Today's Hot Stories - February 21, 2013
10 Headlines for Today(1) With Shinde issue behind, Congress hopes for a smooth budget session
(2) Chhattisgarh ignores plight of its bonded labourers from J&K
(3) Cameron defends not saying sorry for Jallianwala Bagh
(4) ICICI Bank discontinues Kingfisher co-branded credit card
(5) LIC cuts exposure in equities, sell shares worth Rs 12,600 cr
(6) Sony unveils social-focused PlayStation 4
(7) Tennis: Devvarman bows out
(8) Kohli appointed captain of Royal Challengers Bangalore
(9) Hockey: India swamps Oman
(10) Apple TV, now in India
5 Stories for Today
(1) Centre notifies Cauvery Tribunal final award
(2) U.S. ready to strike back against Chinese cyber-attacks
(3) AirAsia ties up with Tatas to start airline in India
(4) Top 10 H-1B users outsource jobs overseas: report
(5) Strike hits banking operations
(1) Centre notifies Cauvery Tribunal final award
Water Ministry seeks legal opinion on implementation mechanism
On the directions of the Supreme Court, the Centre has notified the final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) on sharing the waters of the Cauvery system among the basin States of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Kerala and Union territory of Puducherry. The “extraordinary” notification in the gazette dated February 19, 2013 says the order takes effect on the date of publication.
However, the Union Water Resources Ministry is learnt to have sought the Law Ministry’s opinion on setting up a mechanism as prescribed by the CWDT for implementation of the final award. The Tribunal had recommended the setting up of a Cauvery Management Board/Authority on the lines of the Bhakra Beas Management Board for implementation of the order. The board would in turn constitute a Cauvery Water Regulation Committee for assistance.
Clause XVII of the notification makes it binding on the government to take note of “all such orders, directions, recommendations, suggestions etc., which have been detailed in different chapters/volumes of the report with decision for appropriate action”.
Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal report (Gazette Notification)
The Water Resources Ministry is also seeking legal opinion on whether the existing Cauvery River Authority, chaired by the Prime Minister, and the Cauvery Monitoring Committee, which were set up to oversee implementation of the interim award, shall cease to exist.
The notification was hailed by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, whose birthday falls on February 24, as the “best birthday present” even as Karnataka Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar appealed to the Centre not to constitute the implementation mechanism until the civil suits pending in the Supreme Court were disposed of.
Some observers saw in this an attempt by Karnataka, which is scheduled to go to the polls in May, to delay the implementation process.
The Tribunal, in a unanimous decision in 2007, determined the total availability of water in the Cauvery basin at 740 thousand million cubic (tmc) feet at the Lower Coleroon Anicut site, including 14 tmcft for environmental protection and seepage into the sea. The final award makes an annual allocation of 419 tmcft to Tamil Nadu in the entire Cauvery basin, 270 tmcft to Karnataka, 30 tmcft to Kerala and 7 tmcft to Puducherry.
Tribunal final award settles definition of ‘water year’
The final award of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) notified by the Centre has settled the definition of a normal year, water year and irrigation season which has been a bone of contention between Karnataka and Tamil Nadu.
A “normal year” shall mean a year in which the total yield of the Cauvery basin is 740 tmcft; a “water year” shall mean a year commencing on June 1 and ending on May 31 and the “irrigation season” shall mean the season beginning on June 1 and ending on January 31 of the next year.
In a normal year, Karnataka has to release to Tamil Nadu at Biligundulu 192 tmcft (as against 205 tmcft in the interim award) in monthly deliveries. This comprises 182 tmcft from the allocated share of Tamil Nadu, including 10 tmcft for environmental purposes. In a distress year, the allocated shares shall be proportionately reduced among Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The Cauvery includes the main river, all its tributaries and all other streams contributing water directly or indirectly to it. The award authorises the Board/Authority to monitor the monthly releases with the help of the States concerned and the Central Water Commission for five years. Thereafter, if any modification/adjustment is needed in the schedule, it may be worked out in consultation with the party-States with the help of the CWC “without changing the annual allocation among the parties”.
