SYL Canal: Presidential Reference filed in Supreme Court
New Delhi: The Central Government today filed a Presidential Reference under Article 143 in the Supreme Court in the matter of construction of the Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal, seeking the court's opinion on the Punjab Government's enactment of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004. The Act terminates all inter-State treaties and tribunal awards, which are yet to be given effect.

In his four-point reference, the President, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, seeks to know whether the Act is constitutionally valid and really discharges the State Government from the water agreements. It affects the agreement on sharing of the waters of the — Ravi, Beas and Sutlej — among Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. The matter is likely to be referred to a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court.

The SYL Canal runs for 121 km in Punjab and 90 km in Haryana and is supposed to carry a major share of Haryana's average share of the Ravi-Beas waters under an agreement between the States concerned in 1981. The construction of the canal in Haryana is complete. Punjab undertook in 1982 to complete the construction of its portion of the canal but abandoned it in 1991.
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K.Rahman Khan elected Deputy Speaker of Rajya Sabha
New Delhi: The chartered accountant-turned-educationist K. Rahman Khan of the Congress has been unanimously elected Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha.
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India to give South Asian journalists multiple entry visas
Islamabad: India today decided to grant one-year multiple entry visa to executive members of the South Asian journalist body, SAFMA.
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Water from desalination at 25 paise a litre
New Delhi: The Government said that it has the technology for desalination facilities, which can produce potable water for as less as 25 paise per litre. The Minister of State for Science and Technology, Kapil Sibal, said that the Department of Ocean Development (DoD) was in the process of setting up a one lakh lpd capacity desalination plant at Kavaratti, Lakshadweep. This would basically be an upscaled version of the 5,000 lpd pilot project set up at the National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) in Chennai.

This new plant will employ "thermal gradient" technology as opposed to the conventional reverse osmosis (RO) method of desalination. Thermal gradient technology essentially exploits the temperature difference existing at various depths of the ocean, ranging from 26-27 degree Celsius on the surface to 13-14 degrees down 200 metres. The Mumbai-based Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), too, has established expertise in erecting commercial desalination plants using RO technology, with an existing plant at Kalpakkam, near Chennai, producing about 18 lakh lpd per day.
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28 FDI proposals cleared
New Delhi: A total of 28 FDI proposals involving investment worth Rs 20.29 crore were cleared by the Finance Minister, P. Chidambaram. Matrix Laboratories' proposal to bring in further foreign direct investment (FDI) worth Rs 5.14 crore from Mauritius-based India Newbridge Partners FDI Ltd was among the FDI proposals cleared by the Government today. The majority of the proposals are in the areas of chemicals and petrochemicals, rendering catering and allied services and software development. The other proposals cleared by the Minister include France-based Sermo Montaigu's plan to infuse FDI to the tune of Rs 6.5 crore into Sermr-Pm India Ltd, engaged in design and manufacture of precision plastic injection and compression mode. The Minister has also approved Real Image Media Technologies' plan to bring in fresh FDI worth Rs 2.73 crore from Street Edge Mauritius for setting up a recording studio.
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