24 January 2014

National:
India joins elite club with heliborne geo-survey capability
India became only the seventh nation to own a heliborne geophysical survey system (HGSS), which has
been integrated on the advanced light helicopter's (ALH) latest version Garuda Vasudha. The ALH,
which is the brainchild of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) has been integrated with HGSS
procured from Pico Envirotec Inc, Canada. The chopper was officially handed over to the Geological
Survey of India (GSI), a body responsible for conducting geophysical survey under the ministry of mines
and it costs Rs 73-crore. Although basic aircraft was delivered to the ministry of mines as early as in
2009, it took HAL and the GSI five years to procure and integrate the HGSS. Only six other countries,
Australia, UK, the US, South Africa, France and China have this. Garuda Vasuda is equipped with state-
of-the-art latest magnetic, spectrometric and gravity heliborne geophysical survey systems.

Chhattisgarh to develop Asias biggest botanical garden
Asias biggest botanical garden will come up in Naya Raipur with the Chhattisgarh government initiating
work on the ecotourism project. The State Forest Department has already started work in this connection
near Khandwa village of the new capital, located around 23 km from Raipur. Chief Minister Raman Singh
has a keen interest in promoting ecotourism and it was as per his initiative that the garden would be
developed on 153 hectares of area near the Khandwa reservoir, close to the planned forest safari. The
botanical garden will house plants of different varieties and species, which will also be used extensively
for research purpose by the students and teachers of botany. Plant germplasm would also be preserved
for the future.

NSG gets a new Director General
J ayanto Narayan Choudhury has taken over as the new Director General of the National Security Guard.
A 1978 IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, Mr. Choudhury has earlier served as Assam Police chief,
besides handling important assignments while on deputation with the Intelligence Bureau. He has also
worked as a Counsellor at the Indian Embassy in Washington, besides serving in the executive
committee, international policy committee and counter-terrorism committee of the International
Association of Chiefs of Police.

Award for Karnataka
Karnataka State recently won the award for housing projects taken up under Basic Services to Urban
Poor (BSUP) scheme with funding from J awaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (J NNURM).
On J anuary 21, President Pranab Mukherjee gave away the award for Best Performing State under
J NNURM in 7 years of Mission Period in large states / Union Territories. The award comprised a trophy, a
letter of appreciation and cash incentive of Rs. 5 lakh.

All DD channels should air R-Day parade in sign language
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has issued an advisory to all private news channels stating
that they can show live coverage of the Republic Day parade in sign language interpretation by carrying
signals from DD-News, DD-Bharati and DD-Urdu. This step has been taken to ensure access to hearing-
impaired people.

A.P. challenges second Krishna tribunal award
The Andhra Pradesh government has challenged in the Supreme Court the award of the Krishna Water
Disputes Tribunal II permitting Karnataka to raise the height of the Almatti dam from 519.6 metres to
524.25 metres. In its special leave petition against the November 29, 2013 award. As per the final award
passed on November 29, 2013 Andhra Pradesh is entitled to 1,005 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of
water, Karnataka 907 tmcft and Maharashtra 666 tmcft. This award will be binding till 2050. The tribunal
has asked the Centre to appoint a Krishna Water Decision Implementation Board, giving representation to
Karnataka, Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh as well as the Centre.


24 January 2014
Defence Ministry gets nod for funds transfer
The Finance Ministry has allowed the Defence Ministry to transfer Rs. 7,870 crore from its capital account
to its revenue account to take care of additional requirements. Out of an allocation of Rs. 86,740.71 crore
for its capital expenditure, it had spent only about 82 per cent under the head. In 2013-14, out of an
allocation of Rs. 203,672.12 crore for the defence forces, Rs. 116,931.41 crore was for revenue
expenditure. Under the capital account Rs. 13,327.04 crore was allocated for the Army, Rs. 23,478.78
crore for the Navy and Rs. 37,048.06 crore for the Air Force.

International:

Indian-American appointed Dean of Harvard College
Indian-American professor Rakesh Khurana has been appointed Dean of the prestigious Harvard
College. He is the latest addition to a long list of Indian-origin academicians assuming leadership roles at
renowned global universities. Mr. Khurana, 46, is currently the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership
Development at Harvard Business School (HBS), professor of sociology in the Faculty of Arts and
Sciences (FAS), and co-master of Cabot House at Harvard. He will assume his new role on J uly 1.
Harvard College is the school within Harvard University that grants undergraduate degrees.

Japanese PM to be chief guest at Republic Day parade
J apanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will be able to squeeze in a visit to India to be the chief guest at the
Republic Day parade on J anuary 26, 2014.

