Indians dominate the Asian Tour Order of Merit

New Delhi, April 12, 2011: Indian professional golfers are currently ruling the roost on the Asian Tour Order of Merit thanks to their exceptional performances in the first quarter of the 2011 season. There are as many as five Indians in the top-10 of the Asian Tour Order of Merit at this stage.

SSP Chowrasia maintains his stranglehold on the Order of Merit where he has a comfortable lead with earnings of US$ 410,077. Chowrasia won the prestigious Avantha Masters on home soil in February and followed that up with a tied 12th finish at the Panasonic Open last week.

Sujjan Singh sits in second place with earnings of US$ 97,326. Sujjan came through the Asian Tour Qualifying School this year and thereafter made a major impact with a tied fifth finish at the Avantha Masters and a tied 19th result at the Panasonic Open.

Anirban Lahiri fulfilled his potential as one of India’s rising stars when he won the Panasonic Open by defeating countryman Manav Jaini and Singaporean veteran Mardan Mamat in a three-way play-off at the Delhi Golf Club last week. The 23-year-old’s maiden international triumph pushed him up to fifth place on the Asian Tour Order of Merit with a season haul of US$ 57,720.

Shiv Kapur lies in seventh position on the Order of Merit with earnings of US$ 51,538 courtesy a tied ninth finish at the Avantha Masters.

Manav Jaini has produced two brilliant performances this season to occupy 10th place on the Order of Merit. Jaini, who claimed tied third position at the Indian Open last year, was the joint runner-up at the recently concluded Panasonic Open and also secured fourth place at the SAIL Open last month.

Hosni Mubarak detained with his two sons

Egyptian prosecutors on Wednesday detained the country's ousted President Hosni Mubarak and his two sons to face investigations on charges of corruption and abuse of power. "Mubarak and his two sons Alaa and Gamal have been detained for 15 days for questioning on corruption and abuse of authority charges," official news agency reported quoting a statement from the Justice Ministry.The dramatic announcement came just hours after the former president, 82, was abruptly hospitalised in the beach resort of Sharm al-Shaikh.Officials said, Mubarak took ill as prosecutors began questioning him about accusations.The specific reasons for Mubarak's admission into the Sharm al-Shaikh international hospital was not clear, although media reports said he had heart problems.But Justice Minister Mohammad al-Guindi said questioning of the toppled President continued in hospital, in an indication that his health problems were not severe.Mubarak and his family retreated to the Red Sea resort after he stepped down in the face of 18 days of protests and turmoil, that led to a clamour for reform in the entire Arab world from Tunisia to Egypt.The protests have since spread to Yemen, Bahrain, Jordan, Syria and elsewhere. The arrest of Mubarak and his sons came under snowballing protests in Egypt to prosecute him.
Tens of thousand of people have been rallying in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square calling for his trial.The people's fury remained unabated as the crowds in Sharm al-Shaikh pelted a police van carrying Mubarak's two sons to prosecutor's office with water bottles and stones.Mubarak arrest came despite his coming out of seclusion to appear on Al-Arabiya television to defend his reputation and deny that he and his family had abused power or had assets abroad.

After the Prosecutor General ordered their detention, Mubarak's two sons Alaa and Gamal were driven away in a police van with curtains drawn.Gamal, the former president's younger son, was a senior official in the ruling party and was widely seen as being groomed to succeed his father, before popular uprising brought down the regime.Gamal is believed to be the architect of Egypt's privatisation programme which brought in billions in foreign investments, but also widened the gulf between the rich and the poor.Many of his close associates and cronies became billionaires overnight and held senior posts in the government, triggering allegations that they used their positions for personal gains.

At least 800 people are estimated to have been killed in popular uprising and the authorities are now investigating government officials for their role in ordering crackdowns.The ouster of Mubarak is leading to rapid changes in the political scenario of the country.With most of the leaders of the dominant National Democratic Party, now under detention, a former opposition MP Talat Sadat, nephew of the slain former president Anwar Sadat has been appointed the new Secretary General of the party.The party has also changed its name to the New National Democratic Party.

