NEW DELHI, June 17: The Government has initiated the process of filling the vacant positions in various scientific institutes across the country, including for the post of Secretary for the Department for Science and Technology, Union Minister Jitendra Singh said here today.

“We have initiated the process. We want to be open so that we (the Government) and the scientific fraternity have ample opportunity to look for the right candidate,” the Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences told reporters during his visit to National Physical Laboratory (NPL) here.

The NPL is a constituent laboratory of the Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR).

He, however, declined to give a specific time frame for the appointments.

After the retirement of Department of Science and Technology Secretary T Ramasami, additional charge has been given to K Vijay Raghavan, Secretary of the Department of Biotechnology.

“We are working for over 14 hours a day on this issue. Eminent people will be appointed and decision in the interest of scientific fraternity will be taken. We are looking into it in a phased and structured manner,” he said.

When asked whether Ministry of Science & Technology and Earth Science has asked for more funds in the budget this year, Singh said as the department and research grows, need for funding also rises.

“Innovative work goes on in our laboratories which requires an uplift. So the need for more budget also arises,” he said.

The Minister added that as India aspires to be a super power by 2020 science will play a significant role to bring on social transformation in the country. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 17:
Siddharth Vashisht alias Manu Sharma, undergoing life term for killing model Jessica Lall in 1999, has been granted parole for 15 days by the Delhi High Court so that he can appear for his post-graduation exams.
A vacation bench of Justice Sunita Gupta granted parole to 36-year-old Sharma on the condition that he shall furnish a personal bond of Rs 50,000 with one surety, for the like amount, who shall be a family member.
The court also directed that Sharma will not leave the National Capital Territory of Delhi for the duration of the parole, which shall be effective from the date of his release.
The other terms and conditions of the parole includes keeping away from the area around the residence of the deceased and her family members, the court said in its order which was made available today after it was reserved yesterday.
Sharma’s exams are scheduled to commence from June 19 and will end on June 24. He is pursuing the course from Indian Institute of Human Rights here which is recognised by the United Nations.
Senior advocate S Nandrajog and advocate Arpit Batra, appearing on behalf of Sharma, had submitted before the court that their client’s conduct has always been good while in prison and the same has been appreciated by the jail superintendents concerned.
They had also claimed that Sharma through his NGO, Siddharth Vashisht Charitable Trust, has done work towards the education of the children of jailed inmates and his efforts have been appreciated by the Lt Governor. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 17:
Sending out a signal to the developed world on the issue of climate change, India today said developing countries like it have “a right to grow” and in the process “our net emission may increase.”
Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar underlined that the problem of carbon emission has not been created by the developing nations and hence responsibility for addressing it should not be solely put on them.
“We have to reduce our carbon emissions. But I have not created the carbon emission problems, which have been done by others. But I am not into any blame game. The issue is that I have a right to grow. India and developing countries have right to grow. These are the emerging economies,” the Minister said while addressing a function here.
His statement assumes significance in the light of a meeting of ‘Governments, leaders from finance, business, local Government and civil society’ in New York in September this year to “bring bold and new announcements and action” to keep the earth below the globally agreed two degree temperature rise.
Noting that poverty is an “environmental disaster”, Javadekar said “unless we tackle poverty, unless we eradicate poverty, we cannot really address the climate change.”
“To that end, we need to grow. Our net emission may increase,” he said while speaking as the chief guest on the occasion of “World Day to Combat Desertification” organised by the Environment Ministry and Indian Council for Forestry Research and Education.
The statement is expected to further strengthen the BASIC group of nations on climate — a bloc of four biggest emerging countries – Brazil, South Africa, India and China – formed in November 2009.
The new Government’s announcement came amid criticism that developing countries have lost out on all the key areas of UN climate change negotiations at Warsaw last year.
After the Warsaw Conference, Green NGOs and civil society groups had alleged that the developed nations managed to shift the burden of reducing emissions on to the emerging economies like India and China.
Warsaw had also witnessed developed countries like Australia reneging on their emissions reduction commitments made under the Cancun Agreement and their promise of delivering USD 100 billion Green Climate Fund per year by 2020 remains a distant dream.
Recognising the importance of global warming, Modi Government has given a new nomenclature to the Environment and Forests Ministry –the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. (PTI)

NEW DELHI, June 17: With spiralling inflation, the Centre today asked the states to crack down on hoarders while unveiling a series of measures to check prices of cereals, fruits and vegetables and slapping restrictions on potato and onion exports.

