01/01/2010: Reena Kaushal on Thursday became the first Indian woman to ski to the South Pole. Ms.

Kaushal, 38, settled in Delhi, made the historic ski-run as part of an eight-woman Commonwealth team that crossed a 900 km Antarctic ice trek to reach the South Pole to mark the 60th anniversary of the founding of the Commonwealth. LONDON: Mota Singh, the U.K.s first Sikh and Asian judge, has been knighted by the Queen for his services to the administration of justice, community relations and the voluntary sector. NEW DELHI: Recognising the plight of citizens in getting potable water, the Supreme Court held that right to water was part of the right to life guaranteed under Article 21. On the political front, the court came down heavily on the Mayawati government for defying its order. Acting suo motu on media reports, especially The Hindus report, it ordered the Mayawati government to stop construction activities at the Kanshi Ram Memorial Sthal and other sites in Lucknow. The court banned unauthorised construction of any temple, church, mosque or gurdwara on public streets/spaces with immediate effect. It directed all the States and the Union Territories to ensure that no unauthorised construction of any religious institution shall be permitted on public street/space. For the existing unauthorised constructions, it asked the States to come out with a comprehensive scheme to be considered by the court for further directions. CHENNAI: The launch of the Geo-synchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV-D3), scheduled for December 2009 from Sriharikota, has been postponed to March. The GSLV-D3 will be powered by an indigenous cryogenic stage built for the first time by the Indian Space Research Organisation. It will put in orbit a communication satellite, GSAT-4, which is not ready either. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), planned to be launched prior to the GSLV-D3 flight, has also been postponed. It will now take off in March to put in orbit Cartosat-2B; Alsat, a small satellite from Algeria; two nano-satellites from the University of Toronto, and another nanosatellite, Studsat (Students satellite), built by several Indian universities. The Cartosat-2B, to be built by the ISRO Satellite Centre in Bangalore, is also not ready. When Oceansat-2 was successfully launched on September 23, 2009, ISRO officials claimed that the GSLV-D3would lift off in December and the PSLV flight would take place ahead of it. When Oceansat-2 was successfully launched on September 23, 2009, ISRO officials claimed that the GSLV-D3would lift off in December and the PSLV flight would take place ahead of it NEW DELHI: The first meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) to consider two bills on educational reforms will be held on January 6.The GoM, chaired by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, will consider the bills one to provide for establishment of educational tribunals and another to provide for prohibition and punishment for adoption of unfair practices in technical educational institutions and universities. The bills were to be introduced during the winter session of Parliament. Guwahati: Popular Assamese storyteller, novelist, lyricist and playwright, Imran Shah, has been chosen for the 20th Assam Valley Literary Award for the year 2009 for his literary excellence. The Award was instituted in the year 1990 by Williamson Magor Trust to honour outstanding

creative writers who have enhanced the richness of Assamese literature. Mr. Shah would formally be presented the award on March 27, Ms. Rashmi Baruah of Williamson Magor said in a release here. MOSCOW: Russia will consider building a spacecraft to push an asteroid away from a collision course with the Earth. The Russian space agency will soon call a meeting of scientists and experts to devise ways of preventing Apophis, a massive asteroid, from smashing into our planet, said Roskosmos head Anatoly Perminov. Discovered in 2004, the 270-metre Apophis will fly within 30,000 km of the Earth in 2029, and has a remote chance of hitting us on subsequent encounters. Russian experts have proposed sending a space tow that would gradually deflect a dangerous asteroid by circling around it. A more fantastic idea being discussed is to place engines on an asteroid to change its orbit. MUMBAI: Come Saturday, the Bombay Stock Exchange sensitive index, Sensex, the barometer of domestic stock market, is all set to enter its Silver Jubilee year. The 30-scrip Sensex was launched by the BSE, the oldest bourse in the entire Asian continent, on January 2, 1986, with 1978-79 as the base year. It had closed that day at 549.43. The Sensex which will be entering the 25th year on January 2, 2010, has come a long way and so are the market and the economy. The composition of the index has undergone changes many times. Only 11 of the original 30 companies continue to be part of the Sensex today. The companies that were part of the Sensex on January 2, 1986 were: ACC, Ballarpur Industries, Century Spinning, Bombay Dyeing, Reliance Industries, Gwalior Rayon (Grasim), Indian Rayon, Great Eastern Shipping, Siemens, Peico Electronics (Philips), Tata Power, Tata Steel, Hindustan Aluminium, Tata Engineering (Tata Motors), L&T, Kirloskar Cummins, Premier Automobiles, Hindustan Motors, M&M, Mukand Iron, Zenith, Gujarat State Fertlisers, Indian Organic, HLL (HUL), Glaxo, Food Specialities (Nestle), Ceat Tyres, Voltas, Indian Hotels and ITC. PTI NEW DELHI: India will liberalise its trade with South Korea and three key ASEAN countries Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia from Friday by slashing duties on several products like seafood, chemicals and apparel among others. The countrys market-opening pacts with three of the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and South Korea will be operational from January 1. Indian exports to Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia accounting for over 90 per cent of the India-ASEAN $44-billion trade, would also be given easy access on about 4,000 tariff items. Under the Indo-Korean Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which includes services, Indian professionals from as many as 163 sectors, including IT, English teaching, consultancy and engineering, would be eligible for temporary visas up to one year in Korea. Under this agreement, customs duties will also be reduced or eliminated on as many as 93 per cent of Koreas tariff lines which include tyres, electrical goods, vehicle parts and petroleum products. MUMBAI: The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) on Thursday allowed State Bank of India, ICICI Bank and 14 other banks to accept application supported blocked amount (ASBAs) to enable better participation by corporate investors and high networth individuals (HINs) in initial public offerings or rights issues. The ASBA facility means that money is not

