ANNA HAZARE TO FAST ON MARCH 25TH

Anti-graft campaigner and social activist Anna Hazare has invited several families to be a part of one-day fast for a stronger whistle blower protection mechanism under the Jan Lokpal Bill, and owing to the short notice for the participants, the event that was going to be held of 18^th March earlier, will now be held on 25^th March. Anna will also be joined by thousands of people from across India.

At least 15 Indians, who tried to blow lid of the corruption scams or fought the menace in other ways, have been killed since 2010. These gory killings have brought to fore the need for a strong whistle-blowers protection system, under control of Jan Lokpal and Jan Lokayukta. The country knows it well that the Congress sabotaged the Janlokpal bill meant to bring culprits to book in a speedy manner. If the Janlok Pal would have been implemented justice would not have remained elusive.

While the Jan Lokpal ensure security to the whistle blowers, the proposed bill on the issue floated by the UPA government is inadequate and gives the responsibilities without powers to CVC. The CVC is a designated authority to receive complaints and to ensure adequate protection to the whistleblowers under the Public Interest Disclosure and Protection of Informers Resolution (PIDPI). One of the limitations faced by the Commission under the resolution is that the Commission has not been provided with enforcement powers nor has it been made mandatory for the administrative authorities to comply with CVC's directives to protect whistleblowers from harassment.

A strong Jan Lokpal Bill is needed to provide protection to whistleblowers, not the one presented by the UPA. Government’s law seeks to protect corrupt and victimize whistleblowers. 

Thus, in demand of a strong whistle-blowers protection system, join Anna and thousands of others who stand for the protection of India's anti-corruption heroes under the Janlokpal.

Venue: Jantar Mantar, Delhi

Date: 25^th March

Time: 11 am onwards

An Evening Interaction with The Lehendakari, H.E. Patxi Lopez, President of the Basque Regional Government, Spain.

An Evening Interaction with The Lehendakari, H.E. Patxi Lopez, President of the Basque Regional Government, Spain.

Invitation from Basque Government, Embassy of Spain and Institute for Competitiveness

An Evening Interaction with The Lehendakari, H.E. Patxi Lopez, President of the Basque Regional Government, Spain.

March 21,2012: 5:00 PM – 6:30 PM
Spanish Cultural and Language Centre 48, Hanuman Road, Connaught Place, New Delhi – 110 001 India

RSVP: Neera Vohra, Institute for Competitiveness at neera.vohra@competitiveness.in or on mobile at +91 98104 73213

Invitation | Agenda | Register

AFC Challenge Cup 2012 football Championships

AFC Challenge Cup 2012 football Championships, North Korea beat India 4-0 in the match at Kathmandu’s Dashrath Stadium today. For the defending Champions, it was an easy victory. India which was already out of the championships, had failed to score even once in the championship.

In the other match, Philippines has qualified for the semifinals after defeating Tajikistan 2-1 at the match played at Halchowk grounds. While Tajikistan scored in the first half, Philippines scored twice in the second half of the game.

In the semifinals, North Korea will face Palestine, while Philippines will take on Turkmenistan.
For the hapless Indian team , it was an early end to the AFC challenge Cup 2012 as it failed to open its account in the Championships. The North Korean team scored early in the 3rdminute of the game and again in the 34 th minute and twe more in the second half . The team includes has six players from the squad which took part in the World Cup 2010 . The defending Champions has won all the matches it has played so far and received the maximum of nine points it is tipped to be the favourites to lift the Championship. The Philippines has also made it for the first time to the semifinals of the AFC tournament after winning their match against Tajikistan . The team has a couple of players who take in group B and C of the European and English premier league.

Rail Budget likely to focus on signalling system upgrading

Railway Min Dinesh Trivedi is likely to spell out a blue print for upgrading signalling and telecommunication system to prevent accidents in the upcoming Rail Budget despite financial constraints.

Besides, the Rail Budget will have proposals for state-of-the-art coach manufacturing units in Karnataka and Gujarat.