Corruption hurting inclusive growth

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday said inclusive growth cannot be achieved without removing corruption."Governance failures and corruption in the system affect the poor disproportionately. An inclusive development agenda cannot succeed without addressing these issues," Mukherjee said while addressing the CII National Conference and Annual session.

He said the benefits of economic growth are not reaching all sections of society and there is need to address the gaps in the system for overall development."It is evident that the fruits of growing prosperity are not being enjoyed equally by all our citizens. There are gaps in our development efforts and in our governance practices, across sectors and in different regions and segments of the country," Mukherjee added.He said the country's economic development should be more holistic to bring about sustained improvement in living standards, access to affordable healthcare and social security, among other things."It is equally important that the available public resources are effectively used. We are acutely conscious that if these resources have to bear fruit, we have to tackle issues of governance and service delivery," Mukherjee added.

The government has formed a ministerial panel on corruption, headed by Mukherjee, which is deliberating among other things to bring in the Lokpal Bill to tackle corruption. The panel also comprises Home Minister P Chidambaram, Defence Minister A K Antony, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee, Law Minister Veerappa Moily, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, Chemicals and Fertiliser Minister M K Alagiri and Telecommunications Minister Kapil Sibal.

A JOINT DRAFTING COMMITTEE TO PREPARE DRAFT LOK PAL BILL

GOVERNMENT ISSUES NOTIFICATION TO CONSTITUTE A JOINT DRAFTING COMMITTEE TO PREPARE DRAFT LOK PAL BILL

The Government of India has issued a Notification constituting a Joint Drafting Committee to prepare a draft of the Lok Pal Bill.
The Joint Drafting Committee shall consist of Five nominee Ministers of the Government of India and Five nominees of Shri Anna Hazare (including himself).
The five nominee Ministers of the Government of India are as under:-
(i) Shri Pranab Mukherjee,
Union Minister of Finance.
(ii) Shri P. Chidambaram,
Union Minister of Home Affairs.
(iii) Dr Veerappa Moily,
Union Minister of Law and Justice.
(iv) Shri Kapil Sibal,
Union Minister of Human Resource and Development and
Minister of Communication and Information Technology
(v) Shri Salman Khursheed,
Union Minister of Water Resources and
Minister of Minority Affairs
The five nominees of Shri Anna Hazare (including himself) are as under:-
(i) Shri Anna Hazare
(ii) Shri Justice N. Santosh Hedge
(iii) Shri Shanti Bhushan, Senior Advocate
(iv) Shri Prashan Bhushan, Advocate
(v) Shri Arvind Kejriwal.
The Chairperson of the Joint Drafting Committee shall be Shri Pranab Mukherjee.
The Co-Chairperson of the Joint Drafting Committee shall be Shri Shanti Bhushan.
The Convenor of the Join Drafting Committee shall be Dr M. Veerappa Moily.
The Joint Drafting Committee shall commence its work forthwith and evolve its own procedure to prepare the proposed legislation.
The Joint Drafting Committee shall complete its work latest by 30th June, 2011.

JK Gov for promotion of Gandhian philosophy

Governor N N Vohra on Saturday stressed on the need to promote Gandhian values among youth in the state for establishing peace and tranquility."There is a need for planned initiatives to promote Gandhian values and philosophy to create greater awareness among the younger generation about the Mahatma's teachings of peace, harmony, tolerance, brotherhood, secularism and non-violence," the Governor said while interacting with a 27-member delegation of noted Gandhian workers at Raj Bhavan.Referring to the situation in the state for the past over 20 years, the Governor said that there is a need for strengthening greater unity among the people of all the regions of the state for ensuring a safe and happy future for the coming generations.He said that the message of Gandhiji is more relevant today than ever before for establishing lasting peace and tranquility in the state.
The Governor said that a well considered calendar of activities needs to be formulated for creating awareness about Gandhiji's life and philosophy and the role played by Baba Amte and other Gandhian workers for connecting the hearts of people.

