1. ISRO spectrum deal under review: Centre In the aftermath of the expose, the Central government said that it was in the process of reviewing the deal between the Indian Space Research Organisation's commercial arm Antrix Corporation Ltd. and the Bangalore-based Devas Multimedia Pvt. Ltd. that gave Devas free access to scarce spectrum worth an estimated Rs. 2 lakh crore. “The agreement entered into by Antrix and Devas on January 28, 2005 is already under review by the Department of Space and the government will take whatever steps necessary to safeguard public interest. A decision on the matter is likely to be taken soon,” ISRO said in a statement.

2. MoEF nod for Girnar Ropeway project The Ministry of Environment and Forest has given an “in principle” approval to the long-pending Mount Girnar Ropeway project in Junagadh district in the Saurashtra region of Gujarat. The order, pending since 1995, was signed by the Minister of State for Environment and Forest Jairam Ramesh soon after a delegation of the Stat e Congress, led by its president Siddhartha Patel, the mayor of Junagadh, and other leaders of the party- controlled Junagadh Municipal Corporation, called on the Minister requesting him to clear the project.

3. Spectrum with government agencies should be monitored for efficient usage: TRAI The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has told the Department of Telecom that all spectrum allocated to various government agencies should be monitored if they are using it efficiently or not. TRAI had also recommended that a specific fund for spectrum reframing be created. This assumes significance in the light of an inquiry being conducted by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) on a deal between the Indian Space Research Organisation and Bangalore- based Devas Multimedia.

4. Bihar puts on hold new asbestos projects Taking note of the mounting public uproar against the proposed asbestos factory at Bishnupur-Chainpur village in Muzaffarpur district, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said “there was no ban on setting up asbestos factories in India.” Mr. Kumar, however, said that in view of the opposition to the factory in Chainpur, further proposals submitted by the State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) had been withheld by the government.

5. Maharashtra plans special courts for speedy trial of caste atrocity cases Maharashtra will soon set up special courts in every divisional headquarters in the State to ensure the speedy trial of cases under the Protection of Civil Rights (PCR) Act and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act. This decision was taken at a periodic review meeting on PCR by Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. Official sources said the social justice department would prepare a proposal to be acted upon by the High Court.

6. Pakistan won't allow NIA team to quiz 26/11 masterminds Islamabad has denied permission to a team of the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to visit Pakistan to question the masterminds of the Mumbai terror attacks. The denial came at a time when New Delhi was considering a request from Pakistan to send a judicial commission to interview key witnesses and other officials in connection with the trial of seven suspects in the case in Pakistan. A few days ago Islamabad conveyed to New Delhi that Pakistan's law did not allow a probe by any foreign agency in any case there.

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7. Panel finds deficiencies in HPV vaccine project The three-member committee, set up to probe the alleged irregularities in conducting studies using human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine by PATH in India, has identified several deficiencies in the planning and implementation of the project leading “to a crisis requiring suspension of the study,” but has fallen short of fixing responsibility on any individual or agency.

8. Centre to seek review of ruling on banned outfits The government will approach a larger Bench of the Supreme Court seeking a review of a recent ruling, which held that mere membership of a banned outfit would not attract criminal action. A Bench of Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra gave the ruling few days back, holding “mere membership of a banned organisation will not make a person a criminal unless he resorts to violence or incites people to violence or creates public disorder by violence or incitement to violence.”

9. Barua opposes decision of talks without pre-condition Self-styled commander-in-chief of the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) Paresh Barua and his followers have opposed the decision of the outfit's general council to sit for talks with the Centre without pre-condition. In an email statement to media houses through self-styled second lieutenant Arunodoi Dohotia, he said that a meeting of the ULFA's ad hoc committee headed by Mr. Barua had resolved not to support the proposed talks with the government. Jibon Moran, a member of the ULFA central executive council, also attended the meeting.

10. Make changes in Contempt of Courts Act or scrap it: experts Even as the debate over the limitations of the media in covering judicial proceedings is continuing, a section of legal professionals favoured amendments to the “Contempt of Courts Act” or its scrapping altogether. Media counsel for Bloomberg News Charles Glasser said contempt of court did not make sense any more when so much of information was available on the Internet. “What is the point in preventing the press from giving information that is already available? You cannot silence the press anymore.” He was speaking at a session on “Trial by Media: Issues and Challenges” organised as part of the 17th Commonwealth Law Conference. According to Mr. Glasser, the judiciary had the skill and necessary knowledge to solve the problems arising out of the media trial.

11. Musharraf accused in Benazir case Former President Pervez Musharraf was named as an accused in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto by investigators who also asked a trial court to declare him as an “absconder”. In a setback to his plans to return home to take a plunge in active politics, the Federal Investigation Agency listed him as an “absconding accused” in the chargesheet filed before an anti-terrorism court in Rawalpindi.

12. U.K. plans liberal visa rules for “super rich'' Even as visa rules for ordinary people are being tightened with an annual cap for non-European Union nationals set to kick in soon, the “super-rich'' would be able to literally buy their way into Britain under new plans to attract wealthy investors. Industrialists, willing to invest millions of pounds in Britain, would be required to spend only six months — against nine months under current rules — to qualify for a visa and the waiting time for permanent residency would be “dramatically cut for the wealthiest entrants,''.

13. Economy to grow at 8.6 %: CSO Pumped by a strong agriculture growth and allied activities, the Central Government declared that the economy would grow at an estimated 8.6 per cent during the current financial year as against 8 per cent a year ago. The gross domestic product (GDP) estimates released by the Central Statistical Organisation (CSO) are higher than the predictions made by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Finance Ministry but are also an indication of the fact that the economy had slowed down somewhat in the second- half of the current financial year. The Advance Estimates released by CSO revealed that agriculture and allied activities are likely to grow at 5.4 per cent in 2010-11 as compared to just 0.4 per cent in 2009-10 making a huge stride. Page 2 of 3 8th February 2011

14. Jan data to reflect new consumer price series The Central Government announced that beginning with the month of January, a new consumer price series for rural, urban and combined (rural and urban), reflecting the impact of price rise on common man, will be released on February 18. These consumer indices will be available for five major groups — food, beverages and tobacco; fuel and light; housing; clothing, bedding and footwear; and miscellaneous. The indices will be released for States/Union Territories and all India.

15. Deadlock in Cairn-Vedanta, Petroleum Ministry talks Even as Anil Aggarwal-owned Vedanta Resources plc continued to run against time to get approval for its $9.6 billion deal to acquire stake in Cain India Limited (CIL), the talks between Petroleum Ministry and top executives of CIL and Vedanta remained ‘deadlocked' with no result in sight. The first round of talks held did not produce any result with both sides sticking to their respective stands.

16. Watson wins Border Medal capped an outstanding playing year by winning Australian 's top individual award, the , for the second straight year. Watson's win capped a superb night in Melbourne for the 29-year-old all-rounder, who also won his second consecutive One-Day International Player -of-the-year award and his first Test Player- of-the-year award. He was also runner-up to David Hussey in the award, which was given for the first time.

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