Saravanan's Blog

CAPTION: Union Shipping Minister G. K. Vasan (Centre) during the release of knowledge paper on maritime sector at the inauguration of India Maritime -2012, held at Panaji, Goa. Also seen (from left) are: FICCI Advisor Rajan Kohli, Mormugao Port Trust Deputy Chairman Biplav Kumar; Union Shipping Secretary P. K. Sinha; Ernst & Young's Soumitra Pandey; Essar Port CEO Rajiv Agarwal and Goa Chamber President Manguirish N Pai Raiker. Source: www.sagarsandesh.com PANAJI: Strongly advocating for a level playing field for all-round growth in the shipping sector, Union Shipping Secretary P. K. Sinha has announced that the Shipping Ministry is in the advanced stages of introducing flexible tariff determination system for all ports. Delivering the key-note address during the inaugural session of India Maritime - 2012, jointly organized by the Shipping Ministry and FICCI at Panaji, Goa, Mr. Sinha said: ...

CAPTION:Union Shipping Minister G. K. Vasan and Union Shipping Secretary P. K. Sinha jointly cutting  the ribbon to mark the inauguration of the India Maritime-2012 exhibition at Panaji, Goa,   on Oct. 17, as Chairmen of Goa, JNPT and Chennai ports look on. -Vasan injects a new lease of life -Goa Port is passing through difficult times for some time, as arrival of its main cargo items - coal and  iron ore - had been stopped abruptly  -In future the port will handle container also. Source: www.sagarsandesh.com PANAJI: In an attempt to keep the stakeholders of shipping and export-import fraternity in Goa happy, who were facing uncertain future due to sudden stoppage of coal and iron ore handling at Goa Port, Union Shipping  Minister G.K. Vasan has  announced that his Ministry is  taking efforts to convert the  port into a multi-cargo  handling port. Making the much-anticipated...

Source:  http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/burundi-eritrea-haiti-top-2012-global-hunger-index By Katie Nguyen LONDON (AlertNet) - Twenty countries have "alarming" or "extremely alarming" levels of hunger with Burundi the worst affected, followed by Eritrea and Haiti, according to this year's  Global Hunger Index  which examines the problem of producing more food with fewer resources. Demographic changes, increases in income, climate change and poor policies are worsening a shortage of natural resources like land, water and energy that threatens food production, the accompanying report said. "It is an absolute must that we start now to produce more food using fewer resources and to use the harvest more efficiently. But we also face the reality that decades of effort and rhetoric have so far failed to eradicate hunger," the foreword to the report said. Progress in reducing the proportion of hungry people in the world has been "tragical...

Source:  http://gcaptain.com/boost-chinas-power/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Gcaptain+%28gCaptain.com%29 By Gabe Collins and Andrew Erickson Now that the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) has  commissioned its first aircraft carrier  and may be looking to assemble one or more carrier groups over time, what about the rest of the fleet? One development that carries broad implications for the enhancement of Chinese sea power is the recent launch of the first editions of the new 6,000-ton Type 052D Luyang III-class destroyer, which marks a new stage in the PLAN’s prolonged period of experimentation with different destroyers. The Type 052D represents an evolution of the existing Type 052C Luyang II-class destroyer. The latter are now in mass production, with 8 hulls in service, the first commissioned in 2004. At least six 052Cs have been launched since the end of 2010, according to Chinese media reports, of which...

Source:  http://www.lankastandard.com/2012/09/the-menik-farm-lie-who-says-we-are-resettled-asks-an-idp/ By Nirmala Kannangara  “As you know the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) will take place in Geneva in November, 2012. It is through this the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) will examine the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. The government wants to score marks by announcing that they were able to re-settle all the IDPs who were in Manik Farm. That was why wide publicity was given about this ‘resettlement’ during the past few days. Only we know as to how the last batch of IDPs were ‘resettled’ in this Suriyapuram camp,” – military personnel at the Suriyapuram camp   Reporting from Puthukkudiyiruppu and Nandikadal in Mullaitivu: I n order to win over the international community and window dress itself before the crucial Universal Periodic Review of the Human Rights Council coming up this October and November, the government has been engag...

Source:  http://www.crisisgroup.org/en/regions/asia/south-asia/sri-lanka/op-eds/keenan-sri-lanka-time-for-action-not-action-plans.aspx Masters of prevarication, t he Sri Lankan Government is once again stalling the UN's attempt to ensure an open assessment of the brutal final stages of the country's civil war. The regime is probably hoping interest will fade, b ut every day it refuses a fair examination of some 40,000 civilian deaths is another small step away from reconciliation between the Sinhalese-dominated state and Tamils, and toward the next ethnic conflict. Colombo's contempt for the international community seems to know no bounds. Six months after the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) requested that Sri Lanka address its culture of impunity and badly damaged rule of law, the regime has taken no concrete action. The HRC's March resolution on 'Promoting Reconciliation and Accountability in Sri Lanka' requested the government 'address alleged vi...