The Tribunal, comprising chairman Justice N.P. Singh and members N.S. Rao and Sudhir Narain, was set up in 1990 and its final award came in 2007.
Source: The Hindu
(2) U.S. ready to strike back against Chinese cyber-attacks
As public evidence mounts that the Chinese military is responsible for stealing massive amounts of U.S. government data and corporate trade secrets, the Obama administration is poised to spell out specific trade actions it may take against Beijing or any other country guilty of cyber-espionage.
According to officials familiar with the plans, the White House is eyeing fines, penalties and other trade restrictions as initial, more-aggressive steps the U.S. would take in response to what top officials say has been an unrelenting campaign of cyber stealing linked to the Chinese government.
The new strategy is to be released on Wednesday, said the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly about the threatened action.
The White House plans come after a Virginia-based cyber-security firm released a torrent of details on Monday that tied a secret Chinese military unit in Shanghai to years of cyber-attacks against U.S. companies. After analysing breaches that compromised more than 140 companies, Mandiant has concluded that they can be linked People’s Liberation Army’s Unit 61398.
Military experts believe the unit is part of the People’s Liberation Army’s cyber-command, which is under the direct authority of the General Staff Department, China’s version of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As such, its activities would be likely to be authorised at the highest levels of China’s military.
The release of Mandiant’s report, complete with details on three of the alleged hackers and photographs of one of the military unit’s buildings in Shanghai, makes public what U.S. authorities have said less publicly for years. But it also increases the pressure on the U.S. to take more forceful action against the Chinese for what experts say has been years of systematic espionage.
Cyber-security experts say U.S. authorities do not conduct similar attacks or steal data from Chinese companies, but acknowledge that intelligence agencies routinely spy on other countries.
The White House would not comment on the report expected Wednesday.
“We have repeatedly raised our concerns at the highest levels about cybertheft with senior Chinese officials, including in the military, and we will continue to do so,” said Caitlin Hayden, spokeswoman for the National Security Council. “The United States and China are among the world’s largest cyber actors, and it is vital that we continue a sustained, meaningful dialogue and work together to develop an understanding of acceptable behaviour in cyberspace.”
Source: The Hindu
(3) AirAsia ties up with Tatas to start airline in India
Giving shape to the dream of Tata Group to make a comeback in the airline business, Malaysia’s leading no frills carrier AirAsia has sought the approval of the Indian Government to join hands with the Tata Group to enter the aviation sector in the country.
This would be the first investment in the aviation sector by any foreign airline after the Government last year hiked the foreign direct investment (FDI) limit from 26 per cent to 49 per cent.
In a statement issued here on Wednesday, AirAsia said it had applied to Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) to take 49 per cent in a venture with Tata Sons Ltd and Arun Bhatia's Telestra Tradeplace Pvt Ltd.
If the proposal is approved by the FIPB, the airline operators would then approach the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for a permit to start operations.
Tata Sons will hold 30 per cent in the joint venture but will not have any operating role in the airline. AirAsia will hold 49 per cent stake in the JV and Hindustan Aviation of the Bhatias will hold 21 per cent.
This move also marks the return of Tata Group to the aviation sector. State-owned Air India had grown out of Tata Airlines, which began flights in 1932. It was in the mid-nineties that Tata Group had joined hands with Singapore Airlines to bid for a stake in Air India but it could never take off.
The statement by AirAsia said the proposed joint venture will operate from Chennai and will focus on providing domestic connectivity to Tier-II and Tier-III cities. As per current rules, a carrier must complete five years of domestic operations before becoming eligible for starting overseas flights. AirAsia, through its operations based in Thailand and Malaysia, flies to Chennai, Bangalore, Kochi, Tiruchirappalli and Kolkata in addition to 20 countries across Asia.
The three parties signed the partnership agreement and submitted the proposal to the Indian government earlier this week. ``We have carefully evaluated developments in India over the past few years and strongly believe that the current environment is perfect to introduce AirAsia's low fares which stimulate travel and grow the market,’’ AirAsia founder and group chief executive Tony Fernandes said in the statement.
