18 July, 2013

No common entrance test for medical colleges, rules SC

The Supreme Court on Thursday set aside a Medical Council of India (MCI) notification mandating common National Entrance Eligibility Test (NEET) both for undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses in government and private institutions.

In a majority judgment, Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and justice Vikramajit Sen held that it was beyond the powers of MCI to make such an arrangement of common entrance test both for government and private institutions.

However, in a dissenting judgment, justice Anil R Dave dismissed the petitions by private medical and dental colleges challenging the MCI notification providing for common NEET for both undergraduate and postgraduate medical and dental courses.

Served death: Bihar school meal cooked in insecticide container

An insecticide container was used to cook vegetables served to children in a school in Bihar's Saran district, initial reports suggested, as the toll from Tuesday's tragedy rose to 22 with three more children battling for their lives in hospital.Students said a lizard tail was found in the food. All the children are reportedly out of danger.

Supreme Court steps in to stop acid attacks, help victims

The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that acid will only be sold to persons who have a government-issued identity cards. State governments will have to pay Rs. 3 lakh as compensation to an acid attack victim.Following are some of the new rules that the government is mulling to implement:

• Only licensed shopkeepers will be allowed to undertake the sale of acid.
• Sellers must also demand the identity proof, residential address, telephone number and purpose of purchasing acid, from the buyer.
• Acid sold in retail must be so diluted that it does not have any corrosive effect on humans.
• Shopkeepers will have to maintain a daily record of buyers and the quantity of acid sold.
• Acid will not be sold to anyone below the age of 18.

India to raise new corps for China border

The Indian Army is all set to flex and toughen its muscle in the northeast, with the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) on Wednesday clearing its proposal to raise a mountain strike corps along the China borderThe offensive capability to counter a rising Chinese military will come at a cost of more than Rs. 62,000 crore.

The CCS approval for the strike corps comes at a time when strains are showing in the military ties between the countries due to China's aggressive posturing along the disputed border in the Ladakh sector.Indian forces are also weighing up a proposal to patrol deeper into the disputed territory with China, beyond the limits observed before the border standoff in April.Currently, they do not carry out surveillance all the way up to India's perceived border because of a self-imposed restriction that has never been made public.

Satire website on Narendra Modi's plans taken off

A website, Narendramodiplans.com, which promised a detailed explanation of how Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi plans to run the nation if elected as the prime minister, has been taken off after having received 60,000 unique visitors in 20 hours.

The website was essentially a one page -- simple javascript application' with the BJP leader's picture that told visitors to click on an option to know more about his plans for 2014 Lok Sabha elections. The content, perceived as harming the public reputation of the BJP strongman from Gujarat, has been removed from the site and the following message appears:

"I quit. In a country with freedom of speech, I assumed that I am allowed to make decent satire on any politician more particularly if it's constructive. Clearly, I was wrong. Apparently, you could make fun of only the leading party like @fakingnews with morphed pics, dirty jokes, cartoons and whatever, but dare you touch the opposition with javascript, they'll haunt you down. So, the first day was fun with 60,000 hits in 20 hours. And that's that."

Akhilesh expands cabinet,3 new ministers inducted

Governor BL Joshi on Thursday administered oath of office to three Cabinet rank ministers while one minister of state was elevated to independent charge in the Akhilesh Yadav ministry in Uttar Pradesh.

While senior SP leaders and MLAs Narad Rai (Ballia) and Kailash (Ghazipur) were inducted into the ministry as cabinet ministers, minister of state Ram Murti Verma from Ambedkar Nagar was elevated to Cabinet rank.

Minister of state Gayatri Prasad Prajapati from Amethi has now become minister of state with independent charge.

Besides Akhilesh Yadav, Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav, ministers and a large number of MLAs were present at the brief swearing in ceremony at the Raj Bhawan.

Mandela to mark 95th b'day in hospital

Former South African president Nelson Mandela will spend his 95th birthday in a Pretoria hospital on Thursday, and is said to be making "remarkable" progress.

Ashes limited to just four umpires

Looks like the International Cricket Council (ICC) and its elite panel of umpires are in a fix for the Ashes. With the umpires coming under pressure post the DRS fiasco during the first Test at Trent Bridge - the body admitted that the umpires had erred on seven occasions the same set of four umpires will be officiating during the whole series.

The current panel of elite umpires, twelve in total, has five Englishmen and three Australians.

So effectively, taking into account the neutral umpire rule for Test matches, only Aleem Dar, Kumar Dharmasena, Marais Erasmus and Tony Hill are qualified to officiate in the series.

Ekta Kapoor starts work on Mohammad Azharuddin biopic

Former Indian cricket captain Mohammad Azharuddin is the latest to join the long list of personalities whose biopics are currently under production. And although Ekta Kapoor is yet to go on record about the project, we have learnt that work on the much-talked-about film is already underway.

Bernanke: Fed will not raise rates in forseeable future

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke reiterated on Wednesday that the Fed is nowhere close to raising interest rates, assuring markets that the US easy money tap would not soon dry up.

With the economy still facing risks, especially from government spending cuts, Bernanke told a Congressional panel that the Fed was still planning to trim its quantitative easing stimulus, if growth continues at a steady pace.