Army Chief drags government to court Asserting that he wanted to protect his integrity and honour, Army Chief Gen. V.K. Singh moved the Supreme Court challenging the Defence Ministry's order determining his date of birth (DOB) as May 10, 1950, instead of treating it as May 10, 1951. In his petition filed through his advocate Puneet Bali, the Army Chief, who is due to retire on May 31 this year, maintained that his DOB was already concluded as May 10, 1951 once the police verified it at the time of his joining the service. Citing a catena of Supreme Court decisions, Gen. Singh said the DOB May 10, 1951 mentioned in the Matriculation Certificate was sacrosanct and this had to be treated as conclusive proof. On the controversy as to how the dispute arose, he said when he was 14, he was asked to fill up a form about DOB particulars, in which he wrongly gave the DOB as May 10, 1950.

INS Shardul to be the replacement for now Landing ship INS Shardul is expected to ‘tentatively' replace the soon-to-be-decommissioned INS Krishna in the Navy's First Training Squadron. The landing vessel will join the First Training Squadron comprising INS Tir, INS Tarangini and a Coast Guard vessel for a period of six months as a stop-gap arrangement until one of the under-refit Sukanya class patrol vessels is available for operation. INS Sujata, which is under refit, is being converted into a training vessel equipping it with living space and other facilities for cadets. This will most likely join the First Squadron in another six months' time.

Ombudsman for Central educational institutions All institutions affiliated to the University Grants Commission, All India Council for Technical Education and the National Council for Teachers Education will now be required to establish a grievance redressal mechanism for students and applicants before the commencement of the admission season this academic year. All government-run central educational institutions, institutions deemed to be universities, deemed-to- be-universities, technical and management institutions and teacher education institutions would be required to constitute an Ombudsman-person with judicial or legal experience to be appointed from a panel suggested by the affiliating university for technical and management institutions and by the regulator for non-degree granting institutions. The concerned regulators would issue the detailed instructions to the educational institutions shortly.

INS Krishna to make its last voyage today After traversing the seas for 44 years first as the 's HMS Andromeda from 1968 to November 1994 and in its current avatar as one of 's First Training Squadron Ships, INS Krishna, from August 1995 is set to sing its swan song. On January 17, it will embark on its last voyage, setting course for Mumbai from the Southern Naval Command's south jetty for a minor refit before being decommissioned later this year. The news of the imminent retirement of the ‘Grey Mistress,' as she had been known in the Royal Navy, has indeed brought back dear memories in many ‘ex-HMS Andromeda shipmates' besides Indian Navy personnel who have served aboard INS Krishna ( F 46). It comes at a time when the HMS Andromeda Association is planning a reunion of Andromeda veterans, about 400 worldwide. The last broad beam Leader-class built by the Portsmouth Dockyard, Andromeda (the eighth bearing pennant number F 57) had weathered many storms in the ‘Beira Patrol,' a blockade in the Mozambique channel to prevent oil reaching Rhodesia (Zimbabwe); the last two ‘Cod wars' with Iceland over fishing rights when the frigate suffered damage resulting from collisions; the Falklands action when it was deployed on escort duty; and the ‘Armilla Patrol' in the Gulf for escort of oil tankers.

Jairam urges Manmohan to give highest priority to sanitation Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh, who also controls the Department of Drinking Water Supply which implements sanitation programme, has written a letter to the Prime Minister urging him to change the government's approach through a bold initiative during the 12th Five Year Plan pointing to the limitations of the present sanitation campaign. The Prime Minister had described the problem of malnutrition as a national shame. UNICEF-WHO had estimated that at least 60 percent of India's population practiced open defecation and the country accounted for 58 percent of the open defecation in the world. Though China had a larger population only 4 percent practiced open defecation. The adverse impact on health due to open defecations takes a toll of 6.4 percent of the GDP in India, according to the report. Opposing the present Total Sanitation Campaign which seeks to provide individual toilets to rural households, schools and anganwadis and waste management. Because of the limitation in the present system, only 25,000 villages are claimed to have become “nirmal grams” out of which 9,000 are in Maharashtra alone. The progress has been limited in States such as Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala and Haryana. The other reasons for poor performance were due to the limited focus on BPL families only and the admissible cost pegged at only Rs. 3,200 per unit against the general assessment of constructing a toilet is about Rs. 8,000 per unit.

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Mansoor Ijaz fails to show up at hearing on Memogate Alongside the Pakistan Supreme Court's contempt notice to Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani in a matter relating to corruption charges against President Asif Ali Zardari, a judicial panel probing “memogate” also held a hearing but ended inconclusively after a controversial businessman at the centre of the scandal failed to show up before it. Mansoor Ijaz, an American-Pakistani businessman, had been summoned by the panel to explain his allegation that he was asked to carry a memo on behalf of the Pakistan government seeking the help of a top U.S. military official to avert a coup in the aftermath of the killing of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May 2011. The panel also asked the Attorney General to provide it details of the government's efforts to obtain details of BlackBerry communications between Mr. Ijaz and Mr. Haqqani from the Canadian firm, Research In Motion (RIM).

