Punjab to set up country's largest warehouse Punjab will set up a warehousing facility to store 42 lakh tonnes of grains, which could be the largest in the country, State Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adaish Partap Singh Kairon said. He said the Centre has permitted the State to go in for scientific storage of wheat and that Punjab has already initiated the construction of the warehousing facility. It will be the largest-ever storage capacity being created by any State in the country, he added. Minister inaugurated the Food and Civil Supplies Department's new office — the Anaj Bhawan. Speaking about plans to bring about transparency in the working of the department, Mr. Kairon said after kerosene citizens will now be able to track the movement of vehicles carrying grains right from the store to the PDS outlets.

India's rights record dismal: report Six months before India's human rights gets reviewed at the United Nations, the Working Group on Human Rights (WGHR) in India released a report painting a dismal picture of its rights record. The U.N. Human Rights Council examines the rights record of its members on a rotational basis every four years through a peer review process, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). Reports by the civil society, U.N. agencies and the country under review are relied upon during the UPR. India's review is due in May next year. The report presents a very bleak scenario of the actual state of human rights across India. The government has shown positive signs in dealing with the U.N. human rights system in the past year. Nothing but a radical shift in economic, security and social policy is needed to meet India's national and international human rights commitments,” said the former U.N. Special Rapporteur and WGHR convener, Miloon Kothari.

ANR National Award for Hema Malini, the ‘Dreamgirl' who made her first two films in Telugu before taking the Hindi film industry by storm and reigning supreme for close to two and a half decades, has been chosen for the 7th National Award, 2011. The award would be given away at a function here on December 26. It comes with a memento, a citation and a cash prize of Rs. 5 lakh. The annual award was instituted in 2005 by the Akkineni International Foundation. The first to be chosen was . Others include (2006), Anjali Devi (2007), Vyjayantimala Bali (2008), (2009) and K. Balachander in 2010.

Krithi Karanth gets National Geographic Society grant Conservation biologist Krithi K. Karanth has been chosen for the National Geographic Society's 10,000th grant for research on wildlife. Ms. Karanth, granddaughter of Jnanpith Award winner K. Shivaram Karanth and daughter of wildlife biologist and conservationist Ullas Karanth, will use the grant to study the man-animal conflict in the Western Ghats. The society's first grant was given in 1890 to explore the uncharted Mount St. Elias region of Alaska. Ms. Karanth has a bachelor's degree from Florida University, U.S. and a master's degree from Yale University. She got her doctoral degree from Duke University and did post-doctoral work at Columbia University.

National plan to control encephalitis soon In a move aimed at winning over voters, the Group of Ministers (GoM) constituted to look into incidents of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) and Acute Encephalitis Syndrome (AES) will recommend a National Programme for Control and Prevention of the disease that claims hundreds of young lives every year and physically and mentally disables an equal number. The worst-affected is the State of Uttar Pradesh which goes to polls next year. The national programme, most likely to be announced in the next general budget, will be along the lines of the national malaria control programme, national TB control programme and other such ongoing prevention programmes.

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China begins joint patrol of the Mekong China has begun deploying a more-than-200-strong police force to patrol the Mekong River as part of a new joint initiative with Thailand, Myanmar and Laos to boost regional security following recent attacks on ships. The launching of the patrol marked the resumption of international shipping on the Mekong. Trading activities were suspended after an October attack on two cargo ships that left 13 Chinese sailors dead.

Yemen unity government sworn in Yemen's national unity government, led by the opposition, was sworn to lead a three-month transition period until early elections are held and President Ali Abdullah Saleh formally steps down. The new 34-member Cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Mohammed Basindawa, will carry out its duties until February elections, after which Mr. Hadi will take over the presidency for a two- year period as stipulated by a Gulf-sponsored deal.

Muthoot Finance plans NCD issue Muthoot Finance Ltd. has filed a draft prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Board of India for a public issue of secured non-convertible debentures (NCDs) of the face value of Rs.1,000 each, aggregating Rs.300 crore with an option to retain over-subscription upto Rs.300 crore. The company had raised Rs.693 crore through a similar issue in August.

BPCL to invest Rs.20,000 crore on petrochem plant, expansion Bharat Petroleum Corporation Ltd, (BPCL) is planning to invest Rs.18,000-20,000 crore over the next five years for setting up a petrochemical plant and expanding the Kochi refinery, Chairman and Managing Director R. K. Singh said.

