In March, Nandan Nilekani, UIDAI Chairman, held meetings with key officials of the government to take forward the project. The project has entered its operational stage and the first numbers are expected to be issued by early 2011.The MoU is needed for enlisting the infrastructure support that would be necessary for implementing the project. The project would give a UID card and a number based on the name, address, parent's name and biometric details such as fingerprint and iris impressions. The State needs to prepare data which has to blend with UIDAI's data.
However, no police verification would be made, as in the case of issue of passports, while giving the card and the numbers. It is hoped that the UID number will end duplication, fraud and ghost ration cards and help plug leakages in the system. The card is meant to be a single-point identification for a citizen who now has to grapple with multiple cards.
The UID Scheme, which was launched by the second UPA government, was allocated Rs. 1,900 crore in the 2010-11 budget.
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Bangladesh to host World Twenty20 tournaments in 2014
Cricinfo, 1 July : The ICC have awarded the next two World Twenty20 tournaments in 2012 and 2014 to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively, while England will host the Champions Trophy in 2013. The 2015 World Cup will be held by Australia and New Zealand and the 2013 Women's World Cup will be played in India. The decisions were announced after a meeting of the ICC board in Singapore.
The Chief Executives Committee (CEC) and Governance Review Committee (GRC) working groups met jointly to discuss the ICC events programme post 2015, the frequency and format for global events and qualification for those events, and the introduction of Test and ODI leagues to provide context to the traditional formats of the game. READ FULL STORY
Cricinfo, 1 July : The ICC have awarded the next two World Twenty20 tournaments in 2012 and 2014 to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh respectively, while England will host the Champions Trophy in 2013. The 2015 World Cup will be held by Australia and New Zealand and the 2013 Women's World Cup will be played in India. The decisions were announced after a meeting of the ICC board in Singapore.
The Chief Executives Committee (CEC) and Governance Review Committee (GRC) working groups met jointly to discuss the ICC events programme post 2015, the frequency and format for global events and qualification for those events, and the introduction of Test and ODI leagues to provide context to the traditional formats of the game. READ FULL STORY
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Kolkata, Howrah in darkness after CESC power plants trips
Kolkata, Howrah, 1 July : The entire Kolkata and Howrah city plunged into the darkness today after the Calcutta Electric Supply Corporation (CESC) system crashed following a technical snag in an overhead power cable."At around 6:10 pm all units tripped simultaneously save for the 500 MW at the Budge Budge plant due to a technical problem in the overhead cable," CESC Executive Director Dilip Sen told Bengal Newz. He said all units were in the process of restoration and it would take around two hours to normalise.
CESC's own normal generation capacity was about 1200 MW. Underground Kolkata metro services came to a halt, hospitals went off power by the sudden blackout.
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Suchitra Sen admitted to Bell View nursing homeKolkata, 1 July : Noted actress of yesteryears Suchitra Sen has been admitted to a city nursing home following lung infection.
Sen, who has been admitted to the Belle View Nursing Home a few days back, was shifted to the ITU and her condition was now stated to be stable, nursing home sources said. A medical team has been formed for her treatment which was monitoring her health condition round the clock.
A number of her admirers has assembled near the nursing home since this morning to enquire about her health.
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Bodies of slain CRPF personnel taken to their native states
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PTI, Guwahati, Bhubaneswar, Patna, 1 July : Poignant scenes unfolded as the bodies of the CRPF jawans killed in Tuesday's brutal Maoist attack in Chhattisgarh were today brought to their native states where they were given guard of honour and floral tributes were paid by senior leaders and officials.While coffins of six jawans were taken to Guwahati, the bodies of eight others were flown to Bhubaneshwar and three to Patna. Amid torrential rains in Guwahati, the slain jawans from Assam were given guard of honour by the CRPF and the state police. The grief-stricken relatives were waiting at the airport since morning for the coffins which on arrival were kept in a specially erected pedestal.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi condoled the deaths and announced compensation of Rs two lakh to the families of the each of the slain jawans. န Photo : Chinmoy Roy
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Bin Laden eyes on BangladeshSalah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, Weekly Blitz, Dhaka : Notorious terror kingpin and Al Qaeda man Mullah Omar has signed a sermon endorsing Islamist Jihad in Bangladesh with the goal of seizing power from the democratically elected government thus transforming the moderate Muslim nation into an Islamic republic.
According to various sources, a number of Islamist politicians and clergies in Bangladesh are having regular contact with Mullah Omar and other top ranking terrorists in Al Qaeda. It is already reported that, Jihadists are taking extensive preparations under the direct guidance of Al Qaeda kingpins to stage Islamic revolution in Bangladesh. With this goal, recruitment and training of Jihadists are continuing in more than 71,000 Madrassas throughout the country as well as hidden training camps within Chittagong Hill Tract area, Burmese Border and mountains in Nepal.
Being heavily combated by US forces in Afghanistan, several top ranking Al Qaeda kingpins moved to South Asian region. It was even reported few years back that, Osama Bin Laden also was shuttling in between his hidden bases in Afghanistan and Nepal's mountainous areas.
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Tripura opposition parties withdraw Chief Minister boycott
Agartala, 1 July : Tripura’s opposition parties Thursday withdrew their six-and-a-half month old boycott of Chief Minister Manik Sarkar over his remarks on the alleged links between terror groups and the state’s political parties.
