10 JANUARY 2014

Ø  Mahatma Gandhi’s granddaughter Ela Gandhi, Australian senator of Indian origin Lisa Maria Singh and Ramkrishna Mission in Fiji were among the 13 recipients of the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award presented here on Thursday. Ela Gandhi was honoured for public service, enhancing India’s image and promoting ties between India and South Africa.

Ø  The Union Cabinet on Thursday cleared a comprehensive regulatory framework proposed by the Information & Broadcasting Ministry (I&B) for television rating agencies that includes procedures for registration, eligibility norms, limits on cross-holdings, methodology for audience measurement, sale and use of ratings and a complaint redress mechanism. No single company or legal entity can either directly, or through its associates/interconnect undertakings, have substantial equity holding (10 per cent or more of paid-up equity) in both rating agencies and broadcasters/advertisers/advertising agencies. Further, ratings have to be technology-neutral and should capture data across multiple viewing platforms including cable television, direct-to-home television and terrestrial television. The guidelines also stipulate sample size for rating. To begin with, six months from the date of notification the minimum panel size should be 20,000.  Thereafter, the panel size has to increase by 10,000 annually till it reaches 50,000. Secrecy and privacy of the panel homes has to be maintained. There are also punitive provisions, including cancellation of registration and forfeiture of bank guarantees up to Rs. 1 crore, in the case of non-compliance.

Ø  A day after a massive fire killed nine passengers on the Bandra-Dehradun Express, the GRP has submitted an interim report to its Commissioner, stating that the blaze originated from the junction box near the lavatory of coach S3.

Ø  The appointment of Kashmiri journalist-turned-online activist Raheel Khursheed as Twitter India’s head has triggered a storm of protest with right wing bloggers demanding his removal on the premise that he was “anti-Modi,” pro-separatist, and a “Hindu-baiter.’’ while others celebrated the choice.

Ø  A report issued on Wednesday on the security of deadly nuclear materials found steady improvement, with seven countries in the last two years giving up most of their uranium and plutonium that can be readily turned into weapons. Their actions lowered the number of nations with appreciable fuel for atomic bombs to 25 from 32. The 148-page report card came from the Nuclear Threat Initiative, a private advocacy group in Washington that promotes safekeeping of nuclear materials and urges governments to strengthen their defences against atomic terrorism. The group worked with the Economist Intelligence Unit, a company in London that analyses risks. The report was released as world leaders prepared for their third nuclear security summit meeting, to be held in March in The Hague, Netherlands. The first edition of the report, the Nuclear Materials Security Index, came out two years ago, just before the 2012 summit. Australia remained in first place and even raised its score two points on a scale of 100, to 92 from 90. North Korea remained in last place, its score 30. The report found it seriously deficient on most issues of atomic security. Pakistan, a nuclear outlaw in some respects, raised its score three points and its ranking from No. 31 (out of 32 countries) to No. 22 (out of 25)  The seven countries removed from the list of those with bomb-making fuel were Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Mexico, Sweden, Ukraine and Vietnam. In June, Mr. Obama announced that the United States would host what is expected to be the final security summit meeting, in 2016.

Ø  Germany said on Thursday it had accepted a United Nations (U.N.) request to destroy remnants of Syria’s chemical weapons on its own soil as part of a bid to eliminate the arsenal by June 30.  State-owned company GEKA based in the northern town of Munster will handle the mission “in full compliance with environmental regulations”