Five States Legislative Assemblies Elections Announced

Five States Elections, Election Commission on 4 October 2013 announced the dates of holding the General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of the States whose terms expire around the same time together. The election dates were announced in five states of India-Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, and Delhi. 

As per the norm, the Election Commission holds the General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of the States.

Poll Schedule 

 Chhattisgarh- 11 Nov 2013 (Phase I), 19 Nov 2013 (Phase II)
 Madhya Pradesh- 25 Nov 2013
 Rajasthan- 1 Dec 2013
 Delhi- 4 Dec 2013
Mizoram- 4 Dec 2013

Ruchira Kamboj

Ruchira Kamboj was appointed as the Permanent Representative of India to UNESCO, Paris with the rank of Ambassador.  She will succeed VS Oberoi. At present, Ruchira is joint secretary in Ministry of External Affairs. 

Kamboj joined the Indian Foreign Service in 1987. She last served as the Deputy Head, in the office of the Commonwealth Secretary-General, London.  she also served as a Counsellor in the Permanent Mission of India to the United Nations in New York. She also served at the High Commission of India, Mauritius and at the Indian embassy in Paris.

Brand Ambassador for National Tobacco Control Campaign

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare  announced former Indian cricket team captain Rahul Dravid as brand ambassador for its National Tobacco Control Campaign. The national anti-tobacco control campaign has to continue till it achieves desired results.
 It shows that India is committed towards tobacco control. World Health Assembly aims a target of 30 per cent relative reduction in tobacco use by 2025.

Rajnath Singh

Rajnath Singh, the Bharatiya Janata Party President became the campaign committee chief for the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He was appointed as the campaign committee chief after the  parliamentary board meeting of BJP. 

He replaced the Prime Ministerial candidate of BJP- Narendra Modi. Modi was declared as the PM candidate of BJP on 13 September 2013. He proposed the name of Rajnath Singh for the Election Campaign Committee Chief post. 

Criteria for Special Category Status to State Government

The committee headed by  Raghuram Rajan  (now RBI governor) submitted its report  to the Union Government. The committee was appointed by the Union Government of India to decide the criteria for granting special category status to states. According the criteria given by the report Odisha, Bihar least developed states and Goa and Kerala are most developed states.
* According to the report depending upon their Multi Dimensional Index (MDI) scores 28 states should be divided into three categories.

                  • Least developed • Less developed  • Relatively developed

* The report suggested that irrespective the allocation of funds,each state should get a basic fixed allocation and an additional allocation depending on its development needs and development performance.

* The report also presented the allocation methodology.

Based on Multi Dimensional Index (MDI) scores top seven developed stats are Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand and Haryana.

Based on the Multi Dimensional Index (MDI) scores the 10 least developed states are Odisha, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Meghalaya, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The committee was appointed in the background of raising demand for special category status by states like Bihar, west Bengal, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Jharkhand.

                                   About Special Category Status criteria

* The special status is given to certain states depending on their resources and geography. Some of the features required to grant Special Category Status are Low Population density, Hilly and difficult terrain , Location of states, Economic and Infrastructural backwardness and Non viable nature of state finances 

National Food Security Bill passed

Lok Sabha  passed the National Food Security Bill 2013. The Bill was adopted by the House through a voice vote after a day-long debate. The Bill seeks to give legal rights to get subsidized grains every month to 67 percent of the overall population of which 75 percent is rural and 50 percent is urban population.

As per the provisions of the Bill, the responsibility to identify the beneficiaries and implement the program under the Targeted Public Distribution Scheme is the responsibility of the states. The passage of the Bill in Parliament will guarantee 5 kilograms of rice, wheat and coarse cereals per month per person at the highly subsidised rates of 1-3 rupees a Kg.

Justice K.N Basha

Justice K.N Basha,  retired judge of the Madras High Court, took charge as the chairman of the Intellectual Property Appellate Tribunal . He was appointed by the Director of the Department of Industrial Policy And Promotion of The Union Ministry of Industry And Commerce.

Intellectual Property Appellate Board (IPAB) was constituted by the Union Government in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in  2003 to hear appeals against the decisions of the Registrar under the Trade Marks Act, 1999 and the Geographical Indications of Goods (Registration and Protection) Act, 1999. 
The Intellectual Property Appellate Board has its headquarters at Chennai and holds sitting benches at Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Ahmedabad.

National Media Centre

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi on Saturday inaugurated the National Media Centre here on Raisina Road which is said to be equipped with the latest technologies of information dissemination.  the National Media Centre has been constructed by the National Buildings Construction Corporation (NBCC) at a cost of Rs. 60 crore over a period of three years.

The Centre is equipped with a wi-fi enabled press conference hall for 283 media persons, a briefing room for about 60 persons, 24 work stations for journalists, a library, media lounge with wi-fi facilities and a cafeteria. Reports state other facilities at the Centre are optic fibre Internet backbone with redundancy, mini data centre for application development and hosting webcast, including live webcast, Video feed to TV channels, IT facilities to media persons in work area and lounge, Internet telephony and AV Video Wall.