» Making an initial estimate of economic growth at 8.2 per cent in 2010-11 and nine per cent in 2011-12, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) has listed a host of farm sector measures that need to be put in place for a bounce-back in agricultural GDP and avert the cascading effect of the current food price spiral on overall inflation during the new fiscal.

The overall growth projections, however, are based on certain basic assumptions. In its 'Review of the Economy 2009-10' the Council said that the growth assessments of both these years assume a normal South West monsoon and absence of any major calamity or setback at the international level, continuation of strong expansion in industrial and service sector activity during the period, along with the implementation of the government's priorities and initiatives in the creation of infrastructure with private sector participation along desired lines.
Moreover, these growth estimates are based on the expectation that farm sector growth would bounce back from the current fiscal's projected decline of 0.2 per cent. "The Council expects a bounce back in agricultural GDP in the next year and maintenance of the desired trend growth of four per cent in 2011-12," the review said.

To achieve the projected farm growth target, the PMEAC has prescribed a number of measures that need to be implemented over a period.

For the short term, while noting that the authorities should be alert in pre-empting a food inflation spill-over to headline inflation through the manufacturing sector during the coming months, the PMEAC said: "The RBI's monetary policy must remain alive to the danger that a significant transfer of food price inflation to the general price level may occur in 2010-11."

It also pointed towards the potential of commodities prices rising globally owing to a revival in developing countries and the current unsettled financial conditions.

While calling for better farm practices, soil research, irrigation and increased productivity through the supply of quality high-yielding seeds to farmers during the medium term, the PMEAC suggested urgent imports of sugar to the extent of three to five million tonnes to bridge the demand-supply gap during the new fiscal.

The PMEAC also urged the Centre to consider rice imports to build stocks if procurement falls below 27 million tonnes in the current season.

» Less than one in three women know that a condom can be used just once, and just one in six know that a condom cannot disappear into a woman's body.

These are some of the findings of "Youth in India: Situation and Needs," a study carried out by the Indian Institute of Population Sciences and the Population Council.

The findings show that just 46 per cent of young men and 24 per cent of young women were aware that a condom cannot disappear inside a woman's body. Only 31 per cent of young men and 25 per cent of young women felt that condoms do not reduce sexual pleasure.

Marital status affects condom consciousness, with 57 per cent married young men compared to 44 per cent unmarried young men being aware that condoms cannot slip off the man and disappear into a woman's body; the corresponding percentages among young women were 29 and 17 .

The findings also underscore the limited awareness young people have of most sexual and reproductive matters with only 37 per cent of young men and 45 per cent of young women being aware that a woman could get pregnant in her first sexual encounter, and 19 and 15 per cent respectively of young men and women reporting awareness of sexually transmitted infections other than HIV.

Leading sources of information on sexual matters, according to the study, were friends and the media for both young men and women. In contrast, just 10 per cent of young men and women cited teachers and 3-7 per cent cited health care providers as a source of information; just 2 and 9 per cent of young men and women respectively cited family members.

Teachers and health care providers were relatively infrequently reported as sources of information on contraception.

The study further points out that only 15 per cent of respondents had attended sex education programmes either in or outside the school setting, notwithstanding the Adolescence Education Programme, the School AIDS Education Programme, the Red Ribbon Clubs and special programmes for out-of-the-school youth.

Speaking on the occasion, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen stressed the need for education on sexual and reproductive matters. Basic schooling can be central to human security as illiteracy and innumeracy are forms of insecurity themselves, he said.
Problems

When people are illiterate, their ability to understand and invoke their legal rights can be very limited. This can be a significant barrier for illiterate women to make use even of the rather limited rights that they do actually have. Importantly, it can also muffle the political voice, Prof. Sen said. "The removal of survival disadvantages of women, the reduction of child mortality and moderating influences on fertility rates are all among the basic issues involved in removing the "downside risks" that threaten life and dignity," he said.

The study was carried out in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu in 2006-07, and is based on interviews of over 51,000 individuals.

» In what may be a broad prescription for the government's economic policy road map ahead of the Budget for 2010-11, the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) pitched for a partial roll-back of stimulus measures to usher in fiscal correction by scaling up excise duties and service tax and "adjusting" Central expenditure without hurting capital spending on infrastructure.
After releasing the 'Review of the Economy 2009-10' which projected a GDP (gross domestic product) growth of over 7.2 per cent this fiscal, 8.2 per cent in 2010-11 and 9 per cent in 2011-12, PMEAC Chairman C. Rangarajan said that since the expenditure stimulus was directed at augmenting consumption and not investment, the corrective measures must also focus on adjusting expenditure.

"There is a case for adjustment of duties. Adjustments are possible both on the revenue side and the expenditure side in order to bring down fiscal deficit," he said.

Noting that government finances have come under severe strain and the fiscal imbalance "is now a matter of concern", the PMEAC said: The Government cannot continue with the kind of large revenue and fiscal deficits recorded in the last two years and will have to initiate fiscal consolidation in the coming fiscal year (2010-11) itself …in the forthcoming budget to ensure fiscal sustainability, enable greater flexibility in monetary policy calibration, contain interest payments and to avoid upward pressure on interest rates."

Alongside, in pursuing the exit strategy, the Council noted that since more of fiscal expansion was owing to an increase in expenditure than from tax cuts, the Centre's expenditure would need to be curtailed. At the same time, while some items of spending such as salaries and interest payments are committed and cannot be reduced, infrastructure spending is critical and the government will have to provide adequate viability funding. "Thus, there is no scope for compressing capital expenditure while undertaking fiscal correction".

On the revenue side, while the Goods and Services Tax (GST) is unlikely to be implemented from the April 2010 deadline, the PMEAC suggested expansion of the base of service tax "by converting the selective taxation of services into a general taxation, unify the threshold and rate structure of CENVAT and service tax to introduce GST at the Central level. This along with inflows from disinvestment and spectrum auctions, it would be realistic to budget for a cut in the Centre's fiscal deficit by 1-1.5 per cent in 2010-11 without any adverse impact on economic growth.

Amplifying on the suggested roll-back of excise and service tax, PMEAC member Govinda Rao said: "Partially, we need to roll back and if you partially roll back, you need to unify (excise duty and service tax rates)…There is one possibility that you unify both the rates at 10 per cent. There is another possibility... that both be raised to 12 per cent." Mr. Rao, however, made it clear that it was for Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to take a call on this issue in the budget.

As part of the stimulus package to industry to tackle the impact of the global meltdown, the government had reduced the excise duty from 14 per cent to 8 per cent and service tax from 12 per cent to 10 per cent.
On the whole, Dr. Rangarajan noted that a cut in fiscal deficit during 2011-12 by one per cent by outlay rationalisation and another 0.5 per cent from the revenue side would be a possibility.

On the issue of inflation, he said he would go by the overall projection of the Reserve Bank of India that it would more or less come down to 8.5 per cent by the end of the current fiscal.

However, the impact of food inflation, now hovering around 18 per cent, could spill over to other sectors by the next fiscal if adequate steps are not taken.

In this regard, the PMEAC has advised the government to ensure timely release of sufficient amount of foodgrains below prevailing market prices, plan for imports at the first indication of production shortfalls and develop better distribution channels. It also sought urgent steps to import white sugar (about 3-5 million tonnes) to meet the shortfall next fiscal.

» A little-known rainforest in north-east India could be home to the world's largest number of wildcat species, with no less than seven species photo-documented by a wildlife biologist at the end of her two-year survey.

Kashmira Kakati's camera-trap shots reveal that the wildcats share a relatively small, 500 sq.km. patch of rainforest in the Jeypore-Dehing lowlands in Assam, which includes the Dehing Patkai Wildlife Sanctuary.

Among the cats are the elusive and rare clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), the marbled cat (Pardofelis marmorata) and the Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii), besides the relatively more widely distributed tiger (Panthera tigris), the leopard (Panthera pardus), the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis), and the jungle cat (Felis chaus).

