24 November 2014: Govt convenes all party meet for CSAT issue

• Brad Wall, Premier of the Saskatchewan province in Canada, who was on an official visit to India from November 16-23, said the province is discussing sale of uranium to India as well as partnering in agriculture and clean coal technologies. Mr. Wall, leading an agricultural trade mission on his second visit to India said: “We are looking for uranium exports to India and have held preliminary discussions with officials of the Atomic Energy Commission and hope to conclude an early agreement.” On energy cooperation, Premier Wall said that like India, Saskatchewan province too depends on coal for about 50 per cent of its needs and to minimise carbon emissions, a clean coal technology has been developed resulting in significant carbon capture and storage. India and China are globally the largest users of coal and shifting to clean coal will contribute to their carbon reduction measures. Agriculture and trade are major focus areas and Saskatchewan province already caters to the large Indian demand for pulses and potash which is a substitute for urea. Saskatchewan led Canada’s exports to India in 2013 with $1 billion worth of products. Saskatchewan’s exports to India were $999 million in 2013, an increase of 69 per cent since 2007 while imports from India were $40 million in 2013, an increase of 244 per cent. 
• The Telangana government has cancelled the tenders for installation of solar pumpsets to energise agricultural connections up to 500 MW after detecting irregularities in the selection of the lowest bidder. 
• Afghanistan’s lower house of Parliament approved agreements that will allow about 12,500 NATO-led troops to stay on next year as the national army and police struggle to hold back the Taliban. U.S.-led NATO combat operations will finish at the end of this year, but the Taliban have launched a series of recent offensives that have severely tested Afghan soldiers and police. The new NATO mission — named Resolute Support — will focus on supporting the Afghan forces, in parallel with U.S. counter-terrorism operations. The Bilateral Security Agreement with the United States, and a similar pact with NATO, were the source of huge friction between the Afghan government and its allies under previous President Hamid Karzai. But Ashraf Ghani, who became President in September, reset ties by signing the long-awaited deals on his first day in power. 
• Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Minister of State Rao Inderjit Singh arrive for the inauguration of the Navy’s Information Management and Analysis Centre in Gurgaon. 
• The Government discussed the issues concerning the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) with leaders of various political parties in both the Houses of Parliament. The meeting was convened by Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister M. Venkaiah Naidu in pursuance of the assurance given by the Government during the last Budget session of Parliament. Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Minister of State in PMO Dr. Jitendra Singh, Ministers of State for Parliamentary Affairs — Rajiv Pratap Rudy and Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, besides leaders of 26 parties in both the Houses of Parliament were present. Dr. Jitendra Singh sought the parties’ views on five proposals: continuation of English Language Comprehension Skills in Paper–II, reduced weightage of analytical component, making Paper-II qualifying, reverting back to Optional Paper and any other alternative.