SEPTEMBER CURRENT AFFAIRS

INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS:

The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously on 27th September, to require Syria toeliminate its arsenal of chemical weapons -- or face consequences."Today's resolutionwill ensure that the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program happens assoon as possible and with the utmost transparency and accountability," Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. The U.N. resolution was based on a deal struck this monthbetween the United States and Russia that averted an American military strike overallegations the Syrian government used sarin nerve gas in an August 21 attack on aDamascus suburb that U.S. officials said left at least 1,400 people dead. The resolutiondid not authorize the automatic use of force if Syria is said to be in violation, as waspreviously sought by the United States. The 15-member Security Council met shortlyafter the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, or OPCW, voted to fast-track Syria's addition to the Chemical Weapons Convention, which bans such weapons.For nearly two years, the U.N. Security Council had been unable to reach a consensusover what to do to bring about an end to Syria's civil war. Russia and China repeatedlyvetoed resolutions dating back to October 2011 that condemned President Bashar al-Assad's government and called for him to step down. The turnaround came this month,when Russia called for Syria to divest itself of its chemical weapons arsenal after U.S.President Barack Obama accused Syria of crossing a "red line" with the use of nervegas and threatened a strike. Syria announced this month that it was willing to join theagreement. Both the United States and Russia warned that if Syria failed to adhere tothe terms of the U.N. resolution, it would face consequences. U.S. Secretary of StateJohn Kerry said the world community was imposing a binding obligation on thegovernment of al-Assad to get rid of its stockpile.The United Nations estimates morethan 100,000 people have died since March 2011 when a brutal government crackdownagainst protesters devolved into an all-out civil war.

Ministers from 113 countries at U.N have signed a declaration pledging new action toend sexual violence in conflict. British Foreign Secretary William Hague said it prohibitsamnesties for sexual violence in peace agreements. It also pledges to adopt a newInternational Protocol in 2014 to help ensure that evidence collected can stand up incourt. Mr. Hague, who co-hosted on 25th September’s meeting on the sidelines of U.NGeneral Assembly, said Britain will be encouraging the 80 U.N. member states thathaven’t signed the declaration to do so. He also announced that Britain will host aconference next year on sexual violence in conflict.

Trailblazer Sri Srinivasan (46) was on 27th September, sworn in judge of the secondmost powerful court of the U.S., making him the first Indian American to be on thebench of the US Courts of Appeal for the District of Columbia Circuit. Chandigarh-bornSrinivasan, whose parents migrated to the United States in 1970s, was sworn in theoath of office in an overflowing court room of US Courts of Appeal for the District ofColumbia Circuit by Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, in the presence of legal luminaries,friends and families. Mr. Srinivasan was previously the Principal Deputy SolicitorGeneral of the United States. He is a highly-respected appellate advocate.

Megan Young of Philippines on 28 September 2013 was crowned Miss World 2013 atthe Bali Nasa Dua Convention Center in Bali, Indonesia. Miss France, Marine Lorphelinfinished as the first runner-up, Miss Ghana Carranzar Naa Okailey Shooter was thesecond runner up. Megan Young won the competition after beating 130 contestantsacross the globe. She is 23 years old. She is a student of filmmaking. Megan was bornin US and she moved to the Philippines, when she was 10. Megan wants to become adirector after gaining experience and finishing her qualifications. India's Navneet KaurDhillon finished among the top 20 finalists but couldn’t reach final ten. She won the titleof Miss Multimedia.

China’s third richest man, Wang Jianlin, announced on 22nd September, that hiscompany Dalian Wanda Group was to embark on the construction of a giant film studioin Quingdao, on the country’s eastern coast. Representing an investment of 50 billionYuan (£5.1 billion), Mr. Wang claimed it as the most expensive studio projectever. Named the Oriental Movie Metropolis, the facility will contain 20 sound stages,including the world’s first underwater studio, a convention and exhibition complex, ashopping mall and amusement park, and seven hotels. It will not, apparently, be acontender for the title of world’s largest: that appears to still reside with the 47-stageRamoji Film City in Hyderabad, India, as certified by Guinness World Records. At aceremony to announce the project, Mr. Wang said: “The Oriental Movie Metropolis is amajor step in China’s strategy to become a global cultural powerhouse.” Hollywoodstars such as John Travolta and Catherine Zeta Jones were in attendance. The projectmarks the latest step in China’s increasingly influential role in the global film business atit seeks to take on Hollywood’s financial and artistic dominance. Mr. Wang’s $8.6 billionfortune has been accrued largely through real estate development, and has acquiredconsiderable interests in entertainment and leisure industries. He made internationalheadlines last year after purchasing U.S. cinema chain AMC for $2.6 billion (£1.6billion).

World Tourism Day observed on 27 September 2013 across the world to bringawareness about the importance of tourism. The purpose of this day is to raiseawareness on the role of tourism within the international community and to demonstratehow it affects social, cultural, political and economic values worldwide. Theme for 2013is Tourism and Water: Protecting our Common Future This year’s theme highlightstourism’s role in water access and shines a spotlight on the actions currently beingtaken by the sector in order to contribute to a more sustainable water future, as well asthe challenges ahead. World Tourism Day was first celebrated in 1980 by the UnitedNations World Tourism Organisation.

Chancellor Angela Merkel won a third term by a landslide victory in German electionson 22 September 2013.Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservative Union bloc - theChristian Democratic Union (CDU) and Bavarian Christian Social Union (CSU) won 41.5percent of vote, but finished just short of an absolute majority. Final results gave theCDU/CSU 311 seats, the Social Democrats 192, the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD)64 seats and the ecologist Greens 63 seats. Rising to the position of Chairwoman of theChristian Democratic Union party, Merkel became Germany’s first female chancellor,and one of the leading figures of the European Union, following the 2005 nationalelections.

The number of child workers worldwide has dropped by a third over the past 13 years,according to a report from the International Labour Organization. But campaigners saythat protecting children from hazardous work and long hours remains a major challenge,with families in poor countries such as Bangladesh heavily reliant on the income theyget from sending children to work. There are 168 million children working in situationsthat fit the ILO definition of child labor. That is “work undertaken by children below theappropriate legal minimum working age”, based on its minimum age convention.According to the ILO, most of the progress on child labor was made between 2008 and2012, when the number of children classed as laborers worldwide fell from 215 millionto 168 million. The report is being launched before a major conference on child labour inBrasilia, Brazil’s federal capital, on October 8. One key focus of the ILO’s work in thecoming year will be the informal sector, including small-scale manufacturers to childrenworking in a one-room house, roadside jewelers to children living with their family on afarm and working long hours during the harvest. The ILO report documents the numberand type of actions over child labor taken around the world, including monitoringmechanisms, measures taken to push for universal education, changes in the legal agefor working in some countries and stricter laws brought in to tackle slavery.

Banned chemical weapons have been used on a wide scale in the Syria war and thereis clear evidence sarin killed hundreds of people in one major attack, U.N. inspectors

said on 16th September. Chemical arms have been used in the 30-month-old conflict“on a relatively large scale,” says the report to be released by UN leader Ban Ki-moon.UN Experts, who went to Syria last month, are not allowed to say who carried out theattacks. But they said there is “clear and convincing” evidence that sarin gas killedhundreds of people in an attack on Ghouta near Damascus on August 21st.

The attack sparked threats by the United States and other western nations of a militarystrike on President Bashar al-Assad’s forces. The United States says more than 1,400people died in Ghouta. Though the military threat has eased after Russia and the UnitedStates agreed a plan to put Syrian chemical arms under international control, the U.N.report will influence what measures are taken to make Mr. Assad stick to the plan. Theexperts said that based on evidence they had found, “the conclusion is that chemicalweapons have been used in the ongoing conflict between the parties in the Syrian ArabRepublic ... against civilians including children on a relatively large scale.

Tony Abbott was sworn in as Australia's new Prime Minister on 18th September. TonyAbbott is the 28th Prime Minister of Australia. He took the oath at Government House inCanberra in front of Governor-General Quentin Bryce. His Conservative Party defeatedformer Prime Minister Kevin Rudd's centre-left Labor Party in 7th September 2013elections. Tony Abbott has immediately ordered the scrapping of Australia's carbon taxand the halting of asylum-seeker boats after being sworn in as Prime Minister.

Russia announced that they would reopen a major naval base in the Arctic and resumeregular naval patrols in the region as it laid claim to a vast swath of the Arctic seabed.President Vladimir Putin said on 18th September, Russia is going to rebuild a navalbase off its Arctic coast that was abandoned 20 years ago. He added that the navalfacility would “mark a new step in the opening up of the Northern Sea Route” and wouldhelp “effectively control” the Russian section of the Arctic Ocean. The move comes amonth after Russia submitted to the United Nations a claim to extend its 200-mileExclusive Economic Zone by another 150 miles or 1.2 million square kilometers.Moscow argues that it has scientific evidence proving beyond doubt that seabed itclaims is continuation of its continental shelf. The Russian Defense Ministry said thatnext year it will start establishing naval outposts in Novaya Zemlya and the Franz-JosefLand archipelagos in the Arctic Ocean.

The United Nations and the African Union on 17th September, have agreed tostrengthen protection of conflict-affected children in Africa, where despite progress,grave child rights violations including under-age recruitment, continue. “As the African

Union is taking a larger role in the continent’s mediation and peacekeeping operations,it had become essential to make our partnership stronger,” said Leila Zerrougui, SpecialRepresentative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.

Her office and the Peace and Security Department of the AU Commission signed anagreement on 17 September, in partnership with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), tostep up measures to protect children from armed violence. Among the areas ofcollaboration outlined in the document, the AU, with UN support, agrees to include theprotection of children in all its peace and security activities. The agreement also calls forthe development of a joint programme of work to align domestic legislation with regionaland international child rights, as well as to develop guidelines on protection of children.In addition, improved and harmonized training programmes in child protection will bedeveloped for countries contributing troops to AU peace missions.

China's first aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, returned to its homeport, Qingdao on 21stSeptember, after a three-month voyage, during which it carried out major and crucialtests. During the voyage that started on June 11, the carrier witnessed more than 100sorties of landing and takeoff by various aircrafts, including the J-15 carrier-bornefighter, the official Liberation Army Daily (Jiefang Ribao) said on 22 September. Thetests have resulted in further improvement of the carrier's flight control processes,according to the official newspaper. The voyage is the longest and farthest that hasbeen taken by the Liaoning since its maiden voyage, the report said. It is also the firstsince it based its homeport in Qingdao in February. The Liaoning is China's only aircraftcarrier in operation. It was refitted based on an unfinished Russian-made carrier anddelivered to the navy on Sept. 25, 2012.

Russia has offered to India, to set up manufacturing facilities in the country for jointproduction of defense hardware and also reached an understanding for setting up twomajor projects in a joint venture for producing civil choppers and aircraft. This wasdecided during the meeting between Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharmaand Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Rogozin and Russia’s Industry and TradeMinister Denis Manturov in St. Petersburg. Mr. Sharma is there to attend the 7th IndiaRussian Forum on Trade and Investment. The visit assumes significance in the light ofPrime Minister Manmohan Singh’s forthcoming visit to Russia next month. Both Mr.Sharma and Mr. Rogozin agreed on collaboration to jointly develop and manufacturecivilian aircraft and helicopters for especially for emergency relief and medical purposes.Both Russia and India felt that these two aircraft projects should not be seen only fordomestic use but will also explore the possibilities of third country exports. One of theprojects under collaboration for civilian aircrafts/helicopters envisages the setting up ofthe joint venture for manufacturing in Indian factories different modifications of light

helicopters Ka-226T for medical, rescue and other purposes. The Russian side hasmooted a new proposal involving IL-112V.Russia also proposed to India for setting upmanufacturing facilities in the country for production of defense equipment in variousfields. The opportunity could also be used to make India as the export base for suchdefense hardware it was felt.

A Nigerian woman, Obabiyi Aishah Ajibola (21) on 18th September, won the MissMuslimah World contest, a riposte to the Miss World. The 20 finalists, all required towear headscarves, were judged on beauty as well as how well they recited Koranicverses and their views on Islam in the modern world. After a show in front of anaudience of mainly religious scholars and devout Muslims, a panel picked ObabiyiAishah Ajibola (21) from Nigeria as the winner. She said it was “thanks to almightyAllah” that she had won the contest. She received 25 million rupiah (US $ 2,200) andtrips to Makkah and India as prizes.

