25 FEBRUARY 2014

Ø  A 13-member, high-level committee, formed by the Department of Telecom on the orders of the Allahabad High Court to look into issues of electromagnetic field (EMF) radiation, has recommended that a dedicated website be set up to let the public know how much emission occurs from every tower in the country. India has over 5.5 lakh towers and over 100 crore active mobile handsets. The DoT adopted the EMF radiation limits prescribed by the International Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection (ICNIRP) in 2008, which were further reduced to one-tenth of the safe limit prescribed by ICNIRP with effect from 2012. All telecom service providers have to comply with these prescribed limits,

Ø  Saudi Deputy Prime Minister and Crown Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud arrives in India for a three-day visit, his second visit to the country in four years. Indian labour force will be roped in for the Haramain High Speed Railway project — Saudi Arabia’s plan to connect the two cities (Macca & Madinah) by high speed trains. The rails for the tracks will also be supplied by Indian companies. Till recently, Saudi Arabia was India’s biggest crude supplier while receiving labour for its construction projects. These two factors have remained constant although there are operational hiccups. Saudi petro giant Aramco turned down India’s request for more extra light crude and withdrew credit facilities for an Indian public sector oil company. Officials consider Saudi-India cooperation in defence a major development, especially because they have stopped viewing their security and defence ties in binary terms — choosing between India and Pakistan. The two sides had agreed on a defence MoU when A.K. Antony became the first Indian Defence Minister to visit Riyadh in 2012. New Delhi expects to discuss this further with the Crown Prince who is also the Saudi Defence Minister and is known as a consensus builder in Riyadh’s corridors of power. Officials do not discount the possibility of the MoU being signed during his visit. There are also signs of Saudi Arabia’s second most influential royal’s visit becoming a catalyst for Riyadh’s participation in LNG or oil refining projects being planned at Dahej, Ennore, Mangalore, Paradip and Kochi. The investment could come from the flush-with-funds Kingdom Holding Company which has already made investments in Four Seasons Hotel and Citi Bank.

Ø  The Indian Space Research Organisation intends launching Astrosat, an astronomical satellite, in 2015.  To be launched aboard a PSLV rocket, the satellite would have six pieces of equipment built by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research and the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

Ø  Banned terror outfit Indian Mujahideen planned a nuclear attack on Surat and warmed up to the Al-Qaeda and Taliban in Afghanistan to intensify ‘jihad’ against India. The revelations were made in the National Investigation Agency’s supplementary charge sheet filed in a special court here. The agency is investigating charges against IM co-founder Yasin Bhatkal.

Ø  Maritime Energy Heli Air Services Pvt Ltd (Mehair), a non-scheduled air services provider, in association with the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC), launched on Monday a unique seaplane service — the first of its kind in mainland India — linking Mumbai’s Juhu airport with tourist destinations of the State. In the first phase, Mehair has plans to link five destinations with Juhu, which include Aamby Valley, Nashik, Lonavla, Lavasa and Panchgani, all around 30 minutes flying distance from Mumbai.

Ø  The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) here will embark on a mega project to document nearly 500 endangered languages in the country, each spoken by less than 10,000 people. The objective is to bring out dictionaries and also document and preserve the ethnic knowledge system enshrined in the languages, including folklore. It also intends to frame grammar rules. Experts would give suggestions for the revitalisation of these languages. About 70 languages from different parts of the country would be studied in the first phase and 500 would be taken up in a span of 10 years, Mr. Ramamoorthy said. The study and documentation of each language would cost between Rs. 6 lakh and Rs. 8 lakh.