N. Narayan Reddy, a Communist Party of India leader who represented Chhatrapur assembly constituency from 2004 to 2009, was arrested Dec 24 for his alleged role in the Dec 14 clashes in which one person was killed.

The court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class at the block headquarters town of Kujanga, about 120 km from here, granted a conditional bail to Reddy on the basis of a direction from the Odisha High Court.

As soon as the news of his release spread, hundreds of anti-Posco villagers converged near the Kujanga jail premises and gave him a heroic welcome.

“Police had framed me in false case to weaken the anti-Posco agitation. We will continue our protest against the project,” Reddy told reporters outside the jail after his release.

Reddy was arrested in connection with clashes between workers and local villagers that erupted after hundreds of villagers did not allow workers to carry out the construction of a road in the region.

The 10-km coastal road will help authorities speed up work for the South Korean steel major Posco’s $12 billion project for a composite steel and power plant, the country’s largest foreign direct investment.

Reddy was heading the villagers’ anti-Posco movement after protest leader Abhaya Sahu was arrested in November on various charges.

Source: IANS

Honourable Minister for Health & Family Welfare, PG, PA, Shri Prasanna Acharya addressing the gathering

The workshop was inaugurated by Shri Prasanna Acharya, the Hon’ble Minister for Health & FW, PG & PA.

The inaugural session of the workshop was followed by a panel discussion and subsequently an in-depth thematic plenary.

The panel comprised of Dr. Kabita Chatterjee, Head of the Department of Transfusion Medicine, AIIMS, Dr. Dipika Mohanty, Chairperson Central Red Cross Blood Bank, Mr. Hrushikesh Mohapatra, Drug Controller of Odisha, Dr. K.C. Behera, Director, SBTC and Dr. L. N. Hati, Former Director SBTC. Over 28 Blood Bank Officers (BBOs) from 18 districts across the breadth of the state participated to share their concerns and insights. Over 50 members from the media fraternity also took part in the consultation.

The major concerns that emerged in the course of discussion were – Shortage of trained personnel in the Blood Banks, to address which, it was suggested to impart proper hands on training through OSACS and SBTC to all doctors & technicians prior to posting. It was also emphasized to have one cadre for transfusion medicine or blood banking so that doctors can devote their entire energy in the same direction. As the demand for blood burgeons, component therapy is the only solution to address the problem and equipments should be provided to the blood banks accordingly. Such workshops are excellent platforms to spread awareness among the stakeholders such as clinicians and others.

Honourable Minister for Health & Family Welfare, PG, PA, Shri Prasanna Acharya, Inaugurating the Biometric Attendance system, CCTV and Tally package for Accounts section of IRCS-OSB

Among others, Shri S.B.Mishra, Chairman, Health & Care Standing Committee, IRCS-OSB. Prof. M.P. Mohanty, Honorary Secretary, IRCS-OSB welcomed all in to the workshop. Dr. Kabita Chatterjee, Head of the Department of Transfusion Medicine, AIIMS were present.

Violence at Posco Site on December 14, 2011

The court of the Judicial Magistrate First Class at the block headquarters town of Kujanga, about 120 km from here, granted a conditional bail to Reddy on the basis of a direction from the Odisha High Court.

As soon as the news of his release spread, hundreds of anti-Posco villagers converged near the Kujanga jail premises and gave him a heroic welcome.

“Police had framed me in false case to weaken the anti-Posco agitation. We will continue our protest against the project,” Reddy told reporters outside the jail after his release.

Reddy was arrested in connection with clashes between workers and local villagers that erupted after hundreds of villagers did not allow workers to carry out the construction of a road in the region.

The 10-km coastal road will help authorities speed up work for the South Korean steel major Posco’s $12 billion project for a composite steel and power plant, the country’s largest foreign direct investment.

Reddy was heading the villagers’ anti-Posco movement after protest leader Abhaya Sahu was arrested in November on various charges.

Source: 360 NS

Indian Rupee

This is the third consecutive record low of rupee in the last three days. The rupee had hit a low of 54.60 against a dollar Thursday, surpassing previous day’s record of 54.52.

Increased demand for the American currency from importers and capital outflows was adding pressure on the Indian currency.

Rupee recovered some ground in the late trading and ended the day at 54.42 against a dollar as compared to the previous day’s close at 54.47. The Indian currency hit a record closing low of 54.49 against a dollar Wednesday.

Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn claimed that the steps taken by the central bank have to some extent helped in stabilising the situation.

“The steps we have taken have all contributed in some way to stabilising, and if we need to take more steps, it will be clearly in that direction,” Gokarn told reporters in Kolkata Friday.

Gokarn said the rupee was under severe pressure in the last three days largely due to global factors arising out of political uncertainty in Greece.

“In the last two-three days, pressure has been global and the currency has responded to that,” he said.

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has taken a series of measures in the last few weeks to curb the rupee slide.

The RBI has asked banks to sell half of the foreign currencies in their accounts. In a bid to attract money from overseas, the RBI has raised interest ceiling that local banks can offer to overseas Indians in forex accounts.

The RBI has opened a direct dollar window for oil companies, which are worst hit because of the weakness in the domestic currency as they have to pay higher money for the same quantum of import.

Source: IANS

IIT-JEE

The results of the exam, which was held April 8, were announced on the official JEE website Friday morning at 6 a.m.

“Arpit Agrawal from Faridabad’s Modern Vidya Niketan school, who appeared in the exams from IIT Delhi zone has topped the prestigious exam this year,” G.B Reddy, JEE chairman, told reporters here.