The earliest fully modern humans arrived in West Asia around 42,000 years ago, a newstudy led by Oxford scientists has found. Researchers obtained the radiocarbon datesof marine shell beads found at Ksar Akil, a key archaeological site in Lebanon, whichallowed them to calculate that the oldest human fossil from the same sequence ofarchaeological layers is 42,400 to 41,700 years old. This is significant because the ageof the earliest fossils, directly and indirectly dated, of modern humans found in Europe isroughly similar, researchers said. The discovery throws up intriguing new possibilitiesabout the routes taken by the earliest modern humans out of Africa, according to thestudy published in journal PLOS ONE .

The research team radiocarbon dated 20 marine shells from the top 15 meters ofarchaeological layers at Ksar Akil, north of Beirut. It was widely believed that at somepoint after 45,000 years ago early modern humans arrived in Europe, taking routes outof Africa through the Near East, and, from there, along the Mediterranean rim or alongthe River Danube. The evidence suggests populations of early modern humans arrivedin Europe and the Near East at roughly the same time, sparking a new debate aboutwhere the first populations of early humans travelled from in their expansion towardsEurope and which alternative routes they may have taken. The team was able tocalculate the age of the lost fossil at 40,800-39,200 years ago.

As the rest of the world reconsiders the use of nuclear energy in the wake of the 2011Fukushima accident in Japan, China has made its new, domestically-developed, fourth-generation reactor as the answer for developing countries’ concerns regarding costs

and safety. The State-run China Nuclear Engineering Group Corporation (CNEC),closely involved in the design and construction of many of the 17 nuclear reactors inoperation, on 15th September, presented designs of its new fourth-generation HighTemperature Reactor (HTR) and High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR), onthe sidelines of the first China-Arab States trade exposition which opened in thiswestern Chinese city. With global interest in nuclear power waning following Fukushima,the CNEC is hoping that success with its reactor will help rekindle interest abroad. TheCNEC has been charged by the State Council, or Cabinet, with expanding the nuclearindustry’s reach overseas. The company was behind the Chashma-3 and Chashma-4reactors in Pakistan. The deals triggered controversy because they were agreed to afterChina joined the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).China is building 28 reactors – morethan in any other country — with most of the projects entirely designed and constructeddomestically, using technology adapted from the U.S., France and Russia. China hasmade a case for its domestically-developed, fourth-generation reactor as the answer fordeveloping countries’ concerns regarding costs and safety.

The Man Booker Prize, described as the “the most important and influential award forliterary fiction in the English speaking world” might from now on actually qualify for thatclaim. According to an announcement by Jonathan Taylor, Chair of the Booker Prize,the prize will from 2014 be expanded to include writers in English from any part of theworld provided their books have been published in the United Kingdom. Thus far theBooker Prize was for literary fiction by authors from the Commonwealth, the Republic ofIreland and Zimbabwe. The decision to open up the Booker was not one that thetrustees took “quickly or lightly” Mr. Taylor said. “Over the following 18 months the viewsof writers, readers, publishers, agents, booksellers and others were canvassed on bothsides of the Atlantic and beyond.” However, other rules remain: the books must bepublished in the UK and entered by their UK publishers, the practice of long lists andshortlists will stay, and judges will be required to consider all entries.

U.S. President Barack Obama faced growing pressure from Russia's Vladimir Putin andother world leaders on 5 September, to decide against launching military strikes inSyria, which many of them fear would hurt the global economy and push up oil prices.At a summit of the Group of 20 (G20) developed and developing economies in St.Petersburg, this was happened. The rift over Syria overshadowed the discussions onhow to revive growth but not before splits emerged within the group over a U.S. plan towind down an economic stimulus program. The G20 accounts for two thirds of theworld's population and 90 percent of its output. The first round at the summit went toPutin, as China, the European Union, the BRICS emerging economies and a letter fromPope Francis all warned of the dangers of military intervention in Syria without theapproval of the U.N. Security Council. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moonlater told the leaders over the dinner in a tsarist-era seafront palace that any militaryaction must have the Security Council's backing. The G20 achieved unprecedented

cooperation between developed and emerging nations to stave off economic collapseduring the 2009 financial crisis, but the harmony has since waned. Member states are atodds as the U.S. recovery gains pace, Europe lags, and developing economies worryabout the impact of the Federal Reserve's plans to stop a bond-buying program that hashelped kick-start the U.S. economy. The BRICS agreed to commit $100 billion to acurrency reserve pool that could help defend against a balance of payments crisis,although the mechanism will take time to set up. There is likely to be an agreement onmeasures to fight tax evasion by multinational companies at the summit in thespectacular, 18th-century Peterhof palace complex, built on the orders of Tsar Peter theGreat. An initiative will be presented on refining regulation of the $630-trillion globalmarket for financial derivatives to prevent a possible blow-up.

India will be hosting the 33rd Asian & Pacific Conference of Correctional Administrators(APCCA), 2013 in New Delhi from 22nd to 27th September, 2013. The conference willbe inaugurated by the Union Home Minister. This is a prestigious event for thecorrectional officers to share ideas and learn from others’ experiences and givedirection to innovative ideas in correctional administration and welfare. Apart fromdelegates from 23 member countries, the delegates from States/UTs dealing withcorrectional administrations will also attend the conference. The theme of this year’sconference is “Correction-Transformation-Re-integration”. This pushes the agenda ofthe correctional welfare beyond conventional practices to assist the reintegration of thereleased inmates back to the society. Asian & Pacific Conference of CorrectionalAdministrators (APCCA) is an organisation of 23 countries viz., Australia, Brunei,Cambodia, Canada, China, Fiji, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Korea,Macao, Malaysia, Mongolia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, Solomon Islands, SriLanka, Thailand, Tonga and Vietnam. India is a founder member of this organization.India is an elected member of the Governing Board of the organization since 2008.Every year the annual conference is organized by the member countries on rotationalbasis where Correctional Administrators of member countries exchange ideas in relationto the prison reforms in the Asia Pacific region. The conference gives correctionalofficers a chance to express their knowledge and exchange best practices beingadopted in various countries. The conference was organized by Brunei last year.

Malala Yousafzai on 3rd September, officially opened Europe's largest public library inBirmingham. She was shot in the head by the Taliban on her school bus in Pakistan -for daring to campaign about girls' rights to education. Malala made a speech at theinauguration in which she said "I have challenged myself that i will read thousands ofbooks and i will empower myself with knowledge”. The building cost nearly£200m to build and holds a million books. Ms. Yousafzai was the chief guest atthe opening ceremony of the new Birmingham Library .The new state-of-the-art librarywill now be the largest in Europe and is expected to attract three million visitors a year.

The Vice President of India, Hamid Ansari inaugurated the one day internationalconference on alliance for literacy, peace and development in South Asia at New Delhion 7 September. India has called for enhanced cooperation in the field of literacy andeducation. Inaugurating the conference, Hamid Ansari said that through mutualcooperation involving sharing of experiences, lessons learnt and best practices, theregion can together fight the scourge of illiteracy, remove ignorance from our midst andbuild modern educated and enlightened societies in our countries, the region andbeyond. He said 40 crore adults, almost half of the world’s illiterate population live inSouth Asia. Women and girls constitute nearly two thirds of the illiterate adultpopulation, making the magnitude of the problem even greater. Appreciating the literacyamong young women growing at a faster pace than that of young men, the Vice-President said that gender parity in literacy is a distinct possibility in the future. In theConference, the Vice-President of India also announced that Saakshar Bharatprogramme has been recognized by experts and it is being conferred UNESCO’S KingSejong Literacy prize for this year. This International Conference on Peace, Literacyand Development in South Asia was organized by National Literacy Mission Authority,Department of School Education and Literacy under Ministry of Human ResourceDevelopment.

Egypt's army-backed government has dissolved the Muslim Brotherhood as a registerednon-governmental organization, the state-run Al-Akhbar newspaper reported on 6September. The decision applies to the NGO registered by the Brotherhood in March inresponse to a lawsuit that argued the group had no legal status and marks a legalchallenge to Morsi's movement as the police round up its leaders across the country.After veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak was overthrown in 2011, the Brotherhood wonparliamentary and presidential elections. The army deposed Morsi on July 3 in responseto mass protests against his rule. The authorities are mounting the harshest crackdownon the Brotherhood in decades, killing hundreds of Morsi's supporters and arrestingmany of its leaders on charges of inciting violence. There has so far been no attempt toban its political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party.

India on 4th September gave USD one million as to the United Nations Relief andWorks Agency (UNRWA) for providing food and medicines to Palestine refugees.UNRWA provides assistance to some five million registered Palestine refugees inJordan, Lebanon, Syria and in the Palestine. Spokesperson in the Ministry of ExternalAffairs Syed Akbaruddin said the financial assistance to the UN agency has been givenas part of India's annual contribution to it. UNRWA is funded almost entirely by voluntarycontributions from UN member-states. UNRWA Commissioner General Filippo Grandi,who had a meeting with senior officials in the MEA on 4 September, thanked India for its

continuous support to the UN agency. "India has been supporting the humanitarianefforts. We want India to expand the cooperation further," he said.

Fiji’s military regime passed a Constitution on 6 September, in a step that is raising bothhopes and concerns among many who want democracy restored to the South Pacificisland nation. The regime that seized power in a 2006 coup says the Constitution isanother step toward it holding free elections next year. The document envisages aParliament consisting of 50 representatives elected every four years based on oneperson, one vote. But many say the Constitution also curtails freedoms and is self-serving to the regime. Former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry was among thosearrested and taken into custody for about two hours during protests on Friday againstthe Constitution.

Iran plans to send its second monkey into space onboard home-made rocket Pishgam(Pioneer) II within 45 days. In January, Iran had sent a capsule containing a monkeyonboard the Pishgam I, Xinhua reported. Unlike the first rocket which was solid-fuelled,the Pishgam II will use liquid propellant, sources said. The plan to send living creaturesinto space was part of the project to send human beings into space within a course offive to eight years, said the Iranian official.

National affairs:K. Rahman Khan, the Union Minister for Minority Affairs launched two new schemesnamely “Seekho aur Kamao (Learn & Earn)” and “Jiyo Parsi” in New Delhi on 23rdSeptember. The Minister launched the pilot project of 500 minority trainees throughIL&FS Skill Development Corporation at five locations in the country. These locationsare Delhi, Kolkata, Shillong, Barnala and Bengaluru. Fifty five trainees comprisingMuslims, Sikhs and Christians which started training from July this year were givenadvance job letters today to ensure employment. Referring to members of the batchfrom three important minority communities, the Minister assured to reach Buddhists andParsis, the remaining minority communities. The Minister also launched another veryessential scheme “Jiyo Parsi” for containing population decline of Parsis in India. It is a100% central sector scheme. Referring to the alarming total fertility rate of Parsis thathas gone down below one ,Shri Khan said Government of India is very much concernabout the declining trend of the Parsi population in the country. Therefore, with theinvolvement of Parsi community and on their demand, Ministry of Minority Affairs hascome up with an ambitious programme i.e. ‘Jiyo Parsi”.

The Department of Posts, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology ofIndia allotted Customized Pin Code to the Supreme Court of India for the first time on 26September 2013. The Customized Pin Code of the Supreme Court is 110 201.Theevent took place on the occasion that marked the completion of 41 years of theintroduction of Pin Code in the country. The PIN was introduced on 15 August 1972 inIndia. The Department of Posts also started a Locality Based Online Pin Code SearchDirectory of Delhi on this occasion for the first time in India. Postal Index Number (PIN)or PIN Code is a 6 digit code of Post Office numbering used by India Post. The PIN wasintroduced on 15 August 1972. There are 9 PIN regions in the country.