The discovery comes in the backdrop of growing concern among environmentalists over deforestation, poaching, crude oil and coal extraction and mega hydro-electric projects that threaten the ecology of the eastern Himalayas. However, new wildlife species continue to be discovered in this part of the eastern Himalayas — listed as a "biodiversity hotspot" comprising Bhutan, parts of northeast India and Nepal.

Twelve other carnivore species were also recorded in the Kakati survey, among them the endangered dhole (Asiatic Wild Dog), the Malayan sun bear, binturong, mongoose, otter and civets. And among the 45 mammals documented are six species of primates, deer, porcupine, wild pig and rodents, which are prey for the rainforest carnivores.

» The fundamental rights enshrined in the Constitution are inherent and cannot be extinguished by any constitutional or statutory provision, the Supreme Court held on feb 17.

Upholding the power to order a CBI probe without a State's consent, a five-judge Constitution Bench, headed by Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, said: "Any law that abrogates or abridges such rights would be violative of the basic structure doctrine."

The Bench was disposing of a batch of cases filed by the West Bengal government and others, challenging CBI probe ordered by the High Courts concerned. Since important questions of law were raised in these appeals, the matter was referred to the Constitution Bench.

According to Bench "The State has a duty to enforce the human rights of a citizen for fair and impartial investigation against any person accused of commission of a cognisable offence, which may include its own officers.

"The power of judicial review being an integral part of the basic structure of the Constitution, no Act of Parliament can exclude or curtail the powers of the constitutional courts with regard to the enforcement of fundamental rights.
"In a federal Constitution, distribution of legislative powers between Parliament and State Legislatures involves limitation on legislative powers and, therefore, this requires an authority other than Parliament to ascertain whether such limitations are transgressed.

"Judicial review acts as the final arbiter not only to give effect to distribution of legislative powers between Parliament and State legislatures, it is also necessary to show any transgression by each entity."

The Bench noted that when the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act says that subject to the consent by the State, the CBI can take up investigation in relation to the crime that was otherwise within the jurisdiction of the State police, the court could also exercise its constitutional power of judicial review and direct the CBI to take up the investigation within the jurisdiction of the State.

The Bench held that the power of the High Court under Article 226 could not be taken away, curtailed or diluted by Section 6 of the DSPE Act. Irrespective of there being any statutory provision acting as a restriction on the powers of the courts, the restriction imposed by Section 6 of the Act on the powers of the Union could not be read as restriction on the powers of the constitutional courts.
The Bench directed that all individual cases be placed before the respective Benches for disposal in terms of this judgment.

» India and Bangladesh have decided to set up a joint-venture 1,320-megawatt power plant as a mark of co-operation. The two neighbours have also agreed to a cross-border power grid.
The joint-venture power plant, to be constructed in southern Khulna in Bangladesh, will be operational within two years.

The decisions were taken at the second meeting of the Bangladesh-India Joint Steering Committee on the power sector which was formed during Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's recent visit to New Delhi.
Bangladesh Power Secretary Abul Kalam Azad, who led the host team in the talks, said the two countries had finalised the details of the grid and reached a broad agreement on building the coal-fired plant. The two-unit power plant (660mw each) will cost about $1.8 billion.

The cooperation will facilitate Bangladesh's import of 250 mw to meet the power demand. Power Secretary HS Brahma said India was offering "the cheapest rates" — varying between Rs 2 and Rs 2.5 (Tk 3-3.5).

India's National Thermal Power Cooperation (NTPC) and the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) signed the MoUs.

Mr. Brahma told journalists that the project required 130km grid connectivity 85km in India and 45km in Bangladesh. The grid costs will be shared proportionately Tk 1100 crore by Bangladesh and about Tk 200 crore by India.

» The Council of Boards of School Education (COBSE) took a "unanimous" decision to adopt a core curriculum for physics, chemistry, biology and mathematics at the senior secondary level. The new curriculum will come into effect from the 2011-12 academic year, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal said.

Mr. Sibal described the decision as a "milestone in the history of education." Though the meeting began with scepticism among some boards, the Minister claimed that apprehensions were addressed, and now "there will be a core curriculum which will be accepted by all stakeholders at the senior secondary level."

"What it means is that in all schools of India affiliated to boards that are members of COBSE, the core curriculum will be taught, so that all our children have a level-playing field." The core curriculum for these four subjects has been finalised after consultations within COBSE.

While the boards will have to draw up the syllabi on the basis of the core curriculum, they will have to work out how to tailor their examinations as per the new regime. And, now that a beginning has been made with the pure sciences and mathematics, COBSE has been asked to explore the possibility of replicating this in the commerce stream.
The meeting was attended by representatives of 20 boards, including State boards.

With the core curriculum agenda clinched, the Council has now been asked by the Minister to work towards a single entrance examination by 2013 in each discipline where entrance examinations are conducted for entering professional courses. A task force will be set up to explore the possibility.

» A high-powered laser destroyed a target missile in flight off the Central California coast in a milestone test of a futuristic but troubled national defence system, the Air Force announced.
A laser weapon mounted on a Boeing jumbo jet tracked the missile as it accelerated over the ocean off the Point Mugu Naval Warfare Center, then fired an energy beam that heated the missile until it cracked and broke up, according to statements from the Air Force and two aerospace companies involved in the programme.

The test is a boost for a programme that has had billions in cost overruns and saw its budget sharply cut last year by Defence Secretary Robert Gates, who called the concept "fatally flawed".

The airborne laser programme began in 1996 and is one in a series of missile defence programmes that originated in President Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defence Initiative in 1983 — the much-maligned "Star Wars" missile shoot-down effort that was criticised as impractical, expensive and overreaching. While the success of the test is a technological triumph, it will not save the airborne laser programme from being placed on life-support, said a defence analyst.

The system used two low-energy lasers to target the missile as it was boosting into the sky from a sea platform, then fired a megawatt-class Chemical Oxygen Iodine Laser, or COIL.

While ballistic missiles like the one ALTB destroyed move at speeds of about 4,000 miles per hour, they are no match for a superheated, high-energy laser beam racing towards it at 670 million mph.

» Asserting that the diversification and market product focus policy had started bearing fruit, Union Minister for Commerce and Industry Anand said that exports were on the path of positive growth for the third consecutive month, recording a 11.5 per cent growth in January at $14.3 billion. In January 2009, these stood at $12.9 billion.
Mr. Sharma said this had been possible due to the adoption of the new Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) that had focussed on new markets and new products. "We could not have waited for revival of the traditional markets in the U.S. and Europe and adopted a cautious but proactive approach.

Revealing the January export numbers, Mr. Sharma said, "Between now and March 31, we hope to maintain and further strengthen the growth, which will help us in registering healthy export figures and reducing gap (dip in year-on-year exports) substantially."

Exports were hit badly by slump in demand in key markets in the wake of global financial crisis and fell continuously for 13 months and dipped to around 39 per cent in May 2009. However, the trend was reversed under the new FTP in November 2009 by growing 18.2 per cent. In December, the rise was 9.3 per cent. The rising trend of the past three months mirrors that the outward shipments have come out of the woods.

Cautioning against abrupt withdrawal of the stimulus package, Mr. Sharma said it was still early to feel upbeat as some sectors were still struggling to come out of the bad phase. He said engineering goods, textiles, jute, carpets, handicrafts and leather "continue to do badly" and were a cause for concern. He further said that though there had been recovery in global economy it would take time for the demand for Indian goods to return to pre-recession level.

During April-January 2009-10, exports were about $133 billion against $144.2 billion in the year-ago period. In the Foreign Trade Policy 2009-14, the government had set an export target of $200 billion for 2010-11.

» ONGC Videsh Limited (OVL)-led consortium has announced that it had bagged 40 per cent stake in a $19-billion project to develop a major crude oil block in Venezuela.

OVL, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and Oil India Limited (OIL) along with Spain's Repsol YPF SA and Malaysia's "Petroliam Nasional Bdh" won rights to develop the Carabobo-1 block in Venezuela's Orinoco Belt.

