other special category states of

Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradeshand Uttarakhand for whom the fundingpattern will be 90:10.The scheme willfocus on primary health care needs of theurban poor. This Mission will beimplemented in 779 cities and towns with more than 50,000 population and cover about 7.75crore people. NUHM aims to improve the health status of the urban population in general,particularly the poor and other disadvantaged sections by facilitating equitable access to

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2quality health care, through a revamped primary public health care system, targeted outreachservices and involvement of the community and urban local bodies. The Union Cabinet in itsmeeting held in April 2012 has already approved the continuation of the National RuralHealth Mission (NRHM) and the other sub-mission under NHM till 31.3.2017.

he Union Government of India on 3 May 2013 revised the production estimates of thefood grains upwards by 5.22 million tones for 2012-13, over earlier expectation of

254.24 million tones due to the higher output of wheat, rice and coarse cereals. With thisrevision, the total cereal output estimation has gone up to 255.36 million tones. The wheatand rice production pegged at 93.62 million tones and 104.22 million tones respectively. Theearlier estimate set for the food grains for the year was 254.24 million tones. The thirdadvance estimate that was officially released on 3 May 2013 estimated that the total foodgrain production for the year will be lower by 3.96 million tones from the previous year

2011-12 record production of 259.24 million tones. As the total output for wheat and rice in2011-12 were 94.98 million tones and 105.31 million tones respectively. While for 2012-13,it is estimated to be 93.62 million tones and 104.22 million tones respectively. Delayedmonsoon and drought in different parts of states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka,Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan had an impact on the production of pulses andcoarse cereal during Kharif season.

ndhra Pradesh government is planning to set up a State Disaster Response Force on thelines of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), which will be stationed at

Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam and Tirupati. "Discussions are on and a meeting has beenconvened with the Chief Secretary on forming the SDRF. The proposed SDRF will haveseparate force, which will be set up at Hyderabad, Tirupati and Visakhapatnam centres,"Disaster Management Commissioner T Radha said. "The SDRF is likely to have 120personnel. New persons will be recruited for the force and discussions for allotting/identifying land for the proposed SDRF centers in these three major cities of Andhra Pradeshare still being worked out," he said. According to the Disaster Management officials, SDRFpersonnel will be trained and provided with equipment by NDRF to effectively deal withnatural and man-made disasters."There was a need felt to establish SDRF centers atHyderabad as it is the state capital, Tirupati due to pilgrimage rush and at Visakhapatnam,which is having port and several

ven as it acknowledges India as the world's most populous democracy, the Economistmagazine's Index of Democracy 2012 ranks India 38th among 165 nations with an

overall score of 7.52. India also gets high scores for electoral process and pluralism (9.58)and Civil liberties (9.41). The top three positions go to Norway (9.93) Sweden (9.73) andIceland 9.65, while the United States is ranked 21st with an overall score of 8.11 in the fifthedition of the Index prepared by the London weekly focusing on international politics andbusiness. Noting the wide disparities in democratic development across Asia, the report says

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3"although parts of the region - from North Korea and Laos, to Vietnam and China - are stillentrenched authoritarian regimes, the past couple of decades have seen the spread ofdemocracy in the region overall." Over the past decade, some 20 Asian countries have heldelections, and many have undergone peaceful transitions in government. "Despite its

problems, India remains the world's most populous democracy," the report said noting. "Yeteven in the democratic countries, there are often significant problems in the functioning ofpolitical systems." "The US and the UK remain at the bottom end of the full democracycategory," the report said. "The US democracy has been adversely affected by a deepening ofthe polarization of the political scene and political brinkmanship and paralysis. The UK isbeset by a deep institutional crisis." "The unprecedented rise of movements for democraticchange across the Arab world led many to expect a new wave of democratization," it said."But it has become apparent that democracy in the region remains a highly uncertainprospect." Popular confidence in political institutions continues to decline in many Europeancountries, it said noting in Eastern Europe democracy declined in 10 countries in 2012.