The host of measures to tame inflation, which had soared to a five-month high of 6.01 per cent in May, was taken at a high-level meeting of Ministers and Secretaries called by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.

Among other measures, the Centre asked the states to delist fruits and vegetables from the Agricultural Produce Market Committee list, allowing farmers to sell their produce directly in the open market, and imposed a minimum export price of USD 300 per tonne on onions to curb their exports.

The Commerce Ministry has been asked to come out with a similar measure for potatoes.

The Government has also decided to release an additional 50 lakh tonnes of rice to states for sale in the open market at APL (above poverty line) rate of Rs 8.30 per kg and allowed states to directly import pulses and edible oils to meet shortages.

The meeting to discuss steps to deal with the price rise was attended by Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Food Minister Ramvilas Paswan, Commerce Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and top officials including Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

“There are 22 commodities which are under active observation of the Government,” Jaitley said, adding that a rise in prices has been noticed in 4-5 commodities.

“The steps include advising the states where we have seen tendency of hoarding, particularly in anticipation of weak monsoon, to crack down on hoarders.

“…Even though the increase has only been marginal, we don’t want anybody to exploit the situation and therefore in anticipation of any further market reaction, a series of steps have been decided and they are being put in place,” Jaitley told reporters after the meeting.

Jaitley further announced that states are being “advised to delist fruits and vegetables from the AMPC list which means a farmers will have an option of either going through APMC and the middlemen there or the option of going to the open market itself”.

The Finance Minister said the Delhi Lt Governor will be advised that “tomorrow itself this delisting order with regard Delhi for all fruits and vegetables be issued”.

The Delhi Government has also been advised to procure onion and off load through Mother Dairy retail outlets.

Jaitley also said a minimum export price (MEP) will be imposed on potatoes by the Commerce Department, while it has already been imposed on onion.

Among other steps, Jaitley announced additional quantity of rice will be released into the market.

“With regards to pulses and edible oils, a line of credit will be extended to states under OGL (open general licence), that is in any state if they notice shortage, they should immediately import these items,” he said.

Later, Food and Consumer Affairs Minister Paswan told reporters that Government would be giving an additional 50 lakh tonnes of rice to states for sale in the open market at Rs 8.3 per kg.

The minister also the Consumer Affairs department will “will write to state Governments to implement these decisions at the earliest”.

Rising prices of essential food items such as vegetables, fruits and cereals pushed up inflation to a five-month high of 6.01 per cent in May.

The likelihood of a sub-normal monsoon and the fallout of violence in Iraq on commodity and oil markets may further worsen the price situation.

Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said the central bank will be focused on controlling inflation over the next few months.

Later in the evening, Ministry of Consumer Affairs, Food & Public Distribution in a statement said amid rising prices of milk, it was also decided to de-incentivise its exports.

“The meeting also reviewed the steady increase in the retail price of milk and took a decision to consider withholding export incentives currently in force,” it said.

Referring to the MEP on onion, the Ministry said the restriction is “expected to have a salutary impact on the availability of onions in the domestic market”.

Keeping in mind the increase in the retail price of rice, the statement said that it was also agreed in the meeting that Government, through the Food Corporation of India, would release more supplies to state Governments to be released through the Public Distribution System (PDS).

At the meeting, the Finance Minister called for urgent and timely attention be given to all matters related to price rise, and that the departments concerned should take necessary steps without any delay.

“The Finance Minister also emphasised on the urgency to effectively check constraints in ensuring smooth flow of essential commodities availability in the market through dehoarding, timely inspection, monitoring etc,” the statement said. (PTI)