The consortium would pay $1.05 billion to Venezuela as the signing amount and initially invest another $9 billion in developing the block that could produce four lakh barrels of oil a day. The total spending on the block over 25 years would be $19 billion. Besides, it would extend $1.05 billion credit to Venezuela's state oil company Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA), which would have 60 per cent interest in the project.

OVL, Repsol and Petronas will have 11 per cent share each in the Empresa Mixta which will develop the Carabobo-1 Norte and Carabobo-1 Centro blocks located in the Orinoco Heavy Oil Belt, while IOC and OIL will split a 7 per cent stake in the project equally. OVL, IOC and OIL will seek the government approval to invest $2.45 billion their share of signature bonus loan to PdVSA and phase-I development cost.

Since signature bonus is to be paid by only the foreign firms, the share of OVL, IOC and OIL would be $472.5 million or 45 per cent of $1.05 billion. They will also contribute a similar amount to PdVSA as their share of credit.

The license agreement for the block that is likely to start production in three years would be signed on March 25, 2010.

» Commercial banks will be made to extend loans at base rates from next fiscal year, which is expected to benefit consumers and borrowers.
According to Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn, the apex bank is keen on ensuring that banks provide loans on a base rate from April onwards and not on the basis of current benchmark prime lending rate (BPLR) as the latter was not considered a transparent system.

Addressing the conference on Capital markets 'growth with governance' organised by Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham), Dr. Gokarn said that a draft proposal had been circulated to all stakeholders for their opinion on fixed rate with the aim of ensuring that consumers and borrowers gain the best. Under the BPLR arrangement, banks used their negotiating power for extending loans and based on that the rates for lending were decided which meant that for different consumers banks charged different interest rates.

» Even as people across Sri Lanka protested the detention of the former Army Chief, General Sarath Fonseka, it was announced that the snap parliamentary elections would be held on April 8.
The election schedule was announced after President Mahinda Rajapaksa dissolved Parliament. The new Parliament is scheduled to meet on April 22.
Meanwhile, a fundamental rights violation petition, challenging the alleged arbitrary arrest of Gen. Fonseka, was filed before the Supreme Court by his wife Anoma and New Democratic Front secretary Shamila Perera.

The petition said the government had infringed on the General's fundamental rights to the freedom of thought and conscience and the freedom from torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment, right to equality and equal protection of the law, freedom from discrimination on grounds of political opinion, freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, freedom of speech and expression and freedom of association guaranteed in the Constitution.

» The Moon Minerology Mapper (M3) on Chandrayaan-1, which famously discovered the presence of water and hydroxyl molecules on the lunar surface material last year, has now identified a new lunar rock type on the far side of the moon. The M3 is a NASA instrument. This was reported by Carle Pieters of Brown University, lead author of the present study, at the Sixth Chandrayaan-1 Science Meeting being held at the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), a unit of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).

The rock-type is dominated by a mineral termed as 'magnesium spinel.' Spinel is a generic name given to a class of minerals having the chemical formula AB{-2}O{-4} and the usual spinel formations found in lunar rocks is an iron-magnesium admixture of the form (Mg, Fe)(Al, Cr){-2}O{-4}. These rocks are usually found along with magnesium-iron silicate (olivine) and calcium-rich aluminium silicate (pyroxene).

According to Professor Pieters, the interesting feature of the new rock type is that it is exclusively composed of magnesium-rich spinel "with no detectable pyroxene or olivine present." This, she said, does not easily fit with current lunar crustal evolution models.

The generally accepted characterisation of the lunar crust is based principally on retrieved lunar material by the Apollo-Luna missions and meteorite samples. The crust is described as a rocky accumulation, basically rich in calcium-aluminium silicates (anorthosites) infused with a mix of compounds containing magnesium and iron ('mafic' minerals).
However, the western ring of the Moscoviense Basin of the moon appears to be one of the several discrete areas that exhibit unusual compositions relative to their surroundings, but without morphological evidence for separate geological processes leading to their exposure.

The findings are based on data acquired by M3 in January 2009 during the first observation period of Chandrayaan-1 from its initial 100 km altitude orbit over a 40 km wide strip field of view, with a spatial resolution of 140 m/pixel. The mapping was done using the emission spectrum of the surface over the wavelength region 460-3000 nanometres with a spectral resolution of 20-40 nm.

» The Dutch coalition government collapsed on Feb 20 after the two largest parties disagreed over whether to withdraw the 2,000 Dutch troops from Afghanistan as planned this year. Following is a look at the consequences of the collapse.

Elections will be called and could be held mid-year at the earliest. Talks aimed at forming a coalition may take several months. Polls suggest four or five parties may be needed to gain a majority coalition in the parliament.

The fallen government would operate in caretaker mode until a new government is installed. Minority-rule governments are possible, however.
If elections are held mid-year, a new government could be installed in time for a budget for 2011 to be unveiled as scheduled in September.

Impact

Polls show public opposition to extending the Dutch mission in Afghanistan and a television survey showed 76 percent of those polled have little or no confidence in the government.

Struggling in polls, Labour could regain some electoral support by its stance over Afghanistan.

Labour did not want to extend the Afghanistan mission because it was agreed in 2007 to end it in 2010 and there was no longer majority support in parliament to extend. Labour is willing to continue the Dutch deployment of F16s in Afghanistan and give training and development aid to the country.
A poll showed the PvdA could count on an extra seat in the Parliament compared with the previous poll, while the CDA would lose two if elections were held now, but both would still be below the number they won at the 2006 election.

The Freedom Party of right-wing MP Geert Wilders, which had called on the government to end the Afghan mission, could be the big winner at the next election. Polls tip his party to either become the biggest or second biggest party, campaigning on mistrust of the government and an anti-immigration ticket.

Troop Withdrawal

Dutch troops will most likely return home from their mission in Afghanistan's Uruzgan Province from August as planned. It is unlikely that an interim government would take a large policy decision such as extending the mission.

Budget Cuts

A government collapse will add uncertainty to up to 40 billion euros in budget cuts called for by the Finance Ministry. Some 20 panels are due to present recommendations in March on austerity measures to rein in a budget deficit that is expected to top 6 percent of gross domestic product this year.
Some of those measures were expected to be implemented in September for the 2011 budget, but the worst of them were expected to be delayed until after the next scheduled general election in the spring of 2011.

The new government will have to do something, though, as the finance ministry pledged EU counterparts last December that the deficit would be cut by 50 to 75 basis points a year every year from 2011 through 2013.
Among the various contentious proposals on the table are a rise in the retirement age, changes to international aid programmes and a new 60 percent income tax rate for anyone who earns more than the prime minister.

Dutch Relationship with NATO

A Dutch withdrawal from Afghanistan is not expected to influence how NATO is perceived within the Netherlands, but it may sour relations with the military alliance.

The Netherlands will also loose visibility as one of the players in the Afghanistan issue, which could in turn have a negative influence on the nation's international standing.

The Netherlands can, however, claim they have participated in NATO actions on a much higher level than can be expected of a relatively small country.

Mission in IN Afghanistan

The withdrawal will have a limited impact on NATO's Afghanistan mission, but will deliver a blow to U.S. hopes to boost international troop numbers.

In Uruzgan Province it could mean a different approach, such as a more confrontational stance if the United States takes a lead role in the province.
Most NATO members only have a symbolic presence in Afghanistan and the fact the burden is on only a few shoulders is considered harmful to NATO.

Dutch-U.S. Relations

The U.S. will likely be disgruntled by the withdrawal after it had heightened pressure on the Netherlands in recent weeks to keep its combat troops in place.

» Scientists are working on a tiny liquid sensor that may detect cancer instantly and could lead to the creation of its home detection kit.

Jae Kwon, assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering, University of Missouri , is working on developing an acoustic resonant sensor that is smaller than a human hair and could test bodily fluids for a variety of diseases, including breast and prostate cancers.

