Current Affairs: January 3, 2012

99th Indian Science Congress

• Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Bhubneshwar is hosting the 99th Indian Science Congress. Inauguration by Hon'ble Prime Minister of India on January 3, 2012. A total of 15,000 delegates including 20 Nobel Prize winner scientists from across the globe will be attending the five-day long Indian Science Congress.

US President signs 662 billion dollar defence spending bill into law

• United States President Barack Obama signs a massive 662 billion dollar defence spending bill into law.
• The defence authorization bill for the year 2012 also seeks to suspend 60 percent of 1.1 billion dollar military aid to Pakistan - under the category Pakistan Counter-insurgency Fund. This seems to be a point of no return in the mistrust between Pakistan and US.
• The bill also imposed tough new sanctions against Iran's central bank and financial sector. The sanctions require foreign firms to make a choice between either doing business with Tehran's oil and financial sectors or central bank, or with the US economy and financial sector.It is being considered the sharpest economic conflict between US and Iran.
• President Obama signed the bill despite what he called serious reservations about provisions regulating detention and prosecution of suspected terrorists.

Maximum Newspapers published from UP

• The 55th Annual report of the Registrar of Newspapers for India says that as many as 3671 newspapers were published from Uttar Pradesh followed by Delhi with 1933 and Madhya Pradesh with 1243 newspapers. In 2010-11, the Newspaper circulation in India rose over eight per cent.

Postal stamp released in memory of late Puran Chandra Gupta

• Prime Minister releases a book and a postage stamp in memory of the late Puran Chandra Gupta, the founder of Hindi daily Dainik Jagaran.

Exports register increase of 17% in November 2011

• India's exports registered an increase of over 17 per cent in November 2011, compared to the corresponding period in 2010. The imports in the same period, grew by over 40%. The Finance Ministry data say that exports during November, 2011 were valued at over Rs. 1,13,500 crore as against over Rs. 96,740 crore in November, 2010.
• Total imports for the month of November 2011 stood at over Rs. 1,82,600 Crore compared to Rs. 1,29,840 Crore in November 2010. The cumulative value of exports for the period April to November 2011-12 registered an increase of over 35 per cent over the same period last year. The total imports in the corresponding period grew by over 32 per cent.

Fiji decided to lift emergency law

• Prime Minister and military strongman of Fiji Voreqe Bainimarama said decided to lift emergency laws in place since a 2009 political crisis and begin discussions on a new Constitution. The emergency laws had draconian regulations, including tight censorship on the news media and a ban on public meetings, were imposed after a Fiji court ruled that Bainimarama's 2006 coup was illegal. The move has been welcomed by several countries.

Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) formed in Manipur

• Five opposition parties of Manipur have formally formed an opposition pre-poll alliance called Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) to jointly fight the State Assembly election which has been scheduled on the 28th of this month. Common minimum programme of the PDF will soon be declared.

RBI hints decline in policy rates

• Reserve Bank Governor D. Subbarao has indicated that the central bank could reverse the tight monetary stance adopted by it since March 2010 to tame inflation. The statement was made in the wake of concern over the declining economic growth.