IOC, GAIL eye LNG projects in Africa Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and GAIL (India) are looking closely to pick up equity in LNG projects in the African region to meet India's future energy needs in a big way. Inaugurating the third Africa Hydrocarbon Conference, Mr. Jaipal Reddy said India's oil companies were looking at farm-in opportunities in producing blocks, especially those in Libya, Algeria, Egypt and Nigeria. Africa supplies 35.31 million tonnes, or 21.5 per cent, of India's crude oil requirement. India was keen on participating in exploration and production opportunities in Angola, Ghana, Sudan, Algeria, Congo, Nigeria, Uganda, Cote D'Ivoire, Mozambique, Chad, Gabon and Tanzania.

Panasonic unveils standalone power system Global leader in ideas for lifestyles Panasonic has unveiled its first-ever standalone power system, the Life Innovation Container, in India which provides off-grid areas with electricity. It also kicked off its Eco Exhibition to showcase its wide range of eco products and ideas in four major cities — Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai.

Praxair India inaugurates R&D facility Praxair India Pvt. Ltd., a subsidiary of Praxair, has set up a new state-of-the-art research and technology centre at Hoskote, Bangalore. The facility provides a full range of R&D capabilities for various customer industries such as metal fabrication, pharmaceutical, steel and water treatment. The centre will significantly boost the company's capabilities in India and also be a key part of its global technology organisation.

Tata Elxsi forms venture with U.S. firm US-based global kids entertainment firm, A Squared Entertainment (A2) and Tata Elxsi has announced the formation of a joint venture company to develop and distribute original brands. The joint venture, A Squared Elxsi Entertainment (A2E2), will create, develop and distribute original brands, including animated entertainment and the like.

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3G smartphones from Idea Cellular Within months of the launch and fast paced expansion of 3G services, Idea Cellular, a leading mobile operator, has now announced the launch of a range of 3G smartphones starting at Rs.5,850 onwards, to drive penetration of data services in the country. Mobile users can access some of the world's best handset features and Idea's 3G applications on Android based smartphones, for as low Rs.2,609.

Samota wins fifth gold at Nationals Commonwealth Games heavyweight champion Paramjeet Samota clinched his fifth consecutive gold at the 58th senior men's National boxing championship, beating Satish Kumar of Services in the final at Karaikudi. Nanao Singh also clinched the National title in the light flyweight, while in bantamweight Shiva Thapa emerged National champion.

Ching Ching paddles to third gold Ching Ching paddled his way to a third gold as Madhya Pradesh's dominance continued undiminished on the penultimate day of the 22nd National kayaking and canoeing championships at the Ulsoor Lake. The 21-year-old kayaker, while comfortably superior to the field in the 500m, was pushed till the end in the 5000m event, but claimed the two singles wins nonetheless, raising MP's gold count to a practically unassailable 25.

Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal win senior National titles Saurav Ghosal and Dipika Pallikal, the two highest-ranked Indians in the world, are now in the best form of their life and they displayed their allround brilliance in ample measure in the senior National squash championships at the Indian Squash Academy. Saurav didn't show any mercy to Harinder Pal Sandhu winning in 55 minutes 8-11, 11-6, 11-3, 11-1 to bag the men's title for the sixth successive time and seventh overall while Dipika defeated Anaka Alankamony 11-7, 8-11, 11-4, 11-7 for her maiden women's title.

Lifetime award for Ajit Wadekar Rahul Dravid won the Polly Umrigar Award for the cricketer of the year (2010-11) at the BCCI awards function in Chennai. Dravid, who has travelled to Australia as part of an advance party, couldn't collect his award, which comprised a trophy and a cheque for Rs. 5 lakhs. The honour fell to his proud parents, Sharad and Pushpa Dravid, who received the award from BCCI president N. Srinivasan. Ajit Wadekar, who led India to its maiden series wins in the West Indies and England in 1971, won the Col. C.K. Nayudu Lifetime Achievement Award.

Spain to take on Australia in final Spain defeated the Netherlands 3-1 to set up a hockey Champions Trophy final showdown with defending champion Australia, which downed host New Zealand 2-1. In the bottom half of the eight-nation tournament, Germany crushed Pakistan 5-0 to leave the Green Shirts facing a wooden spoon play-off with South Korea, which was defeated 4-3 in a thriller against Great Britain.

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