On the last day (Thursday) of the three-week long budget session of the Tripura assembly, Sarkar told the opposition members: “We should forget and forgive all that’s matter happened previously. It (the boycott programme) is not good for anybody and healthy politics.”
Agartala, 1 July : Tripura’s opposition parties Thursday withdrew their six-and-a-half month old boycott of Chief Minister Manik Sarkar over his remarks on the alleged links between terror groups and the state’s political parties.
On the last day (Thursday) of the three-week long budget session of the Tripura assembly, Sarkar told the opposition members: “We should forget and forgive all that’s matter happened previously. It (the boycott programme) is not good for anybody and healthy politics.”
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Worldwide outrage at call to remove Andaman tribe children
Survival International, London, 1 July : An Indian MP’s call for the children of a recently-contacted Andaman Island tribe to be removed from their parents and sent to residential schools has sparked worldwide outrage.
Indigenous people around the world have reacted furiously to the move, which echoes the much-criticised policy of the ‘Stolen Generation’ in Australia, and similar policies in North America. READ FULL STORY
Survival International, London, 1 July : An Indian MP’s call for the children of a recently-contacted Andaman Island tribe to be removed from their parents and sent to residential schools has sparked worldwide outrage.
Indigenous people around the world have reacted furiously to the move, which echoes the much-criticised policy of the ‘Stolen Generation’ in Australia, and similar policies in North America. READ FULL STORY
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Bangladesh footwear major eyes Indian, European markets
Dhaka, 1 July : Leather footwear maker Fortuna Bangladesh is eyeing Indian and Chinese markets and hopes to compete with the two in the European Union.Many importers are seeking leather footwear from Bangladesh due to rising production costs and the World Trade Organisation (WTO)'s restrictive rules, a senior official of the group claimed. "Many buyers from China are now coming to Bangladesh as their cost of labour is increasing. Many European buyers are also looking to take advantage of the duty-free export facility to the EU as an additional 16.5 percent tax is levied on footwear exports from China," said Fayaz Taher, chief executive (manufacturing and retail division) of Fortuna Bangladesh.
"Many countries, like China and India, are failing to produce high quality but low-cost leather items because of the WTO anti-dumping rules. So, orders from Germany, Italy, France, Japan and Canada are increasingly shifting to the local manufacturers," Taher told The Daily Star. The group is poised to set up a new factory spending Taka 560 million ($eight million) and raise its capacity from 2,500 to 6,000 pairs a day.
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Security heightened at Bangladesh Dy High Commission
Kolkata, 1 July : Security agencies have been put on alert following a report that Huji militants were planning an attack on the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission office here.
"We have alerted all agencies and the Kolkata Police have been asked to be on alert," West Bengal Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh told reporters. The DGP said security was heightened at the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission. Singh's attention was drawn to a media report quoting a Union Home Ministry alert to the state intelligence that a 31-member Harkatul Jihaad al Islami group was planning an attack on the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission office here.
Kolkata, 1 July : Security agencies have been put on alert following a report that Huji militants were planning an attack on the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission office here.
"We have alerted all agencies and the Kolkata Police have been asked to be on alert," West Bengal Director General of Police Bhupinder Singh told reporters. The DGP said security was heightened at the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission. Singh's attention was drawn to a media report quoting a Union Home Ministry alert to the state intelligence that a 31-member Harkatul Jihaad al Islami group was planning an attack on the Bangladesh Deputy High Commission office here.
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Trinamool Congress flowers to bloom in Andaman soil soon
UNI, Port Blair, 1 July : After sweeping the Kolkata Municipal Corporation polls, the Trinamool Congress may soon spread its wing up to remote Andaman and Nicobar Islands.'We had a meeting with All India General Secretary of Trinamool Congress and Minister of State for Shipping Mukul Roy, at Kolkata. He has assured us that soon Trinamool Congress will spread its wings in Andaman and Nicobar Islands,'' Mr Biswajit Lahiri, former BJP leader of Andaman and Nicobar Islands told UNI today.
Mr Lahiri and a few other BJP workers of A and N, including Revoti Biswas (sitting Samity Member of BJP at North Andaman), Niranjan Baroi, Shayamal Bhowmic and Gautam Samaddar, are presently camping at Kolkata to finalise the opening of Trinamool Congress branch in these far-flung islands.
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China govt allows duty-free access to Bangladesh products
Dhaka, 1 July : Beginning Thursday, China will provide duty-free entry to major Bangladeshi products with an aim to offset the annual trade gap of $2.5 billion.
The new arrangement follows top level parleys. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina went to Beijing and Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping was here last month when a series of pacts were signed. China is Bangladesh's largest trading partner and the biggest supplier of military hardware. Dhaka expects that the country's major exportable items such as garments, frozen food, jute and leather would be included in the Chinese duty-free list of 4,721 items, New Age newspaper said Thursday.The offer is almost similar to the European Union trade facility under "Everything But Arms" policy that helped Bangladeshi products to enjoy duty-free access to 27 EU nations.
'Made in Bangladesh' products would enjoy the facility as China has already listed Bangladesh and some 32 developing countries across the world for duty-free access from 1 July in keeping with its commitment to the World Trade Organisation (WTO).
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