Many disease-related substances in liquids are not easily tracked. In a liquid environment, most sensors experience a significant loss of signal quality, but by using highly sensitive, low-signal-loss acoustic resonant sensors in a liquid, these substances can be effectively and quickly detected - a brand-new concept that will result in a noninvasive approach for breast cancer detection.

» Natural progesterone, the sex hormone used in the first contraceptive pills, is to be tested on patients with severe head injuries.

Scientists will begin a phase III clinical trial and say the drug could save patients' lives and reduce damage to their brains.

They announced the trial at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It will involve 1,000 patients in 17 trauma centres across the US.

Dr David Wright, associate professor of emergency medicine at Emory University in Atlanta, will lead the trial.

Previous studies have shown that progesterone supports the normal development of neurons in the brain, and that the hormone has a protective effect on damaged brain tissue.

Dr Wright said that traumatic brain injury is a complex condition - there's swelling, and neuronal death and damage occurring all at the same time. The beauty of progesterone is that it seems to work on all of those things.
In earlier tests, the Emory University researchers found that progesterone reduced the risk of death in patients with brain injuries.

Dr Wright hopes that, following this trial, progesterone will become the first drug treatment in 30 years to be approved specifically for severe traumatic brain injury.

» The Army's military doctrine is being reviewed and it will now include an added thrust in five key areas that will propel the doctrine. This includes wars in faraway lands, besides strategy on how to face future challenges posed by China and Pakistan.

The key areas include preparation for a two-pronged war with China and Pakistan. Both countries will have to be looked at separately and also collectively. The nature of conflict, if ever, with both countries will vary greatly in terms of terrain and use of weapons and fire-power.

The Army, which is involved in fighting insurgency in J&K and the North-East, is also looking to optimise capabilities to fight asymmetric war waged by both State and non-State actors, such as terror attacks and proxy wars. This will include cyber and electronic warfare.

The doctrine will look at ways to enhance the strategic reach of the Army and joint operations with the Navy and the Air Force. Countries like the USA already have airborne division while China has capability of rapid induction of troops. The reviewed doctrine will also touch upon space-based capability and methods to achieve technological edge over the enemy. The doctrine is reviewed every five years by the Army's Shimla-based Training Command.

» The 13th Finance Commission, which makes recommendations on sharing of tax revenues by the Centre and States, has suggested a new path for fiscal prudence in its report submitted to President Pratibha Devi Singh Patil on December 30, 2009.
The Commission was headed by Vijay Kelkar. Other members of the Commission were B.K. Chaturvedi, Indira Rajaraman, Atul Sarma and Sanjiv Misra.

The government had consigned the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM), the self-imposed fiscal prudence guidelines, to the back-burner in 2008 when it stepped up official spending beyond its means in order to insulate the economy from the global financial meltdown. The country's fiscal deficit, a reflection of government borrowings, is estimated to touch 6.8 per cent in 2009-10, up from 6.2 per cent in the previous fiscal, mainly on account of the stimulus measures.

The recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said "would get reflected in the 2010-11 Budget".
The report, Kelkar said, dealt with the sharing of tax revenue between the Centre and States, distribution of funds among States and support to local bodies. The Finance Commission report assumes significance in view of the ongoing reforms in indirect and direct taxes, which will have a bearing on the tax collections.

Currently, the States and Union Territories get Rs 1.64 lakh crore in a year, or around 30 per cent of the shareable taxes collected by the Centre. The 12th Finance Commission had recommended that 30.5 per cent of the shareable Central taxes should be shared among the States and Union Territories. The shareable central taxes include corporation tax, income tax, wealth tax, customs, excise duty and service tax.

» China has found a one-billion tonne iron ore deposit, which is the biggest discovery of the mineral since 1980's. This is bound to cause some worries in India as iron ore accounts for nearly half of Indian exports to China.

The latest discovery is a 6-km long deposit with thickness ranging between 41.43 and 108.95 meters. It lies 100 to 600 meters deep underground in Luannan County in the northern province of Hebei.
It will be some time before the new deposit will begin to yield iron ore, but the discovery will definitely enable China to make long-term plans on steel production and strengthen its hands in price negotiations. The discovery gives a new boost to China's ongoing efforts to reduce its dependence on major world suppliers and avoid getting caught in price fluctuations of the spot market. Indian suppliers mostly deal in the spot market and refuse to enter into long-term supply contracts.

» The Union government has launched the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad National Fellowship Scheme for minority students and another one to computerise State Wakf Boards.

Under the scheme, 756 fellowships (30 per cent to be reserved for women) will be offered per year to minority students wishing to pursue higher studies. The objective is to grant integrated five-year fellowships in form of financial assistance to students from minority communities as notified by the Central government to pursue MPhil and PhD.

The scheme will cover all universities or institutions recognised by the UGC under Section 2 (f) and Section 3 of the UGC Act and will be implemented by the Ministry of Minority Affairs through UGC for students belonging to minorities.

The fellowships will be on the pattern of UGC fellowships awarded to research students pursuing regular and full time MPhil and PhD courses. Holders of the new fellowship will be called MoMA scholars.

» Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren has been elected as the Chief Minister of Jharkhand after successful conclusion of the Assembly pools in December 2009. The JMM, which won 18 seats, garnered the support of the BJP-JD(U), the All Jharkhand Students Union and Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch led by Bandhu Tirkey, taking up the tally to 44 MLAs in a house of 80.
The BJP won 18 seats and the JD(U) 2 seats, All Jharkhand Students Union has 5 MLAs and the Jharkhand Janadhikar Manch has one MLA.

» The Gujarat Assembly has passed a landmark Bill which makes, for the first time in the country, voting mandatory in local body polls. The Gujarat Local Authorities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2009, which also seeks to raise the reservation of seats for women in local self governance bodies from 33 to 50 per cent, was passed by voice vote. Under the Bill, if a voter fails to vote for the reasons other than prescribed in the rules, he may be declared a "defaulter voter" and would face consequences for which rules will be framed and placed before the Assembly for its approval later.

» Authors of musical, cinematographic and literary works may now be entitled to royalty in case their works are used for commercial purposes, a benefit denied to them so far. This can be possible because of certain amendments in the Copyright Act of 1957, which has been approved by the Union Cabinet for introduction in Parliament.

The amendment is proposed to give independent rights to authors of literary and musical works in cinematography of films, which were hitherto denied and wrongfully exploited by producers and music companies.

Another amendment ensures that the authors of the works, particularly songs included in the cinematography of films or sound recordings, receive royalty for commercial exploitation of such work.

» The curtain came down on L.K. Advani's tenure as Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha on December 18, 2009. And while he made way for Sushma Swaraj, the 82-year-old veteran BJP leader said he saw a new chapter opening in his political career.

After a meeting of BJP parliamentary party amended its constitution, Advani was elected chairman, a post that has been created for him. The assembled party MPs then elected Swaraj as leader of the party in LS, the first woman to hold the post in BJP.

The next act in the generational change was played out on December 19, when Rajnath Singh stepped down as BJP President and Maharashtra unit chief Nitin Gadkari took charge. The change of guard completed a process that had been in the works since the party lost its bid for power in 2009 national elections.

Sushma Swaraj, at 57, clearly marks a generational change as does 52-year-old Gadkari. Advani is expected to play a role as mentor and the amended constitution says he will appoint the two leaders of Opposition.

Nitin Gadkari is the youngest BJP president. His elevation marks the culmination of the exercise to effect a generational shift at the top in the party hierarchy—both in its organisational and parliamentary wings.

Mr Gadkari assumes his new responsibility at a very crucial time. After tasting defeat in a series of electoral battles, cadre morale is low. The party was also bogged down by a debilitating infighting among the so-called second generation leaders. The BJP has also failed to keep pace with the changing times, and lost the trust of the youth and the burgeoning urban middle class in the process.

Mr Gadkari, who hails from Nagpur and over the years cultivated the image of an honest, hard-working leader who has toiled his way to the top, thus has task cut out.

