Daily News - 19 Nov

India claim emphatic first Test win

India broke through the stubborn England resistance with a morning burst of five wickets before surging to a comprehensive nine-wicket victory in the opening cricket Test for a 1-0 lead in the four-match series here today.

Needing 77 runs to record their first win at this venue in seven years on a crumbling and dusty pitch, India achieved the target when they made 80 for one in 16.3 overs after lunch with more than half a day to spare.

Openers Virender Sehwag (25) and Cheteshwar Pujara (41 not out), who scored a double hundred in the huge first innings total of 521 for 8 declared, polished off the major part of the target by adding 57 runs in only 9.5 overs.

Earlier, left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha prised open the victory door for the hosts when he broke through England’s resolute batting by packing off overnight batsmen Matt Prior (91) and Alastair Cook (176) in 12 balls to virtually bring the visitors to their knees.

The two had kept England afloat yesterday with a determined partnership which had helped the visitors avoid an innings defeat and had raised their hopes of even saving the game. The pair remained unconquered last evening with the visitors on 340 for five, an overall lead of 10 runs.

Ojha’s two for 18 burst in 11 overs was complemented by Umesh Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin and Zaheer Khan who grabbed a wicket each as England slumped from 356 for five to 406 all out in just over 16 overs and in 113 minutes of play this morning.

Ojha, who grabbed 4 for 120 in the second innings to add to his superb haul of 5 for 45 in the first, emerged as the most successful bowler from the game.

Pujara, who made an unbeaten 206 in the first essay and opened the innings in place of a bereaved Gautam Gambhir, was the most successful batsman for India.

In the second innings, Pujara and Virat Kohli (14 not out) steered Indian home without being separated.

 Bihar: Tragedy mars Chhath Puja in Patna; 17 killed in stampede

Patna - At least 17 people were killed and many others injured in a stampede on Monday at Adalatghat here on the bank of river Ganga during Chhath puja. The stampede occurred when panicked devotees rushed for safety after a make-shift bridge caved in at the ghat. 

Seven casualties were reported from Patna Medical College while the corresponding figure at Arvind Hospital and Magadh Hospital stood at five each, an official spokesman said, adding that Principal Secretary (Health) Vyasji has informed this to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Kumar has directed Vyasji to establish contact with all private hospitals and clinics to get details about people undergoing treatment due to injuries sustained during the stampede, the spokesman said. 

Asian under 10 Girls Chess Champion N Priyanka Won World Youth Chess Championship 

Asian under 10 girls chess champion Nuthaki Priyanka bagged the world youth chess championship at Maribor, Slovenia on 18 November 2012. She completed with 9.5 points of 11 rounds.

Priyanka completed her game against US-based Wang Annie in 38 moves. She is the 5th standard student of Mustabada Sports and Educational Academy. She became the second girl to win the title from Hyderabad after Koneru Humpy who bagged her title in 1997. V.R. Bobba, the noted coach provided training to Priyanka.

Microsoft Corp Organised Wowzapp 2012 for Students Interested in App Development 

Thousands of youths from the world came together from 9 November 2012 to 11 November 2012 to exhibit their technical and creative skills at Microsoft Corp-organised Wowzapp 2012 (Worldwide Hackathon for Windows). Wowzapp 2012 was organized for students who are interested in development of applications for mobiles, PCs as well as tablets in more than 100 places in the world.

In Wowzapp 2012, around 16500 students from the world, including 3500 from 14 cities of India registered themselves. Wowzapp 2012 was organised in over 100 locations in the world. Participants made use of languages like JavaScript, C++ and C for development of applications on Windows 8. The applications approved will also be available on Windows Store apps.

In the event, Microsoft facilitated the participants with the free software for application creation, Windows Store registration code as well as trainer and expert assistance at hackathon location.

Death of Savita Halappanavar Ignited Strong Reactions for Change in Irish Abortion Law

Indian origin dentist Savita Halappanavar died in Ireland on 28 October 2012 at the University College Hospital Galway after the doctors refused her abortion despite hers body being sick and weak due to 17 weeks of pregnancy. The doctors had refused her abortion on the basis of catholic tenets. Eventually it led to septicemia or blood poisoning that led to her death.

Savita suffered miscarriage and when she went to University College Hospital Galway, she was refused abortion saying that there was still the fetal heartbeat.

The Irish Law on Abortion

Under the Offences against the Person Act 1861, abortion in Ireland has been made as a criminal offense. The laws that govern abortion are under section 58 and 59 of Offences against the Person Act 1861. However a person is free to travel to another state to abort the unborn child in case there is harm to the life of a mother. Abortions abroad are also subject to stern conditions.

