7 December 2014
National:
HC nod for marriage of
Muslim girls at 15
Observing that Muslim
girls who attain puberty or complete 15 years of age are eligible for marriage
under the Muslim law, the Gujarat High Court has upheld the marriage of a minor
girl from the community.
Lok Adalat settles 1.25
cr. cases in a day
The Second National Lok
Adalat held across the country on 6th December amicably
settled about 1.25 crore pending and pre-litigation cases and brought financial
relief of over Rs. 3,000 crore to ordinary litigants in a single day. The
Adalat held over the day and organised by the National Legal Service Authority
(NALSA) has reduced backlog by about nine percent in all the States. Even in
the Supreme Court, 28 out of 53 cases put up for settlement were disposed of
and cheques were handed out at the time of settlement itself. The cases settled
out of court include family disputes, matrimonial cases, motor accident claims,
bank recoveries, petty criminal matters, revenue matters, disbursement of
payment under the MGNREGA and other government welfare schemes.
Child marriages still
rampant, says study
A majority of parents
who get their children married before the legal age do not even seek their
consent, and among those who do, the child not consenting does not stop the
marriage, new data has shown. In 2011, the Planning Commission selected the
G.B. Pant Institute of Studies in Rural Development, for a study on child
marriage in India. The 2005-06 National Family Health Survey had shown that 46
per cent of young women were married before the legal age of 18, and the Planning
Commission sought to understand why this was occurring. The institute recently
submitted its report to the govt.
Vulture centres boast of
healthy numbers
The decline in vulture
populations in West Bengal and Assam has been arrested thanks to the efforts of
the Vulture Conservation and Breeding Centre (VCBC) set up in these States. At
the VCBC at Rajabhatkhawa in north Bengal, the number of vultures has crossed
100. From zero population in 2005, there are now 102 vultures at the five-acre
breeding centre. Of the 102 birds at the centre, about 23 are young birds,
which have been bred at the centre. Similarly at the VCBC in Assam in Rani, on
the outskirts of Guwahati, there are about 70 vultures, including over a dozen
young birds. Of the five threatened vulture species in India, the VCBC in West
Bengal is home to three — white-backed vultures, slender billed vulture and
long-billed vulture. The centre in Assam is home to white-backed vultures and
slender-billed vultures. The Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS) had set up
these centres in 2005 and 2007 respectively when use of the painkiller,
diclofenac, in cattle turned fatal for the scavenging birds resulting in an
alarming decline in vulture population.
International:
Al-Qaeda chief dies in
Pak military raid
The chief of al-Qaeda’s
global operations, Adnan Shukrijuma, wanted by the United States over a 2009
plot to attack the New York subway system, was killed in a raid in Pakistan’s
restive tribal region. Saudi-born Adnan Shukrijuma was killed in the Shinwarsak
area of South Waziristan tribal district.
Ex-security chief felled
by Xi’s anti-corruption drive
China’s anti-corruption
campaign has targeted a former state security chief and a one-time Politburo
member, who is now facing arrest after being sacked from the Communist Party of
China (CPC). Global Times is reporting that the decision to expel Zhou Yongkang
was taken by the Politburo of the CPC. Mr. Zhou is the highest-ranking official
probed for corruption since 1949.
U.N. warns of rising
costs to adapt
The first Adaptation Gap
Report by the United Nations Environment Programme released at Lima says even
with emissions cuts, costs of adapting to climate change are likely to be two
to three times the current estimates of $70-100 billion per year by 2050. The
report says that failure to cut emissions will dramatically increase costs and
new finance will be required to avoid a significant funding shortfall after
2020. The report finds that despite adaptation funding by public sources
reaching $23-26 billion in 2012-2013, there will be a significant funding gap
after 2020 unless new and additional finance becomes available. If no action on
cutting greenhouse gas emissions is taken, the cost of adaptation will increase
as wider and more expensive action will be needed to protect communities from
the intensifying impact of climate change such as drought, floods and rising
sea levels, the report warns.
Britain to set up
permanent military base in West Asia after 40-year gap
Britain will broaden its
military footprint in West Asia with the establishment of a permanent military
base at the Mina Salman Port in Bahrain. An agreement on this was signed in
Manama by the United Kingdom’s Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond and Bahrain’s
Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa. It will be
Britain’s first permanent military base in West Asia since it withdrew from the
region in 1971, closing all bases east of the Suez. The naval base will become
the springboard for Britain’s involvement in West Asia, most importantly its
operations in Iraq as part of the U.S.-led collation against the Islamic State.
Typhoon slams into
Philippines
Typhoon Hagupit slammed
into the central Philippines’ east coast on 6th December,
knocking out power and toppling trees in a region where 650,000 people have
fled to safety, still haunted by the massive death and destruction wrought by a
monster storm last year. Packing maximum sustained winds of 175 km per hour and
gusts of 210 kph, Hagupit made landfall in Dolores, a coastal town facing the
Pacific in Eastern Samar province, according to the Philippines’ weather
agency.
Business and Economy:
Welspun Gujarat spinning
mill goes on stream
Welspun India, part of
the $3.5-billion Welspun group and among the world’s top three towel
manufacturers unveiled one of the largest spinning mills at Ajnar (Gujarat) to
support its growing home textiles exports business. This facility with 1.70
lakh spindles, the largest under one roof in India, has been inaugurated. One
in seven towels sold in the U.S. is manufactured by Welspun, and the company
supplies to 14 of the 30 global retailers, including Wal-Mart, JC Penney and
Target.
AstraZeneca, Ranbaxy
prevail in Nexium antitrust trial
A Massachusetts jury has
found that an agreement between AstraZeneca Plc and Ranbaxy Laboratories to
delay the launch of a generic version of AstraZeneca’s heartburn drug Nexium
was not anticompetitive. The verdict, handed down in federal court in Boston,
is the first time a jury has decided such a case since the U.S. Supreme Court
ruled last year that so-called ‘pay-for-delay’ settlements may run afoul of
antitrust laws. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission estimates that pay-for-delay
deals, in which a branded drugmaker pays a generic rival to stay off the
market, cost consumers $3.5 billion each year.
Petrolight, Aratos tie
up for pipeline security solutions
Russian oil pipeline
company Petrolight has signed a long-term agreement with Aratos Technologies
India to provide pipeline security solutions in the oil and gas sector.