» On December 2, 2009, India expressed its gratitude to Bangladesh for taking speedy action to foil a conspiracy by the LeT to attack the Indian mission in Dhaka recently as the two countries finalised three key agreements to combat terrorism. The agreements were signed during the visit of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to New Delhi.
The two sides arrived at an agreement on: Mutual legal assistance in criminal matters, combating international terrorism, organised crime and illicit drug trafficking; and agreement on transfer of sentenced persons. However, the two sides have not yet been able to resolve differences over a bilateral extradition treaty.

The finalisation of the three accords marks a major confidence-building measure (CBM) to address the issue of Indian insurgents taking shelter in Bangladesh, which had marred ties between the two nations in recent years. New Delhi, however, is quite happy over the manner in which the Sheikh Hasina government has been cooperating with it in checking the activities of these insurgents.

» Increasing the pace of cooperation in the hydro-power sector, India and Bhutan have signed four agreements to conduct technical surveys for hydro-power projects. The four MoUs related to the hydro-power sector were part of 12 agreements that were signed after discussions between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and visiting Bhutanese King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, who was on his first foreign visit in December 2009, since his coronation in 2008.

India and Bhutan have decided to prepare detailed project reports for the Kuri Gongri, Chamkharchhu-1 and Kholongchhu hydro-power projects and Amochu reservoir project. The Kuri Gongri project is proposed to generate 1,800-mw power, the Chamkharchhu-1 670 mw and the Kholongchhu 670 mw. Further, the two sides have also agreed to conclude implementation agreements for Punatsangchhu-2 project

Bhutan uses 400 mw and has an installed capacity of 1,500 mw of power. The entire surplus comes to India which is helping Bhutan increase its capacity to 10,000 mw till 2020. .

» Prime Minister Yokio Hatoyama of Japan visited New Delhi in end-December 2009. During the high-level talks, Japan urged India to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), but Prime Minister Manmohan Singh put the onus for its ratification on China and the US.

The issues of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation were discussed with both sides agreeing to the need for an early start to the Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty negotiations. But on the issue of the non-proliferation treaty both sides agreed that there was a difference of perception. Mr Singh reiterated that India is "deeply interested in working with Japan and other like-minded countries to promote the cause of universal, verifiable and non-discriminatory disarmament".

» Two years after it was submitted to the government, report of the National Commission on Religious and Linguistic Minorities is ready to be tabled in the Parliament.

Constituted to assess the status of minorities and suggest ways of improving their lot, the Commission, headed by Justice Ranganath Misra, has recommended 15 per cent reservation in non-minority educational institutions and Central and State government jobs for all religious and linguistic minorities.

Out of the 15 per cent earmarked seats in education institutions, Muslims should be given 10 per cent reservation (commensurate with their 73 per cent share in the total minority population in India) and the remaining 5 per cent to other minorities, states the report.

It adds that if Muslim candidates are not available to fill 10 per cent seats, the remaining vacancies should go to other minorities and in "no case to the majority community."On employment front, the report argues that since the minorities, especially Muslims, are much under-represented in government jobs, "we recommend they should be regarded as backward in this respect within the meaning of that term as used in Article 16 (4) of the Constitution."
Accordingly, the recommendation is to reserve 15 per cent of posts in all cadres and grades under the Central and State governments for the religious and linguistic minorities. Of this, 10 per cent quota is recommended for Muslims and the rest for other minorities.
The report, co-authored by Tahir Mahmood, also recommends the inclusion of Muslim and Christian Dalits in SC list, something the National Commission for Minorities has also been supporting.

» On December 16, 2009, the Supreme Court of Pakistan declared the National Reconciliation Order (NRO) null and void. Lawyers termed the decision as a landmark judgement and demanded that President Asif Ali Zardari step down from his post. The Court ruled that the decree protecting Zardari and his allies against charges of corruption was illegal and against the constitution.

The Supreme Court further ruled that all cases under investigation or pending enquiries and which had either been withdrawn or where the investigations or enquiries had been terminated on account of the NRO shall also stand revived and the relevant and competent authorities shall proceed in the matter in accordance with law.

The NRO, issued by former President Pervez Musharraf, had scrapped all corruption cases against politicians and bureaucrats filed between January 1986 and October 1999, on the grounds that they may have been politically motivated. The ordinance had allowed Benazir Bhutto and her husband Zardari to return to Pakistan.

In the first fallout of the Supreme Court ruling arrest warrants were issued against Pakistan Interior Minister Rehman Malik and Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar on December 18, 2009. Both were also barred from going abroad on an official visit.

The National Accountability Bureau, Pakistan's main anti-corruption agency, also banned 250 other officials from going abroad following the order.
» Japan's government has unveiled $81 billion of new stimulus spending to keep the world's second-biggest economy from lurching back into recession.

Despite shrinking tax revenue, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his Cabinet agreed to 7.2 trillion yen ($80.6 billion) in new spending after days of negotiations with coalition partners.

The largesse underlines that the world's biggest economies are still too fragile to get by without government life support even as a recovery from the global recession takes shape. In export-reliant Asia that's partly because demand from Europe and the US is improving only tepidly and efforts to reduce dependence on trade by boosting consumer spending will take several years to fully bear fruit.

Japan also faces falling prices while brand-name exporters like Toyota Motor and Sony are losing record amounts of money as a galloping yen adds to their woes.

The Copenhagen Accord, the first global agreement of the 21st century to comprehensively influence the flow and share of natural resources, was agreed upon by 26 most influential countries in the wee hours of December 19, 2009, in the capital of Denmark. The US led the pack of architects with the BASIC four—China, India, Brazil and South Africa (in that order)—working as sometimes reluctant and sometimes willing, but always key partners in framing the agreement.

The accord demands that increase in global temperatures be kept below 2 degrees on the basis of equity. It requires global emissions as well as all national emissions to peak at a certain time but is mindful of concerns of economic development. It asks industrialized countries, except the US, to take emission cuts in future, but not necessarily under the Kyoto Protocol. It lays out up to $30 billion of quick-start finance and $100 billion starting 2020, using all the routes of transfer possible. It requires mitigation actions from developing countries for the first time to be listed in an international agreement.

The rules of multilateral engagement got re-written as new alignments created a coterie of the powerful that brokered deals in closed rooms: each working at the end to preserve, if not improve its immediate economic status.

The pact they forged did cause heartburn as less powerful economies felt left out. Tuvalu and Sudan said it was too weak, while Venezuela and Bolivia were upset because it had not been negotiated in the open by all the 192 countries attending the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) conference. The low-ambition deal was seen as a triumph of the US which defied estimates to influence the outcome. But the negotiations also saw the Chinese leveraging their clout in the resource-rich African continent, at a multilateral forum.

For India though, the Accord came out of hard bargaining lasting almost 20 hours among Heads of governments of some of the most influential countries in the world. At the end of the day, when the battle was over, India appeared to have ceded ground on some issues but blocked intrusion on other red lines.

With stakes too high and the rich countries making abjectly clear that they were not playing to the rules, but to change the rules altogether, the four emerging economies decided to instead scratch up a low-ambition deal—a pact that would lower the pressure on them by lowering the demands off the rich countries in parallel.

Finally the Copenhagen Accord take a morphed form of the US-backed schedules approach of 'pledge and review'. The Copenhagen Accord is not what the US or Europe would have wanted it to be, but it still contains some elements India would have to, at best, fight to defend again in coming years or those that could be titled a lost battle by the end of the talks.

India, along with the other three emerging countries, fought hard and won the battle to retain the reference principle of common but differentiated responsibility which creates the firewall between the commitments of the rich countries and the actions of rest. India was also able to wrest the creation of a green climate fund as well as fight back the attempt to force emission cuts through the back-door.

But fighting a defensive battle, evidently wanting not to be labelled obstructionist by the US, India, along with the other three partners loosened up its stance on some key issues. This loosening of stance may not hit home immediately but it left the window open for growing inequitable burden falling on India's head to prevent climate change.

