12 convicted in 7/11 blasts case – (Security)
- After an eight-year-long trial, a Special MCOCA Court here on Friday convicted 12 persons of hatching a criminal conspiracy and executing a series of blasts on Mumbai’s local trains on July 11 2006. The explosions claimed 189 lives and injured over 800 people.
Nepal to neutralise trafficking network – (Social Issues)
- The Nepalese Police have registered a fresh case to identify, trace and apprehend the chief protagonists of what is believed to be a new module of international human traffickers which started operations between Kathmandu and several other South Asian nations after a devastating earthquake jolted the Himalayan nation in April.
Ancient twin caves discovered in Nalgonda – (Indian Culture)
- In a significant discovery, the Department of Archaeology and Museums has come across naturally formed ancient twin caves which pre-historic man could have made his habitation in Nalgonda district of Telangana on Thursday.
- According to experts in the Department of Archaeology, the 200-metre-deep caves, a rare find, are probably the oldest-ever discovered in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.
A new Tahrir moment? – (International Relation)
- Protests for civic services in Baghdad and Beirut bring hope, even as sectarianism rages in West Asia.
- Embers of a post-sectarian world are not hard to find across West Asia. They are also found in the Syrian refugee camps. Given the nature of the war in Syria, one would expect that the rancid wires of sectarianism would tear apart the fragile sense of Syrian nationality. But this is not the case, as survival is the main objective.
A visionary on water issues – (Governaance)
- Ramaswamy R. Iyer, water policy expert who wrote extensively for The Hindu , saw rivers not as pipelines to be cut and welded, but as inextricable parts of the lives of communities.
- The theory that ‘development’ entails ‘costs’ and that this is a ‘sacrifice’ that some must accept in order that others might benefit must be firmly abandoned.
The perils for Yemen – (International Relation)
- The bombing of two boats carrying also Indians off Yemen’s coast by Saudi warplanes this week shows that Riyadh is indiscriminately using air power to pound Yemen in the name of fighting Houthi rebels.
- It’s still not clear why the Saudis targeted the boats, which were moving across the Red Sea from the Somalian port of Berbera to Mokha in Yemen.
4.2 per cent growth in July – (Economics)
- The provisional figures of the Index of Industrial Production (IIP) for July show a growth of 4.2 per cent in industrial activity, down from the 4.4 per cent seen in June.
- It is encouraging to see the positive growth in manufacturing over the last few months and we hope that this growth and demand will pick up as we are nearing the festive season. There is a potential to take this growth to a higher level with the help of more supportive policies for stimulating domestic demand and exports -JYOTSNA SURI, PRESIDENT, FICCI
Generics to double in five years – (Economics)
- The domestic generic drug market is expected to cross $27.9 billion from the current level of $13.1 billion registering compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of about 16.3 per cent particularly due to approval accorded by USFDA makers and 21 drugs patent losing patent by 2019, according to a joint study by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Assocham) and RNCOS.
- Generics would account for 85 per cent share in the domestic pharma market by 2020, fuelled by cheap labour, patent cliff of blockbuster drugs and prevalence of lifestyle diseases, according to a study on ‘Generic Medicines in India – Promulgating Growth & Access.’
SEBI notifies norms for anchor investors in public offers – (Economics)
- With an aim to boost fund raising through primary markets, capital markets regulator the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has notified relaxed norms for public offers by removing restriction on maximum number of anchor investors.
- The present regulation limit the number of anchor investors at 15, if the public issue size is under Rs.250 crore and this can increased to 25 if the issue size is over Rs.250 crore.