1.

National summit on skewed sex ratio held in Panipat Waking up to the fact that Haryana has become the shame of the country when it comes to skewed sex ratio, various social organizations are organizing a two-day national save the girl child summit in Panipat on April 25 and 26. The groups will come together on single platform to come to common consensus and would devise a plan of action as 10 states are most adversely affected by female foeticide, with Haryana at the bottom of the chart. The summit would be jointly organized by two Panipat-based social organizations: Mata Sita Rani Seva Sanstha and Hali Panipati Trust. 2. Telecom policy 2011: licences for 10 years only, M&As to be easier The new telecom policy 2011 may cause heartburn among some telcos as the government is likely to give fresh licences and renew old ones for 10 years instead of 20 years when it comes into effect. The policy is likely to be finalised by 2011 end. The move is likely to make telecom services expensive as telcos could charge more for mobile and broadband services to realise cost-based tariffs. Till now, the operators were getting the licences for 20 years bundled with start-up 2G spectrum of 4.4 Mhz and now the service providers would have to give market-based price for spectrum as the same has been de-linked from the licence. 3. Electronic Service Delivery Bill to be sent to Cabinet soon The government will soon send the Electronic Service Delivery Bill to the Cabinet for its approval. The Electronic Service Delivery Bill, when enacted, will make it mandatory for every government organisation to deliver public services only in electronic mode from a cut off date. The CDAC has been mandated to develop a Mobile Service delivery gateway by September, 2011. 4. Russia to fete memory of Yuri Gagarin Russia will fete the memory of first man in space Yuri Gagarin with a 50-gun salute even as space officials, cosmonauts and astronauts from all over the world join celebrations in the Russian capital. In a break with tradition in a country which unlike the U.S. space agency NASA never gives names to its spacecraft, Moscow named a Soyuz spaceship after Gagarin which last week brought a new team to the International Space Station (ISS). 5. Laurent Gbagbo captured Ivory Coast leader Alassane Ouattara's forces, backed by French and U.N. troops, captured his besieged rival Laurent Gbagbo in Abidjan at the climax of a deadly months-long crisis. Mr. Gbagbo, who has held power since 2000 and stubbornly refused to admit defeat in November's presidential election, was detained and taken to his rival's temporary headquarters, with his wife Simone and son Michel. 6. Industrial growth slips to 3.6 per cent in February ndustrial production growth slipped markedly to 3.6 per cent in February this year from a high of 15.1 per cent posted during the same month in 2010, mainly owing to a dismal show by manufacturing and mining, the two key sectors in the index of industrial production (IIP). The IIP data reveal that even as the statistical base effect of the robust growth notched up in February last year contributed significantly to the poor show of numbers, the prime culprits to blame for the slippage in manufacturing were the capital goods and basic goods segments which performed dismally. 7. BHEL, GAIL may get Maharatna status soon Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises ministry is considering granting Maharatna status to BHEL and GAIL. The status of 'Maharatna' will provide greater financial and operational freedom to public sector companies. At present, there are five Maharatna companies ONGC, Indian Oil, SAIL, NTPC and CIL and 15 Navratna companies, including BHEL, GAIL and NMDC. 8. IMF lowers India's growth to 8.2% The International Monetary Fund is no longer so bullish on India's economic growth, it lowered the growth projection for 2011 to 8.2%, as against 10.4% for 2010 when India was projected to be the fastest growing major economy ahead of China's 10.3%. For 2011, India's growth estimate is 140 basis points (100 basis points equal a percentage point) lower than China's 9.6%. India's growth rate is expected to moderate further to 7.75% in 2012, IMF said in its April 2011 World Economic Outlook. Growth apart, the multilateral agency has also cautioned on the overall economic situation with red lights for several key economic indicators, including inflation and output relative to trend. This means that production was growing faster than the average and inflation was historically high. Page 1 of 2 12th April 2011

9. Siemens exits nuclear joint venture with Areva Germany's sold its stake in a joint venture to build nuclear power plants with Areva NP billion ($2.3 billion) to the French firm. The company had sold its 34 per cent stake to Areva SA which also owns the remaining 66 per cent. In 2009, the German engineering company pulled out of the Areva NP unit, the world's largest builder of atomic power plants, complaining that its minority shareholding didn't give it enough say over the business. Munich based Siemens then announced it would join Russia's Rosatom to develop nuclear reactors, but that deal is on hold pending the Areva proceedings. 10. Watson hits record sixes in Aussie win Shane Watson smashed a record 15 sixes in a career-best 185 not out as Australia clinched a three-match One-Day International series against Bangladesh with a nine-wicket win in the second ODI . The explosive opener gave a superb display of power-hitting as he also cracked 15 fours in his 96-ball knock to help Australia achieve a 230-run target with 24 overs to spare for an unbeatable 2-0 lead. West Indies' Xavier Marshall was the previous record-holder with 12 sixes against Canada in 2008. Watson also scored the most runs (150) in boundaries in a one-day innings, breaking South African Herschelle Gibbs's record of 126. Watson's knock was also the highest by an Australian in ODIs, the previous best being 181 not out by Matthew Hayden. He completed his sixth one-day hundred off just 69 balls, the third-fastest by an Australian after Hayden (66 balls) and Gilchrist (67 balls).

Page 2 of 2 12th April 2011