India contests WHO figures for multi-drug resistant TB The union government contested the WHO figures that put the number of Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) cases in India at 63,000, saying there were only 10,267. As many as 38,287 suspected cases were examined till the end of 2011 and of them, 10,267 have been diagnosed with MDR-TB and 6,994 put on treatment, according to TB India-2012 the annual status report of the Revised National TB Control Programme (RNCTP) brought out by the Health Ministry. The World Health Organisation, in its report released on the eve of World TB Day, said India had an estimated 63,000 cases of notified MDR-TB in 2010, the highest in South East Asia. It also put the MDR-TB prevalence estimates at 2.3 per cent among new cases and 12-17 per cent among re-treatment cases. However, due to the size of the population and the number of TB cases reported annually, India ranks second among the 27 MDR-TB high-burden countries world wide after China. Though India is the second most populous country, it has more new TB cases annually than any other. In 2009, out of the estimated global annual incidence of 9.4 million cases, two million were estimated to have occurred in India. It is estimated about 40 per cent of the Indian population is infected with TB bacillus.

Court sticks to orders, wants Rajoana hanged on March 31 Dismissing the plea for deferring the execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana, convicted in the assassination case, Additional District and Sessions Judge Shalini Nagpal has ordered that he be hanged, as scheduled, on March 31. Patiala Jail Superintendent Lakhvinder Singh Jakhar, who was also served with notice for contempt of court, was directed to execute the death warrant. Mr. Jakhar, who had previously returned the warrant, filed a petition for deferment of the execution on technical and legal grounds. The court upheld the arguments of CBI counsel that the decision to hang Rajoana in the Patiala jail was well within the ambit of law. The court initiated contempt proceedings against Mr. Jakhar for returning the warrant and expressing his inability to comply with it. In August 2007, a special CBI court had awarded the death sentence to Rajoana, who was a constable in the Police and top operative of the terror outfit, International, and Jagtar Singh Hawara. Shamsher Singh, Lakhwinder Singh and Gurmeet Singh were given life imprisonment.

Sreedharan on Vaishno Devi Board Infosys Foundation chairperson Sudha Murthy and ‘Metroman' E. Sreedharan are among six eminent personalities nominated by Jammu & Kashmir Governor N. N. Vohra for the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board. “The Governor has nominated E Sreedharan, Sudha Murthy, V-C of Central University of Jammu S. S. Bloeria, santoor maestro Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma, former DGP Ashok Bhan and Member of State Public Service Commission H. L. Maini as Board members,” Chief Executive Officer of the Board Navin Kumar Choudhary said. Mr. Vohra is the Chairman of the Board, Mr. Choudhary said. Santoor maestro Shiv Kumar Sharma has the distinction of bringing forth the folk instrument from the Kashmir Valley to its classical status.

Spell out stand on Ram Setu in a day, Centre told The Supreme Court asked the Centre to make its stand clear on whether the ‘Ram Setu' could be declared a national monument, as demanded by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy in a petition. A Bench of Justices H.L. Dattu and C.K. Prasad granted a day's time to the Centre to spell out its stand after Additional Solicitor General Harin Raval submitted that the matter needed to be placed before the Cabinet Secretary for taking an appropriate decision, and that he had to take instructions. Dr. Swamy submitted that the Supreme Court on July 17, 2007 had asked the Centre to file an affidavit, the report submitted to the government by the committee headed by R.K. Pachauri on exploring alternative routes for the Sethusamudram canal should be made available to the court and a copy given to him. The Bench directed the Centre to give a copy of Dr. Pachauri's report to Dr. Swamy.

India will achieve sanitation goals only by 2054 Going by the present pace of progress, India will achieve the millennium development goals (MDGs) on sanitation only by 2054. While some States had already achieved the target and some are close to it, other populous States such as Madhya Pradesh and Orissa will reach the target only in the next century, according to WHO and UNICEF's Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMPWSS), which tracks the progress on drinking water and sanitation, 17 States, including Kerala, Haryana, Meghalaya, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and most Union Territories, had already achieved the MDG target while Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh will achieve it in the next 10 years. Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Page 1 of 4 28th March 2012

Nadu and Chhattisgarh are some States that will meet the MDG target in the coming 25 years, while Madhya Pradesh is expected to achieve the goal in 2105 and Orissa in 2160 unless special strategies are adopted to speed up the progress. India has seen an improvement in the sanitation figures from 1990, when 75 per cent people defecated in the open as against 51 per cent in 2010. But this improvement is seen only in the urban settings, where 28 per cent had no access to toilets in 1990 as against 14 per cent in 2010. In the rural areas, 91 per cent had no access to sanitation in 1990 as against 67 per cent in 2010, indicating that it was the rich who had more access to sanitation.

