The President of India, Smt. Pratibha Devisingh Patil has greeted the nation on the eve of the New Year 2012. In a message, the President has said: “On the joyous occasion of the New Year, I extend my greetings and best wishes to all my fellow citizens for a happy and prosperous New Year.
May the coming year bring happiness to the nation and let us resolve to work with all dedication and a sense of pride in whatever activities we undertake”
A hearing was held by the Information Commissioner Shri Shailesh Gandhi on 29th December 2011 on an appeal filed by Shri Subhash Chandra Aggarwal of Delhi against the response of the Ministry of External Affairs to his RTI application dated 12th July 2011 seeking details of External Affairs Minister’s visit to UK from 29th June to 3rd July 2011.
The Commission upheld the Ministry’s position that the record of discussions between the two Foreign Ministers was not to be disclosed. Accordingly, as per the order of the Information Commissioner the Ministry would share with the applicant 03 pages of the notings pertaining to the preparations for the visit, the press release issued on the visit and the suggested tentative program drawn up prior to the visit.
The Union Home Minister, Shri P. Chidambaram said that “Capacity building” and “Containment of violence” were the watch word of the Ministry this year. While presenting the Report Card of the Ministry December, 2011 here today he also said that following the Memorandum of Settlement with UPDS, he is hopeful of more agreements with insurgents groups of the North East will be signed in the coming year.
He said that on December 4, 2011, tripartite talks with NDFB (Progressive) and DHD were held to finalize the Memorandum of Settlement with each of the groups. On December 5, 2011, a tripartite meeting with DHD (J) was held to finalize the Memorandum of Settlement. On December 17, 2011, a tripartite meeting with DHD (Nunisa) was held to finalize the Memorandum of Settlement.
The year 2011 has been a satisfactory year with many achievements, yet with some setbacks. I expect that capacity building will continue to be the focus for another 2-3 years before we can claim that we have adequate capacity to face the multiple challenges to internal security. Capacity building in the future would have to take note of technological advances and incorporate new technology into the security architecture. Violence is still at an unacceptably high level and every effort will be made to contain violence. Militant groups will be prevailed upon, through a judicious mix of police action and developmental action, to realize the futility of violence and that the only way to resolve differences in a democratic society is through talks.
Government of India have announced the sale (re-issue) of following Government Stocks
The auctions will be conducted using uniformprice method. The auctions will be conducted by the Reserve Bank of India, Mumbai Office, Fort, Mumbai on December 30, 2011 (Friday). This is in partial modification of issuance calendar due to cancellation of auction of 7.99% Government Stock 2017 (Rs.4,000 crore) on November 11, 2011 and emerging cash requirement of the Government. Up to 5% of the notified amount of the sale of the stocks will be allotted to eligible individuals and Institutions as per the Scheme for Non-Competitive Bidding Facility in the Auction of Government Securities.
Both competitive and non-competitive bids for the auction should be submitted in electronic format on the Negotiated Dealing System (NDS) on December 30 2011. The non- competitive bids should be submitted between 10.30 a.m. and 11.30 a.m. and the competitive bids should be submitted between 10.30 a.m. and 12.30 p.m.
The result of the auctions will be announced on December 30, 2011 and payment by successful bidders will be on January 02, 2012 (Monday).
The Stocks will be eligible for “When Issued” trading in accordance with the guidelines on
‘When Issued transactions in Central Government Securities’ issued by the Reserve Bank of India vide circular No. RBI /2006-07/178 dated November 16, 2006 as amended from time to time.