National ------AYUSH to be included in national health schemes.

The Centre is planning to launch a special scheme for delivery of healthcare ser vices in 100 out of 264 focus districts across the country where the health indi cators are very low, by integrating allopathic and other Indian systems of medic ine soon. Under the scheme, joint teams of doctors of allopathy, Ayurveda, yoga and naturo pathy, Unani, Siddha and homoeopathy systems of medicine will visit villages fre quently to bring about an improvement in the general health condition of people. This was stated here on Monday by Mr. Anil Kumar, Secretary, Department of Ayurv eda, Yoga & Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH), here on Monday w hile inaugurating a national workshop on Clinical Research Methodology in Unani M edicine'. Modalities were being worked out to include AYUSH systems of medicine in all nat ional health programmes within two years. Bilateral ----Anti-piracy surveillance to ensure safety of the Indian Ocean region and securit y ties were among the issues discussed between India and Seychelles in New Delhi . Both the countries also inked two pacts for the supply of Coastal Surveillance R adar Systems and Dornier Aircraft to the island nation. External Affairs Ministe r S M Krishna and his counterpart from Seychelles Jean-Paul Adam held comprehens ive discussions on international, regional and bilateral issues and took stock o f the current status of the ties between the countries. ------Economic -----The Reserve Bank of India has decided to increase the bank rate to 9.5 per cent with immediate effect. RBI said in a notification that this increase should be v iewed and understood as one-time technical adjustment to align the Bank Rate wit h the marginal standing facility (MSF) rate rather than a change in the monetary policy stance. The Bank Rate, which is the standard rate at which the RBI buys or re-discounts bills of exchange or other commercial paper, is presently used as a penal rate, which the banks have to pay for their failure to meet the mandatory Cash Reserve Ratio (CRR) and Statutory Liquidity Ratio (SLR). The Bank Rate, which has been increased to 9.50 per cent, was kept unchanged sin ce April 2003. -------Cheaper food items pulled down overall inflation to a 26-month low of 6.55 per c ent in January 2012. Headline inflation, as measured by the Wholesale Price Inde x, WPI, had stood at 7.47 per cent in December 2011, and at 9.47 per cent in Jan uary 2011. As per the official data released, today, food inflation stood at minus 0.52 per cent in January 2012, against 0.74 per cent in December 2011. Vegetables were c heaper by 43.13 per cent, and wheat cheaper by 3.48 per cent, on an annual basis

. Potato prices fell 23.15 per cent, and onion prices dropped 75.57 per cent, ye ar-on-year, in January. Prices of manufactured items, which have a weight of aro und 65 per cent in the WPI basket, rose 6.49 per cent in January 2012, as agains t 7.41 per cent in December 2011. -------------

Awards ----India-born Nobel laureate Amartya Sen has been felicitated with the prestigious National Medals of Arts and Humanities award by US President Barrack Obama. Sen has been given the award for his efforts to increase the understanding of fi ghting hunger and poverty. The Nobel laureate was given the award at a glitterin g function at White House in Washington. ------French black and white drama 'The Artist' won gold at the 65th British Film Acad emy Awards Sunday winning seven prizes including Best Picture, while Meryl Stree p continued with her winning streak grabbing the best leading actress gong. The film's star Jean Dujardin took home the Best Leading Actor award, leaving be hind the likes of Hollywood bigwigs like Brad Pitt (Moneyball), George Clooney ( The Descendants) and Gary Oldman (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy). ----------India-born music conductor Zubin Mehta has been honoured with Israel's first Pre sidential Awards of Distinction, the country's version of the French Legion of H onour or the Order of Canada. The award is being bestowed upon those "who have made an outstanding contributio n to the state of Israel or to humanity, through their talents, services, or in any other form," a statement from the Israeli Presidency said. -------Noted Hindi writer Professor Ramdarash Mishra has been selected for the 21st Vya s Samman for his poetry collection Aam Ke Patte . The collection was published in 2004. The award, instituted by the K.K. Birla Foundation, is given annually for an out standing literary work in Hindi published during the past 10 years. The award ca rries a cash purse of Rs. 2.5 lakh. -------Sports -----India's Saurabh Ghoshal has won the Windi-city Open Squash tournament in Chicago , United States. In a thrilling match, top seed Ghoshal defeated Pakistan's Yassir Butt 11-8, 1513, 10-12, 11-5. ----------

Former Australian first-class pacer Joe Dawes will take over as the Indian crick et team's bowling coach after Eric Simons' tenure comes to an end at the complet ion of the ongoing tour of Australia. -------

Persons --------Noted urdu poet and Jnanpith awardee Akhlaq Mohammed Khan, who shot to fame for penning ghazals in Bollywood classics like 'Umrao Jaan', passed away in Aligarh after a protracted illness. He was 76. ------Whitney Houston, the Grammy winning legendary singer-actress and heart throb of the 80's, whose once sparkling career was torn apart by drug abuse and personal problems, was found dead at a hotel in Los Angeles. ------S.V. Sangameswaran, former Deputy Director, Central Food and Technological Resea rch Institute, Mysore, passed away here on Sunday. He was 87. --------