CAR interim president takes charge
Central African Republics new interim president, Catherine Samba Panza, was sworn in, tasked with
ending horrific sectarian violence and tackling an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. Samba Panza, the
first female president of the poor, landlocked nation, faces the daunting challenge of stemming inter-
religious hatred and reviving a paralysed state. She takes over from Michel Djotodia who resigned under
international pressure after failing to rein in the mainly Muslim rebel Seleka group, which brought him to
power in March 2013.

Lebedev to be freed three months early
Russias Supreme Court has ruled to free former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovskys business partner, Platon
Lebedev, three months early, but refused to quash a huge tax penalty that effectively dooms the two men
to exile. The apex court has ordered Mr. Lebedevs term to be reduced to that already served. Russias
President Vladimir Putin pardoned Mr. Khodorkovsky last month, but Mr. Lebedev did not seek a pardon.
The court declined to lift a 17.5-billion rouble ($513 million) tax penalty against Mr. Khodorkovsky and Mr.
Lebedev in contravention of ruling by the European Court in 2013.

Business & Economy:

ARCs allowed to convert debt into equity
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has permitted asset reconstruction companies (ARCs) to convert debt of
crisis-ridden companies into equities as part of restructuring process. Securitisation or reconstruction
companies are permitted to convert a portion of debt into shares of the borrower company as a measure
of asset reconstruction provided their shareholding does not exceed 26 per cent of the post converted
equity of the company under reconstruction. Such companies are required to obtain, for the purpose of
enforcement of security interest, the consent of secured creditors holding not less than 60 per cent of the
amount outstanding to a borrower as against 75 per cent at present.



24 January 2014
Chhattisgarh's tops in Fiscal Management in RBI Study
Chhattisgarh ranks as the best performing state in most of the key fiscal parameters. According to the
study, Chhattisgarh has done reasonably well in spending its money in developmental sector, one of the
key parameters to judge States overall performance. As per RBI study, published in its annual number,
State Finances - A study of budgets of 2013-14 Chhattisgarh's development expenditure as per cent of
Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is highest in the country. In Chhattisgarh, development
expenditure is 20.7 per cent of GSDP, whereas average of all states put together is 11.4 per cent. On this
parameter, Bihar is second (16.8), Madhya Pradesh and Goa third (15.7) and J harkhand is fourth (14.7).
Interestingly, till last financial year (2012-13) Bihars development expenditure was highest in the country.
In respect of social sector expenditure, that includes education, health, SC/ST development, women and
child development, Chhattisgarh holds the first position. Social sector expenditure, in Chhattisgarh as per
cent of GSDP is 14 per cent whereas Bihar (11.3) is second, Madhya Pradesh (9.7) and Uttar Pradesh
(9.7) are third and J harkhand (9.2) is fourth.

SBI launches Youtube channel
State Bank of India has strengthened its social media presence with the launch of its channel on popular
video sharing website Youtube, and said it would also be launching its handle on the micro-blogging site
Twitter soon. The YouTube channel, which follows a dedicated Facebook page launch in November
2013, will initially have information about the banks products and services and its legacy to begin with
and will gradually include philanthropic initiatives.

MTNL, BSNL to launch free roaming plans from January 26
State-owned telecom firms MTNL and BSNL are likely to launch new roaming plans from J anuary 26 that
will offer their subscribers free calls. The schemes are likely to be in place from J anuary 26. Several
private telecom operators already offer plans under which, for a monthly or daily fee starting Rs 5, people
get all incoming calls without roaming charges. MTNL has operations in Delhi and Mumbai only, while
BSNL has operations across country except in these two circles.

Lenovo buys part of IBM server business for $2.3 b
The Lenovo Group of China is buying IBMs server business for $2.3 billion, expanding a product line-up
dominated by PCs, tablets and smartphones. Lenovo, the worlds biggest personal computer maker, said
it expected to offer jobs to 7,500 IBM employees as part of its acquisition of the x86 server business. The
acquisition would accelerate Lenovos moves to expand beyond its traditional PC business.

Sports:

Saina slips to ninth
Indias Saina Nehwal dropped a place to the ninth position while P.V. Sindhu retained the 11th spot in the
latest Badminton World Federation (BWF) rankings issued. Saina was overtaken by J uliane Schenk of
Germany. Sindhu, who also lost in the second round of the Malaysian Open, however, managed to
maintain the No. 11 ranking. In the mens section, P. Kashyap jumped two places to 18th while Ajay
J ayaram moved up a place to 21st.

Wawrinka reaches first Slam final at Australian Open
Stanislas Wawrinka backed up his upset of four-time champion Novak Djokovic by reaching his first
Grand Slam final with a 63, 76 (1), 67 (3), 76 (4) win over Tomas Berdych in the Australian Open
semifinals. Wawrinka ended a 14-match losing streak against Djokovic with a dramatic five-set, four-hour
win in the quarterfinals, then followed that with a dominating performance against Berdych, the 2010
Wimbledon finalist.