» The US Environmental Protection Agency has cleared the way for regulation of greenhouse gases without any new laws being passed by Congress, reflecting President Barack Obama's commitment to act on climate change. The agency can now begin to make rules to regulate emissions from vehicle tailpipes, power utilities and heavy industry under existing laws.

The EPA ruling applies to six gases scientists say contribute to global warming, including the main one, carbon dioxide.

The UN climate summit finally passed the Copenhagen accord Saturday after two days of intense negotiations and back-room manoeuvres. The accord, proposed by India and four other countries, is now "operational", a relieved UN chief, Ban Ki-Moon, said. The accord that is meant to be a first step towards fighting the climate change that is affecting millions worldwide was still held up for hours by four countries.

» Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin inaugurated the East-Siberia-Pacific Ocean oil pipeline on December 28, 2009, which will enable Moscow to enter markets in Asia- Pacific region and reduce dependency on European customers.
The project is designed to pump up to 1.6 million barrels (220,000 tonnes) of crude per day from Siberia to Russia's far east and then on to China and the Asia-Pacific region. The project's first leg envisages the construction of a 2,757-kilometre section with annual capacity of 220.5 million barrels of crude. It will link Taishet, in East Siberia's Irkutsk Region, to Skovorodino, in the Amur Region, in Russia's far east. The second stretch will run 2,100 kilometres from Skovorodino to the Pacific Ocean.

Currently the crude beyond Skovorodino goes by rail to China and the Pacific coast.

» India has floated a concept paper among the SAARC countries to start a container train on a pilot basis, running from Bangladesh to Pakistan via India and Nepal, in a bid to give a big boost intra-regional trade. The possible corridor for running the train is from Chittagong Port in Bangladesh to Katihar in India, Birgunj in Nepal and to Lahore in Pakistan.

The proposal being considered could unify the entire region and will lead to a seamless, border-less trade.

At present, India operates one passenger train each to Pakistan and Bangladesh for the benefit of the citizens on the either side of the border. While the train to Pakistan operates between Delhi and Lahore, the other to Bangladesh operates between Kolkata and Dhaka.

» David Coleman Headley aka Daood Gilani, has been formally charged for conspiracy in the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai in 2008. After an intensive probe, the FBI has said that Headley delivered, placed, discharged and detonated explosives and other lethal devices in, into, and against places of public use in India.

The FBI has indicted Headley on six counts. Significantly, the FBI has also formally charged a retired Major of the Pakistan army, Abdur Rehman Hashim Syed, for the plot against a Danish newspaper that Headley wanted to attack for the publication of cartoons of Prophet Mohammad. Indian officials said Rehman was closely linked to the ISI. He has been arrested by Pakistan; if the charges are upheld during the trial, it would be the first smoking gun that the ISI is involved in exporting terror.

» US President Barack Obama, who unveiled his administration's Af-Pak policy on December 2, 2009, ordered a surge of 30,000 US troops in Afghanistan and a "transfer of forces out" to begin in July, 2011.

The strategic and security communities are uneasy over the President's withdrawal plans. While The Washington Post called it a "surge, then leave" policy, security experts are of the view that withdrawal decisions must be determined by the conditions on the ground and not by arbitrary deadlines. "The Obama administration has no exit strategy, it has only exit timeline," said Republican opponents.

As the speech clearly rejected the counter-insurgency principle of "clear, hold and build," there are fears that any setback would only invigorate the jihadist cause and put untenable pressure on Pakistan and India. But President Obama appears to be keen on winding down the war when he enters the political build up to the 2012 Presidential election.

In his address, President Obama described Pak-Afghan border as the epicentre of the violent extremism practised by Al-Qaeda. "It is from here that we were attacked on 9/11, and it is from here that new attacks are being plotted as I speak. "The people and governments of both Afghanistan and Pakistan are endangered. And the stakes are even higher within a nuclear-armed Pakistan, because we know that Al Qaeda and other extremists seek nuclear weapons, and we have every reason to believe that they would use them."

In his address, President Obama said the US will deny Al Qaeda a safe haven and will reverse the Taliban's momentum and crush its ability to overthrow the government. "We're in Afghanistan to prevent a cancer from once again spreading through that country. But this same cancer has also taken root in the border region of Pakistan. That's why we need a strategy that works on both sides of the border," he said justifying inclusion of Pakistan in his Afghan policy.

Stating that this was an international effort, President Obama sought the same war escalation measures from his allies. "Some have already provided additional troops, and we are confident that there will be further contributions in the days and weeks ahead. Our friends have fought and bled and died alongside us in Afghanistan. Now, we must come together to end this war successfully. For what's at stake is not simply a test of NATO's credibility; what's at stake is the security of our allies, and the common security of the world," he said.

» On December 27, 2009, US Federal officials brought criminal charges against a Nigerian man suspected of trying to destroy a Northwest Airlines aircraft on December 25, 2009 as it approached the airport in Detroit, Michigan.

The US Department of Justice said that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, 23, had boarded the plane in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and tried near the end of the nine-hour-flight to set off an explosion using PETN, also known as pentaerythritol, a high explosive.

Fellow passengers rushed to subdue the terror suspect after they heard popping sounds and saw smoke and fire coming from Abdulmutallab's seat.

Even though the US authorities are yet to confirm the Yemen connection of the 23-year-old Nigerian man's plot to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner on Christmas Day, they see Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab's account that Al-Qaida had supplied explosive powder to him in Yemen "highly plausible."
The suspect, reportedly, told US investigators that he had obtained explosive chemicals and a syringe that were sewn into his underwear from a bomb expert in Yemen associated with Al-Qaida, as part of a "mission to bring down a jet on US soil".

» Britain has now emerged as the "terror capital of the West" as whenever a major terrorist attack is attempted, suspicion swings on this country, according to a media report.

"It comes as no surprise to learn that the Nigerian accused of blowing up the US airliner is said to have been living here. We have become the number one source of terrorism in the Western world. We shelter foreign jihadis, and even grow our own… For years now, Islamic extremists wanted on terror charges in their own country have taken sanctuary in Britain… Our judges (not our politicians) say it would be cruel to send them back to their own countries, in case they're tortured," the 'News of the World' quoted the Editor of Spectacle, Fraser Nelson, as saying.

Years ago, the CIA had a name for it:
"Londonistan".

» India's total external debt rose by 8.1% to $242.8 billion at the end of September 2009, from $224.6 billion at March-end 2009. The long-term debt increased by 10.6% to $200.4 billion, while short-term debt declined by 2.3% to $42.4 billion. Most of the increase in the debt ($8.3 billion or 45.6%) is due to depreciation of dollar against major global currencies, out of total increase of $18.2 billion.

» East and South-East Asian countries have decided to launch a $120-billion emergency fund in March, 2010, the first such alliance in the region, to shield themselves from a financial crisis. Under the scheme— known as the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM)—Japan, China, South Korea, Hong Kong and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) can swap their own currency into US dollars in case of a liquidity crunch.

» India's share in the global flow of FDI almost doubled to 2.45% in 2008 compared to the previous year, according to Union Commerce Minister Anand Sharma. Among developing countries, India ranked fourth in terms of FDI inflows in 2008 as per figures published in UNCTAD World Investment Report (WIR) 2009. During 2008-09, India attracted FDI inflows worth $35.17 billion.

» Financial Action Task Force (FATF) was founded by the G-7 countries in 1989 to develop and promote national and international policies to combat money laundering and terror financing. The membership of the FATF is limited to 35 countries at present. India has an observer status. India is a member of the Asia-Pacific Group, a FATF-style regional body. Membership of FATF will allow India easy access to real-time information on money laundering and terror financing and help to raise the diplomatic pitch against perpetrators. It will also make India more attractive in the eyes of global investors.

