Daily News - 21 Nov

Delhi High Court Launched e-court Fee System making Justice Delivery System Paperless

The Delhi High Court on 20 November 2012 launched the e-court fee system at its premises to cut off the difficulty and delay in filing cases and to make the justice delivery system paperless and hassle-free. The new system launched is a joint initiative of Delhi Government and the Computer Committee of the High Court which is headed by Justice B. D. Ahmed and it is going to allow litigants to buy stamp papers--used to file court cases online instead of having to physically stand in queue to do so. Also, the new system is fully secure as it could not be tampered with or counterfeited. The Committee had earlier in 2008 launched a project in cooperation with the State Government to make the High Court an electronic court to reduce the use of paper and thereby making filing and disposal of cases easy.

India Voted Against UN General Assembly’s Resolution to Ban Death Penalties

India was one among the 39 other countries that voted on 20 November 2012 against the non-binding draft resolution of UN General Assembly that proposed for putting an end to death penalty. India voted on the grounds that each and every nation has its own sovereign right in order to determine the legal system. 110 nations voted in the favour, while 36 members withdrew. The non-binding UN resolution called for suspension on the capital punishment with a view to put an end to the death penalty. This was adopted at Third Committee of the General Assembly on 20 November 2012 along with the deals with humanitarian as well as social issues.The resolution of the draft expressed deep concerns over continued applications of death penalties, which is why it calls for establishment of cessation on capital punishment, viewing that the practice would be abolished completely. The resolution called the nations to gradually hamper the use of death penalty and not to impose them for offences which are committed by pregnant women or people below 18 years of age.  The nations were also called to decrease the offences for which capital punishment is imposed.

Greenhouse Gases Level Reached Record High in 2011: WMO Survey Revealed 

World Meteorological Organization (WMO) on 20 November 2012 in the annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin revealed that the atmospheric volume of the greenhouse gases, which are often blamed for the change in atmosphere, had hit the record in 2011. The volume of the main greenhouse gas- carbon dioxide grew at almost identical rate in previous 10 years and it touched 390.9 parts per million (ppm) or 40 percent above the pre-industrial level, as per the survey. There had been an increase on an average by 2 ppm for last decade. Since the beginning of the industrial era from 1750, the fossil fuels had remained the main source of around 375 billion tonnes carbon which was released in atmosphere.

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab Hanged at Yerwada Jail, Pune

Mohammed Ajmal Amir Kasab, the Pakistani National and the lone surviving terrorist of 26/11 Mumbai Terror Attacks, was hanged on 21 November 2012 at Pune’s Yerwada Jail at 7:30 am. The Home Minister of Maharashtra R.R. Patil confirmed that Kasab was hanged. The President of India Pranab Mukherjee rejected the mercy plea of Kasab.  He was hanged five days before the fourth anniversary of the brutal terror attack on Mumbai that claimed 166 lives and sieged Mumbai for continuous three days.

NAK Browne released a book Victory India-A Key to Quality Military Leadership

The Air Chief Marshal NAK Browne on 20 November 2012 released a book titled Victory India - A Key to Quality Military Leadership authored by Colonel Vinay B Dalvi (Retd) at the Air Headquarters. The book has tried to present the process of identification, selection and training of the youths for moulding them into effective and inspiring military leaders of the nation. The book is a compilation of well written contributory articles by military experts that includes Admiral Arun Prakash, Lieutenant General Arun Chopra, Lieutenant General Gautam Banerjee, Air Marshal TS Randhawa and different technologists, professors, sports medicine specialists and psychologists.

Pranab Mukherjee Inaugurated the Mannam International Socio-Cultural & Charitable Centre

Pranab Mukherjee, the President of India on 20 November inaugurated the Mannam International Socio-Cultural and Charitable Center at Rashtrapati Bhavan’s Auditorium. At the inaugural ceremony, the Indian President described Mannath Padmanabhan, the founder of NSS (Nair Service Society) as a visionary and social reformer, who stood against the social evils and worked for economic upliftment for the people of Kerela. The new centre would be providing care to the senior citizens, temporary shelter to the people on need, health care to the under-privileged and space for community functions. This center would also act as the center for research on the work and life of Mannam and would be reachable on the 24-hour helpline number.

Nokia India Introduced Rebranded Map Service named HERE

Nokia India on 20 November 2012 launched its re-branded mobile map services in the Indian market. The new cloud computing-based map service is called as HERE and offers maps and location-based services across multiple devices and operating systems. The main aim of the service is to inspire a new generation of location services and devices that make the mobile experience more personally significant for people everywhere. Presently, the service is available free on Nokia handsets but it will soon start working with Android-based device makers such as Samsung. The service is also available in the Apple AppStore iOS, through which users can save an area to their device so that they can explore even without data coverage.