World Health Day

Today is World Health Day and the World Health Organization, WHO, celebrating its 63rd founding year has called for attention towards growing drug resistance in microbes due to wrong and irregular use of antibiotics. In a statement released in New Delhi today, the organization has said that misuse and poor access to the drugs continue to be the major component of the widespread inappropriate use of the antibiotics. It also stated that the organization is committed to reduce the misuse of anti-biotic which causes the microbes to become drug resistant. Several functions like painting competitions, slogan writing, awareness walks etc are being organised across the country to spread awareness about the need to adopt a healthy lifestyle.

Govt open to suggestions on Lokpal;Moily

A day after social activist Anna Hazare launched his fast-unto-death on the Lokpal Bill issue, Government on Wednesday said it was was open to any suggestion on the proposed legislation and had not turned down his demand for a joint committee.Law Minister M Veerappa Moily said that the government was open to suggestions even though it was "anxious to introduce the Bill in the next session".
He said the government "did not say no" on demand for a Joint Committee to draft the bill after a sub-committee of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on corruption held discussions with representatives of Hazare and other members of civil society.
"Even on the demand for joint committee, we said we were open. We never closed our mind even on the formation of joint committee...In principle we did not say no," Moily said adding, that the Prime Minister was open to all suggestions on the bill.
He said though the bill has already been drafted, it will not "find a finality" unless it goes to Parliamentary Standing Committee."The Standing Committee can always throw it open to discussions and deliberations with everyone. No bill is passed in hide and seek manner. Parliament has the most transparent way of functioning in our country," Moily said.72-year-old Hazare is observing a fast-unto-death demanding enactment of an anti-corruption bill to give wider powers to the Ombudsman.He is pressing for formation of a joint committee comprising 50 per cent officials and the remaining citizens and intellectuals to draft the Bill.
When pointed out that the BJP too had embarked on a anti-corruption campaign on Wednesday, the reformist said the party was taking advantage of the nationwide movement he had begun."But, they are a political party and are free to do as they wish. In the past too, when I agitated against corruption in the BJP government, the Congress party supported me. Now, its the other way around", Hazare said.
On Tuesday, BJP leaders Maneka Gandhi and Prakash Javadekar visited Hazare's protest site at Jantar Mantar but did not make any speeches.JD(U) chief Sharad Yadav too sat on the dais with Hazare and offered his support for the Jan Lokpal Bill and even said he was ready to take it up in Parliament. Hazare said he would not allow politicians to sit with him on the dais anymore.Hazare began his hunger strike at Jantar Mantar on Tuesday after paying tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at his Samadhi at Rajghat.Swami Agnivesh, former IPS officer and activist Kiran Bedi and Magsaysay award winner Sandeep Pandey are among those who have come out in his support.In his home state Maharashtra, anti-graft groups and activists too rooted for the cause with protesters taking to streets in Mumbai.A rally of around 100 cars and bikes was organised from Shivaji Park in central Mumbai to Azad Maidan last morning as part of the protest.Over one thousand members of general public and NGOs also participated in the protest.

SIO stands by Anna Hazare for Jan Lokpal Bill

New Delhi (05.04.2011): Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) extends support and stands in solidarity with Anna Hazare, veteran social activist in his strive to table and enact the ‘Jan Lokpal Bill’.Anna Hazare who has undertaken a fast unto death at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi expressed immense pleasure and gratitude at the large gathering of youth and students to support him. People from all walks of life, except for politicians who have been barred from taking undue advantage, were spotted alongside the pandal erected for Anna.Mohd. Azharuddin, President – SIO, Secretary General – PM Salih and National Secretaries – Shaikh Shoaib & Sharique Ansar met Anna Hazare and expressed solidarity and support.

Appeal to Anna Hazare

The Prime Minister's Office has noted with deep disappointment that Shri Anna Hazare, the noted social worker, is still planning to go ahead with his planned hunger strike.

Shri Hazare and his colleagues had met the Prime Minister, the Law Minister and other senior officials on March 7, 2011. During the discussion that last more than one hour, the Prime Minister had told the group that “I appreciate and share your concern on corruption.”

Shri Hazare and his group had presented the Prime Minister a draft of their proposal on a Lokpal. The Prime Minister offered and the group accepted a suggestion that a sub-committee of the Group of Ministers could interact and discuss the draft with the civil society activists.

