19 NOVEMBER 2014: Nanavati panel submits report (finally)!!!

Ø  World Heritage Sites such as the Western Ghats, Manas Wildlife Sanctuary, Kaziranga National Park and Sundarbans are facing significant conservation concerns, according to an International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) assessment. The IUCN World Heritage Outlook report, released at the ongoing World Park Congress at Sydney, had assessed 228 World Heritage sites for natural values. While none of the seven Indian sites qualified to be included in the ‘good’ category, the Great Himalayan National Park, Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers National Parks and Keoladeo National Parks were assessed as ‘good with some concerns’. There were no Indian sites in the ‘critical’ category.

Ø  Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted to his Australian counterpart Tony Abbott Australian lawyer John Lang’s 1854 petition against the East India Company on behalf of Rani Lakshmibai . John Lang’s original petition of 1854 on behalf of Jhansi ki Rani against the East India Company.

Ø  The world’s first zero-gravity 3D printer has been installed by NASA on the International Space Station (ISS), which will help astronauts to experiment with additive manufacturing in microgravity. NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore installed the 3D printer, designed and built by Made In Space for NASA, inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) aboard the ISS.

Justice nanavati submitting report

Ø  Twelve years after it was constituted, the Nanavati Commission of Enquiry probing the 2002 post-Godhra riots submitted its final report to Chief Minister Anandiben Patel. Justice Nanavati and Commission member Justice Akshay Mehta met Ms. Patel at her residence and handed over the report. Justice Nanavati told PTI that the report was over 2,000 pages, but did not divulge anything further. The report will be forwarded to the Home department. The department will review it and place the report before the Assembly.

Ø  Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Communication Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad re-launched the Kisan Vikas Patra investment scheme to tap household savings for funding infrastructure development in the country and to lure them away from ponzi schemes. The savings instrument will be available in the denomination of Rs. 1,000, Rs. 5,000, Rs. 10,000 and Rs. 50,000. There will be no upper ceiling on investments. No tax benefits would be available on these investments. Banks will accept these certificates as pledged security for loans. To begin with, the certificates will be available only at post offices. Later, designated branches of nationalised banks will also sell them. The certificates will carry a lock-in period of 2 years and 6 months after which they will become encashable on pre-determined maturity value. Investments made in the certificate will double in 8 years 4 months.

Ø  Mankind’s first-ever probe of a comet found traces of organic molecules and a surface much harder than imagined, scientists said of initial sample data from robot lab Philae. Philae fell asleep on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, having run out of onboard battery power after 60 hours of prodding and probing an object zipping towards the Sun at 18 kmps. The lander control centre in Cologne, operated by German Aerospace Center (DLR), said Philae had uncovered much about the comet in spite of a rough touchdown in a less-than-perfect spot.

Ø  Neha Gupta (18), an Indian-American from Philadelphia, has won the prestigious International Children’s Peace Prize for her work to help orphans in India and other vulnerable children. She became the first ever American to be awarded the prize in The Hague, Netherlands.