1-6 Jan : News
- SC ordered that all drug trials(illegal clinical trials) will be done under the supervision of the Union Health Secretary.
- Union Home Minister Shri Sushilkumar Shinde will
launch pilot programme of Crime and Criminal Tracking Network &
Systems (CCTNS) on 4 Jan 2013 in New Delhi. CCTNS is a Mission Mode Project
under the National e-Governance Plan of Government of India.
CCTNS aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing .
- PM Unveils New Science, Technology and Innovation Policy at Centenary Session of Indian Science Congress.
- Supreme Court upheld the appointment of Justice R.A. Mehta as Lokayukta in Gujarat by Governor Kamla Beniwal
- The U.S. Senate, approved legislation that would allow tax rates to rise only on affluent Americans
while temporarily suspending sweeping, across-the-board spending cuts.
- No Journalistic Activities Permitted on Tourist Visa .
- 14th Finance commission constituted as mandated by the Article 280 of the constitution.
- Incredible India-2013 Calendar is based on the theme “Find What You Seek”.
- 24th road safety week begins from 1st January to 7th
January 2013 with theme “Stay Alive, don’t drink and drive".
- India is expected to start building the world's largest solar telescope
on the icy heights of Ladakh to study the sun's atmosphere and
understand the formation of sun-spots and their decay process.Rs 300-crore project is expected to come up at either Hanle or Merak,
which is very near to the Ladakh's Pangong lake along the Line of Actual
Control with China.
- Internet celebrates its 30th birthday
- Linux community has been particularly offended by the operating system’s
Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI), or popularly known as
Secure Boot.
- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved a Johnson &
Johnson tuberculosis drug ,Sirturo, known chemically as bedaquiline,that is the first new medicine to fight the
deadly infection in more than four decades.
- Environment ministry has given states up to February 15 to finalise
no-go areas for industry around the 600 plus national parks and
sanctuaries. If the states do not submit their proposals by the
deadline, the centre will impose a 10 km area around these protected
wildlife zones as eco-sensitive zones where some kind of development
projects would be completely banned and others restricted.
- Bharti Infratel in FTSE Global Equity indices (FTSE, which is a part of the London Stock Exchange Group, is a
world-leader in the provision of global index and analytical solutions.)
- A committee ,headed by IIM-Ahmedabad’s Prof Ravindra H Dholakia,was set up today to suggest measures to lower the high costs
of Air India’s operations and improve utilisation of resources in line
with best global practices to help the state-run carrier achieve the
goals of its turnaround and financial restructuring plans.
- SEBI moot norms for corporate governance :
- all listed companies must appoint an independent
director as a lead director, who could chair the meetings of independent
directors and act as a liaison between independent directors and
management/board/ shareholder.
- The board should set a corporate culture and the values by which
executives throughout a group will behave. The board should eliminate
policies that promote excessive risk-taking for the sake of short-term
increases in stock price performance and ensure that a risk/crisis
management plan is in place.
- disclosure of ratio of remuneration paid to directors and their median staff salary.
- SEBI suggested for stronger share buy-back norms :( The repurchase of outstanding shares (repurchase) by a company in order
to reduce the number of shares on the market. Companies will buy back
shares either to increase the value of shares still available (reducing
supply), or to eliminate any threats by shareholders who may be looking
for a controlling stake.)
- companies complete the buy back in three months. To ensure that only
serious companies launch the buyback programme, it is further proposed
that these companies be mandated to put 25 per cent of the maximum
amount proposed for buy back in an escrow account.
- the companies, which are unable to buyback all the targeted shares (or
proposed amount), should be barred from coming up with another
repurchase offer for one year.
- companies should disclose the number of shares purchased and the amount utilised to the exchanges on a daily basis.
- the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) allowed
those overseas entities having acquired debt investment(Investment in a firm or project through purchase of bonds or debentures) limits in the
past one year to re-invest up to half of their maximum debt security
holdings during 2013.
- South Korea court orders first chemical castration for child abuse.
- Al Jazeera buys US Current TV network(previously nation’s second-largest TV operator, Time Warner Cable Inc).
- Obama signed the annual defence policy bill authorising $633 million in spending.( National Defence Authorisation Act 2013 :
- ban on health insurance coverage for abortion for servicewomen and
military dependents who are survivors of rape and incest was struck down
- Language that could lead to claims of a right to discriminate.
- Guantánamo will remain open.)
- U.S. is forging ahead with its the giant $500 million effort to
refurbish the massive Kajaki dam(on Helmand River) and hydro-electric power system in Afghanistan.
- Amerish B. ‘Ami’ Bera (47), an Indian-American Democrat from California;
and Tulsi Gabbard (31), the first Hindu ever elected to the U.S. House
of Representatives and a Democrat from Hawaii, created history as they
were sworn in as members of the 113th Congress.
- Malala Yousafzai, the teenaged Pakistani schoolgirl shoTipperary International Peace Prize for 2012t by a Taliban
gunman last year, is to be given Ireland’s prestigious for her courage and determination to
speak out in support of equal access to education for every child.
- ‘CAG has power to audit oil & gas blocks’ : Rangarajan Panel
- Reserve Bank of India Governor D. Subbarao will now be directly in-charge of the Monetary Policy Department.
- Talks with Etihad on for stake sale, says Jet Airways