The Sub-Committee, headed by Shri A.K.Antony, met Shri Hazare’s colleagues but the interaction proved fruitless as the activists were insisting on the Government accepting their draft in full.

The Prime Minister has enormous respect for Shri Hazare and his mission.

BULK SOLIDS INDIA 2011

INDO GERMAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE" BULK SOLIDS INDIA 2011 APRIL 6-8, NEHRU CENTRE MUMBAI
International Conference & Exhibition on Storing
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* Landing & Unloading
* Environmental Issues
* Power Plants
* Biomass, Energy & Environment
* Chemical Processing
* Solids Handling in Food Processing
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BJP demands Kalmadi's arrest

BJP today demanded arrest of former Commonwealth Games Organising Committee Chairman Suresh Kalmadi in the wake of the latest reports of the Shunglu Committee.In Press Briefing reporters in New Delhi today,Party Spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the report holds highest sanctity as the panel was appointed by the Prime Minister himself to look into the alleged irregularities in organising the Commonwealth Games in November last year.On the Cabinet's decision to give tax exemption of about 45 crore rupees to the International Cricket Council, Mr. Prasad said that the Government should explain the reasons behind this exemption.

Revised FDI policy to inspire investor confidence

A revised Foreign Direct Investment Policy to inspire investor confidence as it simplifies joint venture norms and opens up new areas for overseas funds. The updated policy allows foreign firms in existing joint ventures to operate separately in the same business segment. Earlier, they needed prior approval from their Indian partners.Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said in New Delhi that the Companies have now been classified into two categories. First category includes the Companies owned or controlled by foreign investors and the second companies owned by Indian Residents.

Earlier, categorization of investing companies and investing-cum-operating companies has been done away with. Other steps in the new policy include allowing conversion of non-cash items like import of capital goods and payments of rent. Earlier, only royalty, lump sum fee and external commercial borrowings were allowed to be converted into equity.Official correspondent reports that the policy has been revised after the foreign direct investment flows declined by 25 per cent in the current fiscal with 18.3 billion US Dollars worth investment coming from April to February.

Bengal Assembly poll

Left Front is facing the toughest test-ever challenge in its 35-year rule while Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in alliance with Congress and other fringe players is pulling out all stops to bring about 'paribartan' or change in the West Bengal Assembly polls.The elections would be held in six phases with the first phase polling scheduled for 18th April in 54 constituencies in north Bengal. The sixth and the last phase is slated for 10th May.Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, who is leading the Left Front charge, and the Trinamool supremo have already hit the campaign trail either addressing meetings or participating in marches.

Bhattacharjee is seeking re-election from Jadavpur constituency on the southern fringe of the city while Banerjee, currently a member of the Lok Sabha from Kolkata South, is not contesting the polls.For the ruling Left Front, it is a make-or-break election having tasted defeats in successive elections through panchayat, Lok Sabha and municipal elections since 2008.

Battling against anti-incumbency, the CPI-M leadership admitted that it was up against a strong challenge, but it could still bounce back."Trinamool-Congress alliance has bagged 11 lakh more votes than the LF in the last Lok Sabha polls, which can be made up if the Front managed to garner additional 10 votes in each of the 60,000 booths across the state," CPI-M central committee member and housing minister Gautam Deb said.

Riding on an apparent pro-change wave, Trinamool is confident of dethroning the Left."There will be polarisation between the Left Front and our alliance and there will be no other force. The people will vote for a change to end the 35-year 'misrule' of the CPI(M)-led government," Banerjee has said.Undeterred by Trinamool's no-holds-barred thrust for taking over the Writers' Buildings, Bhattacharjee has launched a strong bid to return to power for the eight time in a row, though admitting the mistakes his party made."We have won election seven times we will win for the eight time too," he told a public meeting in his constituency Jadavpur recently.

"We have learnt lessons from our defeat in the last Lok Sabha poll and have taken up a rectification drive," he stated.Putting up a brave face about the Trinamool-Congress alliance, he remarked, "Politics is not an arithmetic. Two and two may be a zero in politics."