» Every third Indian is living below poverty line, says an expert group headed by Suresh Tendulkar, former chairman of PM's Economic Advisory Council. The report puts the incidence of poverty in India at a high 37% of population, 10 percentage points more than estimated earlier. Among the States, Orissa and Bihar are at the bottom, while Nagaland, Delhi and J&K have the least number of poor. As much as 41.8% of the rural population survives on a monthly per-capita consumption expenditure of Rs 447, spending only so much on bare necessities such as food, fuel, light, clothing and footwear. Among urban population, 25.7% are poor, who spend only Rs 578.8 on essential needs. The expert group was set up following criticism of the existing official estimates of poverty released by the Planning Commission in 2007.

» History is being created inside a hangar at Dubendorf Air Base (Switzerland) that will radically change the way an aircraft flies. The prototype of an aircraft, to be propelled entirely by solar power even at night, has already been successfully tested for a 'flea hop' or a short flight at this airbase.

Scientists and engineers are working full-steam to fly the aircraft around the world for 36 hours through day and night in the spring or summer of 2010.
Indian engineers and students have also shown a keen interest in being part of this historic feat but are yet to become part of the 70-member team which is working on making the project a reality.

The aircraft, bearing call sign HB-SIA, has a weight of only 1,600 kg but has a wingspan of 63 metre, length of 21.85 metre and 6.4 metre height. Its weight can be compared to a family car and the engine power to a scooter's. It generates power from 11,628 photovoltaic solar cells spread over the wings having a span of an Airbus A-340.

The aircraft is expected to be flown about 8,000 km each in five legs, having five stops in five continents. The stoppages would be in Europe, the US, Pacific (probably Hawaii), the Emirates and China.

The idea is to take off an hour before sunrise, climb to the maximum altitude of 8,000 metres and not use energy stock in the battery. When the sun goes down, the aircraft would go down to an altitude of about 1,000 meters to use lesser energy.

The aircraft has been designed for short take-offs and landings. Its Version-II, to be called HB-SIB, would be built by 2013 to undertake a Trans-Atlantic flight.

Bertrand Piccard is the force behind the project and its test-pilot, which probably means taking forward a family tradition of innovation and adventure. His grandfather went in a balloon to the stratosphere and his father reached the bottom of the ocean in one of the first submarines

» The first four Russian-made MiG-29K fighters to be deployed on the aircraft carrier INS Vikramaditya, formerly the Admiral Gorshkov, when it is inducted into the Indian Navy have been received in a knocked-down condition and will now be assembled in this country. The jets arrived in the country on December 4, celebrated as Navy Day.

The jets were purchased by the Navy as part of a $1.5 billion deal signed with Russia in January 2004 for the Admiral Gorshkov. Of this $740 million was meant for the aircraft and the balance for the refitting of the carrier. Russians have now upped the price to between $2.2 billion and $2.9 billion.

The Navy will eventually be getting 12 MiG-29K single-seater aircraft and four MiG-29KUB twin-seat trainer aircraft, some in flyaway condition.

The Navy has named its MiG-29K squadron the Black Panthers. As the 45,000-tonne Kiev class aircraft carrier is scheduled to be delivered by 2012, the jets will undertake shore-based sorties from Goa.

» For 38 days, Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu, a mountaineer and outdoor instructor based in Delhi, along with seven other women skied for eight to 10 hours a day, traversing a 915 km path through one of the coldest and most desolate regions of the world. At 11.09pm on December 30, 2009, Reena reached the trademark mirror-ball in the middle of nowhere that marks the geographic South Pole, becoming the first Indian women to ski to the southern-most tip of the Earth.

She was part of the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition mounted to mark the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth.

For 38-year-old Reena, who had edged out 116 compatriots to get the right to represent India in the expedition, it marked a unique achievement. Her mountaineer husband, Love Raj Singh Dharmshaktu, climbed Mt Everest in May 2009. "That is the highest point on Earth and I will be skiing to South Pole, the lowest point on Earth," Reena had written in the expedition's web-page.

It was an arduous journey through the incredibly cold, all-white expanse of the continent, where the team had to negotiate hundreds of metres deep crevasses. The expedition left behind nothing in the icy wilderness, even carrying back human waste on 80 kg sledges that each member towed.

» India will create a five million tonne strategic petroleum reserve by 2012, raising the country's total storage capacity to 8.5 million tonnes—enough to meet 90-days consumption.

"To cater to situations like wars and natural calamities, we have established an SPV (special purpose vehicle) called Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserve Limited (ISPRL) that will create a storage facility of five million tonnes by 2012," according to Minister of State for Petroleum Jitin Prasada.

ISPRL says it would create the storage facilities at Visakhapatnam, Mangalore and Padur (near Udupi). The proposed storages would be in underground rock caverns near the east and west coasts so that they are readily accessible to the refining sector. Underground rock caverns are considered the safest means of storing hydrocarbons.

» On December 22, 2009, Reliance Industries (RIL) announced its third successive discovery of natural gas in 2009. All three finds have been in the Krishna-Godavari (KG) basin off India's eastern coast.

The commercial potential of the discovery in the block, known as KGD3, was being evaluated by gathering more data, RIL said in a statement. RIL holds a 90% equity stake in the block, which covers 3,288 square kilometres, and UK-based Hardy Oil holds the rest.

» Reena Kaushal Dharmshaktu, a mountaineer and outdoor instructor based in Delhi reached the trademark mirror-ball in the middle of nowhere that marks the geographic South Pole, on December 30, 2009, becoming the first Indian women to ski to the southern-most tip of the Earth. She was part of the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition mounted to mark the 60th anniversary of the Commonwealth.

38-year-old Reena did her mountaineering training from the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute in Darjeeling and has been on IMF expeditions to Gangotri 1, the first ascent of Argan Kangri, Fluted Peak, Stock Kangri, Phawararang, Mt Nun and others.

She is currently a freelance instructor with the US-headquartered National Outdoor Leadership Schools (NOLS) that teaches outdoor skills to people. Her father was an Armyman and during his posting in Darjeeling, Reena fell in love with the mountains. "Being from an Army background, we used to go for long walks with our father which set the groundwork for my tilt towards mountaineering," said Reena, who now wants to spread awareness about conserving the environment.

» The 77th birth anniversary of late Dhirubhai Ambani, on December 28, 2009, was chosen by Anil Dhirubhai Ambani group (ADAG) to switch on its Rosa Power plant in Uttar Pradesh.

After synchronising with the State grid, it became northern India's first thermal power plant in the private sector to do so.

The total capacity of the project, costing Rs 6,000 crore, is going to be 1,200 MW. The first unit of 300 MW would get fully operational by April 2010. The second stage of 600 MW is likely to get operational by March 2012.

What makes the project significant for UP is that 900 MW would be supplied to the UP Power Corporation Limited (UPPCL). The rest 300 MW would be used as 'merchant capacity'— company can sell it to others.
Spreading over an area of around 1,500 acres, the construction of the project started in June 2007. The plant would take water from Garrah river which flows nearby. Around 75 cubic metres of water taken in would then be heated into steam to turn turbines of over 250 tonnes at a pace of 3,000 rotations per minute in order to generate the requisite power.

» The sun virtually rose in the border belt of Punjab with Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy Farooq Abdullah inaugurating India's first-ever 2-MW solar power plant at Awan, near Amritsar, Punjab, on December 15, 2009.

The plant, set up by US company Azure Power in the independent power producers (IPP) mode in this sleepy village, started functioning as Dr Abdullah switched on its button. The 2MW plant will subsequently be expanded to enable it to produce 5 MW of power.

» Scientists have identified all the changes in cells of two cancers to produce the first entire cancer gene maps, calling the findings a "transforming moment" in their understanding of the disease. The mapping of the complete genetic codes of melanoma skin cancer and lung cancer will set the stage for a medical revolution in which every tumour can be targeted with personalized therapy.

The studies by international scientists and Britain's Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge are the first comprehensive descriptions of tumour cell mutations and lay bare all the genetic changes behind the two cancers. Such a detailed picture of the fundamental causes of the disease will lead to earlier detection, new breeds of drugs and better understanding of what causes the disease, scientists claim.

