16 JANUARY 2014

Ø  Citing ‘official sources’, the Press Trust of India (PTI) has claimed that 10 more days could be given to the Andhra Pradesh Assembly to discuss the draft Telangana Bill which was referred by President Pranab Mukherjee last month for consideration and return by January 23.

Ø  Former Research and Analysis Wing chief Girish Saxena initiated a series of meetings with the United Kingdom’s Secret Intelligence Service, commonly known as MI6, in the build-up to Operation Bluestar. The intelligence-sharing meetings, the sources said, were authorised by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and included at least one visit by a mid-ranking officer of the élite Special Air Service commando unit to frame an assault plan which would minimise civilian casualties.

Ø  India and Sri Lanka on Wednesday decided to immediately free all fishermen in their custody and release their vessels. Those accused of crimes other than crossing the international maritime boundary line will, however, be tried by the respective courts in Sri Lanka and India, said official sources in the Ministry of External Affairs.

Ø  Showcasing India’s rich film heritage over the past 100 years, the National Museum of India Cinema (NMIC) will open in Mumbai next month, Information & Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari has said. Situated over a 6,000 square feet area in Gulshan Mahal, a heritage building on posh Pedder Road in south Mumbai, it will house an interactive walkthrough down memory lane of India cinema, now considered the biggest in the world.  The ministry of I&B  have also launched a Rs.6-billion National Film Heritage Mission to digitise the best of Indian cinematic works and archive them for the benefit of future generations

Ø  Nagaland Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio has acknowledged the steps taken by the Assam government to bring normalcy and a secured environment in the violence-affected areas of Karbi Anglong district to enable displaced persons to return to their villages.

Ø  The U.S. handover to India this week, of idols worth more than $1.5m stolen from temples in Rajasthan, and Bihar or West Bengal, marked what seemed to be a gradual thaw in bilateral frost following a month-long diplomatic crisis. In a repatriation ceremony at the New York Consulate of India, where the diplomat at the centre of the crisis, Devyani Khobragade, used to work, the U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement (ICE)’s Homeland Security Investigations (HIS) on Tuesday returned two sandstone sculptures of “Vishnu and Lakshmi,” respectively weighing 159 and 272 kg.

Ø  Argentine poet Juan Gelman, winner of the Spanish speaking world’s top literature prize and a vehement critic of military rule in his country, died on Tuesday at the age of 83. Gelman had been living in exile in Mexico for the past 20 years and his death was announced by the National Council for Culture and Art.

Ø  The Cabinet Committee on Investment (CCI) has cleared Reliance Power’s 4,000-MW ultra-mega power project (UMPP) at Tilaiya in Jharkhand. It has advised the Ministry of Environment and Forest (MoEF) to take necessary steps to treat it on a par with Central Government undertaking project for the purpose of rules for compensatory afforestation. Tilaiya would be the fourth UMPP to be awarded to a developer after Sasan (Madhya Pradesh), Krishnapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and Mundra UMPP in Gujarat.