he Supreme Court of India directed that the Kudankulamnuclear plant situated in Tamil Nadu could startits operations now. A bench of JusticeK.S. Radhakrishnan andDipak Misra issued thedirections to thegovernment on safety aswell as security of theplant, along with itsoperations. The SupremeCourt directed Nuclear

Power Corporation of Indiaand the Atomic EnergyRegulatory Board to ensurethat all steps were taken forthe safety of the nuclear plant.The Apex Court explained thatthe Kudankulam nuclear plantwas absolutely safe and secure and that itwas necessary to start its operations for economicgrowth as well as welfare of India. In 2012, the fishermen as well as villagersprotested against the fuelling of this plant. Opponents of this plant, People's MovementAgainst Nuclear Energy (PMANE) complained that it was situated in the area which wasaffected badly by 2004 Asian tsunami and that there was a fear of disaster like that ofFukushima nuclear plant of Japan in 2011. The Kudankulam nuclear plant is among thoseplants which is a part of Indias aim of generating 63000 MW of nuclear power by 2032.

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4he Cabinet Committee onSecurity (CCS) under the Prime

Minister of India, Manmohan Singhapproved 11000 crore Rupees project on1 May 2013 for modernization of centralparamilitary forces. These forces includeITBP as well, which is responsible forguarding the Sino-Indian border. Theapproval will be implemented in fiveyears duration, beginning 2013-14 fiscalyears. The approval of the project isfollowed by altercation along Sino-Indianborder in Ladakh. The approval will also

benefit Border Security Force (BSF),Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Indo-Tibetan BorderPolice (ITBP), National Security Guard (NSG), Assam Rifles and Central Industrial SecurityForce (CISF). Modernization will make sure that all these forces get better night visiondevices, arms, vehicles, patrolling equipment and ammunition along with infrastructuralupgrade.

ice President of India inaugurated the International Centre for Environment Audit &Sustainable Development at Jaipur on 4 May. The Vice President of India M. Hamid

Ansari has said that India has been active in international forums relating to environmentalprotection, and is party to 94 multilaterals environmental agreements such as the Ramsar

Convention on Wetlands, Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Faunaand Flora (CITES), Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), among many others. Wehave signed the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC),

and acceded to the Kyoto Protocol in 2002.Addressing at the inaugural function oftheInternational Centre for Environment Audit andSustainable Development (ICED) organized byComptroller and Auditor General (CAG) at Jaipur(Rajasthan) on 4 May, he said that despite not havingbinding mitigation commitments as per the UNFCCC,India has communicated its voluntary mitigation goalof reducing the emissions intensity of its GrossDomestic Product (GDP) by 2025 per cent, over2005 levels, by 2020. He released a Special Cover onICED brought out by Department of Posts and visitedan Exhibition on ICED on the occasion. The VicePresident said that the CAG has a very important roleto play in this regard - not only to comment oneffectiveness of rules, regulations and programmes

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5for conserving the environment but also has to offer concrete recommendations to theexecutive for improving environmental governance. He said that the CAG is already animportant member of the Steering Committee of the International Organization of SupremeAudit institutions, and of its Working Group on Environment Audit. The creation of this

Centre here, and its emphasis on research to upgrade knowledge and skills, will furtherstrengthen Indias role in this important body.

he Expert Committee on Leveraging Panchayat Raj Institutions for the more efficientdelivery of public good and services on 4 May called on the President of India, Pranab

Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan and made a presentation on the contents of its 20thanniversary Report. The Committee was constituted by the Union Ministry of Panchayati Rajon August 27, 2012 under the chairmanship of Mani Shankar Aiyar. Other members ofCommittee who called on the President included Peelipose Thomas, Manabendra Nath Royand Member Secretary M.V. Rao. The Committee has in its recommendations said that thereis a need to constitute a National Panchayat Commission to oversee the cooperative effort of

the Centre and States to strengthen Panchayati Raj. The Committee also said that there is aneed to provide for District Councils through an appropriate amendment of the Constitutionas a single local government at the district level for better urban-rural convergence and equaltreatment of urban and rural people.