Railways which has sought Rs 50,000 crore from Finance Ministry as gross budgetary support (GBS), has got only Rs 25,000 crore for the next fiscal from the central kitty.

The multi-crore action plan for upgradation of the system is slated to cover the 19,000 km long major trunk route such as New Delhi-Mumbai and New Delhi-Kolkata and New Delhi Delhi-Chennai corridors.

"The upgradation exercise is a long-term plan to be carried out in a phased manner," said a source in the railways on Monday.

In-cab signalling system, similar to the technology followed in European countries and already available with Delhi Metro, would be aggressively taken up by the railways, a mention of which is expected in Trivedi's budget speech on 14^th March.

Keen on introducing high speed trains, Trivedi is also likely to announce a new bullet train corridor for Rajasthan.

The 591-km Delhi-Jaipur-Ajmer-Jodhpur route is slated to be taken up for pre-feasibility study for introducing bullet trains, which run at a speed of 350 km per hour, and an announcement to this effect is likely to be made on 14^th March.

Trivedi could also announce a proposal for induction of trains sets, which run at 200 km per hour, on the Delhi-Mumbai route.

A train set consists of a high horse power electronic locomotive with about 10 modern coaches and is estimated to cost Rs 200 crore.

Green initiatives are also likely to get a big boost this time as a proposal for manufacturing as many as 2,500 environmental-friendly toilets could be included in the budget.

The Rail Budget 2012-13 is also slated to have measures for improving passenger amenities at stations and trains.

Railway Minister could announce plan for manufacturing 25,00 green toilets in the next fiscal as green initiative.

Process for filling up 58 RS seats starts

The process of biennial polls for filling up 58 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states was on Monday set into motion with the issue of notification.

The Election Commission has already announced the schedule for the biennial polls to fill up the seats whose representatives complete their term next month.

While the last date for filing of nominations is March 19, that for withdrawal is March 22. Polling would be held on March 30, as per the poll schedule announced by EC on Monday.

The tenure of 58 members from the states of Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Odisha and Rajasthan is expiring in April.

Biennial elections to the Council of States from Bihar would also be held on the same date.

Prominent members whose term is due to expire are Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley (Gujarat), Congress' Rashid Alvi (Andhra Pradesh), RJD's Rajniti Prasad (Bihar), BJP's Ravishankar Prasad (Bihar), BJP's Hema Malini (Karnataka) and Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan of Congress from Karnataka.

Besides, Manohar Joshi of Shiv Sena and Science and Technology minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and MoS Parliamentary Affairs Rajeev Shukla, all from Maharashtra, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi from Rajasthan, Kalraj Mishra of BJP, Vinay Katiyar of BJP and Naresh Chandra Aggarwal of BSP, all from Uttar Pradesh, and Union Minister Mukul Roy of Trinamool Congress from West Bengal also complete their tenure.

Posted just now by Nksagar

AIRASIA X TO INCREASE FLIGHT FREQUENCY TO TAIWAN AND AUSTRALIA

 

Growth in frequencies in line with network realignment to focus on core markets

 

Sepang, 14 March, 2012 – In line with its move to strategically focus on its core markets this year, AirAsia X, the Malaysian based long haul, low fare affiliate of AirAsia will increase its flight frequency from Kuala Lumpur to Taipei, Taiwan and Perth, Australia as part of the airline’s network realignment strategy announced earlier this year.

 

The additional frequencies will see the current daily flights to Taipei (Taiwan) increase to eleven flights a week effective from 22 June 2012 onwards and the current daily flights to Perth (Australia) increase to nine flights a week effective from 24 June, 2012 onwards.

 

AirAsia X remains focused in strengthening its network of its core markets in Australia, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan and Iran where it can build a leadership position in the long-haul, low cost aviation sector in 2012.

