Current Affairs: February 18, 2012

February 28th, 2012

Contents

Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar to lead the first ever Indian Parliamentary delegation to Pakistan for a 4-day tour.
The visit is a part of the bilateral exchange programme b/w the two countries.

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British rights activists requested the UN that in order to end “Human Safaris” in the Andaman Islands, UN should push India to shut the Andaman Trunk Road that runs through the Jarawa tribal reserve.
Campaign group ‘Survival International’ in a letter to the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) held that in spite of mounting national and international pressure India had yet not enforced the 2002 Supreme Court order on closing the road.
Survival International remarked that its call had cross-party support from British MPs.
Lately, British MPs inked a parliamentary motion showing concern over reports that tourists were taken in coaches to gape at members of the Jarawa tribe, who were dealt like modes of attraction in a “human safari park.” This was followed by a video release from The Observer intending to demonstrate that police and army officials were involved in “human safaris” in spite of official abnegations.

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With an estimated Rs.650-750 Crore IPO, Commodity bourse MCX to hit the capital market on February 22, 2012.
Thus it will become the first ever IPO by an exchange in India.
The bidding for shares in the IPO process would begin on February 22 and close on February 24, the company said in its Red Herring Prospectus, the final document for the offer.
This could also be the first IPO of the year 2012.
The IPO had been attributed top-most grading of '5/5' by Crisil - thus indicating strong fundamentals.
The IPO grading is assigned on a 5-point scale from 1 to 5, where an IPO Grade of 5/5 indicates strong fundamentals and an IPO Grade 1/5 indicates poor fundamentals.
The equity shares were intended to be listed on the BSE and MCX has received in-principle sanction from the BSE for the listing.
The MCX-IPO could generate a market value of over Rs.5,000 Crore for the exchange.

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With the Pakistan Cabinet postponing the decision to announce the 'shorterned negative list', India and Pakistan will hold talks to open another border trading point at Mona Bao-Khorapar in Rajasthan, which opens up into Sindh province in Pakistan.
India and Pakistan are holding talks not only to opening up another border trading point at the Wagah Border but also at Mona Bao in Rajasthan.

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RBI has decided to raise the Bank Rate by 350 basis points from 6% to 9.50% per annum with immediate effect.
The RBI realigned the Bank Rate with Marginal Standing Facility (MSF) rate, which, in turn, is linked to the Policy Repo Rate.
RBI held that this should be considered and realized as one-time technical adjustment in order to align the Bank Rate with the MSF rate rather than a change in the monetary policy stance. Henceforward, each time there is an alteration in the MSF rate, the RBI will look at and re-align the Bank Rate with the reviewed MSF rate.

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Community Radio is one of the thrust areas for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Ministry has so far issued 363 permissions to set up Community Radio Stations in the country. Out of this, 126 stations have become operational while others are in the pipeline.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry to give maximum boost and impetus to community radio as it is one of the best way to get to the people.

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Gunnerus Sustainability Award: The World's 1^st International award for outstanding scientific work that promotes sustainable development. It will be awarded every two years starting this year.
Kamal Bawa, India-born biologist won the world's first international award for outstanding scientific work that promotes sustainable development globally.
Dr Bawa is a distinguished Professor of Biology at the University of Massachusetts in Boston
Dr Bawa will receive the Gunnerus Sustainability Award from the Royal Norwegian Society of Sciences and Letters at a function in Trondheim, on April 17, 2012.
Dr. Bawa is most noted for his pioneering work on: “population biology in rainforest areas”.

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WHO (World Health Organization) has ordered an indefinite moratorium on the publication of new research into the Bird flu virus
Reason: Due to fear that such published researches could be used by terrorists in order to create a biological weapons.
In a meeting of medical and public health experts it was agreed that the research should eventually be published in full but only after all possible risks have been assessed.

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Advertisement rates for Community radio hiked from Rs 1 per second to Rs 4 per second.
The declaration made at the 3-day Community Radio Sammelan in New Delhi.
I&B Ministry is formulating a detailed road-map for expansion of Community Radio Stations in the country.
Nearly 2000 - 5000 Community Radio stations are expected to come up in the next 5 years.

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India and Pakistan agreed to fully revise the 1974 Bilateral Visa Agreement and put in place a liberal visa regime soon for all categories of individuals, particularly businessmen, as part of the Confidence Building Measures (CBMs) directed to encourage peace in the region.
Both countries exchanged drafts on the new visa regime which were now awaiting necessary approvals from the respective authorities.
The drafts prepared after the report of the Joint Working Group set up in March 2011, consisting of officials from the Home and Commerce Ministries.
Under the proposed new regime businessmen will be allowed multiple visas and entries into each other's country. For this the governments of both sides will appoint two apex business chambers each which would endorse the visa documents of the businessmen who require multiple visas and then based on that, visa would be issued to the concerned businessmen.
FICCI and CII had been designated as the nodal business chambers for this purpose in India and Pakistan will also appoint apex chambers soon.