. Siddaramaiah is the new Chief Minister of Karnataka. He was elected for the post by75 of 121 Congress MLAs, who voted in secret ballot election here on 10th May, 2013.

The new CM-elect, who was invited by the Governor H. Bhardwaj to form the government isexpected to call on him to apprise about hispreparations to form the government. MrSiddaramaiah is a backward caste leader

from the Kuruba community with a bigsupport base, especially in the Old Mysoreregion in the south. He has been Oppositionleader and was among those who scriptedthe Congress' successful campaign. He is afive-time MLA and represents the Varunaconstituency in Mysore district. Once part ofthe Janata Dal (Secular) and a Deve Gowdaprotege, Mr Siddaramaiah has been aCongressman for only about six years. A

central Congress team headed by Defence Minister A.K. Antony oversaw this election.

he Tamil Nadu government on 8 May bannedproduction, possession, distribution and sale

of tobacco products such as pan masala and gutkha inthe state. Some states, including Kerala and AndhraPradesh, have already banned sale of pan masala andgutkha. Making a suo motu statement in the Assembly,Chief Minister Jayalalithaa referred to Supreme Court's

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6remarks in a case pending before it, seeking to know the action taken by state governments incontrolling usage of tobacco and announced the government's decision. She also referred toher government's notification on November 19, 2011, to ban the use of tobacco under thePrevention

he Minister for Women & Child Development, Krishna Tirath on 9 May 2013 launchedthe World Bank assisted ICDS Systems strengthening and Nutrition Improvement

Project (ISSNIP). The aim of the programme is improvement of child development andnutritional outcomes for children in selected districts having higher proportional of childunder nutrition. The project is worth Rs. 2893 crore with 70 percent IDA share of Rs. 2025crore over the time duration of 7 years. The cost of phase-I of the project is estimated to bearound Rs. 682 crore. The project received an initial support of US $ 106 million from theWorld Bank, which is payable over the time of 25 years. This will be followed by the supportfor second phase of US $ 344 million, which will be subject to assessment of phaseI.

Salient features of ISSNIP :

ISSNIP is designed to supplement andprovide value addition on the existing ICDSprogramme, through systems strengtheningfor better service delivery, as well as toallow the selected states and districts toexperiment, innovate and conduct pilots ofpotentially more effective approaches forICDS in order to achieve early childhoodeducation and nutrition outcomes. The

additional support through the project iscatalytic and is an important dimension ofMWCDs overall efforts to strengthen andrestructure the ICDS programme. Four major components of the project are: (i) institutionaland systems strengthening in ICDS (ii) community mobilization and behaviour changecommunication (iii) piloting multi-sectoral nutrition actions, and (iv) Project Management,Technical Assistance and Monitoring & Evaluation.

Memorandum of Understanding was signed between National Commission of Women(NCW) and the Housing and Urban Development Corporation Ltd. (HUDCO) in the

presence of the Minister of Women and Child Development Krishna Tirath and the Minister

of Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Ajay Maken. The MOU was signed by V. P.Baligar, IAS, Chairman & Managing Director (HUDCO) and Smt. K. Ratna Prabha, IAS,Member Secretary, National Commission for Women (NCW) in New Delhi on 7 May. Thisunderstanding forms part of the CSR of HUDCO. The focus will be on providing betteramenities of housing and other facilities such as drinking water, sanitation, electricity etc topoor and destitute women. This, the Minister noted, is a good start and one which willprovide encouragement and incentive to other corporate house and Navratanas to comeforward and spend in activities which have a wider and more meaningful social outcomes.

