Current Affairs - 15.08.2010

• Highlights of Prime Minister’s Independence Day speech

• PM says government working for new inclusive India.
• PM asks Naxals to abjure violence, come forward for talks.
• PM invites alienated and dissatisfied groups in Jammu and Kashmir and North East to experience the potential of Indian democracy to accommodate divergent views and aspirations.
• PM says India wants a strong, stable and united Pakistan, but Islamabad has to act against terror.
• Government committed to the aam aadmi (common man).
• It is working for food safety and social security net, says PM.
• PM says farmers have been paid record minimum support price.
• Inflation will come down, assures the PM.
• Time for consolidation and fine tuning of Bharat Nirman flagship programmes, says the PM.
• PM announces separate councils for higher education and health, asks for a clean India campaign.
• PM cautions against harsh words and offensive language in public life.
• PM appeals to make the Commonwealth Games a success.

• Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday said peace talks with neighbouring Pakistan would not succeed unless Islamabad stopped cross-border terrorism.In a speech delivered from the historic Red Fort in New Delhi on the country’s 64th Independence Day, Dr. Singh also called for an end to violent separatist protests in Kashmir and invited Maoist rebels for talks.
• Government has declared the Leh disaster as a "calamity of severe nature", allowing MPs to contribute Rs 50 lakhs from the MPLAD scheme towards relief in the cloudburst affected region."In the event of calamity of severe nature in any part of the country, an MP can recommend works upto a maximum of Rs 50 lakhs for the affected district," the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha Secretariats have told the members. 
• The Supreme Court on Friday asked Parliament to revisit the provision relating to cruelty and dowry harassment, pointing out that large number of frivolous complaints are filed and courts are flooded with such matrimonial cases.A Bench of Justice Dalveer Bhandari and Justice K.S. Radhakrishnan said “a serious relook of the entire provision is warranted by the legislation.”
• The devastating earthquake that rocked Haiti in January was unleashed by a previously undetected fault line, not the well-known one initially blamed, according to an analysis of new data.It’s unclear how dangerous the new, unmapped fault might be or how it’s discovery changes the overall earthquake hazard risk for Haiti, said Eric Calais, a professor of geophysics at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, who presented the findings this week at a scientific conference in Brazil.
• A British toy maker has invented a super-smart robot that can learn from the Internet, crack jokes and sing karaoke. 
• KOLKATA: The West Bengal government on Sunday announced a post-retirement pension scheme for journalists and promised to implement a health insurance scheme for them soon. "All accredited journalists will be given a monthly pension of Rs 2,000 after retirement. We are planning to raise this amount in the future," finance ministerAsim Dasgupta said at an Independence Day function at the Press Club, Kolkata.
• ISLAMABAD: UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday urged the world to quicken aid for up to 20 million people hit by Pakistan's worst humanitarian crisis as he flew in to visit areas ravaged by record floods. The United Nations has appealed for 460 million dollars to deal with the immediate aftermath of the floods but has warned that billions will be required in the long term with villages, businesses, crops and infrastructure wiped out.
• Global climate change is partly to blame for the abnormally hot and dry weather in Moscow, cloaked in a haze of smoke from wildfires, say researchers.The UK Met Office said there are likely to be more extreme high temperatures in the future.Experts from the environmental group WWF Russia have also linked climate change and hot weather to raging wildfires around the Russian capital.
• U.S. President Barack Obama sent his congratulations to all who will celebrate the 63rd anniversary of India’s Independence this weekend and said, “Indians around the world can not only look back on their history with pride, but can also look ahead to a future filled with hope and further progress.”