• Prime Minister calls for innovative solutions to address constraints in the development of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises.

• Aam Aadmi Party launches its three-day yatra covering 15 Lok Sabha seats in Uttar Pradesh today.
• Former Army Chief General V. K. Singh joins BJP.
• Madhya Pradesh government implements National Food Security Act from today.
• Ukraine accuses Moscow of armed invasion of its Crimean peninsula.
• Pakistan take on South Africa in the final of ICC Under 19 Cricket World cup in Dubai today.

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Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh has urged the industry associations and chamber of commerce to come forward with innovative solutions to address constraints in the development of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, MSME, sector. Addressing a MSME National Awards function in New Delhi today, Dr Singh also asked them to provide constructive inputs for policy formulation and implementation. He stated, that strong performance of the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is necessary to achieve rapid and inclusive growth.

"It's matter of considerable satisfaction for all of us, that the MSME sector has grown at a healthy rate of 10% in recent years. Our government has taken a number of steps to remove the constrains that impede faster development of this vital sector."

Dr. Singh said the government's initiatives can succeed only with the participation of the private sector and civil society. Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises Minister K H Muniyappa said his ministry is implementing a comprehensive reform package for the Khadi sector through the Asian Development Bank funding. He said the package includes upgradation and capacity building of three hundred Khadi institutions and improved marketing with a financial assistance of 950 crore rupees. The Minister requested the Prime Minister to waive off the outstanding loans of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission to make it debt free.

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President Pranab Mukherjee has said that the security forces and the intelligence mechanism have to be alert always to avert any event that can strike terror or disrupt peace. Speaking at the Diamond Jubilee celebrations of the Central Reserve Police Force in New Delhi yesterday, the President said, the pernicious designs of terrorists have to be defeated at all levels with a multi-pronged approach.

 "India in particular is a target of various terrorist groups operating in the region. The Security forces and the intelligence mechanism have to be alert every second, to alert any event that can strike terror or disrupt peace."

Worrying about increasing communal violence in the country, the President added that the communication system needs to be strengthened to control its spread. Noting the widespread use of social media, Mr Mukherjee asked the security agencies to keep a vigil on incendiary messages on social media platform.

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Former Army chief General V K Singh today joined the BJP. Some ex-servicemen also joined the party along with General Singh in the presence of Party President Rajnath Singh in New Delhi. Speaking on the occasion, General Singh claimed that ex-servicemen joining BJP will make the party stronger.

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Ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal launched his three-day yatra in Uttar Pradesh today. He kick-started the roadshow from AAP office in Kaushambi in Ghaziabad as part of his 500 km yatra. It will cover 15 Lok Sabha seats. Targeting both Congress & BJP, Kejriwal said that the country will continue to bleed because of corruption, if BJP comes to power. He stressed that the price rise, corruption and communalism are our biggest enemies and other parties aren't doing anything about these issues. Senior party leader Manish Sisodia accompanying Kejriwal in the road-show said Uttar Pradesh is backward and AAP intends to target other parties over a number of issues plaguing the state which is dominated by caste and religion politics. He said we want to replace it with politics of development.

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Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi, who began a two-day visit of the state from the capital Lucknow yesterday, is interacting with people at the grass root level. He held a chopal with Rickshaw pullers in Varanasi near the main railway station.

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In Bihar JD(U) supporters took out rallies in various parts to garner support on its demand for special status for the state. Chief Minister and JD(U) senior leader Nitish Kumar has called for a bandh tomorrow to protest against the centre not granting special status to Bihar. He has appealed to all political parties to support the statewide band. But, the main opposition BJP is not supporting tomorrow's band. State party Vice President Sanjay Mayuk told AIR Patna correspondent that the BJP is doing so as the ruling party had not supported their Rail Roko program yesterday on the same issue. However, the CPI and CPI(M) have decided to support the JD(U) band.

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In Madhya Pradesh, the bandh sponsored by the main opposition Congress has evoked mixed response across the state today. Our Bhopal correspondent reports that the main markets and commercial establishments are closed in major towns including Bhopal, Indore and Gwalior. All the essential services including schools and colleges have been exempted from the bandh.

The Congress has called the bandh to press its demand for CBI enquiry into the State Professional Examination Board scam. Large scale irregularities and forgery have come to the fore in several entrance examinations of the board and the state’s Special Task Force is probing the scam.

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Still in Madhya Pradesh, the National Food Security Act has come into force from today. Our Bhopal correspondent reports that this Act will cover 75 percent of the states population.

 "The Central Government will provide wheat at the rate of two rupees per kilogram and rice at three rupees per kilogram to the state government under the National Food Security Act. However, both wheat and rice will be provided at the rate of one rupee per kilogram under the state government’s Mukhyamantri Annapurna Yojana by giving additional subsidy to all eligible families. So far, over 3 crore 70 lakh names have been included in the Food and Civil Supplies department’s Samagra online Portal. Out of these, 2 crore 84 lakh beneficiaries belong to rural areas and 86 lakh 70 thousand belong to urban areas. Shariq Noor, AIR News,Bhopal."

