The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) :: New Secretary

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), also called the (North) Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance based on the North Atlantic Treaty which was signed on 4 April 1949. The organization constitutes a system of collective defense whereby its member states agree to mutual defense in response to an attack by any external party. NATO's headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium, one of the 28 member states across North America and Europe, the newest of which, Albania and Croatia, joined in April 2009. An additional 22 countries participate in NATO's Partnership for Peace program, with 15 other countries involved in institutionalized dialogue programmes. The combined military spending of all NATO members constitutes over 70% of the world's defense spending.

Article Five of the treaty states that if an armed attack occurs against one of the member states, it should be considered an attack against all members, and other members shall assist the attacked member, with armed forces if necessary.

Of the 28 member countries, two are located in North America (Canada and the United States) and 25 are European countries while Turkey is in Eurasia. All members have militaries, although Iceland does not have a typical army (it does, however, have a military coast guard and a small unit of soldiers for NATO operations). Three of NATO's members are nuclear weapons states: France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. NATO has 12 original founding member nation states and through April 2009 it has added 16 more member nations.

NATO countries have agreed that former Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg will become NATO's next leader at a time when the Western military alliance faces a new challenge in dealing with a resurgent Russia, will succeed current secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen as decided on Friday the Mar 28, 2014 w.e.f. 1st October, 2014.

Stoltenberg, who served for nearly 10 years in total as Norway's prime minister before losing power in elections last September, was backed by the United States, NATO's dominant power, Germany and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Rasmussen, a former Danish prime minister who took office in 2009, is due to step down at the end of September 2014 after a September 4-5 NATO summit in Wales which will mark almost the end of NATO's combat mission in Afghanistan.

Stoltenberg will take over at a time when NATO, seen by some as a Cold War relic, has gained new relevance because of Russia's occupation and annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

NATO foreign ministers are expected to discuss at a meeting next week how they can reinforce NATO's military presence in eastern European countries such as the Baltics and Poland which are nervous about heightened tensions with Russia.

Lok Sabha election in Tripura

The Lok Sabha election campaign is reaching its peak in Tripura, with 25 candidates, (13 : West; 12:  East) the highest so far, contesting in the two constituencies of the only Left-ruled State.

The election this time is significant for major parties for different reasons. The Communist Party of India (Marxist), in power in the State for many years with decisive support from the electorate, is working hard not only to win but also to enhance its vote share.

The reason the CPI(M) decided to go in for new faces in the West Tripura and the East Tripura (tribal reserved) constituencies may perhaps be to achieve the twin aims. Jitendra Choudhury, popular tribal leader and Industries Minister, is its candidate in the East constituency, which is going to the polls on April 12, and youth leader Shankar Prasad Datta in the West (April 7), replacing three-time MPs Bajuban Reang and Khagen Das, who will now devote themselves to party affairs in the State.

Development work, tackling of insurgency, job creation, ethnic and communal harmony and implementation of schemes to reduce poverty and improve the living condition of the poor are major election planks of the Manik Sarkar government. The CPI(M) has been making clear its aim of defeating both the “communal” Bharatiya Janata Party and the “corrupt” Congress, and install an alternative government at the Centre as it makes its poll pitch before the nearly 24 lakh voters, 33 percent of them tribal, in the State.

The immediate rival of the CPI(M) had been the Congress for decades till the Trinamool Congress became a force to reckon with.

Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee, who has given a call to oust the CPI(M) in the State as she did in West Bengal, is arriving on April 1 for the second round of her campaign.

She has fielded the former Congress Minister and chairman of the Trinamool State unit, Ratan Chakraborty, in the West constituency with a eye on restricting the fight between the CPI(M) and her party.

The Trinamool nominee in the East constituency, Bhriguram Reang, does not have much political clout. So is Sanjit Reang of the Congress. The Congress, however, tried to make an impression in the West constituency by nominating Arunoday Saha, the first Vice-Chancellor of Tripura University, a Central institution.

Mr. Saha is facing a challenge from the former Congress MLA Subal Bhowmik, who is contesting as Tripura Pragatishil Gramin Congress candidate. Mr. Bhowmik has a good following in parts of West Tripura, and his party is going to eat into the Congress vote share.

Tripura remains a CPI(M) bastion even after the party went out of power in West Bengal and Kerala.

The State saw a high voter turnout of 92 per cent in the previous Assembly election.

Oldest parliamentarian Rishang Keishing retires after seven decades in politics

Rishang Keishing, 94-year-old Rajya Sabha member and former four time Chief Minister of Manipur is the oldest serving parliamentarian in the world.

He was elected to the first Lok Sabha in 1952 as a member of the Socialist Party in the opposition. The former school teacher had served also two tenure in Rajya Sabha and two tenures in Lok Sabha. He joined Congress in 1962.

His term in the upper house of Indian parliament ends on 9 April, 2014. However, he has decided to voluntarily retire on 21 February 2014. He is from Bungpa village, Ukhrul District in Manipur.

SC notice on facilitating voting by NRIs

The Supreme Court on March 29th 2014, Friday issued notice to the central government asking why NRIs who are registered voters should not get the opportunity to exercise their voting rights in the ongoing general election from wherever they are located.

A bench of Justice KS Radhakrishnan and Justice Vikramajit Sen issued notice even as Attorney General GE Vahanvati sought to present the logistic problem that the Election Commission would face in making arrangements for their voting.

Vahanvati told the court that under section 20A of the Representation of the People Act ( Amendment), 2010, the registered NRI voters can vote if they are present in the constituency on the day of polling.