The Union Cabinet on 24th September approved the proposal for implementation of themulti-sectoral programme to address the maternal and child under-nutrition in 200 highburden districts in the 12th Five Year Plan. The multi-sect oral nutrition programmewould address the maternal and child malnutrition in 200 high burden districts bybringing together various national programmes through strong institutional,programmatic and operational convergence at the State, District, Block and Villagelevels. The scheme will cost Rs. 1,213.19 crore for the 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17)as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme with a Centre : State cost sharing ratio of 90:10 forall components in the North Eastern Region States and special category States and75:25 for other States and Union Territories. The Central share would be Rs. 944.39crore and the state share would be Rs. 268.80 crore. The programme targets tocontribute to the following as Outcomes i) Prevention an d reduction in child under-nutrition (underweight prevalence in children under 3 years of age); and ii) reduction inlevels of anemia among young children, adolescent girls and women.

A six-member expert committee constituted by the Centre on fixing a new criterion fordetermining the backwardness of Indian states on 26th September, gave its reports,claiming Odisha, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh are the least developed states in thecountry. The panel led by Raghuram Rajan, former Chief Economic Adviser in theFinance Ministry and the incumbent Governor of Reserve Bank of India, said in itsreport that Goa, Kerala and Tamil Nadu are the most developed states in the country.The Raghuram Rajan panel report has made a case for ending the 'special category'criteria for providing additional assistance to poorer states and suggested a newmethodology for devolving funds on states based on a 'Multi Dimensional Index (MDI)'.Giving details of the report, Finance Minister P Chidambaram said the committee hassuggested that the 28 states be split into three categories - least developed, lessdeveloped and relatively developed - depending upon their MDI scores. As regards theallocation of funds, the report suggested that each state should get a basic fixedallocation and an additional allocation depending on its development needs anddevelopment performance. The panel was formed by the Centre to finalize the newcriteria to determine backwardness of states for granting special category status andwas asked to submit its report in two months. The panel was set up in the wake of the

demand for special category status for Bihar by its Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, whoheld a rally in Delhi to push for this in March. Granting of special category status wouldallow Bihar to receive “untied” central funds or grants as 30% of total governmentassistance is kept aside for such states. The committee was asked to look at the gapbetween a state’s statistics and the national average in terms of per-capita income andother human development indicators, and evolve a composite development index.

The Supreme Court of India on 27 September 2013 held that citizens have the right toreject all candidates contesting an election. The Supreme Court also directed theElection Commission of India to provide none of the above options at the end of the listof candidates contesting an election in a constituency. A bench headed by Chief JusticeP Sathasivam while pronouncing the judgment viewed that negative voting would fosterpurity and vibrancy of elections .It also ensure wide participation as people who are notsatisfied with the candidates in the fray would also turn up to express their opinionrejecting contestants. The bench noted that the concept of negative voting is prevalentin 13 countries. Even in India parliamentarians are given an option to press the buttonfor abstaining while voting takes place in the Parliament. The bench also observed thatright to reject candidates in elections is part of fundamental right given by theConstitution in article 19 (freedom of speech and expression). The court passed thisorder on a Public Interest Litigation(PIL) filed by an NGO, People's Union for CivilLiberties (PUCL), which had submitted that voters be given the right to negative voting.

The Ministry of Tourism on 27th September launched “777 Days of the Incredible IndianHimalayas” campaign to centre stage the Incredible Indian Himalayas on the WorldTourism Map. On this occasion, Minister of Tourism(I/C) Dr. K.Chiranjeevi announcedthat the Ministry of Tourism has decided to meet 50% of Peak fee chargeable by IndianMountaineering Foundation from the climbing expeditions during the period of 777 daysof the campaign. The Minister added that the campaign has been designed to spreadawareness around the globe that 73% of Himalayan range lies in India. Describing theIncredible Indian Himalayas as a greatest show on the earth, Dr. Chiranjeevi said thatthe purpose of the campaign was to tell the entire world that Himalayas provideopportunity for a round-the-year tourism right from hard adventure to soft adventure,rich flora and fauna to bio-diversity hotspots, high altitude peaks to beautiful lakes, fromvaried culture to the realm of spirituality and wellness. The Ministry also launched aHimalayan Map and a Directory of Events that would contain the activities to beundertaken during this period of “777 days of the Incredible Indian Himalayas”campaign. A book on safety regulations brought out by ATAOI was also release on theoccasion. The Ministry also released two short films titled “Greatest Show on the Earth”and “Life Altering Journey”. The Adventure Travel Association of India (ATAOI) iscollaborating with the Ministry of Tourism in this campaign and they have designedspecial adventure programmes running over the next 777 days.

The Union Minister for Culture Chandresh Kumari Katoch on 16th September unveiledthe Brass Plate World Heritage Plaque at the Chittorgarh Fort, Rajasthan and releasedbrochures on the Fort in Hindi & English. Chittorgarh Fort is one of the six hill forts ofRajasthan recently inscribed in the World Heritage List by the World HeritageCommittee of UNESCO. The selection was approved in June 2013 in the 37th Sessionof the Committee. The Union Housing & Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Dr. GirijaVyas was also present on the occasion as a distinguished guest. Both the Ministers alsojointly inaugurated the restored topkhana and a photo exhibition in kumbha palace onthe occasion. Smt. Katoch lauded the people of Rajasthan for preserving rich culturalheritage of the country for centuries and said, both the international and domestictourists always list Rajasthan as their preferred destination.

'Kanoon Lugat', an Urdu law dictionary, billed as a first of its kind in the country, wasreleased in Mumbai on 15th September, in the presence of legal luminaries. Thedictionary, encompassing 52,000 legal terms, has been translated in Urdu for the firsttime, said chief translator and Supreme Court advocate Muhammad Irshad Hanif.Advocate Hanif has also translated Indian Penal Code and Indian Evidence Act in Urdu,besides publishing two books 'Taziraat-e-Hind' and 'Qanoon Shahadat-e-Hind'. TheUrdu legal dictionary has a foreword written by Chief Justice of India Altamas Kabir.Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra legal panel member, lawyer Shahid N Ansari said this isthe first time that line-to-line translation of the two laws is available in Urdu.

The Union Cabinet on 20th September, approved the following proposals of theNational Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) Policy : i) to implement andmonitor of the Policy through National and State ECCE Councils; ii) to develop NationalEarly Childhood Care and Education Curriculum Framework and Quality Standards andcirculate to the States/Union Territories (UTs) for preparation of Action Plans andimplementation by States /UTs; and iii) to delegate of power to the Ministry of Womenand Child Development to make necessary changes.

The Policy would help to 158.7 million Indian children under six years of age who needholistic and integrated early childhood care. In particular it would enable preschooleducation inputs for their optimum development to realize their potential. The vision ofthe National ECCE Policy is to promote inclusive, equitable and contextualizedopportunities for promoting optimal development and active learning capacity of allchildren below 6 years of age. The Policy focus is on early preschool learning for everychild below six years. The key areas of this policy are universal access with equity and

inclusion, quality in ECCE, strengthening capacity, monitoring and supervision,advocacy, research and review.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 21st September laid the foundation stone of theKishangarh Airport in Ajmer district. Dr. Singh said Kishangarh has become fullyaccessible to tourists, which will rake in economic progress for the state. Dr. Singhstated that commercial airports are expected to grow throughout the country as thenumber of air travelers is expected to appreciate to 30 million by 2020.“Kishangarhairport started to be developed under this effort (airports in smaller cities) is the firstproject. This number is expected to grow in the coming time,” Dr. Singh said the airport,which is likely to start operations in 2016, would cater to pilgrims who visit the AjmerDargah and Pushkar Lake.

The project for development of Chhindwara as a Tourist Circuit in Madhya Pradesh,with Central Financial Assistance from Government of India was launched onSeptember 21, 2013 by the Union Minister of Tourism (Independent charge), Dr K.Chiranjeevi and the Union Urban Development & Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Dr.Kamal Nath. The Ministry of Tourism is continuously striving for creating betterinfrastructure, developing new tourism destinations and bringing them on the nationaland international tourism map. Dr Chiranjeevi informed that in view of the immensetourism potential in Chhindwara the scope of the tourist destination development projectwas agreed to be enhanced as the development of Chhindwara as a tourist circuit, withthe inclusion of the famous Khedapati Mandir, Chakravyuha water falls in theAnanjangaon Harrai, development of surroundings of Pataleshwar Mandir, ChhoteMahadev Temple Tamia, Sharda Ghat Burman, Narsinghpur and Mundhara, Distt.Seoni etc, thereby considering additional funds of approximately Rs. 300.00 lakh.

The President of India, Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated the 11th Asian Pacific PostalUnion (APPU) Congress on 3 September at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi. Speaking onthe occasion, the President said that the Asian Pacific Postal Union, an inter-governmental organization of 32 countries of the region is actively working to improvecooperation among member nations in the field of postal services. He stated that thechanging global scenario calls for postal administrations around the world to thinkdifferently. He called upon postal administration to be proactive to change. They mustleverage their strengths to provide quality service to the people. He stated thatworldwide, postal administrations enjoy the trust of people. The President said thatglobalization and easier movement of workforce across nations have opened a greatwindow of opportunity for the postal sector. With increasing requirement for remittancechannels, it can, with the guidance of the Asian Pacific Postal Union, make a difference.

He added that there is a huge scope for postal services to be engaged in e-commerce,and gain from the rising demand for such business products.

The Union Cabinet on 3rd September, approved the proposal for setting up of theBharat Rural Livelihood Foundation (BRLF) as an independent charitable society underthe Societies Registration Act, 1860 to facilitate and upscale civil society action inpartnership with Government for transforming livelihoods and lives of rural households,with an emphasis on women, particularly in the Central Indian Tribal Region. It willprovide financial grants to Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to meet their humanresource and institutional costs for up scaling of proven interventions; invest ininstitutional strengthening of smaller CSOs and capacity building of professionalresources working at the grassroots. Projects supported by BRLF would be able toreach 10 lakh poor families by the end of the fifth year. BRLF would also havesupported the capacity building of 1,000 CSO professionals and institutionalstrengthening of a significant number of smaller CSOs within the above time frame.Even though BRLF will have an India wide mandate, the initial focus of the organizationwill be on the Central Indian Tribal Region, centered on blocks having significant tribalpopulation across 170 districts in the States of Odisha, Jharkhand, West Bengal,Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Gujarat.Rs 500 crore will be released for creating the corpus fund of the new Society, in twotranches. The society will be constituted as a partnership between Government on theone hand and private sector philanthropies, private and public sector undertakings(under Corporate Social Responsibility) on the other hand.

The Union Cabinet on 3rd September approved the proposal for setting up of anautonomous "National Institute of Solar Energy" (NISE) to assist the Ministry andfunction as the apex national centre for research and technology development andrelated activities in the area of solar energy technologies in the country. The NationalInstitute of Solar Energy (NISE) is to be set up immediately by converting the SolarEnergy Centre (SEC), Gurgaon with a long term vision to develop it as a world classinstitute. A broad based national team in the form of a Review-cum-StrategyFormulation Committee would be set up with representation from industry, the scientificcommunity, financial institutions etc. to prepare a blue print. This committee would lookat various models available in the country and outside and prepare a roadmap for theInstitute. Setting up of an apex national centre for Solar Energy is a part of the JNNSM,which was considered by the Prime Minister`s Council on Climate Change in August,2009. The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) and other relatedproposals were approved by the Govt. in November, 2009. While approving theJNNSM, the Govt. also approved specific targets and budget for the first phase of theMission till March, 2013. This includes R&D in solar energy, including setting up of aCentre of Excellence as an apex centre on different aspects of solar energytechnologies.

Bilateral Affairs:After continuous round of dialogues between the two trading partners India and China,both the allies have agreed to strengthen the coordination in various policies. This wasthe outcome of the sixth China-India Financial Dialogue held on 26th September, inBeijing."Both sides agreed to strengthen regular communication and coordination atvarious levels on macro-economic policies and major international economic andfinancial issues", said the press release. After signing the Memorandum ofUnderstanding (MoU) on 'Launching the Financial Dialogue between China and India' inApril 2005, both the countries had held five rounds of dialogues prior to this. In therecent dialogue, the two sides deeply discussed new challenges facing the globaleconomy, macro-economic situations and policies in China and India."Both sidesrecognized that global economic recovery was still fragile with downside risks remaininghigh", the statement noted. It was discussed that with growth picking up in advancedeconomies, there is a need for these countries to collaborate with other emergingcountries on the pace and timing of recalibration of their unconventional monetarypolicies and strengthen communication with the market to avoid the spillovers. Also, itwas agreed to hold the 7th India-China Financial Dialogue in 2014 in New Delhi.