Bijoy Singh Kochar from Chandigarh was the second on the toppers’ list and Nishant N. Kaushik from Bhilai in Madhya Pradesh secured the third place.

A total of 4,79,651 students appeared for the IIT-JEE 2012 which were held at 1,067 centres across the country for admission to 9,647 undergraduate seats in the 17 IITs in the country.

“Of the total candidates, 24,112 have secured ranks in various categories and 19,426 have been shortlisted for counselling for admission to 9,647 seats in the IITs and other institutes,” Reddy said.

“The counselling website will be open to the shortlisted candidates from today (Friday) and the students are expected to fill up their choice of courses up to 5 p.m. till June 10,” Reddy said.

For the first time this year, the scanned images of the answer script were shown to the candidates between May 5 and May 10 to help them submit online revision requests.

This year, of the total 1,50,431 girls who appeared in IIT-JEE, 2,886 have secured ranks and the first 1,908 have been shortlisted for counselling.

Source: IANS

Air India One flight (Photo: Wikipedia)

“Contingency plan is in place. We are operating a bare minimum number of international operations by clubbing flights to destinations in Europe and the US,” a senior official of Air India’s operations arm told IANS.

“We have lost about Rs.200 crore due to ticket cancellations, unused labour and with a bulk of our Boeing-777 fleet grounded. Our losses per day stand at Rs.13-15 crore,” the official said.

According to the official, the airline has started a special scheme whereby passengers can advance, postpone or cancel their tickets without any extra charges till May 22.

The airline has deployed the Airbus family of aircraft such as A320, A321 and A330 for international routes.

It is only operating eight of its 17 Boeing-777 aircraft which are normally manned by the pilots belonging to Indian Pilots Guild (IPG), who are now on strike.

The development comes a day after Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh called all unions of the airline for talks next week and the Delhi High Court refused to entertain the Indian Pilots Guild’s (IPG) plea challenging the court’s earlier order restraining the pilots from going on an “illegal strike.”

Ajit Singh Thursday said he would discuss with the unions all outstanding issues such as pay parity and promotion, while a division bench of the high court said contempt proceedings should be started against the pilots.

The carrier’s low-cost international wing, Air India Express, is also bearing the brunt of the agitation. The strike and the subsequent flight cancellations by the airline have disrupted holiday and other travel plans of hundreds of people.

Trouble started for the airline May 8 when pilot-members of the IPG took mass sick leave, protesting the move to provide Boeing-787 Dreamliner training to pilots from the erstwhile Indian Airlines.

The pilots have made four demands which include exclusive flying rights on Boeing 787 aircraft, payment of arrears from 2007 onwards, travel on first class when not working, and the right to be promoted as commanders within six years.

Source: IANS

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa (Photo:Wikipedia)

Referring to her announcement Thursday, the AIADMK general secretary said in a statement issued here: “I now appeal to all political parties to rise above political considerations and support Shri P.A. Sangma and ensure that he becomes the next President of India.”

On Thursday, Jayalalithaa announced her party supported the candidature of Sangma for the office of president of India.

She said the decision was arrived at “after due internal consultation and as well as discussions” with Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik and that no one belonging to the tribal community had become the president so far.

Source: IANS

RCB captain Virat Kohli (Photo: Wikipedia)

Since it was his first offence of the season under the IPL’s Code of Conduct relating to minimum over-rate offences, Kohli was fined $20,000.

At the end of the match, Royal Challengers Bangalore were assessed to be two overs behind the required rate after allowances were taken into consideration.

Source: IANS

Planning Commission's Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia (Photo: Wikipedia)

“In the five years prior to the crisis, the Indian economy grew at an average rate of 9 percent. Following the crisis, it slowed down to an average of just over percent,” Ahluwalia said Thursday during a UN General Assembly debate on “State of the World Economy and Finance in 2012″.

“We believe India has the potential to grow at rates between 8 or 9 percent for the next twenty years and to do so in an inclusive manner.”

Noting that there are many challenges India has to face domestically to achieve this target, Ahluwalia said it “would be greatly helped if the global environment is supportive, and we are willing to work with others to make it so.”

Ahluwalia cited several things that the global community do to restore growth in the developing world. These included an early agreement on the resolution of the sovereign debt problem in the Eurozone and a well functioning international financial system channelling resources efficiently around the world.

“Given the much higher growth potential in developing countries, a well functioning financial system should ensure a sufficient flow of long term capital towards them,” he said.

Calling for an early conclusion of the Doha Development Round to “send a major positive signal to the global community, Ahluwalia said: “The economic woes we face today cannot be overcome without the major developed countries taking the lead to stimulate economic growth.”

Steps at the national level must be accompanied by a broader based advance in improving global governance, he said seeking more voice and participation for important developing countries in the decision making structures of the international financial system.

Source: IANS

Scorching heat in the State Capital

While the district headquarters town of Sambalpur, about 320 km from here, recorded the state’s highest with the mercury reading 45.5 degrees Celsius thereby making the life miserable for the residents, other places which recorded scorching heat included Hirakud and Titilagarh (45.4 degrees each), Jharsuguda (45.1 degrees) and Sonepur (45.2 degrees Celsius).

The coastal and interior districts also witnessed rising temperature and humid conditions. Balasore, Bhadrak, Khurda, Cuttack, Dhenkanal and Angul all recorded 40-plus temperature.

Similarly the district headquarters towns of Balangir and Sundergarh recorded 45 degrees Celsius each. In the state capital, the hot and humid conditions continued though the mercury dropped by about two degrees on Thursday. On Wednesday the city had witnessed 42.6 degrees.

The heat wave condition is likely to prevail in some parts of the state during next two days official sources said.

Source: 360 NS