Of the 294 seats in the state Assembly, Trinamool Congress alone has fielded candidates in 226 seats, leaving 65 for its ally Congress, two to Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI-Communist) and one to NCP. The Left Front has put up nominees in all the seats.BJP, which did not have any member in the outgoing Assembly, has announced candidates in 280 seats.In a minor jolt to the opposition alliance, Trinamool's ally SUCI(C) has announced that it would field candidates in 29 seats against Congress triggering the possibility of division of opposition votes.This had irked the Congress with state party president Manas Bhuniya saying it was mysterious that an ally of Trinamool has fielded nominees against us.

Leela Samson, Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification

Leela Samson, is appointed Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification and Shri Lalit Bhasin, Appointed Chairperson, Film Certification Appellate Tribunal
Ms. Leela Samson, a noted Bharatnatyam dancer, choreographer, instructor and writer has been appointed as Chairperson of Central Board of Film Certification in an honorary capacity from 1st April 2011 for a period of three years.

As a soloist Ms. Samson has been known for her technical virtuosity, and taught Bharatnatyam at Shriram Bhartiya Kala Kendra in Delhi for many years. Presently she is the Director of Kalakshetra, the institute for the classical arts founded by the Late Rukmini Devi Arundale. She is also the Chairperson of Sangeet Natak Akademi, India’s National Academy for Music Dance and Drama. She has been awarded the Padma Shree for her contribution in the field of arts.

Shri Lalit Bhasin, a renowned lawyer has been appointed as Chairperson of the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal. The appointment is for a period of three years. Shri Bhasin is also the Vice-President of the Bar Association of India. He is also Chairman of the Services Export Promotion Council, established by the Ministry of Commerce and a Member of the ICC International Court of Arbitration apart from being a Member of the Task Force on Arbitration set up by ICC. He has several awards to his credit which include Gandhi National Unity Award, 1991, the Plaque of Honour given by the Prime Minister for his outstanding contribution to the Rule of Law in 2002 and the National Law Day Award given by the President of India in 2007.

Ms. Deepa Dixit and Shri Gurjeet Singh Behl have also been appointed as Members of the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal for a period of three years.

1636 Wild Tiger Estimation of Tiger Census-2010

The latest Tiger Census in India puts estimated tiger population in the country at 1636. Announcing this here today, Shri Jairam Ramesh said that close to 30% of the estimated tiger population, it is outside the 39 Tiger Reserves. We do not have complete strategies to deal with this.” There is a considerable rise in southern states where Karnataka shows highest figures of 320 estimated tiger. The details of states is given in the table below at Annexure.

As per the release of India Tiger Estimate 2010, the population estimate of tiger in 2010 show the total range on lower limit as 1571 and the upper limit at 1875. The population estimate 1706 is a reliable statistical estimate of the tiger population number. The estimate of 2006 shows lower limit at 1165 and upper limit at 1675. The population estimate for Tiger Census 2006 was total 1411.

Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission said that the developmental activities are not always against conservation of wildlife. He said, “It is very important to conserve tigers. It is not just matter of money, it is matter of keeping human intervention sufficiently at bay. The unit data release will be very useful.”

Shri Salman Khurshid, Minister of Water Resources and Minority Affairs said, “There is modern, innovative as well as technological methodology available to make ecology of environment preserve .We came late on industrial revolution of our country unlike western parts. We have many challenges to ensure that balance is maintained between development and environmental ecology. Tiger has become a national symbol, so we need to save tiger. Development and environment has to go together.”