Mr. Rafael Ramirez, Minister of Energy and Mines of Venezuela visited India fordiscussions with his counterpart, Dr. M. Veerappa Moily, Minister for Petroleum andNatural Gas, Government of India. In the meeting held on 24th September, the twoMinisters reviewed on-going cooperation in the hydrocarbons sector. It was recognisedthat Venezuela and India have shared a very robust relationship in the hydrocarbonsector ever since the visit of former President of Venezuela Mr. Hugo Chavez to India in2005. Minister Ramirez appreciated participation by Indian companies in the upstreamexploration and production sector and also the companies that were major off takers ofVenezuelan crude oil. He expressed that Indian oil and gas companies were very wellaccepted in Venezuela and encouraged the Indian oil and gas companies to scale uptheir participation in the prolific Venezuelan oil and gas sector. The Indian sideexpressed difficulties faced by oil companies in terms of registration of refinery,finalisation of pricing formulae and signing of term contracts for import of crude oil fromVenezuela. The Indian side also highlighted difficulties faced by Indian companiesworking in the Venezuelan E&P sector in the joint venture mode with regard to delayedpayment of dividend to the JV partners. The Venezuelan side noted the difficulties andassured to address the concerns raised. Minister Moily highlighted the increasingappetite of crude oil of Indian refineries and requested for long term tie up for supply ofcrude oil from Venezuela. Upon request from Minister Moily for enhanced participationby a joint venture of Indian public and private sector oil and gas companies in theupstream oil and gas sector of Venezuela, Minister Ramirez welcomed the suggestionand agreed to carry forward this initiative. Both sides agreed to finalising acomprehensive package for collaboration not only in the oil and gas sector but also forparticipation by Indian companies in providing expertise for development of

infrastructure and technology, as well as boosting trade in goods and services betweenthe two countries.

India and China have agreed to initiate steps to include Media Cooperation as part of2014 celebrations being observed to commemorate “Friendly Exchanges” between thetwo countries. Both the countries agreed to proactively consider steps to promote highlevel media exchanges and facilitation between the two nations. It has also been agreedto outline a roadmap to include specific projects / proposals as part of the initiativeunder the Media domain to be considered under activities to mark the commemorationof “Friendly Exchanges” celebrations. Both sides agreed that media could play animportant role in acting as a bridge for better cooperation between the two countries byhighlighting the positive aspects of the bilateral relationship. This was agreed uponduring the meeting between Manish Tewari, Minister for Information and Broadcastingand Mr. Cai Ming Zhao, Minister of State Council Information Office. The ChineseMinister met Tewari with a High level delegation in New Delhi on 16th September.During the discussions between the two delegations it was also agreed to explorepossible areas of cooperation in the field of Capacity Building, Co-productionAgreements related to Films, sharing of the experience of institutionalizing Digitization inthe Broadcasting sector and enhanced participation during the Film Festivals being heldin both countries.

The Government of India on 18th September, signed an Agreement and the AgreedNote for the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Fiscal Evasion withrespect to Taxes on Income (DTAA) with the Government of Latvia. The Agreement andthe Agreed Note were signed by Salman Khurshid, External Affairs Minister, on behalfof the Government of India and Mr. Edgars Rinkevics, Minister of Foreign Affairs, onbehalf of the Government of Latvia in New Delhi. Latvia is the third Baltic country withwhich DTAA has been signed by India. Earlier DTAAs have been signed and havecome into force with Lithuania and Estonia. The DTAA provides that business profits willbe taxable in the source if the activities of an enterprise constitute a permanentestablishment (PE) in the source state. The Agreement provides for fixed place PE,building site, construction or assembly PE, service PE, Off-shoreexploration/exploitation PE and agency PE. The Agreement further incorporatesprovisions for effective exchange of information between tax authorities of the twocountries in line with latest international standard, including exchange of bankinginformation and supplying of information without recourse to domestic interest. Further,the Agreement provides for sharing of information to other agencies with the consent ofsupplying state. The Agreement also has an article on assistance in collection of taxes.This article also includes provision for taking measures of conservancy. The Agreementincorporates anti-abuse (limitation of benefits) provisions to ensure that the benefits ofthe Agreements are availed of by the genuine residents of the two countries. TheAgreement will provide tax stability to the residents of India and Latvia and will facilitate

mutual economic cooperation between the two countries. It will also stimulate the flow ofinvestment, technology and services between India and Latvia.

India has offered to help Cuba to develop its renewable energy resources. This wasconveyed by Dr. Farooq Abdullah, Minister of New and Renewable Energy to Mr.Marino Murillo, Vice president of the Republic of Cuba at Havana on 20th September.Dr. Farooq Abdullah is visiting Cuba along with a high level delegation of experts toexplore greater opportunities for cooperation and collaboration between the twocountries. Dr. Abdullah also held detailed discussions with Mr. Alfredo Lopez Valdes,the Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines. Dr. Abdullah briefed his counterpart on theenergy situation in India and India’s ambitious plans in renewable energy. He explainedthat India currently has over 29 GW of grid-connected installed capacity usingrenewable sources of energy and that it has plans over to add over 30 GW morecapacity by 2017. He also dwelt on the success of India’s wind programme as well asthe significant cost reductions in solar energy through the Jawahar Lal Nehru NationalSolar Mission (JNNSM).

India and Japan have resolved to strengthen cooperation in the tourism sector. Thiswas decided at a meeting between the visiting Japanese Senior Vice Minister of Land,Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Mr. Hiroshi Kajiyama and Minister of State forTourism(I/C), Dr. K. Chiranjeevi in New Delhi on 3 September. The two sides agreed tomove further on signing an MOU to promote bilateral tourism relations. Dr.Chiranjeeviinformed his Japanese counterpart about the various measures being taken to improveGolf Tourism and MICE Tourism in India, which may be attractive to Japenese touristsand businessmen. Indian Tourism Minister invited Japan to invest in the low budgethotel sector where India has liberalized the FDI route. Dr. Chiranjeevi told his Japanesecounterpart that there was a good potential for budget hotels for tourists coming fromacross the world to India. Mr. Kajiyama said that the proposal for investments in thebudget hotel sector could form a part of the MOU between the two countries. TheJapanese Sr. Vice Tourism Minister said that he would like to lead a delegation ofbusinessmen from Japan in the next meeting in which he hoped to conclude theagreement/MOU with India. Mr. Kajiyama informed that two Japanese airlines areoperating daily flights between India and Japan, which is an indication of the gravity oftourist traffic between countries. Japan has set for itself a target of attracting 10 millionvisitors from across the world to Japan. Japan Tourism is organizing a world class two-day INDIA-JAPAN TOURISM EXPO in New Delhi on 13 to 17 January, 2014.

Economy:The global financial services major, Barclays on 27th September, has lowered India’sFY14 gross domestic growth (GDP) forecast for the current financial year to 4.7 percent, saying the growth and fiscal health of the country are likely to remain underpressure, with 2014 election dynamics adding to uncertainties. Earlier, Barclays hadprojected India’s growth at 5.3 per cent. India’s economic growth had slumped todecade low of five per cent in 2012-13. It had slid to 4.4 per cent during April-Junequarter, the lowest in past several years, pulled down by a drop in mining andmanufacturing output. According to the global financial services major, the broadertrend in manufacturing and mining remains sluggish and the likely elevated-for-longerinterest rate trajectory is also emerging as another headwind for industrialgrowth.Moreover, the country’s fiscal health is once again coming under pressure andthe upcoming national elections (around April-May 2014) are another source of potentialuncertainty for the economy and is likely to be a headwind against a revival of theinvestment cycle. It said after the surprise rate rise in the September policy meeting, theReserve Bank of India is not likely to ease repo rates till the middle of next year. “Wenow do not expect any easing in the repo rate until mid-2014, as opposed to our earlierexpectation of that happening from December 2013,” it said. The central bank hascategorically flagged that inflation is higher than its comfort level, the report added.Itsaid the rupee is expected to maintain a stable to positive bias in the near term,reflecting an improving current account, delayed Fed tapering and likely inflows underthe FCNR scheme.

The Union government of India on 26 September 2013 notified GAAR (General AntiAvoidance Rules). It seeks to check tax avoidance by investors routing their fundsthrough tax havens. It will come into effect from 1 April 2016. The GAAR will apply toentities availing tax benefit of at least 3 crore rupees. It will apply to foreign institutionalinvestors, FIIs that have claimed benefits under any Double Tax Avoidance Agreement(DTAA).Investments made by a non-resident by way of offshore derivative instrumentsor P-Notes through FIIs, will not be covered by the GAAR provisions. The notificationsaid, investments made before 30 August 2010, will not be scrutinized under GAAR.

Indian Institution of Corporate Affairs (IICA) and BSE Ltd On 23rd September, signed anMoU in Mumbai to work collaboratively to develop a Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) index, take up capacity building on CSR, conduct education and awarenessprogrammes, and other activities to facilitate a more effective corporate participation inCSR areas. Indian Institution of Corporate Affairs (IICA) was established by Ministry ofCorporate Affairs (MCA), Government of India to act as think-tank and centre ofexcellence to support the growth of the corporate sector in India through an integratedand multi-disciplinary approach. In the new Companies Act, 2013 it has been mandatedfor eligible companies to spend 2% of their profits on CSR activities. This initiative of the

Ministry of Corporate Affairs which requires companies to look beyond shareholdervalue and make CSR a core driver of their strategy shall bring competitive advantage toIndian Inc with the global players in the long run and shall attract more investment frominvestors. The proposed IICA-BSE CSR Index shall assess impact and performance ofcompanies listed at BSE in CSR activities. The Index would also look at theperformance of companies in their mandatory CSR spend as per the new CompaniesAct, 2013 as one of the important and objective criteria. The information provided in thepublic domain on CSR activities by these listed companies and which is also assured,shall have more preference in the various evaluation parameters of the Index.Performance of the companies in CSR areas would be combined with the marketperformance of companies for selection of companies. The Index would be sectorneutral. Companies eligible to be included in the Index for further evaluation shallensure basic compliance as per proposed CSR regulations. IICA-BSE proposes to forman Advisory Committee which would guide for CSR index construction and its design.This Advisory Committee would have consultative approach and interact with variousstakeholders so that best global practices are aligned to Indian needs as per Section135, Companies Act 2013, in the index construction and it becomes benchmark index toassess Indian corporate in CSR. IICA-BSE shall also work on capacity building to assistcompanies for meeting their agenda of CSR and would conduct awareness programmein next 6 months.

Reserve Bank of India on 25 September 2013 banned zero per cent interest rateschemes for purchase of consumer goods. The decision has taken in order to protectconsumer interest. In this regard Reserve Bank of India issued a notification to all theSchedule Commercial Banks and local area banks.

The very concept of zero per cent interest is non-existent and suchschemes only serve the purpose of alluring and exploiting vulnerable customers. Banksshould neither resort to any practice that would distort the interest rate structure of aproduct nor hide any processing fees. All banks must stop these practices as theyviolate the very principle of fair and transparent pricing of products which beholdscustomer rights and protection, especially, in the more vulnerable retail segment. In thezero percent EMI schemes offered on credit card outstandings, the interest element isoften camouflaged and passed on to customer in the form of processing fee.

