9 MAY 2014

Ø  Caught in a Centre-State face-off, senior IPS official from Tamil Nadu Archana Ramasundaram was suspended by the Tamil Nadu government shortly after she joined the Central Bureau of Investigation as its Additional Director in New Delhi at short notice.  The appointment triggered a controversy as she was selected by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, which overlooked Ranjit Pachnanda, a 1983-batch IPS officer, recommended by the Central Vigilance Commission.

Ø  Union Finance Minister P. Chidamabram and Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma “informally” brought up for discussion the KKR Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) proposal at the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA). The FDI proposal is tipped to be the largest private equity deal in the Indian healthcare sector. The Foreign Investment Promotion Board had earlier recommended that the CCEA consider and approve the deal. FDI proposals in excess of Rs 1,200 crore require CCEA approval. 

Ø  Alarm bells have started ringing and what environmentalists here have been crying hoarse for long has now been endorsed by World Health Organisation (WHO) — Delhi has the most polluted air in the world. Putting it simply, the city air is choking its residents and children whose lungs are still growing have no possibility of breathing clean air. As the WHO report has also noted the rise in the concentration of the PM 10 and PM 2.5 matter is most detrimental to human health. PM 2.5 is known to penetrate deepest into the lung tissues and cause major health hazard. The main culprit is the rampant and growing use of diesel – gensets, diesel vehicles – and poor quality fuel.

Ø  World Migratory Bird Day (WMBD), a global initiative to celebrate migratory birds and for promoting their conservation, will be observed by the State centre of the WWF-India on May 10 and 11. This year’s theme of the day is ‘Migratory birds and Tourism.’ The objective is to raise awareness on the dramatic effects of continuing relationship between migratory birds and people.