J’khand passes resolution against Centre's criteria for poverty The Jharkhand Assembly agreed to disagree with the new norms set by the Planning Commission defining poor in the country.

Amnesty International writes to PM to stop Rajoana's execution Amnesty International has shot off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to stop the imminent execution of Balwant Singh Rajoana, scheduled to be carried out on March 31. Sam Zarifi, director, Amnesty International, Asia-Pacific, has written in a letter which was sent on March 26.

India hosts BRICS Summit, trade ministers to meet today Chinese President Hu Jintao will arrive in New Delhi on a two-day visit to attend the fourth BRICS summit and will also hold bilateral talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on a range of key issues. Hu is expected to highlight need for improving global governance, enhancing trade and push for creation of a mechanism for trading in local currencies among the five-member countries. Ahead of the BRICS Summit, trade ministers of Brazil, Russia, India and South Africa (BRICS) will meet in New Delhi to discuss ways to strengthen economic ties. Commerce and industry minister Anand Sharma would meet his counterparts from Brazil Fernando Pimente, Chen Deming from China and Russia's Elvira Nabiullina and Rob Davis from South Africa. Besides, the development banks of BRICS are in advanced stage of reaching a pact for extending cross-country credit in local currencies of the member countries. The theme of the 4th BRICS Summit is 'Partnership for Stability, Security and Growth'. The last summit was held in China in April, 2011.

Assad accepts Kofi Annan's peace plan The Arab League is set to recant its advocacy of regime change in Syria and support the diplomatic initiative of United Nations special envoy Kofi Annan during its summit hosted by Iraq. Ahead of the summit that began, Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said it was unlikely the 22-nation League will ask President Bashar al-Assad to step down a sharp manoeuvre away from its earlier position seeking the exit of the Syrian head of state as the first step toward a political transition. “It's not up to other countries to dictate to the Syrians what kind of leaders they have or don't have,” said Mr. Zebari.

Obama nominee for WB presidency to visit India Jim Yong Kim, the surprise choice of US President Barack Obama for the post of World Bank president, will visit India and six other key nations, most of them emerging economies, to drum up support for his candidacy. The developing nations have for long been nursing an unfulfilled wish to occupy the top posts of IMF and World Bank as part of reforming the two multilateral institutions, but have failed to put up a common candidate. While the major emerging economies have not fielded any candidate, Nigeria and Colombia have put up candidates. Nigerian Finance Minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Colombia’s former Finance Minister Jose Antonio Ocampo are in the fray. The Nigerian’s candidacy has been endorsed by the African Union. The World Bank presidency has been an American preserve right from the time of its founding in 1944, just as the International Monetary Fund’s top post of managing director has always been held by Europe. The selection will be made by the World Bank’s 25-member executive board. The board has said they will interview all three candidates with the goal of making a decision before the April 20 start of the World Bank’s spring meetings.

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ADB, BMRCL sign loan pact The Asian Development Bank (ADB), headquartered in Manila, the Philippines, and Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd. (BMRCL) signed a Facility Agreement for $250 million loan through the former's non- sovereign lending window. Said to be the first foray of the ADB into the mass rapid public transport sector in South-Asia, the agreement was signed in New Delhi by ADB Country Director for India Hun Kim and BMRCL Managing Director N. Sivasailam. The loan was approved by the bank's board in March last and will partly finance Namma Metro's Phase I project covering 42.3 km.

First olive trees successfully cultivated in the Valley In a breakthrough, scientists have claimed successful cultivation of olive trees, a prized Mediterranean produce for the first time in the Valley, owing to favorable weather conditions in Srinagar. Scientists and researchers at Central Institute of Temperate Horticulture (CITH) have grown olive trees, in its farms, where the project to study the behavior of olive trees in the climatic conditions of Valley was underway since 2008. "Out of nearly 60 varieties of olive trees brought in from United States, Egypt and Italy, six Italian varieties are performing very good under Kashmir's climate," said Shiv Lal, the scientist in-charge of the olive project at CITH.