India on 18th September has been recognized as ‘Authorizing Nation’ under theinternational Common Criteria Recognition Arrangement (CCRA) to test and certifyElectronics and IT products with respect to cyber security. Thus, India has become the17th nation to earn such recognition. This international Arrangement has 26 Membercountries. USA, UK, Germany, South Korea, France, Japan, Canada, Australia, Turkey,Malaysia etc. are the other countries who have this recognition. So far India was havingthe status of ‘Consuming Nation’ with respect to certification of Electronics and ITproducts. The status of ‘Authorizing Nation’ will enable India to test IT and Electronics

products and issue Certificates which will be acceptable internationally. The recognitionwould also remove the bottleneck which as of now had prevented internationalcompanies from submitting their products for testing and certification in India. Therecognition would also enable investment in setting up infrastructure and labs in publicand private sectors in India for testing Electronics and IT products. StandardisationTesting and Quality Certification (STQC) Directorate of the Department of Electronicsand Information Technology (DeitY) has been operating Common Criteria Certification(CC Certification) scheme in India for the last 5-6 years. Under it STQC undertakescertification of Electronics and IT products after evaluation of the products at its lab inKolkata. The Certificates issued by STQC Directorate shall now be acceptableinternationally by all CCRA member countries.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 19th September, commissioned the NTPC’s 2,980MW Super Thermal Power Station to the nation at a grand function held at Sipat, inChhattisgarh’s Bilaspur district. He also laid the foundation stone of 1,600 MW stage-I ofNTPC’s Lara Super Thermal Power Project. The project to come up at Lara village inthe state’s coal-rich Raigarh district will have two 800 MW units in stage I and anultimate installed capacity of 4,000 MW. “The coal-based Sipat Super Thermal PowerStation is capable of generating 2,980 MW of electricity and it will not only cater to thedemands of Chhattisgarh but also adjoining states like Madhya Pradesh and as far asJammu and Kashmir,” the prime minister said in his brief speech, dedicating the projectto the nation. He noted that in the 11th Five Year Plan period, India achieved a recordpower generation capacity of about 55,000 MW which was double the capacity added inthe 10th Plan period, and in the 12th Plan a target of adding over 118,000 MW of powergeneration has been set. Built at an estimated cost of Rs. 13,000 crore, the Sipat plantis the first to have used super critical technology. The prime minister stated thatadvanced ultra super critical technology is now being developed in the country, andlauded the efforts of NTPC, BHEL and Indira Gandhi Centre for Nuclear Research forworking in tandem to develop this technology.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 20th September has approved settingup of Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) near Hyderabad subject tofulfilling certain conditions. The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Ministry ofUrban Development and Ministry of Railways will be initiating detailed feasibilitystudy/action. The total investment for the ITIR will be about Rs. 2.19 lakh crore of whichthe IT/ITES (Information Technology / Information Technology Enabled Services) Sectoris to attract investments of Rs. 1.18 lakh crore and the Electronic HardwareManufacturing (EHM) sector of Rs. 1.01 lakh crore. The major investment will be fromPublic-Private Partnerships. Government of India has also proposed up gradation ofthree radial roads and extension of the Metro Rail from Falaknuma to ShamshabadInternational airport at total cost of Rs 3,275 crore. The ITIR is expected to generatedirect employment of 14.8 lakh and indirect employment of 55.9 lakh. The Government

of Andhra Pradesh has delineated an area of 202 sq. kms. for the proposed ITIR inthree clusters/ agglomerations viz., (i) Cyberabad Development Area and itssurroundings (ii) Hyderabad Airport Development area and Maheshwaram in the southof Hyderabad (iii) Uppal and Pocharam areas in eastern Hyderabad. The ITIR will beimplemented in two phases. The Phase I will from 2013 to 2018 and Phase II will befrom 2018 to 2038. The ITIR is expected to develop into a key industrial region IT, ITESand Electronic Hardware manufacturing sectors. Special consideration will be given toaccommodate Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the proposed ITIR.

The Union Cabinet on 20th September, approved the proposal of Hindustan PetroleumCorporation Limited (HPCL), a Public Sector Undertaking to set up a 9 MMTPAGreenfield Refinery cum Petrochemical Complex in Barmer District in Rajasthan, as aJoint Venture (JV) with Government of Rajasthan under the name HPCL-RajasthanRefinery Limited (HRRL).The proposed refinery will be a subsidiary of HPCL with itsequity of 74% to be held by HPCL and 26% to be held by the Govt. of Rajasthan. Thecost of the project is estimated at Rs. 37,230 crore. The project cost is proposed to besourced with a debt/equity ratio of 1.5:1. Total equity component is Rs.14,892 crore anddebt is Rs.22,338 crore. HPCL’s equity contribution is Rs.11,020 crore at 74% equityand Govt. of Rajasthan’s equity contribution is Rs.3,872 crore at 26%.M/s. HPCL hassigned a Memorandum of Understanding on 14th May, 2013 with Govt. of Rajasthan inthis regard. HPCL has subsequently also signed a JV agreement with Govt. ofRajasthan on 11th July, 2013 on these terms for setting up the refinery as a jointventure. The proposed refinery will process 4.5 MMT of Mangala Crude and 4.5 MMT ofArab/other crude(s).

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 20 September 2013 increased the repo rate or theshort term lending rate by 25 basis points to 7.5 per cent from 7.25 per cent withimmediate effect. This means that the Repo rate has been increased by 0.25 percent.The Governor of RBI, Raghuram Rajan while reviewing the monetary policy for the firsttime as a Governor, however, brought down the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate by0.75 per cent to 9.5 per cent. The MSF rate is the one at which the other banks canborrow from the Central Bank. The cash reserve ratio (CRR) remained unchanged at 4percent. All these changes were a part of the monetary policy review for September2013. The next monetary policy review of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is scheduledfor 29 October 2013.

Indian IT Company Wipro Ltd on 7 September 2013 signed agreement with the US-based Kana Software to provide customer service solutions to its global insurersthrough a joint development centre. The agreement provides Kana with systemsintegration scalability, as Wipro has presence across 57 countries worldwide. Ana

Software is located at Silicon Valley in California. It provides customer service solutionsusing cloud computing (on-demand) network to about 900 large enterprises and mid-market organizations, which includes 250 government agencies all over the world.Through its insurance practice division, Wipro works with 35 global insurers whichinclude property and casualty carriers and health insurance providers and life, annuityand pension carriers.

Microsoft Corp. on 3rd September said it will buy Nokia's phone business for $7.2billion, making its boldest foray yet into mobile devices and bringing well-regarded NokiaCEO Stephen Elop back into the fold. Microsoft will pay $5 billion for the Nokia Corp.unit that makes mobile phones, including its line of Lumia smartphones that runWindows Phone software. It is also paying $2.2 billion for a 10-year license to useNokia's patents, with the option to extend it indefinitely. Finland’s Nokia, once theundisputed leader in mobile phones, has been struggling to respond to the challengefrom Smartphone makers such as Apple and Samsung Electronics. Nokia ChairmanRisto Siilasmaa will stay in his current role and assume the duties of interim CEO. Whenthe deal closes in early 2014, about 32,000 Nokia employees will transfer to Microsoft,the companies said.

The Reserve Bank of India on 6 September 2013 allowed the Non-Resident Investorsincluding NRIs to purchase shares of Indian entities Under FDI Scheme. Theinvestment can be made as per the mentioned conditions. RBI has allowed the NRIs tomake investment under the FDI scheme only on the listed entities, on recognized stockexchanges. The Reserve Bank of India has decided to include the non-residents,including the NRIs to acquire the shares of domestic companies listed under FDIscheme, on the stock exchanges through a registered broker, if the investor has alreadyacquired and continues to hold control in accordance with SEBI, Substantial TakeoverCode. Till now, the FIIs (Foreign Institutional Investor), QFIs (Qualified ForeignInvestors) and NRIs were eligible to invest and acquire the shares on the recognizedstock exchanges of India in compliance with the FEMA (Foreign ExchangeManagement Act) regulations. But the NRIs were not allowed to acquire shares onexchange (bourses) under the FDI Scheme.

Danish pharmaceutical major Novo Nordisk, on 2 September, said it would soon launchits insulin injection Tresiba (insulin degludec) in India. Novo Nordisk is the leadingmanufacturer of insulin in the world, and Tresiba, the new basal insulin, is used for thetreatment of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. The once-daily use medicine has duration ofaction beyond 42 hours, and allows flexibility in daily dosing time without reducingefficacy. Novo Nordisk India has 15 per cent share in the diabetes care market with asignificant share in insulin. In a bid to provide doctors access to updated and scientific

information on insulin therapy, Novo Nordisk has tied up with Indian Academy ofDiabetes (IAD) to launch a massive doctor education programme – Master Class inInsulin. India has 65 million diabetes patients and 130 million pre-diabetes patients saidDr. Shashank Joshi, President, IAD. “Yet, only 6 million receive appropriate treatment.

International Paper India on 2 September, inaugurated state-of-the-art machinery at itsRajahmundry-based Andhra Pradesh Paper Mills Limited, which will allow the plant toincrease the conversion capacity of branded copier paper. International Paper, a globalcompany in packaging and paper, had acquired a 75 per cent stake in Andhra PradeshPaper Mills Limited two years ago. With the new machinery, the capacity has beenincreased from 25,000 MT per year to 90,000 MT.

Banks will no longer be allowed lump-sum disbursal of sanctioned housing loans. TheReserve Bank of India has told the banks that disbursal of sanctioned loan will have tobe closely linked to the stages of construction of the housing projects/houses. And, theRBI has also made it clear to them that no upfront disbursal should be made in cases ofincomplete/under-construction/green field housing projects. The RBI diktat on 3September, comes in view of the higher risks associated with such lump-sum disbursalof sanctioned housing loans. Banks have tended to join hands with developers/buildersto introduce innovative housing loan schemes such as this one — upfront disbursal ofsanctioned loans sans any linkage to stages of construction of a housing project. Attimes, these are done through tripartite agreements between the bank, the builder andthe buyer of the housing unit. “These loan products are popularly known by variousnames such as 80:20, 75:25 schemes,’’ the RBI said. While directing the banks to linkdisbursal to stages of project construction, the RBI also told them to take into accountthe customer suitability and appropriateness issues while introducing any kind ofproduct. Further, it said, banks should ensure that the borrowers/customers were madefully aware of the risks and liabilities under such products.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 3 September, approved the proposalfor restructuring of the centrally sponsored Scheme of Swarna Jayanti Shahari RozgarYojana (SJSRY) in the 12th Plan and as the National Urban Livelihoods Mission(NULM) with an allocation of approximately Rs. 6,405 crore. The Mission of NULM is toreduce poverty and vulnerability of the urban poor households by enabling them toaccess gainful self-employment and skilled wage employment opportunities, resulting inan appreciable improvement in their livelihoods on a sustainable basis, through buildingstrong grassroots level institutions of the poor. The mission would also aim at providingshelter equipped with essential services to the urban homeless in a phased manner. Inaddition, the Mission would also address livelihood concerns of the urban street vendorsalso by facilitating access to suitable spaces, institutional credit, social security and

skills to the urban street vendors for accessing emerging market opportunities. NULMwill rest on the foundation of community mobilization and women empowerment. Underthe Mission, City Livelihood Centres (CLCs) will be established in Mission cities toprovide a platform whereby the urban poor can market their services and accessinformation on self-employment, skill training and other benefits. NULM will target theurban poor who are occupationally vulnerable for Employment through Skills Training &Placement (EST&P). Through the Self-Employment Programme (SEP), NULM willprovide financial assistance to individuals and groups of urban poor to set up gainfulself-employment / micro-enterprise ventures. A mission mode approach in the form ofthe National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM) is considered necessary to organizeurban poor in Self Help Groups, creating opportunities for skill development leading tomarket-based employment and helping them to set up self-employment ventures byensuring easy access to credit. This will result in the empowerment and dignity of life ofthe urban poor. The approval of the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM)represents a strategic shift in the Government’s commitment to urban povertyalleviation. The NULM will be implemented in two phases: Phase I (2013-2017) andPhase II (2017-2022). In Phase I, NULM will target all cities with a population of onelakh or more and district headquarter towns with a population of less than one lakh asper Census of India 2011. However, other towns may be allowed in exceptional caseson the request of the States. Funding will be shared between the Centre and the Statesin the ratio of 75:25. For North Eastern and Special Category States (ArunachalPradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Jammu &Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand), this ratio will be 90:10.