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The government has cleared disinvestment in state-owned Indian Oil Corporation, IOC, and Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited, BHEL. The sale would fetch over 7,300 crore rupees to the exchequer in the current financial year. The decision to go ahead with stake sale of ten per cent in IOC and 5 per cent in BHEL was taken by the Empowered Group of Ministers on disinvestment yesterday.

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Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE, board exams for class 10th and class 12th began today. About 22 lakh students across the country are taking the exams. The class 12th exam will end on the 17th of next month while the 10th class exam will continue till the 31st of this month.

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The people in the national capital Delhi, experienced a chilly morning today with the minimum temperature recorded at 12 degrees Celsius, average for the season. Talking to AIR, Head of Agriculture Physics Division in the Indian Agriculture Research Institute, Ravinder Singh said, the rain is good for Rabi crops particularly in rainfed areas. He however said that mature wheat crops may get damaged due to water logging caused by the heavy rain and strong wind conditions.

"This rain is good for Rabi crops particularly in rainfed areas or rainfed crops and one or two irritations are saved in irrigated crops. Last night we received rain 37 mm and wind speed is very high, 40-45 km/h. This rain may cause some damage to mature mustard crops by logging, because mustard crop is going to harvest in very short time. So, we advise to the farmers that they keep watch on their crops because of the high humidity, fungus may attack on logged crops and quality of the crops may be affected."

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In Himachal Pradesh, there is no respite from chill and cold wave with intermittent snow in higher reaches and rain still continuing on the third consecutive day today. Snowfall in tribal areas of Lahaul Spiti, Kinnaur and Chamba has disrupted normal life. The Entire upper hill state remains engulfed in icy winds and chill causing a sharp fall in the temperature. Bharmaur in Chamba district recorded minus nine degree Celsius during the last 24 hours. Keylong recorded minus 4.4 while Kalpa shivered at minus 4.2 Manali almost at the freezing point. Met office has forecast rain or snowfall at many places in high hilly areas and thunder showers in lower hills and plains of the state today. Many areas of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh also experienced moderate rain fall last night and today. Met Office has predicted more rain and fall in temperature.

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Ukraine has accused Moscow of 'armed invasion' of Crimea. Ukrainian President's special representative in Crimea, Sergiy Kunitsyn told a local TV channel that 13 Russian aircraft carrying nearly 2,000 suspected troops have landed at a military air base near the regional capital of the restive Crimean peninsula. He added that the air space had been closed. The UN Security Council has held a brief "private meeting" followed by consultations to discuss concerns about rapidly changing events in Ukraine. Ukrainian ambassador Yuriy Sergeyev said Russia's expanding military presence in Crimea was a "challenge to the security and peace in the region and also a challenge to the territorial integrity of Ukraine.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has expressed deep concern over reported Russian military activity inside Ukraine.

"Any violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity would be deeply de-stablising, which is not in the interest of Ukraine, Russia or Europe. We would represent a profounded interference in matters that must be determined by the Ukrainian people."

Obama warned "there will be costs" for any intervention. He, however, did not say what those costs might be.

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Sri Lanka police has confirmed that remains of at least nine bodies have been found buried in a private garden in the northern district of Mullaittivu. This is the area where the last battles were fought between the security forces and the LTTE. The police say investigations are on at the site. This is the latest of the number of mass graves that have been found since the end of the civil war in 2009. Sri Lanka Army has rejected allegations that the security forces could have had a role in these killings. Meanwhile, investigation into another mass grave site is dragging on for over a year. Remains of more than 80 bodies have been unearthed at that site.

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In Thailand, opposition protesters seeking to force the Prime Minister from office have decided to end their self-styled shutdown of Bangkok. The protestors said that they would abandon most of their rally sites in the capital after sharp fall in attendance at the demonstrations in recent weeks. It is a relief for the embattled premier Yingluck Shinawatra, who has been under intense pressure to resign following four months of protests.

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In the ICC Under 19 Cricket World cup final Pakistan take on South Africa in Dubai today. Pakistan beat England while South Africa defeated Australia in the Semifinals. Defending champions India have been relegated to the fifth position in the tournament.

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Indo Pak Express of Rohan Bopanna and Aihsan ul Haq Qureshi will take on Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic duo in the doubles final of Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship today. Bopanna and Qureshi beat Tomasz Bednarek and Lukas Dlouhy 6-2, 6-0 in the Semifinals. Five times champion Roger Federer will clash with last year’s finalist Tomas Berdych in the Singles final. Federer stunned the defending champion and number one seed Novak Djokovic 3-6,6-3,6-2 while Berdych had an easy win over Philip Kohl Schriebber 7-5, 7-5 in the other Semifinal.

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Japanese researchers are testing tiny ear computer that is worn on the ear and can be controlled with the blink of an eye or the click of a tongue. The 17-gram wireless device, known at the moment as the "Earclip-type Wearable PC" has a microchip and data storage, enabling users to load software. It has bluetooth capability and is equipped with a GPS, compass, gyro-sensor, battery, barometer, speaker and microphone.

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