Giving details of the census process, Dr Y. V. Jhala from Wildlife Institution of India said, “The All India Tiger Estimation exercise is one of the most crucial components of our national tiger conservation efforts. Since 2006, this monitoring exercise is being undertaken every four years. This report presents the results of the 2010 National Tiger Assessment, undertaken through a best-in-class scientific process. This presents an estimate of India’s current tiger population and a broader assessment of our tiger landscapes. This monitoring exercise was carried out between December 2009 and December 2010. The three phases of the tiger estimation procedure included field data collected at the beat-level (i.e. the primary patrolling unit) by trained personnel using a standardised protocol in the first phase. The second phase was analysis of habitat status of tiger forests using satellite data and the third phase dealt with camera trapping. It was the primary method used, where individual tigers were identified from photographs based on their unique stripe patterns. This information was analysed using a well established scientific framework. Camera trapping was carried out by teams of wildlife biologists and local forest personnel.”Based on the tiger numbers recorded in sampled sites, an estimate for other contiguous tiger-occupied landscapes was made. For this, additional information such as tiger signs, prey availability, habitat conditions and human disturbance was used. Thus, the final estimates provide a comprehensive and statistically robust result for the whole country.
Dr. Jhala added, “ More than 4,76,000 forest personnel were involved in data collection. In the first phase about 30,000 forest beats sampled were collected. They walked total distance of 6,25,000 km during Phase I. More than 27,300 man-days of researchers took part in this process. Total camera traps were 800 in area of 10,500 sq. km. During this census, 550 individual tigers were trapped in camera. Total cost of this census was Rs. 9.1 crore.

The same scientifically robust methods were consistently used in 2006 and 2010. This enabled comparison of results from both estimation exercises and in understanding the trend in tiger numbers. The results were collated for the larger landscapes within which individual tiger reserves fall. The Tables below provide detailed information of these landscape complexes.

The 2010 National Tiger Assessment has several innovations over previous assessments. These include partnerships with civil society organizations such as Wildlife Trust of India, Aaranyak, and World Wildlife Fund for Nature-India. Additional technical expertise from Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), local communities involved in data collection and analysis, genetic analysis to estimate tiger populations from faecal samples, assessment of co-predators, prey, and habitat quality with tigers, pioneering attempt to estimate tiger populations in Sunderbans Tiger Reserve (West Bengal) using satellite telemetry and sign surveys and first estimation of tiger population in Sahyadri Tiger Reserve (Maharashtra).

New findings of 2010 national tiger assessment suggest that most tiger source sites continue to maintain viable tiger populations. Evidence of new areas populated by tigers, e.g. Kuno-Palpur Wildlife Sanctuary and Shivpuri National Park in Madhya Pradesh. New methodology for estimating population in Sunderbans was in place.

Azad Calls on President of Iran

Azad Calls on President of Iran on his visit the Union Minister of Health & Family Welfare, Shri Ghulam Nabi Azad called on the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Dr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, last night at Tehran.Sh. Azad is on a two day visit to Iran to represent India at the Festival of Nowruz. Several heads of state and senior ministers from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan and other nations are participating in this historic celebration.

During his meeting with Dr Ahmadinejad, Sh. Azad conveyed greetings of people of India on the occasion of Nowruz and recalled close historical, cultural, economic and political relations between India and Iran. Shri. Azad expressed the hope that further strengthening of relations between India and Iran would benefit the region in general and for both the countries in particular. Expressing similar sentiments, President Ahmadinejad conveyed that Iran attaches high value to the relations with India. He said, the aim of holding Nowruz celebrations is to bring together people and foster peace in the region.

SLanka beat England enters semis with NZ

Records of Opening partnership Tillakaratne Dilshan and Upul Tharanga to hit superb centuries as Sri Lanka beat England by 10 wickets in a one-sided quarter-final encounter of the World Cup in Colombo on Saturday.Sri lankan Chasing a target of 230, Dilshan (108 not out, 115 balls, 10x4, 2x6) and Tharanga (102 not out, 122 balls, 12x4, 1x6) played with consummate ease as they reached the target in only 37.3 overs to set up a semi-final date with New Zealand,next Tuesday.

England set target which was never going to be difficult on a Premadasa track for a team that bats deep but one fancied England bowlers to put up a fight.Unlike some of their resilient performances at the group league stages, the English bowlers couldn't exhibit the magic as both Dilshan and Tharanga never looked like getting into any kind of trouble.

US to NATO to lead Mission Libya

NATO prepared to assume leadership from the US of the military campaign against Gaddafi's forces while the allied effort won a rare military commitment in the Arab world when the United Arab Emirates said it would send warplanes to join patrols with Western allies.