Persons:Pandit Raghunath Panigrahi (80) ----- Eminent Indian classical singer and musicdirector, better known as a noted vocalist of Jayadeva's 'Gita Govind', PanditRaghunath Panigrahi died of cardiac arrest in Bhuvaneswar. The doyen of Odissi musicmaestro had celebrated his 79th birthday on August 10.Pandit Panigrahi's effort topopularise poet Jayadeva's 'Gita Govinda', which has been hailed as the fountainheadof Odissi music, not just in the state but worldwide, has been praised by his admirers.Besides making his place in the world of classical music, Raghunath got the tag ofbeing a 'Suramani' (a title given to him for his deeply mellifluous voice). He had also leftan indelible mark on Odissi light classicals like 'Na Jaa Radhika' and an out-and-outmodern love song like 'Nali Nali Ei, Krushnachuda' or 'Nupoor Bajaai Kie'.PanditRaghunath was the first Odia singer to be honoured by the French government for his'Gita Govinda' composition way back in the 70s. He got Padmashri award in 2010.

Yasin Bhatkal---- In a major breakthrough for security agencies in India, Yasin Bhatkal,a key conspirator in several bomb blasts and co-founder of the banned Indian

Mujahideen (IM), was arrested from the India-Nepal border in Bihar’s Raxaul town on 29August. Yasin, originally named Mohammad Ahmed Zarar Siddibappa, is on India’s listof 12 most-wanted terror suspects. He is involved in Pune’s German Bakery blast andblasts in Delhi, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Mumbai. The Bihar police detained him inRaxaul and the National Investigation Agency made the formal arrest. He was thentaken to the district headquarters in Motihari.During his day-long interrogation, Yasin islearnt to have “revealed a lot about Pakistan’s role in several serial blasts in India.

Deepak Sandhu---- Former media adviser to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, DeepakSandhu, is likely to be appointed as next Chief Information Commissioner (CIC) tosucceed Satyanand Mishra who retires early next month. Ms. Sandhu’s appointment isunderstood to have been cleared at a meeting with Prime Minister Manmohan Singhand the file recommending her name has been sent to the President’s office for hisapproval, official sources said on 27 August. The Chief Information Commissioner isappointed by the President on the recommendation of a committee led by the PrimeMinister and including the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and a UnionCabinet Minister nominated by the PM. Ms. Sandhu, a retired Indian Information Service(IIS) officer of 1971 batch, has already been serving in Central Information Commissionas Information Commissioner since September 2009.

Malati Chandur (84)----Telugu writer, novelist and columnist, Malathi Chandur, passedaway following prolonged illness in Chennai on 21 August 2013. Malati Chandur wasborn in 1930 in Nuzvidu in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh. She wrote more than 25novels and had more than 300 translations into Telugu to her credit. Her more famousnovels are Champakam, Cheedapurugulu, Aalochinchu, and Sadyogam. She was alsoa prolific short story writer and published several of stories in weekly magazines. MalatiChandur’s novels offered practical solutions to the problems women encounter in dailylife. Most of her novels had a feminist slant. She was awarded the Sahitya AkademiAward in 1992 for her novel Hrudaya Netri, and the Kalaprapoornam by the PadmavathiWomen’s University.She was the recipient of Andhra Pradesh Sahitya Academy Award.

Nishi Vasudeva----Nishi Vasudeva became the first woman to be selected as the headof the Navratna public sector unit (PSU), Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd (HPCL). Shebecame the head of the state-owned oil company HPCL. At present, she is the Director,Marketing, and HPCL and will take over as the chairman and managing director of thecompany. She will replace Subir Roy Choudhury, who will retire on 28 February 2014.

Aswini kumar----Former Law Minister Ashwani Kumar has been appointed by PrimeMinister Manmohan Singh as his Special Envoy to visit Japan in the rank of a CabinetMinister on 22 August 2013.The Prime Minister has nominated Ashani Kumar to visit forup to seven days as PM's Special Envoy to maintain the momentum of high-levelexchanges with Japan and to prepare for the upcoming visit of Their Majesties theEmperor and Empress of Japan and the Prime Minister of Japan to India. AshwaniKumar resigned as Union Law Minister on 10 May 2013 for allegedly interfering in aCentral Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in coal blocks allocation. The SupremeCourt had come down heavily on the CBI for allowing the Law Ministry to vet the draft ofits probe report on the coal allocation.

Dilip Trivesi---- Senior IPS officer Dilip Trivedi has been appointed as the new chief ofthe country's largest paramilitary force CRPF. Trivedi, a 1978-batch officer of UttarPradesh cadre, is presently serving as the Special Director General of the BSF. Trivedihas served in various positions in the state police and has also served in the Centre asADG of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. The post of Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) DG fell vacant on July 31st after incumbent Chief Pranay Sahay retired.

Zafar Futehally (93)---- One of India’s best known naturalists and ornithologists, ZafarFutehally, passed away on 11th August, at his home in Kihim in Maharashtra. He was93. Mr. Futehally spearheaded the early years of the conservation movement in India,serving as a link between conservationists and corporate. The Newsletter forBirdwatchers, which he founded, was a vital publication and served to documentobservations at a time when there was no digital documentation and there were fewscientific studies on wildlife in the country. Mr. Futehally was associated for 60 yearswith the Bombay Natural History Society, of which he was honorary secretary for 16years, till the 1970s, when he shifted to Bangalore. In Bangalore, Mr. Futehally’s homefor four decades, he will be most remembered for nurturing a vibrant bird watchingcommunity.

Abdul Karim Tunda--- the Delhi Police on 16th August arrested one of India's 20 mostwanted terrorists, Abdul Karim Tunda, from Indo-Nepal border. 70-year-old Tunda, abomb expert of Lashkar-e-Taiba outfit, was wanted in 21 terror cases. Tunda wasarrested by the Special Cell of Delhi police and produced in a Delhi court. Born inwestern UP and allegedly indoctrinated into the terrorist activities of Pakistan's ISI in theeighties, Tunda was trained in making improvised explosive devices and ranks number15 in the dossier India handed over to Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks.After the serialblasts, Tunda allegedly fled to Bangladesh where he came under direct command ofLashkar chief Zaki ur Rehman Lakhvi and soon became LeT's top bomb maker underthe guidance of Lakhvi.

"Metro Man" E. Sreedharan has been selected for the prestigious Lokmanya Tilakaward for 2013 for his outstanding contribution to society. The name of Sreedharan,considered as the architect of the ambitious Delhi metro project, was announced byDeepak Tilak who heads the Lokmanya Tilak Trust. The Padmashree laureate is alsocredited for pulling off the Konkan Railway project. The award comprising a gold medal,a citation and Rs one lakh cash, will be conferred on Sreedharan on August 1, Tilaksaid.

Ms. Runa Laila---- SAARC Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS made official visit toIndia from 31st July to 2nd August 2013, with the objective to extend support to thecause of HIV/AIDS especially on the issues of stigma and discrimination related toPeople Living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIV). Ms. Laila from Bangladesh has been conferredthe honorary title of SAARC Goodwill Ambassador by SAARC Secretariat for the nexttwo years along with Ajay Devgan from India and Ms. Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy fromPakistan. In the capacity of SAARC Goodwill Ambassador on HIV/AIDS, Ms. Lailawould be contributing towards creating awareness on HIV/AIDS through publicappearances using different platform. She would address the issues of stigma anddiscrimination prevailing in the community of SAARC Member States includingmainstreaming HIV/AIDS to form part of development agenda and advocate foraffordable treatment, care and support for PLHIV, facilitating fund raising from withinand outside the SAARC region.

Sharad Kumar-----Senior IPS officer Sharad Kumar was on 30 July, appointed as thenew Director General (DG) of the National Investigation Agency (NIA).The DG post ofthe agency was lying vacant for about last two months following the retirement ofincumbent SC Sinha. Sinha was later appointed as a member of National Human RightsCommission (NHRC).Kumar is a 1979-batch Haryana cadre officer and he takes overthe top post of the probe agency at a time when it is investigating important cases likeHyderabad blasts and the recent Bodh Gaya blasts in Bihar.

Sujatha Singh--Assumed charge as Foreign Secretary on 1 August. Singh, a 1976batch Indian Foreign Service officer, moved into her office in the Ministry of ExternalAffairs in South Block. She succeeds Ranjan Mathai and will have a fixed tenure of twoyears. Asked about her priorities, Singh said the “immediate neighborhood” will be highon her agenda besides strengthening relations with strategic partners around the world.Singh said she would also optimize resources in the MEA and build on the work doneby her predecessor.

Samantha Power ----Samantha Power, on 2 August 2013 took oath to the office of USambassador to United Nations. Vice-President, Joe Biden administered her, the oath tothe office in a ceremony at the White House. Power succeeded Susan Rice, now thePresident Barack Obama’s National Security Adviser. Earlier, Samantha Power servedas the Foreign Policy Adviser to Obama during his 2008 election campaign, andsubsequently worked as an adviser in the White House. She started her career as ajournalist and won a Pulitzer Prize for her book A Problem from Hell: America and theAge of Genocide in 2003.

The Senate of US approved the decision of Barack Obama to choose James Comey asthe next director of Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). Comey was supported by theSenators with the vote of 93-1 on 29th July. He will be replacing Robert Mueller, whohad remained the Director of FBI since 2001. In May 2013, Comey was reportedlynominated for the post of Director of FBI and news got confirmed officially in June 2013.He was chosen over Lisa Monaco, who had overseen the security issues of US at theJustice Department during the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya on 11September 2012. Finally, on 29 July 2013, it was confirmed that the Senate gaveapproval for James Comey to be the Director of FBI for a complete 10-year term.

Raghuram Rajan----The government has appointed Raghuram Rajan as the nextgovernor of the Reserve Bank of India, raising hopes that the former IMF chiefeconomist, who in 2005 famously predicted the financial crisis that hit the developedworld three years later, will bring a fresh and perhaps more innovative approach to pullthe economy out of the current crisis of slowing growth and a weakening currency.Rajan, 50, who is currently the chief economic advisor, will take over from D. Subbaraoon September 4. He is the youngest governor of India's central bank since Sir C.D.Deshmukh, the first Indian governor whose tenure ran from August 1943 to June 1949.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY:A state-of-the-art integration centre for the Naval Science & Technological Laboratory(NSTL) was inaugurated by the outgoing Director of the laboratory SV Rangarajan inVishakapatnam, on 26th September. The Electrical Heavy Weight Torpedoes (EHWT)building, christened Talvar Building, would serve the needs of the prestigious heavyweight torpedo ‘Varunastra’ project and the future heavy weight projects to beundertaken by the laboratory.Speaking on the occasion Dr. Rangarajan advised the

Varunastra Project Director P. Trimurthulu to involve the Bharat Dynamics Limited(BDL), which would undertake production of Varunastra, and Bharat Electronics Limited(BEL), which would manufacture electronic components required for the purpose, at thedevelopment-stage itself so that induction-ready torpedoes could be manufactured.Speaking on the occasion, he said that this facility would be the state-of-the-artintegration centre for NSTL’s prestigious heavy weight torpedo ‘Varunastra’, and futureheavy weight torpedoes to be undertaken by the Lab. He expressed the hope thattorpedoes developed by this lab would be world class in the days to come, with thisfacility being set up.

The government will set up the world’s largest solar power project, having a totalgeneration capacity of 4,000 MW, in Rajasthan. The ultra mega green solar powerproject, whose idea has been mooted by the Heavy Industries Ministry, would be set upclose to Sambhar Lake and about 75 kilometers from the state capital Jaipur.“Totalcapacity of this project will be 4,000 MW and, therefore, this will be the largest solarbased power project in the world,” an official release said on 21st September. Theproject would be spread across 23,000 acres area of Sambhar Salts Ltd, a subsidiary ofcentral enterprise Hindustan Salts Ltd. Minister of Heavy Industries and PublicEnterprises Praful Patel said the first phase of the project — having 1,000 MW capacity— is likely to be commissioned by the end of 2016, according to the release. Once fullyimplemented, the project would generate 6,000 million units of electricity annually. Thefirst phase would be implemented through a joint venture company, whose stakeholderswould be Bharat Heavy Electricals, Solar Energy Corporation, Power Grid Corporation,SJVN, SSL and Rajasthan Electronics and Instruments Ltd (REIL).Being the first projectof this scale anywhere in the world, this project is expected to set a trend for large scalesolar power development, it added. India, which is a power deficit country, is working onways to increase contribution from renewable, especially solar, to its total energy mix.The Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission aims to have about 20,000 MW of grid-connected solar power by 2022.

