NATIONAL

Pumpkin farmers reap rich dividends: Nauh village in Bharatpur district, known for excavation of a Yaksha sculpture from the Mauryan period, has come up as the hub of pumpkin farming in Rajasthan following an initiative taken by local farmers to apply modern techniques, use improved seed varieties and utilise water in an optimal manner. The farming having spread to the surrounding villages, about 2,000 bighas of land has now been taken up for cultivation of pumpkin (Cucurbita pepo) in Bharatpur district. Specialty of the pumpkin grown in Nauh is its yellowish green colour, both on the outer surface and in the pulp, indicating its higher nutrition value.

Himachal power station sets record: The Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station owned and operated by Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam in Himachal Pradesh has made a record generation of 1151.205 million units (MU) this August, breaking the earlier record of 1143.681 MU in July 2009.Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam in Himachal Pradesh (SJVN) is implementing 10 projects in Himachal, Uttarakhand and Manipur in Nepal and Bhutan.

Health Ministry wants FDI safeguard to keep drug prices low: India allows 100 per cent FDI in the pharmaceutical sector. Between 2006 and 2010, six major Indian companies have been taken over by MNCs, including Matrix Lab by Mylan, Dabur Pharma by Fresenius Kabi, Ranbaxy Labs by Daiichi Sankyo, Shanta Biotech (Sanofi Aventis), Orchid Chemicals (Hospira) and Piramal Healthcare (Abbott). Since 2001, when 100 per cent FDI was allowed in the sector, only 10 per cent of foreign investment has gone to green-field ventures. A high-level committee, headed by Planning Commission member Arun Maira, has already been looking into all aspects of the FDI policy relevant to the pharmaceutical sector.

Air Taxi service to connect M.P. Cities: To give a fillip to the tourism sector, four metro cities of Madhya Pradesh-Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur and Gwalior-will be connected by a air taxi service. The services will be launched by Ventura Air Connect Private Limited in association with the Madhya Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation.

Rajasthan to launch mother infant protection scheme (Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojana): Rajasthan is all set to launch the comprehensive mother and child protection scheme,“Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojana” in the districts of the State. September 12 to launch the scheme, meant to bring down the precarious mother and infant mortality rate in the State. Such a strategy was successfully tried out in the State during the launch of the ambitious housing scheme for the BPL families a few weeks back. Janani Shishu Suraksha Yojana, inaugurated by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in Mewat district of Haryana on June 1 this year, will be launched in all the 33 districts of the State. Supported by the Government of India the scheme envisages to provide free medical facilities to pregnant women along with eight other services offered by the Government hospitals and institutions. If treatment is needed for the new born, that would be provided free of cost along with six other services. The significance of Janani Shishu Suraksha Programme for Rajasthan is in the fact that over 5,300 women die in the State due to various complications related to delivery every year while 98,5000 infants die here within a year of their birth. At the national level an estimated nine lakh infants die within four months of their birth while seven lakh of them die within a week of their birth.

From BITS Pilani a robot with a mind named Shaurya: Students of Birla Institute of Science and Technology (BITS) Pilani have developed an autonomous ground vehicle named Robot Shaurya which has applications in critical military and industrial sectors. Shaurya, measuring 65 cm x 65 cm x 50 cm, is an autonomous robot. Shaurya can create a 3D map of the environment as opposed to conventional 2D maps. The robot uses artificial intelligence by which it can assess each situation and take appropriate action. The robot has 3D mapping capability which can be used with Computer-aided Design (CAD) programmes by civil engineers, mining engineers and survey engineers for planning infrastructure development. Robot Shaurya has won several accolades. In the RoboCup 2011, the world's largest competition in robotics held in Istanbul on July 5-11 this year, Shaurya was the only Indian team to qualify for the finals in the Rescue Robot League category.  While the major sponsor of Project Shaurya was the Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL), other agencies such as Manganese Ore India Ltd, National Mineral Development Corporation and Rashtriya Ispat Nigam provided support.

Panel report on universal health insurance by month-end: The K. Srinath Reddy Committee of Experts, appointed by the Prime Minister to suggest universal health insurance coverage, is expected to submit its report by month-end, During the 11th Plan, the public expenditure on health was one per cent of Gross Domestic Product. In the 12th Plan, this was proposed to be raised to between two and three per cent.

Port project runs into rough weather: The proposed port project at the Subarnarekha river mouth in Balasore district, to be developed by Chennai-based Creative Port Development Limited, appears to have run into rough weather with the wildlife wing of Orissa Forest Department opining that construction of the port may disturb Olive Ridley sea turtle habitat. The initial capacity of the port would be 10 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) and would be increased to 40 mtpa in 10 years. The port project needs 1,215.43 acres of land for the port area and 1,565.93 acres for the rail corridor. Concession agreement for the port was signed in January 2008.

Supreme Court to get five more judges: President Pratibha Patil has appointed the Chief Justice of the Gujarat High Court, S.J. Mukhopadhaya; the Chief Justice of the Karnataka High Court, J.S. Khehar; and Justice Ranjana Desai of the Bombay High Court as Supreme Court Judges. Justice Desai will be the second woman Judge in the Supreme Court. In its sanctioned strength of 31 judges, Justice Gyan Sudha Misra is the only woman judge now.

Techfest from January 6: The 15th edition of Techfest, the annual international science and technology festival of the Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay will held in its campus from January 6 to 8, 2012. It has also been conferred patronage by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNBESCO) for its contribution in the spread of science, education and culture to the nation. Techfest is the only college festival in India to hold competitions abroad, international Robotic challenge, and bring the best participants from the different countries to IIT-Bombay during the festival. Nexus, the India leg of the International Robotics Challenge, would be held at 5 centres-Mumbai, Bangalore, Chandigarh, Bhubaneswar and Indore.

Rural Business Hubs Scheme: Since the inception of the Central Sector Scheme of Rural Business Hubs (RBHs) in 2007-08. The Ministry of Panchayati Raj has been implementing a Central Sector Scheme of RBHs for promoting manufacturing of products using raw materials/skills available in the rural areas. The scheme works on a 4P (Public-Private-Panchayat-Partnership) model and is applicable in all the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) districts and all the districts in the North-Eastern Region. Setting up of RBHs is primarily done through convergence of resources from various ongoing schemes. RBH is a demand driven scheme and, therefore, no targets can be fixed under the Scheme. There is no State-wise allocation of funds.