Describing it a “ serious matter” that needed to be dealt with urgency, the court asked government to respond to the plea as it directed the listing of the matter April 7.

Appearing for the PIL petitioner Shamsheer VP, senior counsel Harish Salve told the court that the first phase of Lok Sabha polling in Kerala was going to be held on April 10 and matter was of some urgency.

The court was told that there were 11,000 registered NRI voters living in different parts of the world.

Dr Shamsheer has contended that the existing provision under section 20A that mandates the NRI voter to be physically present in the constituency to exercise his vote was discriminatory and violative of fundamental rights under article 14 ( Equality before law) guaranteed under the constitution and sought it be read down.

Just two women in the fray in Manipur

There are just two women candidates for the two Lok Sabha seats in Manipur. While Kim Gangte, State president of the Trinamool Congress, is a contestant of the reserved Outer Manipur seat, Indira Oinam is the candidate for the general Inner Manipur seat. There are 10 candidates in the fray for the reserved seat and 8 for the general seat. The reserved seat goes to the polls on April 9 and the general seat on April 17. Earlier, Ms. Gangte was elected to the Lok sabha on a CPI ticket. In the case of Ms. Oinam, she is contesting the Lok sabha seat for the first time.

In the last Assembly elections in 2012, she contested against Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh in the Thoubal constituency. He won the election by a narrow margin.

All these years Ms. Oinam has been a hardcore member of the BJP. But she was denied a ticket by the BJP. Disappointed, she decided to contest as an independent.

ICC World Twenty 20

Twenty 20 cricket, often abbreviated to T20, is a form of cricket originally introduced in England and Wales for professional inter-county competition by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), in 2003. A Twenty 20 game involves two teams; each has a single innings, batting for a maximum of 20 overs.

The ICC World Twenty 20 (also referred to as the ICC World T20 or the T20 World Cup) is the international championship of Twenty 20 cricket. Organized by cricket's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), the tournament consists of 12 teams, comprising all ten ICC full members and two other ICC members chosen through the ICC World Twenty 20 Qualifier. The event is generally held every two years, and all matches are accorded Twenty20 International status. The 2014 event will be a host to 16 nations.

1. The inaugural event, the 2007 ICC World Twenty20, was staged in South Africa. Pakistan was originally selected to host it. It ran from 11–24 September 2007. The tournament was won by India, who became the first World T20 Champions after defeating Pakistan by 5 runs in the final at the Wanderers Stadium in Johannesburg.

2. The second event, the 2009 ICC World Twenty 20 took place in England from 5–21 June 2009. This tournament was won by the previous runners-up Pakistan who defeated Sri Lanka by 8 wickets in the final at Lord's, London. 

3. The third tournament, the 2010 ICC World Twenty20 was held from 30 April–16 May 2010 and hosted by the West Indies. The winners were England who defeated Australia by 7 wickets in the final at Kensington Oval, Barbados. This was the first ever ICC tournament won by England.

4. The fourth tournament, the 2012 ICC World Twenty 20, was held from 18 September to 7 October 2012 and was hosted by Sri Lanka. The winners were West Indies who defeated Sri Lanka by 36 runs, their first appearance in a World cricket final since 1983 and their first victory since 1979.

5. The 2014 ICC World Twenty 20 is the fifth ICC World Twenty 20 competition, an international Twenty 20 cricket tournament, that is currently taking place in Bangladesh from 16 March to 6 April 2014. It is being played in three cities — Dhaka, Chittagong  and Sylhet. The International Cricket Council announced Bangladesh as host in 2010. It is the second consecutive time that an Asian country is hosting this event, as Sri Lanka hosted the previous tournament in 2012.

WORLD TWENTY20 PRIZE MONEY

Winner of final :-	$1,000,000
Runner up :-	$500,000
Third and fourth :-	$250,000 each
Winner of Super 8 matches :-	$42,000 to the winner of each match
Winner of group stage matches :-	$20,500 to the winner of each match

Manipur footballer Bidyananda on Barcelona radar

Manipur’s blonde hair U - 17 footballer Bidyananda Singh has been selected as the Most Valuable Player by the Barcelona FC coaches. The week-long football training camp at Doha’s Aspire Academy saw the India U - 17 regular being rechristened ‘Honda’, due to his stark resemblance to AC Milan’s Japanese international, Keisuke Honda.

Singh, a defensive midfielder, was at the academy in the Qatari capital for a camp conducted by youth academy coaches from Barcelona, Manchester United and Inter Milan. By the end of his stint there, scouts from Barcelona had expressed an interest and have been following the youngster’s progress since.

According to SportsKeeda.com, Every year Nike holds an All Asia Camp which plays host to 60 of the very best U - 17 footballers from around Asia and the Pacific. Young talents scouted from countries like China, India, Korea, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and Australia are sent to these yearly camps. India sent five promising talents to the camp in Doha, Qatar – Gursimrat Singh (centre back), Rakesh Oram (winger), Milan Basumatary (striker), Bidyananda Singh (midfielder) and Dheeraj Singh (goalkeeper).

Singh became one of the first Indians, along with Milan Basumatary (Assam), Deeraj Singh (Manipur) and Gursimrat Singh (Manipur), to play in the academy’s All Star team. Incidentally, he also scored the opening goal in his side’s 3-1 win over Ajax.

As the second son of a retired army-man from the Assam Rifles and a mother who ran a grocery store from their home, Singh recognised the strain his footballing ambitions put on the family.