Giving impetus to the long standing strategic airlift of the Indian Air Force, the DefenceMinister AK Antony on 2 September, formally inducted the Boeing C-17 Globemaster IIIinto the IAF at a special ceremony held at Hindan airbase of the IAF. Describing theinduction of the C-17 Globemaster III in the Indian Air Force as a ‘defining moment’,Antony said, “With this, the IAF has taken a giant stride towards its goal of acquiringmulti- spectrum strategic capabilities, essential to safeguard India’s growing areas ofinterest”. Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne said “The induction of ten C-17 aircraftpromises to be a game changer on how we conduct air transport operations. The C-17fleet will provide tremendous flexibility in terms of operational response options in anyfuture campaign. The long range, heavy lift capability will allow the commanders toinduct Troops, squadrons, Re-locate Forces as well as shift forces between theatresrapidly”. The C-17 would form an extremely important component of the strategic airlift

capability and reach of the IAF. The government accorded approval to buy 10 C-17Globemaster III along with associated equipment for the IAF in June 2011. The first ofthe 10 aircraft touched down in India on 18th June 2013 and the delivery of all 10 isexpected to be completed by November 2014. This aircraft will enhance the operationalpotential of the IAF with its payload carriage and performance and would augment thestrategic reach of the nation during Operations, Disaster Relief or any similar mission.The induction of the C-17 is a major milestone in the modernization drive of the IAF.Presently three aircrafts have been delivered and are operational. The newly inductedC-17 Squadron (81 Squadron) will be based in Hindan.

Pakistan on 3 September, inducted PNS Aslat, its first ever indigenously constructedfrigate with Chinese collaboration at a ceremony at Karachi shipyard. Speaking on theoccasion, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said that bringing all four frigates into servicewithin eight years is a remarkable achievement. The construction of the F-22P Frigateat Karachi Shipyard was carried out under a transfer of technology arrangement.

SPORTS:Defying intense criticism, N. Srinivasan was elected unopposed as BCCI President for athird year during the Board’s AGM held in Chennai on 28 September, even though hewill not take charge till further orders from the Supreme Court. Mr. Srinivasan was thelone Presidential candidate put forward by the South Zone, from where he got theproposer and the seconded. But he can resume his duties only after the Supreme Courtgives its final verdict on the case filed against his candidature by the Cricket Associationof Bihar secretary Aditya Verma. Mr. Srinivasan’s election was on expected linesdespite the fact that he is facing intense criticism on the issue of propriety after his son-in-law and Chennai Super Kings Team Principal Gurunath Meiyappan was charge-sheeted in the IPL betting and spot-fixing scandal. Another political heavyweight, ArunJaitley, relinquished the vice-President’s position due to his political commitments andwas replaced by his Delhi and Districts Cricket Association (DDCA) colleague SnehBansal.

Olympian Swaran Singh Virk won a gold medal at the 15th Asian Senior RowingChampionship at Luan, China, on 29th September. Besides Virk’s gold, India won twosilver and as many bronze medals in the championship.The team of Anil Kumar, RobinP. Ulahannan, Olympian Bajrang Lal Thakar, Ranjit Singh, Kapil Sharma, MohammedAzad, Maninder Singh and Davinder Singh took 6:12.47 minutes to win the silver medalin Men’s Eights event. While Kapil Sharma, Mohammed Azad, Maninder Singh andDavinder Singh bagged the Men’s Fours silver in 6:03.50 minutes. India won the bronzein Lightweight Men’s Double Sculls with Sonu Laxmi Narian and Shokindar Tomarwinning it in 6:57.13 minutes.Monalisha, Dittymol Varghese, Chaoba Devim and

Amusana Devi clinched a brone in Leightweight Women’s Quadruple Sculls with atiming of 7:03.33 minutes. irk had booked his berth for the 2012 London Games bywinning the major qualifying event at the FISA Olympic Continental QualificationRegatta for Asia in Chung Ju, Korea.

Grandmaster Vidit Gujrathi won the bronze medal in the World Junior ChessChampionship (U 20) after settling for a quick draw with Yu Yangyi of China in the 13thand final round that concluded at Kocaeli, Turkey on 26 September 2013.With YuYangyi winning the gold, the silver went to Alexander Ipatov of Turkey who defeatedAleksander Indjic of Serbia in the final round. Vidit Gujrathi was a former Under-14world champion (2008). He was also three consecutive times age group NationalChampion (Year 2005, 2006 and 2007). Vidit also won many national and internationaltournaments in the under 14 category.

Milos Raonic of Canada defeated top-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic 7-6 (4), 6-3 to claim his fifth title at the Thailand Open on 29th September. In the doublesfinal, third-seeded Jamie Murray of Great Britain and John Peers of Australia beatfourth-seeded Tomasz Bednarek of Poland and Johan Brunstrom of Sweden 6-3, 3-6,10-6. It was Raonic’s fifth tour victory, adding to the three in San Jose from 2011-13 andChennai in 2012.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 25th September 2013 imposed a lifeban on former IPL Comissioner Lalit Modi from participating in any of its activities. Thedecision to this effect was taken at the special general meeting under the chairmanshipof BCCI President N.Srinivasan at Chennai. The meeting which was attended by 30members of the Board, discussed the findings of the disciplinary committee and foundModi guilty on eight charges including financial irregularities, indiscipline andmisconduct. The official statement issued by the BCCI said the Board members willagain meet on the 29 September 2013 for the annual general meeting to elect itsChairman. Earlier, Lalit Modi had appealed to the Supreme Court to issue a stay onBCCI’s meeting. The case was dismissed by the Court.

India won bronze medal in the 8th Women’s Asia Cup 2013 as they defeated China 3-2via penalty shootout in the 3rd/4th place play-off played at the National Stadium inKuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 27 September 2013. Ritu Rani captained Indian side in thetournament, whereas Weilin Mao captained the China team. India had to win thistournament to qualify for the 2014 World Cup at The Hague, Holland. However, it cameat the third place. Meanwhile, Japan stunned defending champions Korea 2-1 in the

final to win the Asia Cup and secure a place in next year's World Cup. The 8th Women’sHockey Asia Cup 2013 Held at Kualalumpur (Malaysia) from 21 to 27 September 2013.

The sports ministry on 18th September, decided not to confer Renjith Maheshwary withthe prestigious Arjuna award as the triple jumper has been found to have used a'scheduled' substance (ephedrine) back in 2008, putting an end to all speculationsregarding his fate. After detailed investigations, the ministry has come to a conclusionthat Maheshwary was found to have used ephedrine during the 46th National AthleticChampionships in Kochi. The sample was collected on September 8, 2008 and given tothe National Dope Testing Laboratory on September 15, 2008.NDTL on October 3,2008 analyzed the A-sample of Maheshwary and reported levels of ephedrine far abovethe expected levels, even when ephedrine is consumed for therapeutic purposes.

Kolkata’s Mohammedan Sporting club won the 126th Durand Foot ball tournament as itdefeated ONGC 2-1 in the final at the Ambedkar Stadium in New Delhi on 19thSeptember. They have lifted the cup after 73 years having won it back in 1940.The lasttime Sporting won Durand Cup was before Independence in 1940 by defeatingWarwickshire Regiment, and the last time they played a final in the capital was back in1992.The Durand Football Tournament was started at Simla in the year 1888 by SirHenry Mortimer Durand, who was then, the Foreign Secretary to Government of India.Durand is the third oldest football tournament in the world and oldest in Asia and India.

Indian wrestler Bajrang Kumar has bagged a bronze medal in the 60 kilogram freestylecategory at the World Wrestling Championships in Budapest, Hungary on 17 September2013.Bajrang Kumar recorded an overwhelming 9-2 win over Mongolia's Nyam-OchirEnkhsaikhan to bag the Bronze. This is the first time India has won two medals in theMen's events at the World Championship level. Earlier, Amit Kumar had won a Silvermedal in the 55 Kg freestyle category, after losing to Iranian Hassan Farman Rahimi.

Former BCCI Secretary Jaywant Lele (78) passed away on 19th September 2013 inVadodara after he suffered a heart attack. Jaywant Lele had become the BCCIsecretary in 1996 and stayed in this post till 2001.In 2003, he was expelled from theBCA, along with two other administrators, for alleged financial irregularities andadministrative lapses. Jaywant Lele was also a qualified umpire. In November 2011, hepenned a memoir titled I Was There - Memoirs of a Cricket Administrator.

World number one Serena Williams (31) won her fifth US Open title in a thrilling finalagainst Victoria Azarenka(24) at Flushing Meadows on 7 September. The American,won by 7-5 6-7 (6-8) 6-1 over the Belarusian. Williams has now won 17 Grand Slamsingles titles, moving her to within one of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, andseven short of Margaret Court's record total of 24.

All-time Grand Slam singles wins--Margaret Court (Aus) 24

Steffi Graf (Ger) 22Helen Wills Moody (USA) 19Chris Evert (USA) & Martina Navratilova (USA) 18Serena Williams (USA) 17Billie Jean King (USA) 12

Leander Paes became the oldest man to win a Grand Slam title on 8 September, whenhe and Radek Stepanek took the US Open doubles title. India’s Paes, 40, and 34-year-old Czech Stepanek, the fourth seeds, defeated Alexander Peya of Austria and Brazil'sBruno Soares, the second seeds, 6-1, 6-3. It was their second major title as a pair, theAsian star's third in New York, eighth in men's doubles and 14th overall. Paes andStepanek won the 2012 Australian Open .Paes had won the US Open title with MartinDamm in 2006 and Lukas Dlouhy in 2009 and now has eight men's doubles trophies atthe majors as well as six mixed doubles crowns. Meanwhile, Andrea Hlavackova andLucie Hradecka of czech have won their first U.S. Open women's doubles title. The fifth-seeded Czechs beat Australia's Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 6-7 (4), 6-1, 6-4on 7 September. They also won the 2011 French Open championship. Hlavackova alsowon this year's mixed doubles championship at the U.S. Open, hoisting the trophy withMax Mirnyi on 6 September.

South Korea defeated India 4-3 in the final of the Asia Cup Hockey at Ipoh, Malaysia on1 September 2013. With this, South Korea confirmed its place in the World Cup at TheHague. V.R. Raghunath (India) is the player of the tournament. In the meanwhile, theAsian Hockey Federation gave the details of the participants for the next AHFChampions Trophy to be held in Kakamigahara (Japan) from 1 November 2013 to 10November 2013. In the men’s section, the participants will be China, India, Japan,Malaysia, Oman and Pakistan. In the women’s section, the participants include China,India, Japan and Malaysia.

Tokyo on 7 September 2013 won the right to host the 2020 Summer Olympic Games.Members of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) meeting in Buenos Aires chosethe Japanese capital Tokyo. Japan won the right to host Olympic Games for the secondtime. It had previously hosted the Games in 1964. Olympic is considered world’s biggest

sporting event. The decision means it will be the fourth time that Japan plays host to theOlympics, having also organized hosted Olympic winter Games in Nagano (1998) andSapporo (1972). Asia will also see successive Olympics, as the South Korean resort ofPyeongchang is hosting the 2018 winter edition.

India's Bhuvana Kalva won her maiden 10000 US dollars ITF women singles title on 31August 2013 after she won over sixth-seeded Akari Inoue of Japan by 6-4, 7-5 at theDelhi Lawn Tennis Association complex. Bhuvana Kalva is from Andhra Pradesh. Sheis 18-year-old. She also defeated top seed Ankita Raina and third seed Keren Shlomoof Israel en route final. Her title win fetched her 12 ranking points while Akari, won 8ranking points. Akari, had won the doubles title along with Hua-Chen Lee on 30 August2013.

AWARDS:Gyan Correa’s debut Gujarati movie The Good Road was on 21 September 2013nominated as India’s official entry to 2014 Oscars in the Best Foreign Film category.The Good Road is a 2013 Indian drama film written and directed by Gyan Correa. Thefilm The Good Road the story of a boy who is lost and found while his family is on aholiday trip to the Kutch, Gujarat. The Good Road movie is produced by the NationalFilm Development Corporation (NFDC), the film stars Keval Katrodia as seven-year-oldAditya who loses his way in the desert. The movie also stars Sonali Kulkarni and actorAjay Gehi as Aditya's parents. India has never won a Foreign Language Film Oscar. Sofar in the history of Indian cinema, only three Bollywood films, including MehboobKhan's Mother India (1957), Mira Nair's Salaam Bombay (1988) and AshutoshGowariker's Lagaan (2001), have made it to the nomination stage of the Oscar.

Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani schoolgirl and education rights campaigner presentedwith the 2013 Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award (Harvard Humanitarian of the year)by Harvard University on 27 September 2013.16 years old Malala received the awardby Dr Allen Counter, Director of the Harvard Foundation for her contribution inpromoting the education among girls. Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani school pupil. Shewas shot in the head by a Taliban militant in October 2012 after she campaigned forgirls' right to education.

India environmentalist Bunker Roy and Pakistan’s teenage education activist MalalaYousufzai were on 23rd September, declared winners of this year’s of the prestigious‘Clinton Global Citizens Awards’. Roy is the founder of the Barefoot College, which hasbeen providing solutions to problems in rural communities for more than 40 years. As a

result of Barefoot’s work, one million litres of rainwater have been harvested to provideclean drinking water to over 239,000 school children in more than 1,300 communitiesworldwide. The Barefoot Approach is a proven community-based model, providing basicinfrastructure for power and water in remote, rural areas, as part of an integratedsolution to alleviating global poverty. Roy has been named one of the 50environmentalists who could save the planet by the Guardian and one of the 100 mostinfluential people in the world by TIME magazine. Sixteen-year-old Yousafzai, who, afterbeing shot by the Taliban less than a year ago for her outspoken support for girls’education, has co-founded the Malala Fund to continue advocating for universal accessto education. The awards will be presented in a special ceremony on 24th September,during the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting in New York City, where more than1,000 top business, government, and civil society leaders will convene to address someof the world’s most pressing challenges. The Clinton Global Citizen Awards werelaunched in 2007 to honour outstanding individuals for their visionary leadership,demonstrated impact, and sustainable and scalable work in solving global issues.

Reserve Bank of India governor Raghuram G Rajan on 26th September, has beenawarded the fifth Deutsche Bank Prize for Financial Economics 2013, in recognition ofhis ground-breaking research work which influenced financial and macro-economicpolicies around the world. The academic prize is sponsored by the Deutsche BankDonation Fund and carries an endowment of euro 50,000. The Centre for FinancialStudies (CFS) awards the prize bi-annually in partnership with Goethe UniversityFrankfurt. Rajan was picked up for the prize from more than 260 nominations from topuniversities, central banks and research centers in 37 countries. More than half of thenominations came from the US.

The University of British Columbia's Faculty of Law at Allard Hall, Toranto presentedAnna Hazare, one of India's most influential social activists, with the inaugural AllardPrize for International Integrity at a special ceremony on 25th September. The $100,000prize is one of the world's largest awards recognizing efforts to combat corruption and topromote human rights. Established in October 2012 by UBC Law alumnus Mr. Peter A.Allard, QC, the Allard Prize is awarded to an individual, movement or organization thathas shown exceptional courage and leadership in combating corruption, especiallythrough promoting transparency, accountability and the rule of law. For decades, AnnaHazare has led successful movements across India to enhance governmenttransparency and investigate and prosecute official corruption. TIME Magazine namedthe 2011 movement he started one of the Top News Stories of 2011.

An Indian-origin scientist, who proved how cutting emissions of "black carbon" or sootcan significantly lessen the impact of climate change, has been selected for the United

Nation's top environmental award. A statement issued by the United NationsEnvironment Programme (UNEP) on 17th September, said Veerabhadran Ramanathanof Scripps Institution of Oceanography in California is to receive the 2013 " Championsof the Earth award", the UN's highest environmental award. In 1997, he had co-led aninternational research team that first discovered the climate impact in Asia ofwidespread air pollution, known as the atmospheric brown cloud (ABC).The prize isawarded annually to leaders from government, civil society and the private sector,whose actions have had a significant and positive impact on the environment. A majorUNEP study in 2011 of which Ramanathan acted as vice-chairman, presented 16actions to cut black carbon and methane emissions, which, if implemented, would saveclose to 2.5 million lives a year through reduced respiratory illnesses, avoid crop lossesamounting to 32 million tones annually, and deliver near-term climate protection ofabout 0.5 degree C by 2050.Ramanathan's studies on the climate warming effects ofnon-CO2 pollutants dates back to 1975, when he discovered the super greenhouseeffect of a class of halocarbons known as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).Translating hisresearch into action, he had started "Project Surya" in India to phase out inefficientcooking stoves.

Bollywood actor John Abraham on 17th September, conferred the 'Pride of the Nation'award for his attempt to raise the sensitive issue of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi'sassassination through his role as a RAW agent in "Madras Cafe". Constituted by AntiTerrorist Front, the award was presented to Abraham by its chairman M. S. Bitta in NewDelhi. The film "Madras Cafe" is set in the late 80s and early 1990s, during the time ofSri Lankan civil war and the assassination of then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Bittasaid there was a need to initiate an "unbiased enquiry to expose the conspiracy" whichresulted in the death of Rajiv Gandhi.

Pakistani schoolgirl and education rights campaigner Malala Yousafzai and Americansinger, human rights and social justice activist Harry Belafonte were on 17thSeptember, named as joint recipients of Amnesty International’s Ambassador ofConscience Award for 2013. The Ambassador of Conscience Award is the human rightsgroup’s highest honour, recognizing individuals who have promoted and enhanced thecause of human rights through their life and by example. The award will be presented ata ceremony on 19th September, at the Mansion House in Dublin, Ireland, according to apress statement issued by Amnesty International. “Our two new Ambassadors ofConscience are different from each other in many ways, but they share a dedication tothe fight for human rights everywhere and for all,” said Salil Shetty, secretary general ofAmnesty International.

National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) was awarded Indira Gandhi OfficialLanguage Award for propagation of Rajbhasha (Official Language) in the company bythe Union Government of India on Hindi Divas on 14th September. On 14 SeptemberHindi was adopted as an official language of the country. To promote the officialLanguage in the country, the Government of India introduced Indira Gandhi OfficialLanguage Award from 1986-82.This award grants to the variousMinistries/Departments, Banks and Financial Institutions, Public Sector Undertakingsand employees.

Actor Aamir Khan has been selected for a US award for his television show ‘SatyamevJayate’ along with eminent American director Kathryn Bigelow and the InternationalCenter on Nonviolent Conflict (ICNC). They will be honored at the inaugural awardsdinner by the America Abroad Media (AAM) in Washington DC on October 28. “Theirwork exemplifies the power of media to inform, educate and empower citizens about thecritical social and public policy issues of our time,” America Abroad Media said in astatement on 20th September.

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani teen shot by the Taliban for championing girls’education, and US intelligence leaker Edward Snowden have been nominated for theEuropean Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov human rights prize. Malala, who hasbecome emblematic of the fight against the most radical forms of Islamism, is backed bythe three main political groups in parliament, making her a favorite for the award.Snowden, the US contractor who revealed widespread spying by the United States onfriends and foes alike and who has sought asylum in Russia, has been nominated bythe Greens and a far left group. A statement on 17th September, also named theStanding Man group, activists behind the Taksim Square protests in Istanbul in Junewhich upset the accepted view that Turkey was on the smooth path to lasting politicalstability. The other nominees are jailed Ethiopian journalist Reeyot Alemu and EskinderNega, Belarus political prisoners Ales Belyatsky, Eduard Lobau and Mykola Statkevich,and jailed former Russian oligarch and Putin foe Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Also nominatedis the CNN Freedom Project, a global media campaign to raise awareness on humantrafficking. The winner of the prize will be announced in October. Last year’s award wentto detained Iranians, lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and film maker Jafar Panahi, to honourthose “standing up for a better Iran.”Past winners of the 50,000 euro ($65,000) prizeinclude South African anti apartheid hero Nelson Mandela and former UN secretarygeneral Kofi Annan

President Pranab Mukherjee conferred National Communal Harmony Awards to ShriKhamliana, Shri Md. Abdul Bari and The Foundation for Amity and National Solidarity inNew Delhi on 20th September. Vice President Mohammad Hamid Ansari and Prime

Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh were also present on the occasion. Shri Khamliana, aresident of Aizawl, is the Founder President of the Mizoram Youth Club which wasestablished in 1990 and has nine branches all over the State. The Youth Club is areputed and renowned organization in the State and has done exemplary work indiverse fields including extending support for rehabilitation of drug addicts, victims ofAIDs and other similarly affected people. Shri Khamliana has conducted AIDSawareness and anti-drugs campaigns all over Mizoram. Shri Md. Abdul Bari, fromBhadrak, Odisha is the President of the Bhadrak Muslim Jamat.

He is a known social activist who has been working towards maintaining communalharmony in the area. No major communal incident has taken place in Bhadrak districtsince 1993. Shri Bari has selflessly helped the police and local administration tomaintain peace, unity and harmony in the district. He has received commendation andrecognition from the Government as well as social organizations for his noble andselfless work. The personal example set by Shri Abdul Bari and his meritorious andcreditable services to the society have inspired the present generation to promote anatmosphere of peace and harmony amongst the different religious communities residingin the district. The Foundation for Amity & National Solidarity (FANS) is a non-political,non-partisan, social organization based in Delhi which works to spread and promoteamity and communal harmony in the country. Established in 1984, the Foundation in its28 years of service to the nation has organized more than 400 events comprising ofSeminars, Workshops, Inter-religious meets, Symposia, Declamation Contests, YouthCamps, Sadbhavana Sabhas and Peace Marches all over the country. The Foundationhas successfully conducted four Regional Children camps and 14 All India InterUniversity National Integration Youth Camps in different parts of the country.

An Indian freedom fighter was posthumously conferred a 'Lifetime Achievement Award'at UK's House of Commons on 12 September, for his contribution during India'sindependence movement and its journey afterwards. Britain's minister for businessengagement with India Gregory Barker and Virendra Sharma, chair of the Indo-Britishall party parliamentary Group jointly presented the award to late Jawaharlal Darda'sson, Vijay Jawaharlal Darda, MP and chairman and editor-in-chief of Lokmat, the mostwidely circulated Marathi language newspaper.

President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 6 September, conferred Tagore Award forCultural Harmony, 2013 on Maestro Zubin Mehta in New Delhi. The award carries anamount of One Crore Rupees (Rs. 1 Crore), a citation in a scroll, a plaque as well as anexquisite traditional handicraft/handloom item. The annual award was instituted by theGovt. of India during the commemoration of 150th Birth Anniversary of GurudevRabindranath Tagore. The award is open to all persons regardless of nationality, race,

language, caste, creed or sex. The first Tagore Award was conferred on Pt. RaviShankar, the Indian Sitar Maestro in 2012. A High-level Jury under the Chairmanship ofPrime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh and comprising the Chief Justice of India, JusticeAltamas Kabir, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Smt. Sushma Swaraj and ShriGopalkrishna Gandhi after detailed discussions on 4th July, 2013, unanimously decidedto select Shri Zubin Mehta to be the second recipient of the Tagore Award, 2013 inrecognition of his outstanding contribution to cultural harmony.

Haraprasad Das was conferred the Moortidevi Award for 2012 for 'Vamsha, a poeticrecreation of the Mahabharata in contemporary idiom, which has been hailed as a post-modern masterpiece. as, who has eleven works of poetry, four of prose, threetranslations and one piece of fiction to his credit, was given the award on 3 September,at Shastri Bhavan by the Moortidevi Award Selection Board, chaired by oil ministerVeerappa Moily.

Indian American Kavita Shukla in the first week of September 2013 won INDEX designaward for her innovative design, FreshPaper. It helps keep food fresh for a longerperiod. The award carries 500000 Euro award. It recognizes the best of innovationsaddressing problems facing the world. The Award is given biennially in Copenhagen,Denmark. Kavita Shukla was among the five winners in categories such as Home,Body, Work, Play and Community. Kavita’s design won in the Home category. Itsucceeded the jury with its simplicity and cost-effectiveness. FreshPaper is simple, low-tech and hyper affordable, with the potential to scale into new markets. The FreshPaperis compostable and infused only with organic spices.