Daily News Mail - News of 13/03/2015

International Women's Day - 8 March

Rhino numbers rise in West Bengal

• West Bengal is now home to the second highest population of the one-horned rhinoceros in the country after Assam, with the number growing to 250 in the State.
• A State Forest Department survey in January has revealed that the Jaldapara National Park in the State has nearly 200 of these endangered animals and the Gorumara National Park, 50. Jaldapara now has the second highest population of them after the Kaziranga National Park in Assam, which has over 2,000.
• Jaldapara recorded 186 in the previous survey in 2013 and Gorumara 46 in 2014, V.K. Sood, Chief Conservator of Forests (Wildlife), North Bengal, told The Hindu on Thursday.
• Admitting to incidents of poaching, Forest Minister said the State had set up a new body involving personnel of forces such as the Border Security Force and the Shashatra Seema Bal. The rhino habitat is on the borders with Nepal and Bhutan.
• Reports showed at least five incidents of poaching in north Bengal in the past year. The State Wildlife Board has suggested that forest guards be issued shoot-at-sight orders, but the government has so far not agreed to it.

A one-horn rhino in Jaldapara National Park, Jalpaiguri

What's the coal scam about?

It is not the judge’s case that Dr. Singh was dishonest and had received a consideration for awarding the mine to Hindalco. None in his senses would allege that the former Prime Minister had received any illegal gratification. As against this are the several circumstances pertaining to the award that indicated that Dr. Singh and his office had shown undue interest in granting the coal block (Talabira II in the State of Odisha) to Hindalco. These included a personal meeting, on June 17, 2005, between Dr. Singh and Mr. Birla (as also a letter to the former from Mr. Birla), subsequent to which there was an alleged somersault from the earlier position that no mine will be awarded to a private company, and that it would be only to a public sector organisation, like the Neyveli Lignite Corporation (NLC), that would be preferred. This does not clinch the guilt of Dr. Singh, but certainly compounds the suspicion against him. It did not matter whether he was acting on his own or at the behest of someone else. The fact of the matter was that he was Coal Minister on that day, apart from being the Prime Minister.

Centre expect Rs. 25,000 crore inflows due to insurance FDI

• Following the passage of the Insurance Bill in Rajya Sabha - which raises FDI in the sector to 49% from 26%, Centre expect inflow of Rs. 25,000 crore FDI in insurance sector.
• Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said,“What we had estimated is, if we have to increase insurance penetration from 3% currently to 6 %, then we will require capital somewhere in the range of Rs.40,000-50,000 crore, of which, of course, 49% will have to come from FDI.

Retail inflation rises

• Rising for the third straight month, consumer price inflation edged up to 5.37% in February from 5.11% (5.19% revised) in January. The pace, however, remains slower than the rate a year ago — of 7.9%.
• Food inflation rose 6.8% during February with relatively higher rates of rise in prices of fruits, vegetables, spices, pulses, meat and fish and pre-packed food products. The rate of price rise in pulses was 10.6%. Inflation in prices of vegetables was high at 13% as it was for milk and milk products at 9.2%. Prices of fruits also grew fast at 8.9%.
•  In a recent agreement, the Centre and the Reserve Bank of India agreed to a 6% inflation level target for January, 2016.

Karnataka retains Ranji Trophy

• Karnataka 762 (Nair 328, Rahul 188, Vinay 105*) beat Tamil Nadu 134 (Vinay 5-34) and 411 (Karthik 120, Shankar 103, Shreyas 4-126) by an innings and 217 runs, and retains Ranji Trophy.
• BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur gave away the trophy. KSCA will receive Rs. 2 crore, while TNCA will get Rs. 1 crore.
• Karnataka bagged their eighth Ranji title, thus becoming the second-most successful team in the history of the tournament behind Mumbai's 40 titles. Karnataka were tied with Delhi at seven titles apiece at the start of the season
• In this match, Karnataka batsman Karun Nair broke the record for the highest score in a Ranji Trophy final on Day 4 of the ongoing final against Tamil Nadu at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. Resuming the day on the overnight score of 310*, Nair surpassed Gul Mohammad’s 319 for Baroda against Holkar in the 1946-47 season in next-to-no time to etch his name in the record books.

Ranji Trophy

The Ranji Trophy is a domestic first-class cricket championship played in India between teams representing regional cricket associations. The competition currently consists of 27 teams, with 21 of the 29 states in India and Delhi (which is an Union Territory), having at least one representation. The competition is named after England and Sussex cricketer Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji (Jam Sahib of Nawanagar, also known as "Ranji").

Karnataka Team with Ranji Trophy