Abortion laws in India

As per the laws in India, abortion can only be performed by the qualified physician under stipulated conditions. These laws are categorized under Medical Termination of Pregnancy (MTP) Act that was enacted in 1971 by Indian Parliament. MTP was effective from 1972 and was amended once in 1975. The act clearly states conditions under which termination of pregnancy is possible and this includes performing abortion on women if life is endangered due to pregnancy. Sex-selective abortions where males are favoured is illegal.

Union Minister of Finance P Chidambaram Finalised GAAR Amendment

Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on 18 November 2012 disclosed that the Amendments to GAAR, the controversial law against tax avoidance through foreign investments, had been finalised.

Supporting the fact P. Chidambaram asserted that the amendments to the Chapter 10A of the Income Tax Act which deals with taxation of investments were finalized and it will be sent to the Prime Minister Office (PMO).

GAAR (General Anti-Avoidance Rules), which was proposed in 2012-13 budgets with a view to preventing tax evasion, generated sharp reactions from foreign as well as domestic investors who feared that ungoverned powers to taxmen is going to result in harassment of investors. To look into the concerns a committee was appointed then by the government which was headed by tax expert Parthasarthi Shome.

Issue relating to retrospective tax amendment on which the Shome Committee had submitted its report, is also under consideration with the drafting going on and it will go to the PMO and then to the Cabinet. The government is keen to get the investment engine ongoing and measures were being taken by the government to create a better climate.

Bangladesh Opted out of D-8 Summit Scheduled to be Held in Pakistan

Bangladesh opted out of the key summit known as D-8 Summit in Pakistan which is scheduled to be held later in November, 2012. Bangladesh opted out because Pakistan refused to apologise for the deeds committed during 1971 war which eventually led to Bangladesh’s independence. Bangladesh’s foreign minister in an earlier visit of Hina Rabbani, Pakistan’s foreign minister demanded a formal apology to the Bangladesh’s populace. This apology was demanded for the carnage committed by Pakistan Army and also for putting the former political as well as military personalities on trial in then-East Pakistan. Since then, Pakistan has not paid heed to the demand. Now, Bangladesh claims more clarity on this issue.

Gene Discovered That Identifies Your Time of Death

Researchers at the Division of Neurology, University of Toronto in third week of November discovered the common gene alternate which can influence the time you wake up every morning as well as the time of the day when you are most likely to die.  In the research, the scientists identified that variant of the gene which can virtually affect the whole population. The discovery identifies the variant which can determine when a person will die. The research is said to be surprising and is going to help in planning the medical treatments. This research will also help in analyzing the medical condition of the weak patients.
 

NTPC to impart Skill Development Programme for Jammu and Kashmir Youth

NTPC, the State-run power producer is going to start a skill development programme for 144 youngsters from Jammu & Kashmir, under the central government's UDAANinitiative in last week of November. The programme named UDAAN is an initiative of central government and it is intended at imparting skills to youth from Jammu & Kashmir to help them in establishing their careers. As per the Programme module NTPC is going to train 200 youths from J&K every year for a period of five years and the company would also help the student in getting placed. The programme is meant for both graduates and post-graduates from the J&K region. The Programme is 36-week training programme in thermal power plant engineering. Giving an equal opportunity to students of both the region of state the company had chosen half of the 144 from Jammu and rest half are from Srinagar. The trainees would also be getting a monthly stipend of 2500 Rupees. The power producer would be the first public sector undertaking to implement UDAAN.

Disa Holdings a part of Disa A/S Group to sell its Shares in Indian Arm

Corporate/Bussiness Current Affairs November 2012. Disa Holdings a part of Copenhagen-based Disa A/S Group decided to sell-out 1.73 lakh shares of the company with its face-value of Rs 10 each in the Disa India, which represents 11.49 percent of the total paid capital. The shares would be sold by a separate window of the Bombay Stock Exchange on 20 November 2012 as mentioned in the notification of the Bombay Stock Exchange. Disa India Ltd. Formerly known as George Fisher Disa is a company functional in the production of foundry machinery with its production facility for clean air division at Hosakote, and for the foundry machinery division at Tumkur in Karnataka.

Tripura Government Decided to Set up Two Elephant Reserves for Preservation of Species

Tripura government on 18 November 2012 announced that it is going set up two elephant reserves for preservation of the species whose numbers had vastly depleted due to large-scale hunting and migration to neighbouring country of Bangladesh.
As per State Forest Minister Jitendra Chowdhury two reserves is going to be a part of elephant conservation projects and land for one at Gandhari in Amarpur sub-division of Gomati district.The latest census by the State Board for Wildlife shows that the population of elephants in the state has increased to 59 from 38 in 2002 supporting the fact that just about 40 years ago the animals were often seen even on the streets of the capital town of Agartala.