 

Azran Osman-Rani, Chief Executive Officer of AirAsia X said, “AirAsia X is responding to the strong and growing travel demand to and from Taiwan and Australia. The demand for travel to Perth and Taipei has recorded strong average passenger loads in excess of 85% in 2011. The timings of the new additional frequencies would further provide our guests from Malaysia and the surrounding region flexibility in their travel and better connectivity into Australia and Taiwan and vice versa from the cities into Kuala Lumpur, where guests are able to tap on our vast route network of over 80 destinations across South East Asia and beyond.”

 

AirAsia X commenced services to Perth (Australia) in November 2008 and since then, carried over 750,000 passengers to and from Perth (Australia). The airline currently operates flights to Gold Coast, Melbourne, and Sydney besides Perth in Australia.

 

Similarly, AirAsia X commenced services to Taipei (Taiwan) in July 2009 and within a short span of just over 2 years, carried over 740,000 passengers to and from Taipei.

 

 “The additional flights will open up new horizons for commercial activities and boost tourism in the ASEAN region, Taiwan and Australia. We are confident that the network realignment plan would strategically expand our growth in Australia and Taiwan,” concluded Azran.

 

To commemorate the additional flight frequencies, AirAsia X is offering our guests’ promotional fares from as low as MYR299 one way (all-in) from Kuala Lumpur to the bustling city of Perth (Australia) and Taipei (Taiwan).

 

In addition, guests from Taipei (Taiwan) and Perth (Australia) may take advantage of AirAsia X’s fly thru services and hot deals,  which will provide guests seamless onward flight connections from Kuala Lumpur to popular South East Asian destinations such as Singapore, Thailand (Phuket) and Indonesia (Medan, Jakarta, Bali, Surabaya).

 

Likewise, AirAsia X’s South East Asian guests may also enjoy our fly thru flights to Taipei (Taiwan) and Perth (Australia) with fares from as low as THB 5290 all-in, one way from Thailand, IDR 1, 269, 000 all-in, one way from Indonesia and SGD 189 all-in, one way from Singapore.

 

All promotional deals are only available for the added flight frequencies to Taipei and Perth and are available for online bookings from 12 to 25 March 2012 for travel between 21 June and 27 October 2012. Flight tickets are up for grabs exclusively on www.airasia.com.

 

For continuous updates on our latest promotions, contests and cool activities throughout the region, be a fan of AirAsia’s Facebook page (facebook.com/AirAsia) and follow AirAsia’s Twitter at twitter.com/AirAsia.

 

Sign up for BIG, AirAsia’s global loyalty programme. Earn BIG Points every time you spend with AirAsia and other BIG partners worldwide to redeem free flights with the world’s best low cost airline. For more information, please log on to _www.tune2big.com.

 

 

* Fare is applicable for one way travel only and is inclusive of airport tax. Terms and Condition apply.

 

 

FLIGHT SCHEDULE FOR ADDED FLIGHT FREQUENCIES FOR PERTH, AUSTRALIA.

 

Flight No	Route	Flight Time	Day	Period
D7 232	Kuala Lumpur - Perth	08:35 - 14:05	4 7	24Jun-12Jul
D7 233	Perth – Kuala Lumpur	15:15 - 20:55	4 7
D7 232	Kuala Lumpur - Perth	08:35 - 14:05	4 7	09Aug-27Oct
D7 233	Perth – Kuala Lumpur	15:15 - 20:55	4 7

                                                                                                         

 

FLIGHT SCHEDULE FOR ADDED FLIGHT FREQUENCIES FOR TAIPEI, TAIWAN.

 

Flight No	Route	Flight Time	Day	Period
D7 376	Kuala Lumpur - Taipei	17:45 - 22:25	1 3 5 7	22Jun-13Jul
D7 377	Taipei – Kuala Lumpur	23:35 - 04:10	1 3 5 7
D7 376	Kuala Lumpur - Taipei	17:45 - 22:25	1 3 5 7	06Aug-27Oct
D7 377	Taipei – Kuala Lumpur	23:35 - 04:10	1 3 5 7