N April 14, 2012, 7:09 AM Newswallah: Bharat Edition By THE NEW YORK TIMES
Jammu and Kashmir: A 48-year-old-farmer in the state has invented a “singing lantern,” Kashmir Live reported. Gulam Mohammad Mir invented the musical lantern to spare himself the surprise of unannounced military search operations at his house in south Kashmir. The device, fitted with motion sensors, alerted him of any human activity and helped him prepare for searches of his home. Assam: Tea production in Assam was down by 43 percent in January compared to the same period last year because of unfavorable weather conditions, the Nagaland Post reported. The figures referred to the first picking season of the year. Analysts in the industry, however, remained optimistic since better weather conditions could help make up for the loss in later months. The first picking accounts for only 10 percent of annual tea production in Assam, the newspaper reported. West Bengal: Private schools run by religious minorities in the state, such as St. Xavier’s, the Don Bosco schools, the Loreto schools, are set to stop accepting government aid to avoid reserving seats for underprivileged students, The Telegraph reported. According to the Right to Education Act, any school that receives aid from the government must reserve a fourth of its seats for students from a socially and economically disadvantaged background. But the schools have found an “escape route,” a clause in the recent Supreme Court order that, “exempts ‘unaided minority institutions’ from reserving 25 percent of their seats for the underprivileged,” the newspaper reported. Uttar Pradesh: The Uttar Pradesh government announced a major administrative reshuffle, Friday, with the transfer of several senior officialsfrom the local administration to different departments within the state (IBNLive). About 70 officials of Indian Administrative Service cadre, including 32 district magistrates and five divisional commissioners are on the list. Rajasthan: On Thursday the Rajasthan Assembly passed a legislation aimed at reducing corruption in the state (The Hindu). The new law, modeled after the existing legislation in the states of Bihar and Odisha, will allow the government to confiscate and attach any disproportionate property accumulated by corrupt officials. The Rajasthan Special Courts Act, as the law is called, will bring under its authority all public servants whose salaries are paid by the government. Judicial officers and the Chief Minister of the state will also be included in its purview. Gujarat: The Gujarat government recently proposed its second ultra mega power project (UMPP), which will be run on imported coal, the Economic Times reported. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) under the federal ministry of power has identified 500 hectare of land in Lodhva village, Junagadh district for the 4,000-megawatt project. Earlier this year Tata Power commissioned its first imported coal fired UMPP in Mudra, Gujarat, with an 800-megawatt power generation capacity. Andhra Pradesh: The crafting of 12 bronze statues, vandalized last year, has been delayed because the government hasn’t released the funds it promised, the New Indian Express reported. The ministry of culture had contracted a local sculptor to replace by March the damaged statues of prominent personalities in this southern state, but hasn’t made the payment it promised. _______________________________________________ assam mailing list assam@assamnet.org http://assamnet.org/mailman/listinfo/assam_assamnet.org