The Tata Group holds nearly 6 per cent equity in SpiceJet, but has maintained that it was only a financial investor in the budget carrier. Telestra Tradeplace is an investment holding company of Arun Bhatia and one of its group companies is Hindustan Aerosystems Pvt Ltd which manufactures and supplies precision components for the aerospace industry.
The statement said AirAsia is confident that it can replicate its unprecedented success across Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and other joint ventures. In particular AirAsia believes its success in affording people to fly through superior operational performance by emphasising a focused and disciplined cost structure will tremendously benefit the Indian consumer. An email sent to Tata Group seeking its comments on the issue evoked no response.
Source: The Hindu
(4) Top 10 H-1B users outsource jobs overseas: report
The Top 10 companies benefiting from H-1B visas are offshore outsourcers, a U.S. publication reported on Tuesday, prompting an eminent American engineering organisation to seek a review of the ongoing immigration reforms.
“The data shows: Top H-1B users are offshore outsourcers,” and Computerworld found that, “based on the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) data analysed, the major beneficiaries of the proposed increase in the cap would be pure offshore outsourcing firms.’’
“The analysis comes at a time when a bill before Congress, the “Immigration Innovation Act,” would expand the H-1B visa programme from 85,000 visas to more than 400,000 annually,” Computerworld said.
“This confirms that H-1B visas facilitate the transfer of high-skill, high-paying American jobs to other countries.
Congress should pass laws that create U.S. jobs, not destroy them,” said Marc Apter, President of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA (IEEE-US).
Most of the largest H-1B users easily account for more than 35,000 H-1B visas under the ‘initial’ visa plan, which includes new H-1B visa holders or those who work second concurrent jobs with a different employer, Computerworld said.
“This is just affirmation that H-1B has become the outsourcing visa,” Ron Hira, a public policy professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology and researcher of tech immigration issues, was quoted as saying. Among the top companies to have received the H-1B visas in 2012 are Cognizant (9,281 H-1B visas), Tata (7,469), Infosys (5,600), Wipro (4,304), Accenture (4,037), HCL America (2,070), Mahindra Group (1,963), IBM (1,846), Larsen and Tourbo (1,832), Deloitte (1,668), Microsoft (1,497), Patni Americas (1,260) and Syntel (1,161), the report said.
“The failure of Congress and the Obama Administration to close loopholes in the H-1B programme is reducing job opportunities for American high-tech workers and undermining their wages,” Mr. Hira said.
“If that bill were to be passed we’d see a major haemorrhaging of American jobs and it would discourage American kids from studying high-tech fields,” Mr. Hira was quoted as saying by Computerworld.
The top 10 H-1B users received 40,170 H-1B visas in fiscal 2012 and applied for just 1,167 employment-based (EB) green cards. This is an immigration yield of 2.9 per cent, IEEE-US said.
Source: The Hindu
(5) Strike hits banking operations
Normal banking operations like cheque clearances, withdrawing and depositing of money at branches were hit as employees of public sector banks went on a two-day strike beginning on Wednesday.
The nation-wide strike call, demanding early wage revision among other issues, was given by United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU) that comprises nine national unions.
It was, however, business as usual at private sector banks like ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank.
Employees of public sector insurance companies, including LIC and New India Assurance, participated in the strike.
Apprehending disruption in normal operations, many public sector banks had already informed customers about the strike.
Sources said banks have taken steps to ensure that public do not face problems at least on the cash front during the strike period. Banks have replenished ATMs to meet the requirements in these two days.
Despite these measures, some ATMs went dry at commercial hubs.
All India Bank Employees Association (AIBEA) General Secretary C H Vekatachalam claimed clearing operations, electronic fund transfers, forex transactions and money market operations were completely disrupted across the country.
Bank unions are pressing for early wage revision of employees, which they said is due from November 2012. They are also opposing banking sector reforms and any plan for merger of banks.
There are 26 public sector banks with employees strength of around 10 lakh.
Source: The Hindu
Disclaimer: All news stories and content sourced from freely available material on the internet. All sources are acknowledged.
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