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7The NCW and HUDCO have entered into this MoU to improve the living conditions ofdestitute women on the identified areas for facilities like women hostels, remand homes oranything that is pertinent to women welfare or development by enhancing the quality of theirhabitats. HUDCO and NCW shall cooperate in the areas of re-construction of existing

structures where women in distress are housed, providing for living quarters, kitchens andtoilets, construction of living quarters, kitchens and toilets in pre-identified sites, providingsupport in design of the building, monitoring the progress of each project and any otheractivity which is mutually considered important/relevant by the HUDCO and NCW inconnection with the above agreed activities. Under the executed MoU, NCW shall identifythe areas where the activity/project has to be undertaken as per the vulnerability/need basedaddress the Government organization concerned with the desired development area and urgeit to formulate a suitable proposal for the purpose along with identification of a suitableimplementing agency and HUDCO shall provide financial assistance for implementation ofthese projects along with technical advice, if required. Also present during the signing werethe Chairperson of NCW, Smt. Mamta Sharma and senior officers from the Ministries.

ahara India Pariwar created a new Guinness World Record on 6 May 2013 when its121653 staff and workers sang Indias national

anthem Jana Gana Mana in union at Lucknow, UP.Hitherto, the world record in this categoryhas been held by Pakistan where acrowd of 42813 sang nationalanthem in a group at one place.Apart from this, Sahara IndiaPariwar had also attemptedthe record of more than one

million employeessinging the national anthemin one uniform at 4512 Saharaoffices across the country. Therepresentatives of Guinness WorldRecord witnessed the moment and confirmedthe world record. Subrata Roy Sahara, the Chairman ofSahara India Pariwar was conferred with the certificate byofficials of Guinness Book of World Records.

nion Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Law Minister Ashwani Kumarsubmitted their resignation to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh on 10 May 2013.

P.K. Bansal resigned from his office after a weeks time since his nephew Vijay Singla wasarrested for his alleged involvement of bribery of 90 lakh rupees from the Railway BoardMember, with a promise of promotion. Ashwani Kumar resigned as the CBI revealed to theSupreme Court about his scandalous role in tweaking its Report on the Coal Block allocationscam.

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8eira Kumar, the Speaker of Lok Sabha unveiled the statue of former Andhra PradeshChief Minister and Founder of Telugu Desam Party N. T. Rama Rao in the Parliament

on 7 May 2013. N. T. Rama Rao who is popularly known as NTR was born on 28 May 1923and died on 18 January 1996. He was a film actor, director and producer by profession and

his debut film was Mana Desam, which was directed by L. V. Prasad in 1949. He starred inabout 320 Telugu Films. In 1982, he founded the Telugu Desam Party. He served AndhraPradesh as its Chief Minister for three terms between 1983 and 1995. He was instrumental information of the National Front Government in 1989, which was a coalition of non-Congressparties and lasted in power for two years. The statue was donated by NTRs daughter andMinister of State for Commerce and Industry D. Purandeswari.

he Union Cabinet of India on 9 May decided to declare the year 2013 as WaterConservation Year. Following the theme of the year, the Government has proposed to

conduct several mass awareness activities to sensitize masses on water issues and toencourage water conservation among them. The national awareness programs launched by

the Government will aim towards achieving the identified objectives of the National WaterPolicy 2012 and National Water Mission. National Water Policy 2012 was adopted by theNational Water Resources Council headed by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 28December 2012. The Policy takes cognizance of the existing situation and proposes aframework for creation of a system of laws and institutions and a plan of action with aunified national perspective.

n response to the Supreme Court's scathing observations on autonomy of Central Bureauof Investigation (CBI), the Union Government formed a Group of Ministers (GoM) to

draft a law to insulate the investigating agency from external influence, in New Delhi on 14thMay. The GoM, headed by Finance Minister P Chidambaram, has External Affairs MinisterSalman Khurshid, Communications and Information Technology Minister Kapil Sibal,Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari and Minister of State for Personnel V.Narayanasamy as members, official sources said. CBI Director Ranjit Sinha will also give hisinput to the newly-constituted GoM. The GoM will deliberate on ways to shield CBI fromoutside interferences and strengthen its autonomy. The government's move came after theSupreme Court reprimand to the government for making CBI "a caged parrot" of its politicalmasters, while hearing a case related to alleged irregularities in Coal Blocks AllocationScam.

apil Sibal on 13th May assumed the charge of the Union Law Ministry, taking overfrom Ashwani Kumar who resigned last week after he came under attack in the

Supreme Court for vetting the CBI report on the allocation of coal blocks. Sibal will holdadditional charge of law along with the communications and information technologyministry. Ashwani Kumar resigned on 10th May.