TVS buys Universal Components of U.K. In what is seen as a well thought out strategy to beef up its global presence, the over $6.6-billion TVS Group has quietly acquired Sheffield-based Rs.200-crore Universal Components (UC) U.K., a leading independent wholesale distributor of commercial vehicle parts and accessories in Britain. The acquisition is done through TVS Europe Distribution Ltd., a special purpose vehicle. TVS Europe Distribution has bought 90 per cent shares in UC for an undisclosed consideration.

Rio Tinto in alliance with iGATE U.K.-headquartered Rio Tinto, a well-known name in the global mining world, and California-based iGATE Corporation have come together to forge a ‘fascinating alliance' to usher in technology capability in-sourcing, an entirely new terminology in the information technology space. The objective of the ‘innovation partnership' is to focus on creating next generation technologies and contribute to global growth and development of Rio Tinto's ‘Mine of the Future programme. According to Phaneesh Murthy, CEO of iGATE, the alliance would open up a whole new vista for the company. iGATE could consider similar models for hitherto unexplored areas.

Mitsubishi to pick up stake in Linc Pen Kolkata-based Linc Pen & Plastics has signed a ‘Business and capital alliance agreement' with Mitsubishi Pencil Co. of Japan to issue two million equity shares of Rs.10 each at Rs.100 per share, amounting to a 35 per cent stake on the expanded capital of Rs.14.8 crore. The Rs.250-crore Linc Pen has a distribution arrangement with Mitsubishi Pencil for its Uni / Uni-ball brand since 1992. The main objective of the ‘capital alliance' is to improve Mitsubishi Pencil's market share and the Uni / Uni-ball brand growth in India by employing Linc Pen's sales / marketing and production capabilities and Mitsubishi Pencil's product development, and writing instrument technology prowess

Partha Chatterjee to head Haldia Petrochemicals Haldia Petrochemicals Ltd (HPL) was held in Kolkata, which saw the appointment of the state's Industry Minister Partha Chatterjee as the company's chairman, even as three directors, belonging to The Chatterjee Group (TCG). All the 15 board members were present at the meeting. Purnendu Chatterjee, Chairman of TCG, who had been the ad hoc chairman for the last nine months, was appointed Deputy Chairman. Mr. Partha Chatterjee said that HPL would be a board-managed company as it was not the business of the government to run businesses. This is the first time, since its inception in 2001, that a minister will head HPL, the country's second largest petrochemical company.

Enjoy, a new MPV from GM soon General Motors has decided to name its next multi-purpose vehicle as ‘Enjoy'. Announcing this, at the launch of Chevrolet Tavera Neo 3 BS IV MPV in Chennai, General Motors India President and Managing Director Lowell C Paddock said ‘Enjoy' would be launched by the end of the year. Compared to Tavera, it will be slightly smaller and cost less. The proposed MPV would be available in both petrol and diesel variants. The new BS IV-compliant Tavera was showcased at the Auto Expo 2012 in Delhi. Page 3 of 4 28th March 2012

Rio Tinto signs pact with iGate Patni Global mining giant Rio Tinto has entered into an innovation partnership with IT firm iGATE Patni for developing next-generation technologies and expects to invest up to USD 80 million towards this initiative. Rio Tinto also inaugurated an innovation center in iGATE Patni's facility in Pune -- the Rio Tinto Innovation Centre (RTIC) -- which will play a crucial role in facilitating and leveraging these next generation automated technologies.

WADA appeals in judoka's case The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) has appealed against the decision of the National Anti Doping Disciplinary panel (NADDP) to impose a 10-month suspension on a BSF judoka. The WADA appeal before the National Anti-Doping Appeal panel (NADAP) seeks a two-year ban of Sapna Devi, who tested positive for clenbuterol at the all-India Police Games in Jammu in March 2011. The case was disposed of by an NADDP panel headed by Sudhir Nandrajog on January 30 2012, giving Devi a suspension till the time of the decision from her provisional suspension of March 21, 2011. The panel ruled that the athlete had established grounds for reduction of ineligibility period under Articles 10.4 and 10.5.1 and 10.5.2 as she had taken prescription medicines that contained clenbuterol.

India meets NZ in its Azlan Shah opener Five-time title winner India will open its campaign at the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup hockey tournament against New Zealand scheduled to be held at Ipoh, Malaysia from May 24. The 21st edition of the prestigious tournament will get under way with a match between Pakistan and Argentina and will culminate with the final on June 3. Besides India, the other teams which shall participate in this tournament are Great Britain, Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, Argentina and host Malaysia. India has won the tournament in 1985, 1991, 1995, 2009 and 2010.

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