NATO agreed that it would not only take over command and control of the no-fly zone, but also of the effort to protect civilians through aggressive coalition airstrikes on Colonel Gaddafi's troops on the ground, the officials said.But Nato said its no-fly zone operation could last three months, and France cautioned the conflict would not end soon.Military action against pro-Gaddafi forces entered its seventh day on Friday with explosions around Tripoli overnight and French and British reports of strikes on ground forces to break a battlefield stalemate and help rebels take the strategic town of Ajdebiyah.

In Washington, a US military spokeswoman said the coalition fired 16 Tomahawk cruise missiles and flew 153 air sorties in the past 24 hours targeting Gaddafi's artillery, mechanized forces and command and control infrastructure.

There will be a meeting of coalition foreign ministers on Tuesday in London, as the French and British wanted, the officials said.That meeting and consequent meetings will deal with the larger political campaign, including sanctions and other measures designed to put more pressure on Colonel Gaddafi to quit.

US president Barack Obama who in his message today said," The role of American forces in this mission is limited. After providing unique capabilities at the beginning, we are now handing over control of the no-fly zone to our NATO allies and partners, including Arab partners like Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.The United States has also joined with the international community to deliver urgent humanitarian assistance. We're offering support to the Libyan opposition and have frozen tens of billions of dollars of Qaddafi's assets."

It will also have representation from the United Nations, the Arab League and the African Union.But that meeting of what the British are calling "the contact group" will not be running the military side of the operation, the officials said.
Early on Friday, the UAE said it would commit 12 warplanes to join patrols enforcing the no-fly zone authorized a week ago by the UN Security Council, the official Emirates News Agency reported.It quoted the foreign minister, Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan, as saying the deployment would begin "in the coming days."A sticking point in the negotiations was what military officials call the "no-drive zone," the bombing of Colonel Gaddafi's ground forces, tanks and artillery outside Libyan cities.France wanted to have clearer leadership role of the campaign while Turkey was concerned about its turning into a larger operation involving ground troops.Many countries, like Italy and Norway , however, said they would participate only if Nato ran the entire military operation.

Conference of the Vice-Chancellors

conference of the Vice-Chancellors is being organized in the backdrop of the progress made during the last Five-Years with regard to expansion, inclusion and excellence in higher education and the nature of processes which informed the higher education reform. The 2-fold Agenda for the Conference is:

(i) to identify development issues, challenges and reform agenda in higher education for the 12th Five-Year Plan period; and
(ii) to provide inputs for policy planning and to carry forward the reform process into the 12th Five-Year Plan period.

The overriding theme of the Conference is “University and Society”. The main purpose of the Conference is to come out with inputs for policy planning and development strategies that need to be put in place for making higher education relevant to the present as well as the future needs of our society at large. In all, the following thematic areas have been identified for facilitating discussion during the Conference:

(i) Access, Equity, Engagement and Outcome;
(ii) Content and Quality;
(iii) Research and Innovation;
(iv) Faculty Development and Inter-University Resource Sharing;
(v) Internationalization in Higher Education;
(vi) Alternative Modes of Delivery and Higher Education;
(vii) Models of Financing; and
(viii) Good Governance

It is proposed to hold eight parallel Technical Sessions devoted to each of the thematic areas in order to come out with specific inputs which will need into the design and implementation of reform programmes during the 12th Plan.

Shri Sam Pitroda, Advisor, Public Information, Infrastructure and Innovation to the Prime Minister, Smt. Vibha Puri Das, Secretary (Higher Education) Prof Ved Prakash, acting Chairman, UGC addressed the gathering, Vice Chancellors from the central and State Universities and other senior officials of the HRD Ministry were also present.

Training Programme at the Panchayat level for Rural Development

Ministry of Panchayati Raj (MoPR) has prepared a “National Capability Building Framework (NCBF)”, which provides a blueprint for regular and sustained training of elected representatives, officials and other stakeholders of Panchayati Raj. The aspects of training included in the Framework cover an overview of Panchayati Raj, internal housekeeping including understanding accounts, social audit, right to information, panchayat revenues, functional literacy, functions of panchayats in the sectoral programmes and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills. Panchayati Raj being a State subject, this Framework is being implemented by the States including Bihar for which MoPR provides supplementary financial assistance under the schemes of the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) and Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Yojana (RGSY).