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9he Union Cabinet of India on 16 May 2013 approved the establishment of the GandhiHeritage Sites Mission. The objective behind this approval is to conserve and restore the

heritage sites associated withthe Mahatma Gandhi, theFather of the Nation. GandhiHeritage Sites Mission willbe assigned with theidentification, collation andassessment of theinformation on GandhiHeritage material, itsmanagement anddeployment. The mission

will also be responsible foridentifying the conservation methodology as well as the priorities for documents and objects,with its point of view of archival storage and museology and for physical structures and sites,as also guidelines for their subsequent maintenance. The mission will also preserve the 2000important sites identified by the panel that was chaired by Gopalkrishna Gandhi, ex-Governor of West Bengal along with the other 39 core sites.

ndian National Defence University, a first-of-its-kind institution for training and researchin military studies, will be set up near Gurgaon in Haryana. The location is close to the

national capital. The foundation stone of INDU, to be constituted under an Act of Parliament,will be laid by Prime Minister on May 23, Deputy Commissioner P C Meena said on 19

May. The proposed institute will be equipped with training and research facilities on allaspects of national security as part of the strategic national policy-making. While one-third ofits strength will comprise of civilian students, the remaining seats will be reserved for in-service defence personnel. The sprawling 200 acre campus will be set up in Binola villagewith an estimated cost of Rs 300 crore, Meena said, adding, land for the purpose has alreadybeen acquired by the state government.

he Union Government on 15 May 2013 had set up an Expert Committee under thesupervision Raghuram G Rajan, Chief Economic Adviser to evolve a composite index to

measure backwardness of states.The panel is set up in consistent to the Budgetannouncement, and it can also invite other experts as Special Invitees for discussions. The

decision was taken amid demands for special category status by Bihar. The backwardness ofthe States will be consider in terms of measures like distance of the State from the nationalaverage under criteria such as per capita income and other human development indicatorsand for evolving a Composite Development Index of States. The Committee is supposed tosubmit its report within 60 days. The other members of the committee are Shaibal Gupta,Bharat Ramaswami, Najeeb Jung, Nirija G Jayal and Tuhin Pandey. It is important here tonote that the present criteria for determining backwardness are based on terrain, density ofpopulation and length of international borders.

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10overnment of India decided to launch Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) Schemein 20 high Aadhaar coverage districts from 1 June 2013.The scheme aims to curb

leakages and prevent black-marketing and provide subsidy to consumers in their bankaccounts. All LPG consumers are advised to immediately do the following to avail of subsidy

in their bank accounts. For the benefit of LPG consumers, who cannot complete formalitiesby 1 June 2013, a grace period of three months is being given to complete the formalities.After this period, all consumers who have not completed the formality will get LPG cylindersat market price, without any subsidy, till they complete the same.

he Union Government on 16 May 2013 revised the criteria for creamy layer of OtherBackward Classes (OBCs) from Rs. 4.5 lakh to Rs. 6 lakh to avail benefits of

reservations in government jobs and admissions to central educational institutions. Thedecision came up in a view to increase the income limits in tune with the increase of theconsumer price index. This would enable more people to take an advantage of reservationbenefits that are extended to OBCs. Creamy layer is the income limit beyond which OBCs

are not eligible for quotas.