Kazakh ruling party wins snap parliamentary polls Kazakhstan's ruling party has swept snap parliamentary elections, but two other parties won seats for the first time. President Nursultan Nazarbayev's party, Nur Otan, won 80.74 per cent of the vote, according to preliminary results announced. Two other nominally Opposition parties scraped past the 7 per cent threshold the pro-business Ak Zhol, headed by a former functionary of the ruling party, and the Communist People's Party of Kazakhstan, a splinter from the Communist Party of Kazakhstan, which was suspended for six months in October for violating the law on public organisations.

Al-Qaeda takes over town in Yemen Al-Qaeda militants seized full control of a town south of the Yemeni capital, overrunning army positions, storming the local prison and freeing at least 150 inmates. The capture of Radda in Bayda province, some 160 km south of the capital Sana'a, underscores the growing strength of the al-Qaeda in Yemen as it continues to take advantage of the weakness of a central government struggling to contain nearly a year of massive anti-government protests. The Opposition has accused President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who is to step down this month in line with a power transfer deal, of allowing the militants to overrun the city to bolster his claims that he must remain in power to secure the country against the rising power of Islamist militants.

Himachal Tourism inks new pact with IRCTC Unable to run its restaurants and wayside eating joints, the Himachal Tourism Department signed a pact with the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation for managing its establishments in the hill State. The IRCTC would manage the restaurants at the Himachal Tourisms Reception Centres in prime locations in Shimla, Solan and Sirmaur districts. Himachal is one of the most preferred and visited tourist State after Kerala and Rajasthan in the country.

GoAir to launch new flights to Ranchi, Kolkata Aiming to make its presence felt in the Tier-II cities, budget airline GoAir will be launching four additional flights from Delhi to Ranchi and Kolkata in February. From February 5, GoAir will introduce two additional flights from Delhi to Kolkata and Ranchi. Also, the airline will increase its frequencies to and from North-West India.

M&M to reopen XUV500 bookings Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra said it would re-open bookings for its latest SUV (sports utility vehicle) model XUV500, for a limited period of ten days, starting January 25 after suspending it last year due to overwhelming response. The vehicle was available only in five cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, and Pune.

Vodafone India begins IPO process U.K.-based telecom major Vodafone has moved a step further to list its India operations by roping in investment bank NM Rothschild to assist the listing plans. Vodafone India Chief Executive Officer Martin Pieters also made an internal announcement to employees, updating them with the IPO plan. India is one of the biggest markets for the company. It has nearly 146 million subscribers. Last year, Vodafone had bought out Indian partner Essar's 33 per cent stake in the joint venture for $5.4 billion. The Vodafone Group entered India in 2007, after buying out Hutchison's 67 per cent stake in its telecom venture with Essar for $11.2 billion.

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Suzlon plans 3,000 MW wind power projects in A.P. Suzlon Energy, a leading wind turbine manufacturer, will develop wind power projects totalling 3,000 MW in Andhra Pradesh over the next four years, involving potential investment of up to Rs.18,000 crore. According to Suzlon Group Chairman Tulasi Tanti, the MoU covered development of wind farms with development planned in Tallimadugula, Alankarayanipeta, Gandikota, Vajrakarur, Tirumalayapalli and other places.

Maruti to launch new DZire Four years after it launched entry-level sedan Swift DZire, Maruti Suzuki India (MSI) is bringing a shortened version of the car that will hit the market next month. According to MSI Chief General Manager (Marketing) Shashank Srivastava, the company would discontinue the mid and top variants of the existing DZire and offer the base model in stripped-down version to target the fleet segment. The new DZire would be launched in the first week of next month. Since its launch in 2008, the company has sold over 3.2 lakh units of DZire so far. The new DZire will be manufactured at the company's Manesar plant.

India seeks out to Abu Dhabi Investment India has invited Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA), world's largest sovereign wealth funds, to invest in the $90-billion ambitious Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) and other infrastructure funds. Both countries also agreed to set up a joint working group to facilitate investment for this purpose. The issue was discussed between Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma and Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) Managing Director Sheikh Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Hyundai Motor launches Eon-D variants Hyundai Motor India has launched three new variants of the Eon-D — Lite plus, Era plus and Magna plus. All three variants will also come with LPG options and will be priced at Rs.27,000 more than the non-LPG option. H. W. Park, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Hyundai Motor India, said in a release that the Delhi ex-showroom price for D-Lite plus that was loaded with air-conditioning and power steering would be Rs.2.98 lakh (Rs. 3 lakh).

Luck deserts Indian girls in air pistol The Indian girls put up a brave effort to collectively outclass China and Korea, but were unable to shrug off misfortune at the crunch to claim a much deserved Olympic quota place in air pistol, in the Asian shooting championship in Doha, Qatar. Raj Kumari won the women's prone gold with a score of 594, but there was nothing much at stake as it was not an Olympic event. World champion Tejaswini Sawant was 18th with a score of 582. Annu Raj Singh who had already won a quota place for London, managed to clinch the individual bronze, to add to the team gold in air pistol, but it was no consolation as Heena Sidhu and Shweta Chaudhry agonisingly missed the quota place with one bad shot each in the 10-shot final.

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