1. Life term for Binayak Sen Justice Verma pronounced Dr.

Binayak Sen, Pijush Guha and Narayan Sanyal guilty of criminal conspiracy to commit sedition, under Section 124(a) read with 20 (b) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), and sentenced them to life imprisonment. In his order (written in Hindi) Justice Verma said that while Mr. Sanyal was a member of the banned Communist Party of India (Maoist), Dr. Binayak Sen and Mr. Pijush Guha aided and supported the CPI (Maoist), including ferrying three letters purportedly written by Mr. Narayan Sanyal. 2. Royal engagement coin released Just two months after Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton got engaged, an official coin marking the occasion has been unveiled. The second-in-line to the British throne and his bride-to-be, both 28, are featured on one side of the 5 collector's piece being produced by the Royal Mint. 3. India protests U.S. move to levy additional fee on exports The United States which, despite protests by New Delhi, recently proposed a hike in fee for H1B and L1 visas used by Indian professionals now plans to levy an additional two per cent fee on Indian exports. This has once again drawn protest, with Union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma writing to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk. 4. Keltron signs MoU with Russian firm Keltron has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Moscow-based NIS GLONASS, one of the largest public sector companies promoted by the Russian government. The MoU agrees to manufacture, market and jointly promote products that draw upon the Russian satellite navigation system GLONASS. The system offered by NIS GLONASS will operate on both GPS and GLONASS navigation satellites, and hence provide better accuracy and reliability. This has enormous advantage on Indian national security. 5. Child rights panel to conduct social monitoring of RTE Mandated to monitor the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights is planning social monitoring of the historic law that guarantees elementary education to children in the age group of 6-14. This is the first time that the law separates the implementing agency from the monitoring one. The basic premise of social monitoring is public participation in the planning, implementation and evaluation of a programme, policy or law. 6. Russian Parliament approves New START The Russian-American New START treaty won preliminary approval of the Russian Parliament, even as Moscow rejected as unacceptable the U.S. Senate ratification resolution. The State Duma, Lower House of Parliament, supported the treaty by a 350-56 majority in a first of three votes, but postponed its final approval till next year. In Russia, international treaties must be approved by both Houses of Parliament in contrast to the U.S. Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev hailed the pact as a cornerstone of stability in the world and Europe for decades to come 7. India to sign trade pact with Japan, Malaysia and EU in first half of 2011 India will open its trade in goods and services with Malaysia, Japan and the European Union in the first half of 2011. The first half of next year would witness signing of comprehensive market and investment promotion agreements with Japan, Malaysia and the EU. India has already signed a framework agreement for the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement (CECA) with Malaysia and concluded negotiations for a similar pact with Japan

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8. Rebalancing necessary for sustainable growth in Asia: IMF While economic growth in Asia, including India, has been strong in 2010, its sustainability in 2011 will require policy tightening, lesser reliance on export-led growth and an overall rebalancing that requires moving away from this year's stimulus policies, according to Anoop Singh, Director for the Asia-Pacific region at the International Monetary Fund (IMF). 9. Bihar plans for developing Rajgir as model of eco-tourism A comprehensive action plan will be made soon for developing the Gridhakut hills and the nearby Ghorakatora lake as a model of eco-tourism at Rajgir, a Buddhist tourism destination, in Bihar's Nalanda district. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has said that the lake at Ghorakatora, which is surrounded by hills from three sides, will be de-silted. There will be provisions for adventure sports like para-sailing and para-gliding for tourists, he said. 10. Shuddh Ke Liye Yuddh (war for purity) campaign success applauded in Rajasthan Shuddh Ke Liye Yuddh (war for purity) campaign launched across the State recently had turned out to be a big success, while monitoring of fair price shops had been improved to ensure regular supply of essential items to consumers. A stringent new law to check adulteration would be enacted shortly in the State and criminal cases would invariably [be] registered against owners of shops and establishments where adulterated material is confiscated. 11. If Section 498-A is diluted, police won't act on dowry complaint' The All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) has opposed the proposed dilution of dowryrelated Section 498-A of the Indian Penal Code. In a memorandum to the Rajya Sabha Petitions Committee, the AIDWA has expressed shock and distress over the proposal demanding that offences under Section 498-A be made non-cognisable, bailable and compoundable. This Section recognises that acute domestic violence and dowry-related torture are a serious offence, and prescribes a jail punishment of up to three years, the AIDWA has pointed out. 12. India to have its own design standard India will soon have its own design standard, IMark, which will certify that the stamped products have been designed using ethical practices and conform to environmental norms. 13. 18 Mahar first battalion to award IGNOU degrees The 18 Mahar, part of the Mahar Regiment, has become the first infantry battalion to conduct a Convocation ceremony awarding IGNOU associate degrees to 346 and over 1,200 diplomas/certificates to JCO and other ranks after the launch of Project Gyandeep. The project was launched in September last year, through which junior commissioned officers and other ranks can register for diplomas/degrees through their respective Regimental Centres that have been registered as Army-IGNOU Community Colleges and function as autonomous institutes. 14.Now India wants to send 26/11 commission to Pakistan Even as Islamabad waits for an official response to its request to send a judicial commission to depose the investigating officer and magistrate involved in the 26/11 case, India has informed Pakistan that it too would like to send a commission across to speak to officials concerned and expedite the matching of phone recordings made during the 2008 terrorist attack in Mumbai with voice samples of key Lashkar-e-Taiba men now facing trial in a Rawalpindi.

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