Current Affairs March 2012

Goa becomes first state in India for implementation of Poll Monitoring System

• Election Commission of India decides to to make use of innovative Poll Monitoring System in all the 40 assembly constituencies of Goa for the ensuing assembly polls slated on March 3. This would be the first such occasion in the electoral history of the country.
• Under the system, fingerprints of the voters would be recorded by finger print reading machines along with their photographs by the web cameras fitted to computers.

Rural Ministry plans to extend Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan

• Union Rural Development Minister Mr Jairam Ramesh says that new Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan will ensure the extension of the sanitation scheme to both Above Poverty Line and Below Poverty Line families.
• Subsidy amount for the sanitation scheme is also being raised from the present level of 3,000 rupees.

North Korea agrees to suspend nuclear and missile tests

• North Korea agrees to suspend nuclear and missile tests and halt a uranium enrichment programme in return for US food aid. The announcement was made by Korea and US simultaneously.
• Washington had promised 240,000 tonnes of nutritional assistance, with the prospect of additional food aid, at talks between the two sides in Beijing in February 2012.

Jail Olympics organized by Punjab

• The the State Jail Department of Punjab organizes a ‘Jail Olympics’ to keep prisoners away from social evils and help them keep good health. Patiala jail has been Chosen as the venue for the inauguration of the games which will have Basketball, Kabaddi, Athletics, Cricket, Volleyball, Wrestling, Tug-of-war and Badminton.

CCI approves deepening and widening of Mumbai Harbour channel and Jawaharlal Nehru port channel

• Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure (CCI) approves the project of deepening and widening of Mumbai Harbour channel and Jawaharlal Nehru port channel at an estimated cost of over 1570 crore rupees.

NBS to be effective from April 1, 2012

• Union Cabinet approves the proposals of fertilizers Department for fixation of rates of Nutrient Based Subisdy, NBS for next fiscal. It has approved per Kilogram NBS rates of fertilizer nutrients – Nitrogen, Phosphate, Potash and Sulphur for the next financial year 2012-13.
• Total subsidy outgo for Potash and Phosphate will depend on the overall consumption of fertilizers in the next financial year. All farmers in the country will be the beneficiaries. The new rates will be effective from April the 1st.

Launch of NCTC put on hold

• National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), scheduled to be launched from March 1, 2012 has been put on hold in the wake of staunch opposition from chief ministers of over 10 states including Odisha, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat and Bihar who say they fear that the powers given to the agency would infringe on the rights of the states and hence threaten the country’s federal structure.
  
• The Home Ministry has invited the Directors General of Police and the Chief Secretaries of all the states for a meeting on the National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) issue on the 9th of next month. In a letter to the Chief Ministers, Home Minister P. Chidambaram had said that the next steps on the NCTC would be taken after the meeting of police chiefs and heads of state anti-terror units.
  

Indian Economy: Third Quarter Growth Rate 6.1%

• India’s economic growth rate slipped to 6.1 per cent in the third quarter this fiscal the lowest in more than 2 years. This fall was due to poor performance of the manufacturing, mining and farm sectors.
• As per the latest data released by the government today, the Gross domestic product, GDP growth in the third quarter from October to December last fiscal was 8.3 per cent. GDP in April-December period also moderated to 6.9 per cent from 8.1 per cent in the first nine months of 2010-11.
• During the quarter ending December 31st, growth in the manufacturing sector dipped to a meagre 0.4 per cent from 7.8 per cent in the corresponding period of 2010-11.

Government decides to increase Total Health Expenditure to 2.5% of GDP in 12th Plan

• The government today decides to increase its total health expenditure to 2.5 per cent of GDP by the end of the 12th Plan, from the current 1.4 per cent.

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