ajiv Gandhi International Airport (RGIA), operated by GMR Hyderabad InternationalAirport Ltd (GHIAL), has been accorded 5-star rating by the British Safety Council for

its health & safety management system. The BSC 5-star rating is a significant safety awardglobally and RGIA is the only Airport in the whole world to receive this coveted award. Theachievement clearly demonstrates RGIAs commitment towards health and safety of itsemployees, passengers, and the entire airport community; and I thank all for theircontribution, said S.G.K. Kishore, CEO, GHIAL. The award criterion is very stringent.There are 995 safety compliance requirements for the health and safety management systemcovering 57 elements. In order to get a 5-Star rating, a minimum of 92 per cent has to be

obtained out of a total score of 5000, and RGIA scored 96 per cent.

he Indian telecom sector became the second largest telephone network in the world, afterChina by registering exceptional growth during last nine years. The reasons for growth

of telecom sector including the sectoral reforms initiated by the Union Government, activeparticipation of the private sector and development of wireless technology. In case of mobile

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11penetration, the progress is must steeper. By on 31 March 2012, the wireless telephonesreached to 96.74 percent from 96.62 percent by June end 2012. The share of landline phonesincreased from 3.38 percent to 3.44 percent between April and December 2012. The wirelesssubscriber base also increased from 33.6 million in March 2004 to 864.72 million till

December 2012. The average tariff for every outgoing call per minute for GSM services wentdown from Rs. 2.89 in March 2004 to 47 paisa in December 2012.

RCTC website will start booking 7,200 tickets per minute soon. With the aim of bridgingthe gap between demand and supply in e-ticketing category, IRCTC spelt out its grand

plan to book 7,200 e-tickets per minute in the current fiscal. This strengthening process of theticketing site will cost Railways about Rs. 100 crore, said a statement from the Ministry onMay 27, 2013. Currently, the ticketing site of the IRCTC can handle about 1.2 lakhconcurrent connections and book about 2,000 tickets per minute. The upgrading of website isa continuous process as an average booking per day has been increased from 3.67 lakh in2012 to 4.15 lakh now. There are about 31 crore reserve tickets being booked in a year out of

which 55 percent tickets are sold through windows. While 37 percent tickets are bookedonline, eight percent are being booked by ticketing agents.

he Annual Plan for the year 2013-14 for the state of Andhra Pradesh was finalized inNew Delhi on 30 May, at a meeting between Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission,

Mr. Montek Singh Ahluwalia and Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N.Kiran Kumar Reddy.The plan size has been agreed at Rs. 53,000crore. Mr Ahluwalia complemented the StateGovernment for efforts to make development truly inclusive and also for the efforts aimed atpromoting public private partnership in the development of both social and physicalinfrastructure. He said better involvement of private sector would be needed during 12th planperiod as State funds would not be enough to meet the needs of infrastructure development.

He said the State Governments should come forward with the suggestions that can improveefficiency of flagship schemes and commission would consider them while finalizing plandocument. It was pointed out that in the 11th plan outlay for Andhra Pradesh was approved atRs. 1,87,797 crore of which it has achieved Rs. 1,61,756 crore, i.e. 86% of the approvedoutlay. The 12th Five Year Plan of the State has targeted plan outlay is Rs. 3,42,842 crore ofwhich Rs. 48,935 crore was approved for 2012-13.The GSDP growth of the State is morethan the national level growth rate and the sectoral growth rates also places the state abovethe national growth rates.