The scientists sequenced entire DNA from both tumour tissue and normal tissue from a melanoma patient and a lung cancer patient, using a technology called massively parallel sequencing. By comparing the cancer sequences with the healthy ones, they were able to pick up all changes specific to cancer.

The lung tumour carried more than 23,000 mutations and the melanoma had more than 33,000. A smoker develops one mutation for every 15 cigarettes smoked.

Scientists now have to track specific mutations that lead to cancer. This would help in producing drugs to suppress these mutations. By about 2020, cancer patients could have their tumours analysed to find the genetic defects that drive them.

» The tiny tea tablet developed by scientists in Tocklai Experimental Station (TES) of the Tea Research Association (TRA), located amid lush green tea gardens in Jorhat in Upper Assam, may soon become an alternative for the age-old tea bag, a favourite with tea drinkers all over the world.

Tea tablets can be chewed or added to a cup of hot water for a cup of tea. Chewing a tablet will freshen and cheer up a person with nearly the same effect as having a hot cup of brewed tea.

The tea pill is one of the innovations of the TES in Jorhat, the oldest and the largest research station of its kind in the world. Since its inception in 1911, TES has become synonymous with the research on its scientists have developed many technologies for boosting the tea production, especially in the North-east India.

Some of major contributions of the TES to the tea industry include technique for vegetative propagation of tea by inter-nodal cuttings, development of 30 high-yielding and better quality clones and l4 hybrid seeds, selecting 154 region specific clones. TES also takes up collaborative projects with some leading research institutes of the country, which include making tea manufacture a continuous process by an integrated monitoring system, studies on the pharmacological, physiological and medicinal values of tea, tissue culture.

» European researchers have drawn up the first full map of the Earth gravity field on the basis of information supplied by the GOCE probe of the European Space Agency (ESA). The research vehicle was launched from Russia's Plesetsk spaceport in March 2009 with a Rokot rocket.

The map confirmed earlier hypothesis that the gravity force is not constant throughout the plane due to geological and other peculiarities. For instance, St Petersburg is the area with largest gravity in the European part of Russia.

» A team of scientists of the CSIR have declared success in decoding the genome sequencing of an Indian citizen, a move that opens vistas for low-cost health care and predictive medicine for the masses.

The sequencing of the genome puts India in a select group of countries, including the USA, the UK, Canada, Korea and China, which have demonstrated such capability.

The Indian genome sequence, achieved in about nine weeks, was among sequences of 14 persons available worldwide. The first genome sequencing was a global effort achieved by several scientists across the world over a period of 13 years, beginning in 1990.

The sequencing opens up vistas for accurate treatment of individuals or a group of population whose genome has been mapped.

Scientists at the CSIR could achieve this feat by adopting new technology and by effectively integrating complex computational and bio-informatics tools with high throughput analytical capability using super-computers.

» Russia is considering sending a spacecraft to a large asteroid, Apophis, to knock it off its path and prevent a possible collision with Earth.

When the 270-m asteroid was discovered in 2004, astronomers estimated the chances of it smashing into Earth in its first flyby in 2029 were as high as 1-in-37, but have since lowered their estimate. Further studies ruled out the possibility of an impact in 2029, when the asteroid is expected to come no closer than 29,450 kilometers above Earth's surface, but they indicated a small possibility of a hit on subsequent encounters. According to NASA, another close encounter in 2068 will involve a 1-in-330,000 chance of impact.

Calculations show that it's possible to create a special purpose spacecraft within the time on hand, which would help avoid the collision without destroying the asteroid and without detonating any nuclear charges.

» US astronomers have detected the second smallest exo-planet ever discovered with a mass just four times heavier than the Earth, adding to a growing number of low-mass planets dubbed "super-Earths."

The exo-planet, a name given to planets outside our solar system, has been dubbed HD156668b, and is located around 80 light years from Earth in the direction of the Hercules constellation. A light year is rough 9,460 billion kilometres.

The planet orbits around its parent star in just over four days.

The smallest exo-planet previously discovered by astronomers was Gliese 581 e, detected by a Swiss astronomer in April 2009 some 20.5 light years from Earth in the Balance constellation. But it orbits much closer to its star, making its temperature much higher than that on Earth.

Some 423 exo-planets have been identified by astronomers so far, according to specialist site exoplanet.eu, but none appear to be similar to Earth or capable of supporting life.

However, astronomers generally express confidence that either the Kepler telescope or the European Corot telescope will eventually find exo-planets like Earth.

» Astronomers have discovered one of the fieriest stars in the galaxy which is 35 times hotter than the sun. The dying star which has a surface temperature of 200,000 degrees was captured by astronomers at Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics in the University of Manchester by using the recently refurbished Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

The star was located at centre of the Bug Nebula which is about 3,500 light years away in the constellation Scorpius. This is the first time the star has been pictured.

"This star was so hard to find because it is hidden behind a cloud of dust and ice in the middle of the nebula," explained Prof Albert Zijlstra from the University of Manchester.

» Imagine zipping between Mumbai and Delhi in four hours flat on a superfast train. Well, Indians may have to dream about it for a long time to come but China, on December 26, 2009, launched what it described as the world's fastest train, one that can travel at an average speed of 350 kph.

On its inaugural run, the train covered the 1,068 km between Wuhan in central China and Guangzhou in the south in two hours 45 minutes.

By comparison, the average for high-speed trains in Japan is 243 kph while in France it is 277 kph.

The high speed line will use technology developed in co-operation with companies such as Siemens, Bombardier and Alstom.

China's new rail service is expected to act as a catalyst in the development of central parts of the country by linking it to highly developed industrial hubs in the south.

The Chinese government has also announced plans to build 42 high-speed lines by 2012 in order to spur economic growth amid the global downturn. The goal is to take the rail network from the current 86,000 km to 120,000 km.

» Indian citizens can now fly the national flag even at night, provided the flagpole is above 100 feet and the flag is well-illuminated. The Home Ministry took the decision following a proposal by industrialist and Congress MP Naveen Jindal, who had earlier won a court battle to make flying the Tricolour a fundamental right for every citizen.

In a representation to the Ministry in June 2009, Jindal had sought permission to fly a mammoth-sized national flag on huge flagpoles at night. Jindal had said the national flag is to be flown "as far as possible between sunrise and sunset" as per Flag Code of India, but it was a common practice worldwide for massive national flags to be flown day and night on flagpoles of 100 feet and above in height. Citing the example of countries like Malaysia, Jordon, Abu Dhabi, North Korea, Brazil, Mexico and Turkmenistan where monumental flags are flown at night, Jindal proposed that such flags to be flown in India also.

The Ministry said that such flagpoles could be installed, provided there was adequate arrangement for proper illumination of flags at night with backup in case of power failure and the flags are replaced immediately as soon as they get damaged due to vagaries of nature.

» Scientists, on December 9, 2009, unveiled a Dow Jones-style "climate-change index" aimed at showing in user-friendly form the perils posed by man-made global warming. The index takes a basket of complex factors—carbon dioxide (CO2), temperature change, sea level and sea ice—and distils them into a single figure that is more easily understandable for the public, they said.

In 1980, the index stood at 34, its creators, the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, said.

But from 1997, the barometer leapt suddenly, adding dozens of points each year as evidence of climate change accumulated. As of 2007, the index stood at 574.

» S.C. Sinha has been appointed Director-General of the National Investigation Agency. He succeeds the first chief of the agency, Radha Vinod Raju, whose tenure ended last month.
» Bhairavi Jani has taken over as National Chairman of CII's Young Indians (Yi) for 2010-11. Bhairavi Jani, Director, SCA Group of Companies, and Executive Director, TranSmart, is a fourth generation entrepreneur. Shankar Vanavarayar has taken over as National Vice Chairman of Yi.

» Actor Aamir Khan withdrew his resignation from the copyright committee, set up by Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal to bridge differences between film producers and creative personnel over the proposed amendments to the copyright law.

In his communication to Mr. Sibal, Mr. Khan said he would return to the committee in view of the Minister's intervention and the reiteration of faith in him by other committee members.