released from the applicants account till the shares are allotted to her/him while applying for the IPOs or rights issue. Earlier this month, Sebi extended the ASBA facility to corporate investors and high net worth individuals (HNIs), which was earlier available only to retail investors. However, qualified institutional buyers (QIBs) are not eligible to apply for public or rights issues using the ASBA facility 02/01/2010 NEW DELHI: The Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) Act, 2008, which provides for sweeping changes in the criminal justice delivery system, came into effect from December 31, 2009. It incorporates the recommendations of the Law Commission, the Justice Malimath Committees report and the guidelines issued by the Supreme Court to prevent overcrowding of jails with undertrials. With the permission of court, a rape victim can engage an advocate to help the prosecution. Any victims statement will have to be recorded at the victims home or in a safe place or a place of her choice. As far as practicable, the statement should be recorded by a woman police officer in the presence of the victims parents or guardian or near relatives or social worker of the locality. Under the new law, statements can be recorded through audio/video or other electronic means. Investigation of rape/child sex abuse must be completed in three months from the date when information was recorded by the officer in charge of the police station. e law provides for in camera trials and protection of the victims identity, maintaining the confidentiality of the name and address of the parties and conduct of trials by a woman magistrate. It will enable the victim to go on appeal against any order passed by the court acquitting the accused or convicting him of a lesser offence, or awarding inadequate compensation. Such appeal shall be made in the court where an appeal is ordinarily made against the order of conviction. If the trial court is satisfied that the compensation awarded under Section 357 of the Cr. PC is not adequate, or the cases end in acquittal or discharge or the victim has to be rehabilitated, it may recommend compensation. In coordination with the Centre, every State should prepare a scheme for providing funds for compensation to the victim or his/her dependants who suffered loss or injury as a result of the crime and who require rehabilitation. It was Gyanadnandini Devi, Tagores sister-in-law, who during her travels to Bombay chanced upon the Parsi style of draping a sari. Alterations to the Bombai Dastur style by the women of the household led to the creation of the Thakurbarir sari, which became the archetype for the Bengali way of wearing it. And the men in the family were not to be outdone. China coats, achkans, elaborate headdresses and jobbas became part of their distinctive style. NEW DELHI: India on Friday ushered in a new feature in providing visas on arrival to tourists from five countries Japan, Singapore, Finland, New Zealand and Luxembourg. The facility, launched on an experimental basis for a year, is aimed at facilitating bona fide foreign tourists who plan their visits at short notice, said the Ministry of External Affairs. The Ministry said tourists from these countries could also procure their visas from the diplomatic missions/posts in the normal course. The Tourist visa-on-arrival, with a maximum validity of 30 days with single-

entry facility to begin with, will be granted by the Immigration Officers at the airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha, which adjourned sine die on December 22, 2009, was prorogued by the President on December 27, an official release said here on Friday. MUMBAI: State Bank of India on Friday revised its interest rates on foreign currency nonresident (B) account deposits and non-resident external term deposits with immediate effect. MUMBAI: State Bank of India on Friday revised its interest rates on foreign currency nonresident (B) account deposits and non-resident external term deposits with immediate effect. 03/01/2010 CHENNAI: The Public Utilities Board (PUB) of Singapore, the water agency of the Southeast Asian country, has agreed to cooperate with the State government in preparing a comprehensive conceptual master plan for the restoration of the Cooum river. The plan would cover issues such as the identification and development of the appropriate engineering solution to the problem of the formation of sandbar at the mouth of the river, says an official. BANGALORE: The Law Ministry has finalised the draft bill for setting up special courts to try sexual offences. It has also prepared a note for placing the Bill on Judges Standard and Accountability before the Cabinet for further discussion. Once these special courts come into existence, they are expected to hear and dispose of cases within a stipulated time frame. Called the Sexual Offences (Special Courts) Bill, 2010, the courts specially designated sessions courts or fast track courts would try such cases within six months. This is the first time that such a bill is being passed in the country. Apart from making sexual offences a cognizable offence, it incorporates many recommendations and suggestions of the Supreme Court in different judgments. The bill will also incorporate some changes in Section 53 and Section 146 of the Indian Evidence Act. A new section, 53 A, will also be added to the statute providing protection to women victims during the course of trial. 04/01/2010 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, on Sunday said that though very limited progress was made at the recent climate change summit at Copenhagen and none was fully satisfied with the outcome, the fact remained that the world had to move to a low greenhouse gas emissions and energy-efficient development path. India should not lag behind in developing science and technology related to both the aspects of mitigation and adaptation. Inaugurating the 97th annual session of the Indian Science Congress, Dr. Singh said: It [climate change] is a problem that is challenging the knowledge and wisdom of humankind. THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Indian Science Award declared in connection with the 97th Indian Science Congress has gone to C.R. Rao, statistician. Only two weeks have passed after the Copenhagen climate summit ended with a compromise agreement, but officials are already laying the groundwork for the next round of negotiations. A top Chinese official has called for a meeting of China, India, Brazil and South Africa the

BASIC group this month to once again coordinate their positions as talks between the developing countries and the industrialised world continue in 2010.