Yuvi- Book on Cricketer Yuvraj Singh authored by Makarand Waingankar 

The book on Indian Cricketer Yuvraj Singh named Yuvi was released in third week of November 2012. Kapil Dev and Dilip Vengsarkar, the former cricketing legends were invited at the launch ceremony to offer insight on the cricketing star. Yuvi, the book on Yuvraj Singh is published by Harper Sport and written by Makarand Waingankar. The book illustrates the brilliance of cricket shown by Yuvraj Singh in his career as a cricketer and the way he recovered from Cancer.

Super-Jupiter, the Largest Planet of Our Solar System Discovered

Astrophysicists at the University of Toronto in the third week of November 2012 discovered a new planet called Super-Jupiter which is thirteen times enormous than Jupiter. This is the largest planet discovered in the solar system.Super-Jupiter orbits around the star known as Kappa Andromedae which is 2.5 times greater than the Sun’s mass and is situated at 170 light years farther than the Earth. The star is quite young, 30 million years old, while the sun is 5 billion years old.The planet is called Super-Jupiter because it is larger than the Jupiter planet. According to the astrophysicists, Super-Jupiter could represent first newly discovered exoplanet system in the time duration of 4 years and it has mass which is at least thirteen times more than Jupiter. The orbit of the planet is a bit larger than that of Neptune.

Greenland Continuously Lost 200 Million Tonnes Ice Every Year Since 2003 

Scientists at the University of California (UCI) in the third week of November 2012 confirmed that Greenland was losing 200 million tonnes ice every year ever since 2003 and this in turn will have a huge impact on the sea levels. According to the latest analysis, scientists who study the changing mass of this island with the help of satellite data, support the trends which were reported initially without including the record-breaking melting of ice of previous two summers. According to the researcher Isabella Velicogna of UCI, Greenland is one place where ice melting is taking place rapidly and this in turn is contributing to the rising sea levels. Velicogna analyses the data which is being used in the recent studies from the GRACE or Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment that detects major changes on Earth’s surface. This is done by GRACE by checking the increase of decrease in gravity level, something which is directly associated with the mass below two GRACE satellites.

Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories launched Sildenafil Tablets in the U.S. Market 

The Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) on 19 November 2012 announced the launch of its Sildenafil Tablets (20 mg), a bioequivalent generic version of Revatio tablets in the U.S. Market. The Hyderabad based major pharma company to got the approval from the United States Food & Drug Administration for making of the abbreviated new drug application. Revatio Brand that is a trademark of the Prizer Inc. that got the record U.S. Sales of about 338.67 million dollar in past 12 months that ended on 30 September 2012 as per the IMS Health. The Sildenafil tablets of 20 mg from Dr. Reddy would be available in 90 count bottle sizes.

India Added 22 New Items to promote Indo-Myanmar Border Trade

Indian Government in the month of November added 22 commodities such as agricultural tools, bicycle, coal and garments in the list of items for border trade with Myanmar to boost the two-way commerce between the neighbours. The new items added and revised in the list of 40 tradable items was confirmed in a public notice by Director General of Foreign Trade which now make the list of 62 Consolidated items. The other new items included are edible oil, electrical appliances, steel products, medicines, tea, beverages, motor cycles and spare parts, semi precious stone, sewing machines and three wheelers/cars below 100 cc.

RBI and the State Bank of Vietnam signed a Memorandum of Understanding 

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on 16 November 2012 signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) for promoting greater co-operation and sharing supervisory information, between the two supervisors. The MoU between the two banks was signed at Hanoi, Vietnam in the Headquarters of State Bank of Vietnam and by the Chief General Manager-In-Charge, Department of Banking Supervision, RBI- G. Jaganmohan Rao and Chief Inspector, Banking Supervision Agency, SBV- Nguyen Huu Nghia. The Deputy Governor, SBV- Dang Thanh Binh, and Indian Ambassador to Hanoi- Ranjit Rae graced this occasion of signing the MoU.

President of India released a Commemorative Postage Stamp on late Ramgopal Maheshwari

The President of India Pranab Mukherjee on 20 November 2012 released a Commemorative Postage Stamp on late Ramgopal Maheshwari. The stamp was released in the Rastrapati Bhavan on the occasion of Maheshwari’s birth centenary year celebration.

Ramgopal Maheshwari

Ramgopal Maheshwari was a freedom fighter and a social worker is also regarded as a doyen of Journalism in India. He was a person who worked for promotion of Hindi Language.
During the Indian freedom struggle, Ram Gopal Maheshwari took the responsibility to mobilize central India and started a Hindi daily newspaper named Nava Bharat in the year 1934 from Nagpur. He is also termed as the Bhishma Pitamah of Journalism in Central and Western India. Maheshwari also played a major role in eradication of conservative customs of Maheshwari Samaj and took it onto the progressive ways.