In terms of mobilization of resources, Balance from Current Revenue (BCR) has remained

positive at about 43% of the aggregate plan resources, with States Own Resources (SOR)contributing about 50% of aggregate resources during the 11th Five Year Plan. In 2012-13,BCR (Latest estimates) account for 40% of the aggregate resources and SOR is 40% of theaggregate resources. Tax-GSDP ratio for Andhra Pradesh has improved to about 8.5% ofGSDP in 2012-13 as compared to 7.9% of GSDP in 2007-08. The State is revenue surplus,and fiscal deficit is within a comfortable level of 3%. Planning Commission expressedconcern over the slow progress in the literacy rate and pointed out that as per Census 2011,

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12the States literacy rate is 67.6% with male literacy at 75.6% and female literacy at 59.74%.The States literacy rate is much lower than the national average of 74.0%.

he ISRO Navigation Centre (INC), established at Indian Deep Space Network (IDSN)

complex at Byalalu, about 40 km from Bangalore, was inaugurated on May 28, 2013 byMr. V. Narayanasamy, Minister of State in thePrime Ministers Office, Ministry ofPersonnel, Public Grievances andPensions. INC is an important element ofthe Indian Regional Navigation SatelliteSystem (IRNSS), an independent navigationsatellite system being developed by India.IRNSS will have a constellation of sevensatellites and enables its users to determine theirlocation and time accurately. These

satellites will positioned in geostationary andinclined geosynchronous orbits36,000 km above the earths surface. IRNSScoverage will extend over India and its neighborhood and the satellites are equipped withhigh precision atomic clocks and continuously transmit navigation signals to users. As thefocal point of many critical operations of IRNSS, ISRO Navigation Centre is responsible forproviding the time reference, generation of navigation messages and monitoring and controlof ground facilities including ranging stations of IRNSS. It hosts several key technicalfacilities for supporting various navigation functions. IRNSS will have a network of twentyone ranging stations geographically distributed primarily across India. They provide data forthe orbit determination of IRNSS satellites and monitoring of the navigation signals. The data

from the ranging/monitoring stations is sent to the data processing facility at INC where it isprocessed to generate the navigation messages. The navigation messages are then transmittedfrom INC to IRNSS satellites through the spacecraft control facility at Hassan/Bhopal. Thestate of the art data processing and storage facilities at INC enable swift processing of dataand support its systematic storage.

he HRD Ministry on 30 May has constituted a seven-member Task Force under formerIIT Kanpur Director Sanjay Dhande to set up a national testing agency for conducting

various kinds of national-level exams. It will prepare a blue print for creating a specialpurpose vehicle to take the concept of National Testing Agency (NTA) forward. The CentralAdvisory Board for Education (CABE), the highest decision-making body on education, hadearlier endorsed the proposal, as the move would relieve different bodies such as the UGCand the IIT from the responsibility of holding national-level tests. Higher EducationSecretary Ashok Thakur had said the proposed agency might be formed through an executiveorder and not set up as a statutory body through an Act of Parliament. According to aMinistry statement, the rationale for setting up the body lies in ensuring that a multiplicity ofentrance examinations, leading to stress on the students, is addressed in a comprehensivemanner by formulating a uniform entrance examination for admissions in different branchesof higher learning.

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13he first all-women post office (Mahila Dak Ghar) in Andhra Pradesh has come up inVisakhapatnam on 1st June. The post office in MVP Colony area was inaugurated by

Union Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology, Killi Kruparani.Speaking on the occasion, she said the

initiative was part of the UPAGovernment's focus on womenempowerment, safety and gender equality."Four all-women post offices will be soonopened at Narayanaguda,Vivekanandanagar, Andhra Mahila Sabhaand Vidyanagar in Hyderabad, theMinister said. Hyderabad's main postoffice in Shamsabad will soon have anAutomated Mail Processing Centre. Oncethe centre becomes operational, no documentation will be required with respect to sorting,

dispatching and delivering of mails, the Minister said.

rime Minister Manmohan Singh was re-elected to the Rajya Sabha from Assam for thefifth consecutive time on 30th May, 2013. Another Congress nominee, Santiuse Kujur,

also won the second Rajya Sabha seat from the State, polling for which took place in theAssembly. Dr. Singh polled 49 first preference votes and Mr. Kujur 45 first preference votes.All India United Democratic Front nominee Aminul Islam polled 18 votes. Nine legislatorsof the Asom Gana Parishad and five BJP MLAs in the 126-member House abstained fromvoting.

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